Mistletoe
by Meitora
*****
AUTHOR'S (oh so important) NOTE:
As it has been pointed out that there is no disclaimer for "Triad" or "Guidance from the Soul", I shall put one here, and, since we all know that I am not Mr. Peel, and I am making no money, we'll just leave it at that, and consider this disclaimer enough for the other two, as well. Hooray!
Anyway, this is just a silly little fluff piece just in time for Christmas. Even if you don't celebrate, I trust that you know what mistletoe is anyway.
So here it is, my Christmas (*lawyer coughs discreetly*), er... HOLIDAY present to all of you. Voila:
*****
" 'Twas the Night before Christmas, and all through the castle, not a magician was stirring, not even a...damn." Score paused his composition and hollered up the stairs "WHAT RHYMES WITH CASTLE?"
"Wreaths!" Helaine called down.
Score glared "That doesn't rhyme with-oof." Several large green wreaths landed on him, stifling his complaint. He tossed them behind him. "What was that for?"
Helaine's flustered blond head peeked out the attic. "Sorry," she apologized. "I did warn you." She tossed down something else. "Take these too."
Score caught the stockings and grinned. He had made them himself four years ago, at their first Christmas. The stitching was uneven, and Helaine had nearly died laughing when she learned he sewed something, but they weren't all that bad.
Christmas was Score's favorite holiday. When his mother was still alive, she would decorate a tree, bake cookies, and put candles in the window of their grimy apartment. Christmas was when Score's neighbors went caroling in the Bowery, when he wasn't afraid to stay out a little later playing in the snow. Bad things never happened at Christmas. Even after his mother died, Score and Bad Tony would still go to Mass, and his father would stay in the apartment, instead of going out drinking with his buddies. It was the one day of the year they pretended to like each other.
Helaine levitated the box containing the tree ornaments carefully down from the attic. Score took it from her magical grasp and set it gently down next to the wreaths and stockings. By their Dondar calendar, which Pixel had cleverly figured out, it would be Christmas in a week.
Score had arbitrarily picked the day in the dead of winter their first year together. "It's Christmas Eve!" He'd declared in the middle of dinner one evening. "And we haven't gotten a tree yet!" It hadn't been too hard to get Helaine to go along with the project. Apparently she celebrated a similar holiday back on Ordin. Pixel on the other hand...
"Isn't it very impractical to wrap gifts just to have someone unwrap them? Why not just give it to them straight-away?" Or, even worse, "Do you realize how impossible it would be for a frail old man to visit every single house on your world in one night? Let alone know what every child wants! Score, I'm afraid you've been duped. There is no Santa Claus."
At the present moment, Pixel was spelling the lights on the outside of the castle. It had taken awhile, but Score persuaded some Christmas spirit to invade Pixel's analytical mind. Now the blue-skinned boy enjoyed the holiday as much as the other two. >
Helaine climbed down the attic stairs and dusted her hands. "I think that's it." She said loudly, then leaned in close to Score. "What are you getting Pixel?" She whispered with a little huff of air into his ear. He sort of wished she was saying something else.
"Er...a book."
Helaine withdrew slightly. "You get him that every year!" She protested with a teasing smile. >br>
"Yeah, and he likes it every year too. I'd say it's a pretty darn good present." Score brushed some cobwebs out of Helaine's hair. He shuddered as he found an unhappy spider, and flicked it towards the attic. Helaine laughed at his reaction.
"I say, it's a good thing I go up there, because you never would. There's all kinds of spiders living in the attic...lots bigger than that," She poked his nose with a grin. "You coward." >br>
Score smiled in turn and snatched at her finger, pulling her close again. "What are you getting Pixel?" he whispered to her face. Helaine raised an eyebrow and leaned in to his ear.
"Not telling!"
Score turned to meet her face. "Tell me!" He said a little louder.
"Nope!" Helaine grinned mischievously.
"Please?" When that didn't work, Score poked her side, eliciting a very un-Helaine-like squeal. She squirmed out of his grasp and ran halfway up the attic stairs.
"Ha!" She crowed. Score laughed and darted after her, catching her by the heel at the top of the stairs, so she fell, giggling, onto the....carpet? Looking up at the nicely-furnished attic, Score tripped, landing on the floor next to Helaine. He pulled himself up on his elbows and scowled at the rather luxurious room.
"There aren't any spiders up here." He muttered.
Helaine, now rolled onto her back, smiled up at Score. "I know."
"I thought it was really gross and dirty!" He looked down at her
"It's not." The laughter subsided and they both spoke softly.
"Then how did you..." he reached over and touched her hair, splayed out on the other side of her, still with spiderwebs in it.
"It's a secret." She whispered.
"Tell me."
Helaine looked directly into Score's eyes, calculating something. His mouth felt dry and his pulse was racing. Did she know she did this to him? Finally, she smiled coyly and crooked a finger at him.
"Okay." She put one hand behind his neck and pulled his face down to meet hers. She smells like cinnamon, thought Score absentmindedly.
"Hey, guys?" Pixel. Damn.
Score and Helaine jumped away from each other and sat up, each looking away. Pixel's head popped up from the stairs. "I'm finished with the lights." He took another look at the two, sprawled awkwardly, and with a suspicious frown added; "What were you doing?"
"Er..."
"Uh..."
"Score was helping me...look for my ring... that...fell off." Helaine scrambled to her feet and smoothed some non-existent wrinkles in her shirt.
"Yeah.... I was."
Pixel's eyes narrowed. "Well, it's right there on your finger."
Helaine looked down at her hand dumbly for a few seconds. "So it is. How silly of me. I'm going to go hang stockings." She pushed past Pixel and skittered down the stairs.
Pixel turned his gaze to Score, still sitting. Score shrugged. "Did you know this was up here?" He asked the smaller boy, gesturing to the walls.
"Of course. Helaine and I used to come up all the time."
Oh. So THAT'S how it worked.
"Don't look at me like that. We always ended up talking about you." Pixel put his hands on his hips.
Oh?
"Stop it. It was a long time ago. Really. We were twelve." Pixel was blushing, which, combined with his blue skin, created a strange shade of puce. "Anyway, there's Lia. So knock it off."
Lia. That was Pixel's Internet girlfriend from some middle circuit world. Score had only spoken to her once. He didn't like computers much, not since he'd accidentally downloaded a virus onto one at the New York City Public Library and had his card revoked by a stern librarian. Pixel wired a complicated network of computers within their first year on Dondar, powered by magic, a few pieces of cheese, and little white mice. He had been "seeing" the sorceress via camera for at least a year, and was planning to take a trip out to her world in the springtime.
Score sighed, stood, and followed Pixel down, wondering what might have happened if the other boy hadn't interrupted.
*****
It was an orange tree. Almost a honey color. Mmmm...honey. The first batch of cookies was almost ready. It was rather amusing that she, Helaine Votrin, abhorrer of all things domestic, was baking cookies. Something about the Christmas holiday made her want things to be...homey.
They didn't call it Christmas on her world, of course. It was Weissnacht, literally, white night. But it was a celebration of light and family in the winter, with heavy religious connotations she didn't really remember. She'd always found it hard to stay awake during the midnight chapel services.
Besides, it was much easier to be domestic when you had magic at your disposal. Helaine levitated glops of dough onto the baking sheet and roasted them with a special modification of the Shriker Kula prior spell, so her cookies turned out perfectly every time. She had spells for measuring and mixing ingredients too. In effect, baking was not the chore it had been on her world, thus making it more appealing.
It was the day before Christmas Eve. She hummed to herself as she cut little gingerbread men out of the dough. The recipe came from Earth, and this was the first year she was attempting to make them, as a treat for Score. Pixel had downloaded it off his computer-thing for her. She wasn't even sure if Score liked this kind of cookie. She'd just asked Pixel for an Earth Christmas cookie recipe. Apparently, Score's people also made houses out of the gingerbread, although Helaine thought this rather impractical...how would people live in cookie homes? Wouldn't the rats and dogs eat it? Wouldn't they get soggy in the rain?
It certainly smelled delicious, though.
Helaine sent a wave of fire to cook the gingerbread men and women. Yum. After a look to make sure nobody was around, she bit the head off one of the men. That quick act of cannibalism was soon followed by another, until the whole fellow was gone. Helaine laughed guiltily and squeezed frosting in the shape of a smile onto one of his compatriots. She just started on the rest of his face when Score peered around the corner of the kitchen.
"Gingerbread?" He sounded stunned.
Helaine smiled.
"I can't believe it."
She handed him the man with frosting on. The cookie smiled happily, oblivious to his fate. Score held it gently, and stared.
"My mother used to bake gingerbread."
Helaine took his hand across the countertop and smiled. She had a streak of flour on her shirt, and her hair was pulling out in wisps from her braids. Their eyes locked.
"Helaine, I....I..."
"Yes?"
"Thank you. This is...simply amazing." He looked down at the gingerbread man, then decapitated the poor little guy. Yummy.
*****
In accordance with their tradition, the three decorated their tree on Christmas Eve, after supper. Score transfigured the orange monstrosity into a cone-shaped evergreen. As always, the glass gold baubles from their first tree, bobbed gracefully around the tree, glowing slightly. Helaine and Pixel, noses still red from the cold, had brought in armfuls of scarlet blossoms from the wilds of Dondar, affixing them to the branches with quick spells. Finally, Helaine levitated the brilliant star to the top of the eleven foot high tree, the crowning glory it was meant to be.
The three admired their handiwork for awhile. This tree, they agreed, was better than the last. But they said that every year. Pixel yawned sleepily.
"The earlier you get to bed, the earlier Santa Claus comes." Score admonished him. Pixel cast a wicked look at Score before heading towards his bedroom.
"Don't forget to leave a carrot for Rudolph" he called out behind him.
Score blinked. "How did he know about that?"
"Know about what?" Helaine asked quizzically.
"Oh, well, in addition to leaving cookies and milk for Santa, you usually leave a carrot for his reindeer."
"Ah yes. Your Father Christmas. Why did we not leave carrots before?"
"Mostly because I didn't want to eat any." Score grinned. A plate with two cookies zoomed into the room from the kitchen, followed by a full glass of milk. They settled gently on a table and Score gave another smile. "Wouldn't want the old man to go hungry."
It was quiet for awhile. Helaine sighed and slipped an arm around Score's waist, giving him a quick, half-hug. "You did well this year. Happy Christmas, Score."
"Merry Christmas," he corrected her, even as his insides lit up at her touch. They stood there for another minute, looking at the tree. Then Helaine stifled a yawn of her own.
"I suppose I should head for bed." She said, almost reluctantly.
"Yeah." Score followed her towards the door to the corridor. But he stopped at the threshold. Helaine noticed he hadn't followed her and returned to stand with him.
"What is it?" She asked quietly.
"This room....it's missing something." He frowned for a second, then snapped his fingers. "I've got it." He grinned upwards and a little sprig of green with white berries sprouted from the door frame. "Mistletoe." He commented.
Helaine looked up. "I see. And what does it do?"
Score smiled and tilted her head down slightly. "This."
There was no Pixel to burst in on them this time.
******FIN******
A/N:
Well, maybe I'll add a chapter, but I rather like how I leave it here. Merry Christmas.
Anyway, just harmless bits of fluff. Let me know if you like it or not...aroo!
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