Most of the students had gone home. The teachers were having an impromptu Christmas Eve celebration. The cousin babes had spent the day with Tori-Tor and Mei Lien decorating the place. They had started with just finding stuff in Christmas colors, ribbons, stars, etc. But Cam had soared into protests when the cousins started setting red and green bears, apples and berries, penguins with fiesta hats, and red and green rubber devil ducks around. They had tried to point out that Cam’s sense of humor was not like everyone else’s, but lost their argument when Ninja began chewing off one of the penguin’s hats, ruining the ‘multicultural look’ that Kapri-Sun had been going for. Reluctantly, they replaced the penguins and devil ducks with reindeer and elves. But they insisted on the bears and fruit.
Hunter and Cam had been in the kitchen all day. It seemed that every time Cy had gone to investigate, he found the same scene: Cam trying desperately to get some dish to be just right, Hunter trying desperately to help and make it fun, and Cam responding with ‘the look,’ the one that said ‘I was doing fine on my own and you are only defeating my efforts.’ His cyber-bro really needed to lay off the caffeine. Hunter’s response tended to be to chuckle, raise his hands in the air, and back away.
Shane had arrived and was toting 154 different Christmas cds. He immediately set himself up at Cam’s sound system and piped music everywhere, starting, of course, with Bing Crosby. As that deep voice echoed, Shane added a touch of harmony.
Dustin had been outside for a while… moving dirt. He had run in at one point during the decoration process. “Hey, dudes! Fellow Senseis! Come look!”
He beamed with excitement and pride, which drew a very curious crowd outside. There all saw a most rockin’ scene. Something Cy was sure no one in Blue Bay, So Cal, or maybe even the world had seen before. The D-man had arranged soil and stone to form a perfect Christmas diorama, complete with a Christmas tree, Santa and his sleigh, and a snowman. He had even managed to bring red, white, and grey dirt in to decorate in appropriate colors, so that Santa was brick red, while the snowman was indeed very pale. As they watched, Blake stepped back from the tree and flicked a cord switch. And then there were lights… everywhere.
Soon after they had all come back in, the four girls had disappeared to ‘get ready.’ As Marah deposited Ninja with Dustin, CyberCam just shook his head. They had been dressed in ‘Christmassy duds’ so he wasn’t sure what there was to ‘get ready.’
Cy had to chuckle at the bonding, though. Blake and Dustin were amusing themselves now with Shane and his singing. Occasionally they would jump in on a song, lose track of the lyrics and hold their hands in the air and burst out into laughter. The only one who didn’t lose track of the lyrics was Shane, and as soon as Dustin and Blake noticed, they made it a point to trip him up.
Even Sensei Hiro was into the spirit of things, as he strutted into the living room, dressed from head to toe in crimson and green, with a few bottles of warmed sake. Sensei Dad Dude had graciously accepted one of the bottles as the Christmas samurai hand offered it to him. There was much smiling and formalities exchanged, mostly in Japanese.
Meanwhile, Cam and Hunter finally started carrying out enticing dishes from the kitchen. Every time his cyber bro turned his back, Hunter tasted the dish, and was promptly pelted with one of the berries the Cousins had set out. His bro would smirk. Hunter would growl and cover his face with his best ‘I dare you to do that again’ look. What was up with those two?
Finally, there was a shrill whistle and a cat call from Blake. CyberCam turned to see Tori exit the hallway. She was dressed in a shimmering blue silk tank top and a navy ruffled skirt. Her hair was pulled up and a strand of glittering stones was woven through it, supporting it as cascades of blonde curls streamed down to line her face. Blake was at her side in an instant. Cy inhaled… and forced himself to exhale. Yeah… He’s still feeling the heartache, he thought to himself. He saw Mei Lien step out behind her, but since Blake and the others had surrounded Tori-licious, Cy couldn’t get a good look at her.
Marah-beam bounded over to Dustin and the D-ster’s face lit up. She had left her hair down. She was in a hot glittery orange dress that sort of resembled a space toga out of a bad Sci-Fi movie. It draped down over one shoulder and gathered at the waist. The skirt reached mid thigh to knee with an asymmetrical slant. The dress would have been cheesy, if anyone but the babe-lovely Marah had not been sporting it. Somehow, she made it look like this was the next year’s hot fashion. Cy was sure, if anyone outside saw her in that. It would be the next hot fashion, and he’d see tons of those online mags ranting about how no one makes that look good… Because no one would know Marah. And, as Cy looked at Dustin’s face, he was certain that Dustin was wishing he could fix that and show Marah to the world, in all her beaming orange glittery glory.
Kapri-sun moved toward Shane. She appeared to be asking about his cds. Cy was amused to note that it took Shane a few minutes to focus. Yeah, Kapri was a baby doll today as well. She was in a soft pink halter pantsuit thing with an open back. Shane stammered for a second… and then handed Kapri a pile of cds. Yeah… Cy smiled, it would be hard to look at that and not be impressed. Suddenly the alien babes seemed quite human.
Cy looked around. Everyone was involved with chatting with someone. The party was alive. The aliens were even getting interaction, getting to talk to someone, other than each other, Dustin, or Cam. Blake and Tori had moved over to join the conversation with Dustin and Marah. Cam and Hunter were still trying to out annoy each other, the old dudes were lost in a Zen debate. A thought – no a feeling, had suddenly struck CyberCam. Is it really possible? Was Sensei Hiro right about him being more than a program? Was he, a cyber program, really feeling… lonely?
Cy turned his head, gazing around again as he pondered. His eyes traced the holly draped along the wall. The holly was woven into a long strand that circled the room, as it reached the doorway, it arched toward the ceiling, dipping down for a brief instance before going back up to continue the circle of the room. In that dip, one of the girls, Cy thought he remembered it being Tori, had tied a bundle of mistletoe. Tori had gone to great lengths to explain, amongst the other girls’ giggles that if they stood under the poisonous plant, one of the guys would have to kiss them. Cy focused on the mistletoe. Odd that a poisonous infestation of trees could gain such a romantic folklore. And then he sensed someone in the doorway, standing against the frame as if to not be directly under the mistletoe. Mei Lien.
She was in a dark gold dress with short sleeves and a mandarin collar. Dark and light green embroidery worked its way along the buttons as they trailed from the neck down the left side of the dress. Her hair was braided loosely, but wild strands flew about her face. She was looking at him, when he saw her. She smiled at him and looked towards the others. He had the impulse to get up, to go to her, to talk to her. He couldn’t figure out what was stopping him.
Cy began to stand just as Cam called out over Shane’s music, “Dinner’s ready! And if you are hungry, you had better beat the Thunders to the table!”
Cy stood up. He didn’t know why he was going to the table, he should be approaching her. But when he looked back, she had already gone. And that’s when Cy realized, not only has he possibly discovered loneliness, he may have discovered the cure.