Twelve Days of a Nevermoorian Christmas

𝒪𝓃 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝐹𝒾𝓇𝓈𝓉 𝒟𝒶𝓎 𝑜𝒻 𝒞𝒽𝓇𝒾𝓈𝓉𝓂𝒶𝓈...

...the Deucalion gave to me, a very large Christmas tree.

Christmas was on its way.

Over the past week or so, Morrigan noticed the Deucalion slowly and subtly shifting. The candles in the sconces began to glow brighter, and the Smoking Parlour began slowly reintroducing its signature holiday scents. A crisp, pine tree-scented air freshener had even appeared in Morrigan's bathroom.

As she slept, dreaming of many Wundrous and Holiday-themed things, something cracked in the lobby. Something creaked open her door and rustled, stirring her from her slumber. Morrigan sat up, and peered over the end of her bed, the floor dimly lit by her now dwindling fire.

She rubbed her eyes, something glittering on the wooden floor. She slipped her feet out, the cool planks creaking beneath her as she shuffled towards the glittering ribbon. No, not a glittering ribbon.

Tinsel.

She rubbed her eyes again, to make sure the light from the fire wasn't reflecting off of some gunk in her eyes. Nope, it was definitely tinsel.

Who would have done this? Jupiter was a possibility, but he had been called out the previous afternoon for Guild Business. Jack's room was only just down the hall from hers, but this was John Arjuna Korrapati she was talking about. Hawthorne was away in the Highlands, and the only other person who might be up at this time was Kedgeree, which was extremely unlikely.

She slipped on a coat and a pair of slippers and, wincing as the door groaned, peeked out into the hallway. The tinsel snaked its way down the hall, disappearing around a corner that led to the lobby. Morrigan dragged the end of the tinsel out of her room, shutting the door behind her as she began following the long serpentine ribbon.

She paused as she passed Jack's room, knocking on his door. No response came, so she knocked harder. A grunt greeted her this time, so she pushed the door open, limply holding the end of the tinsel in her hand. Jack sat up in his bed, running a hand through his hair. "Morrigan, what time is it? What do you want..." He trailed off, his question interrupted by a yawn.

"There was tinsel in my room," She told him quietly, weakly lifting up her hand to show him.

"Big deal, it's almost Christmas. Go away, I'm trying to sleep," He told her, lying back down and turning away from her.

"Okay, I guess I have to put all of it in your room." Morrigan said, beginning to drag more of the tinsel in.

"What do you mean put all of it in my room? How much is there?" Jack asked, sitting back up and looking at the floor near his door, where tinsel had begun to pile up near Morrigan's feet. She smiled innocently and shrugged, still pulling.

"Okay stop." He told her, now getting out of his bed.

"Only if you come with me,"

"Urgh, fine" He begrudgingly agreed, shutting the door behind him and following Morrigan and her tail of tinsel down the hallway.

As she rounded the corner, Morrigan gasped. Jack jogged to catch up, and gasped too.

Standing in front of them was a very large and very live Christmas tree, reaching the ceiling, brushing aside some of the dangling crystals on the chandelier. Surrounding the roots, from what Morrigan and Jack could tell, were various giant ornaments and ribbons of tinsel.

Morrigan turned to Jack. "Are we supposed to ...decorate it?" She asked, holding up the end of the tinsel again.

"I don't see why not," he responded, racing down the spiral stairs and almost tripping on a large bright green bauble.

A light snow began to fall from the ceiling, as Jack shivered but began climbing the tree anyway. They climbed and hung the shimmering decorations until the sun came up, the floor of the lobby now covered in a blanket of powder, gently reflecting the Wunder that Morrigan had summoned to act as lights.

Christmas at the Deucalion was finally back.

~ By totally_not_amelie