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The Hammer Chronicles: Festivity
Topic Started: Dec 25 2017, 11:23 AM (41 Views)
Highlander
The Hammer
December 21st

Watching Cali get into the Uber and leave was hard. But she was right. She needed to train.

As I went to close the door I thought I saw some motion across the street, but when I looked across there was nothing there. I dimissed it as a codeine phantom and wheeled myself back inside.

The place felt empty. Atlanta wasn’t cold enough yet for a fire to really be comfortable, but I made my way over to an armchair and began to read. I’d been doing that a lot lately, reading. Wasn’t like I could go and train. Dr DeRuyter had expressly forbidden that.

I briefly contemplated putting on some Christmas music, but I wasn’t really in the mood. We hadn’t had time to put up much in the way of decorations other than the tree, and even that only had its default fibreoptic lights and a few favorite baubles on it.

So I passed the day, sitting in my armchair and reading Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. I was profoundly grateful that our house was a single floor; it meant that I didn’t have to sleep on the couch. I was able to walk for a few seconds at a time, enough to get a frozen lasagna out of the fridge and fling it into the oven; but climbing stairs would have taken too much.

I was fine.



December 22nd

I woke up early in the morning. I had gone to bed shortly after my 7pm Skype call with Caledonia; she had arrived in Yorkshire and was about to go to bed herself. With a dearth of things to do and a significant stock of pain medication at my disposal, sleeping was far easier than it usually was for me.

I wheeled myself over to the coffee machine. Luckily I could reach that without standing up, and we’d set the coffee cups next to it rather than in their usual cabinet. Exertion first thing in the morning was not, in general, a good idea.

I turned on CNN as I drank my morning cup of coffee. Not sure entirely why. The news was rarely good. Today the UN had rejected Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; Nikki Haley had, of course, vetoed. My own country of Australia had abstained, but I found myself wondering whether Trump would still condemn us, mixing us up with Austria, who had voted yes.

The world really had gone mad.

I was basically housebound for the time being; I had been strongly cautioned against driving, or even being in a car unless I had to be. Any sudden jolt could throw out my spine and undo a lot of very hard work. And it might leave me permanently unable to move. So that wouldn’t be good.

I checked my email. Given that my wrestling career was basically over, I had decided that I would return to academic life. Teaching at the Academy was immensely gratifying, but it didn’t pay the bills. And Cali didn’t quite make enough to cover our expenses. No email. That was weird. Even around this time of year, someone would usually have emailed me back by now. But no-one had.

I chalked it up to the usual end-of-year chaos. But it meant that I wouldn’t be teaching in the spring, which was unfortunate. We could have used the money.

I sighed, returned to my coffee, and started my next book.


December 23rd

Did I say I was fine? I really didn’t mean it. I was lonely. Atlanta was grey and shadowy and overcast, but not even cold enough to enjoy the winter. Hell, for my brief venture outside I was able to wear a t-shirt and be completely comfortable! If I wanted warm weather at Christmas I would have stayed in Australia.

I had remained strong for Cali, though. She had a difficult few weeks ahead with the Modern Warfare tournament, and I didn’t want to distract her. Even at Christmas. She needed to train.

It was difficult for me though.

Particularly seeing as when I turned on CNN I was greeted by an ad for… something, I don’t know what it was. But it showed a bunch of happy families, a wide variety of different ones. Friends gathering, the traditional nuclear family, the no-kids couple… huh. Wow, that couple looked eerily like me and Cali.

Oh come on, the ad was for a car? Go fuck yourself, advertising company.

My day passed, as most of my days had, uneventfully. I found myself waiting for my Skype call with Caledonia, who I knew well enough to know would call on the stroke of Christmas Eve her time.

Sure enough, I was right. We talked for a while and I put on a pretty good front. It sounded like her training was going well and she was getting set to kick the Shadow back to the Stygian Pit. As we exchanged “I love you”s I could feel a tear welling up in my eye; luckily I’m pretty sure the call ended before it formed properly.

Cali didn’t need that kind of distraction.

December 24th - Christmas Eve
You know the drill at this point. Coffee. CNN. Depressing ads. Books.

I really had been trying to stir up some kind of Christmas spirit but I really couldn’t. It wasn’t like Thanksgiving where American acquaintances, horrified at the idea of someone being alone, would invite them in regardless of level of acquaintance. No, Christmas was a time for family.

I did get a Christmas card from Jimmy Carter in the mail though. Sure, it was a mass-produced thing sent to all the people who donated to the Carter Center; but it was nice to have on my mantle, the lone Christmas card.

Well, one Christmas card and a large package that appeared to be from Eris. They had attached a note that said “You can wait till December 25th if you want, but this is a Saturnalia present, so go nuts. You might enjoy the results.”. I opted to wait. Cali and I had already opened our Christmas presents to each other before she left; that was where I’d gotten Norse Mythology. As it was I had another present for her but I was going to give it to her when she stopped by after Evolution. So it’d be good to have at least one thing to open tomorrow morning.

Still no emails from the university, though I was deluding myself if I thought that I’d get a response on Christmas Eve. Still, there was something disconcerting about not getting anything back, even from people I’d thought were in my corner.

Cali had been off Skype most of the day. That was normal. She was usually training. But they had usually wrapped up by now; it was getting towards the evening my time, which meant it was late in the night Academy time. I was a little upset, but chalked it up to Eris and Omega coming up with some wacky late-night training exercise.

Not having the call threw my day off, though. It was the focal point of the day; I had little else going on. I made myself a cup of tea (it was too late in the day for coffee) and sat down to read. I was even beginning to run low on fresh books; I was a fast reader and had had a lot of spare time over the last few days. I was beginning to look at… alternative time-occupiers.

I really hoped that Cali’s training was worth it. Hanging yourself on Christmas Eve was slightly preferable to spending it playing World of Warcraft.

I finished off my book and rang out for Indian food, eschewing the traditional non-traditional Christmas dinner of Chinese food. I was just about to bite the bullet and log on to World of Warcraft when there was a knock at the door.

I was confused. I rarely had callers. It might’ve been one of my university colleagues… more likely it was carolers. But this early? It was only 7pm, most of the folks inclined towards caroling were still in church.

I opened the door and was astonished to see Caledonia. Before I could say anything, she kissed me deeply. Once the kiss was over I saw more people coming up behind her. Eris, Skelton, Yusuf, Flame and Phoenix - even, getting gingerly out of the large car I now saw behind the group, Elijah and Omega.

‘What’s… what…’ was all I could say.

‘I caught the tear, Dan.’

Ah.

‘And none of us exactly liked the idea of you being here alone for Yule,’ said Eris. ‘Especially when you’re all blubbery.’

‘It was one tear!’

‘Which is one more than anyone should have on Christmas, especially when he has friends,’ said Skelton, ‘and especially when those friends have an abundance of beer and cheer.’

At this point my attention was drawn to Flame and Yusuf, who were unloaded kegs of what I could only hope was real Yorkshire Samuel Smith lager.

Cali ushered everyone inside, and Omega immediately set to work putting some… esoteric Christmas decorations up. There was a bust of Isaac Newton, and a small scroll that said “I’m just looking forward to the Feast of the Ass”.

There were also presents, which Yusuf and Phoenix arranged under the tree. As they were doing so, Eris sidled up to me.

‘So…’ they said coyly.

‘Eris, I appreciate all this but now is not the time to proposition me and Cali again,’ I said (mostly) jokingly.

‘What? Oh right, that. Um. No. That’s not… look, just open the present I got you.’

Confused, I did. Upon opening, four drones, all bright red, burst out, each playing Wonderful Christmastime by Paul McCartney. They bobbed a greeting, then dove back into the box - where a wide variety of decorations awaited. The drones then set to work literally decking the halls with boughs of holly.

Cali, Skelton and Yusuf had been busy in the kitchen, putting together a wide variety of roasted vegetables for dinner, and plum puddings and cinnamon rolls and Christmas cookies for afterwards. For his part, Elijah had produced a large bottle of scotch, from which he and I were drinking.

Cali and my table didn’t have room for the entire Academy, so when we ate it was in various locations around the house. Once the meal was done and it was time for brandy and port, though, we all gathered in the living room, where we had lit a fire - we had decided to turn on the airconditioning and offset our carbon footprint for the night with a sizeable donation to a variety of causes. I raised my glass of port.

‘’Tis the night before Christmas, and all through the house… the AC is running, ‘cause we’re in the South!’

Hearty laughs. Omega continued.

‘We’re ready for war against Silly Ryan Sunset,
We’ll kick the Eternals all right in their giblets,
We’ll stand tall and proud and take none of their shite,
Merry Christmas to all, and to all-‘

‘A good night!’ we chorused.

All was well.
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