Niko

My room was cold when I woke up. I rolled over and shrieked at the sight of a figure on the floor.

The figure, barely discernible through the dimness, jolted upright. "What? What's going on?"

I finally recognized the person by their voice. "Lucia?" I burst into giggles, surprised and relieved. "What are you doing in my room?"

Lucia brushed hair from her face.

I could see she was smiling ruefully, my eyes finally adjusting to the lack of light.

"I, uh, I wanted to surprise you for Christmas." She said. "Surprise."

"Wow, so you're a copycat now?" I giggled, pushing the blanket off my legs and standing. Light poured in from the window as I opened it up. "Well, you certainly succeeded in surprising me."

Lucia stood as well. "Okay, shut up." She crossed her arms. "I was trying to do something nice for you."

"It was nice!" I laughed. "I just wasn't expecting it." I patted her arm. "Is your father expecting us for breakfast?"

She shrugged. "Probably. Butttt, we have some gifts to open first."

I gasped as she pointed to the small stack of wrapped presents in the corner. "You brought them to my room? Won't your dad be mad? Won't he notice they're not under the tree?"

"Relax," she laughed. "They weren't under the tree to begin with. Besides, these are gifts from the team. It... wouldn't feel right to open them with him. Y'know?"

I really didn't, but I nodded and agreed nonetheless. "Okay, so whose are we gonna open first?"

Lucia chuckled at my childish giddiness. "I dunno. You choose."

"Okay!" I dug carefully through the pile and pulled out two gifts. One for Lucia from Navia and Sabien, and one for me from Sasha and Zay. We sat down on the floor and unwrapped them.

Mine was a small stone, carved in the shape of an elephant. The note with it read for the loyal and strong. I showed Lucia.

She raised her brows. "Cute. This is what I got." She showed me a brass compass with intricate designs on the polished bronze shell.

"Whoa, cool. You know how to use that?"

"Yeah, obviously." She rolled her eyes.

We continued opening gifts. From Zay and Sasha Lucia got an expensive-looking leather sheath for her longsword. It was custom made, with a rearing horse carved into it.

From Navia and Sabien I got a hand-whittled obsidian dagger. The serrated blade was beautiful, but it would hurt like crazy if I actually used it, so I made a mental note not to unless totally necessary.

Finally, we opened each other's gifts. I'd given Lucia a necklace with seven pendants, one for each of the team members. She put it on immediately.

She'd given me a hand-drawn map of Erdas, marked with places we'd been and what we'd done there. "Whoa." I rolled it up almost reverently. "You made this?"

"Yep. My father and the maps in the library helped, but yeah." She smiled. "You like it?"

"I sure do." I placed it on my bed and wrapped her up into a hug. "Thank you."

Lucia ruffled my hair good-naturedly, but I could tell she was blushing. "I'm glad you're here."

I laughed. "Couldn't let you be alone on Christmas, could I?" Though I couldn't see her face, I knew she was rolling her eyes, so I sobered up a bit. "I'm glad to be here too."

Sasha

Zay had one of my blankets wrapped around her when she finally padded into the kitchen from her bedroom.

Delar lifted his head from my lap. We were sitting on the couch together as Father made breakfast.

"Morning." Zay murmured.

"Hey." I scooted over and let her squeeze in beside me. Delar let out an appreciative purr as she rubbed between his ears, resettling himself in my lap. I wrapped on arm around Zay and kissed the top of her head.

She hummed. "So, what's the plan for presents?"

I laughed. "One track mind, huh?"

She elbowed me lightly. "I'm just excited to see what you got me."

"Okay, okay." I smiled. "I didn't have a plan. We can do them now, if you want."

"Mm, why don't we wait until after breakfast? Then Flynn can join us too." Zay suggested.

I nodded.

We ate breakfast a few moments later, which was omelettes and sweet rice. I thoroughly enjoyed the food, but I couldn't deny the excitement of the gifts.

Finally, we got to presents. It was fun, mostly because Delar chased balls of wrapping paper around the room and almost crashed into Father a bunch of times.

Navia and Sabien sent me a carved brush for Delar, and Zay received a new pair of sandals.

From Lucia we got one present for the both of us. It was a matching set of knives, one carved with my name and the other with Zay's.

From Niko I got a new bunch of hair ties and a mouse-shaped toy that must've been stuffed full with catnip— an herb native to the land around his village— because Delar went wild as soon as I gave it to him. Niko gave Zay a fancy bracelet with a snake charm.

For Zay I had wrapped up a blanket, one of the ones I didn't use anymore. She was always taking mine, so I gave her one of her own. She immediately wrapped herself in it, ditching the stolen one.

From Zay I received a beautiful new whetstone to sharpen my sword. It had been getting dull lately.

Finally, after a few hours, we returned to the couch. Delar was still rolling around in his catnip-induced high, but Zay had since summoned Olraz from passive. The snake curled around her arm and flicked his tongue at me. I smiled and tangled our fingers together. "Not a bad Christmas, huh?"

Zay turned and kissed me gently. "Not at all." She agreed with a gleeful smirk. "Not at all."

Sabien

We'd done presents early in the morning, before heading out to spend the day out with the community in the neighbourhood.

It was late now, sunset bathing the sky and land in golden red, as we returned home.

I shifted our gifts off the bed and sat down with a sigh.

Navia chuckled and flopped down beside me. "Long day, huh?"

"Yeah, wow. Fun, though."

She leaned over and kissed me gently. "Reminds you of the team, huh?"

I closed my eyes for a moment and nodded. "Yeah. It does."

"The gifts were nice," Navia gestured to the small stack, "but it sure doesn't substitute for the real thing."

I looked toward the pile as well, briefly distracted. Niko had sent Navia a chew toy for Cerco, and me a quiver of handmade bolts for my crossbow. Zay and Sasha got me a brand new whittling knife, and Navia a wooden plate carved with a pawprint. Lucia sent me a new leather-bound notebook and Navia a silver plated spyglass.

"Sabien?"

I turned. "Sorry. What were you saying?"

"I was saying that maybe we should go to bed." She chuckled lightly. "And I'm thinking I might be right."

I smiled, suddenly realizing how tired I was. "I think you're right too."

Navia kissed my cheek. "Well then, let's go to bed."

We both changed and got into the bed. I wrapped my arms around Navia. Her eyes were already closed, but I could tell she wasn't asleep yet.

"Merry Christmas," I whispered.

She murmured something in response. I closed my eyes, happiness following me into sleep.

it's long and late and i'm sorry it's not my best work
but merry christmas to those who celebrate it!
stay safe my lovelies
and i'll see y'all next year!! ;)

edit: 25/12/22
merry christmas :)
I'll see y'all next year hehe