As much of a dampener as Stella's 'no killing' rule put on the situation, Duman couldn't stop the shiver of excitement that coursed through him as he glanced around, looking for a solution. Sure, he could just turn into a wolverine and slash his way outta these ropes, maul (but not kill, ugh, Stella was such a wuss) all these goons, but that was boring! It was Christmas! The time for creative violence! Or at least that was what the last-minute shoppers had taught him.

Ooh, tinsel! That looked fun! Pitching forwards, he grabbed the decoration adorning the edge of the desk with his teeth, tearing it away and whipping it towards the polar bears. Unsurprisingly, nothing much happened.

From the floor, Stella visibly wanted to facepalm, despite her bound hands. 'What's the plan, Duman?!'

'You wanted a plan, you shoulda brought Ogron!' Oh, wait, magic. Amazing how often one could forget that. The candy canes Don evidently kept around just to put in his mouth to look cool shot into the air, buzzing menacingly over the desk. Yes, candy canes didn't buzz. Yes, he was doing that himself, leave him alone. What sound effect was he meant to add, bells? Don't make him laugh. Seriously, don't, he was making an image here.

'Merry frickin' Christmas, bears!' The canes shot at their captors, embedding themselves in walls behind bears that had dropped to the floor as fast as their huge, furry legs would allow. Nice! Wreaths flipped off the wall and around them, binding their arms as Duman gave in and snickered. God, Christmas had some fun stuff to hit people with…these guys have a reindeer? He'd never hit anyone with a reindeer before…

'Duman!' Stella called, slicing at her ropes with a piece of shattered bauble. 'I love this, great job on avoiding the murdering, but we still have a ticking clock here!'

'Fiiiiiiiine,' Duman huffed. As Stella got to her feet, he called up the image of a sick giant eagle he could soar away as. There we go, now to- the huh?!

He fell off the chair, slapping into the ground, his oddly long beak smarting.

'What the heck…'

'Duman? You- huh? …I know you wanna be festive here, but- don't you think that's going a tad far?'

Duman stared down at himself, letting out a squawk of alarm when he saw his not-an-eagle body. Instead of wings, flippers rested at his sides, while tiny feet waddled their way under his stout body. He was a penguin! And not even one of the cool ones from Madagascar! Why was he a penguin?! He'd planned on eagle! Eagle, eagle, eagle! But despite his attempts to pull his body into that of a strong bird of prey, it stayed decidedly cute and cuddly.

'Duman, c'mon, they're getting out of the wreaths!' Which, given their size and strength, Duman really should've seen coming.

He tried yet again to turn into an eagle, but reaped no reward, only continued cuteness.

'Duman, c'mon!' Stella grabbed the eggnog, then, taking in Duman's stubbornness to fix this rather than just call it a lost cause, she grabbed her penguin buddy, pelting for the door as Duman let out a squawk of protest.

'Turn human!'

'I'm trying to turn into an eagle!'

'Give up!'

'How dare you!'

'You give up on lots of things!'

'Boring things, have you freakin' seen an eagle? They're awesome!'

'You know what's more awesome? Not getting eaten by bears!'

'…Mm…yeah, I'm still gonna go with eagles.'

'Screw the eagles!'

There was a loud bang, and Stella hit the deck. 'They're shooting at us?! What kind of Christmas special is this?! I swear, author, you're gonna get it for this! I'm so not showing up in your next story!' Okay, I'll give Tecna the screen time then. 'Good, she needs it!'

'Calm down, Stell, it's still a Christmas special.' Duman rolled out of her arms, sighing and turning human again. He picked up the 'bullet' holding it up and licking it. This was no bullet. It was a piece of candy cane, the hard sugar almost powdered from the impact. Mm, yummy!

'People are shooting, that's not festive!'

'Diehard is festive.'

'What?! No it's not!'

'It's a Christmas movie.'

'No it isn't.'

Duman had to take a second to catch his breath. 'Stell…because we're friends…I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that.'

Stella scrambled to her feet, dragging a bookcase between them and the bears with her magic. 'We gotta go!'

'Without paying for the eggnog?!' Duman gasped theatrically. 'Oh, why, Stella! You've become a criminal!'

'Good thing I look good in orange…' she muttered, running down the corridor. Duman pelted after her, his desire to get shot by a candy cane marginally less than he might have purported. Though that'd be a cool way to die…

The bears, being giant apex predators and all, made quick work of the bookcase, tearing through and surging after them like a blizzard of white and aggression. More candy canes shot at them, embedding themselves in the walls with more force than one would expect from hardened sugar. Duman snatched one out of midair and popped it as a snack.

'Seriously?'

'I need the blood sugar.'

'…'

Stella popped one of her own a moment later. '…Surprisingly good, for something trying to kill us.'

'I know, right?'

Something much larger shot past them, and Duman had to swerve before his feet could be sliced up on the sudden pile of delicate, shattered glass. Was that a Christmas bauble? Was that another one, flying for Stella?

'Stell!' He grabbed her wrist, yanking her aside and in front of him, exhaling as the projectile shot past both of them to shatter uselessly against a statue of a polar bear evidently pretending to think important things.

'That was close…' Stella breathed, picking up the pace. Now that she was in front of him, Duman had to squint slightly in the twinkle-lights from her wings. What was with fairies and glittering? Not that he was always averse to a bit of sparkle. But still. It was a lot. Very in his face. Literally.

'Fire!' They were firing? What had they been doing up to this point?!

Something black slammed into Duman from behind, and he hit the ground, struggling madly. What was this?! He couldn't move! Oh no…

Christmas lights! A huge, tangled mass of lights bound his arms at his sides, leaving him struggling like a beached fish. Christmas lights never untangled! It took the patience of a saint to not give in and throw them out a window! He was doomed!

'Duman!' Stella dropped to her knees, yanking at the lights. 'What is this madness?!' She tried desperately to find an end, but any time she seemed to have succeeded, all she'd found was a lone bulb. Any end she pulled on only tightened this mess, all while they blinked on and off like a festive rave.

'What is this?!'

'Christmas lights!'

The polar bears got closer, and Stella and Duman exchanged a look.

'…Hurry and get me out!'

'Isn't this the part where you say to leave you behind and save myself?'

'Are you crazy?! I'm too funny to die, get me outta here!'

The bears came close enough that he could start to smell their fish breath, and he changed his mind. Stella was too awesome to die! Ugh, but he so wasn't saying that dumb hero cliche…was there a way to sacrifice oneself without it being stupid and cheesy? Maybe if he said to leave him behind or die…nah, she'd totally choose die. Dammit, why did he have to have such a caring friend whose love made him feel all warm and fuzzy and valued?!

'Stella…' An idea suddenly occurred to him. 'Pull the lights as far away from me as you can! Then run!'

Stella obliged, creating a little more room. Not enough to escape, but…easy enough for a penguin! His still annoyingly cute body shot out of the bindings, sliding along the polished floors.

'Nice!' Stella pelted after him, her wings fluttering and lifting her to skim low alongside him. 'We got a plan to get outta here?'

'When do we ever?'

Dodging the deadly lights, they rushed back towards where they'd got in. They ran into a huge old library, and Duman skidded to a halt.

'Duman!'

'One sec!' He turned human and grabbed something from the wall, running after Stella once again. This was gonna be a fun getaway…

'Ooh, that's looks like fun!'

'I know, right?'

The chill wind whistled its way through the window they'd broken earlier, and Duman almost snagged another piece of sugar from the floor. But that'd ruin this sick exit.

'So long, suckers!' Grabbing Stella's hand, he jumped out the window, landing both of them on the elegant sled he'd snagged from the library and pushing off, sending them zipping down the hill towards the fence.

Gripping the reins tight, he dodged the projectiles shooting at them, aiming right for their way out. One quick blast of magic had the candy cane gates melting away, and they shot out onto the street.

'Shoulda just taken card!' Stella yelled behind them as their pursuers turned into tiny white dots in the distance.

'Hell yeah!'

Polar bears gawked at the strange sight, two humans atop a sled zigzagging through town, but their shocked stares were there only a moment, and then Stella and Duman were gone.

'Woooooooooooo!' Stella's cry of excitement howled alongside the wind, and they slid out of town, back into the twinkling night, replete with the first item on their quest.

'I gotta admit,' Duman called back into the wind. 'This was kinda fun!'