HO HO HO SEASON IS HERE GUYS! this story is a christmas special thingy for broken quartz so pls read it if u haven't! chapters in this might be shorter than the main fic btw
"MERRY SQUIDMAS!" shouted Celeste excitedly as she busted through the door. "BEHAVE OR ELSE IT'S COAL FOR YOU!" followed Ember. "I just woke up, why did you bring Ember over?" groaned Cerulean. "That attitude's gonna get you coal, Ceru!" chuckled Haru.
Quartz had never heard of Squidmas before, so he just stood there looking stupid. "QUARTZ, SHOW ME THAT SPIRIT!" shouted Ember. "How can I show spirit for something I've never heard of?" sighed the young octoling. "OH CARP I FORGOT!" exclaimed Ember in a slight panic. "Celeste, do show my dear nephew what Squidmas is!" she grinned goofily.
"Yes, Ember MA'AM!" saluted the octoling girl, running off with Quartz. "You should be just as obedient to me as she is to you." remarked Cerulean to Ember.
Celeste took Quartz to the heart of Splatsville. "Let's see what's in the shops!" she smiled. "Is there a Splatfest going on?" asked Quartz, observing the colorful decorations around the plaza. "No silly! Those are Squidmas lights!" laughed Celeste. "And are those guys Squidmas characters or something?" he asked, referring to decorations of snow squids, snow octopi and Squid Claus. "You could call em' that." shrugged the older octoling.
The shop they went into was full of sale signs, and poor Quartz was being dragged around to check out every single sale that was going on. Boxes upon boxes of Squidmas lights, trees, and ornaments were in every store they walked into. An hour hadn't even passed by yet and Celeste was struggling to carry bags full of ornaments. "The hell do you need those things for?" questioned her younger brother. "The Squidmas tree, duh!" she answered. "Dad Ceru bought this GINORMOUS tree and we don't have enough to fill EVERY. LAST. BRANCH."
"OH MY GOSH! IS THAT OFF THE HOOK?!" squealed Celeste, bolting off to meet Pearl and Marina, and leaving Quartz in the dust.
"Ah, Quartz! I'm not surprised to see you here." greeted a familiar octoling. "Hiroko!" smiled Quartz, hugging her. "Are you here to buy Squidmas presents for your family?" she asked.
"Presents?"
"Oh right, you might not know this, but on Squidmas, people buy presents for each other. I buy presents for my army because I'm grateful for all their support over the years."
Quartz was a bit surprised, he had maybe a week or two to buy presents for the people in his life. Cerulean, Haru, Ember, Celeste, Bay, Kai, Hiroko, and maybe even Sunset if they run into each other! "Can you help me?" he asked. "I don't have enough time today, but I can give you a suggestion– Think about what the person likes most, or something they really need." replied Hiroko.
"Miss Hiroko! We're gonna be late for that meeting!" called out one of the few soldiers accompanying her. "Coming, Sakura." replied Hiroko. "I hope we can meet again soon, Quartz." smiled the elite, hugging him again. "I'll try to make it over to your house for Squidmas."
The dark purple octoling watched her run off to catch up with her group as Celeste came back. "QUARTZ! I GOT THEIR AUTOGRAPHS! AAAAAAAAAH!" she squealed and fangirled. Quartz just shook his head. "You didn't tell me we had to buy presents!" he grumbled. "Oh, sorryyyy!" Celeste laughed sheepishly. "Kinda forgot about that!"
The two walked home, hefting boxes and bags of all the stuff Celeste bought. Ember ambushed the octoling boy when he stepped inside. "Tell me QUARTZ BOY, what did you learn on your educational outing?" Quartz just looked at her as if she was completely insane. "Uh…You gotta decorate trees and give people presents." he answered.
In the evening, Quartz found himself in the exact situation he expected to be in– What is he buying for his family and friends? He thought of what Hiroko said, but what would the stores sell and how could he get all this stuff in a week?!
"Quartz! Uncle Ash is here!" called Celeste. Quartz had never met Ash before, but he heard Cerulean's stories about him. The dark purple octoling got out of his seat and went into the kitchen.
"HEY BIG GUY!" shouted the older inkling, ruffling Quartz's mohawk and holding his hand out for a fistbump. "Come on man, I was hopin' you'd be cool!" scoffed Ash, noticing Quartz's quiet and somewhat stoic response. "You're scaring the boy." muttered Cerulean. "And hello to you, lil man!" laughed Ash, giving Cerulean a nuggie and stealing his hat. "Quingle, was it?" he asked Quartz. "Quartz." sighed the octoling.
"Y'know Quartz, Ceru here is a real awesome guy! When he was 4, Milli and I couldn't find him, until he walked into the door covered in mud! He thought-"
"DON'T TELL HIM THAT!" cut in Cerulean.
"BRO YOU THOUGHT HUMANS LIVED DEEP IN THE MUD AND NEARLY DIED TRYING TO MEET EM!" guffawed Ash, his laugh sounding almost completely insane. Cerulean blushed in embarrassment, wishing his brother would just shut the fuck up. Quartz couldn't help but find this hilarious.
Ash looked in the fridge. "Dude, where the hell are your snacks?!" he sighed. "I dunno, why don't you buy them yourself?" Cerulean scoffed. Ash laughed. "Great idea! I'll take Quartz with me so he can see that I'm the better Moon brother!"
The blue inkling shook his head. "Hah, there's no way he'd agree to that!" He looked at Quartz, hoping he was right. "Oh no, I'll go with him." said the octoling. "TOLD YA!" laughed Ash, happily skipping out the front door with Quartz. "HAVE FUN MOVING MY BAGS UPSTAIRS, CER-CRAP-LEAN!"
"Damn, what a dick! He was so real for that!" giggled Ember, referring to Ash. "You wouldn't get it Ember, I bet you're the same with Flint." grumbled Cerulean.
Ash took Quartz to a cheap little convenience store near Deep Cut's studio. "Back in Ceru and I's days, this place would've been robbed 50 times over!" chuckled Ash. While the older inkling looked around for snacks like chips and candy, Quartz took a gander at the Squidmas ornaments. The one that caught his eye were a pack of beautiful light-up squids and octopi, in the colors blue, pink, gold and purple– Just like his family.
"So, what are ya getting for your folks?" asked Ash as the two paid for their items. "Ash, you know dad Ceru pretty well, what would he want for Squidmas?" asked Quartz, dodging the inkling's question. Ash thought about it for a moment. "He really likes old video games, but he's always been about handmade stuff. He's a sentimental guy." he said.
A small smile formed under Quartz's mask. "Thanks." he smiled. "No problem kid!" laughed Ash. The two were laughing all the way home while the inkling told Quartz about all of the embarrassing things Cerulean did as a kid. "And then the soda exploded all over his face!" cackled Ash. When they got home, Haru was scrolling through Squidflix on the TV. "Welcome back, Quartz." he smiled, trying to ignore Ash.
"You do anything unspeakable to my bro?" asked Ash in a very intimidating tone. Haru shook his head nervously. "Hm. You better be speaking facts." said Ash, lowly. "Shut up!" groaned Cerulean, walking in after overhearing them. "You're just jealous that no one will ever do those unspeakable things to you." he added quietly.
"Dad Haru, are we watching a Squidmas movie?" asked Quartz, who sat on the couch and began looking through Squidflix himself. Haru nodded. "We're watching-"
"HOME ALONE!" shouted Celeste, as Ember ran into the room, snagged the remote, and put on the movie. "Uh…Okay!" laughed Haru. Everyone sat on the couch together with snacks and blankets. Cerulean snuggled up next to Haru under a blanket, causing Ash to glare at the octoling. Celeste was ready to explain every last detail about the movie to Quartz, while Ember hung upside-down.
A bit later, Quartz got an idea on what to get Cerulean, and abruptly rushed upstairs to his room. He found an old picture frame, and took out a bunch of paint. He painted the frame in lovely shades of blue and orange, sprinkling small bits of glitter on the wet paint. "Wait, crap! What am I gonna put in this thing?" he asked himself, a bit frustrated. He didn't know what photo to put in the frame once it was done, but he knew it had to be special to Cerulean.
He also began thinking about the next gift he was going to get, Quartz decided that Ember would be the easiest, because she constantly made it clear that she wanted a "cool and flashy new weapon that Marie finds hot." The octoling didn't know Marie too well, but he could probably figure out what's "flashy and cool."
"QUARTZ! SQUEVIN'S WATCHING THE MOVIE WHERE HE SAYS THE LINE!" shouted Celeste from downstairs. "Coming!" he replied, running down the stairs and back to the couch.
"Keep the change, you filthy animal!"
To be continued!
Merry early christmas! i'm writing the chapters ahead of time so i can finish this by christmas day :)
I like to think home alone is a famous ancient human film that got a modern adaptation with cephalopods lmao
rip to splat 1's servers tho :(