FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Cheerful music drifted through the warm air as the phonograph played, its gentle pops and cracks barely heard over the lively jazz tune that seemed the perfect background noise for the party. There were a good two dozen people packed in the room, all dressed to the nines, their voices joined in a chorus of pleasant conversation. It was hard to make out what anyone was saying at any given moment unless you were two feet from them. The disorienting effects of the copious amount of alcohol that Sam had consumed since arriving contributed to this. Yes, she called him Sam. It almost seemed like a surprise to him that she did. The sight of her set sent chills up his spine and made his skin tingle. Gold hair in loose curls, skin almost as white as the snow that was piling up outside, eyes green as jade and lips that were as red as cherries. Just as red as that dress that she wore. She was trying to get his attention, asking him something. He could't hear her voice over the din of music and conversation, so he had to lean in to listen more carefully, but he didn't have any more luck in hearing what she said, as he was distracted by her perfume. She smelled like roses, with just a hint of apple cider and cigarettes on her breath. He could just hear that musical voice of hers, when everything around him evaporated into darkness and cold.

He woke in a dark room, eyes blinking open and slowly focusing as the ceiling faded from black to a deep purple. In the lack of visible light, his eyes defaulted to infrared, and it was freezing cold outside, seeping the warmth out of everything. He sat up slowly, his joints feeling stiff, and his stomach still feeling sour. He really shouldn't have accepted that drink from the old shaman. But it was customary for the ritual that he was participating in and he didn't want to risk disrupting it. Too much was riding on the ritual's success. The expedition that he was in charge of wanted to study the people that the shaman was charged to protect, and so they not only had to gain the old man's confidence that they would not harm his people but that he would prepare his people to meet them and not be alarmed by these strange beings from the sky.

So it came to him to negotiate with the old man and take place in a ritual of bonding, drinking a special brew that he had brought along to seal the deal. He might as well have agreed to let the old man pound on his skull with a hammer for a few hours instead. The things he would do in the name of diplomacy. "What a time to wake up...." he muttered to himself, wincing as he realized just how bad his mouth tasted. He pulled the sheets aside and stood up, his bare feet touching the freezing stone floor. He almost reflexively flinched at the sensation, but quickly remembered that it didn't bother him anymore. He had changed a lot since that party, all those years ago.

He stood up and padded over to the bathroom, his claws scraping clumsily on the floor. His legs felt like they were made out of lead. He could just taste the fruity flavor of the drink he was given last night. Sweet in flavor, with just a hint of alcohol. He didn't think it would hit him so hard, but he ended up burning up a bunch of energy metabolizing the stuff out of his system. Now it felt like he had been running all day and his mouth felt like it was full of cotton and orange peels. Stumbling in through the open doorway, he leaned on the sink, reaching over to turn on a nearby lamp and he looked at his reflection in the mirror. His eyes took a moment to adjust to visible wavelengths of light, his features going from a collection of cold blue smears to a sharp image: a jackal's face looked back at him. Angular features, slender muzzle, tall ears, all covered in black skin. A pair of red eyes stared back at him, glowing under their own power.

The sight of that face always felt like a punch to the gut when he was coming out of a dream like that. "Five hundred years later, I think I'd be used to seeing you by now.", he said to his reflection. Its jaws moved along with the words and its tall ears twitched reflexively at the sound. Yes, that was him. They didn't call him Sam anymore. He was Doctor Seito Akai, xenobiologist for the Imaja Collective. He knew that, but at the moment he couldn't have felt more out of place.

Seito turned on the water and washed off his face, the water beading up and rolling off of his smooth skin. It felt cold, but his skin insulated him well enough that he didn't feel uncomfortable from it, much the way that the stone beneath his feet didn't hurt to stand on, though it rightfully should be. One of the gifts that he was given when he joined the Imaja Collective. A new body: unmistakably humanoid in design, save for the odd skin. Thick and leathery and black as pitch, it protected him in environments that would easily have killed him when he was still a human. It almost looked like a suit of armor on him, wrinkles and folds around his joints to allow for better flexibility; it formed around his hands and feet like gloves and boots, yet allowing all of his digits to move freely. A high collar of rigid skin that protected the sides and back of his neck. Stylish and practical all at once. It could still feel, of course, but he didn't have the sensation of being vulnerable like he did in his previous life. The jackal's head, that was a symbol of his caste within the collective: Anubi Caste; Scouts, researchers, messengers. All of the members of his collective had the head of some sort of animal that spoke of his or her role within it.

It is a symbol of respect and honor, he reminded himself, as he opened his long jaws wide and inspected his teeth and then rubbed a finger over his dry tongue. But it felt like some sort of mask that he was wearing. Like he could just take it off and see the real man underneath it. He rubbed along underneath his jaw and tugged behind it, just to remind himself that it didn't come off. Underneath that black skin he was more radically different than even his strange appearance would imply. The fact was that he wasn't human anymore. This was his real face now. He couldn't even remember what his old face looked like.

He shut off the light and walked out of the bathroom, some of the strength coming back to his limbs as his body warmed up. Practical thoughts started coming back to him, reminding him of the duties he had to take care of. The details of that dream faded away from him all too quickly. The wonderful sights and smells, the music, the voices of old friends, all evaporating. He grabbed his Versicomm off of a table next to his bed, pausing to strap its holster and belt around his left thigh. He didn't need any other clothing, his thick hide being all the protection that he needed. Pausing at the door leading outside, a brief flash of memory brought back the image of that woman's face, beckoning to him. The smell of roses tempting him to go back to bed and immerse himself in those memories again. But his internal clock told him otherwise, the others were waiting for him. As he opened the door and stepped into the bright cold outdoors he realized that what really bothered him above everything else was that he couldn't remember her name.

Seito stepped out of his apartment into the open air, the sunlight muted by a heavy cover of steel gray clouds. Flakes of snow drifted downwards and collected on the ground. He side-stepped an insectoid drone that was busy shoveling snow off of the path that linked his apartment to the tight cluster of similar buildings that made up the makeshift fortress that had been his home for the past seven months. The fortress was built upon an artificially flattened plateau on top of a tall ridge that overlooked a fertile valley. The buildings that were built on the plateau were all synthetic stone: plasma-fused concrete that was formulated to match the surrounding natural rock. A long shield wall arced around the front of the fortress, creating an optical illusion so that anyone in the valley below would see it as being part of the natural face of the ridge. A simple disguise, not requiring any elaborate cloaking technology.

But then the people that he was studying were fairly simple themselves. He approached the shield wall, stepping up onto a platform that allowed him to look over the edge, down into the valley, where the natives' village rested. Primitive huts of sticks and muds with thatched roofs, clustered together around a communal long house. Little plumes of smoke drifted upwards in thin ribbons, accompanied by the distant sounds of wood being cut. That's the most activity that came from the village for the past two months. The planet Alveria was a beautiful world overall, but this particular region had winters that came early were very harsh. Everything just shut down while the natives huddled inside and stayed warm, hoping that their food supplies would last until the spring.

<Nothing new since you went to bed.> said a voice from inside of his mind. Seito looked over his shoulder and saw Kurtz climbing up the stairs to stand at his side. Kurtz, like any other Imaja, was built the same from the neck down as was Seito, but he had the head of a bird. Supposedly an ibis, based on his caste, but from the shape of his beak, he looked more like a raven. No feathers, just smooth black skin, and a beak that shined like polished obsidian. That beak didn't move at all as his thoughts were transmitted directly from one being to another over the Links installed in their heads, <Are you feeling better, brother? You looked miserable last night.>

"I mostly burned it off." replied Seito, using his natural voice as he reached up and rubbed a hand over his stomach. His head still hurt too much to focus on using his Link. "More alcohol than I was expecting in that drink. I hope I didn't get sick in front of the shaman."

Kurtz clacked his beak in amusement, switching to his natural voice out of courtesy. His voice had an oddly tinny quality to it; lacking the lips or teeth needed to form words, his larynx did all the work, causing his ribbed throat to pulse and bob as the words echoed out of his barely-moving beak, "No, no. You just raved a bit about hyperspacial mathematics for a while and then wandered off to bed." Seeing Seito's worried reaction he quickly added, "Don't worry, he wasn't insulted, he took it as a compliment as to the strength of his liquor and he considered the ritual to be completed and he headed back down the mountain. I think they trust us enough now to let us go down into their village and take some blood samples." The raven-headed man clapped Seito on his thickly padded shoulder, "You did an excellent job, brother! Our mission will go forward as planned."

Seito smiled, leaning forward on the wall as he looked down into the valley, "We are gods to them now. That is going to change things....we can't just sit here quietly and study them. We should give them something in return."

Kurtz tilts his head quizzically, his glowing eyes narrowing as he tried to figure out what was going through Seito's mind. "What is bothering you? These people are just primitives. They think there are gods everywhere, in the clouds and in the water and in the rocks and in the trees. We're just another family of gods to them. We take what we need and then we leave and in a generation or so we are just another legend to them. What makes you think that we owe them anything?"

"They don't have any joy in their lives now." replied Seito. He turned around and leaned back on the wall, stretching out one of his legs and scuffing a foot through a little snowdrift, pressing his toes into it and feeling it crunch underneath. "They live hard lives, hunting, gathering. Practicing a little agriculture. Just scraping up what food they can and storing it up in hope that they can survive another long and hard winter. A number of them won't survive to see the spring. They're like seeds now, cold and dead in hibernation until things warm up again."

The raven just stared blankly at Seito for a moment, his beak hanging open part way. "They have no joy?" he asked, a tone of bewilderment in his voice, "What does that have to do with our studies? Where in our field training manuals are we ever taught to be concerned about the emotions of the specimens we study?" Before Seito could try to answer, the raven continued, "Perhaps the drink is still affecting you? Should you lie down for a while longer?"

Seito waved his hands in front of him, shaking his head, "No, no. I'm fine. I'm...." he paused, realizing that he regretted shaking his head like that, now that the whole world felt like it was wobbling around him. He took a deep breath and slid his feet up under him, standing up straighter as he composed his thoughts. "Do you remember the Christmas party in Boston? 1937? Dr. Westley had just made the deal with the Army and they agreed to fund our project?"

Kurtz clicked his beak as the shift in subject threw him off. He played along, to see where the jackal was going with this tangent. "Yes, I remember that. It was Dr. Westley's house. Everyone was there, the whole team, just before we shipped off to the base in New Mexico. I had a nice new car. The ladies really liked that car."

Seito nodded quickly, "Yes, and you remember how it was snowing so hard outside. We thought we might be trapped there for a week. We were joking about what rooms we would be staying in, who we would be sleeping with."

"Yes, we agreed on the second guest room," said Kurtz, "...and that we were going to flip a coin on who would get the bed and who would get the floor.....where are you going with this?"

"It was cold and miserable outside but we were having the time of our lives!" exclaimed Seito, a near-manic look in his eyes, causing Kurtz to take a step backwards. Strong emotion was not something that Imaja were accustomed to, and the sudden outburst made him nervous. "We should throw a Christmas party! Reward ourselves for all our hard work, and reward the people down there for learning to survive a long miserable winter like this one. We can have music.....decorations.....some really good food.....gift-giving."

Kurtz stepped forward and placed his hands on either side of Seito's collar, gripping both forward edges between his thumbs and fingers and giving him a firm shake, "Brother, come to your senses! You're acting out of pure sentiment! There is no rational need for such festivities, such excess. The Elders will think you've gone mad, taking our mission off focus like this. They could put you in cold sleep......"

The jackal blinked, the sudden pressure on his sensitive collar brining his attention back to the beak that was just inches from the end of his snout. He rested his hands on Kurtz' shoulders and looked him in the eyes, "I know what I'm doing, brother. It will help seal our good relations with the natives. And it will give us a chance to feel some warmth again." He gave Kurtz' shoulders a firm squeeze, "Don't you remember what it felt like back then? We were on top of the world. On the verge of blazing a trail into a new frontier of discovery and exploration. Not because we were assigned to, but because it was our passion to do so. We were celebrating being alive. Have we ever done that since we joined the collective?"

The raven thought about that for a long moment, standing there silently as he summoned up the memories of that party, what scattered memories were left. It was a dangerous thing, falling back into memories of his life before the collective. Longing for what he couldn't have anymore. "We always have a passion for our work. We've just.....well. Grown accustomed to what we do. That sense of wonder isn't what it used to be because we aren't children anymore. But the passion is still there...it is...." He paused for a moment as he realized that he was half-trying to convince himself that it was true. They had grown cold over time, the two of them. That was the way of the Imaja Collective. They were beings who had transcended petty mortal concerns. Because of their engineered bodies they were ageless and immune to disease; they did not have to fear growing old or succumbing to illness and losing all of the knowledge that they gathered. They lived for learning and they had the whole universe to explore together, forever.

And they had grown very cold with time. It was something that came with the perspective that immortality brought. If one became too attached to transitory things then one was doomed to despair when those things turned to dust. They were cold because they had to be to keep their sanity under the mounting years. Both of them had lost everyone, everything that they had known outside of the collective. They just had their little family of immortals now. But why couldn't they have more warmth within their family?

Yet it was never Christmas on Tarlec. Their little desert home-world was a timeless place, tidally locked in its orbit around a dim red dwarf star. There were no seasons there, nothing that called for annual festivals. The Imaja were a monastic people, deeply disciplined and dedicated entirely to their esoteric studies. They had no time, no desire for frivolity. This particular eccentricity on Seito's part would be confusing to them all, at the very least. Perhaps even alarming. It would never stand on Tarlec, but off-world, in this little fortress, perhaps it would.

"I suppose there is nothing wrong with visiting an old tradition.", Kurtz said in a reserved tone. "We can't go back in time, but we can revisit something that will bring us some pleasure now. And yes....we do deserve it. We have all worked hard for the collective, without much in the way of a vacation." He let his fingers slip from Seito's collar pressed his hands against his chest. "I will support you in this, so long as it does not endanger our project."

The smile on the jackal's face was unnerving to the raven, an expression of emotion that was alien to their kind. Perhaps it was just a side effect of the drink that the shaman gave him. Or perhaps Seito finally cracked and was on a downward spiral to madness, and would be destined for cold sleep: frozen in a death-like hibernation until the anomalous memories faded away and he could function normally again. Yet Kurtz could not deny that there was something in that smile that he found infectious, a certain warmth that it evoked inside of him, reminding him of what he had been missing for all those centuries. Maybe they could afford to celebrate for a while and take the risk of experiencing those emotions again.

"I trust you, brother." he said to Seito, and he meant it. The two had been inseparable in their previous life, even more so in the collective.

"Thank you.", Seito replied, that smile growing wider, "I'll write up an agenda and order some supplies." He gave the raven a firm clap on the chest and turned, hopping off of the platform and heading back to his apartment, the wheels in his mind turning, leaving the raven standing at the wall, looking after him, and wondering just what they were getting into.

---

Seito had been busy with his preparations over the past three days. The fortress had changed, slowly but steadily, with bits of strange decoration appearing around the grounds like some sort of strange fauna that had been allowed to grow unchecked. Strings of green garland came first, appearing along window sills and door frames. Wreaths of synthetic pine branches interwoven with equally synthetic holly hung on doors. Streamers of twinkling colorful lights decorated rooftops and lined the top of the shield wall. The inside of the communal dining hall became infested with garlands and lights and simulated greenery. Seito had even led a small party down to the forest below and returned with a pine tree, still dusted with snow, and set it up in a stand in one corner. The other Imaja there were confused about its purpose. Why bring a living specimen into the dining hall instead of the laboratories? How could they take proper samples here? But the tree was not for study, Seito had made that clear. Instead he insisted on it being decorated with strings of lights and metallic tinsel and bright ornaments of glass. It filled the hall with the smell of pine, which was pleasant, everyone had to admit, even though no one really understood the purpose of the gaudy decorations.

Then there was the strange music being piped into the air from every loudspeaker throughout the fortress; cheerful carols that repeated in a loop every couple of hours. Infectious at first, and then increasingly irritating after about the third listening. Seito had conned a group of five Imaja to practice singing the carols in return for stopping the canned music, but none of them could carry a tune to his satisfaction, so they took to practicing constantly throughout the day while at work or on break.

The decorations arrived daily in the portal room, a small warehouse towards the back of the fortress where supplies were transported to and from the Imaja home-world of Tarlec. The transport was handled through hyper-dimensional portals: controlled wormholes that were created by massive machinery located on Tarlec, allowing instantaneous travel virtually anywhere in the known universe and adjacent dimensions and parallel realities. Every day, at 06:00 hours, two shimmering portals would appear side by side in the warehouse, up against one of its walls. Drones would then carry crates through the portals, one line going from Alveria to Tarlec, and another line going vice versa.

Usually they just gained two or three crates a day, fulfilling requests for various bits of scientific equipment, food supplies, and the like. But since Seito started making his very specific requests they started getting nearly a dozen crates a day, packed with strange decorations. Seito arrived in the warehouse as the latests shipment was carried in by the insectoid drones that did all of the heavy lifting for the Imaja. As soon as a plastic crate was set down he unlatched the lid and opened it, inspecting the latest arrivals. Festive clothing, all carefully folded and vacuum compressed and stacked inside. Pulling out a transparent plastic envelope containing a green and red bundle, he ripped the envelope open with a claw and pulled out the contents: a scarf.

Shaking it out and letting the fibers expand and regain some of their volume, he held it up between two hands, admiring the synthetic wool weave, dyed in green and red stripes. He showed it to the worker drone, smiling, "See? Our latest arrival. It's perfect. What do you think?" The drone just stared back stupidly with its beady red eyes; the chitinous plates that composed its face shifting just a little as it flexed its mouthparts. "No, it's not for eating." said the jackal, and he draped the scarf around the drone's slender neck, looping it around a couple of times and tying a loose knot. "There, it looks good on you." The drone was not engineered to be intelligent enough to agree or disagree on matters of fashion. It just waited for its master to finish whatever he was doing and then it continued on its way, having other duties to carry out.

<Do you have any decency at all?>, Kurtz transmitted over his Link as he stormed into the warehouse, his head turning to follow the drone as it walked on out, its new scarf providing a nice splash of color against its otherwise black carapace. While agitated, the raven didn't want to make a scene by speaking out loud. <First you make the fortress look like its been infested with vines and moss, decorated with enough lights to make us visible from orbit, then you put a dead tree in the dining hall. With a hibernating squirrel still inside, mind you. Breakfast yesterday was unexpectedly entertaining when it woke up. And now......> he gestured wildly with his hands, <....now you're dressing up our drones? Everyone is starting to think that you've gone mad after drinking that potion. Dr. Chen wants to see you in the med-lab so he can run some tests.>

Seito pulled another package out of the crate and opened it, pulling out a bright red conical cap with white trim and he handed it to Kurtz. That was then followed by another scarf. <All designed according to spec. The Fabrication unit has really outdone themselves this time.>, he thought back. He then turned and faced the raven, his expression unnervingly giddy. "Well, try it on and tell me what you think."

Kurtz' beak just hung open for a moment as he struggled to find words to express just what was running through his head at the moment. No, none, really. He just took the hat and scarf and put them on, and watched the jackal's face shift into an even weirder expression of fulfillment. "You are a sick man, you know." he finally said, slipping back into his natural voice; but by that time Seito had already donned a similar scarf of his own followed by a bright red greatcoat trimmed in white.

"We also have some interesting food that was brought in, to share.", Seito continued, "I think they might have gotten the flavors right this time. Ham, turkey, cranberry sauce, stuffing. Egg nog." he winked, "Non-alcoholic, of course."

"Yes, but with enough sugar to get us all stoned." replied Kurtz, who reached up to adjust the seating of his new hat on his smooth skull. "The Elders will wonder about all of the sugar that you've imported. It is hard to write justify all of that as having some scientific merit."

It was one of the benefits of Imaja physiology that they had a remarkably efficient immune system as well as the capability to resist a very wide variety of poisons. A useful ability when exploring worlds that had poisonous gasses for an atmosphere, or when one was left without supplies and had to subsist off of toxic plants for food. There was very little that harmed them. The unfortunate part was that their bodies recognized alcohol as just another poison, and had an allergic reaction to it that felt something like a severe flu. Sugar, in its concentrated and refined form, had quite another effect on them. It was intoxicating. Egg nog didn't have to be spiked for it to get them drunk. And all of the other items on the manifest, candy canes and sugar plums and chocolates, those had Kurtz particularly worried. They could have an orgy on their hands if this wasn't stopped.

"You seriously aren't going to offer all of this to us, are you?" asked Kurtz, wondering if he should have his brother sedated for his own good. Seito shook his head and walked over to another, much larger crate and opened it, revealing an odd construct inside. It took Kurtz a moment to recognize the thing, but then it hit him. "A sleigh?"

Seito walked a couple of circles around the sleigh, his fingers eagerly tracing over its synthetic wood surface, painted in a bright red and trimmed in gold. "Yes...." he replied in awe, then he looked up suddenly, "I mean, yes, a sleigh. But no, all the sugar won't be for us. That would be irresponsible. I want us to be festive, not break out in a riot. No, no. The candy and other treats are for the villagers in the valley."

Kurtz took a slow, deep breath, trying to maintain his patience. "You're going to deliver gifts to them.....I see. Thoughtful. This wouldn't contaminate them at all, culturally."

The jackal stepped over to Kurtz and clapped a hand on his shoulder, "It won't contaminate them in any way that would affect our current studies. If anything, we could start a new line of inquiry about changes in their cultural development as a result of our bringing Christmas to them. Oh, and we are going to bring gifts to them. You remember how to drive a sleigh, yes? It's easy."

<You're mad.> hissed the raven over his Link as he looked over the sleigh. he had to admit it was beautifully designed, like something he hadn't seen since his past life. The thought of riding in it carried a certain thrill. He looked up at the jackal, leaning forward and resting his hands on the side of the sleigh and rocking back and forth, testing out its sturdiness, asking in a resigned tone, "So we are delivering gifts to the savages. Have you made a list as well, who has been naughty and nice?"

"I had Juno compile a list of behavioral studies over the past few months, as a matter of fact.", replied Seito, not even seeming to notice the sarcasm, "She catalogued all of the inhabitants of the village, men, women and children, and summarized their behaviors. Yes, we do have a workable list" He unholstered his Versicomm and tapped a few keys on it to bring up the list, and he held it up for Kurtz to see. "There are a lot of good people on the list. Though a few particularly rotten ones. That will be up for you to handle....I researched the Krampus from old German traditions.....I rather like the idea of it. I asked Clavius to take that role....being that he has a goat's head already. With a bit of coaching he understands the idea."

Kurtz' left eye twitched as he scanned the list. "You're mad." he hissed again.

Seito hugged him close, his eyes lit up with elation that his plan was coming together. "Mad with yuletide spirit! We'll make their first Christmas one that they'll never forget!"

---

Another couple of days of preparation passed, and the the sleigh was made ready. Underneath the brightness of the full moon, Seito assembled his team of merry-makers in preparation for bringing Christmas to the village below. He and Kurtz would drive the sleigh. He had convinced the village shaman to participate, dressing him up for the part of Father Christmas, and making it clear that all he had to do was distribute gifts. Clavius was present as well, his horned head and fierce red eyes looking entirely the part to play the punisher of the wicked, and he swung his collection of switches through the air, listening to the satisfying whistle that promised pain to any exposed flesh. The shaman eyed him warily, not certain why they were doing any of this, but convinced that this was all part of fostering good will with these strange gods.

How to pull the sleigh was problematic, for the general lack of anything resembling reindeer or even horses in the valley. The winter had driven off all of the fauna except for what domesticated farm animals were kept there. Mechanical substitutes would have taken too long to manufacture and test, so Seito thought of a decent substitute and had it specially delivered just an hour beforehand. It was a particularly nightmarish xenomorphic creature selected from one of Tarlec's zoos, and a personal favorite of Seito's; a vaguely humanoid being with a greatly elongated skull ending in an eyeless face that opened to reveal a row of long, needle sharp teeth. A shining black carapace covered a gaunt, skeletal form that sprang along on powerful legs ending in sharp claws and ended in a long, bony tail that was capped with a razor sharp spade of bone. Seito called it "Dash".

"Don't worry." said Seito as he held his hands up, trying to calm the sleigh's team and prevent them from running away. "Dash is tame....I've worked with him for years now, he's totally under my control." Dash thrashed its tail and hissed at the crowd, looking particularly irritated, as Seito had tacked him up shortly after his arrival, the fine leather harnesses snug against his bony form, the leather straps decorated in many bells. The bells rang with each movement of the creature, which only served to enrage it more.

An angry transmission came from the Link that Seito had thoughtfully installed in him some years ago, <Dash hates these restraints! Why do you always humiliate Dash?>.

Seito just smiled back at Dash, rubbing a hand over the front of the xenomorphs's dome, <It's no humiliation, Dash. We're going to bring joy to some children soon.>

<Dash will eat children soon!>, the creature thought, punctuated by another hiss and a lash of his tail. <Then Dash will rip your heart out, and all of the other soft skinned weaklings!>

Seito hardly seemed bothered by the violent thoughts, Dash was prone to those. It wasn't all posturing, of course. Were his behavioral restraints not in firmly in place, he would do exactly what he said he would. But the jackal had worked with this specimen for a while and ironed out most of the bad behavior. <If you behave, Dash, I will give you a nice fat deer for your Christmas dinner. You like those, yes?>

Dash crouched low, tail swishing back and forth in an oddly feline gesture, <Dash would like that very much. Dash will behave.> When neural implants and rigorous mental conditioning failed, bribery was a sure bet.

It was not long before Seito secured Dash to the front of the sleigh and all the rest of his crew were persuaded to climb inside and get ready for their midnight ride. Canvas bags in the back of the sleigh swelled with gifts, their tops tightly secured. After climbing into his seat, the jackal looked over to Kurtz, saying, "All loaded up and ready to ride. Take us out."

Kurtz warily eyed the angry monster tied to the front of the sleigh, half heartedly raising his whip and snapping it overhead. "Onward....Dash." and he cringed down as the creature shrieked and sprang forward, pulling the sleigh behind it, its iron skids easily sliding over the firmly packed snow.

On down the ridge they traveled, winding along snowy paths under the bright moonlight, the cold wind blowing over them. The sleepy village before them was very dark, the huts having no windows, but every vent in every roof was issuing a trail of smoke. Likely the people inside were sleeping. Not for long.

Seito prodded the shaman to do his part, and the old man let out a well-practiced "Ho! Ho! Ho!" as they raced into the village, the ringing of bells accompanying them. Dash shrieked as well, the ringing of the bells putting him in a particularly murderous mood. Doors began to open in the various houses, people peeking out warily at the strange commotion. The sight of the sleigh full of black-skinned, red-eyed demons being drawn by the shiny, bug-like monster was something that triggered their deepest primordial fears. The old shaman dressed in his splendid green and red robes, waving to them and shouting "Ho! Ho! Ho!" did little to alleviate the terror.

But they did trust the old man and his advice, and he did tell them that he communed with the gods of the mountain and made peace with them. As the sleigh came to a stop and the old man climbed out, followed by the demons, curiosity began to overcome fear, and some of the residents emerged from their huts, axes and spears in hand. Others shut themselves inside and barred the doors. Seito pulled one of the bags out of the sleigh and opened it, letting the old man take out some gifts and go about handing them out.

The villagers lined up cautiously, pleased to receive offerings of food as well as the odd toys that the demons had brought along with them, and they slowly crowded around the sleigh until Dash snapped his tail and shrieked, sending many of them running back into their homes.

Kurtz finally decided to get into the act, having drank some egg nog before leaving the fortress, and he got out his naughty list, leading Clavius to select huts and hammering on the doors violently, and then simply forcing them open and letting themselves inside. Screams of terror issued from within as the goat-headed man made use of his switch and doled out punishment.

The villagers were nearly up in arms about the assault, brandishing their weapons and shouting at the strange demons, but the old shaman smoothed things over, explaining that the gods had come to reward the good and punish the wicked. The villagers seemed to understand that, at last, accepting the gifts that they were given, even as Kurtz and Clavius continued their dispensing of justice and the monster dragging the sleigh hissed and shrieked at anything that came near it.

Seito felt his spirits soar as he helped hand out gifts, seeing those cold and bewildered faces light up when they saw what they were given. They couldn't understand him when he told them "Merry Christmas", but they learned to say it back, in a somewhat mangled form. He then led Kurtz, Clavius, and the old Shaman in a rendition of "Silent Night" that sent every last man, woman, and child fleeing back into their huts. That part still needed work.

Finally they returned to the fortress, Dash panting and shaking from the exertion of pulling the sleigh uphill all that way. Sure, it was lighter with all of the gifts given, but it was still heavy. <Dash will collapse and die now. When Dash gets better, Dash will eat your face.>, thought the exhausted xenomorph when they got inside the shield wall and came to a stop.

Seito stepped out of the sleigh and patted Dash's dome, <Dash was a good boy, he will get his deer soon.>

<Dash had better.> hissed the creature, curling up on the ground and resting.

After Dash had been escorted off to his kennel, the Imaja and the shaman headed to the dining hall where the assembled Imaja greeted him with a rendition of "Joy To The World" that was equal parts inspiring and terrifying. But it was the thought that counted. Seito applauded them and handed out gifts to everyone there, little knick knacks that had been fabricated on Tarlec and had no real use, but the crowd there got into the spirit of it. They shared a nice dinner that tasted mostly accurate. Not that they had much in the way of a point of reference. And then the egg nog was passed around, and the rest of the night dissolved into a blur. The next thing Seito was aware of was that he was laying up on top of the roof of the dining hall, Kurtz next to him, both staring up at the stars in the clear night sky. "Thank you for helping me with this." said Seito, idly tapping his feet together. "Thank you for putting up with all of this."

Kurtz sighed, rubbing a hand over his head. His senses were still swimming from the effects of the sugar. He half felt like he was floating. "I take it that the madness is over? Ah, good. Well, I had fun. It was a nice break from the routine for all of us. Once we were convinced that we did not have to sedate you, we all found it to be....well....fun. We all needed some fun after working for so long. And it did bring back some memories. That Christmas party in '37 was fantastic. Though I was an ocean away from my family, it was the first time I really felt like I was at home."

"We were all the family that we needed." replied Seito, a smile spreading across his face. "Even more so now." He looked over at the raven, a thought coming to him, "Do you remember a certain girl at the party? Gold hair, green eyes, red dress?"

"Smelled like roses?", replied Kurtz, his eyes still fixed on the stars.

Seito rolled up on his side, propped up on an elbow, "You do!"

"Of course...", said Kurtz.

"What was her name?", asked Seito, his eyes wide. Finally, a question that had plagued him for so long would be answered. She might be long dead now, but at least his memory of her would be complete.

"Susan Engell. A very sweet girl." said Kurtz, his voice taking on a certain warmth as he remembered her.

Seito grinned, rolling back and laughing as the piece clicked into place. "Susan! That's right...Susan. Oh, she was so beautiful that night. I remember her saying something to me......I think she invited me back into the guest room."

Kurtz clicked his beak, "No, no. I remember that now. She was talking to you for a while but you were drunk off your ass, kept going on about Einstein, trying to explain relativity to her. She got bored and excused herself."

Seito frowned suddenly, wishing he could dispute that, but as the memories returned he found he couldn't. "She did go to the guest room...."

Kurtz chuckled, his eyes moving to watch a shooting star arc over the sky. "Yes, I took her there. She was fantastic. You know what I really miss from then? Having lips. She had the most amazing....eh? Seito?" He rolled to his side and saw the jackal storming off and awkwardly climbing down the side of the building, claws scrabbling before he slipped and feel into a snow drift with a curse.

The raven looked back up at the stars and licked the edges of his beak, those old memories hanging close for a moment before he let them evaporate away. "Ah, my dear Seito, There are some things we choose not to remember for a reason."