[Mission XMAS] Thank God It's Christmas

[Blaka]

"Mylady?"

What a mess!
Upon arrival, the young lady had just emptied her entire bag on the bed, set up her little record player, put on those precious plush ears of hers and climbed nightstand to look outside.

"Mylady you are going to get stuck if you keep this up!"
Old Kajuu was quite out of his depth when it came to handling his lady. Hell would freezer over before she would grant him any respect. The child's face was pressed against her room's window. Her green eyes were trying to get the best view of the landscape. Never before had she actually seen snow for real! Let alone a frozen lake! Only briefly had she been able to look at all of it on their way to the castle, she wanted more.

Briefly, the little girl removed her face from the glass, turned her head around - then stuck her tongue out.
"Nooo I won't! You're a liar Kajuu!"
With those words, she got back to ignoring the poor butler and went back to admiring the beautiful winter resort. Back home in the South Blue, they didn't have something like this. Only stories told of what winter was like in the colder regions of the world.

Together with another noble family from the Ciduadela Queendom, Lady Queen B. Grasa had rented the palace of the lake as a vacation home.

*Sigh*....Where was the fishman when you needed him!?

"Mylady, I must advise turning down your music. The texts do not behoove your young ears."

Face still flat like a pancake against the window, little Mel just waved at the guy to go away.
"Shuddup!" she moaned, muffled by the glass "Sbarkles isse besd!"

I've been down this road before
Fell in love on Christmas night
But in New Year's day
I woke up and you wasn't by my side
the record player blared this very moment. Of course Mel didn't get any of it. But that was part why it was so cool, wasn't it?

"Eihahaha! Mylady what are you doing? You were supposed to be ready five minutes ago!"
A deep, hearty laugh sounded from the door. A laugh that filled Kajuu with relief and sucked all defiance out of Mel. Shiyonin the fishman had arrived.
"You are a big girl now remember?" he smiled "I trusted you to get dressed by yourself!" There was no disappointment in the ray man's voice, he was simply encouraging the kid.

Half a second later, said kid had hopped down from her stand on the furniture and was going through the clothes on her bed to find what she had been told to wear this evening.
"Sorry Shiyo!" she yelled, way louder than she would have had to "Outside is too cool!"
"Eihaha! That's one word for it, isn't it?" The musclepacked fishman in his fine dinner suit walked past the butler to pat his protégée on the head. "Let's turn Sparkles down for a moment, okay? We don't want you to get in trouble."
"Okie.."

Kajuu just kept where he was, baffled as usual. How did he do that? It was like this guy posessed some sort of powerful magic that could turn the shitty brat into a jolly little princess out of nowhere. Shiyonin was the family's slave, technically. This meant he was working for them without getting payed, other than a pretty luxurious roof over his head and expensive food, just like any other family servant. Around five years of his contract were up already. Five more to go until the debts to the late man of the house would be payed fully. Before his passing away when the little lady had been three years of age, Enferno had made a contract with the bulky ray-fishman - no monetary payments required if he just spent the next 10 years looking after Enferno's daughter. Really, with how protective her mother was, this greenskinned caretaker with the long black ponytail had been sentenced to be a professional best friend to the girl.

Both men left the room for another minute so the lass could change. All by herself, as Shiyonin kept confirming. Finally, she came out. A salmon pink longsleeve shirt, red skirt down to her ankles and black boots with tiny heels. On her head, the most awesome item in her posession, a hairband with fluffy doggie ears, just like the great mink music star.
"You don't plan on wearing that to dinner, are you!?" Kajuu was visibly terrified by this thought.
Shiyonin was too, he just took a different, less negative approach.
"Now, now." he whispered. "How about I take that and give it back to you after we've eaten? I'm not sure your mum would like it."
"Fiiiine!"
Quickly, the hairband disappeared into the pockets of the fishman's suit.

Nearly not quickly enough, they soon found out. Accompanied by two of her maids, the mighty Queen B. Grasa came strutting around the corner. A tall, somehow still round figure of a woman. Just like her daughter, the lady of the house had glaring pink hair. Unlike said daughter however, hers was obviously not tied to girly pigtails, but pinned up, giving her a stern appearance. Looking at Melosa, a smile escaped her. Melosa awkwardly smiled back. It wasn't often that the two saw each other, Grasa's work was way too timeconsuming. And if they did, it was usually because Melosa was in so much trouble not even Shiyonin could hide it without becoming a target himself.

"Good evening!" the mother greeted "shall we go meet the others in the dining hall?"

[Deleted]

Jumping up and down on the bed nonstop – because a look of the pearly landscape she had to cop. Outside of the window, snow fluttered down; enough to turn any grumpy goat’s grimace into that which was opposite a frown. “Oh… My… God,” the brown bunny bounced with joy! Each word exaggerated out of her mouth at the peak of her happy hop deploy! It was her first time ever seeing crystals fall from the sky, gleaming with a surreal sheen as white as her hair – even her hidden eye!

“Teeheehee,” giggled a teen, “Chica, what did you eat? With as much energy as you have, right now, I bet it was really sweet!” Jaw-length locks with a golden hue and an air as crisp as a mountain’s dew! Tobago was the name of the child’s servant, but if you asked Taylor, she was her older sister. With milk chocolate brown skin and sunny yellow eyes, the facts would surely throw anyone for a twister! She was just as excited as five year-old Bootz, but she had to keep her composure. The merry maiden had an important task to fulfill, and with TayTay, it was hard enough just to clothe her!

“Master Mottie wanted you to wear this dress!”

With a smile, the blonde held up a real netter. The brown-eyed girl stopped springing immediately and gave her sister a look that said, ‘I thought that you knew me better!’ The garment was a soft, cream color with a frill pattern leading down to a sparkling, fluffy skirt. Most little girls would have lost their mind for it, but Taylor much preferred wearing shorts and a shirt! “No, no, no,” the royal rebel fumed, leaping from the oversized bed and stamping her way over to Tobago. “Sheh know me nuh like wearin’ ‘dem kina’ (kinda) t’ing, Chula!” Chica shouted, her hands balled up on the side of her hips and her attitude spicy n’ fuego!

“Teeheehee!” Tobago laughed heartily, lowering the dress. “Chica, don’t be such a change-mooder! I only showed you this to get you off of the bed, and I’m surprised that it worked even sooner!” Lying a colorful outfit on the now unoccupied mattress, immoderately nice and neat, the thrilled teen bubbled with excitement as she thought to herself, Oooh~! Babygirl is in for such a treat~! The ‘outfit’ was more like a carnival costume for children, crafted with electrifying tones of red, green and pink. It came with a headdress of prominent feathers, ‘fit for any Queen’ your average Ciudadelan would think.

“I wanna wear all black!!” Tiny Tay defied. She knew that any dark color in the Queendom – especially black – was seen as everything but pleasing to the eye! The reason Chica wanted to do it, if the question donned upon you why, was simply to test her mama’s patience until they wore thin, high and dry! “Black?!” Her sister was appalled at the notion. Her skin was starting to become shinier than before; and believe me when I tell you that it was sweat causing this to happen – not lotion! Master Mottie would kill me, mused the meek mademoiselle, I have to be more cunning! It’s a good thing that the golden girl knew out of all of the blessings her younger sibling could have received that Christmas, TayTay only truly wanted one thing! Crouching down to look her miniature sweetie in the eye, softening her up with a tender hand on the cheek, the little one she began to bribe!

“Wear this for me, please? You’ll look real cute~!” She began to speak at a level only a notch above a mute, “If you do, then during dinner, I’ll give you something you won’t dispute!”

Trippy-tot pouted, blushing a bit as she averted her stare back to the window and the descending sleetschutes. “Fiiine…! But if me doen’ (don’t) like it, ‘den me givin’ all ‘dis girly stuff ‘da boot!”

[Blaka]

Despite the icy outside, the decorations inside the Castle of the lake gave everything a warm and fuzzy air. Red fabric was everywhere, layed out of the floor and hanging on the walls. Candles lit the tidy brick halls, bathing them in warm comfortable light. Fleecy as it was, the carpet made Melosa's tiny feet disappear as she waded through it behind the little tross following her mother. By now the girl was getting a bit hungry, more than she would have liked. Hopefully there would be cake later.

After what felt like an eternity of turning corners and trotting down mile-long hallways, they finally arrived at a giant double door.
"I expect everyone to be on your best behaviour." was all the lady stated before marching in.

The door lead to a giant bright room. Even more giant than the dining hall back home! Six humongous pillars had to hold the ceiling, four huge windows from floor to ceiling showed the snowy outside, a gigantic chimney fire crackled on the far end. Mel felt a strong urge to run over and stick her face to the glass again. Yet, Shiyonin's hand on her shoulder kept her in place - on top of the even stronger urge to gobble down a piece of that roasted pigling on the table. The longtable in the middle of the room had already been prepared for the two families dining here tonight. Bowls and bottles of food and drink as far as the eye could see occupied almost every inch of it. Whatever wasn't occupied was filled golden tableware of the finest quality. Despite Grasa's status as a noble, not a royal, her funds were still suspiciously large, so they allowed for this kind of thing. On this table, there were people already sat as well. The 'Queen L. family', was all Mel knew about them.

"Good evening, friends!" the corpulent new arrival greeted them. "My deepest apologies if we made you wait."

"Come on." Shiyonin whispered and used his strong grip to gently lead his mistress' kid to her chair before taking place next to her. Their seats were on the other end of the table, near the fire, with Kajuu and the lower servants in between them and Lady Grasa. In the Queen B.'s household, the employees were dining with the family, a rule still intact from the late man of the house, Lord Queen B. Enfermo.

Mel could barely see the person across from her, with the mountains of deliciousness in the way. Only everything above the eyes was visible. Or rather, above the eye. The whitehaired girl was covering one up with an eyepatch for some reason. Only one time had little Melosa seen something like that before. One of the star gladiators in the Queendom Colosseum was wearing one, because he liked to challenge himself, presumably. Just thinking of that the pink haired lass squinched one eye shut and challenged herself to grab knife and fork like this. Happy that succeeded, she eagerly waited for Shiyo to load roast and potato mash on her plate so she could practice some more.

When the fishman saw that, he threw the child an odd look. A mix between being appauled and amused at the same time. After all, he knew she wasn't doing it to make fun of anyone. She just saw something strange and had her own tiny trails of thought.
"Psst, we wanted to behave like a big girl, remember?"
Immediately, the youngster stopped the nonsense and threw the ray man a puppy look back.
"Sorry I wanted to practice!" she giggled back. By now her little mind had completely disconnected any relation between the Queen L. girl and the gladiator training.

"Don't you want to talk to your new friend?"
"N-new friend?"
Unsure of what to do, her green hues jumped back and forth between the food, Shiyo and the other kid. Grasa's little princess didn't have any friends in the same age group. Nor did she really know anyone her age at all. Her greenskinned caretaker had the strict order to keep the house's daughter safe and sheltered. Grasa had enemies, many of them in the Queendom itself. Well, when those people were in the room, she would refer to them as business partners, but who was she kidding? An iron grip on power did not prevent resentment or opportunistic rats. These were powerful people who could not be allowed to even catch a glimpse of her innocent little precious. Thus, said precious rarely left the Queen B.'s property. All she had was Shiyo.

"Eihaha!" Luckily, he would do the salutations for her. Speaking to the older girl, he bowed his head. "Apologies mylady, I don't believe we have been introduced. My name is Shiyonin, the family's house slave." On this last word, one might have suspected a twitch in his voice, or at least a bitter undertone. Yet, since it was really just a name for his gracious arrangement with his deceased friend, not the thing he would hate, Shiyonin had no issues calling himself by this term. "I take care of our big girl here, Melosa. She's already five years old! Just like your youngest, I hear. With whom do I have the pleasure of speaking to?"

Still unsure of how to handle herself, the oh so grown up five year old began stuffing her face with mash now that the plate had finally been put down in front of her. She didn't need any other friends, let alone someone she had never seen before. Unless the other one engaged her, Mel would simply eat and leave for some more music thank you very much!

[Deleted]

Sitting at the long table covered in all types of delicious food, little Taylor folded her arms, looking far from being in the Christmas mood! The large window in the dining hall showing off the shower of snow outside wasn’t even enough to draw her attention. Her mama had her dress up like the little girl that she was – and made such a decision without so much as asking for her permission! The Queen L. Family were lovers of the performance arts; their clothing preferences always simulating Caribbean carnival contortionists or the Arabian belly dancers. This was in stark contrast to the young white-haired blueblood, who preferred to sport a more rowdy and rough attire over that of the elegant, jovial prancers!

“Cheer up, Chica,” the golden-tressed servant said, gently rubbing her little master’s shoulders. Tobago certainly enjoyed her costume – the outfit being more reminiscent of a swimsuit since she was a lot older! Despite the frigid weather outside, the temperature indoors allowed for such dress. But, knowing Mottie, even if it were cold, she’d still have her and her troop hold their heads up high because she always had to impress! The head of the Queen Leti household stood up to greet her friend with a hug before she reached her seat at the table. “Hello~! It’s a pleasure to see you all! No need to worry about that, Grasa. We just got situated ourselves, and to wait for you, my family is more than willing and able!”

Young Taylor eyed the group that walked in, wondering if this Grasa woman was anything like her mother. To her surprise all of the Queen B’s slaves sat to eat after serving the family food; one less detail to bug her! The Queen L’s dependents left the room to dine elsewhere when they were done with their duties; all save for one. Tobago was a rare exception due to a tempestuous argument Mottie and her daughter had that was more frightening – to those that witnessed – than the clout of a gun! The scarlet-haired noblewoman was too hardened to be swayed all the way so easily by her daughter. Taylor’s father, Trinidad, was grateful it stopped at Tobago for the simple fact that he imagined that particular argument would be akin to a thousand-man slaughter!

Trippy’s eyebrows furrowed when her cocoa orb caught the girl that sat across from her staring at her before doing something she thought was mocking! The brown-skinned teen sitting next to TayTay saw this and smiled nervously, already knowing – without looking – that the arrow of her little sister’s anger was immediately nocking! Curiously looking around the large, cooked turkey chilling on the table in between them, she saw what Mel was doing and decided to show her a thing or two, then! Reaching for the fork that sat to the side of her plate, Tay turned it so that the teeth were facing her before slamming her fist onto the table, making it flip into the air and catching it in a spur! She bucked at Mel with a furious expression that said, ‘That’s how its done,’ prior to Mottie shouting, “Taylor, behave yourself! I’m only going to tell you once!”

“Hmph!” Tay huffed, digging into her food. Slavery was one thing she didn’t like, and she found disrespect to be just as crude! “Nice to meet you, Mr. Shiyonin,” Tobago greeted the fishman politely. Titles were something she etiquettely used with everyone save for Chica, who she knew more precisely. “My name is Tobago. I’m the Queen L Family’s sl–”

“She me sista!!” TayTay interrupted before the word she hated the most rolled off of the bubbly teen’s tongue. Like the fishman, Tobago held no shame in her position with the Queen Letis, but to Chica, every time she heard the word ‘slave,’ it made her wince as if she had gotten stung! “ ‘Sup wit’ ‘Pinkie Pie?!’ She t’ink (think) she too good tuh tahk tuh us?!” As loud as ever, Taylor was already triggered by what she thought was a sneak diss, so of course she was going to snap back in a fuss! At the other end of the table, Mottie’s patience was wearing thin with her daughter’s behavior, and Trinidad just prayed to the heavens that the heated emotions his two lionesses would decide to brush!