CHRISTMAS AT THE CABIN: Chapter 4
Disclaimer/Rating: Same as previous chapters.
A/N: So yeah, I'm sorry I haven't updated as regularly as I would have liked. But I promise, each chapter will get posted! Even if they run after Christmas!
Here's the chapter on christmas cards. I hope you enjoy it!
nbsp; Slade finally sighed as he walked out of the bathroom, groaning and rubbing his still wet hair. His back ached just a little, since the man had finally given up on travelling from the bedroom to the bathroom to use the toilet during the night and had simply laid on the bathroom floor as he’d slept, so that all that he had had to do was stand back up and use the toilet when he needed it. Of course, that meant that he didn’t wake up to his alarm, and that meant that he’d slept in until 10:00. He supposed it was the lack of sleep he’d felt from the circuit breaker work and the lack of sleep from staying half-awake through half of last night peeing that had caused him to do such a thing. Now it was 10:45 and he’d just taken a nice long shower. Trikk’s bed was all made up, signaling to him that the woman had already gotten up and was somewhere in the house. So, grabbing some boxers, blue jeans, and a black muscle shirt, the man slipped on his eye-patch and some socks and walked out into the hallway and then into the kitchen. Then he stopped and stared.
It looked like glitter had rained down on his beautiful kitchen table, in colors of purple, blue, black, gold, and silver. And it was clear to him who the orchestrator of such a mess was . . . Jareth leaned forward on the table over the glitter covered surface of the piece of furniture, using a silver pen to write on something. Slade groaned, and rubbed his temple, sluggishly moving forward, “Please tell me you laid down something on my nice clean table before you started so that glitter wouldn’t touch the wood?” Jareth turned to the man and smirked, “And what would you say if I told you I hadn’t?” Slade frowned at him, raising an eyebrow, “Then I would say that I would have to strangle you. What is all this sparkling shit for anyway?” he waved a hand at the table. “Christmas cards of course! To all of my adoring fans and subjects!” Jareth turned to three stacks that were at least three feet tall and made up of purple envelopes, all signed with silver ink, to his left, “I had to have plenty of glitter to please the masses, of course! And by the way, I have one for you!” he pulled one out of the stack closest to him, which surprisingly stayed upright considering how the envelope was near the center of it, and handed it to Slade. The mercenary frowned down at the cursive writing on the outside on the envelope. It simply read his name: Slade Wilson.
e frowned and raised an eyebrow, “You made me a card. . .” he turned it over, peeled back the envelope’s top folded down side, and pulled the card out. On the front was a picture of a goblin in Christmas attire dragging a mini tree behind with ornaments lying on the ground around the little creature. Over the Goblin were the words “Happy Holidays!” “Huh, cute. . .” Slade muttered . . . then opened it. “WHAT THE HELL!” Slade reared his head back, coughing, as the huge puff cloud of purple glitter went up in his face from the card, littering his hair and beard and chest with the stuff. As he leaned over a little, coughing with a hand to his chest, hacking up the glitter that had gone down his throat, Jareth chuckled, “Figured you’d react that way . . . but look on the bright side, you’re much prettier now. . .” Slade crunched the card up in his hand, and narrowed his eye at the Goblin King, casting the Fae a murderous look, “You little. . .”
Suddenly, he caught sight of Lilac in the living room. He frowned and turned his head, blinking at her. The witch was sitting on the sofa, with her side facing the group at the table, her head in a floating purple orb. She was speaking, but they were unable to hear it, and in front of her, a quill wrote magically on a gold colored piece of paper. “What the. . .” Slade said slowly, blinking. “She’s making Whisperers,” Trikk’s voice murmured. Slade frowned and turned to the author. Trikk was sitting in one chair set away from the table, with another chair in front of her facing her. Currently, she was leaning forward and using the second chair as a makeshift table to write on cards, blinking at them. “ ‘Whisperers’?” Slade asked, dumbfounded. “Yeah,” Trikk leaned her head back, blinking at the man, “You know how the Wizarding world has Howlers?” “Yeah, aren’t those the letters that scream at you and then burst into flames or something?” Slade remarked, tilting his head. “Right,” Trikk said, nodding, “Well, Lilac is making Whisperers. The thing is, each Whisperer speaks to the reader in a much calmer voice. So if someone wants to send a letter with a personal touch in a kind manner, it helps. Lilac designed it. When the message is done, the envelope bursts into a shower of gold sparkles, and the receiver is left with a golden letter that has written on it what the speaker said, so that they can keep that. Lilac is making some for her close friends. The sound bubble prevents us from hearing what she’s saying, and prevents her from interrupting our own trains of thought.” Slade frowned, “And what are you doing?”
rikk blinked at him, “I’m making some cards to people who read my stories.” “So your fans?” he said, tilting his head and frowning. “I wouldn’t go that far,” Trikk remarked, blinking, “They’re more like online friends. Very good online friends. But I suppose if it makes more sense to you to think of it the way you said it then fine. That just makes it seem more like I’m doing what Jareth is doing, though . . .” Slade smiled, “Well, at least you’re not covering yours in glitter. . .” Trikk shook her head, “No.” She held up the card, and he saw the Coca-Cola picture on it, and in the picture . . . he groaned, rolling his eye as she continued, “It already has some.” She turned and continued to write on the inside of the card. She always liked to write letters to people this way. To make it more personal . . . “Well, where is Little Slash?” the man muttered slowly. “IN HERE!” Slashera called.
He turned walked into the living room, which was where she’d sounded like she was coming from. And blinked down at the child kneeling at the coffee table across from the couch, some crayons in a box before her and one crayon in her right hand, some newspaper laid out on the coffee table beneath her supplies, drawing on folded up sheets of construction paper. She grinned at him, “I’m making a card for each of you to open on Christmas!” Slade smiled, “I’m sure they’ll be brilliant. . .” at that moment, the door was knocked on by an outsider. Slade frowned, turned, and marched through the muck room to the door and opened it. There before him stood a Slade-bot. And in its hand . . .
nbsp; Slade accepted the parchment envelope before turning and walking slowly back into the house as he read the address of the sender in the top left hand corner. Trikk glanced up as he walked in, writing down an address on her envelope for her latest card, “What’s that?” “Oh, just a letter from Will . . .” Slade mumbled, turning and heading for the porch’s screen door, “I’ll . . . start breakfast shortly. . .” “Actually, we all cooked some food and cleaned the dishes a while ago. Sorry, but we got hungry,” Trikk said, blinking at the man who had turned and frowned at her. “But you can cook lunch,” she added, frowning. He nodded and turned to go out onto the porch.
nbsp; Once seated out on the porch in a rocking chair, the man ripped open the letter and read over it. As he read, he both smiled and gritted his teeth together at the news Will had for him. Finally, the man sighed, leaned his head back, and rocked back and forth a few times in the chair before getting up and heading inside. He had a bit to think about. . .
nbsp; After the group had had a quick lunch of hamburgers and homemade Potato Fries once all of the glitter had been removed from the table, the five sat down to watch yet another Christmas movie with a big bowl of popcorn for all of them to share. This time, it was the Claymation classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. After she’d watched almost the entire movie and the characters were singing in the final main scene, Slashera turned to her Father, who sat in a kitchen chair on one side of the couch while Jareth sat in a kitchen chair on the other side. “Father Slade, are the deer in our forest like that? Can they really fly and talk?” Slade smiled weakly at the child, “No, little one. Rudolph and his friends are special deer. Only they can do that. And they don’t come here.” She frowned, then turned and blinked at the screen. Trikk turned to the child, worry in her gaze, “Everything alright little one?” Slashera blinked and turned to her brain mother, “So that means all of those things don’t come down here?” Trikk gave her a weak smile, “I’m afraid that that’s true sweetie.” She stroked the girl’s cheek and moved a bang to be behind Slashera’s ear. The girl grinned, “That’s a relief.” Trikk frowned and tilted her head, “And why is that?” “Because I don’t care if he turned good in the end! That monster thing was scary and creepy!” Slashera declared firmly.
With that, all of the adults threw back their heads and laughed, before Trikk grinned at the girl, a broad smile now on Slashera’s face as well, “That’s right, sweetie. . . it is a relief. . .” she leaned forward and enveloped the child in a warm hug, holding her tight, eyes closed, “Because I’m scared of that thing too,” she murmured, rocking Slashera back and forth. It seemed to her that the more she spent time with the little girl, the cuter the child became. Slashera pulled back and beamed up at Trikk. The woman smiled. That was precisely what Slashera was to the woman. A little sunbeam of innocence. “CAN WE WATCH ANOTHER MOVIE?” Slashera said excitedly. Trikk smiled, and was about to say yes to the child, when Slade grunted and stood up, “You lot can. I’ve got to write Will back,” he muttered, turning and heading down his hallway.
Trikk frowned and turning, gazed after him, “You sure you can’t do that later?” she asked, a look of sadness entering her face. She had to admit, she’d had fun with the group of them all sitting and watching the movie together. Slade blinked, and turned his head, gazing back at the author, “‘Fraid not. I’m mailing him one the regular way. And I need for it to get to him at least by New Year’s . . .” turning, he continued down the hallway. Slashera frowned, “So, we’re not watching a movie?” Lilac frowned, “We still can. . .” suddenly she grinned, “Or we could go outside and make SNOWMEN!” Slashera squealed, clapping her hands, and leapt out of the couch and began to run around the couch’s edge, running to the muck room doorway. Trikk gasped, “LITTLE SLASH! SWEETHEART! YOU NEED TO GET BUNDLED UP FIRST!” she shot up and ran after the girl. Jareth and Lilac looked at one another, and then chuckled before getting up and following the two outside.
nbsp; Slade sighed, leaning forward on his bed with his legs draped over the side of it, gazing at the sheet of paper he clutched in his hand. He had had no intention of writing Will’s letter. Not yet, anyway. . . he had bigger things to worry about now. . . and besides, he could deliver it to the man in person. . . but he really didn’t like the reason why. . . he couldn’t believe that he’d forgotten about this. . . and right in the middle of the Christmas season, too! He sighed and hung his head, closing his eye, running a hand through his hair. He even had to admit, although he found certain parts of the mental characters’ get together superfluous and unnecessary, he really had begun to have fun with the others. And he and Jareth had teamed up rather nicely and had gotten along relatively well the night before to make the “make-up” meal as Jareth had called it . . . of course, that didn’t mean that they were best friends or anything. No! Definitely not! He might be becoming more tolerant of the Fae King, but only by a little bit . . . not nearly enough to call the man his friend.
Still, considering all the fun he was having, having to do this for Will which the Englishman had ever so kindly reminded him about at the top of the letter, would be a major upset in Slade’s holiday. And yet, he’d given his word, a long time ago, that he would do this . . . he gritted his teeth. He knew what he had to do. Or try to do, at least . . . and he knew all too well that Trikk may not be happy with it . . . the author was a bit strict about such things, and stubborn. Yes, very stubborn. And given recent. . . Circumstances and life events, she may not be up for letting him do it . . .
nbsp; Trikk jogged into the house to find Slade gazing at a piece of parchment on his bed as she entered their room. Assuming it was the letter he’d written to Will, she smiled, “COME SEE WHAT WE DID!” Slade frowned, turned to her, and blinked. Glancing at the clock he realized he’d been sitting there, reading the letter that announced his doom, for over three and a half hours. . . he blinked and stood up, turning the letter face down on his pillow, and followed the author through the house and out the door leading from the muck room to outside.
nbsp; Slade grinned, “Impressive.” “AND COMPLETELY WITHOUT MAGIC!” Trikk said happily. There stood five snowmen, each with charcoal eyes, a carrot nose, and a charcoal mouth, with three charcoal “buttons” on their fronts. “And each has names Father Slade! Come here!” Slashera beamed, and taking his hand, led him to each snowman in turn, “HERE’S BILLY! AND HERE’S TIM! AND HERE’S LARRY! AND HERE’S MACBETH! AND HERE’S ARTHUR!” Slade smiled and bowed to all five, “Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” At that, Slashera squealed even louder and clapped her hands happily. It was then that “Tim” lost one of his charcoal eyes as it fell to the ground. Gasping, Slashera ran over and put it back. And Slade frowned, turning to Trikk and whispering, “Macbeth? Arthur?” She shrugged, frowning, “What can I say? I like Shakespeare, and like the story of King Arthur.” He smirked, “You mean the Disney version?” She blushed crimson, and then glared at him, “So what if that’s the one I am talking about?” He chuckled, and shook his head, eye closing. As Slashera turned, and smiled at him, “They don’t come to life like Frosty did, but Trikk and I, we wrote a story about them instead!!!” Slade blinked, and turning, grinned at Trikk, “Oh did you now?” Trikk smirked, “Well, I am an author.”
nbsp; After listening to the story of the five snowmen, who were not alive until a magical ice fairy cast a spell on them allowing them to move around and talk, after which the five snowmen played with forest animals, stopped a forest fire from destroying them and their forest, and helped a baby deer get back to its family before using their magic to enable the deer to fly before riding the deer out of the forest and to a place where it would never get warm and so they would never have to melt and die, the group applauded both Trikk and Slashera as the two girls took a bow in the center of the living room. Trikk had read the story out loud, while Slashera had acted out parts of it. Slade smirked, sitting on the right side of the sofa, “Not bad, not bad at all, Trikk. And excellent job, Little Slash,” he murmured, and opened his arms as the girl squealed and ran into the man’s embrace. Trikk smiled calmly at the sight, “Don’t mention it. It was a lot of fun. Truly.”
nbsp; Two hours later, Slade had made herb coated chicken breasts, macaroni and cheese, and lima beans for dinner, along with some warm rolls for the group to eat. Once the dinner plates were empty, the group sat back contently, smiling at their plates, rubbing their full bellies. “You know, I hate to admit it, but I would come to your house for every meal if I thought you’d let me,” Jareth chuckled. Slade turned to him with a frown, and leaned back in his chair a little, studying the Fae. Jareth smirked, “You really do make some awesome food, Slade. . .” Slade smirked, and nodded, “Well, let’s just say I’ve had years of practice.” The group of adults chuckled a little at that as Slashera drank the last of her milk. “Well, it only seems fair that since you boys cleaned all the dishes last night, that I and Lilac clean all the dishes this time. . . Then we get to draw names for SECRET SANTA!” Trikk said, grinning. Slade groaned, rolling his eye, “How about I just clean all the dishes and we don’t do Secret Santa?” Trikk smirked, and winked at the mercenary, “Nice try, but we’ve had this planned since Halloween, Slade. You’ve got to do it.” Slade frowned at her, “You know, you would have made an excellent torture chamber host for the Spanish Inquisition.” She smirked, “Thank you.” Turning, she began to wash the dishes with Lilac, as Slashera got up and began to dry the dishes off with a towel, and Slade just rolled his eye and sighed. He knew that battle was lost.
nbsp; About forty five minutes later, the dishes were cleaned and a witch’s hat, courtesy of Lilac, sat in the center of the table. Although the characters and author could not see them, they all knew that five different slips of folded paper were inside. “Alright, remember. You get presents for who you draw. No trading, no exceptions. You have to get at least 5 presents, guys. Don’t be stingy. And no bad presents. No traps. Ready?” the group nodded, Slade somewhat reluctantly, and Lilac breathed out calmly, “I’ll go first.” She dove her hand into the hat, and pulling out her slip of paper, held it firmly in her hands, having not even looked at it. “MY TURN!” Jareth said happily, and followed suit. Next, was Trikk’s turn. The girl dove her hand into the hat, moved it around, and pulled out her own slip of paper. After cupping her hands around it, she grinned at Slashera, who beamed at the woman, “My turn?” Trikk chuckled and nodded, and the girl giggled and dove her hand into the hat, pulling out a slip of paper quickly. Finally, it was Slade’s turn. He groaned, and closed his eye, moving his hand into the hat before pulling out the remaining strip of paper. “ALRIGHT! Look at them!” Trikk gasped, and everyone unfolded their slips of paper. Jareth smiled, “Not bad,” he nodded approvingly. Lilac just smiled at hers, “Oh, this is going to be so much fun.” Trikk smirked at hers, “Precisely what I wanted. . .” “ME TOO!” Slashera beamed, hopping up a little in her chair. Slade frowned down at his. . . “Well. . . I suppose . . . it could be worse . . . maybe. . .” Trikk laughed a little, “Alright guys. I know for a fact that I’ve got to go to bed early to go shopping tomorrow. Let’s all head off to bed.” The group nodded, stood up, and left the table, with Lilac grabbing the witch’s hat on her way out.
nbsp; Twenty minutes later, Trikk was in a black T-shirt and some red Coca-Cola pajama pants and some white fuzzy socks and was brushing her teeth in the bathroom. Slade had been tucking Slashera in, but now he was heading through the door to their bedroom. Crumbling the slip of paper up, he growled and launched it to a corner of his room, flopping onto his back on the bed, arms laid out flat at his sides, “Perfect. Just fuckin’ perfect. I knew I should have never participated.” Trikk slid her toothbrush out and turned on her heel, smirking at him, “Got Jareth, huh?” Slade lifted his head up, glowering at her, and pointed a finger at her, “I blame you.” He flopped his head back, and sighed, gazing at his ceiling. She chuckled, and spat out in the sink, gargled and rinsed with some water, and cleaned out her toothbrush before heading back into their room, standing beside his bed, smiling down at him with her arms crossed, “I didn’t pull it out for you,” she chuckled.
e rolled his head over, glaring at her accusingly, “You made me participate though. . . that’s bad enough. . .” She smiled, “Look on the bright side. This might make you two a bit more civil to one another. I mean, you have to get him a nice present. . . that’s always a good gesture. . .” he groaned, rolling his eye, and rolled over onto his face and stomach, groaning into his Christmas quilt, “It’s a waste of money, that’s what it is. . . I don’t even know what to get that pampered palace brat.” She laughed, and gripping his shoulder that was on the opposite side of him from her, tugged, and he allowed her to flop him back to be facing her again, frowning up at her. She grinned, “Oh come on! Even I know what you could get him! All you have to do is think about it a little! You’ll be fine!” Slade rolled his eye again, before his eye widened, and he stared at her and smiled, “That’s right! You do know what he should get!” he rolled over to be on all fours, smiling at her almost psychotically, his face mere inches from her own, “Why don’t you get him something from me with my money?!”
he frowned and arched an eyebrow, crossing her arms and cocking her hip, “What am I, your wife? No way.” “Is that what it would take? Because I’ll marry you if that’s what’s necessary.” She stared at him, “Okay, now you’re just being nuts.” Turning, she walked over to her bed, pulling back the sheets, “Just get some sleep. You’ll buy something for him in the morning.” Slade sighed and hung his head, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the letter from William on his pillow. And bit his lip. He still had that to deal with . . . he turned to her, blinking, “Okay, I’ll do it. And he’ll get excellent presents. Ten, even . . . but. . .” She frowned and turned to him, crossing her arms, “Okay, what do you want?” she muttered.
nbsp; Slade bit his lip and sighed, slumping his shoulders, still on his hands and knees on the bed, “Well, as you know, William comes from a very prestigious family in London. . .” Trikk frowned, “And?” “And, as you know, prestigious families tend to throw huge Christmas parties around this time of year. . .” Trikk frowned, “And. . .” “And, as you know, I am a close friend to him. . .” “And. . .” Trikk said slowly, not quite liking where this was going. “And, as you know, friends tend to be invited to these things. . .” “AND?!” Trikk said loudly. Slade turned to her, and smiled weakly, “And guests to these things tend to need to bring dates. . .” “AND?!” she snapped, staring at him in disbelief. “And, well, I’m a guy, and you’re a girl, and . . . I was thinking . . . heh heh, wanna go?” he said sheepishly.
“YOU WANT ME TO BE YOUR DATE TO A CHRISTMAS PARTY AT WILLIAM’S HOUSE?!” she cried out, staring at him. Slade jumped off of bed and knelt on the floor at her feet, holding up two pleading hands clasped together, “PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE, TRIKK! I’D COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT UNTIL THE LETTER CAME TO ME TODAY TO REMIND ME OF IT! AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’LL DO IF I SHOW UP SINGLE AGAIN!!!!! PLEASE OH PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME GO ALONE!” He stared at her, breathing hard. She frowned, “Why are you so upset about going alone, anyway?” He stared at her, “Have you ever met his family? His Aunt Crystal is an absolute witch. His Uncle Timothy is a stuck up old prude. Or prune . . . he’s wrinkled enough . . . and don’t EVEN get me started on everyone else! I just can’t face them alone! Not again! Please!!!! Trikk?! For me?!”
he frowned. She didn’t know if it was him kneeling before her, or the thought of him facing awful “family” members by himself that made her want to help him. Besides, she kind of liked having a big strong man like Slade at her mercy . . . but that wouldn’t mean she’d be easy on him! “When is it?” she tilted her head up, frowning at him. “Two days from now. We could use Lilac to transport us there . . . then you could get ready and I could get ready at his manor,” Slade said quickly. She frowned, “Alright, fine. . .” “YAAAAAAAAAAAY!” he hopped up, and her eyes widened as she stared at his smile, before he enveloped her in a bone crushing hug, causing her to gasp and groan. “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! OH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!” She groaned, throwing her head back, staring at the ceiling, “I. . . I have some conditions. . .” she gasped. He immediately released her, and smiled, kneeling down to be more eye level with her, smiling, “SURE! OF COURSE! ANYTHING!”
“First, you give me your credit card tomorrow so that I can go buy a dress and my Secret Santa gifts. And you DON’T look at the receipts until Christmas is over. You just get a regular Tux, and it should be fine. Second, you have to get Jareth 15 presents. Not just 10.” Slade smiled, “OF COURSE! YES! NATURALLY!” She stared at his happy face. Man, Slade . . . you really ARE desperate. . . Do I really want to go to Will’s party? She sighed, “Very well. I need some sleep.” Turning, she crawled into bed. she was about to reach down to pull up her covers, when he grabbed them and pulled them up, still grinning, tucking her in, “THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!” he gushed, patting her on the head. She frowned, “Slade let me sleep now or neither of us is going to be happy tomorrow.” “OOOPS! OKAY! SORRY BOUT THAT! BUT, THANK YOU! YOU’RE A LIFE SAVER TRIKK!” He leaned down and kissed her on the head, before turning and rushing into the bathroom. She stared at the wall as he got ready for bed, and was still staring as he walked back into the room happily and got into bed, the bed beside hers creaking as he did so. As he turned off the light, she finally closed her eyes. Oh Lord on high, pray for me as I embark on this quest.
A/N: OKAY! SO YOU GUYS MADE AN APPEARANCE! HOPE YOU LIKED IT! YAY!
A/N: So yeah, I'm sorry I haven't updated as regularly as I would have liked. But I promise, each chapter will get posted! Even if they run after Christmas!
Here's the chapter on christmas cards. I hope you enjoy it!
nbsp; Slade finally sighed as he walked out of the bathroom, groaning and rubbing his still wet hair. His back ached just a little, since the man had finally given up on travelling from the bedroom to the bathroom to use the toilet during the night and had simply laid on the bathroom floor as he’d slept, so that all that he had had to do was stand back up and use the toilet when he needed it. Of course, that meant that he didn’t wake up to his alarm, and that meant that he’d slept in until 10:00. He supposed it was the lack of sleep he’d felt from the circuit breaker work and the lack of sleep from staying half-awake through half of last night peeing that had caused him to do such a thing. Now it was 10:45 and he’d just taken a nice long shower. Trikk’s bed was all made up, signaling to him that the woman had already gotten up and was somewhere in the house. So, grabbing some boxers, blue jeans, and a black muscle shirt, the man slipped on his eye-patch and some socks and walked out into the hallway and then into the kitchen. Then he stopped and stared.
It looked like glitter had rained down on his beautiful kitchen table, in colors of purple, blue, black, gold, and silver. And it was clear to him who the orchestrator of such a mess was . . . Jareth leaned forward on the table over the glitter covered surface of the piece of furniture, using a silver pen to write on something. Slade groaned, and rubbed his temple, sluggishly moving forward, “Please tell me you laid down something on my nice clean table before you started so that glitter wouldn’t touch the wood?” Jareth turned to the man and smirked, “And what would you say if I told you I hadn’t?” Slade frowned at him, raising an eyebrow, “Then I would say that I would have to strangle you. What is all this sparkling shit for anyway?” he waved a hand at the table. “Christmas cards of course! To all of my adoring fans and subjects!” Jareth turned to three stacks that were at least three feet tall and made up of purple envelopes, all signed with silver ink, to his left, “I had to have plenty of glitter to please the masses, of course! And by the way, I have one for you!” he pulled one out of the stack closest to him, which surprisingly stayed upright considering how the envelope was near the center of it, and handed it to Slade. The mercenary frowned down at the cursive writing on the outside on the envelope. It simply read his name: Slade Wilson.
e frowned and raised an eyebrow, “You made me a card. . .” he turned it over, peeled back the envelope’s top folded down side, and pulled the card out. On the front was a picture of a goblin in Christmas attire dragging a mini tree behind with ornaments lying on the ground around the little creature. Over the Goblin were the words “Happy Holidays!” “Huh, cute. . .” Slade muttered . . . then opened it. “WHAT THE HELL!” Slade reared his head back, coughing, as the huge puff cloud of purple glitter went up in his face from the card, littering his hair and beard and chest with the stuff. As he leaned over a little, coughing with a hand to his chest, hacking up the glitter that had gone down his throat, Jareth chuckled, “Figured you’d react that way . . . but look on the bright side, you’re much prettier now. . .” Slade crunched the card up in his hand, and narrowed his eye at the Goblin King, casting the Fae a murderous look, “You little. . .”
Suddenly, he caught sight of Lilac in the living room. He frowned and turned his head, blinking at her. The witch was sitting on the sofa, with her side facing the group at the table, her head in a floating purple orb. She was speaking, but they were unable to hear it, and in front of her, a quill wrote magically on a gold colored piece of paper. “What the. . .” Slade said slowly, blinking. “She’s making Whisperers,” Trikk’s voice murmured. Slade frowned and turned to the author. Trikk was sitting in one chair set away from the table, with another chair in front of her facing her. Currently, she was leaning forward and using the second chair as a makeshift table to write on cards, blinking at them. “ ‘Whisperers’?” Slade asked, dumbfounded. “Yeah,” Trikk leaned her head back, blinking at the man, “You know how the Wizarding world has Howlers?” “Yeah, aren’t those the letters that scream at you and then burst into flames or something?” Slade remarked, tilting his head. “Right,” Trikk said, nodding, “Well, Lilac is making Whisperers. The thing is, each Whisperer speaks to the reader in a much calmer voice. So if someone wants to send a letter with a personal touch in a kind manner, it helps. Lilac designed it. When the message is done, the envelope bursts into a shower of gold sparkles, and the receiver is left with a golden letter that has written on it what the speaker said, so that they can keep that. Lilac is making some for her close friends. The sound bubble prevents us from hearing what she’s saying, and prevents her from interrupting our own trains of thought.” Slade frowned, “And what are you doing?”
rikk blinked at him, “I’m making some cards to people who read my stories.” “So your fans?” he said, tilting his head and frowning. “I wouldn’t go that far,” Trikk remarked, blinking, “They’re more like online friends. Very good online friends. But I suppose if it makes more sense to you to think of it the way you said it then fine. That just makes it seem more like I’m doing what Jareth is doing, though . . .” Slade smiled, “Well, at least you’re not covering yours in glitter. . .” Trikk shook her head, “No.” She held up the card, and he saw the Coca-Cola picture on it, and in the picture . . . he groaned, rolling his eye as she continued, “It already has some.” She turned and continued to write on the inside of the card. She always liked to write letters to people this way. To make it more personal . . . “Well, where is Little Slash?” the man muttered slowly. “IN HERE!” Slashera called.
He turned walked into the living room, which was where she’d sounded like she was coming from. And blinked down at the child kneeling at the coffee table across from the couch, some crayons in a box before her and one crayon in her right hand, some newspaper laid out on the coffee table beneath her supplies, drawing on folded up sheets of construction paper. She grinned at him, “I’m making a card for each of you to open on Christmas!” Slade smiled, “I’m sure they’ll be brilliant. . .” at that moment, the door was knocked on by an outsider. Slade frowned, turned, and marched through the muck room to the door and opened it. There before him stood a Slade-bot. And in its hand . . .
nbsp; Slade accepted the parchment envelope before turning and walking slowly back into the house as he read the address of the sender in the top left hand corner. Trikk glanced up as he walked in, writing down an address on her envelope for her latest card, “What’s that?” “Oh, just a letter from Will . . .” Slade mumbled, turning and heading for the porch’s screen door, “I’ll . . . start breakfast shortly. . .” “Actually, we all cooked some food and cleaned the dishes a while ago. Sorry, but we got hungry,” Trikk said, blinking at the man who had turned and frowned at her. “But you can cook lunch,” she added, frowning. He nodded and turned to go out onto the porch.
nbsp; Once seated out on the porch in a rocking chair, the man ripped open the letter and read over it. As he read, he both smiled and gritted his teeth together at the news Will had for him. Finally, the man sighed, leaned his head back, and rocked back and forth a few times in the chair before getting up and heading inside. He had a bit to think about. . .
nbsp; After the group had had a quick lunch of hamburgers and homemade Potato Fries once all of the glitter had been removed from the table, the five sat down to watch yet another Christmas movie with a big bowl of popcorn for all of them to share. This time, it was the Claymation classic “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”. After she’d watched almost the entire movie and the characters were singing in the final main scene, Slashera turned to her Father, who sat in a kitchen chair on one side of the couch while Jareth sat in a kitchen chair on the other side. “Father Slade, are the deer in our forest like that? Can they really fly and talk?” Slade smiled weakly at the child, “No, little one. Rudolph and his friends are special deer. Only they can do that. And they don’t come here.” She frowned, then turned and blinked at the screen. Trikk turned to the child, worry in her gaze, “Everything alright little one?” Slashera blinked and turned to her brain mother, “So that means all of those things don’t come down here?” Trikk gave her a weak smile, “I’m afraid that that’s true sweetie.” She stroked the girl’s cheek and moved a bang to be behind Slashera’s ear. The girl grinned, “That’s a relief.” Trikk frowned and tilted her head, “And why is that?” “Because I don’t care if he turned good in the end! That monster thing was scary and creepy!” Slashera declared firmly.
With that, all of the adults threw back their heads and laughed, before Trikk grinned at the girl, a broad smile now on Slashera’s face as well, “That’s right, sweetie. . . it is a relief. . .” she leaned forward and enveloped the child in a warm hug, holding her tight, eyes closed, “Because I’m scared of that thing too,” she murmured, rocking Slashera back and forth. It seemed to her that the more she spent time with the little girl, the cuter the child became. Slashera pulled back and beamed up at Trikk. The woman smiled. That was precisely what Slashera was to the woman. A little sunbeam of innocence. “CAN WE WATCH ANOTHER MOVIE?” Slashera said excitedly. Trikk smiled, and was about to say yes to the child, when Slade grunted and stood up, “You lot can. I’ve got to write Will back,” he muttered, turning and heading down his hallway.
Trikk frowned and turning, gazed after him, “You sure you can’t do that later?” she asked, a look of sadness entering her face. She had to admit, she’d had fun with the group of them all sitting and watching the movie together. Slade blinked, and turned his head, gazing back at the author, “‘Fraid not. I’m mailing him one the regular way. And I need for it to get to him at least by New Year’s . . .” turning, he continued down the hallway. Slashera frowned, “So, we’re not watching a movie?” Lilac frowned, “We still can. . .” suddenly she grinned, “Or we could go outside and make SNOWMEN!” Slashera squealed, clapping her hands, and leapt out of the couch and began to run around the couch’s edge, running to the muck room doorway. Trikk gasped, “LITTLE SLASH! SWEETHEART! YOU NEED TO GET BUNDLED UP FIRST!” she shot up and ran after the girl. Jareth and Lilac looked at one another, and then chuckled before getting up and following the two outside.
nbsp; Slade sighed, leaning forward on his bed with his legs draped over the side of it, gazing at the sheet of paper he clutched in his hand. He had had no intention of writing Will’s letter. Not yet, anyway. . . he had bigger things to worry about now. . . and besides, he could deliver it to the man in person. . . but he really didn’t like the reason why. . . he couldn’t believe that he’d forgotten about this. . . and right in the middle of the Christmas season, too! He sighed and hung his head, closing his eye, running a hand through his hair. He even had to admit, although he found certain parts of the mental characters’ get together superfluous and unnecessary, he really had begun to have fun with the others. And he and Jareth had teamed up rather nicely and had gotten along relatively well the night before to make the “make-up” meal as Jareth had called it . . . of course, that didn’t mean that they were best friends or anything. No! Definitely not! He might be becoming more tolerant of the Fae King, but only by a little bit . . . not nearly enough to call the man his friend.
Still, considering all the fun he was having, having to do this for Will which the Englishman had ever so kindly reminded him about at the top of the letter, would be a major upset in Slade’s holiday. And yet, he’d given his word, a long time ago, that he would do this . . . he gritted his teeth. He knew what he had to do. Or try to do, at least . . . and he knew all too well that Trikk may not be happy with it . . . the author was a bit strict about such things, and stubborn. Yes, very stubborn. And given recent. . . Circumstances and life events, she may not be up for letting him do it . . .
nbsp; Trikk jogged into the house to find Slade gazing at a piece of parchment on his bed as she entered their room. Assuming it was the letter he’d written to Will, she smiled, “COME SEE WHAT WE DID!” Slade frowned, turned to her, and blinked. Glancing at the clock he realized he’d been sitting there, reading the letter that announced his doom, for over three and a half hours. . . he blinked and stood up, turning the letter face down on his pillow, and followed the author through the house and out the door leading from the muck room to outside.
nbsp; Slade grinned, “Impressive.” “AND COMPLETELY WITHOUT MAGIC!” Trikk said happily. There stood five snowmen, each with charcoal eyes, a carrot nose, and a charcoal mouth, with three charcoal “buttons” on their fronts. “And each has names Father Slade! Come here!” Slashera beamed, and taking his hand, led him to each snowman in turn, “HERE’S BILLY! AND HERE’S TIM! AND HERE’S LARRY! AND HERE’S MACBETH! AND HERE’S ARTHUR!” Slade smiled and bowed to all five, “Pleasure to make your acquaintance.” At that, Slashera squealed even louder and clapped her hands happily. It was then that “Tim” lost one of his charcoal eyes as it fell to the ground. Gasping, Slashera ran over and put it back. And Slade frowned, turning to Trikk and whispering, “Macbeth? Arthur?” She shrugged, frowning, “What can I say? I like Shakespeare, and like the story of King Arthur.” He smirked, “You mean the Disney version?” She blushed crimson, and then glared at him, “So what if that’s the one I am talking about?” He chuckled, and shook his head, eye closing. As Slashera turned, and smiled at him, “They don’t come to life like Frosty did, but Trikk and I, we wrote a story about them instead!!!” Slade blinked, and turning, grinned at Trikk, “Oh did you now?” Trikk smirked, “Well, I am an author.”
nbsp; After listening to the story of the five snowmen, who were not alive until a magical ice fairy cast a spell on them allowing them to move around and talk, after which the five snowmen played with forest animals, stopped a forest fire from destroying them and their forest, and helped a baby deer get back to its family before using their magic to enable the deer to fly before riding the deer out of the forest and to a place where it would never get warm and so they would never have to melt and die, the group applauded both Trikk and Slashera as the two girls took a bow in the center of the living room. Trikk had read the story out loud, while Slashera had acted out parts of it. Slade smirked, sitting on the right side of the sofa, “Not bad, not bad at all, Trikk. And excellent job, Little Slash,” he murmured, and opened his arms as the girl squealed and ran into the man’s embrace. Trikk smiled calmly at the sight, “Don’t mention it. It was a lot of fun. Truly.”
nbsp; Two hours later, Slade had made herb coated chicken breasts, macaroni and cheese, and lima beans for dinner, along with some warm rolls for the group to eat. Once the dinner plates were empty, the group sat back contently, smiling at their plates, rubbing their full bellies. “You know, I hate to admit it, but I would come to your house for every meal if I thought you’d let me,” Jareth chuckled. Slade turned to him with a frown, and leaned back in his chair a little, studying the Fae. Jareth smirked, “You really do make some awesome food, Slade. . .” Slade smirked, and nodded, “Well, let’s just say I’ve had years of practice.” The group of adults chuckled a little at that as Slashera drank the last of her milk. “Well, it only seems fair that since you boys cleaned all the dishes last night, that I and Lilac clean all the dishes this time. . . Then we get to draw names for SECRET SANTA!” Trikk said, grinning. Slade groaned, rolling his eye, “How about I just clean all the dishes and we don’t do Secret Santa?” Trikk smirked, and winked at the mercenary, “Nice try, but we’ve had this planned since Halloween, Slade. You’ve got to do it.” Slade frowned at her, “You know, you would have made an excellent torture chamber host for the Spanish Inquisition.” She smirked, “Thank you.” Turning, she began to wash the dishes with Lilac, as Slashera got up and began to dry the dishes off with a towel, and Slade just rolled his eye and sighed. He knew that battle was lost.
nbsp; About forty five minutes later, the dishes were cleaned and a witch’s hat, courtesy of Lilac, sat in the center of the table. Although the characters and author could not see them, they all knew that five different slips of folded paper were inside. “Alright, remember. You get presents for who you draw. No trading, no exceptions. You have to get at least 5 presents, guys. Don’t be stingy. And no bad presents. No traps. Ready?” the group nodded, Slade somewhat reluctantly, and Lilac breathed out calmly, “I’ll go first.” She dove her hand into the hat, and pulling out her slip of paper, held it firmly in her hands, having not even looked at it. “MY TURN!” Jareth said happily, and followed suit. Next, was Trikk’s turn. The girl dove her hand into the hat, moved it around, and pulled out her own slip of paper. After cupping her hands around it, she grinned at Slashera, who beamed at the woman, “My turn?” Trikk chuckled and nodded, and the girl giggled and dove her hand into the hat, pulling out a slip of paper quickly. Finally, it was Slade’s turn. He groaned, and closed his eye, moving his hand into the hat before pulling out the remaining strip of paper. “ALRIGHT! Look at them!” Trikk gasped, and everyone unfolded their slips of paper. Jareth smiled, “Not bad,” he nodded approvingly. Lilac just smiled at hers, “Oh, this is going to be so much fun.” Trikk smirked at hers, “Precisely what I wanted. . .” “ME TOO!” Slashera beamed, hopping up a little in her chair. Slade frowned down at his. . . “Well. . . I suppose . . . it could be worse . . . maybe. . .” Trikk laughed a little, “Alright guys. I know for a fact that I’ve got to go to bed early to go shopping tomorrow. Let’s all head off to bed.” The group nodded, stood up, and left the table, with Lilac grabbing the witch’s hat on her way out.
nbsp; Twenty minutes later, Trikk was in a black T-shirt and some red Coca-Cola pajama pants and some white fuzzy socks and was brushing her teeth in the bathroom. Slade had been tucking Slashera in, but now he was heading through the door to their bedroom. Crumbling the slip of paper up, he growled and launched it to a corner of his room, flopping onto his back on the bed, arms laid out flat at his sides, “Perfect. Just fuckin’ perfect. I knew I should have never participated.” Trikk slid her toothbrush out and turned on her heel, smirking at him, “Got Jareth, huh?” Slade lifted his head up, glowering at her, and pointed a finger at her, “I blame you.” He flopped his head back, and sighed, gazing at his ceiling. She chuckled, and spat out in the sink, gargled and rinsed with some water, and cleaned out her toothbrush before heading back into their room, standing beside his bed, smiling down at him with her arms crossed, “I didn’t pull it out for you,” she chuckled.
e rolled his head over, glaring at her accusingly, “You made me participate though. . . that’s bad enough. . .” She smiled, “Look on the bright side. This might make you two a bit more civil to one another. I mean, you have to get him a nice present. . . that’s always a good gesture. . .” he groaned, rolling his eye, and rolled over onto his face and stomach, groaning into his Christmas quilt, “It’s a waste of money, that’s what it is. . . I don’t even know what to get that pampered palace brat.” She laughed, and gripping his shoulder that was on the opposite side of him from her, tugged, and he allowed her to flop him back to be facing her again, frowning up at her. She grinned, “Oh come on! Even I know what you could get him! All you have to do is think about it a little! You’ll be fine!” Slade rolled his eye again, before his eye widened, and he stared at her and smiled, “That’s right! You do know what he should get!” he rolled over to be on all fours, smiling at her almost psychotically, his face mere inches from her own, “Why don’t you get him something from me with my money?!”
he frowned and arched an eyebrow, crossing her arms and cocking her hip, “What am I, your wife? No way.” “Is that what it would take? Because I’ll marry you if that’s what’s necessary.” She stared at him, “Okay, now you’re just being nuts.” Turning, she walked over to her bed, pulling back the sheets, “Just get some sleep. You’ll buy something for him in the morning.” Slade sighed and hung his head, and out of the corner of his eye, he saw the letter from William on his pillow. And bit his lip. He still had that to deal with . . . he turned to her, blinking, “Okay, I’ll do it. And he’ll get excellent presents. Ten, even . . . but. . .” She frowned and turned to him, crossing her arms, “Okay, what do you want?” she muttered.
nbsp; Slade bit his lip and sighed, slumping his shoulders, still on his hands and knees on the bed, “Well, as you know, William comes from a very prestigious family in London. . .” Trikk frowned, “And?” “And, as you know, prestigious families tend to throw huge Christmas parties around this time of year. . .” Trikk frowned, “And. . .” “And, as you know, I am a close friend to him. . .” “And. . .” Trikk said slowly, not quite liking where this was going. “And, as you know, friends tend to be invited to these things. . .” “AND?!” Trikk said loudly. Slade turned to her, and smiled weakly, “And guests to these things tend to need to bring dates. . .” “AND?!” she snapped, staring at him in disbelief. “And, well, I’m a guy, and you’re a girl, and . . . I was thinking . . . heh heh, wanna go?” he said sheepishly.
“YOU WANT ME TO BE YOUR DATE TO A CHRISTMAS PARTY AT WILLIAM’S HOUSE?!” she cried out, staring at him. Slade jumped off of bed and knelt on the floor at her feet, holding up two pleading hands clasped together, “PLEASE OH PLEASE OH PLEASE, TRIKK! I’D COMPLETELY FORGOTTEN ABOUT IT UNTIL THE LETTER CAME TO ME TODAY TO REMIND ME OF IT! AND I DON’T KNOW WHAT I’LL DO IF I SHOW UP SINGLE AGAIN!!!!! PLEASE OH PLEASE DON’T MAKE ME GO ALONE!” He stared at her, breathing hard. She frowned, “Why are you so upset about going alone, anyway?” He stared at her, “Have you ever met his family? His Aunt Crystal is an absolute witch. His Uncle Timothy is a stuck up old prude. Or prune . . . he’s wrinkled enough . . . and don’t EVEN get me started on everyone else! I just can’t face them alone! Not again! Please!!!! Trikk?! For me?!”
he frowned. She didn’t know if it was him kneeling before her, or the thought of him facing awful “family” members by himself that made her want to help him. Besides, she kind of liked having a big strong man like Slade at her mercy . . . but that wouldn’t mean she’d be easy on him! “When is it?” she tilted her head up, frowning at him. “Two days from now. We could use Lilac to transport us there . . . then you could get ready and I could get ready at his manor,” Slade said quickly. She frowned, “Alright, fine. . .” “YAAAAAAAAAAAY!” he hopped up, and her eyes widened as she stared at his smile, before he enveloped her in a bone crushing hug, causing her to gasp and groan. “THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!!!! OH THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!!” She groaned, throwing her head back, staring at the ceiling, “I. . . I have some conditions. . .” she gasped. He immediately released her, and smiled, kneeling down to be more eye level with her, smiling, “SURE! OF COURSE! ANYTHING!”
“First, you give me your credit card tomorrow so that I can go buy a dress and my Secret Santa gifts. And you DON’T look at the receipts until Christmas is over. You just get a regular Tux, and it should be fine. Second, you have to get Jareth 15 presents. Not just 10.” Slade smiled, “OF COURSE! YES! NATURALLY!” She stared at his happy face. Man, Slade . . . you really ARE desperate. . . Do I really want to go to Will’s party? She sighed, “Very well. I need some sleep.” Turning, she crawled into bed. she was about to reach down to pull up her covers, when he grabbed them and pulled them up, still grinning, tucking her in, “THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!” he gushed, patting her on the head. She frowned, “Slade let me sleep now or neither of us is going to be happy tomorrow.” “OOOPS! OKAY! SORRY BOUT THAT! BUT, THANK YOU! YOU’RE A LIFE SAVER TRIKK!” He leaned down and kissed her on the head, before turning and rushing into the bathroom. She stared at the wall as he got ready for bed, and was still staring as he walked back into the room happily and got into bed, the bed beside hers creaking as he did so. As he turned off the light, she finally closed her eyes. Oh Lord on high, pray for me as I embark on this quest.
A/N: OKAY! SO YOU GUYS MADE AN APPEARANCE! HOPE YOU LIKED IT! YAY!