How the Grinch Nearly Stole Christmas

By Jena M. (Kalia)

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DISCLAIMER: MA is the trademark and property of the people at DIC studios, or where ever they were thought up^_^ Characters are used without permission and no copyright infringement is intended. The character Lyris is property of my friend Mia (Who's let me use her for

tons of stuff. Thanx!)and if you want to use this character, you must ask permission from her. Kalia is my property, and you cannot use her without permission.

This was just something that I wrote someday because of the Holiday Spirit... and I was bored *giggle* It's purely for fun and entertainment. Enjoy!! =)

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Overtop of the objects that he carried in his hands, Presley was able to find himself in the main protion of the Sphinx, where the garage and the television room were constructed. He was carrying tapes, mostly festive-related, but a few had to do with other such things- such as sports and cartoons.

" Hey." He announced as he walked into the television room, not knowing who was there because of all the book, but knew that someone was there since the TV was turned on. He headed over to the side of the television, where he would drop the books off.

Armon looked up from the screen, and waved at the boy. " Good afternoon young prince." He replied happily, the remote concealed in his hand. The warrior gave a confused look at what the prince was carrying. " That is unusual-looking takeout Rapses."

Presley set the tapes down on the cobble floor, gripping his back as he stood back up with an ounce of pain... carrying all those tapes was quite a strain. " It isn't food Armon," He explained, giving an entertaining smile. " They're tapes, something to watch if you guys ever get bored or if there's nothing on TV."

Ja-kal walked into the room afte hearing the familiar sound of the prince's voice echoe through the stone hallways. " Greetings my prince." He told him, walking over to Presley. " What wonder have you brought to us today?"

Presley nearly chuckled at the statement. " No wonders, just tapes." He bent down and picked up a few on the top, just to give the leader an idea of what was there. " See, we have... Superbowl '97, something on Holiday cooking... Oh, here's How the Grinch stole Christmas, Nefer-tina said that she wanted to take a look at that one. The first part of it is on one tape, which had the Grinch stole Christmas on it, and the last part of it is on another tape because there wasn't enough room. It's on one called..." He looked at the front of the second tape. " Football's greatest injuries? How do I get all this stuff?!"

" What is a Grinch?" Armon asked, puzzled.

" Um, well, someone that always seems to be cranky, and doesn't like anything. They're always in a bad mood for some reason and no one knows why." Presley made a face. " I guess that's what a grinch is. Actually, the grinch in this movie's a four-foot tall furry green elf thing... but that's probably not the point."

" Sounds almost like Bes." The warrior commented, turning back to the television after knowing the answer to his question. A commercial for pro wrestling came on, and he was immediately consumed by it.

The prince looked around the room, confused. Usually, there would be something going on, at least more of his guardians could be found. He looked up at Ja-kal with a puzzled expression. " Where is everybody Ja-kal? Did they go out somewhere?"

" Rath's around here somewhere," He answered, picking up one of the tapes that the prince had left on the pile. " And the girls went shopping. Apparently, this is the season for buying things. Chris-something..."

" Oh, you mean because it's Christmas." Presley stated, starting to turn around and head back into the hall to leave the building. " Everyone buys things around this time of year. They always go out to get presents for their families, and christmas trees to put in their homes."

Ja-kal put a hand on his chin. " What unusual customes the people of today have. Trees in houses, and buying presents for everyone on just one day a year. Why is there a need to buy presents on just one day a year, when you could do so anyday of the year?"

Presley rolled his eyes at the thought. " Well, if we did that, then we'd all be broke. Besides, it's a tradition. Look, I've gotta get out of here, mom wants to take me... christmas shopping." He shuddered at the thought. " More family bonding stuff, she enjoys it."

" Don't take the time that you spend with your mother for grantit young Rapses." The leader told him. " Otherwise, you may wake up one day, and she won't be there. Then you will be all alone in that big house getting groceries and catching burglars on your own..."

The boy laughed. " Guess you've already seen Home Alone. Well, it's in there too, you don't have to watch it." Presley waved at the two of them as he began to walk out of the room, his old red backpack slung over his shoulder as he did do. Pretty soon, the only evidence that he had been there at all was the sound of echoeing footsteps in the building, as the sound carried very well.

Ja-kal picked up the first tape of How the Grinch Stole Christmas and opened up the box, examining the contents within. As he did so, Rath walked into the room carrying an armful of old-looking scrolls and papers, some of which were threatening of falling on the hard stone floor.

" Was that the prince that I just heard?" He asked, placing them on the old wooden table at the other end of the room, opposite the television.

" Hey, Grinch." Armon greeted waving as the scribe as he turned around. The warrior nearly laughed at the confused and severly agitated expression that came back to him.

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The Galleria was jam-packed with people. Every way that you looked, there was someone else there standing in your way, dressingrooms completely full and lines for the escalators. The indoor icerink was pretty active as well. The usual fast-paced skating that teens and children enjoyed was no more, as now adults and seniors tried theirs at normal skating, and leaving most of the kids in their dust. Behind the skate rink, a tall twenty-foot faux pine tree was decorated with all the trimming, blinking lights going on and off every few second to ring in the holiday spirit.

" I have never seen so many people in this place at once." Lyris exclaimed as she was the first one that got on the escalator. " There's barely any room to move."

" Reminds me of home." Kalia joked, getting on after her, and leaning on the moving side rail of it so that she could get a better view of the people skating. " Those running on glass are very interesting. They're fun to watch."

Nefer-tina got on last, and then snickered at the comment. " Yeah, but it's even better actually being there and skating! Maybe we could do that later today..."

The artist laughed. " Sure Nef, we'll just follow you through these huge masses of people, and then end up in, I don't know, someplace like Mexico."

Lyris chuckled up front. " Maybe we should wait until some of them have left for the day. It is after work hours now, around suppertime things might be less hectic." When she got to the top of the escalator, she gently hopped off the first step and back onto solid ground. The two others followed directly after, having to move out of the way quickly so that everyone else could get off and on their way.

The three guardians, covered in their twentieth-century clothing walked down the main part of the building, huge stores here and there, but most of the windows couldn't be seen because of the large amounts of consumers wandering about. They kept to the left side of the floor, where there didn't seem to be as many of them.

Nefer-tina watched the store windows going past with awe. There was fake snow, lights, trees, bells, candles, streamers and tinsel littered everywhere, decorating the entire place in a warm festive glow. " Everything here's so... red and green." She announced stopping for a moment at a childrens toystore to see the mechanical elves and Santa Clause move about.

Kalia crossed her arms in front of her." What makes this Chris... whatever such an important holiday anyway? They never made such a fuss at that Day of Thanks last month, or the time when everyone dresses up in funny costumes."

" It's something about their Lord's birth in the past. They celebrate it with this day." Lyris explained to the best of her knowledge, walking a step closer to the window. " It's such a wonderful time, I can't explain why it's so warm and cozy."

The artist looked through the window also, to see a poster of two kids on a toboggan going down a snowy hill. " Because everyone wears large coats and hats?" She replied to the question, not realizing that it was retorical.

The three continued on, still the long decorated windows never seeming to end. The air was amist with the sounds of the holiday season and everyone wandering about was completely faceless- their arms bundled high with presents for family and friends and were unable to see clearly. Large decoration christmas bulbs made of paper mache hung from the tall ceilings and small personelle dressed as elves walked around delivering small candies to children.

" Oh! Look at that!" Lyris suddenly exclaimed pointing out in the the crowd. The two others looked in the direction of her hand, but couldn't really see what she was motioning towards. Finally, after a few shoppers passed by, they saw it. A huge red throne dawned in ribbons and lace, soft cusions, candy canes and such. On the throne, a big man wearing a red suit and a white beard talked with a little boy sitting on his knee.

" That must be that Clause person that Presley was talking about." Nefer-tina announced after giving the stranger a good look. " I wonder why we've never seen him around before."

Kalia snickered. " They only come out at night, or in this case, Christmas." She put a hand on her cheek and cocked her head to get a better look. " I'm not sure, but it looks like his fasion sense is just about as terrible as Rath's is."

Lyris laughed. " Speaking of the guys, perhaps we should be getting back home soon. Maybe the prince would stop by and we could ask him more about this Christmas stuff that's going on all throughout town."

" Good idea, he said that he'd be bringing stuff over for us to look at. Probably more movies and stuff." The charioteer shook a plastic bag that she was carrying and looked at the two of them with a big smile on her face. " Got the munchies right here. Popcorn, chips, dip, pop..."

Kalia rolled her eyes and smiled at the muse. " This could take awhile." She grabbed her friend's arm and began to pull her through the crowded hall, people passing back and forth, and Nefer-tina still going on about what she had bought.

" Licorice, crackers, cheese to put on the crackers, veggies and dip..."

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" Honey, I'm home!" Kal shouted after walking through the hallway from the garage and into the main room with the television and the long wooden desk. She was expecting people to be there waiting for them, but instead, the room was bare and free of anyone. From behind, Lyris entered carrying Nefer-tina's bag with her. On the way back, the charioteer had slammed against a wire gate and now parts of it were jamming into the engine.

" Remind me to never, ever ride with her again." The artist told her, walking into the room, and nearly falling onto the large stone couch because of the exaustion of walking up and down the mall. " She could have nearly gotten us... re-killed."

" I would think that you would have gotten use to it by now." Lyris joked, walking in front of her and placing the bag on the table next to a bunched pile of scrolls. She turned around. " Are you planning on staying here? I'm heading off to the library for a little while."

" Yeah, I'll stay." Kalia told her, waving goodbye as the muse left her along in the large room, with nothing but the set and the remote control.

Just as she was about to turn the TV on, she spied somethings on the side of the set, sitting on the floor in a jumbled heap. Curious, the artist got up off the couch and walked over to them, kneeling down to get a better view. They were VCR tapes, probably about twelve or so, each one had a different cover and title. Kalia picked up the first tape on the pile and looked at the title.

" How the Grinch Stole Christmas." She read aloud, and then stood up with a small grin on her face. Perhaps this way she could learn a little more about what this holiday was all about. Carefully, she opened the box up, took the tape, and placed it into the machine. The artist then went back to the couch with the VCR remote in her hand, sat down, and pressed play.

With a title like that, she would have never thought that it was a children's cartoon, but as the first credits started to roll and the theme music began, she sat up and looked at the unusual characters of the story. This little green thing that was supposidly the grinch, other things that looked just like the Grinch only were a different colors were called Whos. This made no sense to her... was Christmas about grinches and whos?

As the tape progressed, Kalia found herself nearly shocked with what it was about. She watched how the grinch went into people's houses, stealing all of their christmas stuff, things called bamboozles and plunkers and such, things that she had never heard of before. Something else as well, a Roast Beast... Armon talked about many foods all throughout the day, but he had never mensioned something like that.

The grinch and his reindeer-dog raced up the cliff to drop all of the Christmas goodies. By now, the artist was on the edge of her seat with near horror. This couldn't have been what Christmas was suppose to turn out like. He kept saying, " Without their Christmas things, they will all be miserable on Christmas day", and even as the sleigh tipped over the edge of the cliff, he still kept saying it.

Then the tape stopped.

The picture shut itself off as the tape ended, the screen went blank and the room, once filled with the theme songs and character voices remained silent. The only light there was from one down the hall, which meant that from that point onward. it was quite dark in the room.

Kalia, her eyes still on the television set had the weirdest expression on her face. It was a cross between great sarcasm and disbelievement.

" That's not a show for children!" She exclaimed loudly, quickly getting up from the couch and walking over to the set, getting the tape from the machine and placing it rather roughly back in it's black case. It was set back down with the rest of them, piled high next to the TV.

The artist placed her hands on her hips and sighed. So that must have been what Christmas was all about. Those little elf things, those... Whos were all happy because they had had all those wonderful presents, decorations and that Roast Beast thing in their houses... the grinch had ruined Christmas for them by taking all that away.

" Well, that's not going to happen to us." She told herself out loud, leaving the room as quickly as possible and rushing towards the garage. Kalia noticed how everywhere she looked there were no decorations or presents. " We're going to have to get into the Christmas spirit, that's all. And that means another trip to the mall..."

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" I'm pooped!" Nefer-tina exclaimed loudly, flopping down on the couch. After they had gotten home, she had spent the last four hours trying to get the motor going again, and that had nearly drained her of all of her strength. Well... most of it.

" Hey anyone!! Wanna watch a movie!" She shouted through the entire building, inviting everyone and all who heard her into the television room to relax for awhile. The charioteer leaned back, sighed, and then pressed play on the VCR. She was going to watch something called Frosty the Snowman... she didn't quite know what a snowman was and she only hoped that it wouldn't turn into some type of twisted horror flick. She wasn't in the mood.

Ja-kal entered the room after being startled by her very loud invitation. " Nefer-tina, there are simpler ways of getting one's attension, more quiet ways." He sat on the arm of the rock sofa with that look of supremity. " As the desert lion must be quiet to catch the weary gazelle..."

" Yeah yeah, big cat has to shut up to eat." Nefer-tina waved him off with a smirk. " I've heard that once before. Gees Ja-kal, don't you have any new one-liners for us?"She couldn't help but laugh at the annoyed look that the leader gave her.

Armon came into the room through the other door, a large sub sandwich in his hand. As if in a memorized pattern, he walked in front of the charioteer and sat down next to her. " Whatcha watching?" He asked, mouth still half-full with bread and cold cuts.

" Frosty the Snowman." She announced, though without alot of confidence. " And just as long as it isn't anything like those Leprechaun movies, I'll be fine."

As the credits finished rolling, and an older cartoon showing children in snowsuits and a white ball-looking man appeared, Rath came into the room once more to pick up the scrolls that he had left there earlier that day. It was a sort of a re-arrangement process that he was going through, getting the scrolls from one side of the building to the otherside, re-arranging them on either side, switching back and forth and then placing them on yet another order... no one could seem to figure out what was going on but him.

The scribe looked at the television for a moment, but then just shook his head as the large man of snow slammed into a snowbank. " Why must you continue to watch things like this?" He asked flatly, gather up the scrolls.

Nefer-tina snickered. " Yeah, I guess it is kind of unrealistic seeing people slam into walls, floors, buoldings and snowbanks like that." She brought the volume up a little bit higher just to smite him and gave them all a devilish grin.

" And if you believe that, I have a bridge over the bay I can sell you." Lyris chimed up, coming from the library as she heard the charioteer's holler through the hall for an invite to watch even more videos. She had watched another one that afternoon and it had been quite enjoyable. She was hoping for another that evening.

The muse sat on the arm of the couch and watched as the children were all laughing and dancing around a large man made of snow. " Frosty?" She asked.

" Yeah. How'd you know?"

Lyris grinned. " I watched it this afternoon, it was at the top of the pile so..." She looked around the room, curious. " Has anyone seen Kal? Last I saw her she was sitting down to watch TV earlier this afternoon, but I haven't seen her for the rest of the day."

Armon gave her the same puzzled expression. " No, I haven't. Usually she's kicking around here somewhere..."

" Like a cold." Rath said quietly to himself, just catching up small parts of the conversasion as he kept unfolding scrolls, looking at them, and then placing them in an entirely different order.

Nefer-tina kept watch on the television screen, and sighed quietly so that no one else could hear. She was actually feeling a little down today after getting back from the mall. Everyone being all joyous and happy, collecting gifts for their families and decorations for their homes. And every Christmas show that she had watched always had snow in it... the charioteer knew that they could never have snow in San Fransisco, but it still would have brought a better feel to the holiday season.

" Hello!" A voice echoed through the hall from the garage at anyone who would listen. Ja-kal stood up from his sitting position on the couch arm, and was about to walk through the doorway and meet up with her, but instead, a head popped out from behind the corner with a big grin.

" Hi all!" Kalia announced with a gleam in her eye. She walked out from behind the corner with two large paper grocery bags in her arms. It was almost as if they were pulling her down, because as she walked across the room to place them on the table, the artist swerved side to side trying to keep their contents in check.

" What's that?" Armon asked. " I didn't think that we needed groceries for another week, they were already done yesterday."

She smiled. " Well, these aren't ordinary groceries, they're Christmas groceries." Kalia took off a long black coat that she had been wearing and from the pocket, brought out a piece of paper and scanned it over. " I think I've got everything- cookies, candy, funny little cherry things... something called a nog of egg..."

Lyris laughed. " Alright! It's about time that we started to get into the Christmas spirit, and it sounds like we're on to a pretty good start with that."

The artist frowned a little and finished looking over the list. " Yes, I guess so, but did you know there is nowhere in that mall that sells anything even close to a Roast Beast." With a shrug, she picked up the bags and began to head to the kitchen, leaving them all alone with the television and no interruptions. " Oh well, Merry Christmas everyone!"

Rath watched her leave with a puzzled look, and after she was out of the way, he just rolled his eyes and began to stack scrolls once more. " I think she's lost her merry little mind." He commented at the vast holiday spirit.

" Naw, actually, I kind of like the idea of making this place a little more... festive." Nefer-tina replied, sitting up high on the stone sofa. " I say that tomorrow, we go out and buy one of those big fake trees that people decorate and leave in their homes."

" And they we must go out and buy gifts for people." Armon stated as well, starting to get a little bit excited about the concept as well. Christmas had never really struck him as something to vastly celebrate, it was just like all the other ones that made people buy more and get of school now and then.

" Wait a minute." Ja-kal told everyone, placing his hands on his hips. " Now, I don't want anyone to go overboard on this. Yes it is a special holiday, but we don't want to get sidetracked to what we are suppose to be doing. Protecting the young..."

Kalia stuck her head out of the doorway once more with two large bottles in her hands, the large grin still on her face. " Um, people... which would taste better with mashed potatoes- cranberry juice or cranberry drink?"

Nefer-tina snickered and glanced up at the leader in her usual rebellious form. " You were saying something about getting carried away, Ja-kal?"

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With an angered look, Rath crossed his arms and glared at Armon. " Armon, I really don't think that the reason that you buy candy calendars is so that you can eat all the chocolate at once."

The warrior looked up from his seat, and quickly popped two more in his mouth. " I know that!" He defended, picking up the bow with his hand and waving it around to show it off. " See, it's already the 22nd of December, so I'm just eating the ones up to today."

The scribe raised an eyebrow at him. " Oh really? And why persay do you have six calendars anyway?"

He shrugged. " I dunno, Kal brought them home today." Armon popped two more in his mouth and then picked up the last Advent calendar from the table to get to work on that one. " Mebwe yu shluld ash ha." He told him, mouth full with candy.

Lyris walked in the room, wearing an elaborate long red hat with a fuzzy pom-pom on the end of it and carrying what looked like branches from a pine tree. She walked from the left of the table, and then dropped the branches on the counter next to it. " I never thought that Christmas could be so much work." She heaved a sigh of relief, leaning against the counter.

" Here, have a chocolate." Armon offered, handing her the calendar with only one last door ready to break and reveal actual chocolate inside.

She smiled. " No thanks, I think I'll just..." She looked over the small room for a seat to sit down on, but none were available at the time. " Faint." She jokes, waving her own statement off and walking over to the table. The muse placed her elbows on the table and her head in her hands. She closed her eyes and just talked as if in a trance. " Maybe I'll hit the hay for awhile... Kal needed to go out and buy the mall's stock of Christmas decorations for the Sphinx... we were out all afternoon. " Lyris yawned quietly, placing a hand over her mouth.

" What is it with her all of a sudden anyway? In one minute a simply holiday turns into a large celebration which we hardly know anything about." Rath thought out loud as he started to walk over to the counter next to Lyris to see what the branches and such ascually were.

The muse smiled in a weak way. " Well, it's her first christmas, you know how excited she gets about things like this..."

" Hmmm... annoying, isn't it." He stated flatly, finding out that branches were nothing but synthetic and placed them back on the stone counter. " What's little miss fixer-upper doing now?"

" Oh, I don't know." Lyris confessed, getting up from the table, finally deciding that going for a rest would be the best thing for her right now. " Hanging lights and decorating the tree the last time I saw her..."

" We have lights?" Armon asked with amazement.

" We have a tree?" Rath exclaimed directly afterwards. The three gave quick glances to one another, all having somewhat confused and mystified faces. Lyris simply shrugged. She was alittle too tired right now to fill them both in on details.

" It's in the TV room if you want to see it, but until then, I'm going to take forty winks." She smiled and winked just as she left the room, the pom-pom from her hat still bouncing back and forth as she did so. " I'm feeling a little too dead at the moment."

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" Deck the halls when cows are falling..." Nefer-tina sang to herself after hearing a very joyous song (though not a very clear one) on the radio of the HotRa. She hadn't understood the words very well, but when in Rome it was better to make due with what you had. " 'Tis the season to be yelling, la la la la la, la la la la..."

Kalia laughed at her friend's randition of the song. " Nef, that isn't how it goes, it's... Deck the falls with Border Collies..."

" La la la la la... la la la la!!!!!" The charioteer exploded into song, picking up the final bulb from the empty plastic box and hung it carefully on the plastic green branch. The tree that they had gotten from the mall, though fake looked just as real as a small pine. To make it even more realistic, the artist had actually picked up dozens of small pine-tree scented carboard cutouts and hid them among the needles and around the back.

" Guess I won't give up my day job huh?" Nefer-tina exclaimed with a snicker. She looked behind her at the garland, fake icecicles, immitation snow-in-a-bottle and many many smaller bulbs to place around the Sphinx after the tree was done.

" Well," She exclaimed, going behind her back and bringing it back out for her friend to see. " Before the tree starts to get so crowded with stuff that we can't get to the top, why don't we put this thing on it now, then finish it." The charioteer held out a small lace angel with long wings of fake feathers and gold sparkles over it.

Kalia stopped with throwing on the garland and nearly fell back in surprise. She gave Nefer-tina the most unbelieving look in the world. " What?! You can't do that!! The angel has to be put on last, it's tradition!..."

Nefer-tina burst out with a quick laugh. " Kal, what tradition? This is the first tree that we've ever had..."

" And it has to be perfect." The artist pulled out a small bit of garland from where there seemed to be a bit too much. " And it's a tradition with everyone else in the world, why not with us too? You have to put the angel on last, otherwise... really bad stuff's going to happen to everyone."

The charioteer shrugged. " Ok, whatever." She placed the angel back down on the couch and held up the second string of lights for the tree. " Then why don't we put these on instead? Or is there some sort of light monster that'll come and chew our heads off if we put these on too early?"

Kalia put a hand on her chin, gripping the silver decorations in her other hand. " I really don't know about that, but thanks Nef I'll look into that." The two exchanged quick looks before just smiling and continuing on with what they were doing.

Slightly curous as to what Lyris meant as in decorating the tree, Rath walked through the doorway to see what the two of them were up to. He was about to comment on the two of them moving about over a silly tree, but just as he got there, the dozens of tiny lights on the tree lit up the entire room, showing off a long afternoon's worth of efforts.

There were small specks of silver and gold everywhere, even on the walls and a little stringing from the ceiling. The television was nearly covered over with flashy red and green paper, the walls had several small circular decorations made of green branches and covered with bows. He looked above his head, and there were small leaves hanging everywhere.

" What is this?" He asked, sounding not too thrilled about the idea of rapid decorating going on at a place that was suppose to be a secret.

Kalia looked up from getting the last small bit of garland on the bottom of the tree, and then quickly looked back down at her work. " Something called Mistle-toe... supposidly if you and a person stand underneath it together, you have to kiss them." She glanced up again with a sly grin creeping onto her face. " Now get out from under there, you're going to break it."

Not because she had told him to, the scribe crossed his arms and walked a little bit more into the room, away from the hanging holly. " Is that the best that you can come up with? Why Kalia, I do think that the holidays are making you soft."

She laughed. " Well, it's the season to be happy and caring around others, so get a life and get off the garland you jerk." She tugged at the silver decor on the floor.

" Well, that didn't take very long."

" Ha! Just wait until we break out the spray snow, then someone'll be in serious trouble."

Nefer-tina put her hands up in front of her face in an action saying that she didn't want to be apart of anything that was going on. Instead, she turned her attension over to the couch once more, still wondering what they were going to do with all of the extra decorations. Perhaps line them along the walls of the library, or the garage... no, she didn't want any of these overly-tacky stuffs in her garage.

" What are we going to do with three pounds of candy canes?" She asked herself, thinking that perhaps they had a gone a wee bit overboard on the shopping that morning...

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" I can't watch the TV anymore!" Armon whinned loudly, annoyed that the remote control he held in his hand did absolutely nothing. Beside him, Lyris was reading through a catalogue, but continually had to shimmy over so that the warrior had plenty of grieving space for the unoperational set.

" Why don't you just get up and turn it on?!" Rath asked in agitation, pushing off small bulbs and fake pine branches from his table to get at the scrolls and vials sitting there. He sighed in frustration when it turned out that a cranberry had ended up in a flask that he had been conducting a few experiments in, and ruined the reaction.

Armon looked nearly shocked. " What?! Bite your tongue, this is the twenthieth century, I don't have to do anything anymore!" From the next seat over, the muse giggled at the statement as she leafed through the pages once more.

The artist quicky walked into the room, hand on her head and a worried expression. " OK, no one panic!... Now, has... anyone... seen... the... large... wreath... that... was... placed... here... this... morning?" It was almost as if she was talking to a bunch of kindergarden children, the way that she was speaking in an extremely slow manner. The scribe rolled his eyes at it, Armon just gave him a blank expression.

" Well?! I need it to finish the janitor's closet." She explained, she too rolling her eyes at the practical dead silence around her.

" You're decorating the janitor's closet?" Lyris asked in a puzzled manner. " The janitor's closet that we never use? The janitor's closet that has been locket for almost two years?..."

Kal gave her a quiet look. " And... your point is what? Everything in this place must be perfect for Christmas, we only have two days left you know, and I already finished with the fake snow in the sarcophagui." As large smile spread over her face, partly because of triumphe, partly because of what she had done. Slyly, she gave the scribe an " I told you so" look" and went to go sit down inbetween Armon and Lyris.

Rath looked at her, clearly annoyed. " There is something called hyper-celebresis you know... it's when people have too much time on their hands and spend their days trying to work off what they have..." Suddenly her words hit him, and the thought came to his mind of his sarcophagus completely white with the fake snow-in-a-can. " Excuse me." He announced, getting up and leaving the room as quickly as he could, without trying to look like he was in a rush.

Kalia snickered after he left the room. " Yeah, that'll show ya for screwing up the library scrolls." She turned to Lyris with a wide smile. " So, are you as excited about Christmas as I am?" They hadn't had alot of time to talk lately, what with the muse... sleeping and the artist... going on shopping sprees and decorating the entire headquarters.

Lyris grinned, but it was a forced grin that looked just a tiny bit too fake. " Ya, I'm excited. I mean, this is a wonderful time of the year, everyone's happy with loved ones and the christmas spirit, but..." She didn't know quite how to word this to her. " Aren't you going a little bit overboard with the decor here Kal?"

The gazelle guardian just gave a half-grin at the thought. " You can't have too much Christmas spirit Ly, and since everyone else here doesn't feel like doing it someone has to take the job." She tapped the muse's knee and got up again. " I just have to find that large wreath now..."

" I know, but all of these decorations..." Lyris glanced over to Armon, who was still quite upset about the television remote becoming mute to the touch. " In such a short time, they're... uncomfortable. Especially when you have to move garland and popcorn string to get into the sarcophagui at night."

She crossed her arms, showing the muse that she wasn't phazed a bit. " Oh yeah? Just wait until I'm able to get my hands on some bamboozles, plunkers and Roast Beast, then you'll be in the spirit of things." She pointed to them both, cocked her head and smiled, then left the room the same way she had came in, through the door leading to the sarcophagui room and the library.

Lyris looked back down to her catalogue. " Whatever you say..." She finished, even though the artist was no longer in the room. Armon, discouraged with the inanimate remote dropped it on the stone couch and got up to make himself a snack. He followed the same path Kal did, turning to the right and departing.

******************************

Ja-kal looked up to see a large stream of lights passing overhead, and wondered why they were there. He didn't see them as decorations for the holidays, he saw them as homing beacons for Scarab, they were practically welcoming him to their secret hideout. Sternly, the leader walked underneath the large pylon-like entrance to the Sphinx and over the long stone pathway to the building...

" What happened here?!" He exclaimed loudly after getting inside the Sphinx and seeing all the decorations, the holly, the bulbs, more lights, wreaths, snow and a large evergreen tree in the television room. " I leave here for just one afternoon, and already it looks like it's been hit by a swarm of angry locusts..."

" Try angry decorators," Nefer-tina told him, realizing that the remote for the TV no longer worked, so she set it back on the arm of the couch and slumped down. " We, well, kind of went a little overboard with the decorations."

" I noticed." Ja-kal answered walking up to the tree and looking into one of the large red bulbs settled on the tree. It was like a funhouse mirror, completely distorting the image. " I hope that you're planning to take most of it down, we cannot live like this."

The charioteer smirked, putting her arms up over her head and seemed almost sure of herself. " Ok, but you've gotta tell Kalia that first, she's the one that put the finishing touches on everything. Last I heard from Lyris was that she was decorating the janitor's closet for some strange reason."

" The janitor's closet? The one that we never use?"

" Uh huh."

" And the one that's never open?"

" Yup."

The leader shook his head and glanced around the entire room. The television was nearly covered over with garland and those fake needles from the plastic pine branches. If he hadn't had known differently, the walls of the Sphinx wouldn't have been stone at all, they were too decorated to figure out what they were made of. " Why? Why must she continue to do this?"

" Ch, no one knows...she's just really excited about Christmas, that's all, people have the right to be excited about things Ja-kal."

He glanced over the finely, slightly over-decirated tree. " It's one thing to be excited about something, it's another to be obsessed about something." He gave her a determining look. Nefer-tina just looked up at the ceiling to advert his gaze.

" And frankly, I'm getting quite sick of it."

******************************

" Ah! Help, I'm being attacked by red berries!"Nefer-tina stated in a joking tone as she walked through the doorway and found that a piece of hanging ivy had fallen from it's place, right onto her shoulders. With a half smile, she picked it up off of herself and set it down on the table to her right.

" So, what are you guys doing?" The charioteer walked behind Ja-kal, Armon and Lyris as they moved game pieces on a colorful board.

Ja-kal sighed. " Well, seeing as how we cannot use the television, or for that matter see it, we decided to bring out a game to keep us occupied."

Lyris picked up a card from the deck, and smiled. " Well, seeing as how I have just advanced to Boardwalk, I might as well buy it." She cast a happy eye towards Armon, who she knew had needed that last blue lot to complete the set. " Four hundred dollars." The muse announced, looking through her large hand of bills before her.

The warrior made an unhappy face, and then looked to the TV the same way that you would look to a warm cup of hot chocolate on a cold winter day. " I want the TV back." He told everyone in his less-than usual cheery way.

Rath looked up from the scrolls that he was trying to copy from. " Then take down the decorations and watch it Armon." He told the warrior in a stern voie. All day he had been moping about the loss of the set, and the scribe was about ready to explode with agitation because of it.

" I try to, but everytime I do Kalia comes in and tells me to leave them alone." He leaned back in his seat and put his big hand on his knee. " And no offense, but she gets ugly when she's angry."

From the doorway leading to the kitchen and sarcophagui room, the artist as if on cue waltzed into the room with a large plate full of unshelled nuts. All sizes, colors and names - hazelnuts, walnuts, peanuts, almonds, cashews and pecans. In the center of them, a large nutcracker was placed next to a small bowl, used for riding the shells of the nuts.

" OK." She announced, placing the entire plate down on top of the TV set. " We've got nuts, and the turkey's in the oven, and the potatoes are... somewhere doing something." She turned to face everyone with probably the biggest smile possible. " This is going to be the best Christmas Eve ever!"

Nefer-tina flicked a piece of holly from her shoulder with a less-than overjoyed look. " Take a pill Kal." She exclaimed, lying down on stone couch to relax. " It's Christmas, not the first Moon Launch."

" Moon Launch?"

" What she means is... don't over-exert yourself with this decorating and Christmas thing." Lyris said, realizing that they wouldn't finish their game, and began to pack up the tiny metal pieces to it. " It's one day of the year, and though it is a big day of the year, it isn't what you put on the walls that makes it special."

Kalia glanced at them all for a moment, and then grinned. " Oh, I get it," She pointed to them all with a sly look. " You guys are a little bit cranky because I did all the decorating, and you all wanted to help a little bit more." The artist put her hands on her hips, turned around and walked over to the back of the tree.

" We're cranky because we're living in Santa's Workshop." Rath told her, trying to look away from the table to see what persay she was doing behind the tree like that.

Kalia looked up from the object that she was pulling away from the back of the tree. " Ok guys, this'll cheer you up. Now I know that we don't have any snow here in San Fransisco, but..." Suddenly, a huge gust of white came flying from her hand as she threw something towards them. They all looked around the room at this new white stuff covering the floor and themselves. The artist then brought up the object that she was hiding behind the tree and held it up in front of her. It was a wooden sled,a little old and worn, but looking quite traditional. " Who wants to slide down the back of the Sphinx?!" She called out to them all with a large smile.

" Ugh." Rath groaned, placing his head on his hand in an attempt not to let this act of immaturity bother him.

Nefer-tina shook her head to get the white stuff - whatever it was out of her hair. It floated down in front of her face and landed quitely on her nose. To find out what it was, she stuck her tongue out to catch a small piece of it, thinking that it was perhaps cloth or paper. A piece landed on her tongue, and she made a horrid face. " Ew!" She exclaimed, trying to spit out the flavor. " Soap!"

" That's it!" Ja-kal's voice boomed over the room. Lighthearted antics ceasted and a more sinister supremisy began to immerge. They all looked to the leader, especially Kalia, who had been surprised by his sudden outburst.

" I know that you mean well here Kalia," He began, standing up and crossing his arms in front of him. " But this... Christmas excitement that you have is getting to be more than all of us can handle."

She nodded at him in an understanding way. " You mean that you can't watch television." She replied, still in a cheerful mood.

" No, I mean the bright Christmas lights overtop of a supposidly deserted museum building, the tinsel and garland clogging the machinery, the white spray-on snow that we're going to have to scrub at forever to remove from our sarcophagui." In the distance, she could see the scribe rolling his eyes at the last statement.

" OK, so I've been busy." She replied in defene. " But at least I've been doing something, if it were up to you, we would all be stuck in this drab building watching as the Holiday Season passes us by!..."

" It is making life impossible!" Ja-kal told her sternly. " We are suppose to be here to protect Prince Rapses, we cannot do that when we're falling over wreaths and lights in our own home!"

" So it's a crime to celebrate the holidays then?!" Kalia shouted, dropping the sled to the ground, neverminding as the fall chipped the side of one of the wooden panels. " That placing a tree here and hanging some decor is automatically forbidden? It doesn't matter that if we don't have any Christmas trees or Christmas hangings or Christmas dinner means that we'll all be miserable forever?!"

Ja-kal gave her an unusual look. " Where did you ever get that idea?"

" It doesn't matter, apparently nothing matters anymore." The artist announced, pushing her hair away from her face. " For the past couple of days I have been busting my back to try and make this holiday work for you all, but all you seem to care about is that things were changed just a little bit to make this work." She stepped over the sled, determined to leave the room as quickly as she could. " So get along, have a great time and be pleasant and happy to everyone, you jerks."

" Kal, wait!" Lyris called after her as she left the room. Nefer-tina looked down at her lap, brushing away more of the soap flakes that were covering them all. Armon glanced up at Ja-kal who was still standing in the middle of the room. Rath was looking through the doorway that Kalia had left through, and the leader was still standing there to back up what he had said.

The muse stood up and brushed off her head. " Well," She began crossing her arms and looking at everyone in the room. " It would seem that not enough Christmas wasn't good enough, and too much Christmas was too much." To get by as silently as possible, Lyris crossed the front of the room by the decorated television set, past the tree, the old wooden table, and afterwards out the doorway entirely. She had a hunch about what was going on here.

The scribe leaned back in his seat, soap flakes falling off the top of his hat as he looked down. " Well, all I can say is that it's about time that this Christmas nonsense was put to rest."

Nefer-tina, still quite and somewhat withdrawn by the sudden arguement, simply looked up from her lap and tossed a few flakes on the floor." Just shut up." She told him with determination in her eyes. " For as much as I know, she knew what she was doing more than the rest of us."

******************************

The lights over the bay were truely spectacular. The Golden Gate bridge reflected it's lights onto the ocean surface, creating a dithering effect and causing the light to be even more splendid. On either side of the bay, there were houses decorated with large green and red lights, reindeer ornaments and mechanical Santas waving to all from the perches high atop the rooftops.

Kalia sighed and drew her knees in closer to herself on her resting place on the very top of te giant Sphinx's head. It was a quiet place, high above everything and she enjoyed being there to think things out, especially things like this. She didn't know why everyone was so against her, perhaps they didn't know about what Christmas was all about, like her. She didn't want them to end up like those little Whos on the video, destined to lead an unhappy holiday because of not having any ornaments, gifts or special dinners.

Something rubbed up against her back, and she jumped in surprise, The artist turned around to see what it was, and gave a small grin at Kahti, who has rubbed up against her looking for attension. The cat still has on a small piece of ivy that she had placed around her neck yesterday for the festive touch.

" Hey Kahti." She told the cat, picking her up and setting her on her lap. The feline meowed softly and leaned back, glad for someone to be with her this starry night. Kalia looked down at her. " Kahti, you're not angry with all of the decorations that were put up, right? You like them, don't you?" She knew that the cat would never answer her, but it was better than talking to herself about it. In respose to the questions, Kahti mewed some more, took her paw and pulled off the small bit of ivy around her neck.

" Gee thanks." The artist replied in a flat tone, moving the cat out of her lap and looking down at the ivy laying there on the stone. " What did I do wrong? Was it too much, not enough... you can't have too much, the more you have, the happier everyone was suppose to be..."

" And you think the opposite happened?" A voice from behind her asked. Kalia nearly whizzed around this time making the cat jump in surprise. From the back of the Sphinx head she could see someone walking over towards her.

" Well what would you call what just happened down there?"

Lyris grinned and sat down beside her. She seemed almost out of breath from trying to get up there in the first place. " How do you make it up here so easily?" She asked with a sigh. " It took me almost ten minutes just to get up to the shoulders."

Kalia motioned towards the back of the Sphinx's headdress where only a tiny glimpse of some iron pipes were apparent. " I use the ladder."

" Oh!" Lyris exclaimed with a small laugh, leaning back and proping herself on her arms. " Well, that would make things a little easier."

The artist looked down at her hands, then over at Kahti, who because of the surprise she had been given didn't bother to stick around for very much longer and was crawling down the back of the Sphinx to reach the ground. " You probably all think I'm crazy." She told her friend, never bothering to even look up.

The muse looked at her with nearly unbelieving eyes. " Of course not! Well, perhaps you went a little overboard on the decorating... and the tree... and dinner... and..."

" I get the idea Ly." She replied flatly, rolling her eyes and crossing her arms in front of her. " But all I was trying to do was bring a little Christmas Cheer to us all, it was the only way to keep everyone from being miserable for the rest of the holidays."

Lyris looked up at the bright stars twinkling in the night sky. " I might not be as... perceptive as you are, but I thought that we were happy enough just when we had a few simple decorations. Much more than we are now, I'm sorry to say."

" It wouldn't have lasted." Kalia told her unhappily with a sigh. " Sure, things would have been alright until Christmas day, then the unpleasantness would start, we'd all get depressed and all because we didn't have and decor..."

" Where did you hear all of this?" Lyris interrupted, starting to get just a little bit annoyed as to why her friend thought they weren't happy here.

" It was on that video!" Kalia defended, looking at the muse with an approaching angry face. " It tells of everything that's important in Christmas times- food and presents and wall hangings and lights... some things called kerplunkers and foozles."

Lyris grinned at the last two names. " What show was this?"

" How the Grinch Stole Christmas."

The muse smiled widely, and then couodn't help but laugh at the idea. The artist was still dead serious, and took the lighthearted laughter as almost insulting. " Excuse me?! What's so funny about this?! Christmas is ruined and no one's even remotely cheery!"

Lyris looked at her pleasantly. " Oh, I'm sorry Kal, it's just that... How the Grinch Stole Christmas is a children's story."

" It sure didn't seem like it! All the rudeness and the unhappy ending."

" What unhappy ending?" The muse asked curously, remembering how she herself loved that particular story. " I loved it! The grinch takes the toys, he learns his lesson, he gives them back and everyone has a merry Christmas just like they should have."

The artist scrunched up her nose. " Huh? You must be thinking of another, the one that I watched was a terrible show! The big green thing stole the Whos presents, took them up to the mountains, and then dumped them, ruining their Christmas!"

She shook her head. " No that is definitly not how the story goes... that's how a small part of it goes, but..." The muse trailed off as something suddenly came to her. The prine had brought the two tapes, one of them had part of the show on it, and the other had the ending of it. He had told Armon and Ja-kal about it, but had Kalia known about it?

" Oh dear!" Lyris exclaimed, putting a hand on her head. which still had a bit of soap flakes scattered throughout. She laughed some more. " The things that we get ourselves into!"

Kalia sat there completely lost as to what the muse was talking about. " The what is what now?" She asked in an extremely puzzled tone.

With a smile Lyris stood up and brushed herself off. " Kal, you never finished watching the show, part of it was on the first tape, and part of it was on the second tape... you watched the first one, but didn't know that there was more!"

" What more could there have been? The Grinch ruins christmas for everyone... Oh no! He doesn't do something to that cute little dog does he?!"

" Come on." Lyris grabbed onto Kalia's arms and pulled her up to her feet. " All shall be explained as soon as we get inside and show you the rest of that video... and we clear off the decorations from the Christmas tree."

The artist giggles a bit. " Armon's going to like that, he won't be moping about it anymore."

The muse walked away and towards the ladder on the left side of the Sphinx's head. She gripped the metal railing and began to go down it to ground level. " Come on Kal, let's go and show you what Christmas spirit is really all about."

******************************

Presley took another sip of Egg-Nog and laughed some more. While his mother was busy preparing Christmas dinner, she had told him that he could go out for awhile, an hour or so, so he decided to come on over to the Sphinx to see how his guardians were doing. " Sounds like you guys have had your hands full these past few days!"

" Oh yes!" Lyris laughed along with him, and practically everyone in the room. " It was so hectic here, but luckily we got everything straightened up in the end."

Armon, holding the nutcracker in his hand while trying to balance a walnut in it agreed. " Yup! But now, most of the lights are taken down, the tinsel isn't falling on us, and..." He smiled greatly. " We can watch TV again." He pushed down on the nutcracker, sendin the shell of it flying everywhere.

" Really Armon, do you have to be so messy when you eat?!" Rath exclaimed, flicking away a nutshell that had fallen on his shoulder, even though he was across the room from the warrior.

Kalia leaned back on the stone couch with another cup of egg-nog in her hand. " Yes, after seeing that last part of the movie, things became a lot clearer for me. That Christmas wasn't about hanging decorations or having a big tree, but being with those that you care about and making the most of what you have."

" And Boy! Did we have alot!" Nefer-tina exclaimed happily, picking up Lyris's long red santa hat from the side of the couch and putting it on her own head. " Let's just say there'll be no need for Christmas shopping next year."

Ja-kal smiled and place a hand on Presley's shoulder. " Though I was harsh, I am glad that we had a chance to celebrate this Christmas holiday, we have so very few of them anymore that we ourselves can celebrate, and it's nice to have something that all can partake in."

The artist gave him an ironic look. " Kind of dumbed-down the meaning of the Holiday Ja-kal."

Lyris smiled. " After everything was all said and done, we took down quite a bit of the decorations, toned down on the food..." Armon groaned at the thought of that. " ... and just had what we needed, each other, a nice-looking tree..."

" A burnt turkey." Rath recalled, sitting back in the pulled-up wooden chair.

" Well excuse me!" Kalia interveened, crossing her arms.

Nefer-tina burst into laugher as she remembered the past few days... all of this had started with one single television show, and turned into something that could have very well ruined their first Christmas together. Everything that they had gotten tired of, everything they didn't want... but there was something that they had missed out all this time.

" You know what would make this Christmas almost perfect?" She asked everyone. The charioteer was received by six pairs of eyes looking at her in confusion. With a small giggle she leaned towards Lyris and whispered something into the muse's ear. Moment's later, Lyris as well had a huge smile on her face, and nodded at what her friend had said.

" What are you doing?" Ja-kal asked, unable to hide excitemet, yet as well the sterness in his voice.

The muse walked over from the sofa, and to the other side of the room to the right of the tree where the old wooden table sat. She walked behind that, and to the very back of the room. With everyone watching, Lyris picked up her very favourite instrument, her lyre, and held it up so that everyone could see it. Still with the large grin on her face, the muse played the first eight notes in a very well-known Christmas carol, waiting for anyone to start.

Nefer-tina nearly shouted it out. " Deck the Halls when cows are falling!" Every face in the room lightened up as they all realized that no doubt they knew where it was going.

" Fa lalalala, lalalala!" Armon sang, quite unmusically, but in a very cheery way.

" 'Tis the season to be yelling!" Kalia sang along, moving her head side to side.

" Fa lalalala, lalalala!" The warrior shouted once more as everyone laughed at what unusual song that they were all getting into.

" Dominos and grey Sombreros." Lyris sang in her high sweet voice, still playing the cords of the song on her lyre.

" Fa lala, lalala, la la la!"

Rath looked across the room to see the muse glancing at him to start off the last line of that verse. Stubbornly, the scribe crossed his arms. " Oh no! I won't be a part of this!'

" Fa lalalalala, la la la la!"

And so, the carol began (Look at the colors to see which character sings what ^_^)

" See the Blazing Yule before us!"