Wreathed in Cheer

Andi's nose itched more and more as she walked home. A more intelligent bun might have suspected it was the wreath she carried in her arms causing her nose to itch and her eyes to water, but of course, Andi was a sloth bun whose vice lay in forgoing such tedious activities as 'thinking'. Why put so much work into something so unpleasant? She outsourced all her thoughts to Kaili, her girlfriend, and simply did whatever the other bun ordered her. (Of course, once again, a more intelligent bun might have argued that her capability to work as a physical trainer and draft training regimens on her own was proof that, like any other being, she possessed the capability for thought… but Andi disregarded such pesky pedantry as pointless and boring, naturally).

Her nose really did itch, though.

At least she had fun looking around as she walked home. There had never really been any visual differences at this time of year before, but this year, there were lots of decorations made from weird green things. There were actual trees, covered in glitter and tiny things she had been told were called ‘ornaments’, and long strings of the green things strung between things like lamps or over doors, and of course, the ubiquitous wreaths, which seemed to be being sold at nearly every store she had visited lately.

Not, of course, that it had occurred to Andi to actually buy one, since she had been unaware of what they were - making the connection between wreaths on the doors of other buns’ homes and businesses and wreaths in a stack in the shop was just beyond her. (The ones on the doors faced outwards, the ones in the shops faced upwards - how was a bun to tell they were the same thing, really?) One of her clients had brought it as a gift for her after their session, and Andi had been thrilled to accept.

Of course, as she arrived home, she wanted to put it on the door immediately. Once she was satisfied with the placement, she took her hands back… and the wreath dropped to the ground.

Andi stared at it, and then, very slowly, looked up at the door, a betrayed expression on her face. “Why don’t you work like a normal door?” she asked it. After all, every other door seemed to support a wreath just fine. Surely her door should do the same? Maybe it was broken…?

After a quick inspection of the door, she determined it did not seem to be broken. Unless it was and she just didn’t know because she had never tried putting a wreath on it before…

Well, she’d just find another way to display it, then.

She finally sneezed as she picked it up again, although that didn’t seem to relieve the itching in her nose, much to her annoyance. She’d just go inside and blow her nose.

Walking inside, she was greeted by a chorus of imps. Wave leaped from the entry table to her shoulder, barking until she was settled there, while Sea zoomed back and forth over the wreath, prodding it with her long nose.

Even Kaili’s imps were eager and inquisitive - her girlfriend must be asleep or very busy, or else they would have been preoccupied by bringing her things. Even as she thought it, Lumi and Adi sailed her way with a soda, depositing it in her hand and chirping happily at her.

“You’re such good imps, you two,” Andi told the phloof and chirop, who both seemed to preen at the compliment. “Is Kaili up?” If Kaili was up, maybe she could figure out how to hang the wreath.

They chirped in response, and preceded her into the gaming room. As she entered, Wave catapulted herself from Andi’s shoulder onto Kaili’s head, causing the bun to shriek and drop her gaming controller.

“Wave what the- Ohhh, Andi’s home, so you think it’s food time?” Kaili tugged the impup off her head, ignoring the whine. “It’s not food time till food is cooked…” She looked up, and promptly her face became confused. “What’s that?”

“A wreath, one of my clients gave it to me,” Andi declared, lifting it slightly. (Sea zoomed back through it as she did so, spinning happily, and Lumi and Adi decided to join her on her next loop through the wreath). “It’s supposed to hang on doors, but I couldn’t figure out how to do that, maybe our door’s broken?”

For all Andi’s idolization of her girlfriend, Kaili was really not any more intelligent than she was, because she accepted that with just a nod. “Well, that’s fine. The imps love it, so maybe we could just put it on a picture stand or… Oh, I have an idea!” Standing, she went to rummage through one of her drawers, picking out a length of ribbon. Turning to Andi, she beckoned her girlfriend to crouch, since she didn’t feel like changing from her bun form.

Andi obediently crouched down to her girlfriend’s level.

Carefully, Kaili tied the length of ribbon around the wreath, and then made another series of ties at the top to create a loop. Then, she pointed to a hook in the ceiling that also supported an ethernet cable. “Just hook it over that, then the imps can play with it and we don’t have to figure out how to fix the door,” she said.

“Ohhh, that’s so smart!” Andi hurried to stand. She was tall enough that she could just reach the hook by going on tiptoe and extending her arms all the way, and in no time, the wreath was hanging from Andi’s ceiling.

Adi, Lumi, and Sea all spun with delight before resuming their play with the wreath. Quince had told Andi that only carouseas spun to express happiness, but after a while in the house, all their imps seemed to have picked it up.

As Kaili went to go sit back down, Wave managed to get up onto the desk. From there, she launched herself to Andi’s shoulder - and then leaped through the wreath herself, landing squarely on Kaili’s head once again, to another shriek.

Well, at least the imps were happy with their new wreath, even if it was going to be a very sneezy few weeks for Andi until someone figured out she was allergic to it. Maybe they’d eventually think to replace it with a normal hoop, since it wasn’t exactly working as a proper cherubmas wreath like this…