The Distortion of Normalcy[Icicle//Adelaid Belial]

[Icicle]

Niko felt let down when the girl simply placed a disk into the box called the "dvd/vcr," but he was still excited enough to smile, especially after hearing her giggle. Once the screen lit up with colors and sounds shot out from the sides, Niko's eyes immediately widened in surprise. "It's exactly like I thought," he commented, grinning as he watched the lights dance across the screen. The pixels had a very small degree of inaccuracy, so it was a very easy image to look at.

Once Noelle spoke about the vendor, Niko looked over at her with the same innocent excitement and asked, "really?" He looked around her for the drinks, but all he could see were two boxes. Initially, once she pased him the box and declared the name of the drink, Niko had no idea what to do with it. But, once he saw Noelle pull a cup out of the box, he immediately felt stupid and, with a blush and an expression of shame, he looked back at the movie and opened the box, immediately sipping on the cup of warm, sugary and chocolate-filled drink. "There's a lot to love about Christmas..."

---

By the time Noelle commented about leaving, Niko almost recoiled from shock, having nearly forgotten that she was there. He looked over at her, having to focus his eyes against the darkness of the room, then, after recognizing her face, he blushed, the memories flooding back, and he hastily commented, "N-no! The movie isn't over!" and quickly looked back at the television as the girl started to get up and stretch. Niko's eyes were instantly glued to the T.V., as if he was witnessing its final breath and the most important final words of its life. As the girl started to walk over to the television, the movie finally cut to a black screen, and, as words started to float up, she turned off the T.V., leaving them in the darkness of the dim fluorescent lights above.

Niko wanted to protest to her as she took the DVDs, but started to leave with just a quick thanks. As he helplessly watched her, Niko dejectedly responded, "Y-yeah, th-thanks to you as well..." but his eyes were focused on the DVDs the entire time. Once she was gone, Niko sat alone on the armchair, staring at the T.V., replaying the movies in his mind.

"My dearest friend, if you don't mind... I'd like to join you by your side. Where we can gaze into the stars..."

He looked back in the direction Noelle went, but frowned. "A friend?...No, a dearest friend..." With a sigh, Niko rose from the chair, walked over to a trash bin, threw away his cup and cardboard box, and walked back over to his dorm, trying desperately to decipher the meanings in the two movies. He made no progress by the time he reached his dorm, but he continued to think about it for the rest of the night, as if it were a homework assignment. By the time he looked at the clock on his desk to see the time, he was tired enough for the numbers to not register in his mind.

-----------------------------------CHRISTMAS DAY(12th)-----------------------------------

Despite how late he went to sleep the previous night, Niko had no problem waking up early the following morning. He got up so early that the annoying neighbors with the loud, festive music didn't even get the chance to start annoying him. He rushed over to his shower and quickly got through his morning routine, then dressed himself in his favorite outfit - cargo shorts, a gray sweater, his hiking boots, white socks, and a clean black hoodie. His legs had a line of scars going up and down his legs, all of which were wider in the center, most along the sides of his legs, but the scarring was minimal, and Niko felt that bandages were no longer necessary.

The boy quickly got the present which he got for Noelle and rushed out the door right as the neighbor's alarm was going off. Niko got all the way to the cafeteria without stopping for breath, although he did need to stop in front of the door to catch his breath. Once he entered, he was greeted by a somewhat festive cafeteria lady, who was wearing one of the caps of the elves from the rudolf movie. "Good morning, elf lady!" Niko commented, smiling innocently. The lady smiled at the boy, but coldly retorted, "Yeah, same to you, kid. Hey! You'll freeze yourself solid if you wear shorts in this weather! We're expecting snow later today..." Niko merely shrugged in response and offered her his card. It wasn't worth the effort for him to explain why he was wearing his shorts.

Before he managed to pass by, the lady asked him what was in his bag. Niko sighed, then turned around and commented, "A present, for a friend." This enticed the lady to giggle in her rumoresque manner, then retort, "Ahh, I see...hope she enjoys it!" Niko was surprised at the sudden change in the lady's expression, but it didn't last long. "Uhh, th-thanks!"

As Niko walked around in the kitchen, he found all sorts of special, "holiday-themed" foods, so he piled his plate even higher than usual. As he walked into the cafeteria, he was surprised to find the group of boys from yesterday at the first table in front of the door, all of whom were staring at him. Niko paused, confused, but one of the boys quickly stood up and announced, "Merry Christmas, Niko!" Then the other guys all joined in and put on their own elf caps, laughing with one another and making brief, friendly comments about Niko. The boy blushed slightly and nodded, then, in his shiness, he quickly made his way around the corner and away from the boys, walking over to the table which he normally sat with Noelle at. He heard one of them make a point about a girl, but didn't understand what it meant and nodded in thanks before beginning to eat and tune them out, leaving the gift between his legs in his lap in an attempt to hide it.

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle woke up with the energy of a toddler. It was finally Christmas, the greatest day of the year. And she had a present and friend to attend to. With that in mind, and because she usually did so. Noelle took a shower, and pulled out her best clothes for the occasion. It was another sweater dress, of course. But this one was red and green in a christmas fashion and paired with snowflake leggings, as well as some more black leather boots. But it didn't end there as she also managed to curl her hair somewhat as well, putting a snowflake hairpin in her hair to top it all off.

She looked around her room one last time to make sure that she had forgotten nothing and could bet on with her day. She had Niko's present wrapped up in a shiny silver package, and head out quickly to get to breakfast to meet with her friend. She made it to the cafeteria, catching sight of Niko talking with some other people.He was turned from her, so he didn't seem to notice her. She went to get her breakfast, immediately hailed by the lunch lady for her style. "I'm impressed, Ms. Noelle. So fancy, today~!" Noelle nodded, "It's Christmas you know? I gotta look good for the holidays!!" She got a bowl of cereal and some milk and orange juice. Then headed to the table where Niko was already sitting.

"Hey, Niko! Merry Christmas!!" She smiled as cheekily as always as she plopped down beside him.

 

[Icicle]

Immediately upon hearing Noelle's voice, he turned to face her and offered her a cheerful smile as well. "Yeah, merry Christmas!" Niko responded, reciting the line from the movies he watched which apparently had a lot of meaning, "Are you ready to receive your present?" He asked, grabbing the present and holding it out to her. It was a brown plastic bag which was folded closed, and had a small, light box within it. Niko grinned, but kept his reasoning to himself, hoping that she might figure it out on her own.

[Note: Within the brown bag was a black, rectangular box, and within the box is a stainless steel whistle. The pitch of the whistle is far higher than that of a dog whistle, thus it apparently doesn't make any noise when blown. it has a long, cylindrical shape, and is attached to a sturdy, triple-linked chain necklace.]

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle was taken back, both confused and excited at the same time. It was a whistle. Some sort of whistle......."This is amazing, Niko! But, I'm not exactly sure why you got me this. Don't get me wrong," She tried blowing into it quickly, surprised that no sound came out. Noelle looked her gift over, trying to decipher its meaning. She shook her head, hanging the necklace around her own neck for the moment. "I'll get back to that in a little bit." She took the silver present from where it had sat behind her and handed it to Niko. "Hope you like it, Niko."

{Note: Within the silver present box is another box of pure white headphones, made for comfort and ultimate sound preference. }

 

[Icicle]

As Noelle was opening Niko's gift, he was smiling excitedly and eagerly watching her reaction. "It's a ultrasound whistle! Only blow on it if you get into serious trouble, be-" as she tried to blow into it, Niko lunged towards her in terror and quickly grasped the whistle to stop her, desperately yelling, "NO! NOT HERE!" After a few seconds, he placed the whistle back in her hand, clearing his throat and commenting, "it doesn't make any noise....s-so just, save it for when you really need it..." He looked down at his lap as he spoke, his nervousness slowly fading as a blush set in. He looked over at her as she offered him a box of silver, then thanked her by exclaiming, "Wow! Thanks!"

He then quickly grabbed the box and looked around for a means to open it. He pulled one of the side sections which was folded over and, after doing so to a few of the other sides, taking the box inside out, and opening that one. He stared at the object within in shock, then took it out and immediately placed the new headset on his ears. At first, he frowned, then looked over at her in confusion and asked, "how do I turn it on?"

 

[Adelaide Belial]

"Hold on." Noelle took a minute to pull her phone out of a pocket on her sweater dress. She scrolled through the music until she found a classical rendering of a violin orchestra. She pressed play on her phone, and simultaneously, pressed the side of the headphones. "They're supposed to be cordless, the music should start in a bit...." She looked to her phone, humming along with the classical song that she knew by heart as it started to play through the headphones. It was supposed to allow complete noise cancellation, so Niko probably didn't hear her. When she could see the edge of the song coming to an end, she looked over at him. "So, how'd it go?"

 

[Icicle]

Niko stared at the device Noelle pulled out of her pocket with almost as much fascination as he had about the DVDs. Once the music started playing in his ears he looked up at Noelle so see her moving her lips, but couldn't hear any sounds besides the ones from the device. His eyes widened in shock, and he looked back down at the device. "If I got one of those devices, I could double the safety..." he frowned, then took the headset off, looking over at her. "This is wonderful, I really like them..." Niko commented, "But,...do I need one of those devices to use them?..." He pointed at the phone as he spoke.

 

[Adelaide Belial]

"Uhh....Crap! I forgot about that!" Noelle threw her hands up in slight frustration. "I totally forgot, Niko! You're always listening to music, you know? I figured you had a phone with you or something....Stupid huh?" She looked to her phone. In a sense, Niko's headphones were nearly useless without music for them to latch onto and play for the user. "I guess, you can use my music if you want. It's a bunch of classical music, and game soundtracks, though." She flipped through her phone subconsciously. 'Probably should've thought of that, huh, Noelle?" she smacked her head lightly with the palm of her hand.

 

[Icicle]

As Noelle threw her hands up in the air, Niko leaned away from her, wide eyed, almost expecting her to hit him. He straightened himself after she continued talking, but stopped her once she started looking through her phone. "No, that's fine you should keep it. I should probably get one of those anyways." He then quickly turned back to his food and, after saying a quick, "I can't wait to use them some more..." he dug into his food, eagerly devouring it, careful not to spill any on his brand new headset.

-----

Once Niko was finally done with his food, he supressed a belch and, after wiping off his mouth, he looked over at Noelle and asked, "Do you want to watch more movies today? Or, is there something else people do on Christmas?..." after he spoke, he got up from his seat and took his tray full of dishes over to the carousel, placing it carefully on one of the slots, then following Noelle out of the cafeteria.

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle tapped her chin as the two exited the cafeteria. The movie thing was the only Christmas tradition she knew, and it seemed as if Niko knew no such traditions either."Do you want to watch more movies Niko? I'll leave the activities to you today." She offered him a small smile. She fingered her new ultrasound whistle. It was a nice gesture, and an actually really cool present. It was too bad that she would only have use for it when she was in mortal danger......or something like that.

 

[Icicle]

Niko nodded eagerly at Noelle as she asked about the movies, but once she gave him command, he hesitated. "I would love to watch more movies....but, isn't there something special people do on Christmas, beside opening presents?....those reindeer and fake people all got so excited over it...and none of them had movies..." He looked at Noelle expectantly as he spoke, but, once he finished speaking, he looked ahead. After a few seconds, he wondered, "Maybe we could do something in the snow....or go see santa claus..."

 

[Adelaide Belial]

"See, Santa....?" It hadn't actually occurred to Noelle that maybe she hadn't exactly explained the whole idea of "Santa Claus" to Niko. But, seeing the innocent look on his face, she thought better of it. Christmas was the time to believe, after all. "Sure....I'm pretty sure he'll be at that mom and pop store from before actually giving out hot cocoa. And I think someone gets a present or something. That'd be nice right?" She smiled. Besides, it was probably not a good idea to get into a snowball fight in this cold, no matter the protective gear.

 

[Icicle]

"Yeah, so we can send him back the elf who checks tags at the cafeteria..." he commented, grinning slyly at Noelle. After the girl continued to speak, Niko nodded, commenting, "Of course! And then, after seeing santa, we can come back and watch more movies together..." he chuckled, starting to feel something deep in his chest. "Maybe this is....christmas spirit?" he mentally pictured himself frowning mischeviously, then thought, "Nah, that's just nervousness."

Niko, having remembered the way to the "mom and pop store," quickly grabbed Noelle's wrist and started pulling her along at a fairly quick pace, having begun to regain his speed from before his disappearance. "Let's go before Santa leaves to go sleep....he's probably tired after all those deliveries..." he commented, imagining the impossible man's impossible task.

----

After arriving at the store, Niko ran in and looked for the man in red and white. After a few moments, he saw the cashier in the uniform, then frowned. "I didn't know that the cashier was Santa clause...." The cashier quickly scoweled at the boy and declared, "Are you trying to say something about my size, young'in?" Niko shook his headm fearing that the human was acting of his own volition and would tackle him if he was mean. Niko then looked over at Noelle in surprise, expecting an explanation.

 

[Adelaide Belial]

"Merry Christmas, Santa!" Noelle interrupted, waving to the employee, "My friend Niko, simply worried that you hadn't eaten enough this year." There were probably some people aside from Niko who still believed in Santa. She would have to keep up the ruse for now. The man laughed back, doing a quite excellent impression of the jolly red man's laugh. "And a Merry Christmas to you as well! What brings you two here?" Noelle looked to Niko, "Well, Santa....we know you've got a lot of jobs, running this store being one of them. We thought we' come by and say hello!"

Luckily the man played along, laughing again, "Such good teenagers! What a surprise, I certainly know you two were on the nice list!" Noelle nodded quickly. "Yessir!" The employee leaned towards the counter, pulling out a plate of cookies shaped like trees and bells, covered in prickles and frosting. "Well here's a cookie for your hard troubles!" Noelle gave weak smile, nodding a quick thanks as she took a cookie. "Feel free to stick around this little store as long as you want. We hardly get such adorable couples around here!" Noelle almost choked on her cookie, hitting her chest to even out whatever she was choking on. 'Why is it that everyone keeps thinking that?'

 

[Icicle]

Niko eagerly looked between Santa and Noelle as they spoke, especially watching Santa, who seemed quite different from how he looked in the movies. Niko suspected that it was all an act once the man pulled cookies out from behind the counter, knowing that the true santa would have eaten all the cookies by that point in time. Nonetheless, Niko eagerly accepted one of the cookies and thanked the man, eating it quickly. He looked over in shock at Noelle as she started to choke, then hastily asked, "Noelle? Are you okay?" as he grabbed her shoulder. "Why on earth is she hitting herself?"

Niko smiled at Santa and thanked him again, but looked back at Noelle in concern, unsure of what he could do to help.

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle tried once again to clear her throat, still unable to get all of the cookie clear. Shaking her head, she managed to turn to Niko. "Do you want to stick around a bit longer, or should we get on with the movies. There might be quite a few people coming in here later to see Santa." She looked around, seeing a small amount of people, but on Christmas that could change.

 

[Icicle]

Niko continued looking at Noelle with concern as she coughed, but listened to her intently as she asked him a question, occasionally looking around, first to Santa, who seemed pre-occupied with something behind the cash register, and then to the people around the shop, some of whom were looking at the two of them intently. "Let's go get a few movies..." Niko responded, helping Noelle along towards the exit of the shop, "Are you alright? Do you need something to drink?" He opened the door for her as he spoke, then continued walking beside her as they headed back to the school.

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle nodded, following Niko out of the store. "Oh, I'm fine, Niko." When they got outside, Noelle took the lead, being the one who knew where the video store was. "The Video Store is this way Niko. If you want, we can even pick out movies together." She led him down the city streets, past the crowds of people as stealthily as possible as she could. She made sure not to run into people as she found the Video Store, which made it's home a quaint two blocks away. Thought it was difficult, what with the Christmas crowds and all.

 

[Icicle]

Niko eagerly followed Noelle when she mentioned the video store, starting to cheer up once she started to look healthy once again. He was very cautious about the people around them as they moved through large groups of people, often grabbing Noelle's hand as they went to make sure they weren't separated when moving through particularly crowded areas. Niko swore he saw a pink trench coat out of the corner of his eye, but by the time he looked, nothing pink was within view.

Once they got to the DVD store, Niko eagerly opened the door for Noelle, then followed her in and started looking around the store. "Oh, look! It's Niko!" whispered a voice from the romance movies' aisle, the voice originating in the delicate mouth of a second-year girl from Bryerwood who stayed in the back of the room during homec. The girl's friend, a second-year girl who wasn't in any of the same classes as Niko, looked over at the boy from between the gaps of the lattice metal shelving on which the movies lay as Niko passed by. She then looked back at her friend and whispered, "Now's your chance! Ask him!" "B-B-But, Liz, wh-what if..." "No buts, Julia, go! Now!"

Julia's friend then pushed her out of the aisle, Julia unwillingly complying, and quickly started pretending to look through movies as Julia nervously walked towards Niko. The girl barely noticed Noelle as she walked up next to Niko, who assumed that it was Noelle for a moment. But, once she spoke, Niko still looking down at a few Christmas movies, "U-Umm, N-N-Niko, i-is it?" Niko jumped away in shock, then grabbed the lip of the movie-holding shelf to stabilize himself as he stared at the girl, "O-oh! S-s-sorry, I-I, uhh, I just wanted t-t-to say...uhh..." The girl was blushing bright pink by that point and looking down, poking her index fingers together as she looked at them. Niko was about to say something when the girl looked back up and hastily asked, "D-d-d-do you need help with cooking? I-I could help you with cooking!...er, s-some day, m-m-maybe not now..."

Niko looked over at Noelle as Julia looked back down at the ground, as if he was begging her for help, then he looked back at Julia as she quickly reached into her pocket. "I-I-I, uhh,...I got you a present! H-h-here!" She held out the present to Niko, her face steadily deepening in its red hue, and looked away from him, as if unable to look and see whether he would accept it or not. "I...uhh..." Niko started, blushing slightly as he accepted the gift, "th-" "I-I'm really sorry! I have to go!" She squealed, tears starting to stream out of her eyes as she quickly turned and started running. When she saw Noelle, she gasped, slowing for a split second as her eyes widened and she blushed some more, a few tears running down her face as horror edged its way onto her expression. She turned and ran down the aisle her friend was on, grabbing the girl's hand as she protested with a quick squeal, "Wh-wait! I wanted that one!" and continuing to sprint all the way out of the store, disappearing into the crowds soon after.

Niko stared at the girl, dumbstruck, as she left. She had a paper note taped on her back which had, "Kiss me!" messily written on it, and more than that, she was wearing cargo shorts and a blue hoodie which looked exactly the same as his, albeit slightly smaller. After a few seconds, he looked over at Noelle, unable to speak, and looked at the present he was given. After a few moments of staring at the small, thin rectangular box, he opened it, resulting in a poorly-placed note to fall out and reveal a new-looking iphone 4. Niko picked up the note, but, after seeing that the device looked like Noelle's, he hastily closed the box and shoved it into his pocket before continuing to look through the movies, pretending that nothing had happened as a blush slowly started to edge across his face.

 

[Adelaide Belial]

Noelle was surprised that she had managed to stay in Niko's line of sight the entire time, but was happy nonetheless that they had made it to the Video Store in peace. He had gone immediately to the movie section of the store where the Christmas movies had been obtained. So she left him to it for a bit, going off a ways to stare at the animated movies section.

Noelle was going to look up to ask Niko if he had seen any of the latest animated movies, but quickly looked back down. He seemed to be talking to some girl, she vaguely remembered the face but not much else. Noelle had the impeccable need to go over and see what they were talking about, but.....it just felt off to do so. Maybe their conversation was meant to be held in private. Despite the fact that it was taking place in a movie store, but still. She kept her head down, only until she could no longer hear excited mumbles coming from that area. Praying that she would't make an untimely entrance, aha braved her way back over to Niko with a few movies in hand.

"So..." she was trying to pick and choose her words carefully. "....do you like animated movies?" She laughed awkwardly, trying to stay calm. No point in over playing Niko's encounter with another girl. "Or.....maybe, you want to tell what just happened? I didn't know you had so many friends~!" She leaned towards her friend playfully, nudging him slightly. She shook her head, laughing again, looking between her two choices.