I won a slot in  _Blaze_Koopa's Christmas Browsing Emmi belongs to me characters belong to their respective owner. I choose Emmi for the fur on the phone bulked up with winter weight. Artwork and description by  _Blaze_Koopa

A chilly day nearing Christmas. The store would need some sprucing up for the holiday season, and a couple of dogs were in the middle of doing just that. Pyrite set to work positioning the window display parcels, all wrapped in shiny paper that seemed to glisten in the sun that shone through the massive window in front of them.

Next to him Jeffery, today sporting a lovely red variant of his usual jumpsuit, accented by the green logos for the fitting holiday color combo. The beagle whistled cheerfully as he sprayed and scrubbed the glass to make the shine upon the parcels even shinier. As he passed by Pyrite who was positioning another parcel, the two of them nodded at each other with a smile.

Presently, they were momentarily distracted when they noticed spectators from the outside curiously looking at the display, no doubt considering what paper to wrap their gifts in as well as what gifts they could procure from the shop. One was a yellow and white fox with red ears and a tuft of brown hair, walking up to look more closely at the display of parcels Pyrite was placing. Coming up alongside him was a red dragon with a long, green tail not unlike that of an anaconda and a yellow belly, horns, and claws. Pyrite and Jeffery stopped for a second to wave and smile at the potential customers, both of them smiling back.

As the two dogs went back to work, they could hear the two on the other side of the glass conversing.

"Last second browsing, mate?" Ozzi mused to the dragon.

"Heh, yeah..." Ruby answered, sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "I got off to a late start. I need to find something good and fast."

"Well if all else fails," Ozzi went on, "you could gift-wrap yourself. You're already the right colors for it!" Ozzi gestured at Ruby's convenient red-and-green color scheme.

Ruby looked at himself. "Heh, why didn't I think of that?" he said, chuckling.

As Ruby thought about what color ribbons and bows to attach to himself, Ozzi turned to Pyrite, gently knocking on the glass to get his attention. "Excuse me!" he called, making his voice loud enough to be heard through the glass. "What time do you guys open?"

Despite Ozzi's voice being muffled slightly, Pyrite heard him perfectly clearly by virtue of dog ears. "Uh, should be open soonish?" Pyrite called back as he placed another parcel, though he wasn't sure. He looked at Jeffery "Hey, what time is it?"

Jeffery, strangely, didn't answer.

"Uh, hello?" Pyrite looked at Jeffery, only to see him staring straight towards Ozzi's general direction with an almost entranced expression. Pyrite raised a brow, then turned to see what was so interesting, then he understood.

Ozzi looked at them both, puzzled, before he noticed heavy thudding steps approaching him from behind. He had only a moment to process Ruby abruptly jumping aside as if to make way for something, before...

SHWOOMP!!

Within a fraction of a second, two fuzzy globes had surrounded him from both sides and shoved him forwards until he was trapped between then and the window. He tried to move, but could only squirm slightly in the small prison he was in. He turned his head back as much as he could to see what hit him, only for his face to grow pale when he noticed a large spike further up the landscape of white fur that engulfed him. 'Oof... glad THAT didn't hit me...' he thought.

The huge Lucario who had just walked up stoicially looked down at the comparatively small dragonconda. "Pardon me," Gemini spoke. "Do you know when this store opens?"

"U-uh..." Ruby struggled to find his words. He wanted to mention the fact that Ozzi was pinned against the window, but the Lucario's commanding look compelled him to at least answer her question the best he could. "Uh... shortly, m-maybe?" he stuttered. "We were... we were just a-asking about that..."

Gemini wasn't completely satisfied with the answer, but shrugged. "I suppose I'll wait here until opening time then. At least I'll have beaten the crowd. You know how it is."

"Y-yeah..." said Ruby, the Lucario's gaze still making him nervous.

Ozzi had a strange look on his face. "So... w-we're just going to wait?" he asked. "Like... wait right here?"

"Precisely," Gemini answered.

"... All right, then," Ozzi said with mixed feelings, quickly turning his head to hide a blush. Admittedly, he couldn't complain about the coziness of his position, helped by the fact that the Lucario didn't seem to mind that he was stuck in her cleavage. In fact, with how quick her answer was, she either brazenly glossed over the fact that Ozzi was in her cleavage, or was aware, but simply felt like pinning him there for whatever reason. Either way, Ozzi knew wouldn't be moving from this spot for a while, and simply settled in.

"Though..." Gemini spoke looking stoically at Ruby again. "SOME clarification about opening time would be appreciated, don't you agree?"

Ruby took this as a hint. He turned to Pyrite and Jeffery. "Hey! Uh, what time do you open again?" he called through the glass.

Pyrite snapped out of his trance. "Uh, err..." he collected himself. "9:00... or is it 9:30? Ugh, I always get mixed up..." He turned to Jeffery. "Is it 9:00 or 9:30?"

Again, Jeffery didn't answer, now staring straight ahead towards Ruby. Pyrite turned to look at Ruby, then saw something else.

Ruby tilted his head, only realizing too late that more heavy footsteps approached him from behind.

SWHOOMP!!

Ruby jerked forward uncontrollably with something fluffy up against his back, until he was flat against the window, his arms and legs spread out with his tail dangling, and his snout against the glass.

"Did I make it in time?" said a cheery voice from above the dragon.

"I say so," Gemini said to the surprisingly huge Eevee who had just walked up. "We're all still waiting."

"Whew, good!" said Brindle with a sigh of relief. "I had to skip breakfast to make sure I beat the crowd, and I HATE skipping meals..."

Ruby could tell this was the case. The Eevee belly groaned and growled all around him. Which how Brindle's belly completely molded around his body, combined with the growling, it was almost as if it wanted to eat him from the outside. He gulped, hoping this was just his imagination and Brindle wasn't the voracious type.

"Hmm, well I guess I COULD get breakfast real quick," Brindle thought out loud. "But... hmmmmmm... I'm here so earlyyyy! I might lose my spot when I come back. Maybe I'll try to stick it out, if opening time isn't too far away..." Her ears flew up when she realized something. "Oh what am I saying? I got breakfast right down there!"

"MMMMMMPH?!!" Ruby shrieked, flailing (as much as he could anyway).

"Juuuuuust kidding!" Brindle burst out laughing, her belly jiggling all over Ruby in the process. Down low, Ruby breathed a sigh of relief.

Next to them, Ozzi just watched with his mouth agape, while Gemini tried her best to stifle a giggle.

"Oof..." said a voice. "Crowd already starting to build up it looks like." They all looked over to see a polar bear with a six-pack strolling up to the store. "Good thing I got here when I did. Heh." He looked over at the two huge girls already there. "Err uh, say," he said, completely composing himself and trying not to be obviously wooed by their size. "Do uh... either of you know when this place opens?"

Gemini and Brindle glanced each other. 'Either of you', Frostbite had said, indicating that he didn't know Ozzi and Ruby where even there, as he couldn't exactly see either of them from that angle. Brindle quickly covered her mouth with both hands to suppress a laugh.

Frostbite raised a brow. "... What's so funny?"

"PFFT!" Brindle's giggles leaked through her hands.

Gemini, trying not to laugh herself, decided to play along. "9:00 or 9:30, apparently," Gemini replied, playing none-the-wiser, but genuinely unsure about the answer to that question.

Frostbite threw his hands up, then looked at Pyrite and Jeffery through the window. "You guys oughta put a sign on your door showing your open and close times," he called, rolling his eyes. "Which one is it?"

Pyrite pondered what Frostbite just said. He turned to Jeffery. "Uh... dude?" he began, "Does this shop really not have a sign on the door?" He didn't feel he'd get an answer.

Sure enough, Jeffery was stare ahead again, this time towards Frostbite. Pyrite sighed. "I'm beginning to see a pattern here..." Just to validate his suspicions, Pyrite looked towards the polar bear. "Yep, here it comes..."

"Here what comes?" Frostbite asked, shrugging... before noticing and feeling heavy step coming from behind him. "What the-"

SWHOOMP!!

Frostbite's lower half suddenly disappeared into the abyss of a pair of huge thighs wearing jeans, and something soft and fuzzy against the back of his head like a pillow. He was pushed into the glass, with only a single free hand up against it. Before he could process what just happened, he was caught off guard by a voice that seemingly wouldn't stop.

"Yeah yeah, it's simple. People see my sweater, people buy your goodies! ... Yeah yeah, they'll see it, I'll make sure! ... They won't miss it when I press it against their windows! Trust me, it's foolproof!" The huge chipmunk went on talking into her phone.

Brindle perked up. "Goodies? Like, mouth goodies?"

Emmi stopped. "Hold on a second," she said to her boss before lowering the phone momentarily to address the Eevee. "Yeah! Serena's Bakery has a special holiday sale right now! Feel free to drop by!"

"Ooooooh! I haven't eaten yet," Brindle replied, licking her lips at the thought of delicious muffins and cookies. "Probably not ideal for breakfast, but who cares?"

"They have biscuits too!" Emmi added.

"Perfect!" Brindle said excitedly. "I'll head straight there once I'm done here!"

"That does sound delicious..." Gemini chimed in. "Perhaps I'll join you, if you don't mind!"

"The more the merrier!" Emmi beamed. She held up her phone again. "See? I'm getting potential customers already! I told you it'd work!"

"Could I take you up on that offer?" Ozzi called from within Gemini's cleavage.

"MM-HM!!" Ruby tried to agree the best he could.

"RRMPH!!" Frostbite groaned, blushing. "M... me too..."

Emmi paused, lowering the phone again and looking around puzzled. Se turned to Gemini and Brindle. "Uh, who said that?"

Brindle and Gemini looked at each other. Brindle could hold it any longer, she cheeks puffing until she burst into laughter again, leaving Emmi speechless. Gemini at last let out a small giggle, she herself finding the situation amusing. Ozzi opened his mouth to say something, but was quickly shushed by Gemini pressed against him slightly, glancing at HIM now with her stoic look, followed by a shake of her head, as if to keep the fox hidden for as long as it took for Emmi to figure it out. Somehow, Ozzi felt compelled to obey, the comfort of his position helping such. Ruby, meanwhile, couldn't speak even if he wanted to, not with his mouth still pushed into the glass.

"Okay, seriously, am I missing something?" Emmi asked again.

On the other side of the glass, Pyrite watched the interaction play out. "Well uh..." he began. "Not sure what to say." He smirked. "Though I guess you know the feeling since you haven't said anything either."

"... I wish those were me..." Jeffery said quietly.

Pyrite's eyes bugged out, processing what he just heard, before noticing the beagle's blush as well as his wagging tail. "... Wait, WHAT did you say?!"

"I just said what you were thinking," Jeffery replied.

Pyrite opened his mouth to reply, only to find out that he couldn't think of an argument for that one. He simply looked again at the window display, the one that was far more interesting than the one he was placing.



Christmas YCH! As theoddscaile's Pyrite and robthehoopedchupmunk's Jeffery prepare the window display for opening, they're incidentally treated to a better display, courtesy of psyonicfox's Gemini, thelatiking's Brindle, and lionsdenproductions's Emmi, with involuntary volunteer's anon1573's Ozzi, rolopicolo's Ruby, and huznordstrom's Frostbite.

Enjoy, and Merry Christmas!

Gemini © psyonicfox
Brindle © thelatiking
Emmi © lionsdenstudios
Ozzi © anon1573
Ruby © rolopicolo
Frostbite © huznordstrom
Pyrite © theoddscalie
Jeffery © robthehoopedchipmunk