XMAS 2023:
Bless This Guy With Presents
A snowball came flying and hit me square on my face. "OI!"
"Come on, throw one back!" said Saber. He had another snowball ready to be thrown.
"I'm in like 3 layers of clothing. I can't bend down."
"I thought you wanted to be outside!"
I struggled to maintain my balance on the icy ground that was tiring me. "I do but-" I panted for a bit before continuing, "Moving is just so fuckin' miserable- WOAH!"
The ground was covered in a layer of ice and I was sliding all over the place. My shoes weren't helping with this case, in fact, my theory is that I think it's the cause of it. If I had shoes that had the sole for this occasion, I'd probably be fine.
"Just kneel down or something ow- BLEH- Oh it got in my mouth!"
In the distance, Russ laughed his heart out. Saber was… grinning like a maniac at that point. "So it's going to be like that, huh?"
Oh shit, he's going to destroy a child. MY CHILD!
I was about to intervene, but turns out… Russ had the same idea. "Riolu…"
Both of them looked like maniacs now and that's not ideal. However, I couldn't step in since I myself was busy trying to get some grip.
"Wait- HOLD ON-"
I was too late. Snow floated beside Saber and was formed into perfectly sphere snowballs. Russ gritted his teeth with two snowballs in his paws, ready to shoot. The question now is who will make the first move.
Saber sprung into action, launching all those snowballs towards Russ. I panicked, but Russ was swift. He somehow dodged the barrage of snowballs flying directly at him and in one quick motion, he threw both of his snowballs at once back towards Saber.
They were having fun having a snowball fight but they were making quite a chaotic sight. All around, people watched as snowballs flew everywhere, even hitting me once in a while.
After spending some time outside with the snow, we decided we had enough, or rather, I decided that we had enough because everybody was staring at us because of the intense snowball fight they had. It was not ideal. I begged Saber to teleport us back to the apartment since I couldn't handle walking back like this.
When Saber eventually teleported us back, Ryna was a bit crossed. I understand why she did because we were in the snow for quite a long time so when we got in, we still had snow on us and the snow ended up falling on the floor and carpet and making it wet.
I apologise on behalf of the three of us and only then, I took off my jacket and another jacket on top of it.
"Since when do we have this?" I hung my jacket on a hook near the front door.
"Did you not notice it today?"
"No?"
Standing just in front of me was a Christmas tree, just about 4 feet tall. There were ornaments and a star present on the tree to decorate it. Underneath it were presents; I don't know if it's actual presents or it's just there for decoration.
"I didn't know you guys had Christmas?"
Holy shit. That means it's the most wonderful time of the year.
I wanna try Sprite Cranberry so badly now.
Ryna looked at me quizzically. "We do?"
"What's it about?"
Dumb question, I know but I simply had to know. I had to know if they do things differently here.
I didn't even notice that she now had a Christmas hat on. "I figured you'd ask me that. Sit down and let me tell you a quick story."
Once upon a time, there was a Delibird and it had a miserable life. It was hungry and thirsty until one day, it stumbled upon an old woman that took it in.
The old woman took care of it very well. She fed it, sheltered it, and gave it warmth and love. For the first time in its life, the Delibird felt loved.
Occasionally, the old woman gave it food every single day, which it was very grateful for though, as time passed, the old woman grew ever so frail. She could no longer take care of herself, and oftentimes, the Delibird was there to help her. The Delibird never complained. In fact, it strives to help her whenever, and wherever it could.
Unfortunately one day, the old woman passed. The Delibird wept and wept until there were no tears left to give, and from that day onwards, it vowed to honour her by giving food to people in need, the same way she had done all those years ago.
"And that's also why they have a sack. That's just the shortened story, obviously and nor am I a good storyteller but you get the point." Ryna took a sip from her smiley emoji mug.
"Riolu…"
"I kid you not, she tells this story every single Christmas."
Ryna pointed at both Mana and Saber. "Youuuuu guys insisted that I do it!"
Mana gave Ryna a smug grin as she fist-bumped (paw-bumped?) Saber.
"Hang on, what does food in its sack have to do with gifts?"
"I dunno." Ryna took a deep breath before continuing, "Okay, look. Let's not get bogged down on this, yeah? Ben, did you bring anything? Any gifts to be put under the tree?"
"N- no? I didn't know we were doing this. No one told me."
"Ben… It's Christmas. Christmas is Christmas regardless if you're from this planet or not."
"I thought you guys did things differently here! I didn't know you guys had Christmas in the first place."
"Look, it's fine. One of us is not going to get a gift this year and I'm gonna take it for you guys. It's going to be me and that's fine." Ryna chuckled. "It's my money, anyway."
Ryna clapped her hands together and smiled. "Right, which one of you are going first?"
"We're doing it now-?"
"I'll take it."
Saber didn't waste any more time and went straight for the presents. He didn't even have to physically get the present. Whatever present he chose, the wrapper of it disintegrated on the spot. And then, he pulled it towards himself with his powers.
It all happened in just a matter of seconds and to be quite frank, I felt the 'woosh' of the wind as the present came flying by.
"Oh cool. It's… What is this- Oh- It's a mug?"
"Ah, better yet, it's a mug that keeps your drink hot or cold."
"Ryna… I absolutely love you. Thank you so much," Saber said.
"Let's move on. Mana, it's your turn. Go on."
"Flareon!"
The present she chose was considerably bigger than Saber's. He had used his telekinesis-physic-power-whatever-
"It's just ripping things with telekinesis."
Shut up.
Anyway, Mana didn't have that sort of luxury, nor can she set the wrapper on fire because she'd end up setting the present inside on fire too.
And the other presents.
And the tree.
And eventually the whole apartment along with all the other apartments in the same building.
It'd be a catastrophic tragedy!
So what she did is-
"Flarwwww"
She just went in and bit off the wrapper.
When all the wrappers came off, what remained was a box with a picture of something that looked like a torture machine. "What's that?" I asked.
"Just wait," Ryna said bluntly.
Mana, being the Flareon that she is, had a hard time getting it out of the box but eventually, she did.
"That looks… explicit."
Ryna turned to me and asked, "How?"
"It looks like something people use to… pleasure themselves."
"Well, that's just you!"
"Flareon! Flare-eon!" Mana barked angrily. She grumbled at her gift, clearly not enjoying Christmas anymore. I feel very much guilty afterwards…
The room was filled with awkward silence as everyone processed what I said though Russ didn't seem to mind at all, in fact, he was a little bit bewildered about why everyone was suddenly so quiet.
"Come on, you just get in- Well, she does because she's small enough and you press a button and it massages her. There's nothing explicit about it- He's still smiling!"
I chuckled before I got a hold of myself. "Look- I uh… I'm sorry. Can we move on?" I said, covering my smile and dismissing the whole misunderstanding. Saber on the other hand was still left agape at my words. Poor guy, he probably read my mind and saw what I was thinking.
Pffft… that's his fault for invading my privacy.
"Ben, you've scarred me for life."
Now we know he did read my mind.
"Alright, Ben, your turn. Choose a present- Eh, it's only one," Ryna said, gesturing to the remaining wrapped present under the tree.
"I guess this one's for both of us, Russ. Let's open it."
"Riolu!"
Russ barked in agreement, and together, we approached the lone wrapped gift under the Christmas tree. It was a medium-sized box adorned with festive wrapping paper and a neatly tied ribbon.
I was genuinely curious about what could be inside, and it seemed like Russ shared the same sentiment. This world showed me things that otherwise couldn't exist, physics that otherwise can't even happen. Ryna likes to surprise me, that's what I noticed during my time in this place so I figured it's something that would really blow me away.
I figured this world is in a way like a DLC or an expansion update. Who knows what could be in this box? Well, aside from Ryna, of course.
I grabbed the gift, noticing that the wrapping paper had a festive design with snowflakes and reindeer. I tore it open, revealing a small box. On it says, 'For Ben and Russ.'
Together, we opened the box.
"YOOOO! It's a hoodie!"
"Yes, I got that for you and I got another one just for Russ."
Both of our hoodies boasted a simple design – primarily dark blue with black trim – and to be quite frank, it looks pretty sleek. It even matches Russ himself!
"Try it," Ryna insisted.
I slipped on the hoodie, feeling the warmth and comfort it provided. Russ seemed keen on putting his on, but couldn't figure out how to. He grumbled in annoyance before I came in and offered my help.
I chuckled. "Alright, let me help you, buddy." I gently placed the hoodie over Russ. His ears flicked back his head popped out of the hoodie. The satisfaction in his eyes was as clear as day. It was a simple gesture, but it looked like it meant a lot. Once it was on, he shook himself a bit, clearly enjoying the snug fit.
I looked at Ryna with gratitude. "Thanks, Ryna. This is great."
"It's Christmas! This is what everyone does- Well, apart from you."
"You don't have to make me feel guilty about it!"
"Anyway, I'm gonna fill my mug with hot chocolate now." In an instant, the seat that Saber occupied became vacant as I heard a distant clattering of spoons and forks.
"CRAP!"
I "But for real, though. You didn't have to go through all this effort for this."
"Come on, of course, I have to," Ryna said, "You are my… kid?" she trailed off, adding to the awkwardness.
"...I… technically…"
I'm still not used nor will I ever get used to being referred to as 'Ryna's child' even by law.
I'll just sweep that under the rug… that is until someone mentions it.
But hey, WE GOT A HOODIE! For Christmas! And I think that's great!
"The hot chocolate's good isn't it?"
"Yeah…"
"I like hot chocolate and I like oranges."
"Yep, I love hot chocolate, I love oranges. Goes well like fried chicken and a nice pencil. Why would you put oranges in your hot chocolate?"
"Hey, I like it and this is mine. You're not drinking it."
"Whatever, man. Cheers."
We raised our mugs together, savouring the warmth of the hot chocolate in the midst of the snowy evening. There was no fireplace to keep us warm in this modest apartment, nor were there a lot of Christmas decorations around the place, but the heaters did their job and the Christmas tree was all we ever needed.
On top of all, the Christmas spirits were present, and quite frankly, that is all that matters.
WC: 2075
AN: Merry Christmas. I know it's late and everybody's off to celebrate New Year now. As of writing this, it's currently 12:26am on New Year's Eve. Therefore, I do apologize for posting this late.
The plan was to post another chapter before writing this one but eventually I got stuck, so I decided to write this first before I figure out how to progress it.
Just a heads up, this is not canon. It's meant to be a fun little chapter of the characters goofing around.
Anyway, merry (late) Christmas and a Happy New Year to all of you. Thank you so much for taking some time to read this fanfiction.
Here's to a great year. Cheers.
- Exotic, on the last day of 2023
