While he wished to make a harsh quip, he was taken by surprise at the gentle act in which she clipped a santa hat onto his head. For a moment, he knelt there, mouth agape as he blinked once, twice, three times in disbelief. Perhaps the holidays made her softer, but he didn't let his guard down completely. Rather than act harsh towards her, he took one of her hands that cupped his face and carefully leaned into it under the act of an obedient dog. He supposed that he couldn't leave her to face the holidays by herself.

"Merry Christmas to you, too, Lorelei," he offered. "But this is supposed to be a competition, I won't accept the help, but I appreciate it."

Perhaps something about the holidays made him softer, as well. Part of him wondered just how his wife and daughter did, but alas, he did his best to move on when he found out that his wife had moved on, too. Could he blame her? He'd been gone for years now with no trace, she could likely only assume he was dead.

But now wasn't time to focus on past regrets.

"It seems we aren't the only ones who decided to show themselves."

It wasn't long until he nudged his head towards her fellow co-owner and his bodyguard. What was with the two of them and their large guard dogs? His hand fell from Lorelei's and went back to the snow.

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LORELEI DU'MOT

The mogul shook his head no at her question. She certainly was in the right to say such. Perhaps it fell upon his lack of a proper childhood. Even at this point in his life, he struggled to understand the hype of the holidays. Sure, he had his found family in his entire group of employees, but he never had the magic of a Santa Claus or any certain holiday traditions to look back upon. So in a sense, to have these very traditions like building a snowboy together felt rewarding in itself. It wasn't long until he blinked in surprise at the way Rhugone took a compliment so modestly.

Of course he remained silent on that matter, not wanting to interrupt the two in their mutual appreciation towards their sculpting prowess. Cato had no sense of prowess in his own work. Even the shaky look of the way he formed the snow seemed unsure and lacking in any confidence. Thankfully he had both Rhugone and his Delphox there to help him pick up where he fell uncertain, that much he appreciated from the both of them. In a show of gratitude, he rested the side of his head against Rhugone's shoulder blade.

"This is nice. Perhaps we should make this a tradition."

It was his longing attempt to make up for his own lost time.

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RHUGONE

His mouth opened in offense at her statement of the idea that someone had stood him up. Surprisingly, he came here alone, willingly so. He figured it didn't hurt for him to make an effort to do something other than bitch and moan all day. Alas, he hunched down and began to work with the snow that was before him. He wasn't going to leave her hanging for an answer, not that he believed she was really interested to begin with. In a sense, he saw a lot of himself in her, and perhaps that was a scary thought in itself. The world struggled with dealing with one of him, so to have two people with the same attitude seemed cruel and unusual.

"A rather interesting question to ask given you're here alone, too. But no, I came here out of curiosity. And the fact I was tired of sitting at home alone so close to Christmas and all."

He didn't want to admit that he had no one to spend the holidays with, no need to give anyone ammunition to use against him. His venture there was to put him in the holiday cheer, in a sense. Otherwise he'd just spend the time watching some cheesy Hallmark movie or something.

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@aim

"that's sad."[break]
said in a flat manner, aim bot seemed to not really understand that fritz was avoiding giving her the very thought to work with and throw back at him. "it sounds like you have nobody who even wants to spend time with you - and during the holidays? isn't that when people are the loneliest and most desperate to find somebody to be with?" pathetic, really, though awooga didn't seem to think so - merely stating what she saw and how she perceived other people to think of these things. "that's ok though, did you want to watch a movie with me later?" she had gotten new sets of nail polish delivered as a self-care present to herself. although she dug at fritz for the same thing, she knew she was no better which made it all the more stupid as to why she would say such things. perhaps it was the fact she already instinctively accepted the same digs at herself, leaving it ineffective if anyone tried to bother her with them. "you know, why haven't we made plans together? if you're free, we should be spending the time together." almost embarrassed by how forward she was being, she showed she didn't want to assume and bother fritz when he was oh so busy and coveted: "of course, if you're fine with that."[break]

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@fritz

it had been enough time that taiga found herself leaving the scene and returning with a warm drink and a space heater contraption she attached to her charizard's tail. this was meant to emanate heat in the surrounding area, woefully melting the snow albeit providing heat for the man she had left momentarily in order to better take care of him in the bitter winter.[break]
"fuck it up, buttercup!" taiga jeered, toothy grin intact as she waved at him from a distance - signaling her return before she approached him, hands folded behind her back as her charizard offered jaskier the starfucks she had bought along the way. hopefully the warm drink would do him well, though she offered him extra heat and comfort by wrapping her arms around his waist while trying to keep enough wiggle room for him to continue work on his snowboy all the same. "thought i was gonna just leave you to suffer?" she asked happily.[break]

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@jaskier