A ghostly Christmas! (1x1 - AndreaJingling + NienieDreamer)

  • So many newbies lately! Here is a very important PSA about one of our most vital content policies! Read it even if you are an ancient member!
Noëlle did not forgive so easily. "Well, that's you, but you can only open this on either Christmas Eve or Christmas morning. Like I said, I think it's more tradition born from the practical 'Santa still has to deliver the presents' and whatnot, but it's still a tradition! We can't just ignore traditions, at least, I can't ignore Christmas traditions.''

A mischievous grin spread over Noëlle's face and she finally seemed to forget a little what had just happened on Charlotte's front lawn. "You'll see,'' she just said. She had a LOT of Christmas knowledge stuffed in her little head, one of which was MANY hot cocoa recipes. This was the first one that came to mind, but definitely not the last she was planning to have Charlotte taste.

First, she put the milk in a saucepan and had it heat up. She grabbed the cocoa powder and gently whisked it in along with sugar. She did the same with chocolate chips, whisking until they were melted in. At this point, the mixture was brown.
"Okay, quickly now, do you want vanilla or not?''
 
"Heh, alright, alright, my apologies about that.. Again I didn't think, well, THIS was going to be happening.."

Charlie said with a small scratch of her neck.. That mischievous grin did unnerve her a little but, somehow she could sense it was a sort of positive one, not devilish like some other specters she knows of..

"Oh, um, yes please I'd like some vanilla.. Not the biggest chocolate fan to be honest."
 
With that answer, Noëlle put in some vanilla extract, and specially for Charlotte, because she said she didn't like chocolate, she put in quite a lot. But she was flabbergasted. "What? How can someone NOT like chocolate?!'' She wondered, but shrugged immediately after that. "Well, you're missing out.'' Noëlle LOVED chocolate, but she didn't mind drinking a vanilla one if it made Charlotte happy.

Noëlle then topped it richly with whatever Charlotte had bought in the store. Whipped cream, mini marshmallows, cinnamon powder, sugar decorations, frosting, whatever she could get her hands on, even chocolatey stuff, though she held back on that last one for Charlotte's hot chocolate.

Proudly, she handed over the mug to her new friend. "There you go! Vanilla hot chocolate, just like you requested, with extra vanilla so you hopefully will taste the chocolate less. I hope you enjoy! This is just one of the many recipes that I know. So, if you ever want hot chocolate, you know who to come to!''
 
Charlie took pause as she watched them put in all that chocolate.. At the confrontation, she chuckled, scratching the back of her neck as she took a seat at the counter on one of the stools present.

"H-heh, yeah not the uh, biggest fan.. The bitter taste really just kinda, throws me off.. Not the biggest fan of THAT kind of taste I guess."

She said with a small shrug, watching as Noëlle finished the prep of the drink.. It made her nerves wracked to see THAT much chocolatey stuff go in.. But.. I mean.. She hasn't had much in a WHILE so..

Carefully, she took the mug from Noëlle, and had a long, long sip. As she did, she finally spoke, letting out a quiet;

"M-mm. That.. That is actually really good.. I haven't had chocolate for a while so I guess I was kinda, uh, apprehensive but this is really, really good."

She said, taking another long, quiet sip.
 
"Ooohh,'' Noëlle said, "it's the bitterness! I don't know what kinda chocolate you had back in your day, but the chocolate I know is super sweet, and I can make sure there's no bitterness in your hot chocolate, either, next time, even without vanilla!'' Noëlle offered. "I think you're talking about the purest, blackest chocolate. That one's really bitter, I don't like it either.''

"Don't worry, I didn't put the chocolately stuff in your hot chocolate.'' It was true, whereas she'd put chocolate chips on her whipped cream topping, she'd put cinnamon in place of that in Charlotte's hot chocolate. She'd even gotten some candy canes from her own sack and crushed them up to spread over the topping of whipped cream.

"Is there anything else you want to do? I still think it's good to have friends and all that, so maybe you can just make some Christmas cards and hand them out or something. Or throw a party, unless you don't like parties. You can even have an event at your job, maybe that'll show them. I know you're a very nice person and all that, but they're not gonna know unless you show them.''
 
"Yeah, heh, I'm more of a sweets type of person.. if you saw me put a box of mike and ikes back you'd be surprised."

She chuckled, pausing at their last question, thinking about her options there.. Honestly what else WAS there to do with her prior actions..

"Well I, thought of that before.. Sent some cards out a while back to my friend's home addresses, and to be fair I've, been forced into way too many parties in my life I, I think I'm ok.."

She said with a small laugh, adjusting her hair as she set the finished mug down onto the coaster she had set there, before looking up at the ceiling with a small, tired shrug..


"honestly, I have no idea. i mean I applied for a job as a mall santa a while back, still kinda, waiting to hear about THAT so.. Yeah.."
 
"Hmmm...'' Noëlle thought for a while for a long time. "I mean, we did say we were going to build a snowman but I kinda built one myself when I got bored, but we can still do one together! I can also make sure it never melts. It's always so sad when they melt, don't you think?'' Noëlle looked sad for a while thinking about it. But that brought her thoughts back to that guy claiming to be her brother. She sighed. Since when was everything so complicated?! Oh, well. Best not to think about it too long.

"I like sweets too,'' she said, changing subjects, "and so does Rainy! She's a real sweet tooth, all the reindeers are, really. And Santa is too. Plus, y'know, elves, so I guess it makes sense for me to be a sweet tooth, cause, I'm an elf!'' She shrugged. Made sense to her. "We could also watch Christmas movies if you want. Or maybe just do some volunteering work if there's any around, I mean, they can't stop you from doing nice stuff for others, right? I don't get why you haven't heard back, but...'' She shrugged again. "Could always do something on your own.''

Really, Noëlle just wanted to be sure she didn't leave Charlotte here all by herself. Not just for Christmas, but the whole year round. To Noëlle, Charlotte seemed awfully lonely, and that couldn't be fun, could it? She didn't want that for her. So, Noëlle tried to encourage Charlotte whenever she could to make some friends, or try to at least. It seemed Charlotte, though, had given up and just lay down to her fate. That wasn't any good! Noëlle couldn't leave her like that, all lonely and, well, kinda seemingly sad! She scrunched up her face. "Maybe you should move,'' the elf suggested, not even knowing if it was a joke or not herself.
 
"Yeah I, did see that. And again sorry for letting them in, won't be doing that again.."

She muttered quietly, letting out a deep sigh as she listened to them talk.

"Yeah, we could. I might be able to prevent it from melting too since the uh, ice, power, stuff is a thing."
She let out a small laugh, before letting out a sigh as she listened to the talk about sweets. And then the volunteering work was brought up. And, well, Christmas movies.. Honestly, she did feel like, both of those.

"Both of uh, those sound nice.. I got my like, DVD collection of odd Christmas movies so I can uh, probably show you some media you never have seen before."


And then, she fell quiet at Noëlle mentioning moving..

She locked up for a few good moments, as she slowly looked to the floor, and let out a small sigh..

"I would if I could, really I would but.. Hurricane has been my home since I was a kid.. Well, here and New Harmony but, still.. I couldn't leave it if I tried.. For once thing rents everywhere else is terrible, but also the fact my family name is tied to this place. It can't leave, and in turn, I can't leave.. Besides even if it gets, quiet in the winter sometimes, I still care about the friends I made here. They helped me get my feet off the ground, and for that I'm eternally grateful.. That and, heh, I still have at least two close relatives here.."
 
Noëlle just shrugged. "It's fine.'' She didn't seem to really want to talk about it or anything, in fact, she was positively avoiding it. She didn't have a brother. So why would she worry about it?

"Well, you can do it too, it's whatever you want, really. Either way, looks like we have the means to keep the snowmen with us- well, you, - year round.'' Noëlle shrugged again. She was getting a little bored, to be honest, but just to be a professional elf, she couldn't exactly say that.

"Oh, cool. Whatever DVD's are. I know about a lot of Christmas movies, but we don't exactly have TV's or, uh, 'DVD's' at the North Pole. Or a lot of electronic stuff, honestly. Just the toys we make for the kids. And even those are a mystery to me.''

Noëlle was silent for a while. "Yeah, I get that,'' she didn't get all of it, not by a long shot. For instance, the family name thing. She got how that may matter, but now how it would mean one HAD to stay here. Unless it was ghostly stuff. Then, she got it. Kinda. What she definitely got, though, was the part about friends. No one wanted to leave their friends. If Noëlle suddenly were to move from the North Pole, away from, say, Krampus, then she probably won't be able to do that, either... She decided to leave it alone. "Maybe you can do something with your friends next year,'' she instead suggested.
 
Nothing really took her aback, at least,

Until the mention of not having TV or DVD.. THAT, actively surprised her, stopping her drink of some ice water, and causing her to stare at Noëlle for a moment with a soft blink of her eyes and a cock tot he side of her head..

"You.. You don't have THAT?.. A-are you guys like, people who reject tech or.. OR are you guys behind like.. That is VERY far behind honestly for the modern day I.. I'm shocked."

She said with an exasperated breath, before taking a minute to calm herself down. Honestly as someone who knew tech like the back of her hand, that very much surprised her..

"Right I'm going to show you some WILD things tonight give me a second."
And off she dashed into her room, before coming back out with a tv, and a selection of movies.

The first was.
1737531768323.png
Oh.


The second was.

1737531843410.png
HUH.


Thankfully the rest of her selections were semi normal, classic Rankin Bass Specials like Rudolph, Frosty, The Year Without a Santa Claus, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, plus The Polar express, all of that stuff..


"You are about to experience PEAK."

She said, popping in the first movie and settling in, that first movie being Santa Claus is Coming to Town.
 
Noëlle shrugged. "I dunno,'' she said, "we just don't. We're fine without it,'' she explained. "Besides, we're always super busy, so when we can, we just rest or play in the snow or something, or even work some more. Really, we're okay.'' She looked at the technology in this house with a tilted head, trying to figure it out. Noëlle wasn't a toy maker elf, but she was curious. That first also meant, though, that she couldn't figure it out. Sure, she helped sometimes, very sometimes, in the toy making place, but that was mostly wrapping gifts up and taking toys from one place to the other; not actually making them or anything that warranted understanding them.

She watched what Charlotte was doing, then watched the movie. Noëlle was polite enough not to say anything out loud, but her face spoke volumes. And when the movie was over, she was silent for a long while, still. "That's... interesting,'' she said at last, "but... none of that is true,'' she gently informed the woman. "I guess... nobody, not even the elves, really know how things came to be... maybe that's why people make things up?'' She wondered.
 
Charlie could hardly sort of believe that.. It was, odd to her they had no idea about technology, especially with the recent presents kids were asking for since the rise of home video game consoles.. Still, she didn't make a comment on it, and simply nodded back, slowly settling in as the movie began.

After the movie was over, once again, she looked at Noëlle, quietly judging her reaction to the movie. Honestly, that very much made sense. No one knew HOW he came to do his operation, so it made sense it was kinda all wrong.

"Interesting, interesting.. And honestly, makes enough sense. Does make me curious how he did it though.."

She paused, letting herself chuckle for a few moments.

"hey maybe when he gets here i'll be able to ask."

She jested lightly, as she popped in another movie, this time the classic Rudolph.
"I remember everyone being ASSHOLES in this movie.. But, eh, doesn't damper me."
 
The ones that would know most about tech were the elves that actually made the toys. Noëlle and the other elves that did more work outside of the workshop, even in wrapping or tree farms, had way less of an idea of any sort of tech. But she supposed she could ask those workshop elves about it when she came back.

"Well, good luck with that. I doubt even he knows, because if he does, he's not letting on. Many elves have asked him many times before, but he just keeps getting all mysterious. He just smiles and laughs or something or says vague stuff. I doubt he'll answer you. You can try, though. Just a heads up.''

Noëlle recalled already telling Charlotte about Rudolph's legendary status, so she didn't comment on that. Instead, she then decided to tell Charlotte about the reindeer. "I get that Rudolph is the main character, but none of the reindeer are actually married... Besides, did you know that all Santa's reindeer are actually girls? Boys don't have antlers in the Winter, nor do they have the body mass to actually pull the sleigh. Donner is the fastest, but she's not the lead reindeer. Since, without Rudolph, there's eight reindeer!''

... Maybe Christmas movies were not Noëlle's thing after all?
She suddenly realized how rude she was being, though, and a healthy blush made its way over her cheeks. "Sorry,'' she mumbled. "It's not that I'm judging the movies, or anything. It's okay to like them, of course it is! Uh... sorry. Again.''
 
As she settled in to watch the movie again, she nodded slowly, letting out a sigh as she popped off her heels at LAST..

"Heh, thanks. Hey if I get to talk to him at ALL I'll consider myself lucky.. I mean cmon. he's not uh. very PUBLIC so to speak.."

Charlie listened quietly along to what Noëlle was saying about reindeer. She had actually been told this before, by Noëlle in fact just about, say, at least a few hours earlier.. Still, she listened quietly, nodding along to what she was saying, and somewhat acting as if it was new information. Encouraging hyperfixations was very important.

"I see, I see! Honestly that's very interesting to know now.. Shame they aren't though, honestly lesbians are the best type of women."

She says as a Pan woman with a female lean. Trust me she thinks about women at least once a week.

"And it's fine kid it's fine. If movies aren't your thing we can probably do something else."
 
"Well, true,'' Noëlle shrugged. "He usually never really comes out except on Christmas Eve. You know, on the sleigh, delivering presents. He sometimes makes a special stop, though. In this case, that you!''

Noëlle looked at Charlotte, confused, just blinked. She didn't get it. Oh well. Moving on.

"No, movies are fine. I guess I just can't stop thinking about how they're not accurate. Sorry... but if you want we can do something else. I'm just sorry for ruining the movies. We could decorate the house, or something? Or build a snowman.''
 
As she put the movie away into it's proper case, she nodded slowly to what Noëlle was saying, she honestly was a very special case, being both a ghost in the machine, and someone ELSE who gave gifts.. Though hers were more, morbid in nature considering..

"I mean if you want, we can probably do something else. Already kinda decorated the rest of the house when we got the tree up, so."
Charlotte looked past the tree towards the kitchen, tilting her head slightly as she rose out of her seat on the couch.

"Well, we totally could go and make cookies, I mean we got all that stuff at the store, might as well use it."
 
Noëlle sheepishly looked around. "Oh. Right.'' But she perked up again when baking was mentioned. As did Rainy, who had fallen asleep at Noëlle's feet. Cookies?! Where?! She was sooo hungry! Noëlle giggled. She made her way over to the kitchen, looking over the ingredients.

"Okay!'' She said, eventually, clapping her hands. "What do you want to make? We can make... uhh... snickerdoodles, chocolate chip, gingersnap, shortbread, sugar, butter, wafers, gingerbread, cut-out...'' She stopped and looked at Charlotte. "I know how to make a LOT of cookies.''

Then, Noëlle tilted her head. "But, well, it's probably getting late, so I should leave soon. Don't worry! I'll be back tomorrow morning, first thing! But still, I don't want to impose, so I should leave you to get your rest probably after making cookies.''
 
Charlie watched as they headed over to the ingredients, smiling as she let out a small breath, looking over what they had.

"Well, honestly, I was just kinda thinking the normal Sugar Cookies, but hey we can do multiple batches if you want.

At the mention of time, she looked up towards her small wall clock, slowly nodding along with what Noëlle was saying. Honestly, to be fair, it WAS getting late..

"Yeah, yeah it kinda is.. But, to be fair to myself, I don't exactly uh, get too much sleep anyways. too many nightmares."

She muttered to herself, squeezing her arm again as she ran that hand through her hair..

"I can, probably go for how long ya want or, something."
 
Noëlle snapped her fingers. "Sugar cookies! Sugar cookies it is. We can decorate them!'' She suggested. "If we have enough time, that is.'' Noëlle already wracked her brain for different sugar cookies recipes. And different ways to decorate them, different shapes to put them in. "We could make like, Christmas trees and snowmen, ooh, maybe some reindeer!''

Noëlle silenced down at that last. "Oh...'' She said. "I'm... so sorry to hear that.'' Noëlle had little to no experience with nightmares, but she knew they were bad dreams. She couldn't imagine a bad dream. Dreams were supposed to be good, right? Happy dreams... But how could Noëlle help against dreams? There wasn't really anything she could do for that, right? Maybe she should just ask. So, ask Noëlle did. "Is there anything I can do? I mean, sleep is important, so I can't really stay up with you all night, but... I dunno. If there is anything I can do...''
 
"HEh, that's kinda why I suggested them. Got these like, cookie shapers I haven't used in YEARS so, might as well use em now."

Charlotte said quietly, carefully grabbing out the cookie sheet and the cutters, before pausing, and falling quiet again.. Her hand shakily drifted up to her hair, before she let out a quiet sigh, running her hand down it with a shake.

"It's.. it's fine. thank you for your, concern but, I've dealt with these for, for years now.. Ain't stopping any time soon.. They're, all based on my, well, past.. Particularly the.. Tragic, bits.. They.."

It, almost looked like Charlie was going to break down at that moment, but, composing herself, she drew in a long breath.

"they haunt me just as much as SHE does."
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back