Special Delivery
santaverse:
The Dragon Realms were an area practically overlooked by Santa Claus - Not because there weren’t any dragons on the Nice List, but, there weren’t nearly as many hatchlings as there were now! This year was a special occasion! This was an impromptu trip, but one that was needed for sure! After a long night of delivering presents, Silly Santa flew his sleigh though the dawn filled skies of the Dragon Realms. A faint chiming of bells jingling could be heard as the bearded man soared. It wasn’t long before he landed within the Artisans world. Thus begun the usual routine! Silly Santa made his way to the trees and began placing more presents alongside the others. He hummed a section of Jingle Bells as he worked. Business as usual!
“ Hm-Hm-Hmm! Hmm, Hmm, Hmm!~ ”
“For the love of - Lindar, what are you doing?”
While most of the little ones were busy playing with their new stuffed toys courtesy of Mudada, who had delivered them even earlier in the morning to tide them over until they could open the rest of their gifts, Alvar was squirreled away in the kitchen doing what gave him joy - keeping his distance from a gaggle of toddlers and prepping meals for later in the day.
He knew the moment Lindar intruded his safe space that he was up to some awful scheme, greeting him with a frown.
The clockmaker tossed something onto the other end of the bench, smiling like a four year old. “Confirming that you can hand Daisy any random piece of crap and she’ll treasure it like it’s the best thing you’ve ever done for her.” Alvar narrowed his eyes at whatever it had been - half a lemon - then scoffed and and threw up hand in disbelief, shaking his head. “Really? A slice of lemon?”
“And she likes it,” argued Lindar, gesturing out past the doorway with his tail, where the child in question was busy gripping said lemon slice with both of her tiny paws.
Daisy was having the time of her life biting down, twisting her head around and making strange, stretched-lipped expressions as sourness assailed her tongue, then doing it all over again.
Alvar found minimal joy in this, doing a double take at Lindar and silently asking if they were both mad.
“I know we’re one big happy family, but seriously, Lindar. Whoopdee doo, first time in twelve years we have more than two kids because condom sales are through the roof. Did we have to cram half of Artisans’ population and their dogs in a single castle to celebrate Christmas instead of doing slightly smaller mass gatherings realm by realm?”
“Alvar,” he reminded, folding his arms, “it’s a Year of the Dragon. We have a flood of hatchlings and it’s their first Christmas. You know what that means.”
Lindar stared at him to let it sink in. Alvar only rolled his eyes, looked away and attempted to claim “Yeah, it means we’re all here and I’m going to be stuck with thirty overstimulated toddlers all day.” when he cut himself off mid-sentence. Everything he planned to say was true, that hadn’t been the issue.
A bead of sweat rolled down his head. There was more to it.
With every bit of realisation the chef had, more and more horror etched into his face. Drooping cheeks. Widened eyes. Strained forehead. By the time Alvar turned his head back around (at a snail’s pace), Lindar was giving him the trademark half-lidded smirk that confirmed everything he dreaded.
Santa Claus was coming to give them their presents, in-person.
“In fact,” Lindar pointed out, tapping his chin thoughtfully while Alvar let out a whimper of pure despair, knowing that he was in for lots and lots and lots of screaming courtesy of excited baby dragons, “he should be here right. About. Now.”
