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Christmas. A time of celebration, good tidings, cheer, and whatever else was told in the carols most people sang was not what you would find at the Elliott estate. Sure, Worker Drones were hard at work putting up tinsel, bobbles, snowglobes, stars, stockings, and anything else that was even remotely christmas related. But there were no gifts under the grandiose tree in the ball room, no treats in the many many stockings, and no joy in the air.
Putting the last few ornaments on a string that spanned one of the many long hallways of the manor, N whipped digital sweat from his brow. He’d been hard at work for almost the whole day, but finally he was done with his latest assignment.
He slid down the collapsible ladder to the floor, picked it up, and started on his way back to the main hall where he’d last seen the master and mistress. On his way, he spotted Tessa looking out one of the many large windows.
The young Elliott was looking at the scenery outside with a wistful expression. N figured it might do the girl some good if he stopped by for a quick chat.
“Hiya, Tessa!” He greeted, causing her to turn around. “What’s up?”
“Oh, g’day N. Just… thinkin’ I suppose.” She answered, downtrodden, turning back to the window.
“About?” N pressed further.
“... all the kids in those old books say Christmas is a fun holiday, but it’s never been like that here. Just boring social events, suitors, and stuffy old business people trying to get into mother and fathers good graces.” She rested her head on a hand as she leaned further into the windowsill. “Apparently there's supposed to be snow, too.”
N wasn’t sure what to say. It was true, the manor had never had a christmas as it was described in the books in the library. He never thought about how that would make Tessa feel.
In an instant, it was like a lightbulb appeared over his head. His face broke into a smile as he started to scheme. “Well I sure am sorry to hear that, Tessa. Maybe you should go find J? I’m sure she can find a way to get your mind off it.”
Nodding, Tessa pulled away from the window. “Yeah, I was on my way to do that when I stopped. I’ll see you later?”
“Without a doubt!” N promised, waving to her as she left.
When she disappeared from sight, N dashed down the hallway. He expertly dodged any other Worker Drones on his way to his destination. Soon, the small form of the Drone he was looking for entered his sight.
“V! V V V V V V!” He called, coming to a screeching halt before the maid. She was startled from his rapid approach, but a small nervous smile spread across her face upon seeing him.
“U-um, hi?” She looked up at the large item he was carrying, tilting her head in confusion. “Why do you have a ladder?”
“Huh? Oh! Right.” He carefully set the ladder against the wall. “I was hanging ornaments, but that's not important.” He grabbed her by the shoulders, bouncing up and down on the balls of his metallic feet. “I want to make today special for Tessa because normally Christmas isn't special for her and she looked like she wasn’t really having a great time and I really really really need your help please!”
V blinked at him with wide eyes, trying to parse together the fast paced words he used. “Uhh… yeah, sure!”
“Great! Can you find Cyn and can the both of you look around for a present to get Tessa? I need to finish some of the jobs and then I’ll get one of the others in the kitchen to make cookies!”
Smiling endearingly at him, V nodded. “Of course.”
“Aw! Thankyouthankyouthankyou!” He picked up the shorter Drone and spun her in a circle, rubbing their non-existent noses together. V giggled at his display of affection, reveling in the warm fuzzy feeling within her chest.
Quickly setting her down, N retrieved the ladder and started back down the hallway. “Okay, Igottagobye!” He bid before running off to finish his work.
V watched him go for a few moments before setting out to her new job. If she recalled correctly, they’d left Cyn in the library to read while everyone was busy. She was instructed to act like she was dusting the books if anyone saw her, but V was certain the little Drone would still be there.
In only a few short minutes, V found the wobbly maid right where she had been left. Taking a peak at the title she noticed it was a diagram book. She didn’t think Cyn would find something like that entertaining.
“Plesently Surprised. Oh, hello big sister V.” Cyn greeted upon noticing her.
“Hey Cyn.” V gave her a small wave as she walked over to the sitting Drone. “N gave me a special mission that I need your help with. Wanna get out of this stuffy library?” She smiled and offered a hand.
“Enthusiastic Nod. Yes please.”
V helped her to her feet, allowing Cyn to hold her hand for support when they started walking.
“What is the special mission big brother has given us?”
“We’re going to find a present for Tessa. Christmas is supposed to be special for humans, remember?”
“Thoughtful Hum. Do you know what she likes?”
V stopped walking, bringing a hand up to her chin. “... apparently not. I didn’t think about that.”
“I have an idea.” Cyn proposed, pulling V in a new direction.
“That is?” She asked, allowing herself to be led.
. . .
“Cyn! We shouldn’t be doing this!” V fretted. Cyn had led her through the manor all the way to Tessa’s room. Once there, Cyn had started snooping around the room for ideas. “Isn’t this a breach of privacy? And what if J finds us? What if the master or mistress finds us?!”
“They will not unless you keep being loud. Matter of Factly.” Cyn told her, scanning Tessa’s bookshelf. There was a lot of paraphernalia around the room to look at. Enough books for a small library, a phonograph with many records, two wardrobe full of dresses and accessories, skulls, and a lot of old toys she hadn’t touched in at least a year. Cyn usually played with the latter.
Swallowing her pride, V walked further into the room. She fiddled with her fingers nervously, as she scanned the room. They threw many ideas at the other, each taking one half of the room to themselves. Searching for half an hour, they found some possible ideas but nothing they were completely set on.
With every second that passed, V could feel more and more digital sweat building up on her forehead. This wasn’t really working and they could be caught at any second. Tessa, or J or, Robo-God forbid, one of the senior Elliots could find them snooping around and-
“Hey!”
V let out a frightened squeak, jolting up to her feet from the low cupboard she was looking in and turning around. “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! We didn’t- I wasn’t- CLEANING! We were just cle-!”
“V! Be quiet!” V peeked open one of her eyes, it was J. “Are you trying to get caught by Corporate? What are you even doing here?”
“Oh, J. It's just you.” The maid breathed a sigh of relief.
“Yes. It's me, now answer my question.” The headmaid ordered, fists on her hips.
“We are looking for presents to give to Tessa. Big brother N wanted to make this Christmas special for her.” Cyn answered, hobbling over to stand next to V. “We are not having very much luck. Sad Pout.”
“That’s…” J looked like she was going to chew the duo out, but she brought a hand up to her chin for a moment. “... actually not a bad idea for once.” J turned around, scanned the hallway for any passers by, and shut the door. “I want to help, and I think I know how.”
. . .
The door to the attic opened with a groan. Dust wafted into the air, the old room having long since been forgotten by the current residents. It wasn’t a place that was meant to look pretty, only serving as storage for many an odd trinket.
A collection of busts sat in a row, depicting the previous owners of the JCJenson company all the way back to the person in charge of the first start up. A vast assortment of old, expensive, very fancy looking ceramics were strewn about all over the place with little care for decor or safety.
V cast worrisome glances at the many cobwebs among the rafters, more than a few were vacant. “A-a-are you sure y-you know what you’re looking for, J?”
“Of course I do. Haven't you memorised the complete inventory of the manor, even the stuff in here?” When V simply looked off to the side, J rolled her eyes. “Come on, it should be back here.”
They squinted through the darkness as they trekked further inside, V warily clutching onto J’s arm when the howling wind picked up in volume as it lashed across the roof. They moved to one of the farthest corners of the attic, one that hadn't been touched in years.
Grunting in mild frustration, J squinted harder in a vain attempt to see through the impenetrable darkness that surrounded them. “It’s around here somewhere. I know it is. Unless someone moved- EEK!”
Both V and J were startled when the room suddenly lit up with yellow light. They turned to find the source of the light. Cyn.
“Here you go.” She held out a flashlight.
“Rgh! Cyn, where did you get this? How long have you had it?” J snapped, swiping the tool from her outstretched hand.
“You did not make it obvious you needed my assistance. Head Tilt. Perhaps you should ask sooner if you’re having tro-”
“Yeah yeah, Whatever. I don’t need to be told manners from you.” J dismissed. She cast the beam around the space, finally finding what she was looking for.
An old mildewy cardboard box with a label that read ‘tools’ sat by its lonesome, long forgotten. J removed V’s hand from her arm and opened the box. She was miffed to discover some of the tools were not in the proper cases or containers they should be in, but she did find one that she knew to be a good choice for the occasion.
“There. Now, let's get this wrapped. Tessa will be finishing dinner soon.”
Stealthily making their way through the manor back to Tessa’s room, they had to cover Cyn’s mouth because she would mutter the word ‘sneaking’ over and over, they avoided detection from any Workers that might find them suspicious.
“Okay, I’ll leave this with you and go get some wrapping paper. When I come back I’ll knock three time-” J told the other two, stopping abruptly when she opened the door to find the room modestly decorated.
Decorative candy canes were hung from many items around the room, a line of silver and gold tinsel outlined the bottom and headboard of Tessa’s bed, decorative leaves that only J recognized as mistletoe hung in several spots, and in the center of the room was a very small fake tree on a small table.
What caught most of the trio’s attention was the butler on a collapsible ladder just next to the door hanging stockings along the top, their initials along with Tessa’s written onto each. “Oh! Hey guys!” N greeted them with a polite smile and wave, sliding down the sides of the ladder. “I had some extra time and decorations! What do you think?” he asked, expression turning a bit worried when he looked at J.
“It's…” J regarded the room once more. “... not bad, N. Well done.”
The butler's pensive expression vanished and turned as bright as ever upon hearing the headmaid’s praise. “Really!? Oh my gosh, thank you J!”
“Don’t get used to it, moron. Now stay here with these two while I go get some wrapping paper. If someone tries to open the door and doesn’t knock three times, don’t let them in.”
The butler and two maids nodded, and J took her leave. After a few seconds of quiet, V turned to N. “Why’d you hang a bunch of fake leaves everywhere?”
“I… Don’t know. Some of the other Workers were doing it so I thought it must have some kind of meaning to humans.”
. . .
Heeled shoes clicked quietly off the walls of the manor as Tessa walked back to her room alone. She thought it was a little odd that none of her friends joined her, but with her mother and father ordering them around like the ball they were hosting was a day away instead of a month, she couldn’t blame them.
Still, a pit of sad emotions hadn’t left her stomach since her talk with N earlier in the day. She didn’t know why it had gotten to her so much more than other years, but she was ready to just sleep the rest of the dreadful day away.
Placing her hand on the doorknob, Tessa closed her eyes. “Ah, soft warm bed. I can’t wait to snuggle up to J tonight, she must have been so-”
“Surprise!” A chorus of voices startled Tessa’s eyes open. It was her friends, and the room was decorated with all manner of Christmas themed items. “Merry Christmas Tessa!” They cheered in unison once more.
“G-guys? What’s all…” She trailed off in shock and awe.
“Big brother N told us you were not feeling happy. Sad Frown.”
“So I made a surprise party for you!” N threw his hands up in triumph.
“Merry Christmas, Boss.” J said again, walking forward and gently pulling Tessa over to the table where a wrapped box sat.
“Is… is that for me?”
“No, it's for us... Of course it's for you, silly!” V joked.
“Open it, Tessa!” N encouraged.
Tessa cast a grateful smile to the small troop around her, smiling faces looking back. “Thank you all, so much. This really means a lot.” With that, Tessa tore away the wrapping paper.
Almost immediately, her eyes lit up like stars. “A multi sized ratchet set with bits ranging from quarter to twenty millimetre in quarter inch, half inch and three eighths drive? With extenders!?” She turned to her friends. “Guys! Thank you!” Somehow, Tessa managed to get all of them in one large group hug, wrapping her arms around all of them tightly.
“It's… not a problem... Boss.” J strained, before they were all quickly let go.
“And I got hot cocoa and cookies made!” N informed the group, moving over to the desk where he’d left the tray. He set the drinks and sweets down in front of Tessa, who gratefully took a mug.
She took a long sip of the surgery drink, relishing that for once it was made for an occasion that matched its warmth. Her eyes lit up with surprise when she saw that her small chandelier full of candles had been decorated with mistletoe. A mischievous smile crept onto her features.
“Hey N, V.” She said in a sing-song voice. “Fancy seeing that here, eh?” She pointed with her free hand.
Both Drones looked upwards, tilting their heads to the side in near unison. “What’s so special about leaves?” V asked.
Tessa looked at the couple disappointedly, but it only lasted for a few seconds before she got an idea. “Well, I can demonstrate if you’d like.” Tessa set down her mug.
“Sure!” N said. “I like learning about-” He was shocked into silence when Tessa leaned over and gave J a kiss. The headmaid in question froze up, visor filling up with blush. V tried and failed to suppress a snicker with her hand.
“Tessa!” J snapped, mortified. “You ca- you j- wha-” Tessa giggled at J’s stupified processor.
“When you stand under mistletoe, you’re supposed to give someone you love a kiss.” Tessa properly answered.
Reflexively, N looked towards V. Their eyes locked for a second before he looked away sheepishly. He moved closer and planted a quick kiss on her forehead, both of them were smiling dumbly and their faces were aglow.
“Blegh.” All heads turned towards Cyn who had retreated to the doll house. “You are all gross.”