~Green~
Luigi's vision of Christmas was a rather normal one…which, of course, meant that it was unobtainable.
A simple green Christmas tree, a single peaceful dinner, a calm opening of presents, and just a little harmony among everyone. Luigi never thought that was too much to ask, but being in the Smash Stadium seemed to completely nullify his hopes and dreams.
First off, the tree wasn't even green. Mario was forced to retrieve a rainbow one, because no one could decide on a solid color and no one wanted to conform to the tradition of a green tree (Peach was pretty upset that it wasn't pink though). The lights were these round and frankly ugly bulbs that weren't even properly bright, but they were the only ones anyone could find. Everyone got to put on an ornament, and while Luigi liked the idea of representing everyone's worlds…some of the objects really clashed. The only thing that seemed remotely normal was the star Mario put on the top, but Luigi was probably biased because it was a Power Star, to be specific. He saw those all the time.
He knew he wouldn't be getting that peaceful dinner, either. There were faaaaaar too many big eaters in the house, and with Kirby and King Dedede's eye for gluttony and their inhale abilities, it was a rare treat when anyone could get a bite on a normal night with them around. The Christmas feast would probably be gone before it could be properly served!
A calm opening of presents? If only! The overly-eager kids were one thing, scrambling to be the first to nab what was theirs, but then you had selfish villains and self-righteous heroes battling over who received the better present, and everyone frankly had absolutely no tact when getting their gifts. Many cards died in the fray, Luigi knew firsthand…since he gave out most of them. And it didn't help when he looked behind him and found Yoshi eating them. Digesting the meaning of the messages, maybe…?
In any case, it drove Luigi so crazy that he wanted to grab his hair and just yell…! Why bother? Why bother?!
…and yet…
The harmony though…as off the wall, zany, eccentric, and different everyone was…Luigi had to admit that a strange sort of…peace dawned on everyone during the holidays. You still had your occasional spats and shouts that "everyone hated each other" but…everyone still pitched in on decorating the tree. Everyone was always there for dinner table no matter what. Everyone was still present for the opening of, well, presents. Christmas was really the only time where everyone was in one place and enjoying it, which was all Luigi asked for to begin with.
Yeah, the holiday still wasn't anything quite like Luigi had planned…but honestly? It was better that way.
. . .
Yoshi liked fruit.
W-well, he like Christmas too, but the fruit…!
There was so much of it.
There were the red holly berries that adorned every green substance in the house (though Yoshi found very quickly that they weren't meant to be digested). There was the sweet, zingy oranges…though they were usually chocolate oranges, but Yoshi wasn't picky. You name it; lemon ham, green lime drinks, blueberry pie, sugar plums, whatever…! If it was fruity, Yoshi was going to like it. Unless it was holly berries. Those didn't count. Bleh.
One of the best things about spending the holidays at the stadium was getting to sample food from all the different worlds. There was only so many different fruit back home on Yoshi's island, but here…? There was ALWAYS something new for Yoshi to get his taste buds on. The glorious flavors of Christmas, coming together as one in his mouth as they performed an eccentric dance of deliciousness-!
But the fruit.
Yoshi, of course, got into the spirit and shared his fruit when the opportunity arose, but no one appreciated the delicacy quite like he did. The holidays gave Yoshi a chance to step back and reflect on his love for produce; to appreciate how lucky he was to have the chance to sample such succulent treats…! Then promptly devour it whole in one gulp.
As he gnawed on a melon with Toon Link keeping him a little company, Yoshi thought about how he was such a simple individual. He was content with the holidays as long as fruit was present. Some would say he fell short on the true meaning of the event…but to the simple yet loveable little dinosaur, it just wasn't Christmas until someone brought out a fruit tray.
. . .
While he was very spirited on the outside, Toon Link was torrent of stress on the inside. He knew that, being a kid and all, people didn't expect anything high maintenance from him for Christmas. Normally he was known for making unique things out of whatever scraps he could gather up, but this year, he didn't think that'd be enough for the one person he wanted to leave an impact on…which happened to be his older, alternate self.
Toon Link was still one of the rather green fighters –no pun intended- and upon his arrival he was shocked to find, well himself. Link was one of the first to show him how things worked and welcomed him with open arms. They had a lot in common -naturally- but Toon Link eventually found one glaring difference between him and Link, and that was the fact that Link didn't really have any family back home. Toon Link at least had a grandma and sister waiting for him.
So, after tossing around a few ideas, Toon Link decided to show his appreciation for his older brother figure by getting him an awesome Christmas gift. A little reconnaissance followed, along with days filled with hiding behind plants, rolling across the floor, and plenty of stalking of the older swordsman. Link was a really boring person to follow though, and aside from fighting, the only thing that ever warranted extra attention from him was whenever he talked…to…Zelda…?
Hmm.
Pouring over his observations, Toon Link came to the conclusion that Link was definitely seeking out Zelda, yet as utterly charismatic as he was, he wasn't having much luck. Seeing as he had no better ideas- and he didn't want hours of stalking to go to waste- Toon Link decided to help the guy out.
Putting Captain Falcon's overly distributed mistletoe to good use and eliciting the help of Little Mac, Toon Link managed to make it so Link could finally get some time alone with Zelda. On a night when most of the other Smashers were doing some shopping, Toon Link had convinced Zelda to follow him down the stairs where everything was set up. Zelda agreed, being the understanding princess she was…although she wasn't expecting a candlelit dinner made by Palutena -a questionable choice- and surprisingly spot-on violin playing from Pit.
As Zelda suspiciously took a seat, Toon Link beamed in excitement as Little Mac entered with Link, who wore the same confused expression as the princess. One both were at the table, Little Mac winked at Toon Link and scurried away with Pit, while Palutena served her vegetable medley and twirled off as well. Link eventually demanded to know what was going on…so Toon Link strolled up and pointed at the mistletoe dangling above the table.
Zelda's hand flew to her face to cover her chuckling gasp while Link immediately turned a shade of crimson and stared down his younger counterpart. But before he could get a word out, Zelda had suddenly grabbed his collar from across the table and pulled him into a passionate kiss. Toon Link happily bounced on his heels with success, and as the embrace broke and Link returned to face his alternate self, Toon Link simply winked back. After receiving a nod from Link that said he would certainly return the kindness later, Toon Link walked away with his gift successfully delivered.
Because after all, what better gift is there than knowing someone cares about you a whole lot?
. . .
Little Mac was an oddity in the way that he tended to work Christmases. December was a surprisingly busy month for booking fights, and apparently there was some people in the worlds who celebrated by watching two people beat the stuffing out of each other. But after his festive fights, Doc Louis always made sure that there was a celebration waiting for Mac, as contrite as they tended to be. Even if training was right around the corner the next day, Mac appreciated the small break he was allowed. He liked his small, simple celebrations and wouldn't have it any other way.
But everything changed when Christmas at the Stadium attacked.
Everything was grandiose and over the top, nothing was subtle, and Little Mac wasn't used to big extravaganzas. He mostly spent his time strapping on his boxing gloves and heading down to the training room to stay sharp. While the others were getting fat and jolly on sweets, at least he'd still be in top form! …which was what he planned, until he spontaneously found himself invited to a special 'Newcomer's Only' dinner party.
Now he was desperately trying to avoid conversation with the howling Bowser Junior, a really overzealous but equally awkward Shulk, a confused Mega Man trying to figure how to properly eat the food, Dark Pit complaining about the food quality (while eating it anyway), and even Robin and Robyn were fighting over a specific spot at the table. Situations exactly like this were what Mac was trying to avoid, but he couldn't bail- everyone would know he was missing.
As he tried to hurriedly eat his dinner so he could make his escape without appearing rude, he abruptly felt a tap on his shoulder, only to find Goddess Palutena giggling at him from behind her other hand. He gave her a look back; she only laughed harder.
"When you eat like that…you remind me of Pit," she smirked, a chuckle placed between each word. Mac frowned in disapproval as now he was self-conscious and had to slow his eating pace. But with the Villager staring at him from across the table, his drive to leave increased ten-fold…which only led to him finding Palutena snickering at him again.
"What now?" Mac scoffed, raising an eyebrow in the goddess' direction. Palutena lost it again and once more resorted to poorly stifled laughter.
"S-sorry, but with the way you keep scowling, I can't help but think your face is going to freeze…"
Mac yet again made another face at this, cuing more attentive looks from Shulk, Robin, and Pac-Man, which was followed by snickers. This caught the attention of Rosalina, Robyn, Mega Man, and Junior, who also took one look and joined the merriment. Even the Duck Hunt Dog and his cohorts were cackling! Normally, this would've brought on a visit from Giga Mac, but before he could fester up enough anger, he caught a reflection of himself in the bowl of punch situated in front of him…and discovered that his face actually did look pretty funny.
Palutena inappropriately snorted, and suddenly the whole table was rattling with a fit of giggles. As it was a very contagious thing, a twitchy smirk grew on Little Mac's face that eventually festered into a toothy grin. Before he knew it, he had erupted into heavy uncontrollable chortles, and was suddenly feeling a whole lot better about being in the group. At some point during his episode, he threw a glance at Palutena, who gave him a knowing wink as she rose to take care of her dishes.
. . .
Palutena, ever revered Goddess of Light, never actually celebrated Christmas, but she was more than familiar with it. The exchanging of gifts, the process of everyone simply being together, selfless acts...she found that she liked it a lot. It opened her eyes to the fact that she took Pit for granted a little too often, so she decided to take advantage of the good spirits and see if she couldn't do something a little nice for him in return. As happiness for Pit came in the form of a hot spring or through his stomach…she went with the latter idea.
After winning the kitchen over from Peach, Palutena wondered what she should bake for the angel, until Zelda swooped in –having wanted a turn in the kitchen for ages- and offered up her assistance. Palutena welcomed the help, and eventually the princess selected a recipe for Angel Food Cake. From there, they got straight to work. Eggs, batter, vanilla, pans, and measuring cups of various different shapes and sizes flew across the kitchen as goddess and princess tossed them about to each other. Zelda would fetch the ingredients and Palutena would put them together in the proper quantities. Palutena twirled about and grabbed the cake pan, although she was incredibly sloppy in pouring in the batter. It splattered everywhere, eventually prompting Zelda to take hold of the bowl and do it herself. Palutena just laughed nervously as Zelda popped it into the oven…and Zelda then was whacked in the back.
"What the-?!"
Palutena tossed a suspicious bag of flour in her hand, grinning dangerously at the princess. Zelda abruptly gained a very similar expression as she reached for some sugar, splaying it all over the goddess. With that alone, it was a declaration of war…and Peach wasn't going to be very happy about the state of the kitchen afterwards, that was for sure.
Later on, the angelic 'ding' of the timer going off ended said war, and with some strange doughy substance in her green hair, Palutena glided over to the oven and popped out the cake. Upon seeing its golden perfection, Palutena beamed at the thought of Pit being absolutely delighted upon being presented with the holiday surprise. Once Palutena slid the cake onto the finest plate she could find and Zelda garnished the cake with a bit of fruit and cream, the creation was finished. The two then decided they needed a picture and ran off to get a camera…which was when Falco of all people strolled in, glanced at the fresh cake, and proceeded to cut himself a slice.
When the girls came back, Falco was contorted on the floor with a half eaten wedge of cake in his mouth, looking like he wasn't going to last much longer.
Palutena gasped at the display as Zelda immediately deduced what had happened, but out of curiosity she took some of the cake herself…and nearly ended up in the same state. Grabbing her throat, she turned to Palutena with her eyes ready to fall out of her head.
"How did it end up burnt AND raw?!"
"Well…" Palutena scratched her neck. "The last meal I made did end up rather…revolting."
Zelda gave Palutena one last frantic look before joining Falco on the ground. The goddess stared at them for the longest time before her gaze fell on the "abomination" cake she'd brought into existence. Approaching slowly, she plucked off a small part, chewed it thoroughly, and merely shrugged.
"Well...I like it!"