'Tis the Season (Maia)

Kuu had picked the perfect time to knock. Elliot had just put two and two together, and realized that by standing on the chair as Strikedramon he could be doubly tall. Sticking out his tail for balance, Elliot had just started hanging a gaudy chandelier made of plastic crystals up. That was when the loud and rapid knocked echoed through the house like gunfire, and in his haste to get off of the chair Elliot toppled it and fell flat on his back. Ow, that hurt like heck!

Oh, right. Spirit user. One degeneration later, Elliot's back pain became more of a gentle numbness. He pushed himself back to his feet and hobbled over to the door, calling "Just a second!" as he did so. One hand gently pressed against his back to ease the ache, he fumbled for the handle and opened the door. Naturally, Isaac was hot on his heels, almost flying across the room to make sure he'd be there to greet Maia at the door. He actually made it, too, arriving just in time for the door to start creaking open.

Maia was certainly there, Isaac smiling almost involuntarily as he saw her. "Hey there, Mai! You look really cute today," he said, feeling in an especially festive mood for quite obvious reasons. However, he did a slight double take as he noticed who was with her. Wait, what?

Elliot seemed much quicker at putting two and two together. "Hi guys!" he chirped. "Is that a new holosuit, Kuu? You look adorable!"

That explained it. Although Isaac found Kuu's choice of attire . . . distressingly familiar. He blinked, trying to figure out how he felt about Kuu picking something so close to him in appearance. Nevertheless, he stepped aside to let the two in. "Come on in and make yourselves at home. I know its a bit cramped compared to your place, but its nice and toasty for the holidays."

He sat down on the couch, letting out a small sigh from all the exertion he had been expending. "So! How's your holiday been so far, guys?" he asked, giving himself a bit of needed rest and relaxation before he would start messing with the cake and hot chocolate.

Maia and Isaac may not have been too fond of the comparison, but Elliot was giggling away at how the two were "posing" "together." "You two are like twins, almost," he pointed out, something that surely wouldn't help the embarrassed couple feel any better about Kuu's holosuit. Thankfully, though, Elliot seemed more than happy to ignore the two and spend some time with his friend. He nodded in interest as Kuu talked about thumbs. "They're very great! I couldn't play video games without them," Elliot pointed out, glad to see that Kuu was being a bit more independent. Hopefully, this independence wouldn't lead to him burning the house down! "You've been keeping safe with those thumbs of yours, though. Right?"

Isaac looked hungrily on the cookies, giving Maia a kiss on the cheek in return. "They look delicious. Thank you!" he said, making sure to clear a brief spot on the table so they would have a nice home. "I've got some hot chocolate on the oven, too. Should be a nice little meal," he added. The cake? Nah, he'd let that be a little surprise once Maia got a bit more settled in.

He couldn't help but laugh a little as Maia recounted Kuu's mishaps. "That much chaos already, huh? Then again, we're talking about Kuu here, so I wouldn't expect anything less," Isaac remarked. "I bet you made his day with that gift, though. I mean, heck, I've never seen him look happier before. And this is Kuu we're talking about, so that's huge." When was the pipe fox ever not happy? It was almost disconcerting!

"My holiday's been okay. Mostly kinda busy, really," Isaac admitted. He'd spring the job reveal later, once it was time to open presents. "Elliot's been running me ragged trying to help him with gift ideas, and that's not even getting into all the Digital World stuff. But that's not really any different from the rest of this trip to Japan, huh?" It still felt weird realizing that this whole adventure started as just a little vacation.

"Any plans coming up?" Surely someone with a family as tight-knit and quasi-religious as Maia's would have something in store for Christmas!

Seeing Kuu's obvious distress, Elliot's eyes widened nervously. "Oh! No, no, that's not what I mean," he said, immediately worried that the pipe fox would take his explanation the wrong way. "I mean, like, don't bend them in ways they don't want to bend. Or put them inside of a fire or anything like that. If you just use 'em normally, you'll be perfectly fine." To demonstrate Elliot wiggled his own thumbs, smiling softly. "See? I've had mine for 13 years, and I'm fine. You'll do great with yours."

Not that Kuu was still focusing on thumbs. The mistletoe seemed to take Kuu's attention, and Elliot smiled a little as he glanced at it. "That's mistletoe," Elliot explained. "Its not for eating. Actually, I'm pretty sure its poisonous. But when two people stand under it . . ." Oh, how did he even explain this human tradition to Kuu? Did Kuu even know what kissing was? Or that Elliot totally planned for luring Maia and Isaac under the thing for a perfectly photogenic Christmas card moment? "Well, something funny happens.

Do you like the decorations? I worked my butt off setting them up."

Speaking of butts being worked off, Isaac had been keeping himself busy today too. The hot chocolate Maia was talking about was just one of many ways he did so. "How could I not? Christmas only comes once a year," he said, blushing a tiny bit. "And I wanted to make sure my first one with you would be something really special." That probably explained the chocolaty smell wafting from the kitchen that wasn't quite hot chocolate. And the little stack of presents under the tree.

With what Isaac knew about Maia's mom, however, Kuu getting his own room was a shocker. "Wait, really? No, 'the demon wears human flesh!' or anything like that?" he asked, somewhat confused. However, it clearly wasn't a topic he was in the mood to dwell on. "Well, I'm glad she's treating him better, at least. Hopefully that's another thing you don't have to worry about for a good while, eh?" It couldn't have been a more perfectly timed tease, especially with Maia reminding him not to wear himself out mere seconds later. He smiled at the reminder, giving Maia's hand a soft, reassuring squeeze. "Don't worry. This winter break's gonna be full rest and relaxation mode for me, at least."

At mention of the MMO Maia was always playing, a small, thoughtful smile spread over Isaac's face. "Y'know, I've been meaning to try that sometime," he commented. Considering Isaac wasn't much of a gamer, that might've come as a surprise! "Maybe I'll try it out before the new year. If I could get a hand at figuring it out, of course."

Much less entertaining was the idea of an aunt party. Isaac's nose seemed to wrinkle at the mere mention of the idea. Nobody ever said their aunt was hosting a party when there would actually be people their age at the party! Then they said it would be a party with their cousins. It'd probably be a bunch of drunk relatives sharing embarrassing stories, and considering the kinds of embarrassing stories Maia's dad could cook up when sober that idea terrified Isaac. At least Maia's mom would probably be hilarious on New Years. "Is your aunt up here too? Or are you flying back to the States for that?" Isaac asked, wondering how the logistics of such a trip would work.

"My family doesn't really do much for the holidays, these days," Isaac explained. "Maybe something quiet here for New Years, but as far as I know this is really all we've got planned." The boy seemed a little down about this fact, but the move to Japan still had so many logistical concerns to clear up. They really didn't have much time for big holiday celebrations. It certainly didn't help that the only people up here were Isaac, Elliot, and their mother. Then again, divorce certainly didn't help either.

Seemed like today would be Isaac's main source of Christmas cheer.

The sound of the hot chocolate being ready snapped Isaac out of his thoughts, though. "Oh! Just a second," he said, excusing himself briefly to go fetch the food. Soon he had returned with two trays balanced on his hand. With one he had a handsome looking chocolate cake, coated in red icing with a festive green border. In the center of the cake was a large fondant snowflake, with smaller fondant snowflakes dotting the sides. He set that down before Maia, letting the surprise speak for itself. Next to the cake he put the tray of hot chocolates, one for each member of the group with opposable thumbs. Unfortunately that meant three, because how the heck was Isaac supposed to know Kuu had a new holosuit? Thankfully, Isaac thoughtfully slid the one meant for him over in Kuu's general direction, abstaining from this round of drinks.

Filling the rest of the tray was toppings. Sugar, milk, creamer, marshmallows, whipped cream, and because of the festive season some fancier options like peppermint, cinnamon, vanilla, and caramel syrup. "How'd you guys like me to set these up for you?" he asked.

Elliot grinned at Kuu, a hint of pride in his face at Kuu's question. "Yep! Pretty neat, huh?" he asked. "Not all me, though. Isaac helped a lot too. Not as much as me, but that's because he was still on gift wrapping duty. You'll get to see that later, of course. For now, glad you like the decorations!" The lights were flickering merrily in red, green, and white, and each door was framed to perfection through green and gold sprigs. Elliot had clearly done the place over perfectionist-style, because there were barely any loose ends or wayward decorations. Even the stuff he trusted Isaac to do wasn't looking shabby at all. "Y'know, mom doesn't know about any of this. Wonder if she's gonna flip when she gets home . . . " Elliot mused, looking up at all the decorations thoughtfully.

Isaac was thinking about moms too, but in a much more surprised fashion. "Really? Huh, talk about a 180," Isaac remarked. " 'Course, she went from being astonished I existed to making me the center of attention at a family dinner, so its not like its anything out of the ordinary for her. I think." Isaac briefly shot a look in Kuu's direction. "He overwhelmed by all of this? Or is he eating all the attention up?" he asked, figuring this must've been like a second birthday of sorts for Kuu. His human rebirth day? Weird.

Maia seemed receptive to him joining the MMO, too. Today was just getting better and better! "Sounds great to me. I'd love the chance to meet some more of your friends," Isaac said. He may not have been much for games, but spending time with Maia was more than worth it in his eyes. Besides, she probably knew some cool people. Maybe there would even be a few other people Isaac knew in the mix, although he doubted it somewhat. The world was a big place, especially compared to the smaller seeming Digital World. It'd be far too convenient if he just logged on and bumped into everybody he knew.

Maybe that would be how they spent the time during Maia's aunt's party. "Oh. That makes way more sense," he said. It seemed like Maia moved here for family visits as well, even if much more positive reasons than Isaac. "Hey, think I should thank her for that?" he joked, a cheeky grin on his face.

Elliot giggled a little at Maia's shocked reaction. "Isn't my bro great?" he asked. "He's been learning how to do it like the pros, too, so you'll get a really nice drink." Best not to bring up the job yet, but now the group was clearly circling around that topic. However, what good was a drink if not everyone could share in it? Elliot gently scratched Kuu behind the ears as the Digimon scaled his shoulders. "Do you want a little bowl to drink out of, Kuu? I know you can't have cups, but I don't think it'd be fair to leave you out." he asked, offering a handful of marshmallows as a temporary compromise.

It was weird seeing Kuu following any rules. Especially ones about safety and common sense!

Isaac quickly got Elliot some marshmallows, sugar, and a shot of peppermint, the boy grinning wide in response as Isaac slid the cup over to him. For Maia, however, his procedure was much more meticulous. Enough milk to make it less overwhelming, a little bit of sugar, and then some caramel syrup and vanilla to add a nice blend of sweet flavors to the drink. That way, her sweet tooth could be appeased from a new, interesting angle. Then he added a bit of creamer, diligently shaping it with a spoon into the shape of . . . a cartridge?

Isaac grinned a little. It was showtime. Taking the whipped cream, he drew a thin, curving shape coming out from the cartridge and looping around the rim. Looking over the rim a little, he tapered off the whipped cream into a pointed nose, then used his spoon to flick some back and form the ears. Finally, some chocolate chips were used to make ear tips, a eyes, and a nose. Once the decoration was finished he gingerly turned the cup to Maia, a Kudamon made of whipped cream looking right back at her. He paired it with a big slice of cake before flopping back onto the couch. "Phew, there you go," he said, looking almost surprised that it came out so well.