Christmas Alone - Toboe x Reader [Wolf's Rain]

Christmas Eve means a lot of different things to a lot of different people. It’s a time for family, and love, and friendship. For excited children and well-prepared parents.

For some, though, like you, it’s a cursed time. A time for longing to leave work early, for missing your family who live too far away to see, for jealously flipping off your co-workers who gloat that their partners are waiting up for them after their shifts are done with food and festive films.

You sigh, staring blankly into the monitor of your desktop, trying to drown out the hum of happy co-workers as you tap at the keyboard at no more than a leisurely pace. You have no one to rush home to. There’s nothing waiting on the table for you, cooked and warm. You have your cheap, fake Christmas tree, decked in tinsel and rainbow coloured baubles, and star-shaped LED string-lights on the inside of your window. The only thing keeping your fingers typing is the bottle of unopened champagne in your fridge. You have no reason to celebrate, other than surviving your first year away from home, and it hardly feels like a celebration when you feel so lonely, knowing you’re going to miss your mother’s Christmas dinner. Still, champagne is champagne.

Marapets Story: The Lying Kidlet

The Lying Kidlet

Once there was a kidlet who lived by the boarders of the Light Kingdom. He was a lonely creature and often found himself quite bored. One day he decided to play a trick on King Baspinar and ran screaming and crying to the castle that an army of Queen Eleka's Dark Knights had invaded and were burning down his house. At once, King Baspinar sent an army of Light Warriors to the kidlet's house but when they arrived no one was there. The kidlet laughed and applauded, complimenting them on their swiftness.

'I'm glad you would come running if I really was in danger.'

So the army left, angry that their time had been wasted.

A week or so later, the kidlet found himself bored again so he decided to test the king once more. He ran to the castle, wailing that a legion of Eleka's Drakes had stormed his house and were destroying it as he spoke. Once again, King Baspinar dispatched an army of his own. This time, however, he sent a pack of Felicia to deal with the problem. However, when the Felicia arrived at the house, they found it untouched.

The kidlet laughed once more, exclaiming, 'I'm glad you would come running if I really was in danger.'

The Felicia left and informed the king of what had happened.

A month later, the kidlet had done all that he could think to entertain himself, but nothing had been more fun than having the king's guard sent into a flurry, so once more he fled to the castle, howling that Eleka had sent an army of Drab's to his house and they were stealing everything he owned. The king, aware of the hoaxes the kidlet had brought

up before, decided to send only a small army of newth knights because he could not afford to send his army on a wild goose chase again.

When the newths arrived, much as they had expected, the kidlet's house was fine. Seeing their angered faced, the kidlet laughed and laughed until he cried. As the newths turned and left, he called after them,

'I'm glad you would come running if I really was in danger.'

Weeks passed and the kidlet became increasingly more bored until one day there was a knock at his front door. When he opened it he found Queen Eleka herself standing before him with an army of minions in tow. The terrified kidlet fled to Baspinar's castle and screamed and wailed until he grabbed the king's attention. However, when the king saw that it was the lying kidlet again, he turned the creature away.

'We have no time for your lies today. Go back home and find some other way to entertain yourself. My army is needed

here, for we are interrogating the Desert Spy who was found snooping around yesterday.'

The kidlet cried and cried, pleading with the king to send someone to save his home, but the king ignored his pleas and disappeared deep into the castle. The kidlet continued to cry loudly and desperately, upsetting the other inhabitants of the castle. Eventually, to save the ears of the other residents, the Knutt Knight came forward and said he would come to the house, if only to shut the kidlet up.

When the knutt arrived and found that the kidlet had been telling the truth, he drove away the army but was too late to save the kidlet's home. It had already burnt to the ground. As the kidlet lay crying the knutt showed him no sympathy.

'You lied and broke our trust, young kidlet. Had you told the truth from the start, your home would have been saved. We would have come running when you really were in danger.'

Marapets Story: McDoogle's Farm

McDoogle's Farm

In the Gigantic Paradise, a long time ago, there stood a farm. On that farm lived a family of Knutts - a father with two sons. Although the father worked as hard as any other, he knew that soon he would be too old to carry on ploughing the fields or to manage the livestock, so he began to train his eldest son as an apprentice who would eventually inherit the farm, as he was the strongest and found it far easier to push the plough. The younger brother was neither strong, nor was he ever trained to tend the farm. However, he did not mind because he still had many friends there, and could easily look after the animals.

One day, however, the older brother began to boast about his strength and said the sooner he was in charge of the farm, the better, and the more profit he would make. The younger brother rose to his feet at this and claimed,

'This farm won't be any better, just because you're stronger!'

The two brothers began to argue heatedly and so their father came by. Seeing the passion in his younger son's eyes, the old Knutt smiled and insisted that he prove his point. If he could show that he was better suited to run the farm, then the younger son would inherit the farm.

And so, a competition was devised in the fields of the farm.

'Whomever can plough half of my wheat field the fastest,' said the old Knutt, 'will prove that they are the most suited to running my dear farm.'
As the competition began, the other farmhands and many of the animals came to watch, curious to see if such a small, weak Knutt would be able to beat his brother.

The eldest Knutt brother went first. With ease, he paced up and down his half of the wheat-field, steadily and swift, taking only thirty minutes to finish. Next was the younger Knutt. When his father told him to begin, instead of taking hold of the plough, the Knutt turned and ran to the edge of the field, where the other farmhands were watching.

'Please can you help me' He asked with a smile, 'if we all take a plough and take a line each, the field will be done in no time.'

The other farmhands were all happy to oblige, and once each had a plough to themselves, they marched together in a unified line along the field, with the young milk maid helping the Knutt with his plough. Although neither of the two was strong enough alone, together they could keep up with the burly farmworkers as they walked.

The ploughing took only eleven minutes, and so the father Knutt named his youngest son the winner. In anger, the eldest Knutt demanded that his brother had cheated. To this, the wise old Knutt smiled and stated,

'No, he did not cheat. McDoogle simply used his brain. He realised that the job could be done much more efficiently if he asked for help, instead of trying alone.'

Marapets Story: The Greedy Little Kujo

The Greedy Little Kujo

Once there was a place called Candy Land, where the trees sprouted gumdrops and the lakes were made of chocolate. It was a peaceful place until one day a greedy little Kujo came along and began to eat everything he could see. But he was a sly creature and only ate when there was no one around to stop him.

One day, when all the other creatures of Candy Land were playing down by the Chocolate Lake, the greedy little Kujo snuck up into the trees and gobbled up every last crumb of the Gingerbread House, leaving nothing for those who needed it most. When he was done, with one long burp, he scurried back down to the lake and joined in with the other creatures.

However, when some hungry pets went to the Gingerbread House, only to find it had been eaten completely, the Obese Fairy lined all the creatures of Candy Land up and questioned them one by one. When she came to the greedy little Kujo, she asked sternly,

'Did you eat the Gingerbread House?'

He shook his head and pointed at his tiny body.

'I could never eat a whole gingerbread house, for I am only tiny!'

'Of course,' she said, agreeing. 'You're much too small to manage that task.'

And so the greedy little Kujo got away with his evil deed, and so he carried on eating and eating away at Candy Land until it was practically bare. Each time the Obese Fairy lined up the creatures and questioned them one by one, but the greedy little Kujo would always reply: 'I am far too small to eat all that', and the fairy would let him be.

One day, when there was nothing left on the ground of Candy Land, and the chocolate lake had almost dried up, the greedy little Kujo found that he still wanted something more to eat. So he eyed the candy fruits of a rather large tree and climbed it, plucking a large, sugary apple. All of a sudden there came a cry that shook the whole of Candy Land.

'Ouch,' screamed the voice, 'Ouch! What do you think you're doing, stealing one of my fruits? Get away, you nasty thief!'

It was the Candy Tree - the oldest creature in the whole of Candy Land. The greedy little Kujo fell from her branches in shock, hitting the ground with the apple tumbling after him. Appearing from the call of the Candy Tree, the Obese fairy saw the Kujo and at once she knew that it had been him all along that had been eating Candy Land.

'You greedy little Kujo! You have lied to me, and been so greedy that you haven't left a thing for anyone else to eat! For that, you must be punished.'

With a wave of her wand, the greedy little Kujo was turned into an ice cream. But he did not understand how this could be a punishment. He licked his fingers, judging the taste. Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he started to lick more vigorously until his hand had disappeared, too caught up in his greediness. He continued to lick and lick, unaware that he was slowly disappearing until it was too late. With one final lick, he swallowed his tongue and disappeared completely!

'Only take that which you need,' said the Obese Fairy, 'Or your greed will quickly destroy you.'

And with that, she flew away, set upon restoring Candy Land to its former glory.