Some Fluffy Among Us Logic One-shots

Before the Christmas Party-Part 3: Captain

[Synopsis: Finding the perfect gift can be hard...to the point at which one realizes that they can't rely on just finding it. So then what does one do?]

[Location: The local Walmart]

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"Let's see...Player, Player, what would he like...?"

Captain browsed the video game aisle looking for anything that might interest his best friend. Nothing stood out to him, though; whatever he didn't already own didn't look like it would interest him, considering his taste...He was pretty sure Player wasn't big on CoD; he'd talked about what kinds of video games he liked before, and he mentioned that he wasn't a fan of realistic-looking shooter games. He preferred something with a toony, fantasy element.

And he wasn't really sure what kinds of movies he would like...or already owned, come to think of it. He was a bit tempted to call Player and ask him, but he knew that would give away what he was getting him.

"And I'm not getting into another financial bind with a brand new console like I did last year," he told himself. "...As much as I'd like to get him something like that. But I've got a budget this time..."

Said budget was a decent chunk of $80 that he'd accumulated over the past several months, and he knew that he could buy something at LEAST halfway decent with money like that. He'd already gotten a few smaller things for the other crewmates, but Player deserved something of better quality in his eyes.

He kept browsing the store for things that might do, deciding that a movie would be too cheap anyway...He found himself going all over the store looking for anything that would make a potentially good gift.

A drawing tablet? But Player wasn't exactly the artistic type...One of those giant stuffed animals? No, Player wouldn't like that; besides, that's probably just my OWN love for stuffed animals talking...A book? No, lame...Even one about video games, like a guide book or a Minecraft building manual? I dunno; he seems to be able to build some pretty impressive things without needing a book.

He also considered things like figurines, clothes and even small kitchen appliances, but ultimately decided against those things as well; whatever didn't fit in his budget just didn't seem good enough.

It's no use. I'm at a dead end, Captain said to himself, smile fading. ...What am I gonna buy him?

He thought about it long and hard, wondering if any of his memories involving gift giving would give him any more ideas...And that was when a fuzzy memory from his childhood came back to him.

Fourteen years ago, he'd made his mother a picture frame for Christmas out of every piece of tinsel, glitter and colorful broken plastic he could find, and that same frame was STILL being used to this day, hung up on her living room wall encasing a photo of the two of them when he was that very age...She told him that it was irreplaceable.

She loved it, he said to himself...And that was when the realization dawned on him.

That's it! I don't need to BUY something, I need to MAKE it with my own two hands! And I don't need to throw a huge amount of money down the drain either! All I need is a bit of dexterity and a lot of heart to put into it! And if there are two things I know I have, it's heart and dexterity!

He looked around the shelves around him for things to use, and his eyes fell upon a spherical glass container with a screw-on lid.

"...And I know exactly what to make," he smirked.

As he grabbed the glass container and put it in his basket, he eyed the present he'd picked out for Dum; a pair of fuzzy pink gloves with intricate floral patterning...He didn't want to make his girlfriend feel like less thought had gone into her gift, so he was beginning to consider putting a second glass container in the basket as well...Then again, he WAS fairly certain she would like them. But if he got her both, then PLAYER might be jealous, because it would look like more thought went into HER since he got her TWO things instead of one.

"Eh. I'll just get them each both," he shrugged, reminding himself to pick up a pair of red zigzag patterned gloves before leaving as he put the second glass sphere in the basket. He figured that Player would appreciate a new pair of gloves anyway, since he knew that gloves always seemed to go missing when one needed them most.

Along with the two glass containers, Captain also picked up a few things from the craft aisle; some strong glue sticks for his glue gun, some white glitter and a big package of assorted Sculpey clay, sporting every color he needed and then some. And combined, it didn't even cost HALF of his leftover budget.

"Alrighty. That's all I need," he decided. "Time to head to the checkout so I have the time to put these things together before the party."

He jogged back to the front of the store and towards the self checkout...And as he approached it, he eyed something else.

There in the candy display was the biggest package of Reece's peanut butter cups he'd ever seen, each of the two cups wider than a tea saucer.

"...Y'know, Veteran might like that," he said to himself, grabbing it off the shelf and pairing it with the Steam gift card he got him beforehand. "Alrighty. NOW I have everything I need. Time to get down to business..."