It's A Holly Jolly Christmas... At Site 13
— 1 —
"Hey, Hey, hey, what are you doing?" Caws out Archivist Ezekiel from his
hunched position amid the mountains of files atop and and around his desk and office. attempting to shoo away the cheery young woman intruding upon his sacred domain.
"Come on, Will. Just let me hang up 2. It'll take, like two minutes."
replies Director Mckenzie as she tries to hang up several brightly green-and-red colored decorations upon Ezekiel's office walls.
"You need to get into the spirit, y'know?"
"No, I do not know. now get, get! I'm aiming to do work here, Loona!" He then leans foreward further, the immense hunching causing his spine to jut through his skin and made visible through the shirt and shoves a stack of files in front of him, obstructing the woman's view of him.
"No holiday decorations here, thank you very much."
"But I promised the kids I would get ol' grampy Ezekiel read the Christmas story. You wouldn't wan to disapoint little James, would you?"
She retorts, smiling in a such a way as a daughter to her elderly father, walking closer to him and the pile of papers that enveloped the other half of the desk.
"What, you named them?" Ezekiel replies, agast. "You really believe a toddler such as him could even understand what I am saying? This is just absurd."
Mckenzie sighs, crossing her arms, vaguely frustrated with the ancient scrooge-like man who sat before her.
"What if…" She looks around the dingy office, pondering some way to convince the Head Archivist.
"what about Nehemiah? Hm? You don't want him to miss out." She smirks smugly, tilting her head.
Ezekiel narrows his eyes from within the crystal eyeholes of his beaked, leather mask. He grumbles to himself. After several moments of indecisions the aab
finally speaks up.
"Fine, but still no ornaments in my space."
She smiles smugly and uncrosses her arms. "the kids will be happy to hear you read. and we will too, you know."
"yeah, yeah." Comes the grumbled reply of Ezekiel as Director Loona Mckenzie
exits the room. shortly thereafter, there comes a stirring from beneath the massive accumulation of documents and records coating the other half of his desk. and a small thin figure rouses and straightens up as the files fall
to the floor. Nehemiah yawns, looking over to his father.
"What did I miss?"
— 2 —
The Tree
"you got it back there?" Comes the grunting voice of the acclaimed Agent M. His voice raspy from the freezing chill of the snow-frosted german wilderness, carrying a pine tree halfway on his back. the other half of the tree, however,
was being carried by an evidently less physically capable agent.
"Sir, slow down. I can't keep up."
"Got to pick up the slack, Jackson. hold on out. we're almost there."
"A- alright, sir." Comes Jackson's shivering reply.
they hauled the beastly and unruly pine through the library-like halls of Site-13 and into the primary Research Library and recreation hallroom.
As they entered the impressive grand Library, they were met with an array of festivally dressed staff members decorating the hall or directing others around. One such was Dr. Loyd, along with a younger fellow curiously standing by him.
"Where to, Loyd?" M. asks the department head.
The balding man looks over and smiles.
"ah, right over there. In that coner there.," Loyd points over to a relatively untouched corner of the Library room. The pair lugs the great tree over and places it into the drum collar on the floor.
After they finished stabilizing the tree, Agent M. stands up and stretches.
"Had a time getting that beauty here. But it's genuine. Straight from the Schwarzwald. haha." M. Laughs, rather unfazed by the whole ordeal despite his banter. But Jackson, on the other hand, " Sir, I think my fingers are frozen. I can't move them." The shivering Jackson says, ice, pine needles and sap (Yes, sap) clung to every viewable inch of the poor man.
M. looks over at him, equally as violated by nature. "You're fine. It's probably just frozen sap… but if you're really so concerned, go check into the Medical Wing." Jackson nods quickly and rushes off out of the hallroom.
The grand Library had been decorated zealously, with colored bulbs and candles and the blazing hearth the only sources of light in the dimly lit place. The air smelled of pine, scented candles, the occasional mint aroma and, of course, old paper. Dilapidated and aged documents and books' scent was common to the Repository's facilities, especially so for Site-13. Nearly immediately, staff got to work to decorate the tree. grabbing ladders and stools to reach different portions of the large pine, wrapping strings of garland around it and tying vibrant, pointed bulbs to it's branches. One particular fellow placed an ornament on a branch that said, "SAP-007 is an exception", with a crocheted image of SAP-007 beneath it on the ornament, donning a Santa hat. The curious young fellow holds a green ball ornament as Dr. Loyd coaxes him, pointing at a higher section of the tree. "Go ahead. try it. no harm done if it falls."
The man looks up. seeming intimidated by the daunting task ahead, but he takes a breath and holds out the ball upwards towards the tree.
after a minute or so, the ornament levitates from the young man's palm and up. After several seconds of concentration and determination by the fellow, the ball reaches a branch and hooks itself on. Dr. Loyd pats his back, laughing, "Hahaha! There you go, that's it! " his encouraging voice reacts. The young man smiles as a few members clap or cheer. None too loud, of course. This was, still a library, after all.
— 3 —
The Christmas Story
A good several hours later, this group of staff members from Site-13's assembly were huddled around the torch-like hearth and the massive pine tree, now adorned with golden, red, green and blue ornamentations and dozens of wrapped presents lay beneath it, boxes, cards, bags, etc. the food had been eaten, the small banquet devoured. And upon the couches and seats gathered around the fire and the tree sat many friends.
The sun had long-sines been devoured by the horizon and great heaps of crunchy white snow layered the outside. Mckenzie sat on one of the coaches, her arm around the sickly diminutive form of Johan Erzahler, wrapped in a blanket, a ratty handkerchief clutched to his nose and mouth, a miserable look on the Site Director's teary face. The man had survived war and shot Fear in it's eye, but the common Cold was far worse of a beast for him to overcome.
sitting crossed-legged near the base of the tree, furtively eyeing the presents was Agent M. Upon his lap sat a little one. pale with contrasting black hair, was the little Elijah, his circular mouth, full of tiny, needle-like teeth, one of his tongues drooping out of his mouth. He stares onward as M holds a present up to his ear and shakes it, receiving an instant and maternal reply from Makenzie.
"Hey, no touching the presents yet."
She looked disapprovingly at Agent M.
"Don't be a bad influence on Eli."
"Aww, come on. what's first then?"
Comes the disappointed retort of the Agent.
"The story."
Says Dr. Loyd.
"of course. The Christmas story. Then we'll open presents. Will, are you ready?"
Mckenzie looks over to Ezekiel, who sits next to his similarly gaunt teenage son, Nehemiah. The old man grunts, but the people there begin to plead, (quietly) for him to read the story. even the one and a half year old Elijah, begins babbling and spurting "Storee! Storee!" atop Agent M's lap.
After a heavy sigh and one last defiant grumble, the Head Archivist stands up and pulls his chair to the center of the room, before everybody. In his hands he holds an ancient, leather-bound book, ascribed with strange and optically confusing patterns of spirals and sigils. he opens it. It is so silent now that the creaking of the book's decrepit spin can be heard quiet audibly in the quiet library. He clears his throat.
"And in those days, a decree went out from the King of Those Who Wander, that all the women of the world with child were to go up to their homelands to be birthed. And so Sarah went up out of her house and to the town of Apocrypha, because she was of the house and Lineage of Azazeal, the underlord of forbidden knowledge. because she was with child. and while she was there, the time came for her to give birth. And she give birth to her firstborn son, Hybrid, and laid him in a pot full of dough, for there were no beds in the inn. And in the same region, there were Record-keeper's guarding watch over their scrolls as they traveled. And a winged Horror of the Ancient One appeared to them, and the Unfathomability of Him shone around them, and they were filled with great fear. And the Horror said to them, 'Fear not. For behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy that will be to all people. For unto you is born this day, in the town of Azazeal, A Writer, which is Hybrid, the One.'
'And this shall be a sign unto you: You will find the babe wrapped in vernix and laying in a bowl of dough." And suddenly there was with the Horror a multitude of otherworldly host praising the Ancient One and singing:
'Glory to the Elder One in the Greatest!
And on Earth, peace, and knowledge to those with whom his favor rests.'
And when the Horrors went away from them, the Recordkeepers said to themselves. Come, let us see what has been made known to us. And so they went and they saw."
Everyone clapped, some because they genuinely were overjoyed to hear Ezekiel
recite the Christmas story, though others did so only to make the elderly man embarrassed. Even Elijah cheered, or tried to, that is.
"Alright, alright enough. Nehemiah, you're doing this next year."
Nehemiah laughed nervously, but Ezekiel wasn't joking.
"Okay, okay, time for presents." Mckenzie says, smiling.
— 4 —
The Gifts
Agent M. was santa.
He wore the red and white sock hat with the ball, and he passed out the presents. Enthusiastically, one to Erzahler, one to Mckenzie, one to Ezekiel, two to Loyd, and so on and so forth. M's were left untouched, only because he was far too content with passing out the wrapped gifts with Elijah on his shoulders as Mckenzie eyed this ordeal warily.
Erzahler's were also left untouched, though for entirely different reasons. The small man was fighting between consciousness and sickly slumber, leaning against Mckenzie as he did so. Ezekiel initially refused to open his presents until they had all been passed out. That is, until Nehemiah started tearing open his own presents and the ancient Archivist began his competition with his son.
Mckenzie received titled, "How to breastfeed when your baby is a vampire", which earned Dr. Loyd a playful glare from the woman. She also received something else in a small box. She didn't say from who or what was in it, but it had caused her eyes to widen and her mouth to grin with joy. after that, she laid her head on Erzahler's, which he had rested on her shoulder and had since lost his fight against unconsciousness.
Dr. Loyd unwrapped a gift box from Agent M. Finding a VHS tape of the 3 Stooges. Loyd laughs heartily and thanks M, only to find later that Loyd gave M. the exact same taped episode of the 3 Stooges. the two had a laugh over that. Someone gave Jackson mittens and as for Ezekiel and Nehemiah, the old man was given a book about proper socialization, of which he was advised to share with his son. beyond that, Ezekiel received a dusty ring that had been found by one of his Archivist friends within the Archives for him. The ring was so dusty, in fact, it caused Ezekiel's allergies to flare up and his eyes to water. And that was it, it was just allergies, nothing more.
Elijah received a knitted teddy bear with a few extra limbs. The additional limbs were an accident. the little boy squealed in joy and rushed into Mckenzie's lap.
— 5 —
All's Well That Ends Well
And then it was over. The candles had gone out and the fireplace was dimming not a creature was stirring, not even Thomas, deep beneath the earth.
Erzahler, Mckenzie and little Elijah had all fallen into a quiet slumber together. completely contrasting, however, the loud snores of Agent M. and yet no one seemed to mind. Ezekiel and Nehemiah fell asleep in the same hunched position. All was quiet and all was peaceful. The gentle blowing of the heavy snowfall outside against the building soothed the staff like a lullaby. wrapping paper had littered the floorboards, some of it had been chucked into the fire, and the young, curious man with Dr. Loyd stared through the window, out at the Moon.
Fin.
Merry Christmas everyone.
page revision: 21, last edited: 22 Dec 2024 19:25
