Almost Weekly Santa Alter: III
The names glowed on the ground as the figures rose up from the summoning, he took a step backwards as they appeared and looked around, their confusion lasted until they landed upon him and then their expressions settled into something else.
Gareth smiled upon seeing him, nodding her head to him and greeting all while Verndari folded her arms over her chest and tightened her posture. Sanura, meanwhile, adopted much the same manner of welcoming as the other Shielder and even through the helmet, he could feel the glares of the two of them being aimed onto him. Not that it was without merit, he supposed.
"I'd ask you to put whatever personal feelings you have for me aside for the time being in this common goal." He looked between the two biggest offenders, neither showed much effort in trying to do anything of the sort but that was their choice. "Romani tells me that Ritsuka and the others have managed to fight past Astolfo's group, they are not far from this location and will be here soon. I won't insult you by explaining your plan again and will leave you to it."
Neither Verndari nor Sanura stopped glaring at him from behind their helms, their dislike of him rather palpable. They didn't speak but they didn't need to, even Gareth could tell what they were doing if her wince of discomfort was any indication as to what was going on. He swept his eyes over the group one final time before he turned and started to walk away.
"Merry Christmas, Ash!"
He stopped at the words of Gareth, turning to see her smiling and waving her hand at him as though nothing was wrong. Whether it was born of his appearance to her older brother or just because she was being polite, he found it as though he didn't put much thought into it. He merely rolled his lips inwards and nodded back to her. Her smile brightened a touch from the simple gesture and he turned once more, walking away from them and calling upon the miracles deep within him. A pulse of magical energy and he vanished in a flash of light.
Ash wasn't even gone for a single second before Verndari whirled onto her, the slight intake of breath was all the warning she got before the Shielder spoke with a strained and rather irritated tone of voice. "How can you still act so cordially with that betrayer? He insults every vow a knight has ever made and worse, he does so with the attitude of complete dispassion within his own expression."
Sanura nodded her head up and down in support, it made her heart ache a bit at seeing the both of them gang up on someone who wasn't even here to defend himself. Though she doubted it would have made much of a difference, Ash probably would have just faced them in silence and said they were right or something. That's probably what Gawain would have done if he was here.
"I concur. With knowledge of what happened, I do not understand why he is even allowed to draw breath where he might break oath and turn his blade upon us once more." Sanura remarked with a wave of her hand and a turn of their helm towards her. "I understand the principle of being kind to one's allies but there must be limits to such things, Sir Gareth."
She sighed. "I don't understand all that much that happened either. The report we all read didn't say much about the intricacies but all I know is that Ash was in a bad place when it happened and it's clear he regrets it." shrugging her shoulders, she looked between the two of them with a frown. "I would say that someone who breaks their vows and regrets it is better than someone who does so and cares nothing for it. At least Ash is trying to make amends by helping out with this. If he wasn't, then I would agree with you…but it sounded like he was put through something hard and until I know the full story, I won't rush into judgement over it."
Their heads turned to the side to avoid looking directly at her, their postures loosened a bit from how they had been moments ago. Neither of the two of them said much of anything for a few moments before Verndari let out a sigh, bringing her hand up and placing it on the front of her helm, dragging her fingers along an armoured brow as their other hand fell onto their hip. "Yes…yes, I suppose there is some merit in his seeking of redemption. He is a far sight from the deceiver Sulyvahn, at least. Not as though I am one to start casting down judgement on the matter of oath breaking."
She winced at the slightly bitter tone of voice but was at least happy they were starting to back down on it.
"It vexes me, is all." Sanura grumbled to herself, kicking at the snow as she did so. "Long did I uphold my own oath in spite of all the destruction that befell the Kingdom. Until it became a ruin and the world passed it by, long did I stand guard but…perhaps the same is not quite so possible for others." another mutter from her. "I suppose he isn't even a Knight to begin with so I can't expect the same of him."
That sounded incredibly backhanded to her, bringing a touch of a frown to her for a brief moment before she wiped it away. They were passionate about the subject and she could understand them rather well. It wasn't as though she didn't see where they were coming from, just that as long as Ash wished for a chance to be better then she didn't see a reason to say no. He did step up and save their Masters life, so that counted for something in the end.
Though this was hardly the time for that sort of depressing talk. "So what are we actually going to do when Master gets here?"
The question was met with silence.
Gareth felt her expression plummet at the fact neither of the other two had anything to say, Sanura merely twitched for a moment before pointing to herself. "Do not look to me, this is a holiday I had never heard of until I was approached and asked to help. I have never even seen this manner of landscape before and all of my tactics for 'delays' as they are put, relate to warfare."
She turned to Verndari, who similarly shrugged her shoulders. "I'm afraid not, I was relying on you for this, Gareth. It is a festival from your world, not mine. I suppose it did sometimes get cold enough for snow in Drangleic but when that occurred, all we ever did was clear the paths so that carts could get through, nothing else." there was a beat before she spoke again in a strained voice. "...You don't have a plan either, do you?"
"Eh-he…" A nervous giggle bubbled up from inside her as she glanced between the two of them, bringing up her left hand and scratching the back of her head as she did so. Eventually, she offered a single shrug of her shoulders and cemented the fact that she didn't have a plan either.
A groan escaped Verdnari's helmet, her hands slapped the front of it. "Outstanding. Between the three of us, we are tasked with delaying our Liege so that the others can complete preparations but none of us can consider a single plan that likely doesn't involve some manner of pit trap or leaping from the snow to stick them with a spear?" she waved a hand around at both her and Sanura before dropping it down. "...What are we supposed to do now?"
Gareth frowned in thought, maybe if the three of them put their heads together they could come up with some sort of suggestion but for right now, there wasn't much time to consider. Better sooner than later if Ash's words were anything to go by, Master would be here soon and if they didn't have anything planned then they wouldn't put up much of a delay beyond striking up a conversation.
Her eyes swept around the landscape before they abruptly halted on something, they narrowed for a moment and then she started walking. The other two paid attention to her movements as she gradually made her way towards the location of interest, picking up her speed into a gentle jog before sliding to a halt in front of it. A topic filtered through her mind, something that was popular with modern humans in regards to the snow.
The incline was sharp and long enough that it served its purpose for sprouting the idea, her eyes widened and her lips pulled upwards into a steadily rising grin. A moment later, she turned to the other two who were fast approaching her, the smile widened and she let the question slip towards the person in question. "Hey, Verndari? Can you access your shield?"
The helm jolted as though Verndari blinked, pausing for a moment and then nodding once. "I can call it forth but my Noble Phantasm is locked in this form. It serves as a shield…why do you ask?"
She pointed downwards, the near ten metre incline hill that went straight down to a relatively smooth clearing beneath them. "Because…I have an idea on how we can distract Master!"
He sensed them the moment he appeared, a touch of something on the edge of his senses as he approached them. Three Servants, relatively weak in terms of strength but he recognised the both of them from past encounters. It did not make this any less uneasy for him given the last time he had met with the two of them, picking up speed until he was jogging along.
They would probably sense him approaching but that was fine, he wanted them to know he was coming to not alarm them. Keeping Galvatyne on his back as he did so, hopefully showing that he meant neither of them any harm. The lights ahead of him signalled his approach, raising a lone eyebrow at what appeared to be some manner of house made of a material that looked nothing like wood.
Squinting his brows, the exterior of it was a light brown colour but the texture was all wrong, varying between rough and smooth with the features of the building looking far from ideal. Almost as though they had been exaggerated, to say nothing of the windows and doors which were lined with a thick white substance which vaguely reminded him of the wax from the archives.
With a mental shake of his head, he dismissed the odd structure and carried on with his approach, soon spotting the silhouettes near a glowing blue light at the base of a small tree. Their intent was obvious enough and he supposed it worked to the aid of others and likely themselves if their interest lay in the celebration of the holiday.
His pace slowed into a steady walk, keeping his arms by his side and trying to appear as unthreatening as possible as he drew closer and closer, only pausing when he noticed something next to him. A patch of snow that had been blasted aside like it had been struck with something, at the centre of the impact crater was a section of scorched ground, eyes narrowed he leaned over it and looked down. Frown forming on his features.
With a grunt, he filed it away for questioning and turned back to the three who moved around the small pine tree in the middle, strung up with loose decorations and made to look like a rough Christmas tree. But he supposed they were making do with the best they could scrounge up, which wasn't a lot and he could notice their efforts at least.
He stopped at the edge of the camp with a crunch of snow, the sounds abruptly silenced themselves as they all turned to him and away from what they had been previously doing. His eyes roamed over each and every one of them as they regarded him back with clear apprehension, the actions of the white haired girl in the black cloak didn't surprise him, immediately turning to him with wide eyes and moving her hand towards something under her cloak. He wasn't even sure if she remembered him or not, it could have just as easily have been a result of his very being.
The connection between the two of them registered instantly with him, he could feel the many souls within her, yet they did not fight as his own collection did. There was a serenity to her nature which eluded him, perhaps the common nature of her existence. The souls were bound under a single goal, his had been taken with force. All the same, it mattered little in the end.
Raising his hands slow enough that she could see, he exposed his bare palms to her in a sign of surrender. She paused at his movements, her eyes narrowed for a moment before she stopped. His eyes darted to the girl next to her, having reached over and placed a hand on her shoulder to stop her from making any sudden movements.
With a shake of her head, Nursery Rhyme warned Jack away from the aggressive actions, pulling her arm back and then placing both her hands on her lap as she assumed a more casual seating position on the floor, her eyes looking him up and down with silent intrigue but little else.
Someone cleared their throat.
He turned to the tallest of the trio, amber eyes gave him a rather blank look for a moment before returning to the wreath they were fitting together, humming along to themselves.
Keeping his arms up, he spoke in a quiet voice with as little threat as he could muster. The end result was a flat emotionless sentence.
"I'm not here for violence."
A moment of silence from the red head, then he replied to him. "The lack of a flaming hot sword being swung at my neck and the absence of a murderous look in your eyes clued me into that. So it is certainly an improvement over our last encounter." the voice of the boy was rather wry, as though it was somehow funny to him. When they looked up, they wore a similar smirk to Archer. "All the same, if you're not here to fight then I don't suppose you're here for the holiday cheer?"
His eyes moved to the other two, both Nursery and Jack were now looking at him with a great deal more interest. Thinning his lips, his eyes moved between the two groups before finally settling on the teenage looking boy and then nodding his head once. Much to the clear surprise as their eyes widened a moment later.
"That is…why I am here."
Sully blinked repeatedly at him, still clearly not prepared for his answer, then proceeded to look him up and down before he lowered the wreath he had been making and made a small grunt. The silence continued on, he looked to the other two and saw they were similarly looking at him with matching features of surprise, though he noticed that Jack moved a hand away from the cloak and back into the open, bereft of anything threatening and with a look on her face that was moving into bemused hesitance than outright suspicion.
An improvement, at least.
The redhead moved his left hand to his chin and rubbed back and forth, after a few moments of nothing, he eventually spoke up. "I suppose that's a different matter then. Nursery told me about this being a holiday of coming together but I didn't think it would be quite that effective in the matter…still." he smiled. "I see no reason to complain, though I'd be curious as to how this came about in the first place. Are you still allied with Chaldea or have you since parted ways?"
That was a fair question, he supposed.
"We're still working together."
"Good enough then." Sully dismissed quickly, looking back down to the wreath and going back to working, speaking as he did so. "I've never really thought much of holidays before, they certainly sound like a lot of effort but Nursery promised me that they are rather fun and I'm not going to deny any of them that just because I don't get it…though it might just be my own nature at putting decorations on the body of a dead tree that stops me from having some fun."
A chuckle from the boy and a look towards Nursery, the Caster turned her head to look at him for a moment and then pouted. "But you were the one who insisted on decorating the tree in the first place!"
"I let you and Jackie put the star on the top." Sully defended quickly, pointing to her with a grin. "Besides, the two of you were decorating it rather unbalanced and the like. It was leaning too heavily on one side and all the colours didn't blend well together. The star is the important bit, after all."
The continued pout from Nursery didn't do much to convince him that she was won over by the argument, with an exhale she turned towards Ash and thinned her lips, he stared down at her as she silently watched him. Keeping her eyes firmly on his own before her lips slowly spread into a more welcoming smile, though Jack looked far from at ease. "I'm happy you came down here for Christmas though. I think having a little moment where we can all come to the home of Santa is truly something out of a fairy tale."
He kept silent at her words, not knowing all that much about Fairy Tales in the immediate sentence as he spoke again. "How long have you all been present in the Singularity?"
Sully blew air out of his mouth and shrugged his shoulders. "No more than ten or so minutes. Though these two might be a little longer." he gestured to the girls. "I stumbled onto them trying to make a Christmas tree and then started to help them out. Also because they were spreading warnings of something walking through the snowy fields."
A blink, then he turned on Nursery with a raised eyebrow.
"It was Krampus." She declared, a complete lack of elaboration forced him to cycle through his own mind and drag forth the experiences and memories. He winced as he searched through every mention of the word from those he had seen, grimacing deeper the longer it went on before he found the name and the information.
His brows pinched. "Krampus? You are telling me that Krampus is here?"
"Santa fought him off!" The shout from Jack brought his attention to the other girl, who was grinning from ear to ear as she waved her hands around dramatically. "He and the big monster fought over the Christmas tree and then Santa sent them running! He gave me and Nursery toys for being good girls and then he chased after them."
She held up two small objects in her hand as though to show them off, he squinted at them as he tried to make sense of the sentence and took in the details of the toys. In her left hand was a wooden carving of a small horse in the midst of rearing up, in the right was what he could only describe as a rough looking cut of a Silver Knight, or so it appeared. The shape of the armour with the horned helmet gave him that impression.
He turned on Sully, they merely shrugged their shoulders at him. "Do not ask me, they have been speaking of the shadow monster fighting who they claim is Santa. All I know is that there was a battle here until I fixed the camp as best I could." he waved a hand around. "I opted to stay and help them with Christmas mainly because I'd never heard of it and it did sound like it would be fun to help."
Jack stuck her tongue out at him and made a noise. "Big brother stole the Christmas tree from Nursery and me!" She folded her arms over her chest, jutted her chin up and made a 'hmph' sound as she turned to the side and closed her eyes. Much to the clear exhaustion of Sully whose features dropped at her performance.
Bringing a hand up, the redhead rubbed over his forehead before he let out a noise. "Would you like me to take down the decorations so you two could have a go at it this time around?"
The Assassin instantly opened her eyes and beamed widely at him. "Really?! Yay!" With a fist pump, she turned on Nursery and leaned down, grabbing the girl and excitedly pulling her to her feet as she did so, virtually shaking all the while. "We get to decorate the tree! We can show Santa when he comes back from killing Krampus!"
…That sounded disturbing to him for whatever reason.
Nursery giggled lightly before placing a hand on Jack's shoulder. "Before we get to all of that, perhaps we should listen to what Mister Ash came here to say. He's here to celebrate the holidays as well, remember?" she turned to him, softly smiling as she did so. "Would you like to help us as well?"
Thinning his lips, he shook his head. "I doubt I would offer much in the way of cheer. I am in the same position as Sulyvahn-" he closed his eyes and sighed "Sully." he corrected himself "With little of the same joy. Though I was searching for other Servants who might be willing to help out with a party that Chaldea was assembling."
The trio stared at him.
Jack raised a hand "Is the tree bigger?"
A glance to the small pine that barely even reached his shoulders, then back to the girl as he replied. "I would assume that it is larger, yes."
"...Can we decorate that one?"
"...I'm certain you could ask."
"Mmmmmmm." The expression on the girls face turned thoughtful, she cupped her chin and rocked back and forth on her heels, visibly debating his words while making a series of noises, she glanced at the tree and then to the others before she finally brought her hands up and placed them against the side of her head, turning on Nursery. "What should we do?"
A smile from the Caster. "Christmas is all about being with friends, so it makes sense to go where everyone else is." her attention returned to him. "I assume that we would be welcomed there, yes?"
He nodded.
"Then I see no reason why we should avoid it. If it's a big party for Chaldea, then I'm sure that it will be a lot of fun!"
"Okay!" Jack grinned, then paused as she turned to the smaller tree with a saddened frown on her face, approaching it and then placing her hand on the leaves. The forlorn expression remained on her face, closing her eyes and dragging her fingers down and back to her side, almost as though she was parting with an old friend.
It made him feel uneasy just watching her, though for reasons that he felt disgusted with. He still couldn't sort out his feelings in regards to the small girl, he didn't like she existed but seeing the despairing expression on her face made it all the worse. He made the choice in his head.
Clearing his throat, he gestured to the small tree. "My method of transport is swift enough that we could take the tree with us. I'm certain they would not object, if it means so much to you."
Jack stared at him with wide eyes, clearly surprised by his words, the despair vanished from her face and was replaced with pure joy, letting out a happy yell and turning to Nursery, excitedly calling out as she did so. "Did you hear that? We get to bring our tree with us and decorate it all over again! We get our own tree!"
Their excitement made little sense to him, but it was…fine, in its own way.
She was happy.
Something caught the corner of his eye, he turned and looked to see that Sully was staring at him with a mixture of surprise and amusement on his face, silently observing the proceedings. He merely grunted to them, bringing his arms up and crossing them over his chest as he did so. With a sigh, he closed his eyes and brought his right arm forwards to the children while his left reached out and firmly placed itself around the trunk of the tree, with a tug he pulled it up out of the ground.
Opening his eyes, he saw the two girls stare at him in surprise before they looked to the extended hand towards them. "You'll need to hold onto me. It's easier that way."
Nursery took hold of the wrist first with a gentle tug, though Jack was much slower, showing a great deal of trepidation in regards to getting close to him, let alone to touch him. Her eyes moved between the hand and himself as she moved closer inch by inch, her left hand slowly reached out before placing itself atop Nursery's, avoiding contact with him.
"Sorry, you just feel strange to me. I think touching you would be bad." Jack apologised to him, though he felt more confusion at her words than anything else. He would have assumed it was because of the last time they met one another they actively tried to kill the opposite, to his knowledge she died during the chaos of his mind tearing itself apart.
"Do…do you not remember me?"
Jack blinked once. "Nope. You just feel like us but different. Very angry." she grimaced and leaned back a touch from him, moving closer to Nursery as she did so. "Like Santa but meaner. Santa was nice, you feel cold. But you're helping us, so you're not a bad person."
He didn't know if he should feel comforted or disturbed that she could not recall him, so he settled on putting the matter to the back of his mind. Pursing his lips and turning his eyes to Sully as the redhead approached, then placed a hand on his shoulder and gripped tight. "How long will it take?"
Instead of replying, he triggered the use of teleportation. Within the next second, they found themselves in the midst of the clearing with the sounds of busy Servants ringing in his ears, even he was surprised by the quantity as he turned around, finding it much larger than when he had left and with most of the complement walking around doing something or other.
"Wow!" The exclamation of Nursery was one of pure excitement. The girl released him and looked around with clear amazement in her posture, matched only by Jack who was just as awed but much more silent about it. "There's so many people!"
"Ash! You're back!" He turned to the voice, Boudica approaching him with a smile on her face which only widened as she turned her eyes to his group. "And you've found some more guests for the party." she looked past him to the smaller tree in his hand, raising an eyebrow as amusement danced across her face. "And I'm certain that can be put to some good use."
"I'll leave you all to it then." He handed the tree to Sully, the boy started in surprise at suddenly having it thrust into his arms but he held onto it, he took a single step away from the group and was nearly about to teleport, only stopped when Nursery turned around at his words, sending him a look of surprise as well as being visibly disheartened by his words.
"You're going to leave already?"
"I have to ensure the Singularity is safe enough to be occupied." He explained to her without missing a beat, gesturing to the sword on his back. "Besides, news of this newly arrived conflict between Santa and Krampus is cause enough for me to investigate further. Hopefully it will have resolved itself, but in the event it has not I will act accordingly to prevent the festivities from being spoiled."
A sudden bout of coughing turned his head to the source, Boudica had her fist over her face and was hunched over, a few seconds more and she pulled the hand back, visibly startled by his words, opening and closing her mouth several times before she raised her hand and spoke in a rather quick tone of voice.
"Could you repeat that for me? I'm fairly certain I just heard something utterly insane."
Was it hard to believe? The scraps of knowledge told him that Krampus was a common figure when it came to Christmas. He was more surprised that he had not been warned about them beforehand. It would have made a great deal more sense to alert them to a potential danger to the holidays but perhaps they had overlooked the potential of Krampus appearing at all.
"You did not hear incorrectly." He pointed to Nursery and Jack. "These two tell me they witnessed a fight between Santa and the Demon Krampus. I am returning to my role with the additional task of keeping the Singularity safe, hopefully before it encounters Ritsuka. I will report my progress. In the meantime. I would advise you to keep yourselves confined to the camp until I call back. Look to the Archers for help if it should come to the worst."
He did not wait for a reply, time was of the essence and it was best that he depart.
"Hold it right there-wan!"
Another interruption?
He paused, turning to the latest voice and watching the aspect of Amaterasu rush towards him with her paw raised. He internally blinked a moment later as he tried to consider how he had come to the conclusion of her identity, though he quickly dismissed it. Her barely noticeable divine nature was proof enough to him.
The animalistic woman slid to a halt in front of him, breathing in and out before she thrust something into his hands, a small brown paper bag and then pulled her hands back, pointing a claw directly at his nose with a serious look on her face. "Those are for goshujin-sama only! Don't take one."
Silence.
He opened up the bag with his other hand and looked inside, some manner of swirling breaded product, then looked back to the woman and pinched his brows together. While he was certain that Ritsuka would appreciate them, there was one matter that did confuse him just a little. "You understand I am trying to avoid them, yes? How would you suppose I deliver them to him if I am trying to remain hidden."
Tamamo-cat paused for a moment, looking as though she had literally just considered that small flaw in the here and now. Perhaps her ability to speak had made him briefly forget that she was of the Berserker class and through one definition or the other, she was insane by human standards. Something Boudica agreed with if the groan she gave and the pinching of her brows was any indication.
"Aha!" Tamamo-cat pointed at him and grinned with a smile that was all teeth, and notably smug. "Write him a note!"
A decent plan.
With a single flaw.
"I'm illiterate."
Tamamo-cat's face turned to a mask, she looked him dead in the eyes before uttering only a single word. "...Seriously-wan?"
"Do you think I would joke about that?" It seemed an odd topic that no one would benefit from. Besides, he had given up on trying to mimic humour at this point. He was just pointing out a flaw in her plan that she would not have been aware of. "I could leave it with the next batch of Servants that I call forth for a distraction, though would it not be better for you to leave them as they were?"
Tamamo-Cat visibly grimaced for a moment before she blinked, eyes widening as she reached out and took the paper bag from his hands and just stepped right up beside him, he leaned away from her sudden proximity. "I've thought of a simple solution! Just take me with you-wan! I can surprise goshujin-sama myself!"
"...Are you not needed here?"
"This is worth more." She declared without missing a beat, voice so confident that he doubted she would have ever considered another answer. She looked him dead in the eyes with an expression of utmost seriousness. "I have gone too long without showing goshujin-sama my amazing skills as a maid and this way, I can actually prove to him just how powerful I truly am in the kitchen. When he tastes my succulent goods-wan, he will never wish for me to leave!"
An annoyed sigh from Sully. "Must you phrase it in that misleading way?" He stepped around Nursery and Jack and started to lead them away, sending a still disapproving look towards Tamamo-cat as he did so. "There are children present who do not need to hear such things." with those words, he departed with the tree still in hand.
Boudica exhaled and turned to him. "We can spare her for a short time at least. We're making good enough progress on all the decorations. Besides, I'm sure it'll be fine in the end." she smiled at him and nodded once. "Master could probably do with a light snack…but not too much. He needs to have some room left over for the actual food we're going to serve him."
Was this where it was really going?
He looked to Tamamo-Cat in silence as she stared up at him, the expression she was giving him only caused him to lean further from her, aside from the fact that her mere proximity to him had his body covered in a twitching feeling, as though something was crawling on his skin, her physical similarities to the lycans did little put him at ease.
Still, so long as she could actually delay Ritsuka, he saw little reason in denying her request, so long as she kept her involvement secret and did not inform him of the party, even accidentally. He shrugged his shoulders to her and then nodded his head up and down. Once he deposited her with the next group, he could start looking into this Krampus situation. She would be their problem to deal with, one he wasn't equipped to handle.
"Fine." He grunted to her, keeping his expression blank as he turned from her and towards Boudica. "I shall keep in touch with Berserker, once I have news of Krampus, I shall pass it along to you."
"Alright then, be careful out there. We don't need any unnecessary risks." He appreciated the warning, even if it wasn't needed.
With a flash of light, both he and Tamamo-Cat were whisked away.
The snowball fight had ended with a victory for team Santa, something he would have liked to take a bit more pride in were it not for the way they ended up claiming victory. Evidently, accidentally knocking Santoria's hat off with a stray snowball was a surefire way to ending up with Excalibur turning the world into an avalanche and burying you up to your neck in snow.
At least she left them some presents but she phrased it more in the way of giving commiserations to losers. Still, it was rather fun and he even saw the Director getting rather excited about it, especially when she pointed and laughed at Sasaki at the end, though he was a little unsure as to why she then felt the need to throw snow at his head at that point.
If Marie hadn't stepped in, he was sure she would have kept on going.
That being said, it was a fun time all around.
"How was your first snowball fight, Mash?"
The question earned him a surprised blink, then a short hum of thought from the girl as she pulled her lips into a thin line, cupping her chin and then nodding her head up and down after a few seconds of silence. "I didn't think it would end up being so much fun. Maybe it's the costume or maybe it's the season, but I…it felt like I was really pumped up, Senpai. As though I could keep on fighting for hours."
Clasping her hands into fists, a tiny but excited grin moved across her face as she clutched her hands close to her chest. "At first I was worried that someone might end up getting hurt but I just completely forgot about that towards the end. I didn't mind any of it and was just playing to have as much fun as possible…is that how it was for you as well, Senpai?"
With a chuckle, he nodded his head. "Yeah. Snowball fights aren't about winning or losing, they're just about having as much fun as you can with everyone involved. It's just one of those things that you have to end up doing." pausing, he shrugged his shoulders. "I guess that winning is nice, but it's more about the spirit of the game. The real win was the friends we made laugh along the way and all of that."
Mash smiled at his words, clearly in agreement with them.
"Hmph."
A cold grunt had them both turn their heads to Santoria leading from the front, casting a glance over her shoulder and fixing the both of them with an icy look. "Those are only the words of those who taste defeat and look for some excuse. Regardless of the manner of fight, you must always aim for victory. Anything less is to insult your opponent. Those fools sought to delay Christmas, thus they were deserving to face the full might of Santa and the Christmas spirit…Though if you revel in the victory, that is acceptable."
She was probably still mad that Astolfo accidentally knocked her hat off her head, he'd certainly memorised the face she made in the immediate aftermath of the incident. As well as the face of Astolfo who had gone from laughing maniac to dead man walking within the span of a single second. Quite frankly, the way his complexion turned white as the snow was almost cartoonish in nature.
"You should look to the elf manager." Santoria gave a wave of her hand in the direction of the Director, who visibly twitched at being referred to as an elf at the moment. Though Ritsuka noted she had now been promoted to elf manager, which was better than 'elf number one'. "Did you not see the silent glee in her eyes? The desire to win as she fought. Whether or not she showed a tremendous amount of skill is secondary. She understood that it was a battle to win and fought accordingly."
Olga made a low growling noise as she jerked her head to the side, folding her arms over her chest as she did so. "It was my first time ever doing something like that. I doubt you were some sort of prodigy when you first picked up a sword." the quiet grumble was met with silence from Santoria for a good few seconds, then a single scoff from them.
"That much should go without saying. The desire to win is important. Do not stop until you claim it."
His brows furrowed a touch at the back of Santoria's head as he considered the possibility of something.
Was Artoria just really competitive?
It suddenly made an awful lot of sense to him if that was the case, especially when the moment she got involved she immediately went for the fastest route to victory.
"Is there some reason you are staring at me, Rudolf?"
The words snapped him back into the present, realising that Santoria was now looking at him with those pale yellow eyes. Rolling his lips inwards, he opted to keep this theory to himself and shook his head from side to side. "No. Just…committing your words to memory is all. Making sure to always remember the path to victory. Go for the win everytime and never stop no matter how often you lose."
A grunt from Santoria and a twitch of her lips, nodding her head up and down. "Good. You understand this well enough."
Oh yeah, she definitely didn't like losing.
Something caught his eye to the left, sounds and laughter accompanied by distant shouts, he turned his head to the direction and found himself catching a glimpse of something shining within the snow, he squinted at the shape and found himself more than a little surprised at what it was. That was definitely Verndari in the distance accompanied by another figure who he would assume was Gareth.
Both of them stood atop something with their back to them and staring down at something, all the while they were calling out. Ending his walk, he raised his brows as he looked at the distance, he turned to see if any of the others had noticed and quickly found that he wasn't quite alone in noticing it either.
Santoria's head had whirled in that direction almost immediately, perhaps as soon as he had, and was fixing the distant group with a piercing stare before she opened her mouth and spoke. "We are going. None shall escape Santa's sights, especially not those of the Round Table."
He didn't quite smirk but he came close.
No matter how much she tried to comprehend the image in front of her, she was utterly unable to do so. Her lips pulled into a frown and her hands found a home on her hips, she opened and closed her mouth several times before she grunted and shook her head from side to side.
After that incident with throwing snow, she opted to avoid putting too much effort into thinking about all of this logically. The only conclusion she could come to was that there was some manner of subtle spell that was affecting the minds of everyone involved. That was the only conclusion that made sense to her-
"Are you alright?" The close whisper had her flinch, her eyes darted towards the direction of the sound and found Marie standing right next to her with a touch of worry on her face. "You look as though you're having a little bit of trouble."
She very nearly let out a derisive laugh at her words.
She settled for a half hearted huff and a roll of the eyes. "A little trouble? That would imply that this wasn't something to…" cutting herself off, she brought her hands up and pinched her brow and shook her head from side to side once more. "...This is going to end up in a report and then it's going to be an utter fiasco when it gets out…all of those…they're going to look at me as though I'm some idiot who doesn't take any of this seriously. I'm supposed to be the one who can keep a cool head and here I am throwing snow at the heads of Servants and running around dressed like an idiot."
Pulling at the outfit, she let out a low hiss as she did so. "I'm…I could understand a small party to keep morale up. I would be perfectly tolerant of something like that but every single time there is an attempt something ends up going wrong or-or some Servant breaks in and steals something or breaks something or…" her hands placed themselves against her face, she let out a groan into her palms.
It just wasn't fair.
She couldn't even let people plan out a party without them literally forming a Singularity, even if there was no proof there was no way they weren't involved with it. It was probably one of those Divine Spirits again who was doing this. It was just utterly humiliating. She couldn't even keep order around Chaldea for a single week without it breaking down for one reason or another.
"Hey." Something touched her shoulder, she pulled her hands down and looked to see Marie giving her a faint smile. "I don't think it's the sort of thing that you should be getting all worked up about. It's a bit chaotic but that's what fun is about…though at the same time, I'm probably not the best person to ask about balancing work and pleasure." she pointed out with a wry smile.
A dry huff escaped her at the words of the French Queen, rubbing her hands over her eyes and placing them on her hips. The fact she could make that sort of joke was just bewildering to her.
Marie patted her twice more on the shoulder. "Initially, I didn't know if I was going to be able to come out here but I thought that it would be such a shame if I missed and I didn't want my own bad mood to spoil all the fun…" the smile softened. "Though I'm happy I did show up to participate in all of this. It's…it's taken my mind off everything. Just running around and doing whatever you feel like in the moment without worrying about the consequences. That's probably what these sorts of situations are all about."
"I can't afford to be doing that-"
"Of course you can." Marie chided her gently "The same can be said of everyone. Even Ritsuka over there." her head jerked towards the direction of the teenager, she turned just as he climbed up the hill once again and was laughing to himself as he dragged the cross shield turned sleigh behind him.
Because apparently they all decided to go sledding down the hill and used metal shields to do so. The utterly carefree expressions on both Ritsuka and Mash were more than a little…odd. Perhaps it was because she never would have imagined the latter making that sort of face before.
"I think when you have fun moments, it makes you appreciate everything a little more. It makes you remember that there's something worth fighting for. That's why all of us were summoned to begin with. Not just to save this Christmas, but all the other Christmases that will follow. Even if not for ourselves, then for those who follow in our footsteps." Marie continued onwards, then fell silent. Olga turned back towards her as the Queen fidgeted on the spot and brought her hand up to mess with her hair, curling it around her fingers almost nervously.
"Was that a good pep-talk? I've never really tried doing something like that before and I thought it was going really well." The Queen sounded a far cry from the confident voice she had a moment ago, a flicker of doubt in her eyes as she rolled her lips. "I'm sure that someone else would have made a better speech but-"
"But nothing." Olga cut her off with a shake of her head. She got the message easy enough, even if it wasn't for herself, it was at least worth it for those who would appreciate it. That's what it was all about in the end. If it made them work harder and more determined to see this through to the end, then she couldn't hardly berate them for something like that. "...It was an adequate speech."
Marie smiled at the words and then threw her arms around her, she locked up at the contact and the suddenness of the hug as the Queen rocked them both back and forth before releasing her and pulling back. "Now come on! We can't let Ritsuka and Mash have all the fun! Besides, I've got to have some pride as a Queen to make sure that I'm at least putting up a fight against Arthur and you don't want to lose completely to Ritsuka, do you?"
She was pulling her along before she could even get a word out, dragging her up the hill and directly to Ritsuka and the others, the boy turned to her and briefly widened his eyes in surprise before he rushed out with an excited string of words. "Are you coming to sleigh as well, Director?"
"Absolutely!" Marie spoke for the both of them before she could get a word out, but it wasn't worth trying to argue against her. Not least because she couldn't physically overpower the Servant and her enthusiasm was like some sort of rapid disease. The idea had burrowed its way into her head at this point. "We're going to show you just how strong the leader elves are, right Olga?"
A huff. "Standing at the sidelines and groaning will not make this end any swifter. Getting involved is only logical."
The look he gave her was rather annoying, that knowing smirk on his face as though he was privy to some sort of secret that she wasn't aware of.
Mash was just looking at her with silent awe.
"Ho?" Arthur turned to them with a raised eyebrow. "So you grew tired of dawdling did you? Good. No elf of mine shall step back from the frontlines for long." she bit back the retort that she wasn't an elf. She hadn't made progress with it so far and she doubted it was going to change anytime soon.
That didn't stop her from glaring at them though, the fact it earned her an amused smirk was rather grating.
"You'll need this then, if you are to compete." Verndari approached them with the shield, a loose bit of rope tied around the handle inside of it to act as reigns. Handing it to Marie and stepping back. "I wish you fortune in this task, if nothing else. King Arthur has proven themselves to be rather formidable thus far."
Yes, because she was using an actual sleigh and had demanded they go again after she lost the race the first six or so times. That was the only reason they had been around as long as they had in the first place.
"Come on, Olga!" With an excited giggle, Marie took her by the wrist and dragged her again, nearly pulling her over if she hadn't managed to catch her feet at the last second, coming upon the edge of the hill and at the mouth of the incline leading straight down to the clearing.
She dropped the shield down, and in the next moment, Olga found herself sitting on the shield with Marie's arms wrapped around her waist and the Queen breathing into the back of her neck. She froze up from the position before she furrowed her brows and looked around. "W-wait a moment! Aren't you the Rider Servant? Why aren't you the one in front?"
A giggle from behind. "Because that wouldn't be very sporting would it? Besides, Ritsuka is the one doing all of this himself." Sure enough, there was a crunch of snow and she turned her head to see Fujimaru place Mash's shield down next to her and take a seat inside of it, Mash took a position behind him and placed her hands on his shoulders.
Ritsuka sent her a challenging grin, an almost childish taunt as well.
Then Arthur's sleigh formed next to them and the King assumed an almost casual position with one leg crossed over the other, glancing to the others with a raised eyebrow and an almost taunting grin on her features as though she already knew what the outcome was going to be.
That stung a little.
With a glare at the King, she wrapped the ropes around her hands and pulled tightly. She'd show her for calling her an elf all those times, it would be pretty embarrassing if Santa managed to lose a race against a 'mere elf' or something like that. It might have been exceedingly petty of her, but the thought of it was reward enough that she was now incentivised to win.
"On your marks."
The other three Servants took their positions behind them, ready to give them all the starting push.
"Get set."
Her eyes narrowed, she took in a sharp breath.
"Go!"
A shove from the back, then they were rushing downhill.