Panoramic_Vacuum
Hoenn around
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Written last year and only finally cross-posting here, Hoenn for the Holidays is sort of a spiritual sequel to my other Hoenn League holiday fic, The Gift of Giving. There's some nods to the events of that one, as well as small references to events covered in the Short Stories Collection. None of it is required reading prior to this fic, but readers familiar might get a few extra smiles out of it by the end. Thanks so much for checking this fic out.
Summary: Glacia introduces her fellow Hoenn League members to a new holiday tradition. As expected, it goes smoothly without any sort of shenanigans whatsoever.
Hoenn for the Holidays
~*~ a Hoenn-verse holiday one shot ~*~
~*~ a Hoenn-verse holiday one shot ~*~
Phoebe was perched on the couch in the lounge at the League headquarters with a broad smile on her face. The League was having a small get-together before their holiday recess. The room was decorated with festive ribbons and garlands, and even though there was no snow in Hoenn’s forecast, the room still held a warm and cozy atmosphere.
A small evergreen decorated with shining baubles sat to the side of the hearth. Beneath its branches sat five presents, wrapped in various kinds of festive paper. One for each Elite; one from each Elite, as Glacia had suggested.
“This was such a good idea, Glacia!” she chirped, rocking forward on cris-crossed legs to admire the decor. “We’ve never had a celebration like this before.”
Glacia stood from where she’d lit the fire in the hearth and returned Phoebe’s smile. “I’m glad you all were on board. It’s a Sinnohan tradition to share little gifts like this to help brighten spirits in the dead of winter.”
Phoebe giggled. “And after the fiasco Steven pulled last year…” she trailed off, and Glacia gave a good-natured huff, brushing a hand against the rainbow stone tucked in the brooch at her neck.
“Yes, well, we certainly didn’t want a repeat of that.”
“A repeat of what?” Steven asked as he came into the room, Sidney and Drake right behind him.
Rather than answer, Glacia fiddled with her brooch with a bit more intent, and gave the Champion a thoughtful hum. “You’re looking rather healthy this year,” she said pointedly, instead.
The realization struck, and Steven at least had the sense to look embarrassed. “Ah, yes. That.”
“Don’t worry, lad,” said Drake, clapping a hand on Steven’s shoulder. “We won’t hold it over your head for too much longer. New year an’ all that.”
Sidney laughed before letting out a low whistle as he looked around the lounge. “Wow, Glacia, you went all out with this.”
“Thank you, Sidney,” she said, tipping into a small curtsy. “It’s the least I could do for my home away from home. Now, since we’re all here, shall we get started?”
Drake needed no further invitation to grab a seat in one of the armchairs around the fire. He sat down with a small groan and pulled out his pipe. “Sounds like a grand idea t’ me.”
Sidney slid onto the couch next to Phoebe, while Steven chose the armchair opposite Drake. “Remind us again how this works, Glacia?” the Champion prompted.
“Of course,” she said, moving to stand next to the festive tree. “You may have heard of this kind of gift exchange by another name; I believe they call it a White Cufant in Galar. But in Sinnoh we simply call it a Sinn’an Swap. Taking turns, each person chooses a gift to unwrap. They then have the choice to either keep the gift, or swap it with someone else’s. This continues until all of the gifts have been opened.”
“Ohh, how do we choose who goes first, then?” asked Phoebe, eyes sparkling with excitement.
Glacia tapped a white gloved finger to her chin. “Hmm, there’s various ways to decide. Age, seniority, or maybe it’s easiest if we just use our current League order.”
“That last one sounds good to me,” said Sidney, already standing up from the couch.
Steven glanced around at the group. “Any objections?”
Drake quirked an eyebrow as he puffed on his pipe and shook his head.
“Nope!” chimed Phoebe.
With Steven’s gaze landing on her, Glacia simply bowed and made way for Sidney to approach the tree. “Go right ahead,” she said, before taking a seat at the far end of the couch.
“Hell yeah,” said Sidney, crouching down in front of the array of gifts and rubbing his hands together. “Alright, which one should it be?”
One was tall and skinny, but not too thin. Another was small, neatly wrapped with a blue bow. The other three were similarly rectangular, and none gave away what sort of goodies were hiding beneath their festive trimmings.
“Gotta go with this one!” Sidney announced, rising to show he’d selected the tall, thin gift.
Facing the group, he tore into the paper, and his eyes went wide. With one final rip, the paper came away to reveal a bottle of fine, amber whiskey.
“Holy shit, definitely keeping this one!” Sidney crowed with a pump of his fist. “Not like I can swap with anyone anyway.”
“Not yet,” said Glacia, with a mischievous glint in her eye, but Sidney was too excited to notice.
“Wow,” he said, admiring the bottle in his hands as he took his seat back on the couch. “Thanks guys!”
Drake’s mustache quirked up at the corner. “Yer welcome, lad.”
Steven chuckled. “Ah, of course that would be yours.”
Drake simply shrugged and puffed his pipe, tipping his hat towards the tree. “You’re up next, little lady,” he said to Phoebe.
“Oh!” she said with a small gasp, and darted off the couch. Without hesitation she reached down and plucked a gift out from under the tree. “This one!”
Kneeling in front of the fire, she proceeded to unwrap it, only to peer down at the open box in front of her with a puzzled expression.
“Are there supposed to be presents inside the present?”
Phoebe brought two things from the box; one small and slim, the other flat and rectangular, both individually wrapped with more of the same paper that had covered the outside of the gift.
Sidney stared for a second before tipping back in his seat with a laugh. “Oh man, that’s good.”
“Hmm. That’s not typical, but, well, keep unwrapping I guess,” said Glacia, seemingly just as puzzled as Phoebe.
But the latter’s puzzlement was fleeting as she set to work unwrapping her gift for the second time. Finally getting her fingernail under the seam, the first of the mystery objects was revealed to be…
“Is that… a pencil?” said Steven, leaning forward to get a better look.
With a rip, the second mystery object came free, and Phoebe giggled. “Perfect for this, apparently.” She wiggled the sudoku book in the air.
Sidney laughed even harder. “Too bad you didn’t get that one, Boss. But wait, isn’t there somethin’ else in there, Fee?”
“Oh, right!” she said, pulling out one more wrapped mystery item from the box. Giggling, she unwrapped the last part of her gift to reveal… “More alcohol?”
As Phoebe held up the small bottle of clear liquor, Sidney tried to hide his wince at the slight disappointment in her tone.
“Well,” said Steven, “I suppose if used in conjunction with the rest of the present, that would make the sudoku more of a challenge, even with the pencil.”
Glacia looked on as Phoebe collected the items of her gift back into their original box. “You can always choose to swap if you want,” she said, a bit sympathetically.
“Nah, that’s okay,” said Phoebe with a cheerful smile. “Sidney can keep his present. Besides, I can use this to practice and finally get better than my Gran at sudoku.”
“Alright,” said Glacia, rising from the couch. “It’s my turn then.”
She hummed to herself as she contemplated the remaining presents. “I think I’ll choose this one,” she said, rising with the small, blue-bowed gift in her hand.
The ribbon slipped off with ease, and with gentle tearing, the paper came away to reveal a small padded case, almost like a jewelry box. Glacia’s eyebrows raised in surprise, and she carefully lifted the lid of the case, only for her expression to fall completely flat.
She spun the box so the rest of the group could see. Nestled inside the soft velvet interior of the box was a brown, rocky lump. Not just any brown, rocky lump. One that looked an awful lot like coal.
Sidney’s eyes nearly bugged out of his skull, and he had to plaster both hands over his mouth to keep from laughing. “Holy shit,” he squeaked out between his fingers. Even Drake sat upright in his seat at the shocking twist of a gift.
“What. Is this?” Glacia’s tone held a deadly chill.
“Well, from here it looks like a sample of bituminous—”
Steven was drowned out by Sidney’s spluttering laughter, and Glacia turned her icy stare to him. “You did this, didn’t you? You thought it would be funny to pull a prank like this.”
Sidney waved his hands defensively, “No, that ain’t mine, I swear!”
“Then what’s so funny?”
“I mean, c’mon, you gotta admit—” Phoebe smacked him on the arm. “Ow!”
For a moment, Glacia stared at the offending lump in her hand in silence, before an evil grin spread over her features. “You know,” she began a little too sweetly, “I think I’d like to swap this gift with someone else’s.”
She stared right at Sidney, and her smile grew wider, more predatory. It took Sidney a minute to notice; he was still nursing the spot Phoebe smacked him. He paled when he finally realized where Glacia was looking.
“Wait, what? Me? What, no! Aw man, c’mon! Glacia, don’t do this,” he pleaded.
“Rules are rules,” she said, sauntering up to the couch. She stood in front of him with the coal in one hand, and the other palm upturned, gesturing for him to relinquish his present to her.
Sidney only hugged his bottle of whiskey tighter. “Glaciaaa,” he whined. “You don’t even drink!”
“That you know of,” she replied, reaching out and plucking the bottle from his grasp. He didn’t resist. Instead he simply stared, dumbfounded, at the box that was deposited in his lap in return.
Steven looked on, slightly apprehensive. “Ah, hang on, didn’t you say this little get-together was about spreading holiday cheer?”
Rather pleased with herself, Glacia sat back down on the couch. “You’re right, Steven. I did. And I feel quite cheerful now, actually.” She adjusted her posture, unruffled. A picture of proper lady-like grace. “Well then, who’s next?”
“Already on it,” said Drake, rising from where he’d claimed his gift from beneath the tree. Amusement twinkled in his eye as he began to unwrap it, hardly even looking at the gift in his hands before he made his way over to Glacia.
“From one of the old guard to another, I’ll do yah a favor,” he said, holding out the freshly-revealed basket of homemade cookies. “Something tells me you’ll appreciate this more’n me.”
Glacia’s eyes widened when she saw the cookies, and she smiled warmly up at Drake. “Looks like your sailor’s intuition was right,” she said, handing the whiskey bottle over.
As Glacia cradled the cookies in both hands like they were made of the finest porcelain, Phoebe beamed with pride. “I made them with my Gran this morning.”
Somehow, Glacia’s smile grew even warmer. “Mm, and you know how much I love your Gran’s baking. Thank you, Phoebe.”
A low chuckle came from Drake as he sat back in his armchair, stowing the whiskey on the floor by his feet. “Can’t say I expected to end up with my own gift in all this, but it’s worth it to see the joy on the lass’s faces.”
“Easy for you to say,” grumbled Sidney, plopping his chin in his hand.
“Hey, it’s not over yet,” said Phoebe, rubbing a soothing hand on his back. “There’s still one more gift, and that means one more possible swap!”
Sidney slouched forward, groaning into his hands. “Thanks Fee, but you’d have to be crazy to want to swap anything for a lump of coal.”
“Guess that makes me crazy, then.”
“Whu—?” Dumbly, Sidney sat up, only to be greeted by the smiling Champion and an outstretched offering of the final gift; a bundle of tea and hot chocolate, wrapped in a fine silk scarf.
“I’d be happy to take that coal sample off your hands,” said Steven. “If you don’t mind, that is.”
Sidney blinked. “What? No, I don’t mind. Why would I mind?”
“Good, good. It’s a nice scarf, don’t get me wrong, but it’s no sample of bituminous coal.”
“Wait a minute…” began Glacia. “The last gift was mine, a traditional Sinnohan ‘keep warm’ bundle. If the cookies were Phoebe’s and the whiskey was Drake’s, and if Sidney denies it was him, then that means the one who put the coal in was… Steven?!”
“Ah,” he said, rubbing the back of his head with a sheepish smile. “Guilty as charged.”
It was Glacia’s turn to blink in surprise. “Can’t say I expected something like that from you. But in hindsight, I also can’t say I’m that surprised.”
Drake grated out a coarse laugh in a puff of smoke. “Ha, looks like the Champ has a sense of humor under that all that seriousness.”
Steven’s smile turned a little more lopsided. “Well, after last year, I didn’t want to cause trouble again, so I figured this year I would be a little selfish. I’d wanted a coal sample from outside of Motostoke for a while now, and this seemed like a good way to treat myself, as it were. Knowing there would be swapping involved, I didn’t see anyone willingly swapping for a piece of coal, so it felt like a safe gift to put in the pool.” He laughed nervously. “I guess I didn’t quite manage to avoid causing a stir after all. Sorry, Sidney.”
The dark-type trainer sunk back in his seat, shaking his head with a disbelieving grin. “You’re killin’ me, Boss.”
Beside him, Phoebe’s brows scrunched up in thought. She tapped a finger against her knee. “Um, Glacia? Is there a rule that says we’re not allowed to share our gifts?”
“Hm, not that I’m aware of,” she answered with a hum, curious what was on the younger trainer’s mind.
“Perfect,” said Phoebe, pulling the bottle of liquor from her gift box and tucking it into Sidney’s drink bundle with a wink. “Just make sure you share some of the hot chocolate with me, alright?”
Sidney grinned, raking a hand through his hair before resting it on the back of the couch behind Phoebe. “Ha, you got it, Fee.”
“I have to ask, though. Why the sudoku?” Steven pondered, giving his coal one more fond look before closing its case for safekeeping.
Sidney gave a one-armed shrug. “I tried to find something everyone would like, and I remember you all talking about sudoku before.” He scratched the side of his head. “And, uh, I couldn’t remember if Drake said he did sudoku too, so I threw the liquor in there just in case.”
“How thoughtful of you,” said Glacia, actual sincerity in her voice.
That brought a grin to Sidney’s face. “Hey, I thought so.”
“So,” Drake began with a puff of his pipe, “can we consider this Sinn’an Swap a success?”
“Mm, I think so,” said Glacia, contemplating the cookie in her hand fondly.
“Can we do it again next year?” asked Phoebe, practically bouncing in her seat.
Glacia smiled before offering the cookie basket to the Champion. “As long as Steven promises not to put another rock in.”
“It’s a tall order, but I think I can manage.” Steven said with a laugh, tipping the cookie in his hand towards the rest of the group. “Happy holidays, everyone.”
The sound of a cork stopper coming free sounded in reply. Drake grinned. “Aye, I’ll drink to that.”