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                             (Tales of Ashandria)
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It was only a few days before Christmas when Alec Williams experienced the
weirdest day on Earth he had had in a while.
Now, that didn't mean that his days were boring, but normally all of the
exciting stuff happened far away from here, in a world he had discovered only
recently: Ashandria. It was a little like your typical fantasy world, with
monsters and everything, but it had grown on him during his travels...
Anyway, at first it had seemed to be a totally normal day, with him being a
little annoyed at having to stay home at all, but he and the others were
currently the most wanted people in Ashandria after a little... accident. Again.
Looking out of his window he sighed as he thought of 'the others'. Libra,
Aurelia and Sahar - who all originally came from the other world - were his
three... well, lovers. For other people it might have sounded weird, but they
were a surprisingly happy quartet and did want to stay that. But as his parents
still didn't know about this little detail regarding his love live his
companions all lived with Libra, who had a small flat in the outskirts of the
city, while he had to stay here, which was pretty annoying to be honest.
 
He was ripped out of his thoughts when he heard a knocking sound. Whirling
around, he needed a moment to realise that it was just his door.
"Enter," he said, calming his racing heart. Having quick reflexes was all well
and good, but sometimes they could be really annoying, bordering on paranoia -
although they had already saved his life multiple times so he probably shouldn't
complain. He was just glad that he didn't carry a weapon at the moment...
Just then his mother stepped into his room, looking a little troubled. Of
course, these days she almost always looked troubled when looking at him, for he
knew he had changed a lot since his first visit to Ashandria, but he couldn't
help it and she had to accept that, even if it would need a while.
"Dear, can I ask you something?" she said, almost hesitantly, making him
suppress a wince. There really had been a lot going on but hearing his own
mother talk to him as if she was afraid he would explode any second - something
that had already happened before mus to his embarrassment - wasn't very
comforting. Especially not since Christmas was getting closer. And while he felt
like he hadn't celebrated Christmas in ages - courtesy of the fact that time in
Ashandria seemed to run differently from here, making time spent there seem much
less when returning here - he still remembered how he had loved the holiday
originally for it was one of those rare times where both of his parents took
their time at home...
"Sure, what's wrong?" he said as such, trying to sound cheerful.
His mother looked nervous, as if she didn't know how to say it.
"I know it's pretty close, but... Your father managed to get sick yesterday and
he had promised me to help with an advertising campaign of my store, which... is
tomorrow. Do you think you could maybe jump in...?"
Alec blinked in surprise. He hadn't expected that. But at the same time it
somehow fit, his father managed to get sick when it counted often enough...
Still, he wondered what it was about this time. His mother owned a small
clothing store in one of the nearby shopping centre but she had never been one
for big marketing.
"What did he say he would do?" he asked as such, frowning a bit.
"Uh... It's just a small marketing campaign... You know, dressing up as Father
Christmas to promote the shop? The whole mall is doing stuff like that and it
might actually be fun... I just need to be inside of the store so I can't
advertise myself."
Alec thought about it for a moment. He wasn't totally sure if it sounded like
fun, but at the same time... It would be mean to decline just because he thought
it wouldn't be fun. His mother had raised him after all, he could show some
thankfulness for that.
Damn, he began to sound like Sahar with his endless reverence of women...
Still, he knew he couldn't really say no, so instead he just asked: "How long?"
"I don't know, a few hours probably, the event would start in the early
afternoon and go until the evening."
He sighed.
"Alright. But may I take a few friends with me?"
The last part was asked almost like an afterthought, but honestly... If he had
to endure a few hours of advertising, why not make it a bit more fun?
His mother looked surprised, but also relieved.
"How many friends are we talking about?"
"Three."
"Well... Alright. But please make them wear something fitting and behave as long
as they are nearby the store."
"Of course."
He didn't know about that behaving thing, but he would see what he could do.
 
It turned out, the first thing he had to do was a little bit of convincing.
"You agreed to do what?" Libra asked as he told the others about it in the
evening, staring at him disbelievingly.
He rolled his eyes.
"Oh come on, it's just half a day. It might even be fun!"
She sighed.
"As if I hadn't better stuff to do in my spare time... Honestly, you and your
helping complex. Why didn't we drill that out of you yet?"
"It's my mother!" He had already learned that helping everyone normally turned
out to be a stupid idea after all...
"Same difference."
"Hey!"
"Oh come on..." Aurelia finally spoke up, making both Alec and Libra look over
to her. "Continue your fight in the bedroom if you want, but this argument is
useless."
Alec stared at her, more surprised at her direct approach than at her suggestion
- she had always been very... sexual - before shrugging. He didn't have a
problem with 'solving' their argument that way. Although it was kind of weird,
as only a few months ago he would have blushed so horribly at that thought...
Before Libra could actually say something - be it to stop the argument or to add
something - Sahar actually saved them from it with a simple question.
"Who is this 'Father Christmas' anyway...?"
Silence reigned in which Alec automatically looked over to Aurelia. Normally she
was always able to explain whatever Sahar didn't know at the moment - for she
read a lot and he wasn't even human but from a race with a completely different
culture and language, so it was no surprise that he didn't know a lot of words.
But Aurelia just shrugged helplessly, reminding Alec that both of them had been
raised in another world. One that didn't even have winter.
He looked at Libra.
"Hey, I know about him. I've lived two years here before, did you forget?" she
said, raiding an eyebrow at him.
"Right, sorry," he muttered, frowning a little. Why was she in such a bad mood
right now? Sure, she always was rather direct, but that was different in a
way... Right now she was downright vicious, even if she sounded perfectly calm
during it. He'd have to ask her about it later, but right now he was looking
into two confused faces and had to concentrate on them. "Basically, Father
Christmas is a creation by humans in this world. He's normally depicted as an
old, bearded man with red and white clothes that comes once a year and brings
presents to children that behaved well over the year. And this day is coming up
in twenty-one days now. World-wide holiday, you know?"
Sahar nodded slowly, though still seeming insecure.
"I think I understand. And people dress up like him to honour the day?"
Trust Sahar to connect it to his much-loved honour somehow...
"Yes, basically. I know it seems like it's still far away, but... Well, we're
strange like that, already celebrating the days before."
 
This led to a rather thorough question round from Aurelia, with Alec struggling
to explain the concept of Christmas to her and everything that was connected to
that, but finally she was satisfied and they could go and buy some clothes.
Which was the perfect opportunity to catch Libra alone, so as Aurelia was hidden
in a fitting room and Sahar was looking through different costumes with a
mixture of fascination and confusion Alec quickly walked over to Libra.
But before he could say something she held up her hand.
"Before you say anything... I know I was a bit rough before, sorry about that.
It's just..." She seemed to hesitate, making Alec wonder what was going on that
made her act so... well, human. She could be so stoic at times... "Well, I
bought concert tickets for tomorrow."
Alec's eyes widened.
"Why didn't you say so before?"
Libra frowned, shrugging a little..
"It was supposed to be a surprise I guess. Maybe you wouldn't even have wanted
to come at all, but... it's a violinist I like."
It needed a moment before Alec understood how she was actually feeling insecure.
Something he hadn't experienced very often. But he didn't focus a lot on that,
for he was actually beginning to feel rather guilty. Libra was a brilliant
violinist herself and as such she had high standards, so if it was someone she
liked they must be good... Concert tickets like that couldn't have been cheap,
especially regarding the fact that they had been here for a maximum of a week.
That was too short for still buying them directly from the concert hall...
"Well... when is that concert? Maybe we can still go? I can also just do this
Christmas stuff alone if you want..." he offered, but she shook her head,
smiling a little.
"No way, you'd be lost without me. Sorry to say, but marketing is not exactly
one of your strong suits."
He winced a little but knew she was right. He could stand around smiling, but he
wasn't the type of person to actively try to convince people of anything.
"True enough... Still, when is the concert?"
"Starting at six, so we'd have to be there at least at five."
He hummed thoughtfully, letting his eyes wander through the store as he thought.
If this shopping hall advertisement would go from twelve to four or something
alike... Or maybe his mother wouldn't need them the whole day... He looked back
to Libra.
"Look, I'll talk to my mother again, we'll work something out, alright? I'll
make sure that at least you will be able to go to that concert. Don't worry."
She smirked a little, poking his forehead in a playful way.
"Now, who's worried? I'll be fine no matter if I can see the concert or not. I
just thought it would be nice to do, but don't fret over it. I just wanted to
apologise for my earlier behaviour, really, I was just... frustrated." She
chuckled dryly. "And that even though I'm always telling you to stay
spontaneous."
Alec smiled. She really was cute trying to stay strong - but he knew her by now,
no matter how much she insisted it wasn't true, she really wanted to go to that
concert.
"I'll find a way."
She just rolled her eyes, knowing that he knew what she was thinking.
"Thanks," she muttered, causing him to chuckle.
"You're welcome. Now, let's see about a costume for us too, right? We'll rock
this shopping centre and afterwards the concert too."
Libra laughed quietly.
"Yeeah... sure. Let's go."
 
The next day Alec's mother drove him to the shopping centre where her store was
located. As she needed to prepare some things in order to be ready they had
arrived rather early but it gave Alec time to already change into his costume.
It had ended up being a typical Father Christmas costume even though Libra had
tried to get him into a reindeer one multiple times, insisting that Sahar would
be able to manage as Father Christmas too.
Because with his dark skin and a size of over six feet he was totally what
people thought of when they heard 'Father Christmas'... Not. Still, with both of
them wearing that costume it would probably work out.
The girls had been a little more difficult, none of them had wanted to wear
female versions of the Father Christmas outfit and as such they had looked
around for a while until deciding that they might as well dress up as angels -
at least once Alec had explained the concept of angels to Sahar and Aurelia.
"Alec, are those your friends?" his mother suddenly asked, staring out of her
store. Following her gaze Alec could see the other three walking over to them,
already in their costumes. And damn they were looking good.
"Yep," he said, grinning a little as he stepped out of the store, walking
towards them.
Once Aurelia saw him she quickened her pace before hugging him tightly.
"Hey there!" she greeted him happily before giving him a kiss on each cheek,
making him rather glad that they had already established that she would not get
overly affectionate in public. At least not around here.
It didn't stop him from grinning even wider though as he looked at her costume.
"Hi. You look... breathtaking," he finally said, meaning it just like that.
She wore a white dress that was decorated with hundreds of sequins, especially
at the bottom, and her blonde, long hair was for once decorated with light curls
instead of falling smoothly down her back. But the real eye catcher were the
wings. Of course, Alec knew Aurelia had wings, for she also wasn't exactly
human, coming from a race living above the clouds. Actually a little bit like
angels. But normally she made them disappear when walking on earth so nobody
would be disturbed by them. Not today though. Instead she had somehow managed to
dye the grey feathers in a golden colour and they were reflecting the light in a
beautiful way.
If one combined that with the fact that Aurelia herself looked like some sort of
supermodel it was almost difficult to look away - thankfully Alec had some
practice with that by now.
"Thanks!" she was just answering with a radiant smile. "It's such a nice costume
I have to say! Only the bag is a bit annoying but if it's necessary to make
people believe my wings are fake I'm alright with it!"
Her wings even flickered a little while she talked, but it was still true. She
wore a big bagback that could easily house the technology necessary to actually
make the wings move a little, so as long as she didn't fly nobody would
notice... Or just think it was imagination.
Next in row was Sahar and they both just smiled at each other, glad to see each
other again but not exactly in need of as much drama as Aurelia. Alec only had
to curb his usual small burst of envy, for despite Sahar not being the ideal
Father Christmas he was still more than handsome with his dark brown hair that
fell to his shoulders, loosely tied together to not be in the way. Honestly, at
times Alec felt that both Sahar and Aurelia in truth fell out of some fantasy
model magazine and decided to stay...
Libra came last and with a similar dress to Aurelia's, even though hers at least
covered her knees, barely. Also, as she actually was a human, she didn't spot as
astonishing wings as the other girl, opting to instead use small, fake ones that
glittered in gold at her back. He red hair went smoothly to her shoulders and
even if she might have paled in comparison to the two others in the eyes of most
Alec still thought she was stunningly beautiful on her own.
Although he just got an eye-roll as her told her so - but Libra still smiled, so
he counted it as a success in his books.
"Let's go to the store and greet your mother, I'd like to look around the centre
to check the surrounding before we'll be trapped at the stand," she was just
saying. Probably she already made plans on how to fight or whatever, Libra
really liked to be prepared. Alec wouldn't even be surprised if she had a dagger
or two hidden somewhere under her dress. That was part of what he loved in her.
 
Soon the shopping centre officially opened and the first customers began to
trickle in. Although the beginning was a little chaotic it turned out that
Alec's mother had prepared cookies and small voucher cards to give out to
attract customers. And Libra also had come prepared.
At first it was barely noticeable, but soon she began 'suggesting' a few things
and as such Aurelia was soon walking around with a bag of cookies and a pack of
voucher cards, giving the cookies to the children and the cards to their parents
and other adults. And, unsurprisingly, this was quite effective with many male
customers.
Sahar meanwhile was staying at the stand they had built in front of the store,
mostly surrounded by girls. He was giving away gift cards himself and inviting
them in, but he didn't seem quite as happy about his situation as Aurelia, which
was why Alec soon helped him, making the big guy relax. For despite all of his
looking like a strong warrior - well, being a strong warrior to be honest - he
was rather shy when it concerned big groups of people. And while Alec wasn't
exactly the most outgoing person either he at least knew the world and the
people better than the other.
Libra then alternated between helping them at the stand, giving out more cookies
and cards for Aurelia, and helping Alec's mother and the other employee in the
store.
One could say that the business was running more than smoothly, but of course,
there had to be something strange happening to top it off.
Maybe an hour before they would be allowed to go - negotiated by Alec who had
kept true to his words and managed to get them away in time for hat concert -
Libra came up to the him, her gaze fixed upwards.
"Alec... How about giving the people a little show, hm?" she asked without
looking at him. Confused he tried to follow her gaze but while he could easily
see the second floor and people standing and walking around there, for they were
standing just next to the hole in the ground of the first floor making people
able to watch what was going on in the ground floor.
"What do you have in mind?" he asked warily, knowing that Libra's ideas weren't
always... safe.
She snorted.
"Oh don't worry, nothing bad. But there is this guy up there who will soon steal
something," she continued, making him raise an eyebrow.
"How do you want to know that?"
"Oh come on, remember that one time in Aquileia? I can smell that a mile off."
Right... this guy who had tried to steal her purse only to end up with a bag of
pebbles while she had in turn stolen his money... How could he forget that?
So... she was probably right.
"And what can we do there?"
At that she smirked.
"Think about the mountain near Phynaris..."
His eyes widened as he realised what she was trying to say. He looked up himself
now, judging the distance between the two floors.
"You think it will work out?"
"Perfect height, trust me."
Well, there wasn't much else he could do there, really... At least it would
certainly attract some more customers. And maybe even catch a thief if it would
work out.
Quickly the two of them informed Sahar who excused himself from his most recent
group of fangirls to walk a few feet, stopping at a seemingly random place.
Libra did something similar, while Alec just walked around the stand. It was
perfect now.
Just a moment later a small shout could be heard from a store above. Damn it,
Libra had been right once again...
So Alec began to run, as fast as he could starting from nothing and navigating
through people who jumped away in shock and surprise, directly towards Sahar,
who had begun to crouch down a little, forming some kind of leg-up with his
crossed hands.
The second Alec stepped on it he pulled them up with a jerk, making it obvious
that his muscles weren't just appearance as he hauled Alec into the air with it.
It wasn't actually high enough to get over the railing of the first floor of
course, but enough for him to catch his hand in the space between the floor and
the bottom of said railing, making a few people gasp and step away in shock. It
wasn't exactly comfortable hanging there, but he didn't have to do it very long,
for as he was still flying Sahar turned around a little, now facing Libra, who
repeated his move. But when she went flying she instead reached out for Alec,
who was just waiting for that.
As Sahar had basically hauled him towards the railing and was hauling Libra now
parallel to it she came flying from behind him so to speak, so he could grab her
arm and use all of his own strength and her remaining momentum to change her
direction of flight, hauling her upwards as strong as he could. And this was
making her fly high enough to get over the railing in a flash, jumping at the
thief who hadn't managed to get far enough away to escape her.
Alec grinned as he could hear the man's cry of protest as Libra had surely
managed to overthrow him.
"I think Father Christmas has to presents for you this year," she said cockily,
making him chuckle quietly.
Sadly though all he could see from his point of view were lots and lots of
shoes, and his fingers began to hurt, so he finally let go, concentrating on the
fall so that in the end he landed on his feet, wincing a little at the feeling
but after a second of checking himself if he was okay he decided that yes,
nothing was broken or anything, so he stood up again, grinning at Sahar who had
come over by now, frowning a little.
"Next time roll," he advised, making Alec shrug.
"But it wouldn't have looked as impressive then..."
"I think people are impressed enough."
And true enough when looking around Alec suddenly realised how almost everyone
who had seen their little stunt was staring at them.
"H-How did you do that?!" a young woman asked, looking flabbergasted.
Alec just smiled at her.
"We're parkour runners," he said, lying through his teeth. "Sponsored by
Williams' Attire, which is were you can find us if you have any questions."
They would have to lie a bit more then, but it should make some good
advertisement for the store. Also, hey, they had just caught a thief, surely
that counted for something.
 
That last hour was spent with answering endless questions about how they had
done that and where they had learned to move like that. When Libra came back she
had even more people in tow and as such they were more than busy for that time -
but as a lot of people who got their questions answered or had to wait before
they could ask away spent some time in the store Alec's mother at least didn't
seem to have a problem with it for the time being. Only Aurelia was a bit miffed
that she had missed all of the action, having been in another part of the
shopping centre to advertise.
When it was time to leave Alec's mother looked stressed but happy, although her
gaze told Alec that his little action wasn't over yet... But for the time being
they were happy enough with actually going to the concert Libra had been talking
about, without any care in the word except for beautiful violin music...
 
It was when Alec came home the next morning that his mother finally managed to
catch him alone, making him suppress a curse.
"What was that stunt yesterday?" she asked with a neutral face.
"Um... Whaat are you talking about?" he asked innocently, but she quickly shoved
a newspaper into his hand.
"Read that."
She pointed at a small article in the middle of the paper. He swallowed as he
saw the headline.
 
Father Christmas saves the day!
Two people dressed as Father Christmas and one angel created excitement in the
local mall.
 
The article then went on, explaining about their little stunt in surprising
detail... And there was actually a photo attached of him hanging between the
floors, taken after Libra had already vanished to somewhere.
Only then Alec realised how at least one of the people asking them questions
must have been a reporter, for they were using quotes from them. But at least
they hadn't gotten their identities, the only thing they mentioned was how they
had been seen previously at the store of his mother and that this store
certainly had been one of the most popular ones on the day before.
"Well... It's a good article, nice advertisement, isn't it?" he finally said,
making his mother huff a little.
"And when did you plan on telling me that you were doing parkour training?"
"Um..." Well, whoops...
His mother shook her head.
"Nevermind. But please, the next time you do advertisement something less
dangerous will do the trick too, alright?"
He grinned a little, glad that they had avoided this particular argument.
"I'll try to."
It was only much later that he realized how after this day the relationship
between him and his mother had warmed up considerably again. It seemed like
sometimes 'Father Christmas' still was the cause of miracles, especially during
the Christmas season...

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