“I need a disguise!” she announced loudly. However nothing happened. And immediately, she assumed this wasn’t it either. However, suddenly that overwhelming feeling came over her again, and she repeated herself while slightly rephrasing her order. “I wish I had a disguise!”

At that, the sack suddenly reacted. Slumping over by itself, the band holding it shut briefly unfurled, allowing a second, much smaller sack to fall out of the big one, before it independently closed itself again.

Shida and Dagon shared a brief and absolutely confused look, but then the feline shrugged and walked over, picking the tiny sack up. It was almost a carbon-copy of the big one, with the same material and band and all. Just much smaller.

In her hand, it felt like it was filled with sand or something.

Shida eyed it suspiciously, as she pulled it open and reached inside, pulling out a hand full of a strange, sparkly powder, that basically looked like some sort of glass-beads with a lot of cheap glitter mixed into it.

This was a disguise? Could she trust this?

Remembering what was happening to Chak, she was reluctant to let any more of this magic than absolutely necessary influence her. And so, she decided that she needed a taster here.

With a flick of her wrist, she flung the hand full of dust at Doodle. Despite its grainy texture, the dust unfurled in the air like a fine powder and formed a thick, glittering plume of smoke that completely obscured the elf. Inside, it seemed like lights were flashing as if it was a mini-stormcloud in the middle of a lightning storm, and some coughing and aching could be heard from the inside.

Then, after a few seconds, the cloud suddenly settled down all at once, as if it was metal and the ground a magnet.

In the middle, still coughing up a storm, stood what was presumably Doodle. Although now, the elf looked far less elf-like than before. Instead, he seemed to have taken on the appearance of a terran brat with blonde hair and rosy cheeks, wearing jeans and a hoody and tiny red boots.

“Seems like it worked,” Shida mused while looking at the powder again. Then, she also briefly glanced at the big sack again. What other secrets could it hide?

Doodle snapped his fingers and in a flicker of sparkles a small makeup mirror appeared in his hand.

“Heh! I look like I’m going to grow up to be a highschool quarterback who’ll get multiple D.U.Is before graduation. Then after I’d get arrested for a hit and run that I‘ll get off easy from my parent’s money and connections. Only to then be found a decade later face down in my inherited house’s pool, leaving all my accrued debts on whatever people still dare consider me remotely family.” The elf said as he checked his face up close, “This stuff is definitely temporary though, so keep that in mind.”

“Well, temporary or not out of the three of us I’m the most… noticeable. Might as well see how I’m affected by it sooner than later. I’m not even certain if I will take a ‘Terran’ appearance...” Chak said, completely ignoring the elf’s earlier remark, “I’m really hoping I don’t turn into a reindeer… Try to focus on not doing that please?”.

Stepping up to stand before the Santa-dressed feline, she bounced to prepare herself. Staring up at Shida’s eyes, Chak’s own lights up slightly before sealing shut.

“I’m ready.”

Shida shifted her lips unsure. Chak was just starting to act somewhat normal again, and now she was supposed to dose her with some other magical bullhuey already?

But there was no helping it. Although the facade was getting better, the underlying problem still remained. And if they wanted to remedy it, they would have to be able to move around undiscovered by the scaredycat police of this place.

Steeling herself with a deep breath, Shida took another hand of the powder into her fingers, and quickly, before she could start to have doubts about it, she tossed it at Chak.

Taking a bit longer than the elf’s shift in form, the feline is greatly relieved to not see the silhouette shift to something more animalistic. Rather it compressed in places such as her long ears and lower pair of arms.

When the dust fell to the ground like before, who was standing with a bracing expression was a Terran woman. Standing at the same height as before, the woman of a freckled reddish-brown complexion sported a white textured pixie cut. Her clothes now have a stylish dark brown overcoat with a white fur trim hood. Her pants nearly matched, only being a somewhat darker shade. At her chest was a red long lace bow, the two hanging ends reaching at her hourglass hips. She stepped in place, wearing tall platform dark gray winter boots.

“Is… is it bad?” she spoke up in a voice that resembled her old one, but now missing the ‘chirpy’ nature of it. Jumping a bit from the surprise of the sound of her own voice she found herself covering her mouth with thickly gloved hands as her eyes shot open.

Subdued but still very much red Terran irises glanced around and back up to Shida as if terrified to look at her own current appearance. The woman’s worried face sparkled slightly red and white as if she wore a subtle glitter-like makeup.

Shida exhaled slowly.

“Not my type,” she said while studying the Cali and walking all around her with quick, sleek movements. Apart from the reddish eyes and the…questionable outfit, Chak did look exactly like a human now, body and all. “But Simone would lose her mind. Look, you even have honkers now.”

With that, she playfully poked at the now swollen area around Chak’s chest.

Although, her teasing was slightly dampened in both enthusiasm and believability when she suddenly stopped and shook her head with a bewildered expression.

“Seriously…honkers?” Shida asked exasperatedly, as she had intended to use a word with more ‘t’s in it to describe the cushiony layer of chest-fat. “Why not just make it ‘breasts’ if no fun’s allowed?”

Shaking the thought off, she tried to quickly regain her previous bravado.

“We should definitely take a picture,” she commented with another evaluating look, before a thought came to her. Granted, that this specific thought came to her at the mention of taking pictures for someone else was a bit…questionable…but it was still worth following up on. Reaching out once again, Shida this time slid her fingers around the waistband of the newly formed dark pants, and tried to see if she could push the coat up to reveal skin underneath. “So…is this stuff still attached to you?”

Chak’s face flushed and her slightly larger than average eyes expanded as Shida exposed soft Terran flesh. Realizing her lower arms weren’t at her disposal anymore Chak reached her only remaining pair up to scratch at her jawline.

“I-I didn’t think being a Terran would f-feel this… squishy.” She stammered before taking off one of her gloves to see a five digit hand that looked like it never once worked a single day of a laborious job.

Then, demanding curiosity overruled embarrassment as she helped the feline pull her coat up and wormed her ungloved hand up to where her plate of chest chitin would’ve been. Her face flushes even more with an accompanying ‘considering’ smile.

“Y-yes. Pictures… Simone would like that very much. Lots of pictures…” she mumbled rather deviously.

Ultimately, Shida briefly tossed the tiny sack in her hand into the air, catching it leisurely in her flat palm.

“Guess I can’t get around this either,” she mumbled, but at least it seemed that so far, the disguise powder had no adverse effects. “Might be best if we wrapped up our ‘practise’ at a reasonable time, huh?”

Shuddering lightly at what she was about to do, she grabbed another handful of the glittery powder.

“I better be hot,” she joked with a wink at Chak, and then tossed the hand of dust into the air around her.

The feeling was strange. It felt like she was being tugged and prodded all over, which was especially annoying in her tail-area. It also felt like the dust in the air was a lot more tangible than it should’ve been, as it pressed against her skin from all around.

Holding her breath, Shida endured.

And, after a few seconds, she could feel it falling away.

Shaking her head to try and get any remaining dust out of her hair, she immediately noticed it was a lot smoother now.

Long strands of slightly wavey hair hung off of her head with a lot less volume than before. Looking ahead, she also saw the tip of a pointy, human nose sticking into her vision, and she inadvertently went cross eyed while trying to focus on it.

Lifting her hand to poke at the strange olfactory organ, she saw that the long sleeves of the costume on her arms had turned into the much more pleasant, smoother texture of likely artificial leather, although it did keep its red color. Pushing it up slightly, there were no stripes in sight on her arm.

Finally rotating her head and twirling around to give herself a once-over, she gave an almost impressed chuff.

“Not bad,” she said, as she looked down, seeing the thick, black boots on her legs, that lifted her feet up from the ground a couple of inches with a thick heel, while the collar and rim reached all the way up to her calves.

Above them, thick, dark-red fabric clung tightly to her skin, as well as each curve that these new, human legs had to them.

Turning around, she saw no tail, but at least these tights were quite flattering.

Finally, she too now sported a bit more swelling in her chest-area, although it attracted a bit more attention than the Cali’s under the knitted sweater she apparently wore under the nice jacket, that also decided to cling to her body quite tightly.

For the most part, it was a plain maroon color, but right on the chest, there was a graphic printed onto it.

“Santa, Baby” it read in thick, white letters.

Chak’s jaw was dropped, her red eyes examining every inch of the presented form of her friend. She wasn’t sure if she should feel jealous or grateful. At the very least the compelling Christmas magic was never more held at bay, as her current influx of feelings easily overwhelmed it at this moment.

“P-p-pictures… lots… f-for Simone…” Chak managed to speak in a heavily impressed tone. Snapping back to reality, she brushed her white bangs back and dragged her hand through the rest of her hair, “I-I mean James would want to see too! Yes! You’re v-very h-pretty! I mean, you always have been but the magic certainly- you wouldn’t need to worry about- Sorry, I need a moment…” the Cali-now-Terran turned away scratching the sides of her head again, finding it nowhere near the same usual level of calming.

“Ah! Stop it!” she snapped at herself as she physically pulled her bottom lip out from her gleaming white row of top teeth.

Keeping his line of sight in his strict calibur of respectful zones, Dagon adjusted his collar.

“Huh… From costumed performers to magazine models, you two might get a different sort of unwanted attention now.” he half-joked before leaning closer to the once-feline to whisper in genuine seriousness, “Being from the city, I’m fully supportive of love is love. But the folks around here… I wouldn’t exactly call them open-minded. Despite the sugary-sweet attitude, it’s a very… ‘traditional’ town. If anyone gives her bad guff, I can have a team of lawyers here within a day.”

Doodle still gawked at Shida, very much approving of her new appearance.

“Hottest Santa in history boss! Even putting the Sugar Plum Fairy a run for her chestnuts!” he cheered with a wink and finger guns.

“Traditional?” Shida asked with a very confused look over at Dagon, before suddenly, something started to click for her. “Oh, this place isn’t out of that phase yet, huh? That’s, uhm, very different from the humans I know, but I’ll keep it in mind.”

She then turned her attention to Doodle.

“And you better watch your mouth before I get HR involved,” she snapped, although her tone was a lot more joking than the one she usually took with the elf. The thought of HR brought with it the images of what she had read about in some of the books. At least according to the lore, she was supposed to have a factory somewhere on Earth’s polar caps, filled with more elves. As well as…

“Speaking of hot-Santa and traditional love…what would happen to Misses Claus if I decided to actually keep this gig?” she asked, a bit of worry for the system she was disrupting here taking hold of her. Would a poor old woman just be thrown onto the streets just because her husband went and got himself killed? Or maybe worse? “I mean, while I’m not exactly traditional, I am taken. Also I doubt that the Lady would be interested.”

She gave a worried look. However, speaking of interested Ladies, it was about time that someone would pull herself together here, although admittedly, seeing Chak still lose her mind at the slightest hint of a hotty flirting with her did put Shida’s mind at ease somewhat.

“And may I remind you that you are happily betrothed, my dear friend?” she asked Chak, who was still facing away from her, in a mocking coo while wrapping her arms around the shorter woman’s shoulders. In fact, the difference in height was even a bit bigger than usual, given the strange human shoes Shida wore, that gave her an additional few inches in height. Therefore, she had to lean down a bit further, as she got up right to Chak’s ear and added, “And unlike me, you are strictly monogamous, meaning if something should happen, you’re the one who’ll be getting in trouble.”

That should be enough to snap her out of it, Shida figured.

“I would never, Shida!” Chak indeed snapped, pointing a cautionary finger, “Just because I am easy to fluster and appreciate- Simone is far too important to me to even dare consider seriously engaging in breaking her trust!” she stamped her platform boot as she met the ‘human’ woman’s gaze.

“To answer your Ms. Claus question, you are technically now married to her. But with a snap of those magic fingers of yours, whoever you're currently baking gingerbread with will inherit that title and magic!” Doodle notified, “The last lady would then be given an honorable management role in the North pole staff until her magicless-age takes her. Oh! Hey! That’s how you can stop the shortstack here from becoming your trusty sleigh-puller! Just fall in love and clink ornaments and BAM you AH-”

Chak roughly yanked the elf up off the floor by the scruff of his shirt, her eyes expressing Terran rage.

“If becoming a magical flying antlered holiday figure means I don’t hurt Simone, then so be it. No more of that talk, got it!?” she sharply whispered, dropping the man back down to the floor before he could respond. Brushing herself off her attitude seemed to improve a bit.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.

“Perhaps if you attempted to make James your ‘ms. Claus’ we could find him and the others to get out of here. Or… get him stranded as well…” Chak posed as a possible option.

Shida shook her head vehemently, her expression hardening drastically.

“There is literally no way I would do that to him until I can be sure that I can reverse this somehow,” she said with firm conviction and clenched her hands into fists. “As if he doesn’t already have enough on his plate while dealing with three galactic governments. I’m not going to add to that fire.”

She released some of her tension with a brief huff, and turned her attention towards Doodle.

“And you shouldn’t have gotten your hopes up. Even if we hadn’t just discussed that she wasn’t willing, any ornament clinking that could happen between her and I would be purely platonic, I’m afraid. I’m adventurous, but I’m also faithful,” she explained with crossed arms. “I guess for the time being, old Widow Claus will just have to stay on the naughty list with me for a bit.”

She then sighed and turned to Dagon, shaking her head once again.

“Sorry you had to witness that,” she explained with a excusatory raised hand. “There’s…a lot going on, even without everything that’s happening here. Maybe we should get back to trying to solve our little problem, so we can go back to dealing with the Galaxy’s issues and you can go back to arranging parades and handling your fiancé, huh? I’m sure listening to our problems is already boring you.”

Then, while he thought of a reply, Shida leaned in towards Chak, and whispered in only their commonly shared language,

“Keep it together. You’re a human now, and seemingly with a matching temper and strength. Outbursts like that can be dangerous, I’m speaking from experience. And this place might not stay all too friendly towards us, so you need to keep yourself under control.”

“Au contraire, I find the fact that people on other worlds deal with very familiar things rather reassuring. It would be downright entertaining if it wasn’t for the pressing situation.” Dagon shrugged off before digging a key dongle out from his pocket, “I’m going to assume you would rather not stay the night here? I have a small rented house you can use for the time being, and I’m assuming you don’t have drivers licenses? Most of my work can be remote so if you need a lift anywhere not within walking distance I can oblige.” he offered before reaching out to take his smartphone back, “While I’m at it, I’ll have my assistant drop off two of our contractor cell phones for you to use before the night gets too dark. Anything else I can do to support the cause, let me know.”

Shida noticeably took a step back from the man, her eyes turning suspicious. At this point, she was far past trying to hide her wariness. And while she could accept someone trying to help them, this was decidedly too much.

“Okay, no,” she said and waved her arms in a crossing manner while staring the man down. “I bought it so far, but this isn’t kosher. Before we go any further, I need to know what’s in it for you. You’re not just going out of your way here, you’re basically paving a whole new road, and I don’t trust that as far as I can throw you.”

“What is it about me that doing the logical thing is consistently seen as suspicious around here? Even with the literal aliens now…” Dagon mumbled in ironic amusement, “Alright. You’ve proven to me that you will not only not ‘eat my brains’, but also that a very real magical force is at play with who-knows-what dire consequences would occur if it isn’t cosmically satisfied by its nebulous standards. I’m a fair bit of a scrooge around these parts, but I’m also not keen on angering forces that can affect reality around it to its ‘Christmas-y whims’. Since I have the power to make a difference, I have a responsibility to do so. Besides… the phones are insured and I’m almost never at the house during most of the day. It’s really not a big deal on my end.” he pointed out, “I also have a company credit card that I can mostly write off the expenses to when tax season comes ‘round, so you can have a bit of funds for food and such. Just don’t go too crazy with it.”

Shida’s expression didn’t exactly relax. Instead, she let out a slow breath. This whole thing stank mightily.

“Well, my homeworld is a corporatocracy,” she explained, even more suspicious now that the man had tried to sweeten the deal further. “So I know how these games are played. But, well…”

She turned her gaze over to her companion.

“In case I am just biased here, what do you think?” she asked the transformed Cali with a slightly relenting sigh. “I don’t want to try and make all the calls…”

Chak looked back and forth between the two in thought.

“I know I can be too trusting at times, but despite how oddly scary that Terran is and how cliche ‘evil’ he appears, he’s far from the first ‘scary’ Terran that I’ve grown to trust.” she said in their shared language, “That aside, what are our realistic options? Even if he has ulterior motives, we could really use what he offers. Worst case scenario, we throw him in the magic sack.” she said.

“Evil?” Shida returned, also in their shared language. “I think he’s a comical pushover…that’s what scares me. But I am a woman of my word.”

Thus, she returned her gaze to Dagon.

“Fine, I’ll bite,” she said with a sigh. “We’ll take what you can give us. But just so you know, I refuse to be in your debt for it. Already have a Dillo billionaire breathing down my neck, not looking to add any more than that.”

She centered herself with a few quick breaths, shaking her still uncomfortably light and smooth hair around for a moment. Maybe she should find one of those hair-thingies Sam used to make her ponytail somewhere…

While she was just thinking if the magic sack would maybe just spit one of those out for her if she only ‘wished’ for it, there was a loud bang at the door atop of the stairs, and everyone’s eyes instantly darted towards it. For a second, they all stared, before tearing their gazes away and exchanging confused glances, as each of them tried to figure out just whose duty it would be to reply to that. Shida, personally, had settled on Dagon, as he was the most familiar figure in this place here.

Adjusting his blazer he nodded and hurried up the stairs.

“Sweetheart? Mr and Mrs. Light? Is everything alright?” he called out as he left the three other’s sights.

Doodle leaned back with his arms crossed behind his head.

“You know boss, I wouldn’t mind adding ‘Claus’ to the end of Doodleberrie Spicebum… and I can make a mean shortbread…” he mentioned up to Shida with a waggle of his brows.

Shida exhaled very slowly.

“Don’t make me glue your mouth shut again,” she said almost tonelessly. “This time permanently.”

However before she could make any good on that threat, there was renewed movement at the top of the stairs. The slightly elderly man from earlier poked his head in, wearing a wide smile on his face and carrying a metal can in one and three mugs in another hand.

“Hey there,” he greeted once he had been spotted, pushing his whole frame through the door and starting to take the first few steps down. “Looks like you wrapped up for today. Perfect timing. You know, Mary told me you’re from overseas, and I thought hey, it must be kinda scary to spend your Christmas in a strange land, even if it’s the greatest in the world. So I figured I’d bring you a little something something to make you feel at home.”

He quickly reached the bottom of the stairs, where he surprisingly nimbly began to fill the three mugs with a steaming fluid from the can that filled the air with a very strange aroma.

“Mulled wine!” he happily announced, holding the first mug out to Shida, since she had positioned herself in between Chak and the stranger. “Honestly, I’ve always wanted to make the stuff. Usually more of an eggnog guy myself, but hey, folks celebrate Christmas everywhere, so who’d I be if I didn’t try and see what they have to offer for our celebrations, huh?”

Shida reflexively took the cup from his hands, and he immediately moved on to hand out more to the others in the room.

At the mere mention of ‘wine’ she expected her nose to go haywire at the sheer stink of ethanol. And while it was certainly there…there was more. She took a long sniff of the hot fluid, the smell of which quickly took over the whole room. She smelled a bunch of spices, some of which she knew. Cinnamon, for example. But, where the botanic deterrents in those would usually sent her running for the trees, now they smelled kind of…inviting?

Her instincts automatically kicking in at the offer of food, and her senses not repelled by the usually sickening drink, she brought the mug to her lips before she could fully think about it.

The taste was…quite literally indescribable to her. It was strange and filled her entire mouth and…she didn’t have a name for it. At first at least. However, her brain informed her of one simple fact.

“There’s sugar in here, right?” she asked very quietly, to the point that it seemed that the older man had trouble understanding her at first.

However, after a moment of processing what she had said, he announced,

“Of course there is!”

Shida’s hands slightly trembled, but she held on tight so even her weakening fingers would not drop the cup.

She turned to Chak, her eyes as wide as they would open, and her pupils dilated to dinner plates.

“This is sweet,” she mumbled in galactic common. “I….I can’t taste sweet….”

Chak's own eyes expanded a little, unsure if to feel concerned or happy for her friend.

“It must mean our disguises are almost completely genuine.” she responded carefully to not lean her voice in any particular manner.

Although Cali could taste sweet, she couldn’t usually experience it from any significant amount of ‘sugar’. Taking her own gifted drink with both of her ungloved hands, she brought it up for a small hesitant sip. Experiencing ethanol for the first time, she felt a warm sensation ripple through her throat and core. Unsure if she liked it or not, she nodded in appreciation. Then the aftertaste came in like a late punch to her senses.

“Oh… that’s… nice. Very nice, thank you sir! I hope you will excuse us for not having too much, we do have somewhere to be before it gets too late. ” she said to the older man, before redirecting to her friend, “Perhaps we could procure our own bottle to take back. I feel that Simone would absolutely love this.”

“Simone is a recovering addict, Chak. I’m not sure she’d appreciate the temptation…” Shida mumbled and almost subconsciously took another long sip of the drink. “And you should probably also be careful with having too much. You know, in case things don’t last…”

Should the transformation run out while Chak still had Ethanol in her system, they would have another thing coming.

However, a similar logic did not keep Shida from emptying her cup almost impolitely fast. Then again, whatever was in here would only make her sick, and not straight up off her.

“Well, there’s always room for one more for the road, hmmm?” the old man announced and -unpromptedly- refilled Shida’s cup almost as soon as it was empty, with the feline’s now literal monkey-brain telling her to keep downing the sugary, spice-filled liquid, that activated such a firework of unknown neurons in her head.

“R-right… I… of course. I’m… being foolishly forgetful.” Chak whispered in confused shame as she looked down into the reflection in her cup. How could she forget something like that!?

Looking back up she found herself drinking more from it, but the powerful aftertaste snapped her back out of the subconscious habit,

“We thank you again, sir. But my friend is a bit of a…” she paused for a moment trying to recall the term Terrans used, “...a lightweight, and we will probably need to wake up fairly early for… uhm… parade business. Right Shida?” she spoke, resting a hand on her friend’s shoulder.

Having already emptied her second cup without even realizing how fast she was drinking, Shida looked up in slight surprise.

“Right, uh…” she mumbled and looked around for a place to put her cup away. And as she did so…it was already filled again, making her stop and pause dead in her movement.

“I see. Your friend’s the lightweight, huh?” the old man said, leaning in towards Chak with a wink. “Well, guess it can’t be helped then. Though I’d invite you to stay for dinner, if you’d like.”

Although she was already taking another sip, Shida managed to shake her head.

“That’s really fine,” she said, now with a bit more conviction. “She’s right, we should get going.”

Quickly, she emptied this third cup, and even quicker gave it back to the man so it wouldn’t be filled another time. Then she looked over at Chak.

“And your, uh-” she mumbled with a questioning look at the Cali’s cup, while gently moving in the direction of the stairs. She also only now fully processed that the old guy had given Doodle a cup as well, who was currently in the guise of a Terran child…or teenager at most.

Her face started to flush at the realization, as every emotion she felt seemingly expressed itself in a wave of heat blowing through her body now.

Would it be right to take it away? After all, the elf wasn’t an actual child. But should she try to save face?

Chak then covered the top of Doodle’s cup with her hand and pulled it free from his weak grasp.

“I think it’s time for us to go. Thank you for your hospitality.” she said in a stern tone, as an uncomfortable knot in her chest grew from the current situation, especially towards the man and his intentions.

“Ugh, you never let me do anything!” Doodle complained in sarcasm, oblivious to the current atmosphere Chak was sensing.

Placing both cups solidly down on the bar Chak hurried to take Doodle’s hand and press against the small of Shida’s back to encourage immediate movement towards the stairs.

“We’re leaving. Come on.” she stated in a practical order.

Shida complied sluggishly, allowing herself to be pushed up the stairs without any further goodbyes. As they closed in to the door at the top, she could hear something that sounded like a discussion coming from above.

“Listen, I’ve been to Europe,” she could hear Dagon’s voice coming from a bit further away. “I’m telling you, it’s not supposed to smell like this. How much did you put in there?”

“As the recipe said,” the voice of an older human woman replied, sounding very annoyed. “Twenty ounces per pot.”

“Twenty ounces?” Dagon replied, and it seemed to be the first time he ever raised his voice. “That’s for an entire pot, not a normal kitchen pot. That’s more than twice as much as normal. If not thrice.”

“Oh, it’s just light brandy,” the woman replied, sounding rather nonchalant about both her mistake and Dagon’s worried tone. “It won’t kill anybody. It’s just a bit more fun like this!”

Dagon made an exasperated noise in return.

“You hear that, Chak?” Shida mumbled and turned her head in her friend’s direction as she was pushed along. “We got the ‘fun’ version.”

“All the more reason to take our leave. I don’t… it… It doesn’t feel safe here.” Chak replied softly as she gently patted Shida’s back.

Her own mind was being affected by quarter of the cup she drank, and that was before she forgot something so important regarding her fiance.

The grip on her own self had slipped once again, so she held on to the urgent feeling in her chest to get her much more inebriated friend away from here.

“Dagon? Could we bother you for a ride? Sant- Shida and I have to be up early tomorrow.” she requested aloud.

“Oh nonsense, I’m almost done with dinner! You absolutely must stay and don’t worry about heading out so soon, we have guest rooms for you to use! It ain’t no issue at all!” the older woman called back.

Despite the air smelling of glorious meats, sweets, and starches, Chak shook her head to dismiss it.

“Th-thank you very much ma’am, but I’m afraid we should really call it a night for us.” Chak replied, hoping for Dagon to pull through.

“Yeah, my poor mom downed those drinks like nothing else!” Doodle joked out loud.

“All the more reason to stay hun! It’s gonna get dark here real soon. How about y’all stay and after dinner we can watch some Christmas movies before bed?” the lady replied, now walking out of a hallway with her hands wiping a small towel, “You can have all the wine you’d like sweethearts! And I must say, I wasn’t expecting such beautiful ladies hiding under those silly costumes! You know, I have two handsome single nephews who would love to meet you!” she offered.

“Uhmmm…” Chak hummed, uncomfortable with the sudden direction of the conversation, “We’re mutually spoken for, and I’m looking forward to seeing my fiance again soon. So if you will excuse us.”

It was then Dagon appeared from the same hallway, with a pleasant expression on his face.

“Well, it’s certainly a shame that you need to go before tasting Mrs. Light’s impeccable honeyed ham and pumpkin pie. But it would be my pleasure to give you a lift back into town.” he said, placing his hand on the older woman’s shoulder.

The woman turned to the gathered guests.

“Are you sure you won’t stay for dinner?” she asked in a sweet pout.

Shida’s jolly demeanor completely dropped from her face as she looked back at the human coldly.

“It’s strange,” she mumbled darkly, a new wave of redness flushing over her face. “I feel like my friend has already repeated herself on the matter twice.”

She then glanced around for a moment, noticing that something was missing.

“Doodle, get the sack,” she commanded firmly. “We’re going.”

And with that, she peeled away from Chak’s guiding hand and firmly marched towards the front door they had entered through, past all the festive decorations and pretty lights.

In fact, although she kept a steady tempo and didn’t run by any means, some of the candles in the hall she walked by seemed to spontaneously extinguish themselves as the disguised feline Santa passed them, leaving only tiny tufts of smoke where warm, golden light used to be.

“Got it!” Doodle saluted.

Dagon stepped ahead to open the front door for the others and as they exited into the dim yet charmingly lit exterior as the snow reflected enough light from the home to illuminate the area. Through the thick flakes starting to fall did cause the distance to fade into a blue of white and gray.

Slipping her gloves on, Chak tried to stay as close to her friend as possible.

“Won’t you be coming right back Dagon?” the woman called out.

“If the roads allow it Mrs. Light! If not, be sure to save some leftovers for me!” he replied with a wide smile before beeping his dongle for his snow blanketed car to unlock.

Although sporty it was thankfully a four door muscle car, allowing everyone to sit inside without issue. After the final door slams shut the man’s smile melted faster than ice on an active stove top.

“It’ll take a few minutes to defrost enough to safely drive.” He informed as the interior heating kicked in.

“Thank you…” Chak said, however it was in her shared language with Shida, “That place… it felt like I was… ‘sinking’… and… unsafe.”