Catherine ‘Stray Cat’ Leblanc blinked as she was momentarily blinded by the light. The last thing she remembered was stepping into her bathroom, so she could get ready to go to bed with Lucy, and this definitely wasn’t her bathroom.
The room she’d stepped into appeared to be a massive garage structure, filled with a bunch of teddy bears standing around massive tables, building toys like an assembly line. “What the hell is this?” someone grumbled on her left. Cat turned slightly and found Delialah and Franny standing there.
“I think it’s cute,” Lucy’s voice answered from her right. Instead of joining in the conversation, Cat slowly looked down. When she entered the bathroom she’d just been wearing her nightshirt, and nothing underneath. Thankfully whatever teleporting bullshit had brought them here had also put pants on her.
“What the fuck is going on?” she finally asked.
“I can answer that!” a petite girl shouted from the back of the room. The girl bounced from table to table, practically floating as she made her way over. She was dressed in a bright red Santa outfit, with two giant green and red pigtails filled with Christmas lights, and a face covered in clown make-up.
“We’re saving christmas!” she declared.
“The corps all offer Christmas savings,” Delilah replied grumpily, earning a disapproving glance from Franny. “The Xpressmas day sales.”
“Not christmas savings,” the girl announced, “Saving christmas! Bringing back the spirit of giving to the people!”
“And you are?” Cat asked.
“Cassy the Clown, bringer of joy and whimsy, at your service,” Cassy announced, bowing low. “I’ve been bringing samurai here all night to give the bears gift ideas.” She leaned in closer, her voice dropping into a conspiratorial whisper. “The little guys may be extremely industrious, but they’re a little lacking in the imagination department,” she said.
“And where are we exactly?” Delilah asked.
“Teddy’s workshop! I’m borrowing it for a couple hours!” Cassy replied with a massive smile.
Cat blinked. “Teddy, as in the Samurai Teddy? Isn’t she in Calgary?” she asked blankly. Cassy nodded happily. “How the fuck did we get to Calgary?” Cat asked calmly. This wasn’t the weirdest thing that had happened to her since she’d become a samurai, but it was close.
“Christmas magic! And Bike, Bike helped too,” Cassy declared unhelpfully. “Now would any of you like to help? Bob’s sack won’t fill itself.”
Lucy’s hand shot into the air supernaturally fast. “Oh oh oh, me! Can we suggest anything?” Lucy asked.
“Anything relatively simple,” Cassy clarified. “We’re doing this to reignite the spirit of giving, not to compete with the corps.”
“So… stuffed cat dolls…” Lucy started.
“Would be perfect!” Cassy declared, throwing her hands in the air in celebration. She spun on the spot, and scanned the floor. “There’s some space over there by Spark! She’s the foxy looking one on the far side, making potato clocks,” she declared pointing at one corner. “Or over by Prism, she’s the one floating around with the fish tail, teaching the bears how to make clocks or something,” she declared pointing in the opposite direction. “If you head over there just be aware that it might get a little loud, her partner Emme is teaching the bears a dance routine that she’s going to record for good girls and boys,” Cassy said seriously.
Lucy nodded and hopped off the landing they were all standing on, and headed off to the far side, followed quickly by Franny.
“Why does part of the floor have a giant curtain and crime tape around it?” Delialah asked suspiciously.
“Oh! That’s because Maniac decided to make video games, and her idea of kid friendly is a little… different,” Cassy said awkwardly. “And then Myriad, Legion and Bloodhound showed up and wanted to make adult toys. I didn’t have the heart to tell them no,” Cassy continued, slowly slumping as she explained. “But good adults need to receive toys too!” she declared, popping upright again, a massive smile back on her face.
“Maybe I’ll go check how those folks are doing,” Cat slowly declared as she hopped off the landing. She could hear Delialah snort as she walked away, but chose to ignore her friend. As she walked through the rows she saw several other faces, both familiar and new. There was a woman in a witch costume teaching the bears to create chemistry sets, a man in a racing suit designing remote controlled cars, a woman wearing bee colored armor making ant farms, and another in full power armor making knock off action figures.
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She even saw Tinea and Leah, two other samurai from Montreal, also making little robotic insects in the corner.
She’d been so distracted by the room full of Samurai that she accidentally bumped into someone. If she’d been unaugmented she might have ended up on her ass, but instead she just twirled on her feet and slipped by the woman.
“Sorry about that,” the woman said, as she stood up from the end of the table. Unlike most of the others she was dressed in civilian clothes, and she had short cropped blond hair, with a single streak of black over one eye.
“My fault,” Cat replied, before looking the woman over. “I’m Cat, nice to meet you,” she said, sticking out her hand.
“Humboldt,” the woman replied as they shook. “How’d you get pulled into this?”
“Went into the bathroom, appeared here,” Cat replied with a shrug. “Could have been worse, at least I showed up with pants on.”
Humboldt just raised an eyebrow, “Right… good for you. Did you come up with any good gifts?”
“I’m not really into that sort of thing, it’s more Lucy’s thing,” Cat admitted.
Humboldt frowned. “You don’t have a single person you’d like to bring a smile to? I’m making a frog bath toy, because Teddy has an adorable little sister that loves them, and I wanted to give her something special.”
Cat stared at the little frog toy. It was a little wonky, but adorable.
“I guess I could do something for the K1tt3ns,” she admitted. “Most of them aren’t into toys through.”
“It’s the thought that counts,” Humboldt replied as she picked up her brush again. She stuck out her tongue as she carefully added two dots on to the frog’s eyes, creating pupils.
“I see you’re busy, so I’ll leave you to it,” Cat said as she backed away.
“Nice meeting you,” Humboldt called back.
Cat took another few steps towards the curtain before slowing to a stop. She really wanted to see what another Samurai’s idea of ‘adult toys’ was, but on the other hand a couple of the kittens were still young. She was just planning on getting them all a game console and another TV, but a couple of them might appreciate something custom made. Not only that, but something better than the popsicle stick dolls she and Lucy made last year.
She sighed and headed over to where Lucy was. Her girlfriend was up to her elbows in fabric, and the bears were scrambling around trying to find more.
“Did you know Teddy runs around in a bear eared hoodie?” Lucy asked excitedly. “She made it a trend here, so I decided I should try and make some cat eared ones.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Cat said with a smile. “You’re the artsy one, but tell me what you need, and I’ll do my best to help you find it.”
Lucy nodded seriously and considered the half assembled shirt in front of her. “Pink felt,” she declared.
Before Cat could move Cassy jumped up on the end of a table at the far side of the room. “Attention ladies, gentlemen, and bears!” she called theatrically. “We will be collecting the first round of gifts soon, so please put the final touches on your creations. If you’re feeling crafty, or want to finish something up, you’re welcome to stay, but Bob needs to get on his way soon.”
“Who the hell is Bob?” Cat whispered, before a massive eight foot tall teddy bear in a Santa suit walked out of the back. He went down each row, gathering things from the bears and stuffing them into a sack which seemed to have no end.
“We’d also like to thank Magpie for donating a dimensional sack for the evening. She wanted to be here, but we didn’t have enough room for all her designs. Perhaps next year,” Cassy declared.
As the massive bear passed their table Lucy pouted. “I wanted to add more to the ears, but it’s for the children,” she said as she placed her shirt into the sack.
Once the sack was full Bob walked back to the front and got onto a strange glowing bike that just seemed to appear out of nowhere. “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!” he declared, before disappearing in a flash.
Cat blinked. How strong was Cassy to teleport things so casually?
“He’ll be back in half an hour or so,” Cassy explained. “Feel free to continue your projects, and when you’re done let me know so I can return you home again,” she announced before bouncing out of sight.
“Stitching Christmas presents together a couple days before Christmas reminds me of the old times,” Lucy said, already halfway into her next creation.
“Yeah, this is nice,” Cat declared as she snuggled up to her girlfriend.
After a few more minutes of stitching the door at the far side of the area burst open, and a tiny girl in a bear hoodie stepped through. The entire room stared at her, and she stared back. “This is a Cassy thing again, isn’t it,” Teddy groaned.
“It is! Merry Christmas!” Cassy declared, showering the girl in fake snow.
“Merry christmas,” the girl groaned in response.
Lucy giggled, which caused Cat to burst out laughing. Cassy was right, joy wasn’t about the things you bought, it was bringing joy to the ones you loved, and she was going to do it properly this year.