Tazi

"C'mon, Tyler!" Niko pleaded. "We'll behave!"

"Ugh..." Tyler groaned and crossed his legs. "And where, exactly, are you planning this?"

"Easy, we'll be the common room at the end of our hall. Pretty please?" Sabien begged.

Tyler ran a hand through his shaggy mane of black hair. "...fine." He acquiesced reluctantly.

"Yes!" All four of us cheered. I high-fived Sabien while Niko and Sasha bumped chests.

"Are the girls in on this, too?" Tyler seemed to be regretting his decision as he rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"Yeah, it'll be the eight of us. We won't make a lot of noise or anything, we swear." Sasha promised.

"Okay, okay, good." Tyler turned his back to us, muttering under his breath as he resumed his dinner. "Now get outta my sight."

We pranced away, giggling triumphantly. The girls were waiting in the common room for us. They stopped chatting as soon as we walked in. "So he said yes?" Lizzie guessed, probably judging by the excited looks on our faces.

"Yep!" I grinned at her. "We're gonna have a blasssssst!"

"But quietly." Sabien amended, "'cause that's what we had to promise to Tyler."

"Yeah, whatever." Sasha rolled his eyes. "C'mon y'all, let's get our beds set up!"

We all split up and headed for our rooms to gather bedding and other necessities. We reconvened in the common room about ten minutes later. Sasha and Zay claimed the largest couch together, tossing their stuff on it and calling dibs. Sabien and Navia arranged their bedding nearest to the fireplace, while Lucia took the shorter couch and Niko choose the spot on the floor beside it. That left me and Lizzie with the space on the rug. I hummed as I laid out my bedding, fluffing my pillow and folding my blanket neatly.

"This reminds me of..." Lizzie paused thoughtfully as she sat cross legged on her bedroll, "literally every single one of the missions we've been on."

"Yeah, same." I chuckled as she released Widow from passive. Other flashes around the room showed that others let their animals out, too. I felt a slight stab of jealousy, my own tattoo itching, but I rubbed it away with a soft sigh.

We continued to talk for a while before Tyler came in and announced that he was going to bed. "You guys should get ready soon too. See you in the morning." Our guardian exited with a wave.

Soon after, we all got ready and climbed into our beds. The lights went out, leaving only the soft light from the dying embers of the fire.

It was quiet. I listened as whispers slowly faded and breathing deepened, not feeling very tired.

"Hey, Taz?" Lizzie's breath in my ear made me jump. "You still awake?"

"Yeah?" I asked softly. "Is everyone else asleep?"

"I think so." She responded. She scooted closer, until I could just make out the light glinting off her eyes. "I'm not tired. Are you?"

"Not particularly." I answered quietly. "So..."

We stayed in a comfortable silence for a few moments, surrounded by our sleeping friends.

"Y'know, I used to go carolling, back when." Lizzie mused. "I'd clean up a bit and go around to houses with a can, then I'd sing Christmas songs to collect a bit of change." She paused nostalgically. "Many people gave me money because they liked my voice."

"I've never been carolling." I admitted. "And I'm pretty sure I can't sing to save my life."

This caused her to laugh softly. "I can imagine. So what kind of traditions did you have?"

"Well..." I thought for a moment. "My mother and I would always bake cookies for all the other cooks and cleaning staff– she has a specific Christmas recipe. It's super good, and a family secret."

"That sounds like fun." Lizzie smiled. "Though, as I'm sure you remember, I am useless in the kitchen."

I grinned, forgetting she couldn't see me in the dark. "Oh, yes, how could I forget?" Flashbacks to last Christmas drifted across my mind, but I ignored them. "We also always made a special breakfast for everyone. Then for dinner, we ate with all the Greencloaks. It was wonderful."

"Sounds amazing." Lizzie agreed. "Me and my friend would always look our collected money together and buy one filling meal to eat together. The best one of the year."

Sympathy tugged at my heart. "Yeah, Colin and I always had a blast."

"Colin?"

"My friend." I smiled, remembering. "I've known him since we were both little troublemakers. His father's a stablehand here."

"Oh, cool." She hummed.

"What about your friend?" I asked curiously. "How did you two meet?"

"Her name was Kyrina, but we all called her Ky." Lizzie started, "we met on the street, where both of us had grown up. It was an instant click, it was like we'd known each other forever..." she trailed off.

I noted the past-tense. "What happened to her?"

"She died." Lizzie's tone turned bitter. "Ky was killed when she tried to get into a Nectar Ceremony. It was three years ago, the day before my tenth birthday."

"I'm sorry." I stuttered, startled.

Lizzie sighed. "No, my bad. I just..."

I frowned and leaned over, wrapping my arms around the blonde. She nestled into my chest. I kissed the top of her head. "It'll be okay. We'll fix this."

"Hmm." Lizzie responded. I glanced down and noticed that her eyelids were falling shut. I smiled softly and gently adjusted the blanket across her as I lay back with her in my arms. "Mrrr... thanks, Taz." She mumbled.

"Anytime, Liz." I pressed another kiss to her forehead. No response. I glanced at her face again and saw that it'd relaxed. She'd fallen asleep. I, too, closed my eyes and let the tension drain from my muscles. I briefly pushed what Lizzie had told me about her friend from my mind, focussing instead on the fact that Christmas was tomorrow. And so I fell asleep with a smile on my face.

IM SORRY ITS SO LATE AH
(Technically it's 11:45 here so it's still the 24th-)
Anyway, I was reallllly and I'm sorry again-
I'll try to do better tomorrow!
Merry Christmas Eve y'all I'll see you tomorrow!

edit: 24/12/22
Lizzie being a pick me w her depressing backstory >:( /j
anyway hope y'all enjoyed