Christmas at the Cabin: Chapter 2
Rating/Disclaimer: same as previous chapters. ;)
A/N: so I know that I'm off schedule with these chapters. I've realized that I'm too much of a perfectionist with these things sometimes. But I assure you, I will work my way through the 12 pains of christmas! Even if I run past the 25th! Here's the second pain: putting up the lights. ;)
CHAPTER 2
LIGHT ENVY
Slade groaned as his alarm went off, eye shut tight. Rolling over to lay on his stomach, the man took his pillow and put it over his head and ears, hoping to drown out the noise. The noise persisted. “TRIKK, TURN IT OFF!” he shouted at the girl in the bed on the other side of the bedside table. To no effect. The alarm kept going. “TRIKK!” he shouted, and threw the pillow at her bed, “TURN THE DAMN THING OFF!” he shouted, putting his hands over his ears. The alarm continued. He growled. And he’d been having a good dream of hunting with William Wintergreen, too. . . now he could never go back to it. . . and it was all her damn fault. . . he shot up, and whipped his head around, glaring at the girl, “I SAID SHUT THAT THING UP. . . huh?” he frowned. Trikk’s bed, with its blue silk sheets, was all made up, his pillow lying on top of an empty bed. He stared, frowned, turned to his alarm clock, and turned it off. “What the. . . TRIKK?!” he called, jerking his head around, scanning the room. He didn’t hear the shower running. . . he clamored out of bed and grabbed his eye patch from his dresser as he headed for his bathroom, quickly putting it on, only wearing black boxers, “TRIKK!” he opened the bathroom door and looked inside. No one . . . he frowned. . .
After tugging on some black lounge pants and an orange muscle shirt, the man marched into the hallway, and into the living room. “TRIKK! Where are you?” he looked around. Sure enough, the tree was there . . . but no Trikk. He frowned and walking to the screen door that led to his porch, pushed it open and looked out. No, no sign of her . . . worry began to set in . . . if she was missing, could Slashera be missing? Turning, the man bolted for the child’s room and flung the door open, banging it on the wall. He stared at her freshly made bed in there as well. But the room was empty. After rushing into her bathroom to find that empty as well, the man gritted his teeth and began to run about the house, looking in every crack and crevice, crying out their names. Worried that someone had taken them in the night . . . what could be happening to them?! His mind filled with possibilities. “SLASHERA! TRIKK! WHERE ARE. . .” he began to scream in the middle of the living room, head thrown back, arms flung at his sides, when the door to the cabin opened.
He paused, staring at his deer antler chandelier, breathing hard, as Trikk’s voice floated in, “HURRY SLASHERA! COME ON, LET’S GET IT!” running sneakers could be heard on Slade’s hardwood floor, and the man turned, staring as the two, in full attire including coats, beanie, and earmuffs, rushed past, glancing at him, “Hey Slade!” Trikk gasped, grinning, her cheeks flushed. Behind her ran Slashera, who grinned and waved at him, “Good morning Father Slade!” At that, the two disappeared down the hall. Slade heard things moving around in his and Trikk’s bedroom, then the two were back running out of the hall and across the living room, Trikk’s camera case clutched in one of the author’s hands, Slashera’s hand clutched in her other hand. Slashera was laughing happily, and before he knew it, the two had opened the door and exited the cabin, slamming the door again. Slade stared at the way they’d gone for a moment, blinking then the man hurtled to his room, tugged on his boots and socks, and then rushed out of the house, slamming the door behind him. After hearing Slashera’s voice from the backyard saying various “oooh”s and “aaaah”s, the man turned and rushed to the backyard. There, he slid to a stop.
Brightly lit multi colored lights lined the edges and corners of Jareth’s Mobile Home. In front of the small home were three spiral Christmas tree light displays, one in the color green with the other two being in the color red. On the Fae’s door was a star with various multicolor lights outlining its golden foil middle. Slade frowned and walked towards the group. Lilac was there, kneeling before the mobile home near the lit up trees, grinning as Slashera stood beside her, smiling at Trikk as the author took the picture of the two. Jareth stood proudly to the side in a white coat with white ear muffs and white gloves. Trikk smiled as Lilac and Slashera rushed over, then the author grabbed Slashera’s hand, and picked the girl up and put her on her hip before walking quickly through the snow to the trees, facing Lilac as the black haired witch snapped the photo. “Alright, now Jareth, you get in. . . Lilac, can you make the camera levitate for a moment? So that we can all get in it?” Trikk said, blinking. At that moment, Slade seemed to reach her awareness. Trikk turned and grinned, “SLADE! Great timing! Can you take the picture?!” Slade frowned, and Lilac put the camera into his hands. The witch rushed over to stand on Slashera’s other side as Trikk kept holding her, and Jareth stood on Trikk’s other side, smiling for the picture, a playful look in his eyes. Slade frowned, “What’s going on here?” Trikk grinned a little more, “We’ll tell you in a minute. Just take the picture.” Slade sighed, and snapped the picture.
Trikk jogged over, Slashera still on her hip, and looked at the picture on her Kodak camera, “Alright, good job!” she took it from him, and set Slashera down to stand in the snow, and quickly slid the camera into its case. Turning to Slade, she smiled, “Jareth spent the whole night putting these lights up!” she motioned to the Fae’s mobile home, “Lilac rushed in and told me, and so I got Slashera up to see them and take pictures!”
Slade frowned, and turned to the mobile home, before Jareth spoke up, “It really was nothing . . . just wanted to get into the spirit . . . and I figured Slade wouldn’t be putting up any lights. . .” Slade suddenly jerked his head around, frowning at the Fae, crossing his arms, “And why do you say that?” Jareth blinked and turned to him, frowning, “Well, I mean, it would seem to me that you would think that putting up lights would be a waste of precious electricity, so you wouldn’t do it. . .” “For your information, I was thinking of putting up lights today,” Slade snarled, turning to face the Fae. Jareth arched an eyebrow, “Oh, is that so?” he crossed his arms as Slade had already done, “And what were you thinking of putting up?” “I don’t know. But something far better than yours,” Slade murmured with a smirk. Jareth arched another brow, “Sounds like a challenge,” he stretched his lips in a smile, “I propose we decorate our dwellings all day, and see who wins with the better light display. What do you think?” Slade smirked, “Didn’t know you were that set on losing. . .” “I’m not . . . but I would love to wipe the floor with you, figuratively speaking of course,” Jareth slurred. Slade smirked, “In your dreams. Are we going to start now?” “I believe that that is best, yes. And I shall give you a two hour head start while I gather supplies. Since I’ve already started,” Jareth murmured. Slade smirked, “You’re going to regret that later.” Turning, the two marched off, Slade down his driveway (to go to his warehouse to get lights) and Jareth into his mobile home. Lilac frowned and turned to Trikk, “You’re not going to do something about them?” she murmured, arching an eyebrow. Clearly having expected the author to intervene with the two males’ competition. Trikk frowned and turned to the witch, shrugged, and gave a small smile, “Actually, I’m . . . kinda curious as to what Slade’s capable of. And Jareth. And in the meantime. . .” she grinned and turning to Slashera, reached down and gripped the girl’s armpits and hoisted her up to place the child on her hip, grinning at her brain daughter, “We have a whole day to be just girls and decorate the house up for Christmas!” Slashera grinned at her brain mother, and Lilac smiled, following the two into the cabin.
30 minutes later, Lilac and Trikk had whipped together some waffles, chocolate chip of course, some sausage, and some bacon, and the three girls were eating at the table. “So what do you want to do first today?” Lilac remarked, biting into a piece of bacon, the three drinking milk along with their breakfast. “I was thinking we could do that stocking craft you brought. . .” Trikk turned and smiled at Slashera, “Would you like to decorate your own stocking, Little Slash?” Slashera beamed, “OH YES, THAT SOUNDS EXCITING!” Trikk grinned at the girl, then turned to Lilac, “Then I was thinking of just decorating the house and putting up garland and wreaths and other decorations in here, making some Christmas cookies and other sweets, fixing hot chocolate, listening to Christmas music. . . you know, just to have a bit of fun time with just us girls?” Lilac smiled, “I think that’s a wonderful idea.” “ME TOO!” Slashera squealed, grinning at the two girls. The two girls turned to the child and smiled, “We’re glad you do, little one.”
2 hours later, Slade took a step back from his spot on the porch roof of his cabin, and sighed. He’d just put icicle lights lining the roof of his cabin and red rope lights along the edges of his chimney, doorframes, and window frames. The man had to admit, he was quite proud of himself . . . it was then that he heard Jareth whistle from behind the house. He frowned, and turning, walked up his roof carefully. Once he was braced against the chimney he frowned down at the Fae. Jareth was smirking up at Slade, “Not half bad, for an old man.” Slade growled from low in his throat, glaring at Jareth. Jareth winked, “But I think I did a tiny bit better. . .” he plugged in a string of lights to an extension cord, and Slade frowned. Each window of the mobile home was lined with a string of rope lights, and in each window was a lit up wreath. Lining Jareth’s small shoveled path to his mobile home’s door were red lit up candy canes, and in front of the lit up spiral trees from before was a family of three moving light up deer. Beside them, was a lit up snowman. On the other side of the candy cane path, was a lit up Santa Claus that was waving at Slade, beside a small stack of light up presents. Slade had to admit. It was . . . a tiny bit better than his own much more simple design. . . He turned and narrowed his eyes at Jareth, “It’s not over, you pompous king. . .” he pointed a finger at Jareth, glaring hard at him, “Not by a long shot.”
Jareth smirked, “Three words, you pauper . . . maybe even you can understand them. . . BRING. IT. ON.” Slade snarled, fury rising in his face at the Fae’s comment, and spat out, “Я обещаю Вам это, Вы часть грязи. К концу сегодня, около рудников, ваш передвижной дом будет похож, слабо освещал груду дерьма. И Вы должны тогда съесть ваши патетические слова, Вы ничтожный небольшой червь!” (“I promise you this, you piece of filth. By the end of today, beside mine, your mobile home will look like a feebly lit up pile of shit. And you shall then eat your pathetic words, you measly little worm!” (In Russian)). Jareth just smirked, “Wow, so nervous you can’t even speak correctly?” Slade snarled even more and began to pace along his roof, fighting his primal instinct to take the other man down, hate and rage in his eye, “ВЫ НЕБОЛЬШАЯ ЗАДНИЦА! ЕСЛИ БЫ мне НЕ ПРИКАЗЫВАЛИ ПРОТИВ IT, то я СНИЗИЛСЯ БЫ ТАМ И ЗАДУШИЛ БЫ ВАС С ВАШЕЙ СОБСТВЕННОЙ ПРОКЛЯТОЙ ВЕРЕНИЦЕЙ ОГНЕЙ! ВЫ НЕОСВЕДОМЛЕННЫЙ, НАПЫЩЕННЫЙ, НАДОЕДЛИВЫЙ РЕБЕНОК ДВОРЦА!” (“YOU LITTLE ASS! IF I WAS NOT ORDERED AGAINST IT, I WOULD COME DOWN THERE AND STRANGLE YOU WITH YOUR OWN DAMN STRING OF LIGHTS! YOU IGNORANT, POMPOUS, PALACE BRAT!” (in Russian again)). Jareth threw back his head cackling, and Slade just roared in pure anger at the man, before turning and marching back down the other side of his roof. I will beat that FAE KING! If it’s the last thing I do!
“Alright, Little Slash,” Trikk said with a soft smile as she laid out the various newspapers over the kitchen table, then put the stack of five red stockings in the center portion of the table, beside various squirt bottles of glittery fabric paint, “Ready?” Slashera turned to her, grinning and nodding as she wore an old apron Lilac had brought for the child. Trikk herself wore an identical looking apron over her own clothes, her hair pulled back in a braid to match the small girl’s own for the task. Lilac had Disapparated to town in search of some Christmas CDs and DVDs to watch, along with a TV, DVD player, and CD Boom box. Along with various ingredients to make treats and dinner with. The witch had assured Trikk that she would be back shortly.
Trikk smiled at Slashera, and turning to the stack of stockings, pulled out two, standing beside the child who sat on her knees in the chair, leaning out over the table. “Alright, the idea is to write your name in fabric paint on the white part,” Trikk ran a finger over the white furry top of Slashera’s stocking, “And then make a design on this part,” Trikk moved her hand down and laid her palm on the red part of the stocking and ran her hand down it, smoothing out the fabric. “Would you like to watch me first?” Trikk asked, smiling at the child. Slashera nodded eagerly. Trikk beamed at the girl, then turned and picked up an orange glitter fabric paint tube, “Alright. . . Well, first, I’m doing Father Slade’s for him, since he’s decorating the house and is very busy right now. . .” Slashera grinned, “That’s awesome!” Trikk smiled at the girl, “Thank you, little one. . .” Turning to the stocking, she blinked, bit the inside of her cheek, and leaning forward a little, slowly drew an S on the white part of the stocking. . . “Alright. . .” she muttered, and quickly prepared the tube of black glitter fabric paint. . . “What about the rest of his name?” Slashera asked, blinking at the woman. “Oh, I’m going to put it on there. But I want to do each letter a different color. You know, black, orange, black, orange?” Trikk said, turning and blinking at the girl. “Oh . . . he’ll like that!” Slashera beamed at the woman again. Trikk chuckled, “I certainly hope so.”
About fifteen minutes later, Slade’s stocking was done. Trikk had finished Slade’s name, and then on the red part had put a chibi form of his Teen Titans cartoon mask, after explaining to Slashera that on occasion, Slade would dress up like this. She did the halves of the mask outlined by their respective colors, of course. Turning to Slashera after she had finished the mask, she smiled, “Now for yours. Would you like for me to help you?” Slashera grinned and nodded.
Fifty minutes later, both Slashera’s stocking and Trikk’s stocking were done. The child’s name was written on the top white part of her stocking in all the different colors of the rainbow. Below that, various multicolored curled vines wrapped around the stocking. Which was part of the reason why it took them longer for hers. Trikk’s stocking simply had her name written in bright blue at the top, and a heart was on the red part of the stocking with blue vines inside of it. Both Slashera and Trikk were proud of what they’d accomplished. “Now for Jareth’s,” Trikk murmured, smiling at the child, a smudge of glitter on the author’s cheek, “What color do you think his name should be?” “GOLD! He’s a king, right?” Slashera said, smiling. Trikk chuckled, nodded, and set to work, “Perfect choice.”
Twenty-five minutes later, Jareth’s name was along the top of the stocking, and a goblin, drawn to the best of Trikk’s abilities, was drawn in white on the red part of the stocking. . . the author had to admit: it looked more like a house elf than a goblin, but who had ever said she was the world’s greatest artist? As she leaned back from it and Slashera applauded her for an excellent job, Lilac walked back into the room from the muck room, carrying just a small handbag. Setting it on the coffee table beside the large tubs of stuff, the witch began to pull out the TV monitor, a DVD player, some DVDs, a Boom box, and CDs from the bag, “Charm on the bag,” she explained. Trikk smiled and nodded, “We’re done with the stockings for us and the boys . . . I figured you’d want to do your own? I’m thinking of fixing some coffee for the boys. They’re probably thirsty.” Lilac turned to her and nodded, “Sounds like a good idea. Want to take some biscuits from yesterday warmed up to them?” Trikk smiled, “Sounds like a good idea.”
Five minutes later, Lilac was designing her own stocking while Slashera watched with a smile, the ingredients the witch had gotten form the local supermarket having been put up in the refrigerator and cabinets, and Trikk was heading out with two wrapped up pairs of warm biscuits and two travel mugs of black coffee, one with chervil, one without. Upon exiting the house, Trikk stared, slowly gazing to the left and right. Lining the ground on the outside of the cabin was green and red alternating swirl lit up Christmas trees. If Trikk had to guess, the trees even went down the hill, surrounding the cabin all around. She frowned, “HEY BOYS?!” “BACK HERE!” both men shouted from behind the cabin. She frowned and walked around, and stared. Jareth was in the process of putting a full lit up sleigh and team of reindeer beside a lit up moving Santa and presents in front of his mobile home. On top of the home, were three “Ho” light displays, one red, one green, and another red. And each would alternate in being lit up, with the one to the left lighting up first, then the one in the middle, then the one at the end. She turned, blinking, to Slade, who was actually putting up a lit up wreath on his bedroom window. Nearby were three metal crates, and Slade-bots gathered around them, guarding them.
Slade and Jareth both turned to her and headed over, smiling automatically at the sight of the coffees and packages. After Trikk had handed both men their coffees, and both men had drunk a gulp and sighed contently, she handed them the biscuits. . . “It looks . . . good. How’s it going?” “Fine,” both men muttered. And Jareth turned and headed back to his mobile home. Slade hung back a bit, eating some of his biscuit, blinking at her, “Slashera . . . is she alright?” Trikk smiled weakly, “She’s perfectly alright. We’re just decorating the house, baking, cooking, and making stockings.” Slade chose not to comment on the decorations. Trikk smiled a bit larger. He knew better than to call her out on that, considering what he was currently doing. . . “The trees look good,” she offered. “They’re not good enough, not yet,” Slade muttered coldly. She frowned, and tilted her head, “You . . . you know you don’t have to. . .” “I do,” he muttered firmly, frowning hard at her, “I have to prove I can do a better job.” “Over putting up Christmas lights? Slade, isn’t that a little extreme? Even for you?” she said, frowning. Slade narrowed his eye, “He’s not going to beat me. Not on this, not on anything.” She smiled weakly, “Well, I have to admit, it’s going to be pretty interesting to see what you two end up doing. It already looks awesome. You’re doing a good job.” He smirked, “I bet.” Turning, he walked back to the wreath he was working on.
Trikk blinked, watching him for a moment, then turned and headed to Jareth, “Hey, how’s it going?” Jareth turned, and smiled, “AWESOME! THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!” She chuckled and walked up to him, her hands in her pockets, “I’m glad. Good job so far,” she complimented the Fae. Jareth beamed, “Thanks!” he took a bite out of the biscuit, “Sorry that we’re not really hanging out with you girls today. . .” “Oh that’s fine,” Trikk said, smiling up at the Goblin King, “We’ve got plenty planned. We won’t be bored. Not by a long shot. It’ll be nice to have just a fun day with just us girls. Not that we don’t enjoy spending time with you two, of course.” Jareth smiled, “Hey, I’m not gonna question anything you girls do,” he chuckled, shaking his head, and then smiled at her again, “You guys have fun.” She smiled, “You too. I can’t wait to see what you guys end up doing.” Jareth just smiled, and the girl turned and headed back for the house. Whatever the men did, she had to admit, it was going to be interesting.
When she entered the house, she immediately heard “Winter Wonderland” playing full blast. She chuckled, and as she took off her coat, scarf, beanie, and gloves, the girl walked into the main part of the house. The fire had already been started in the fire place, and the stockings were hung along the edge of the mantle, with Lilac’s having purple glitter paint with a horned Pegasus on it. The two girls were on the couch, tying golden ribbon bows onto lengths of garland, singing along with the music. Slashera looked up, sitting facing Trikk, and grinned, “HEY! LOOK!” she held up her length of Garland, “Pretty, right?” Trikk grinned, and nodded, walking over, “You guys have done awesome work . . . anything I can do?” “Ummm, I think we’re almost done here,” Lilac said, causing her bows to magically tie onto various different strands of garland, doing at least three different 8 foot lengths of garland a minute, while Slashera did it without magic, having fun tying small golden string on the backs of the bows to the Garland’s base plastic cord. Lilac turned to Trikk, “Would you like to go around and put window clings I brought on the windows?” Trikk smiled and nodded, “Of course.” Walking around to an open tub, she looked in, grabbed two packages of the plastic clings of snowmen, snowflakes, reindeer, penguins, and Santas, and turning, headed for Slade and Slashera’s bedrooms to begin to put up the window clings in there.
As she pressed a snowman to Slade’s bedroom window as she stood on his bed, she smiled. She couldn’t help but be happy that Lilac and Slashera were having so much fun together. And she only hoped that the three of them would continue to have fun!
Fifteen minutes later, Trikk walked back down the hallway, smiling, ready to put some more window clings up on the windows in the kitchen and living room and on the door to the cabin. And stared. The garland was now wrapped along the antlers of the chandelier, along the mantle of the fireplace, along the shelves of the animal trophies around the living room, around the bases of the deer mounts on the walls, along the top of the cabinet in the living room, and along the tops of the cabinets of the kitchen. Currently, Slashera and Lilac were pulling green wreaths with golden ribbons out of one of the tubs on the coffee table, along with window hangers. “THIS LOOKS AMAZING GUYS!” Trikk grinned, heading to the kitchen, smiling back at the two. Slashera looked up and grinned, “I’M GLAD YOU LIKE IT! IT’S BEEN FUN!” Trikk grinned and began to put the window clings up in the kitchen window, “I’m glad.” With that, Lilac and Slashera began to put a wreath on each living room window and Trikk continued to put up window clings, all of them working to the song “Jingle Bell Rock” and singing along.
Slade grunted about two hours later, standing back on the roof of his porch. Along the edge of the porch roof were lit up spiral green Christmas trees and lit up snow men. Turning, he blinked up at the top of his roof. Using motion light designs, he had made a Santa standing and then leaning over the chimney with a bag of toys on his back. Behind him, was a set of reindeer and a sleigh, all lit up, with the deer moving their heads and the lights on the sleigh being chasing lights. Finally, in the center of the porch was a large swirled red Christmas tree with light up presents under it. Moving around the web of extension cords and light cords, the man climbed to the top of his roof, and stared. Jareth’s mobile home was COVERED in lights. Every inch of it was covered with multicolored lights, with the words Merry Christmas written on the front of it in white lights in cursive. Jareth turned, feeling the man’s gaze, and smirked at him, “How’s it going?” he called mockingly. Slade only narrowed his eye, and shouted right back, “AWESOME! JUSTAWESOME!” Turning, he marched back down the roof on the other side, walked over to the left edge of his porch roof, and jumped off, landing firmly on the ground. He was going to defeat Jareth at this! Someway, somehow.
Trikk grinned as Lilac took the large pizza out of the oven, the heavenly smells of the meal filling the cabin, some freshly cooked breadsticks already sitting on the counter. The group had made the pizza dough from scratch and had put the meal together. Slashera had loved doing the cheese and pepperoni, and had grinned the whole time, singing “Jingle Bells” at the top of her lungs as she did so. Trikk and Lilac had only grinned at one another, happy the child was having so much fun. Now, Lilac sliced the pizza into twelve equal slices, as Trikk put parmesan on the table along with three plates and three glasses of milk. In no time, the three were munching on pizza and breadsticks around the table, smiles on their faces caused by the awesome tastes on their tongues.
They’d put up wreaths on each window and above the doorway heading into the hallway and muck room. An extra strand of garland had also been put up over the door leading into the cabin and over the screen door connected to the kitchen. Small Christmas trees that had come pre-decorated with gold garland wrapped around them that were set in red cups were scattered about the house, on the shelves between the hunting trophies in the living room and in Slashera’s room, on top of the cabinets in the kitchen, in the center of the kitchen table and in the center of the coffee table, on both Slashera’s and Slade’s dressers, and on the hearth of the fireplace, with a large wreath hanging over the fireplace. Jingle bells on golden ribbon were wrapped around each and every door knob handle, and red Christmas candles were scattered throughout the house, as were snowmen statues, Santa statues, and reindeer statues. In short, the house looked ready for Christmas, truly!
The table even had a red table cloth with candy cane and wreath and present designs embroidered upon it. And on each bedroom door was a set of two candy canes tied together with a big gold bow. In the bathrooms, the soap had been switched out with red Christmas soap, and the shower curtains had been switched out with shower curtains that were red in color, with Slade’s having Santas on it, and with Slashera’s having Candy Canes on it. The bedspread sets had been switched out as well, with each being green silk sheets with quilts on top of them. On Trikk’s there was a reindeer. On Slade’s, a Christmas tree. On Slashera’s, a Snowman.
Overall, the group was proud of what they’d accomplished. And it was only 2:00! Next the three were going to bake cakes and cheesecakes and pies and cupcakes and cookies, before settling down to watch the movie “Eloise at Christmastime” for the rest of the evening.
Hours later, a large five layered devil’s food cake with creamy chocolate icing and chocolate shavings on top stood on a cake stand on the kitchen counter, beside a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing and chocolate shavings on a shorter cake stand. Beside the red velvet cake was a large cake stand with three Swiss Rolls on it, one with strawberry jam, one chocolate one with cream cheese filling, and one that was plain vanilla with cream cheese filling. Beside the Swiss Rolls was an even larger cake tray with four pie sheets on it. One pie sheet held a regular cheesecake, one held a pecan pie, one held cherry pie, and one held chocolate pie. The next huge cake tray that was set very low held twenty four cupcakes, with eight having strawberry icing, eight having cream cheese icing, and eight having chocolate icing. Beside that was a large cake tray yet again, with 60 cookies stacked up on it, all shaped in Christmas shapes, with red and green and white icing on them, and sprinkles of course. But the really sweet part of the evening was in the living room.
Lilac laughed, as Trikk and Slashera, hyped up on way too much cocoa, grinned and side stepped and danced to the part of “Eloise at Christmastime” during which Rachel and Bill sang “Together” from the Gypsy musical, which was playing on the TV behind them. The two girls were grinning and twirling around, Lilac having moved the coffee table safely out of the way. Slashera and the others had already watched the full movie, and the child had wanted to try the dance with Trikk. The two had started by crouching down during the first part, then when the song had gotten to the part past the female “Gonna go through it together”, the two had hopped up, and had grabbed each other’s inside hand and had held up their outside hands before walking back and forth, crossing their legs, laughing and singing the song, “Wherever I go! I know she goes!” Trikk said happily, and gave a little kick out, being on the left of Slashera. “AND WHEREVER I GO, I KNOW SHE GOES!” Slashera laughed, and the two twirled inside to each other and knelt down, heads mere inches apart, both singing at the top of their lungs, grinning, “NO FITS, NO FIGHTS, NO FEUDS, AND NO EGOOOOS! AMIGOS! TOGETHER!” the two twirled around in circles, and began to dance again as they had before, but now on opposite sides of one another, grinning at one another, “THROUGH THICK AND THROUGH THIN!” the two kicked out with their outside legs, “ALL OUT OR ALL IN! AND WHETHER IT’S WIN, PLACE, OR SHOW!” the two turned and faced one another, and grinned.
Trikk leaned down, and swept Slashera up in her arms and turned quickly, grinning at the child as Slashera squealed as she was swung around, “WITH YOU FOR ME!” Slashera laughed as the girl brought her in again, and held her to her hip, “AND ME FOR YOU!” Trikk held out one hand, the one on the opposite side of Slashera, and shook it out in a jazz hand motion, shifting her weight to the opposite foot and holding the other one out temporarily, grinning, “WE’LL MUDDLE THROUGH!” Slashera giggled and held out her own jazz hand, as Trikk switched her weight to the other foot and moved the one beneath the child out a little, “WHATEVER WE DO!” Trikk grinned, and brought her free hand around again and wrapped both arms around the child, and the two began to twirl, laughing as they continued to sing, “TOGETHER! WHEREVER! WE GOOOOO!”
The two turned and grinned at Lilac, who paused the movie and applauded them, “ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE YOU TWO!” “I couldn’t agree more,” Slade’s voice floated in from the muck room, as the lights in the room turned on, the group having had the lights turned off to watch the movie with only the firelight and tree lights as illumination besides the TV screen. Slashera turned, and grinned, “FATHER SLADE!” Trikk chuckled and stood the girl on the floor again, and the girl rushed around the couch and threw herself into the man’s arms. Slade chuckled warmly, catching her and moving her up to rest her on his own hip, smiling over at her. “How much did you see?” Trikk said, blushing slightly. He smiled and turned to her, his blue lit up in happiness, some snowflakes in his beard and on his eyebrows, “All of it. . .” he turned to Slashera and leaning in, kissed her warmly on the forehead before pulling back, “You were brilliant. Absolutely wonderful.” The child beamed.
He turned his head around, blinking, “I . . . see that Christmas threw up in my house. . .” He suddenly rolled his eye and stomped into the kitchen, tracking snow, “COME ON YOU LOT! DID YOU HAVE TO BAKE SO MUCH?!” “It’s in the spirit of the holidays,” Trikk remarked with a frown, resting her hands on her hips. “Y-you don’t like it?” Slashera whimpered, close to tears. Slade turned to her and smiled, “No, it looks great, little Slash. And smells great too!” he said, quickly reassuring the girl that he wasn’t too terribly mad. . . Slashera beamed, “We made stockings too!” Slade turned and walked to the fireplace, “I see that . . . yours looks amazing. . . Jareth’s . . . looks amazing too, I suppose. Nice one, Trikk . . . nice one, Lilac . . . what is that?” he said, reaching out and picking up the bottom edge of his stocking, staring at the chibi mask. “Trikk drew it!” Slashera squealed, “Isn’t it cute, Father Slade?!” Slade frowned and turned to Trikk, “Yes, cute.” Trikk just chuckled, “Well, I could have put a Santa Hat on it . . . that way it would have been more festive.” Slade smiled weakly, “No, it’s perfect the way it is. Now, turn off the TV and come outside. We need judges.” Trikk smiled, “You guys are done?” Slade smirked and nodded as Lilac turned the TV off, and after handing Slashera over to the author to hold, the man turned and headed to the muck room, Trikk and Lilac walking behind him.
“Oh. . .” Trikk said, eyes wide, staring. “My. . .” Lilac said. “GOSH,” the two said in unison. Even though the sun was quickly setting, both the cabin and the mobile home were covered in lights, all of which were turned off currently, even the roofs of both structures. In addition to what Trikk had seen earlier and in addition to what Slade and Jareth had done to their houses since then, Jareth had three gigantic narrow Trees sticking up from the roof of his mobile home, reaching high over the trees of the forest. Slade’s roof had so many penguins and reindeer and snowmen and elves on it that Trikk had to wonder how they hadn’t fallen off. Slade and Jareth smirked, standing on the respective sides of their homes to the group, hands on their hips. Slade smirked and turned to Jareth, “Mine’s going to BLOW YOURS AWAY, GOBLIN KING.” Jareth smirked right back, “In your dreams, Slade.” “Let’s light them up then, and see what our panel of judges say?” Slade sneered, and both men held up two ends of extension cords, which, once put together, would light up each light. “Lilac?” Trikk whispered shakily, nervous. Lilac chuckled, “Don’t worry. I’ve already put a spell on all of us. No matter how bright they are, it won’t damage our eyes . . . just remember this is what you wanted to see.”
“Haha, Slade, how did you even GET this many lights?” Trikk remarked slowly. “Sent my Slade-bots on hovercrafts that looked like cars to each supermarket and store that sold lights within a 1,000 mile radius of the cabin, of course,” Slade said proudly. “I just had to poof to each store,” Jareth said with a smirk, “And I was able to go all over the world!” “Well, all of that will have been for naught by the time my lights turn on,” Slade sneered. “You wish,” the Goblin King muttered. “Alright, boys,” Lilac sighed, “Quit your bickering, and plug your lights in on my mark. . . 1-2-3-GO!” the flash of light shown out before them, so bright it would have blinded them all normally if not for the eye spell with the displays showing all of their multicolored, chasing, and regular lights. “WOW!” the three girls gasped, staring in awe. “So whose is better?” Slade and Jareth said in unison as both turned to them. “Well . . . considering the size, Jareth’s is impressive. . .” Lilac remarked slowly. “BUT FATHER SLADE HAD TO DO MORE! BECAUSE HIS IS SO BIG!” Slashera objected. “Well?” the two guys turned to Trikk, who sweat dropped, “Ummm. . .” at that moment, some bulbs blew out noticeably, there was a fizzle, and both homes were cast into darkness.
Slashera screamed and buried her face into her brain mom’s shoulder, gripping her tightly, frightened. Trikk’s hand immediately flew to the child’s head, stroking her hair, and turning around, she began to croon to the girl, eyes closed, “Shhhhh, shhhhh, my little one. . . it’s okay. . . the lights just went out. . . that’s all. . .” Slashera whimpered, the fear slowly subsiding, as Trikk turned a little with her, back and forth, her back still facing the homes and the rest of the group, cooing to the child, “It’s okay, sweetie, it’s okay. . .” Lilac sighed, and lit up the area in a purple light, turning to the two men, “Nice . . . well, you guys are about to get a bit closer aren’t you? You mess up the circuit breaker the two of you fix the circuit breaker.”
Two hours later, Trikk and Slashera and Lilac had gone to the local town to eat a quick steak dinner at a restaurant then had headed back to the cabin to eat some dessert and then go to sleep. Currently, Trikk lay down in her bed with Slashera in her arms, Lilac back in her mobile home, the child too afraid to go back to her room to sleep alone. The girl was snuggled against her brain mother under the covers wearing a white muscle shirt Trikk had found, and Trikk had a small electric lantern on the bedside table between her and Slade’s beds, and the book Twas The Night Before Christmas open and before the two of them, as the author read, smiling, “He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, ‘HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! AND TO ALL, A GOOD NIGHT!’”
She closed the book, and smiled down at Slashera as the girl smiled contently and snuggle deeper into the bed, resting her head on Trikk’s second pillow. As the author turned and sat the book on the bedside table and turned off the lantern, the girl yawned, smiling sleepily up at her brain mom. “Thank you, Mama Trikk,” she whispered. Trikk froze, blinking at the darkness. She was used to the child calling Slade her Father, but never yet had Slashera called her “Mama”. Trikk blinked. How did she feel about that? “Thank you for letting me sleep with you and thank you for reading that story,” Slashera yawned, “I love you, Mama Trikk.” Trikk felt a tug at her heartstrings at the child’s words, then turned, and gazed at where she knew the girl was. And it was right then that she decided that if Slashera wanted to call her that, she was perfectly fine with it. She loved her little brain daughter. Leaning down, she pressed her lips to Slashera’s forehead, and then snuggled deeper into the bed and wrapped her arms around the child, the covers pulled firmly up to their chins, “I love you too, my little one. . . sweet dreams. I’ll see you in the morning.” And as she dozed off to sleep, she took note of the sizeable change she felt in regards to their relationship merely with the utterance of Slashera’s new nickname for her. And wondered what that meant for later.
Meanwhile, outside, Slade was unaware of the large change Trikk experienced, as he grunted, leaning forward to the open circuit breaker box, working hard to try to fix it so that the house would have electricity again, Jareth holding up a glowing orb behind him as rain fell down upon the two in a drizzle. “You know, I could just use magic. . .” “NOT IF MY LIFE DEPENDED ON IT!” Slade snarled. Jareth sighed, rolling his multi-colored eyes. It was going to be a long night. . .
A/N: so did anyone get the reason why the title was what it was?! And yes! We did have a sweet Slashera/Trikk moment! More on the "Mama" thing in the next chapter, I promise! For some reason, I can't help but think of this song by Carrie Underwood. I did not post this video on youtube, nor did I sing the song:
I do not really know why I'm thinking of this song. But it is sweet! I absolutely love this story! It's definitely taking on a wonderful life of its own!
A/N: so I know that I'm off schedule with these chapters. I've realized that I'm too much of a perfectionist with these things sometimes. But I assure you, I will work my way through the 12 pains of christmas! Even if I run past the 25th! Here's the second pain: putting up the lights. ;)
CHAPTER 2
LIGHT ENVY
Slade groaned as his alarm went off, eye shut tight. Rolling over to lay on his stomach, the man took his pillow and put it over his head and ears, hoping to drown out the noise. The noise persisted. “TRIKK, TURN IT OFF!” he shouted at the girl in the bed on the other side of the bedside table. To no effect. The alarm kept going. “TRIKK!” he shouted, and threw the pillow at her bed, “TURN THE DAMN THING OFF!” he shouted, putting his hands over his ears. The alarm continued. He growled. And he’d been having a good dream of hunting with William Wintergreen, too. . . now he could never go back to it. . . and it was all her damn fault. . . he shot up, and whipped his head around, glaring at the girl, “I SAID SHUT THAT THING UP. . . huh?” he frowned. Trikk’s bed, with its blue silk sheets, was all made up, his pillow lying on top of an empty bed. He stared, frowned, turned to his alarm clock, and turned it off. “What the. . . TRIKK?!” he called, jerking his head around, scanning the room. He didn’t hear the shower running. . . he clamored out of bed and grabbed his eye patch from his dresser as he headed for his bathroom, quickly putting it on, only wearing black boxers, “TRIKK!” he opened the bathroom door and looked inside. No one . . . he frowned. . .
After tugging on some black lounge pants and an orange muscle shirt, the man marched into the hallway, and into the living room. “TRIKK! Where are you?” he looked around. Sure enough, the tree was there . . . but no Trikk. He frowned and walking to the screen door that led to his porch, pushed it open and looked out. No, no sign of her . . . worry began to set in . . . if she was missing, could Slashera be missing? Turning, the man bolted for the child’s room and flung the door open, banging it on the wall. He stared at her freshly made bed in there as well. But the room was empty. After rushing into her bathroom to find that empty as well, the man gritted his teeth and began to run about the house, looking in every crack and crevice, crying out their names. Worried that someone had taken them in the night . . . what could be happening to them?! His mind filled with possibilities. “SLASHERA! TRIKK! WHERE ARE. . .” he began to scream in the middle of the living room, head thrown back, arms flung at his sides, when the door to the cabin opened.
He paused, staring at his deer antler chandelier, breathing hard, as Trikk’s voice floated in, “HURRY SLASHERA! COME ON, LET’S GET IT!” running sneakers could be heard on Slade’s hardwood floor, and the man turned, staring as the two, in full attire including coats, beanie, and earmuffs, rushed past, glancing at him, “Hey Slade!” Trikk gasped, grinning, her cheeks flushed. Behind her ran Slashera, who grinned and waved at him, “Good morning Father Slade!” At that, the two disappeared down the hall. Slade heard things moving around in his and Trikk’s bedroom, then the two were back running out of the hall and across the living room, Trikk’s camera case clutched in one of the author’s hands, Slashera’s hand clutched in her other hand. Slashera was laughing happily, and before he knew it, the two had opened the door and exited the cabin, slamming the door again. Slade stared at the way they’d gone for a moment, blinking then the man hurtled to his room, tugged on his boots and socks, and then rushed out of the house, slamming the door behind him. After hearing Slashera’s voice from the backyard saying various “oooh”s and “aaaah”s, the man turned and rushed to the backyard. There, he slid to a stop.
Brightly lit multi colored lights lined the edges and corners of Jareth’s Mobile Home. In front of the small home were three spiral Christmas tree light displays, one in the color green with the other two being in the color red. On the Fae’s door was a star with various multicolor lights outlining its golden foil middle. Slade frowned and walked towards the group. Lilac was there, kneeling before the mobile home near the lit up trees, grinning as Slashera stood beside her, smiling at Trikk as the author took the picture of the two. Jareth stood proudly to the side in a white coat with white ear muffs and white gloves. Trikk smiled as Lilac and Slashera rushed over, then the author grabbed Slashera’s hand, and picked the girl up and put her on her hip before walking quickly through the snow to the trees, facing Lilac as the black haired witch snapped the photo. “Alright, now Jareth, you get in. . . Lilac, can you make the camera levitate for a moment? So that we can all get in it?” Trikk said, blinking. At that moment, Slade seemed to reach her awareness. Trikk turned and grinned, “SLADE! Great timing! Can you take the picture?!” Slade frowned, and Lilac put the camera into his hands. The witch rushed over to stand on Slashera’s other side as Trikk kept holding her, and Jareth stood on Trikk’s other side, smiling for the picture, a playful look in his eyes. Slade frowned, “What’s going on here?” Trikk grinned a little more, “We’ll tell you in a minute. Just take the picture.” Slade sighed, and snapped the picture.
Trikk jogged over, Slashera still on her hip, and looked at the picture on her Kodak camera, “Alright, good job!” she took it from him, and set Slashera down to stand in the snow, and quickly slid the camera into its case. Turning to Slade, she smiled, “Jareth spent the whole night putting these lights up!” she motioned to the Fae’s mobile home, “Lilac rushed in and told me, and so I got Slashera up to see them and take pictures!”
Slade frowned, and turned to the mobile home, before Jareth spoke up, “It really was nothing . . . just wanted to get into the spirit . . . and I figured Slade wouldn’t be putting up any lights. . .” Slade suddenly jerked his head around, frowning at the Fae, crossing his arms, “And why do you say that?” Jareth blinked and turned to him, frowning, “Well, I mean, it would seem to me that you would think that putting up lights would be a waste of precious electricity, so you wouldn’t do it. . .” “For your information, I was thinking of putting up lights today,” Slade snarled, turning to face the Fae. Jareth arched an eyebrow, “Oh, is that so?” he crossed his arms as Slade had already done, “And what were you thinking of putting up?” “I don’t know. But something far better than yours,” Slade murmured with a smirk. Jareth arched another brow, “Sounds like a challenge,” he stretched his lips in a smile, “I propose we decorate our dwellings all day, and see who wins with the better light display. What do you think?” Slade smirked, “Didn’t know you were that set on losing. . .” “I’m not . . . but I would love to wipe the floor with you, figuratively speaking of course,” Jareth slurred. Slade smirked, “In your dreams. Are we going to start now?” “I believe that that is best, yes. And I shall give you a two hour head start while I gather supplies. Since I’ve already started,” Jareth murmured. Slade smirked, “You’re going to regret that later.” Turning, the two marched off, Slade down his driveway (to go to his warehouse to get lights) and Jareth into his mobile home. Lilac frowned and turned to Trikk, “You’re not going to do something about them?” she murmured, arching an eyebrow. Clearly having expected the author to intervene with the two males’ competition. Trikk frowned and turned to the witch, shrugged, and gave a small smile, “Actually, I’m . . . kinda curious as to what Slade’s capable of. And Jareth. And in the meantime. . .” she grinned and turning to Slashera, reached down and gripped the girl’s armpits and hoisted her up to place the child on her hip, grinning at her brain daughter, “We have a whole day to be just girls and decorate the house up for Christmas!” Slashera grinned at her brain mother, and Lilac smiled, following the two into the cabin.
30 minutes later, Lilac and Trikk had whipped together some waffles, chocolate chip of course, some sausage, and some bacon, and the three girls were eating at the table. “So what do you want to do first today?” Lilac remarked, biting into a piece of bacon, the three drinking milk along with their breakfast. “I was thinking we could do that stocking craft you brought. . .” Trikk turned and smiled at Slashera, “Would you like to decorate your own stocking, Little Slash?” Slashera beamed, “OH YES, THAT SOUNDS EXCITING!” Trikk grinned at the girl, then turned to Lilac, “Then I was thinking of just decorating the house and putting up garland and wreaths and other decorations in here, making some Christmas cookies and other sweets, fixing hot chocolate, listening to Christmas music. . . you know, just to have a bit of fun time with just us girls?” Lilac smiled, “I think that’s a wonderful idea.” “ME TOO!” Slashera squealed, grinning at the two girls. The two girls turned to the child and smiled, “We’re glad you do, little one.”
2 hours later, Slade took a step back from his spot on the porch roof of his cabin, and sighed. He’d just put icicle lights lining the roof of his cabin and red rope lights along the edges of his chimney, doorframes, and window frames. The man had to admit, he was quite proud of himself . . . it was then that he heard Jareth whistle from behind the house. He frowned, and turning, walked up his roof carefully. Once he was braced against the chimney he frowned down at the Fae. Jareth was smirking up at Slade, “Not half bad, for an old man.” Slade growled from low in his throat, glaring at Jareth. Jareth winked, “But I think I did a tiny bit better. . .” he plugged in a string of lights to an extension cord, and Slade frowned. Each window of the mobile home was lined with a string of rope lights, and in each window was a lit up wreath. Lining Jareth’s small shoveled path to his mobile home’s door were red lit up candy canes, and in front of the lit up spiral trees from before was a family of three moving light up deer. Beside them, was a lit up snowman. On the other side of the candy cane path, was a lit up Santa Claus that was waving at Slade, beside a small stack of light up presents. Slade had to admit. It was . . . a tiny bit better than his own much more simple design. . . He turned and narrowed his eyes at Jareth, “It’s not over, you pompous king. . .” he pointed a finger at Jareth, glaring hard at him, “Not by a long shot.”
Jareth smirked, “Three words, you pauper . . . maybe even you can understand them. . . BRING. IT. ON.” Slade snarled, fury rising in his face at the Fae’s comment, and spat out, “Я обещаю Вам это, Вы часть грязи. К концу сегодня, около рудников, ваш передвижной дом будет похож, слабо освещал груду дерьма. И Вы должны тогда съесть ваши патетические слова, Вы ничтожный небольшой червь!” (“I promise you this, you piece of filth. By the end of today, beside mine, your mobile home will look like a feebly lit up pile of shit. And you shall then eat your pathetic words, you measly little worm!” (In Russian)). Jareth just smirked, “Wow, so nervous you can’t even speak correctly?” Slade snarled even more and began to pace along his roof, fighting his primal instinct to take the other man down, hate and rage in his eye, “ВЫ НЕБОЛЬШАЯ ЗАДНИЦА! ЕСЛИ БЫ мне НЕ ПРИКАЗЫВАЛИ ПРОТИВ IT, то я СНИЗИЛСЯ БЫ ТАМ И ЗАДУШИЛ БЫ ВАС С ВАШЕЙ СОБСТВЕННОЙ ПРОКЛЯТОЙ ВЕРЕНИЦЕЙ ОГНЕЙ! ВЫ НЕОСВЕДОМЛЕННЫЙ, НАПЫЩЕННЫЙ, НАДОЕДЛИВЫЙ РЕБЕНОК ДВОРЦА!” (“YOU LITTLE ASS! IF I WAS NOT ORDERED AGAINST IT, I WOULD COME DOWN THERE AND STRANGLE YOU WITH YOUR OWN DAMN STRING OF LIGHTS! YOU IGNORANT, POMPOUS, PALACE BRAT!” (in Russian again)). Jareth threw back his head cackling, and Slade just roared in pure anger at the man, before turning and marching back down the other side of his roof. I will beat that FAE KING! If it’s the last thing I do!
“Alright, Little Slash,” Trikk said with a soft smile as she laid out the various newspapers over the kitchen table, then put the stack of five red stockings in the center portion of the table, beside various squirt bottles of glittery fabric paint, “Ready?” Slashera turned to her, grinning and nodding as she wore an old apron Lilac had brought for the child. Trikk herself wore an identical looking apron over her own clothes, her hair pulled back in a braid to match the small girl’s own for the task. Lilac had Disapparated to town in search of some Christmas CDs and DVDs to watch, along with a TV, DVD player, and CD Boom box. Along with various ingredients to make treats and dinner with. The witch had assured Trikk that she would be back shortly.
Trikk smiled at Slashera, and turning to the stack of stockings, pulled out two, standing beside the child who sat on her knees in the chair, leaning out over the table. “Alright, the idea is to write your name in fabric paint on the white part,” Trikk ran a finger over the white furry top of Slashera’s stocking, “And then make a design on this part,” Trikk moved her hand down and laid her palm on the red part of the stocking and ran her hand down it, smoothing out the fabric. “Would you like to watch me first?” Trikk asked, smiling at the child. Slashera nodded eagerly. Trikk beamed at the girl, then turned and picked up an orange glitter fabric paint tube, “Alright. . . Well, first, I’m doing Father Slade’s for him, since he’s decorating the house and is very busy right now. . .” Slashera grinned, “That’s awesome!” Trikk smiled at the girl, “Thank you, little one. . .” Turning to the stocking, she blinked, bit the inside of her cheek, and leaning forward a little, slowly drew an S on the white part of the stocking. . . “Alright. . .” she muttered, and quickly prepared the tube of black glitter fabric paint. . . “What about the rest of his name?” Slashera asked, blinking at the woman. “Oh, I’m going to put it on there. But I want to do each letter a different color. You know, black, orange, black, orange?” Trikk said, turning and blinking at the girl. “Oh . . . he’ll like that!” Slashera beamed at the woman again. Trikk chuckled, “I certainly hope so.”
About fifteen minutes later, Slade’s stocking was done. Trikk had finished Slade’s name, and then on the red part had put a chibi form of his Teen Titans cartoon mask, after explaining to Slashera that on occasion, Slade would dress up like this. She did the halves of the mask outlined by their respective colors, of course. Turning to Slashera after she had finished the mask, she smiled, “Now for yours. Would you like for me to help you?” Slashera grinned and nodded.
Fifty minutes later, both Slashera’s stocking and Trikk’s stocking were done. The child’s name was written on the top white part of her stocking in all the different colors of the rainbow. Below that, various multicolored curled vines wrapped around the stocking. Which was part of the reason why it took them longer for hers. Trikk’s stocking simply had her name written in bright blue at the top, and a heart was on the red part of the stocking with blue vines inside of it. Both Slashera and Trikk were proud of what they’d accomplished. “Now for Jareth’s,” Trikk murmured, smiling at the child, a smudge of glitter on the author’s cheek, “What color do you think his name should be?” “GOLD! He’s a king, right?” Slashera said, smiling. Trikk chuckled, nodded, and set to work, “Perfect choice.”
Twenty-five minutes later, Jareth’s name was along the top of the stocking, and a goblin, drawn to the best of Trikk’s abilities, was drawn in white on the red part of the stocking. . . the author had to admit: it looked more like a house elf than a goblin, but who had ever said she was the world’s greatest artist? As she leaned back from it and Slashera applauded her for an excellent job, Lilac walked back into the room from the muck room, carrying just a small handbag. Setting it on the coffee table beside the large tubs of stuff, the witch began to pull out the TV monitor, a DVD player, some DVDs, a Boom box, and CDs from the bag, “Charm on the bag,” she explained. Trikk smiled and nodded, “We’re done with the stockings for us and the boys . . . I figured you’d want to do your own? I’m thinking of fixing some coffee for the boys. They’re probably thirsty.” Lilac turned to her and nodded, “Sounds like a good idea. Want to take some biscuits from yesterday warmed up to them?” Trikk smiled, “Sounds like a good idea.”
Five minutes later, Lilac was designing her own stocking while Slashera watched with a smile, the ingredients the witch had gotten form the local supermarket having been put up in the refrigerator and cabinets, and Trikk was heading out with two wrapped up pairs of warm biscuits and two travel mugs of black coffee, one with chervil, one without. Upon exiting the house, Trikk stared, slowly gazing to the left and right. Lining the ground on the outside of the cabin was green and red alternating swirl lit up Christmas trees. If Trikk had to guess, the trees even went down the hill, surrounding the cabin all around. She frowned, “HEY BOYS?!” “BACK HERE!” both men shouted from behind the cabin. She frowned and walked around, and stared. Jareth was in the process of putting a full lit up sleigh and team of reindeer beside a lit up moving Santa and presents in front of his mobile home. On top of the home, were three “Ho” light displays, one red, one green, and another red. And each would alternate in being lit up, with the one to the left lighting up first, then the one in the middle, then the one at the end. She turned, blinking, to Slade, who was actually putting up a lit up wreath on his bedroom window. Nearby were three metal crates, and Slade-bots gathered around them, guarding them.
Slade and Jareth both turned to her and headed over, smiling automatically at the sight of the coffees and packages. After Trikk had handed both men their coffees, and both men had drunk a gulp and sighed contently, she handed them the biscuits. . . “It looks . . . good. How’s it going?” “Fine,” both men muttered. And Jareth turned and headed back to his mobile home. Slade hung back a bit, eating some of his biscuit, blinking at her, “Slashera . . . is she alright?” Trikk smiled weakly, “She’s perfectly alright. We’re just decorating the house, baking, cooking, and making stockings.” Slade chose not to comment on the decorations. Trikk smiled a bit larger. He knew better than to call her out on that, considering what he was currently doing. . . “The trees look good,” she offered. “They’re not good enough, not yet,” Slade muttered coldly. She frowned, and tilted her head, “You . . . you know you don’t have to. . .” “I do,” he muttered firmly, frowning hard at her, “I have to prove I can do a better job.” “Over putting up Christmas lights? Slade, isn’t that a little extreme? Even for you?” she said, frowning. Slade narrowed his eye, “He’s not going to beat me. Not on this, not on anything.” She smiled weakly, “Well, I have to admit, it’s going to be pretty interesting to see what you two end up doing. It already looks awesome. You’re doing a good job.” He smirked, “I bet.” Turning, he walked back to the wreath he was working on.
Trikk blinked, watching him for a moment, then turned and headed to Jareth, “Hey, how’s it going?” Jareth turned, and smiled, “AWESOME! THIS IS SO MUCH FUN!” She chuckled and walked up to him, her hands in her pockets, “I’m glad. Good job so far,” she complimented the Fae. Jareth beamed, “Thanks!” he took a bite out of the biscuit, “Sorry that we’re not really hanging out with you girls today. . .” “Oh that’s fine,” Trikk said, smiling up at the Goblin King, “We’ve got plenty planned. We won’t be bored. Not by a long shot. It’ll be nice to have just a fun day with just us girls. Not that we don’t enjoy spending time with you two, of course.” Jareth smiled, “Hey, I’m not gonna question anything you girls do,” he chuckled, shaking his head, and then smiled at her again, “You guys have fun.” She smiled, “You too. I can’t wait to see what you guys end up doing.” Jareth just smiled, and the girl turned and headed back for the house. Whatever the men did, she had to admit, it was going to be interesting.
When she entered the house, she immediately heard “Winter Wonderland” playing full blast. She chuckled, and as she took off her coat, scarf, beanie, and gloves, the girl walked into the main part of the house. The fire had already been started in the fire place, and the stockings were hung along the edge of the mantle, with Lilac’s having purple glitter paint with a horned Pegasus on it. The two girls were on the couch, tying golden ribbon bows onto lengths of garland, singing along with the music. Slashera looked up, sitting facing Trikk, and grinned, “HEY! LOOK!” she held up her length of Garland, “Pretty, right?” Trikk grinned, and nodded, walking over, “You guys have done awesome work . . . anything I can do?” “Ummm, I think we’re almost done here,” Lilac said, causing her bows to magically tie onto various different strands of garland, doing at least three different 8 foot lengths of garland a minute, while Slashera did it without magic, having fun tying small golden string on the backs of the bows to the Garland’s base plastic cord. Lilac turned to Trikk, “Would you like to go around and put window clings I brought on the windows?” Trikk smiled and nodded, “Of course.” Walking around to an open tub, she looked in, grabbed two packages of the plastic clings of snowmen, snowflakes, reindeer, penguins, and Santas, and turning, headed for Slade and Slashera’s bedrooms to begin to put up the window clings in there.
As she pressed a snowman to Slade’s bedroom window as she stood on his bed, she smiled. She couldn’t help but be happy that Lilac and Slashera were having so much fun together. And she only hoped that the three of them would continue to have fun!
Fifteen minutes later, Trikk walked back down the hallway, smiling, ready to put some more window clings up on the windows in the kitchen and living room and on the door to the cabin. And stared. The garland was now wrapped along the antlers of the chandelier, along the mantle of the fireplace, along the shelves of the animal trophies around the living room, around the bases of the deer mounts on the walls, along the top of the cabinet in the living room, and along the tops of the cabinets of the kitchen. Currently, Slashera and Lilac were pulling green wreaths with golden ribbons out of one of the tubs on the coffee table, along with window hangers. “THIS LOOKS AMAZING GUYS!” Trikk grinned, heading to the kitchen, smiling back at the two. Slashera looked up and grinned, “I’M GLAD YOU LIKE IT! IT’S BEEN FUN!” Trikk grinned and began to put the window clings up in the kitchen window, “I’m glad.” With that, Lilac and Slashera began to put a wreath on each living room window and Trikk continued to put up window clings, all of them working to the song “Jingle Bell Rock” and singing along.
Slade grunted about two hours later, standing back on the roof of his porch. Along the edge of the porch roof were lit up spiral green Christmas trees and lit up snow men. Turning, he blinked up at the top of his roof. Using motion light designs, he had made a Santa standing and then leaning over the chimney with a bag of toys on his back. Behind him, was a set of reindeer and a sleigh, all lit up, with the deer moving their heads and the lights on the sleigh being chasing lights. Finally, in the center of the porch was a large swirled red Christmas tree with light up presents under it. Moving around the web of extension cords and light cords, the man climbed to the top of his roof, and stared. Jareth’s mobile home was COVERED in lights. Every inch of it was covered with multicolored lights, with the words Merry Christmas written on the front of it in white lights in cursive. Jareth turned, feeling the man’s gaze, and smirked at him, “How’s it going?” he called mockingly. Slade only narrowed his eye, and shouted right back, “AWESOME! JUSTAWESOME!” Turning, he marched back down the roof on the other side, walked over to the left edge of his porch roof, and jumped off, landing firmly on the ground. He was going to defeat Jareth at this! Someway, somehow.
Trikk grinned as Lilac took the large pizza out of the oven, the heavenly smells of the meal filling the cabin, some freshly cooked breadsticks already sitting on the counter. The group had made the pizza dough from scratch and had put the meal together. Slashera had loved doing the cheese and pepperoni, and had grinned the whole time, singing “Jingle Bells” at the top of her lungs as she did so. Trikk and Lilac had only grinned at one another, happy the child was having so much fun. Now, Lilac sliced the pizza into twelve equal slices, as Trikk put parmesan on the table along with three plates and three glasses of milk. In no time, the three were munching on pizza and breadsticks around the table, smiles on their faces caused by the awesome tastes on their tongues.
They’d put up wreaths on each window and above the doorway heading into the hallway and muck room. An extra strand of garland had also been put up over the door leading into the cabin and over the screen door connected to the kitchen. Small Christmas trees that had come pre-decorated with gold garland wrapped around them that were set in red cups were scattered about the house, on the shelves between the hunting trophies in the living room and in Slashera’s room, on top of the cabinets in the kitchen, in the center of the kitchen table and in the center of the coffee table, on both Slashera’s and Slade’s dressers, and on the hearth of the fireplace, with a large wreath hanging over the fireplace. Jingle bells on golden ribbon were wrapped around each and every door knob handle, and red Christmas candles were scattered throughout the house, as were snowmen statues, Santa statues, and reindeer statues. In short, the house looked ready for Christmas, truly!
The table even had a red table cloth with candy cane and wreath and present designs embroidered upon it. And on each bedroom door was a set of two candy canes tied together with a big gold bow. In the bathrooms, the soap had been switched out with red Christmas soap, and the shower curtains had been switched out with shower curtains that were red in color, with Slade’s having Santas on it, and with Slashera’s having Candy Canes on it. The bedspread sets had been switched out as well, with each being green silk sheets with quilts on top of them. On Trikk’s there was a reindeer. On Slade’s, a Christmas tree. On Slashera’s, a Snowman.
Overall, the group was proud of what they’d accomplished. And it was only 2:00! Next the three were going to bake cakes and cheesecakes and pies and cupcakes and cookies, before settling down to watch the movie “Eloise at Christmastime” for the rest of the evening.
Hours later, a large five layered devil’s food cake with creamy chocolate icing and chocolate shavings on top stood on a cake stand on the kitchen counter, beside a red velvet cake with cream cheese icing and chocolate shavings on a shorter cake stand. Beside the red velvet cake was a large cake stand with three Swiss Rolls on it, one with strawberry jam, one chocolate one with cream cheese filling, and one that was plain vanilla with cream cheese filling. Beside the Swiss Rolls was an even larger cake tray with four pie sheets on it. One pie sheet held a regular cheesecake, one held a pecan pie, one held cherry pie, and one held chocolate pie. The next huge cake tray that was set very low held twenty four cupcakes, with eight having strawberry icing, eight having cream cheese icing, and eight having chocolate icing. Beside that was a large cake tray yet again, with 60 cookies stacked up on it, all shaped in Christmas shapes, with red and green and white icing on them, and sprinkles of course. But the really sweet part of the evening was in the living room.
Lilac laughed, as Trikk and Slashera, hyped up on way too much cocoa, grinned and side stepped and danced to the part of “Eloise at Christmastime” during which Rachel and Bill sang “Together” from the Gypsy musical, which was playing on the TV behind them. The two girls were grinning and twirling around, Lilac having moved the coffee table safely out of the way. Slashera and the others had already watched the full movie, and the child had wanted to try the dance with Trikk. The two had started by crouching down during the first part, then when the song had gotten to the part past the female “Gonna go through it together”, the two had hopped up, and had grabbed each other’s inside hand and had held up their outside hands before walking back and forth, crossing their legs, laughing and singing the song, “Wherever I go! I know she goes!” Trikk said happily, and gave a little kick out, being on the left of Slashera. “AND WHEREVER I GO, I KNOW SHE GOES!” Slashera laughed, and the two twirled inside to each other and knelt down, heads mere inches apart, both singing at the top of their lungs, grinning, “NO FITS, NO FIGHTS, NO FEUDS, AND NO EGOOOOS! AMIGOS! TOGETHER!” the two twirled around in circles, and began to dance again as they had before, but now on opposite sides of one another, grinning at one another, “THROUGH THICK AND THROUGH THIN!” the two kicked out with their outside legs, “ALL OUT OR ALL IN! AND WHETHER IT’S WIN, PLACE, OR SHOW!” the two turned and faced one another, and grinned.
Trikk leaned down, and swept Slashera up in her arms and turned quickly, grinning at the child as Slashera squealed as she was swung around, “WITH YOU FOR ME!” Slashera laughed as the girl brought her in again, and held her to her hip, “AND ME FOR YOU!” Trikk held out one hand, the one on the opposite side of Slashera, and shook it out in a jazz hand motion, shifting her weight to the opposite foot and holding the other one out temporarily, grinning, “WE’LL MUDDLE THROUGH!” Slashera giggled and held out her own jazz hand, as Trikk switched her weight to the other foot and moved the one beneath the child out a little, “WHATEVER WE DO!” Trikk grinned, and brought her free hand around again and wrapped both arms around the child, and the two began to twirl, laughing as they continued to sing, “TOGETHER! WHEREVER! WE GOOOOO!”
The two turned and grinned at Lilac, who paused the movie and applauded them, “ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE YOU TWO!” “I couldn’t agree more,” Slade’s voice floated in from the muck room, as the lights in the room turned on, the group having had the lights turned off to watch the movie with only the firelight and tree lights as illumination besides the TV screen. Slashera turned, and grinned, “FATHER SLADE!” Trikk chuckled and stood the girl on the floor again, and the girl rushed around the couch and threw herself into the man’s arms. Slade chuckled warmly, catching her and moving her up to rest her on his own hip, smiling over at her. “How much did you see?” Trikk said, blushing slightly. He smiled and turned to her, his blue lit up in happiness, some snowflakes in his beard and on his eyebrows, “All of it. . .” he turned to Slashera and leaning in, kissed her warmly on the forehead before pulling back, “You were brilliant. Absolutely wonderful.” The child beamed.
He turned his head around, blinking, “I . . . see that Christmas threw up in my house. . .” He suddenly rolled his eye and stomped into the kitchen, tracking snow, “COME ON YOU LOT! DID YOU HAVE TO BAKE SO MUCH?!” “It’s in the spirit of the holidays,” Trikk remarked with a frown, resting her hands on her hips. “Y-you don’t like it?” Slashera whimpered, close to tears. Slade turned to her and smiled, “No, it looks great, little Slash. And smells great too!” he said, quickly reassuring the girl that he wasn’t too terribly mad. . . Slashera beamed, “We made stockings too!” Slade turned and walked to the fireplace, “I see that . . . yours looks amazing. . . Jareth’s . . . looks amazing too, I suppose. Nice one, Trikk . . . nice one, Lilac . . . what is that?” he said, reaching out and picking up the bottom edge of his stocking, staring at the chibi mask. “Trikk drew it!” Slashera squealed, “Isn’t it cute, Father Slade?!” Slade frowned and turned to Trikk, “Yes, cute.” Trikk just chuckled, “Well, I could have put a Santa Hat on it . . . that way it would have been more festive.” Slade smiled weakly, “No, it’s perfect the way it is. Now, turn off the TV and come outside. We need judges.” Trikk smiled, “You guys are done?” Slade smirked and nodded as Lilac turned the TV off, and after handing Slashera over to the author to hold, the man turned and headed to the muck room, Trikk and Lilac walking behind him.
“Oh. . .” Trikk said, eyes wide, staring. “My. . .” Lilac said. “GOSH,” the two said in unison. Even though the sun was quickly setting, both the cabin and the mobile home were covered in lights, all of which were turned off currently, even the roofs of both structures. In addition to what Trikk had seen earlier and in addition to what Slade and Jareth had done to their houses since then, Jareth had three gigantic narrow Trees sticking up from the roof of his mobile home, reaching high over the trees of the forest. Slade’s roof had so many penguins and reindeer and snowmen and elves on it that Trikk had to wonder how they hadn’t fallen off. Slade and Jareth smirked, standing on the respective sides of their homes to the group, hands on their hips. Slade smirked and turned to Jareth, “Mine’s going to BLOW YOURS AWAY, GOBLIN KING.” Jareth smirked right back, “In your dreams, Slade.” “Let’s light them up then, and see what our panel of judges say?” Slade sneered, and both men held up two ends of extension cords, which, once put together, would light up each light. “Lilac?” Trikk whispered shakily, nervous. Lilac chuckled, “Don’t worry. I’ve already put a spell on all of us. No matter how bright they are, it won’t damage our eyes . . . just remember this is what you wanted to see.”
“Haha, Slade, how did you even GET this many lights?” Trikk remarked slowly. “Sent my Slade-bots on hovercrafts that looked like cars to each supermarket and store that sold lights within a 1,000 mile radius of the cabin, of course,” Slade said proudly. “I just had to poof to each store,” Jareth said with a smirk, “And I was able to go all over the world!” “Well, all of that will have been for naught by the time my lights turn on,” Slade sneered. “You wish,” the Goblin King muttered. “Alright, boys,” Lilac sighed, “Quit your bickering, and plug your lights in on my mark. . . 1-2-3-GO!” the flash of light shown out before them, so bright it would have blinded them all normally if not for the eye spell with the displays showing all of their multicolored, chasing, and regular lights. “WOW!” the three girls gasped, staring in awe. “So whose is better?” Slade and Jareth said in unison as both turned to them. “Well . . . considering the size, Jareth’s is impressive. . .” Lilac remarked slowly. “BUT FATHER SLADE HAD TO DO MORE! BECAUSE HIS IS SO BIG!” Slashera objected. “Well?” the two guys turned to Trikk, who sweat dropped, “Ummm. . .” at that moment, some bulbs blew out noticeably, there was a fizzle, and both homes were cast into darkness.
Slashera screamed and buried her face into her brain mom’s shoulder, gripping her tightly, frightened. Trikk’s hand immediately flew to the child’s head, stroking her hair, and turning around, she began to croon to the girl, eyes closed, “Shhhhh, shhhhh, my little one. . . it’s okay. . . the lights just went out. . . that’s all. . .” Slashera whimpered, the fear slowly subsiding, as Trikk turned a little with her, back and forth, her back still facing the homes and the rest of the group, cooing to the child, “It’s okay, sweetie, it’s okay. . .” Lilac sighed, and lit up the area in a purple light, turning to the two men, “Nice . . . well, you guys are about to get a bit closer aren’t you? You mess up the circuit breaker the two of you fix the circuit breaker.”
Two hours later, Trikk and Slashera and Lilac had gone to the local town to eat a quick steak dinner at a restaurant then had headed back to the cabin to eat some dessert and then go to sleep. Currently, Trikk lay down in her bed with Slashera in her arms, Lilac back in her mobile home, the child too afraid to go back to her room to sleep alone. The girl was snuggled against her brain mother under the covers wearing a white muscle shirt Trikk had found, and Trikk had a small electric lantern on the bedside table between her and Slade’s beds, and the book Twas The Night Before Christmas open and before the two of them, as the author read, smiling, “He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle, and away they all flew like the down of a thistle. But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight, ‘HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL! AND TO ALL, A GOOD NIGHT!’”
She closed the book, and smiled down at Slashera as the girl smiled contently and snuggle deeper into the bed, resting her head on Trikk’s second pillow. As the author turned and sat the book on the bedside table and turned off the lantern, the girl yawned, smiling sleepily up at her brain mom. “Thank you, Mama Trikk,” she whispered. Trikk froze, blinking at the darkness. She was used to the child calling Slade her Father, but never yet had Slashera called her “Mama”. Trikk blinked. How did she feel about that? “Thank you for letting me sleep with you and thank you for reading that story,” Slashera yawned, “I love you, Mama Trikk.” Trikk felt a tug at her heartstrings at the child’s words, then turned, and gazed at where she knew the girl was. And it was right then that she decided that if Slashera wanted to call her that, she was perfectly fine with it. She loved her little brain daughter. Leaning down, she pressed her lips to Slashera’s forehead, and then snuggled deeper into the bed and wrapped her arms around the child, the covers pulled firmly up to their chins, “I love you too, my little one. . . sweet dreams. I’ll see you in the morning.” And as she dozed off to sleep, she took note of the sizeable change she felt in regards to their relationship merely with the utterance of Slashera’s new nickname for her. And wondered what that meant for later.
Meanwhile, outside, Slade was unaware of the large change Trikk experienced, as he grunted, leaning forward to the open circuit breaker box, working hard to try to fix it so that the house would have electricity again, Jareth holding up a glowing orb behind him as rain fell down upon the two in a drizzle. “You know, I could just use magic. . .” “NOT IF MY LIFE DEPENDED ON IT!” Slade snarled. Jareth sighed, rolling his multi-colored eyes. It was going to be a long night. . .
A/N: so did anyone get the reason why the title was what it was?! And yes! We did have a sweet Slashera/Trikk moment! More on the "Mama" thing in the next chapter, I promise! For some reason, I can't help but think of this song by Carrie Underwood. I did not post this video on youtube, nor did I sing the song:
I do not really know why I'm thinking of this song. But it is sweet! I absolutely love this story! It's definitely taking on a wonderful life of its own!
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