The stoat sat alone, a squirrel caught in her paw. She held the rodent tightly, watching as infection covered his body. Then she let it go, and watched it run off, now carrying her disease.

Iugulare sighed. There was something depressing about this time of the year for her. Maybe it was the coldness of the winter months, or the unusual amount of cheer the deer had during this time. She didn’t understand what would make them act like such despite such dreary weather.

Or perhaps it was the amount of loneliness she felt. Sure, she had Anirapio and Nekumbra, but her desire was more on a romantic level. She wanted someone to care for her, to love her. And there was only one person on this planet that she desired a relationship like such.

As she was deep in thought, she heard a strange sound. Looking to the sky, she could have sworn she saw several deer flying through the air. The stoat blinked a few times, and then realized she indeed saw flying deer! They came closer, pulling something behind, and soon landed close by her. Iugulare had never seen such a thing, when an oddly heavyset human wearing red and white stepped out from the sleigh and approached her. “Hello, Iugulare! Merry Christmas!”, Santa Claus said to her.

The stoat tilted her head, ”…And who might you be?”, she asked. She didn’t know very much about the Christmas season.

“Ho ho ho! You sure are a funny girl, aren’t you?”, Santa laughed, “I am Santa Claus, the bringer of joy and peace to the world on Christmas Eve! And I come with a request just for you.”

”A request? Hmm…I suppose I could entertain it. What can I do for you?”, Iugulare was intrigued now.

“Well, it seems I am late delivering gifts, so I have a few gifts left for the deer of this Endless Forest, and so I am asking you to help carry out my task and delivering these last few presents to them. And I will make sure you get a special present this year if you help.”, he proposed.

Iugulare thought about this for a moment. Was he asking her to be…nice? But then a scheme boiled in her mind. She could use this as a perfect chance to infect the Forest. All she needed to do was give sabotaged gifts to those who Santa wanted her to give to. ”Sure, I’ll deliver your presents. But how will I know what to give them?”, she asked.

“The gift is right on the list here, and here are their presents. Thank you, Iugulare! I will visit you again later tonight to drop off your present.”, Santa said, handing her a bag of gifts as well as a list of a few deer left to give presents to. He got back in his sleigh and called to his reindeer, and soon they were back in the air to deliver toys to the children of the world.

Iugulare sneered, and tossed the bag of presents behind a stone in the ruins. She would make the gifts for them out of her infection. It would be all too perfect. She looked at the first name on the list – Biqfiy, with the gift of a decorative scarf. Iugulare easily crafted an infected scarf and then went to find this person.

She soon found the fawn resting in a mushroom circle. Approaching, she spoke, ”Biqfiy?”

The fawn looked to her, and she was actually quite surprised to see such an interesting looking creature. “Yes?”, the fawn asked.

Iugulare cleared her throat, ”Uhh…Merry Christmas? I have a little gift for you…”, she said, and placed the infectious scarf next to her. Biqfiy smiled, and immediately put it on, though her eye twitched a little. “It’s…nice…I’ve always wanted one of these. Thank you.”, she said.

The stoat nodded, and raced off to find the next person. That was too easy…, she thought, chuckling. She found Tandem sleeping next to Crucio, who was sprawled on the ground like a dog with his legs in nonsensical positions. Tandem was on the list for a gold necklace, so Iugulare crafted an infectious black necklace that looked much like barbed wire. She approached and began to slip the necklace onto the crow-like creature, who began to sleeptalk loudly, ”I am a refrigerator! My spoon is too big!” This made Iugulare jump, nearly waking Tandem up as the infectious necklace was pulled away. But then she calmed her nerves and began to work on putting the necklace on again. As she finished, Tandem spoke again, ”It’s used to the abuse!” Iugulare rushed away before he spoke again, and hoped she didn’t wake him up.

Next she found Toukan, with the gift of a sleigh bell. It was an interesting gift as the caribou was given a bell from Santa’s very own Comet. Of course, Iugulare crafted an infected bell instead, and soon found the caribou, who had slept at his usual spot between two specific trees. Iugulare decided not to wake him, but left the bell above his head on one of the branches of the tree, ready to drop on him when the time was right.

She ran off to find the next person, who was Tails. The list said Tails wanted a feather for his antlers. Iugulare had to make a complicated feather from the infection. Luckily, she had infected a bird before (a peacock to be exact), so the feather was a peacock tail feather in shape. She found Tails, who was relaxing near the Old Oak. ”Hello Tails, I have a Christmas present for you.”, Iugulare spoke, more calmly this time.

”Oh, you do? How thoughtful!”, Tails replied, bowing to her. She placed the infectious feather on his antler. ”Wow, this must be a rare feather if you found a black peacock! Thank you!”, he said happily.

Iugulare nodded, and fled, soon looking on the list for the next person. Amadahy had asked for a Native American dreamcatcher, so Iugulare made one out of infection. Again, she found the doe sleeping beneath a willow tree, so she hung the infectious dreamcatcher above her head and carried on.

The next on the list was Roxanne, who asked for a horse figurine. Iugulare had never seen a horse before, so she ended up making a deer figurine. The doe was resting on the Playground, talking with a fawn, and Iugulare snuck up close and left the little deer close by without alerting the doe. She was starting to get impatient with this task, and didn’t bother speaking to Roxanne. She caught a bit of their conversation as she placed the item there. ”…sure you look for mistletoe, because if you’re lucky enough to be standing beneath it while your true love is there, you absolutely have to kiss them…”

The next on the list was Juniper, who had asked for a Chinese luck charm. Iugulare was absolutely stumped as to what this was, so she approached the kirin. ”Hello Juniper…”, she spoke.

The kirin turned toward her, ”Oh, it’s you. What do you want?”, Juniper replied, who didn’t want to have anything to do with Iugulare.

”Do you happen to know what a…Chinese…luck charm is?”, Iugulare asked.

Juniper nodded and replied, ”There are all kinds of looks to them.”

”Oh! Well, here…Merry Christmas!”, Iugulare said, and formed something that looked similar to the dreamcatcher she had made for Amadahy. She handed it to Juniper and ran off without explaining what it was for.

The next on the list was Virgil. Virgil wished for something different that Iugulare did not know how to handle. He wished for a more successful rut next year. Grimacing, Iugulare decided to make him a pair of antlers. She didn’t know what else would work. The stoat approached him cautiously since they weren’t really on good terms, and left the antlers there for him.

She wandered off, looking at the last name on the list. Quad. ”Oh…I have to give him a gift too? But wait a minute…”, she spoke to herself, examining the list, ”He didn’t ask for anything. That’s odd…”

She didn’t know what to do for him, and after a few moments, she started to consider what Santa had said to her. He had a present for her, and here she was giving false gifts. She suddenly felt guilty for what she had been doing, and after much thought, she changed her mind. Running back to where she had left the bag of gifts, she went to each of them and replaced their gifts, whether they knew it or not. Biqfiy was given a plaid scarf that matched her fur color. The infectious necklace given to Tandem was replaced with a shiny gold necklace. Toukan was given the authentic sleigh bell (though Iugulare nearly woke him up when she replaced the ‘bell’ she had left). Tails was given the correct feather, actually an eagle’s feather rather than a peacock’s. Amadahy’s dreamcatcher was left, which was much bigger than the one Iugulare had made. Roxanne’s infectious deer figurine was replaced with the horse figurine, so Iugulare now knew what a horse looked like. The Chinese luck charm baffled her, but she snuck close to Juniper and switched it out with the ‘dreamcatcher’ she had made. Finally, Virgil was given something different than a pair of antlers. His gift was a target to practice his attacks on, that could be hung from a tree.

When it was down to Quad’s gift, the bag was empty. There wasn’t a present for him. Iugulare did not know what to do about this, but she sighed and went off to find him. Maybe there was a catch to his gift.

She found the blackbuck sitting by the Crying Idol. He caught a whiff of her infection at once, and turned toward her, unsure what to even say to her. He was prepared to fight if necessary. ”Wait, Quad. I’m…well…”, Iugulare began, ”This is a little awkward, but I was supposed to give you a gift from someone named Santa Claus, but I don’t have a gift for you…”, she said.

Quad nodded, ”I didn’t ask for anything this year. I pretty much have everything I want.”, he replied.

There was an odd moment of silence, and then Iugulare spoke up. ”You know…maybe there is a gift I can give you…”, she said, and sat next to him. ”How about…we take a break from fighting for a while? Maybe a few months or so?”, she offered.

The blackbuck looked to her, ”This isn’t a trick, is it?”, he asked.

Iugulare shook her head, ”No no, it’s not a trick. I really think we should have a little time off from all of this.”, she replied.

The two sat for a little while, and then Quad said, ”…I would really like that…thank you…”

As they sat, Iugulare noticed something above their heads. A sprig of mistletoe had grown just above them. ”Is that…mistletoe?”, she asked.

Quad looked up, suddenly shocked and horrified at the same time. ”When did that get there?”, he immediately questioned.

Iugulare shrugged. She didn’t see it when she approached. But she remembered Roxanne’s words, and then said, ”I heard about mistletoe…something about…”, she began, but Quad nodded, ”…Kissing…yeah…”

Another silent moment. Quad sighs, and then reaches down to her level. Iugulare stands up and the two share a kiss. It was here that Iugulare realized that this was her gift from Santa Claus. She had odd feelings for Quad, as he has stopped her quest to dominate the world, but she was strangely attracted to him. This was a moment of pure bliss for her, being able to finally kiss him.



When they ended the tender moment, Iugulare said, ”Well, I guess I should get going. Umm…Merry Christmas, Quad.”

The blackbuck half-smiled, ”Merry Christmas, Iugulare. And thank you for…”, he meant to say ‘the truce’, but instead, he said, ”…the kiss…”

Iugulare smiled back, and soon vanished. Santa Claus had been watching the moment from his sleigh above their heads, and he said, “Well done, Iugulare. You found the meaning of the Christmas Spirit. And your present was so well deserved.”

And as his reindeer dashed away, he called out to the Endless Forest, “Merry Christmas to all, and to all a goodnight!”


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A very special thank you to Trigger_Mortis for the artwork!