Riley felt that at least half of everyone gathered wanted to ask what was going on, only for them all to be interrupted by Izzy finally walking out of the bathroom, holding a much happier Aurora to her chest.
"Thank goodness we were already close, hah... Wilma?" Baby mom spoke with relief in her voice, replaced with utmost confusion as she noticed her older sister in the living room, or at least the one she didn't expect to see.
Fortunately, someone was brave enough to break the confusion.
"Aunt Izzy! *GASP* Aunt Wilma!" Timmy's overjoyed squeaks filled the air as he stepped down from the last stair, looking confused for a moment, unsure which aunt to squeeze first, eventually deciding on dragging the coffee colored skunk towards the darker one, grabbing one leg of each and holding them together.
Resulting in the opportunity for the world's most adorable three-legged race, which sadly wasn't taken advantage of.
Aurora added her part, wiggling in Izzy's grasp and making excited squeaks at all the surprise in the room, wanting to just go and see everyone around...
"I'm... gonna make tea then." Ella eventually forced out, most of her confusion replaced with an amused smile, both at the arrival of another sister and Timmy's reaction to them both.
"Mint if you don't mind!" Wilma called out before sliding onto the couch, tapping a spot for everyone else to join in, including twisting her head to glance at Riley and making a 'c'mere' motion with it, the girl following suit with a slightly uncertain smile.
By the time she'd finally taken a seat of her own, the couch had already descended into chatter, Riley deciding to mostly just take in the sights for now, and there were definitely some wonderful ones.
Wilma had picked up Timmy up onto her lap, holding him tightly with one arm as the other was wrapped around her sister, seemingly wanting to create the cuddliest, densest bundle of floof in the world.
Aurora was let free of Izzy's hold, laying down across her mom's and Lily's lap, chirrling quietly as she looked around, trying to climb her way up Lily's front, her cousin securing the onesie-clad snowflake with her arm.
Riley was there, too.
She mostly just resigned to looking at the scene with a smile, reaching a hand over to scritch Aurora's head, the baby squeaking loudly in response and turning towards Riley. The kit definitely had a way of testing Lily's stability as she started walking on the two sisters' thighs, eventually ending up standing shakily on the older one's lap, facing her as she supported her tiny, white body on Riley's shoulders.
Aurora then proceeded to smile as widely as a baby could, and all was good in the world.
Riley carefully reached around Aurora, pulling her a bit closer with one arm as the second navigated to the snowflake's head, petting her gently much to both girls' enjoyment, Riley's being derived largely from watching the baby's tail wave around erratically in happiness.
Hearing Lily's excited squeak only added to the wonder as Aurora leaned in closer towards Riley, the bigger girl giving the smaller one a smooch right on the nosey with a giggle, breaking out into soft laughter as the smaller one tried to respond in kind, ending up licking Riley on most of her nose and lips.
"Oh my goodness she's so adorable teeheehee!" Andrew's excited giggling filled the air as he leaned in from behind the couch, finally done with helping Rick attach the tree to the base.
Aurora was keen on adding to that image, raising her pawsies towards him with a soft squeak as she saw him emerge from behind the couch, Riley getting the message and lifting her as far up as she could before she was taken by the girl's older brother, who wasted no time in holding the snowflake closely and smooching the top of her head.
And judging by all her cute noises, she was definitely enjoying all the attention, constantly wanting to move between all the different adults as Rick finished his part as well, freeing him up to hold the baby for a while.
The craze about the snowflake was eventually interrupted with Ella walking over holding a couple of steaming hot cups in each paw, all the varied teas filling the air with warm, comfy aromas.
The two aunts took a moment to pause their chatter to sip on the freshly brewed drinks, Timmy slipping down from his seat in boredom unnoticed. At least not until five seconds later when he started climbing up onto Riley's lap, his older sister holding him tightly as she decided to try and taste the-
A-aaaaaa too hot, way too hot. Tongue burns aaaaaa-
"Riley, who is that baby that dad is holding?" The lil' kit asked innocently, the girl taking a moment to set the cup down before petting his hair and answering-
"Her name's Aurora, she's aunt Izzy's daughter Timmy. Wanna hold her?"
"Y-yeah!" He answered in excitement, wiggling in his seat as Riley craned her head around towards Rick who was still holding the white bab, gesturing towards him to pass her back over, the girl having gone quieter since the last time, looking a bit upset.
"Awwh, what happened?" Riley asked with a whisper as she held Aurora closely, the baby letting out quiet whines and trying to struggle her way out of her hold.
Unsure whether she hadn't unknowingly screwed something up, she turned over towards the baby mom to ask what's wrong, who was already leaning over to grab her..
"Awww sweetie, too hot for you?" Izzy cooed quietly as she took Aurora's onesie off after laying the girl down on her back, the tiny kit struggling in response for a moment before feeling some cooler air on her fur, now prancing around only in her diaper and a baby blue romper... or was it also a onesie?
Who the heck is responsible for naming these things and why can't they figure out which is which?
With the source of the grumpiness quickly shoved into Izzy's bag, the snowflake tried sliding off her mom's lap, Wilma quickly reaching a paw over to make sure she won't lose her balance.
"Hehe, I think she wants to go for a walk!" Baby mom spoke up cheerfully as she helped Aurora get out from between the table and the couch, Timmy racing over to help before Riley could even get a word in edgewise.
Not to be outdone, Lily joined in immediately afterwards by leaping over the back of the couch, both grabbing one paw as the little explorer walked around the ground floor, her wittle white tail waving constantly behind her as she realized her interest in walls, pillars, chairs, trash cans, and the legs of her two helpers.
As Riley kept following Aurora's little adventure, the two aunts' must've switched places, Wilma suddenly manifesting next to her with Izzy a bit further away, the brownish skunk currently busy hugging Andrew who took a seat next to her.
"She's just the sweetest lil' kit, isn't she?" Wilma remarked with a smile before smiling down at Riley, wordlessly offering to wrap an arm around her niece, accepted with a slightly uncertain nod.
"So, what'd make you ask me to come over?" She asked curiously, giggling as she reminded herself seeing that message pop up all of a sudden as she was hugging Lily.
"N-nothing, j-just was talking with a-aunt Izzy a-and she mentioned you a-and I-I-I like how you look..." The teen looked away in sheer embarrassment, squirming in her seat at all her reasons, including those unspoken.
"Aww, loving the punk look eh? Used to rock a bright pink mohawk a few years back, but sadly as accepting as my current employer is, mohawks are a bit too much even for them. Thankfully, kids love a well dyed pixie just as well, and the piercings just grab their attention so much."
"M-mohawk? ...kids?" Riley was only a bit less confused, the aunt grabbing her phone with a chuckle and scrolling down the image album, stopping abruptly as she noticed something her niece haven't. She pulled the phone much closer to her, outside of Riley's sight and found the photo in question, tapping on it and showing only the thing she wanted to and not... many, many other things.
She was standing on the outskirts of small crowd in some dark place, some background faces visibly groaning at her use of flash. That hair was... it was indeed something, a row of hair-spikes standing straight up, each one a different color of the rainbow.
What was almost more interesting was her aunt's swollen eye and a small trickle of blood making the way down her chin, Riley about to ask before Wilma answered for her-
"Oh don't worry about that eye, the guy who groped me in the first place ended up in casts, ha." She reminisced triumphantly, cracking her knuckles for emphasis.
"O-oh... s-sorry that happened t-to you..." Riley remarked quietly at the gravity of the things mentioned, Wilma holding her tighter and gently scritching her air.
"It's all fine sweetie, thankfully I had backup and good reflexes to throw the first hit so that creep definitely didn't end up unharmed, even if he did get off a punch on me before going down." Her aunt answered, remarkably unphased by the whole topic.
"I see... d-does stuff like that happen often?"
"Nah, nowhere as much as you'd think. Been to dozens of concerts and raves, and stuff like that happened what, twice? Plus, I've always had someone with me so even if you're worried about that just go with a group, much more fun that way overall I'd say."
Riley acknowledged with a slow nod, turning towards her aunt and looking up at her, finally bringing up the courage to ask about the elephant in the room, her voice wavering-
"H-how do you get these piercings?"
"At tattoo shops, most of them also do piercings. Have had this nose ring forever, somehow managed to beg my parents into it for my 17th birthday." Wilma admitted with a chuckle, Ella bursting into giggles at the memory as she finally had the chance to sit down with a tea of her own.
"'Beg' is an apt word, you've been asking for it since you were fifteen!"
"Only took them a year and a half to see the error of their ways!"
"More like, to them to finally get so fed up they're rather just have you do it than have you keep asking for one more week, heh." Izzy cut in, smiling at the memory of overjoyed Wilma after she was finally, FINALLY allowed to have her piercings.
"Persistence is a virtue sis!" Wilma snapped back, giggling as she recalled how that initial piercing turned into three, then four, then six, then... eight... teehee.
The brief conversation gave Riley an idea, the girl turning slowly towards Ella, lips twisting into a slightly nefarious expression before beginning for a question-
"Sure, as long as aunt Wilma helps you choose what and where, aight?" The skunk mom answered without Riley even having to ask, her daughter's blush lighting her cheeks on fire as she looked away from the assorted adults, everyone else sharing a giggle at her expense.
"Oh don't worry Riley, I'd love to help you out with those if you really want to get one done sometime." Wilma held her tightly with a chuckle, Riley's embarrassment melting away with her earnest words and soft hug, the girl nuzzling her aunt's arm in return.
A dull thud followed by a loud squeak from behind the couch broke up some of the tension, everyone turning around to take a look, only to find Aurora climbing on top of Timmy and playing with his face, the boy looking up at all the amused glances with a quiet expression of 'please help'.
Lily, of course, was almost rolling on the ground in quiet laughter, getting visibly redder from all the breathless giggles.
"Oh goodness, Timmy are you alright?" Izzy asked with a giggle, getting up from the couch to help the two older kits out with the tiniest one, the excitable baby protesting a bit as she was lifted up from her older cousin, wanting to play some more with his nose.
After getting over the loss of someone to play with, Aurora wasted no time in snuggling up closer to her mom, excited squeaks giving way to high pitched chirls, the tiny bab appearing even tinier as she wrapped herself with her tail, all the fun making her more than a bit sleepy.
"Awwww..." Wilma whispered quietly, gently hugging her sister and reaching her paw over to stroke her cheek, Riley trying to stretch herself and hold them both, her valiant, if unsuccessful, efforts rewarded with a kiss on the cheek from both aunts.
"So, how about we try to start decorating while Aurora takes a nap?" Rick quietly chimed in, most gathered reacting with a nod as Izzy got up, gently holding the sleeping Aurora in her arms, looking for somewhere to lay the babe in for the time being.
"Oh, we have our old carrier in the basement. You can detach the basket and just have the cradle, want me to go grab it?" Ella whispered out as she got up from her armchair, finishing her tea with a sip, Rick getting the cue to head into the basement and turn the lights on, and to grab some wood for the fireplace from the breaker room.
Izzy considered the offer for a while before nodding strongly, her oldest sister smiling in return as she gestured Riley to follow her, the daughter getting up as Rick lit the fireplace, the flames filling the room up with a festive glow.
Riley curiously stepped into the basement stairway, the small concrete room looking very, very bare if at least dry. The stairs themselves filled up most of it, thankfully fenced off, with the remaining space being taken up by the electrical boxes and a stash of dry timber for the fireplace.
With Rick's help, the light in the basement proper had already been turned on, the mystery of how would that be an issue in the first place answered with the realization that the only light switch for the basement was... in the basement itself. At the bottom of a dark, concrete staircase.
"W-when was this house built anyway?" Riley quipped as she followed Ella downstairs, having to keep herself four or so steps back just to not get caught in her mom's tail.
"Hmm, haven't looked at the original schematics in ages, if memory serves eighteen eighties? Eighties or nineties. Either case, it's really old, and yeah, some parts like the basement wiring are... awful, no two ways about it." Ella responded knowingly as the two stepped into the large concrete room, most of it filled with many cardboard boxes.
Aside from that, there were plenty of old magazines, a handful of old toys, a broken bike, the baby carrier they were looking for, cobwebs, a bit of fungus...
Wait, was that...
Riley slid her way past the boxes, reaching into one of the dark corridors and finally grabbing the black pleather-covered foam, grunting loudly as it all refused to budge. Some leverage against one of the boxes later it finally moved just a bit, metal grinding against concrete as she slid the metal base from under another box, the tiny girl almost falling backwards once she managed to dislodge her find.
"Riley, could you-" Ella turned around to get some help with the awful locking mechanism on the carrier, her eyes going wide at a sight she hadn't seen since, well, since Timmy was born.
Standing by her daughter's side was a freestanding boxing bag in near pristine condition, aside from all the dust and a bit of rust.
"Well that's one hell of a find..." Her mom summed up succinctly, some awkward memories associated with that one expressed in an uncertain smirk as she looked at Riley, who seemed to be overjoyed at finding a punching bag.
"Yeah! Wait, is something wrong with it?" Riley caught onto Ella's uncertainty, raising a confused eyebrow as the skunk mom took a breath before explaining-
"Not really I guess. Andrew had asked for it for his thirteenth birthday when he was feeling all insecure, and suffice to say having something so intimidating he just wasn't into didn't help any. Thank goodness he's past that now, ahh." Ella summed it up with a sigh, Riley nodding in uneasy acknowledgment before asking-
"So, s-should I leave it here?"
"Well, depends on what you wanna do with it. Are you into boxing?"
"Not as much as a sport, but used to practice some punches for self-defense a lot since the orphanage had an old punching bag in the courtyard. It was a fun way to pass the time at least." Riley answered, providing Ella with a tiny presentation as she went through a bit of her practice routine, the standing bag feeling quite different from her hanging one, but still was perfectly usable.
"I see. Ha, doubt you're gonna need it much, but sure, feel free to grab it, just don't drag the base on the ground since it's gonna wake Aurora up, aight?" Her mom chuckled and smiled, Riley nodding happily at her go ahead-
"And first, help me with this stupid thing, god how did I hate dealing with this carrier..." Ella grumbled in the direction of the inanimate object, Riley walking to its other side as her mom instructed her-
"See this orange round thing on the side? Press on it with your thumb as hard as you can, it will give in eventually, it's just really stubborn..." She grimaced and pushed onto the hidden button, Riley joining in with a loud grunt as she realized just how absurdly difficult the orange decal was to press in, old springs having gone even stiffer with disuse.
Riley was about to give out and change her hand, her thumb aching from how hard she had to push on the stubborn button. Just as she was about to catch a breath, the whole thing finally popped with a loud clang, the metal frame being left behind as Riley grabbed the bedding part, Ella walking over to give her daughter a brief hug for her efforts.
"Thank you so much sweetie, god that thing is such a pain. I'm gonna carry it up. if you need help with that bag just walk up and tell me, alright? Or better yet..." Ella almost cut herself off as she quickly scaled the stairs back up, Riley barely able to pick the bag up from where it was standing on her own. She was confused for a good minute before Rick ran downstairs, blinking his own confusion out before chuckling at the sight and rushing up to help pick up the bottom part of the standing bag.
Even with more than half of the weight taken off of her, the bag still felt like it was made out of cast iron, the single flight of stairs being enough to have made Riley's forehead glisten with exhaustion before they settled it down on one of the rugs in the living room, Riley needing most of a minute to get a hold on her racing breath.
"W-why did you bring... that back up?" Andrew's timid, slightly scared voice shook Riley out of her brief daze, the girl lifting herself up to triumphantly respond-
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"Ha, for my own use! Altho now I'm curious as to how did it end up in there in the first place, heh..." She chuckled jokingly, her brother's embarrassed expression making her regret that soon after.
"Oh dear, this old thing. Andrew, you alright in there?" Wilma asked softly, reaching over and holding him closely, the soft skunk taking a moment to mutter out-
"Y-yeah, I-I'm alright, j-just... god I was dumb back then, wasn't I?" He chuckled softly, lack of conviction in his voice making Riley walk over and add her own hug to the mix, her big brother pulling her in.
"Naw, you were still the smart cookie you were now, just really obsessed with very, very shitty ideas of what a guy should be, and chained with so, so many doubts about yourself and your body." The punk aunt answered slowly, reaching up to ruffle his long hair a bit.
He remained quiet for a bit, pulling both Riley and Wilma into a tight squish and taking a deep breath before responding-
"I-I suppose, j-just... it still sometimes feels like I'm not manly enough, a-and too weak.." He quietly admitted, Riley holding him even tighter before speaking up-
"That not true in the slightest Andy. And even if, you're still the sweetest guy your age I've ever met, so if it's that or muscles I'd gladly take you being a supportive, kind brother." She spoke as earnestly as she could, adding some more hair ruffling of her own, much to her brother's blush.
"What Riley said, plus, all these shitty wannabe guy standards you see around are unrealistic for most folks anyway. Stuff like six packs or endurance training are stupidly hard to get to and more importantly, to keep at them, and provide no real benefit some much more basic exercise doesn't. Hell, look at your dad, he's never seen a six pack in his life and never will, does that make him less of a sweet guy?" Wilma continued, her example, making all gathered chuckle a bit, which increased to a burst of group laughter once Rick responded with mockingly annoyed 'Oi!' at being made such an example of.
"I'm trying to be body positive here Ricky, can't help that you're just the best example of fitness not mattering for being a good person around!" She tried justifying herself some more, amusement seeping into her voice at all the teasing aimed at her in-law, the victim himself looking mostly unphased save for a noticeable blush on his cheeks.
"So yeah bro, don't worry about any nonsense about how a guy has to look to be a 'real man' or whatever. In my experience the guys most obsessed with that tended to be, well... assholes." Riley summed up, smiling widely as Andrew pulled her into a very tight hug, nuzzling the top of her head for a moment.
"T-thank you both so much, I-I'll try to remember all that, heh..."
"Don't sweat it Andy, these shitty standards are hard to get out of your head precisely because you just see them everywhere and it sucks, so feel free to shoot me a message if you need another pep talk, ha!" Wilma chuckled a bit too loudly, three 'Shhhh!'s silencing her simultaneously as her two sisters and niece watched over the sleeping Aurora.
"Sorry!" She whispered right after with a bit of a giggle which Riley shared, the two girls giving Andrew some more space, after not wasting yet another chance to ruffle his long hair up a bit.
And then a bit more.
After Riley finally got up from the edge of the couch she took a look around, glancing on the still barren tree, quietly asking Rick-
"Weren't we supposed to start dressing it up?"
"I mean... well, yeah." Rick looked up from her and cleared his throat a bit, speaking quietly but very clearly-
"Alright everybody, wanna finally get the tree dressup going?"
Within seconds all the kits were standing in front of the barren tree in excitement, Timmy looking to have suddenly shed any tiredness he might have had.
Oh, and Wilma snuck her way in there too.
Rick walked over to the sprawled out boxes, Timmy somehow managing to overtake him in just these few moments, his dad chuckling as they took out the several long, neatly-wrapped strings of Christmas lights, each kit and kit-spirited adult getting their own garland to wrap around the tree, of course one at a time.
The second lil'est kit in the room wasted no time, Rick having to dash over to help him not accidentally break anything and stop the excitable boy from creating an accidental fire hazard. The two managed to wrap the length of the garland neatly around the lowest third of the tree, Timmy impatiently waiting for his lights to be turned on before letting out a heartbroken squeak when he learned he'd have to wait for everyone to do their part first.
He then proceeded to pretend to be grumpy for the entire seven seconds it took for Lily to start dealing with her part, the experienced Christmas garland weaver managing to wrap the large old-timey lights around the tree neatly, leaving enough slack for the plug to reach the floor.
Riley for the most part just followed Lily's lead, initially intending to wrap her lights around the top of the tree. However, the reminder to leave some slack for the plug to reach the floor, and realization that she somehow got the longest garland out of everyone made her change tactics. She decided instead to try and wrap all the lights in a spiral all the way down the tree, managing to neatly exhaust its length, with Andrew helping her out a bit before starting with his own chain.
His was quite a bit shorter, but also with a loooong length of cable without any lights on it, obviously intended more so for higher up spots, neatly wrapped in a loose swirl around the top half of the tree, leaving Wilma to go wild with her last bundle, largely wrapping her lights in a loose spiral, Timmy holding her legs in excitement as he waited for all the lights to come on.
Rick inspected the lights all around the tree and gave the group a thumbs up, grabbing a lengthy extension cord and plugging all the lights one by one before sliding the master plug into one of the wall sockets and flipping on the integrated power sw-
And then the kitchen lights went out, leaving the fireplace as the only source of light in the ground floor all of a sudden, everyone just mostly confused, with the exception of an afraid Timmy, wasting no time in grabbing Riley's lower extremities, and Rick who just let out an exasperated groan and took out his phone and turned on the flashlight, muttering an annoyed-
"Wrong socket, this wiring is gonna be the death of me..." as he unplugged the combined plug before sliding it into the socket next over, turning the attached switch off and heading to the basement stair room, a handful of metallic clangs ringing out before the kitchen lights turned back on with a loud buzzing noise, the kits letting out a collective breath of relief, with Timmy's part being the loudest of course, a happy call of 'Thank you daddy!' sending giggles around the room.
Rick quickly made his way back towards the wall socket, taking a deep breath before toggling the switch on once more, the combined happy squeaks of six skunkos and one human letting him know it worked out this time.
The dimly lit room turned into a tiny rave from all the lights shining at once, Timmy gasping wide before running a bit further away from the group to get the full look at the shining tree, taking in all the different colors of the lights.
His own were the basic four color lights, shining brightly around the bottom of the tree, almost like a pair of glowing pants. If one's pants were part blue, part green, part yellow and part red, and constantly alternated between the different colors of course.
Riley suddenly wanted to see these pants.
The middle of the tree was bathed in all the different patterns, the rows Riley recognized as having been laid by Lily shining between yellow and purple, and between red and green, the individual lights almost appearing to twinkle.
Andrew's lights, large, old and probably running very hot, were a stereotypically festive combination of red, green and white lights, the tiny bulbs trying their hardest not to suddenly catch on fire.
The other two garlands were the most confusing ones, Riley recognizing her own set and trying to figure out it was supposed to be, each individual light alternating between a bright white and a dark purple, so dim it might have been-
Black. Black and white.
It never ends.
And at this point, she didn't want it to ever end, acknowledging it with a slight chuckle as she focused on Wilma's lights, something seeming... off.
It was just another basic four-color set not unlike Timmy's, but something was wrong with the lights, making them glow so much brighter than they were supposed to, or at least so Riley thought; So bright that the green and yellow were indistinguishable, both appearing at almost identical shades of white, with red and blue being bleached out into pink and an almost baby blue-ish shade, the coincidence making Wilma giggle loudly as she sat down next to Timmy, hugging him as they both admired the light show.
"You like it Timmy?" Riley asked with a giggle as she joined them on the thick rug, the kit wiggling in excitement for a moment before managing to finally force out a 'Yes!'.
Cue both his older sister and aunt hugging him tightly at his adorableness, the kit breaking out of the snugglefest the instant shiny strings were busted out of the boxes. One by one, the kits wrapped the tree up to the brim, both in the store-bought shining colored garlands, and the homemade chains of what appeared to be an infinite number of circles cut out of colored paper.
Realizing they were a fair bit to the side of the action, Riley slid a bit closer to her aunt, the question that has been eating her up for a while deciding that the cozy gathering was the ideal moment to bring it up...
"A-aunt Wilma?" She asked quietly, the older skunk giving her a tight hug in response.
"Yes Riley?" Her tone was soft and hazy, the festive atmosphere having definitely gotten to her as well.
She couldn't just ask her like that, desperately searching for a different subject to bring up now that she finally started talking to her aunt, a simple one coming to mind as a distraction-
"Wh-what's the coolest concert you've been to?" Riley whispered, Wilma giggling in response as she recalled a couple events in particular-
"There was one Death Grips show I managed to sneak my way into, and caught MC Ride throwing himself on top of the audience while continuing to rap, followed up by like a dozen random people trying their luck as well, of which maybe four got actually caught overall. Was fun to be a part of that before security threw me out, and then got even more fun when me and a few random guys threw security out and went back in."
Riley giggled at the unexpected twist, sliding a bit closer still as they both enjoyed her memory, Wilma chuckling some more as she continued-
"Not the most hardcore thing I took a part in, altho that one wasn't even a concert or rave or anything, just something I stumbled on almost on accident."
"Oh? W-what do you mean?"
"Eh... suffice to say that a band of fashy human supremacists was throwing a party and I helped crash it." Wilma looked away in contemplation, not wanting to ruin the mood with going too in-depth into the triumphant memory.
"...crash it?" Riley asked in confusion at the particular wording, leaning her head a bit closer as he listened on intently.
"You know, with a stick. Wrapped in a trans flag." Her aunt burst into quiet chuckling, wrapping her arm around her niece as she just took a moment to take in the tree being decorated.
But then there was that word again, Riley shifting her attention back over to the tree, herself Timmy diligently figuring out the best branch to hand a large silver bulb on, eventually deciding on the highest one he could reach.
She squirmed a bit in her seat, having no idea how to bring up the subject at all, especially since her talk with Izzy kinda painted it as this very, very important thing...
"Is something wrong Riley?" Wilma asked quietly, noticing her niece's change in demeanor, unsure as to what could've caused it. Still, she wanted her to feel good, reaching a paw over and gently stroking her hair.
Riley relaxed a bit at the gentle touch, a series of quiet 'um...'s and 'hmm...'s giving the aunt more of an idea of what was going on, making her chuckle and help guide her niece along-
"Was there something you wanted to ask me?"
The girl gulped on the spot at being seen through like that, looking around in confusion as to how did she figure it out, her reaction telling Wilma everything she needed to know.
"Awww, don't worry Riley I don't bite, without consent that is. Just tell me what's been plaguing you, you'll feel better." She encouraged her niece on, ruffling her hair some more as she focused on trying to compose an answer, figuring out she'd already been seen through anyway and just hail mary-ing it.
"So... a-aunt Izzy told me you were trans and I... d-don't know what that means...?" Riley tensed up subconsciously, hoping that however Wilma would react it wouldn't be anything-
*petpet*
Riley blinked a couple times and looked at Wilma in surprise, the latter's face contorted as she was barely holding back a burst of loud laughter, eventually just deciding to pull her niece into a tight hug and quietly giggle her amusement out before answering.
"O-ohh dearie, shoulda said it was that from the get go, it's something I get asked quite a bit and while answering it gets a bit tedious sometimes, especially to assholes that think they know better than me, I'll definitely explain it to you all you want, heh. So, whattcha wanna know?" Her aunt spoke cheerfully, one paw continuing to stroke Riley's hair. After smiling at Andrew lifting Timmy up to help him hang a bauble on one of the higher up branches the girl managed to sort out her thoughts, responding softly-
"W-well, I-I don't really know anything, all I recall from what aunt Izzy told me is that you didn't like your body or something but, well, that doesn't tell me much..." If Riley spoke any quieter she'd be miming out the sounds, Wilma answering with a handful of scritches behind her ears before slowly going into it-
"So, someone is trans when they're born as one gender, grow up with everyone thinking they're that gender, but they're not actually. It causes them a lot of grief since they know they're not who everyone keeps saying they are, but people keep treating them as if they actually are that wrong gender. So, in my case, born as a boy, everyone thought I was a boy growing up, then puberty hit and I realized something was wrong and there was something really wrong with me. I was all sad and confused before aunt Liz recommended me a gender issues therapist, and well, we needed only a couple sessions to really figure it out, and then when I tried of think of myself as a girl it just... clicked. It felt natural, it just felt, you know, right. And then I asked my sisters and parents to call me a she and not a he, changed my name and it all just kept clicking, it felt as natural as possible. And then came stuff like hormones to help with making my body look girlier and such, but it's not the case for every trans person of course. It's just what worked for me, and what helped me change from feeling like I was trapped in this ugly fleshy thing to just... liking it. I actually started liking my body after a while, and Christ it was such a massive change."
Riley kept nodding as she took her aunt's lecture in, processing its contents and trying to make sense of it all, inevitable questions springing up-
"So... you grew up as a boy?" She asked quietly, sliding closer into her aunt's embrace, hoping to keep this little conversation private.
"Yep. My parents thought I was a boy, my sisters thought I was a boy, hell even I for the longest time thought I was a boy, despite really, really not liking that fact. Lemme tell you- I was one miserable kid."
"H-how did your family react?"
"Well, they were confused to all hell at the beginning, and as was I, but it's like... my folks clearly didn't *get it* to put it that way, I'm unsure whether they do even now- but they did realize that being a girl made me so, so much happier than pretending to be a boy ever could, and were very supportive from that angle. As for my sisters, heh..." She chuckled quietly and smiled warmly, sneaking a glance to the side towards Ella, who was currently busy freaking out over Timmy handling anything more fragile than a brick, before looking back at Riley.
"They, I was so happy when they just... accepted me from the get-go. It just felt so, so good when we could just go for a group hug and I didn't feel like the odd one out, that we finally were the five Nelson girls and all. Especially Izzy, I remember her helping me stylize the short hair I had back then and just drowning me in all various accessories and all, and it just felt so, god it felt good." She teared up just a bit as she held onto Riley, glancing up towards Izzy, the younger sister responding with a smiling nod.
The girl noticed the sweet change in demeanor, reaching over and hugging her aunt herself, trying to thank her for the impromptu lecture with some head scritches of her own.
"H-ahha, ohh Riley, how are you doing?" Wilma asked quietly, stretching a bit as she took a look at the tree itself, now shining and beaming even more.
"I-I'm good aunt Wilma. T-thank you so much for all that..." Riley answered with a soft smile and a much less soft grunt as she pushed herself back up, staggering for a moment before her aunt stabilized her with a paw on her shoulder as she got up herself.
"You're welcome Riley, don't worry. Guess if you're still confused then the one big lesson out of it all is just... call people how they want to be called, if you do that you're already most of the way there, aight?"
"Y-yeah!" Riley answered a bit too cheerfully, catching Rick's attention and a slight smile as he realized they've been quietly conspiring together for a while, Wilma rewarding his realization with sticking her tongue out.
"We've saved some decorations for you, wanna put them on?" Rick asked with a tilt of his head, suggesting this was the kind of a question with only one acceptable answer.
Riley stepped ahead and nodded, grabbing a couple of large baubles from the small bag, walking around the tree as she searched for a less utilized area, managing to hang a couple near the top, and another one right at the bottom, glistening in the glow of all the combined lights.
"Riley, Riley, please put the star on!" Timmy's alarmed squeak took her out of her relaxed decorating, a quick surprised glance confirming the fact that the top of the tree was still barren, the star presumably in her bag.
"Timmy, you know what dad told you, star goes on last, right?" Ella asked with a soft shake of her head, the lil' kit groaning and quietly whining-
"But Riley is so slooooow!"
The sister in question couldn't help but burst into a chuckle-like laughter upon hearing that, taking a moment to calm her belly down from all the aching before another noise interrupted her thoughts-
Seems Aurora woke back up.
"Oh dear, guess someone woke up from her nap~" Izzy giggled as she picked her out of her bedding, the baby looking around in confusion for a while before the shining Christmas tree caught all her attention, excited squeaks letting everyone know about it as she reached her pawsies towards the tree.
"Mhm, the Christmas tree is almost ready. Tomorrow we'll decorate our own, alright?" Baby mom asked rhetorically as she passed her baby over to Ella, the eldest sister having a better idea of the ancient question of 'how close can you hold a baby to a Christmas tree without risking the safety of either'.
Still, Riley didn't want to waste any more time than she needed, a quick glance at her phone confirming it was already way into the evening, both aunts probably could use an excuse to finally be able to head home.
She dashed up to the rest of the decorations, hanging a few angels up high on the tree, and a few more giftbox-shaped ornaments lower down, with most of the rest ending up wherever there was a spare spot, except for one wooden decoration of a gingerbread man, Riley having a fiendish idea as she asked her mom-
"How about Aurora tries hanging one of them?" She waved the wooden decoration in the air, Ella thinking for a moment before gently grabbing it from her and placing it in Aurora's pawsie, before lifting the girl up so that she was at an eye level with a relatively free branch.
Of course, the completely expected ended up happening, the baby deciding that the wooden gingerbread man must taste just as good as the real thing, biting on it with a handful of baby cooing.
Aside from Timmy who couldn't bear to see a decoration get wasted like that, everyone else reacted with a various mix of 'awww's and laughter.
With that out of the way, and the baby Aurora having gained one more thing to chew on to aid with the teething, Riley reached into the nearly empty bag and pulled out the hefty metal eight armed star, the glistening gold-like plating slightly tarnished, revealing the brass underneath.
"That's one hefty star, whoah..." It must've easily weighted at least a pound or two, Riley definitely wondering whether it wouldn't snap the poor tree under its mass.
"Yep. Got it from our grandma when I first moved out, always loved how it shined with the light of a fireplace..." Ella reminisced, Riley smiling a bit as she realized a far more urgent issue.
Namely that she was too short.
Again.
"H-how am I gonna reach over the-eeEEEEEEERE!?" She briefly freaked out as she felt someone grab her by her waist and lift her up by at least a couple feet, giving just barely enough reach to stick the star on, mission accomplished with an exhausted gasp from both her and Andrew.
"Jeez that scared me, would it hurt to give a warning or something?" She asked halfheartedly, most of the sudden panic having already weathered away into surprised amusement.
"But where's the fun in that?" Rick answered for Andrew, both boys breaking into a slight chuckle before joining the rest of the family in looking up at the finished tree, how it glowed and glistened wonderfully all over...
Heck, even Aurora took a break from trying to chew on wood and squeaked excitedly at the sight of the shining star.
"Well, that's a job well done everyone." Rick summed it up shortly, cleaning up all the now emptied boxes into one small pile as to not take up as much space.
"Yeah..." Riley couldn't help but to respond flatly, the sight just... beautiful. She wanted to sit there and wait for someone to maybe drop off something under here, or even just to enjoy the warm glow of the fireplace combined with the shining colors of the Christmas tree, it just all felt so, so inviting...
She felt really, really welcome.
"Now... thanks for the tea and for a chance to help with this sweet thing, but I think it's time for me to get moving, don't know about you Izzy." Wilma spoke with a yawn as she walked up to Rick and exchanged a friendly hug, before doing the same to Riley, holding theirs for just a bit longer before continuing with the rest of the family, Timmy in particular squeaking in happiness as she knelt down to hug him, letting him marvel at her dye-job for just a bit longer.
"Yeah, goodness it's late... Still, I'm so, so happy I got to see you all sweeties, and have a very, very merry Christmas!" Izzy joined in, exchanging her share of the hugs with everyone gathered before grabbing Aurora back, the wittle skunko's eyes still fixated on the shining star.
Riley ran up to the both aunts as they headed for the main door, pulling them together into a gentle hug, both reacting with warm giggles at the gesture, and each with her own share of pets and scritches.
"I-I'm so happy to have met you three, hehe..." The girl chuckled out with a blush, both aunts smiling down at her with Aurora not wasting a prime opportunity to coo some more herself.
"You're welcome Riley, was fun finally meeting you as well, heh. If you need anything, don't hesitate to give me a call, aight?" Wilma spoke up, the visibly exhausted Izzy mostly just 'yeah'-ing along by now.
She was about to let them leave before a final mystery forced itself onto her mind.
"There's one last thing I wanted to ask you aunt Wilma, you mentioned something about kids with your current employer?" The question was a bit impromptu, but she knew that if she didn't take care of it now it would never stop torturing her.
"Ahha, well, I work at a preschool! May not look like it, but the dyes and piercings are just about the coolest thing in the world for the three year olds I work with, they absolutely love it." She chuckled at Riley bringing it up all of a sudden, but was happy to respond nonetheless.
"T-thank you. So... um... until next time!" After taking way too long to finally come up with a proper goodbye for her aunts, Riley let them out to the salvo of the rest of the family saying goodbye, both aunts getting into their cars and slowly heading off soon after, the winter having thankfully spared them from any further snowfall.
After locking the door back up, Riley realized how... suddenly empty she felt. Is that just how a relative leaving feels?
And more importantly, what now?
"What's for dinner?" Timmy broke up the uneasy silence, the family only now realizing they've missed their usual dinner time by... almost two hours.
Seemingly unbothered, Ella quickly walked up to the fridge and pulled something out from the freezer- a family sized bag of a frozen mix of chicken and broccoli, kept since time immemorial in case of apocalypse, or just not having any dinner to serve that day.
And it was finally its time to shine.
***
That dinner sucked.
As simple as the mix was to prepare, the taste was closer to cardboard with mushy green... stuff on it than to any actual dinner. Still, it was the emergency dinner for a reason, and both parents made it very apparent that tomorrow they'll make up for all that and then some.
Which Riley didn't know whether to interpret as a threat or not in her exhausted state, her brain eventually deciding on 'not' as she stepped back into her room.
And once more, the stars provided her guidance as she was too lazy to go back to the door to turn on the lights, managing to roughly stumble her way out of her clothes and fall roughly on top of her bed, pulling her covers over her, being the last thing she managed to accomplish as all the fun and excitement of the day finally took their toll-
And then she plugged her phone in. Making the covers the second last thing she managed to accomplish as all the fun and excitement of the day finally took their toll on her, the exhausted teen not standing even a lick of a chance against the warm embrace of a nice set of thick covers.
And the promise of getting to help bake gingerbread cookies tomorrow.
She loved gingerbread cookies.