Christmas story! Christmas story! I would say that this was months in the making, but to be honest I was working my butt off too much recently to make this over time.

The story takes place in my series,
Another year ticks by. Yue has grown ever since. Yet she still learns more and more every day. Such as today, she finally gets to learn a little history about Kyusei, mainly of the winter soltice and his embarassing secret of that day.



Butterfly catching, flower picking, watermelon bashing, all things you cannot do around this time of the year. When the planet finally rotates around the festive star. How long had it been? It felt like just yesterday that this same sight befell Yue's eyes.

There it was; displayed in front of her was a picture filled with one, no, five people! And all surrounding… her!

She knew now why it was that her heart raced. It was because of the music! The crunching of snow as Nokuro and Tasu held hands whilst they froliced around the fire. The whistling winds gently passing by. And the idle chatter of Kyusei and his mother, sitting about the cackling campfire.

It was the radiant glow reflecting off of his silver eyes, along with his mother's. The white blur that merged so beautifully with the bright blue. Not to mention the lazy green feather standing by without an arm to hug.

Or perhaps the charcoal scent that seemingly mixed well with the sweet, bean-like fragrance tinged with a slight hint of mint. Coming from the lady that which looked identical to their offspring.

Lastly, the atmospheric glow that outshined the orange radiance over the horizon. Or the living shine. The one that oozed out warmth from every inch of their prideful flame.

Which was it?

“Yue?” The lady crinkled her black snout. “You know, someone might mistake you for snow if you keep lying down like that.”

Yue lifted her head from the icy bed. Leaving an outline of herself as she sat upright and wiped the snow from her artic fluff. Not that it mattered. As he said, it all blended in anyways.

Who was this person whom snapped her from a trance? Why it was Kyusei of course! He had broken the conversation with his mother to check up on Yue. Because immortals above that this arctic space cadet couldn't keep a one-to-one conversation with anybody besides him.

He sighed. “The least you could do is start preparing the Phisomo!”

“Fee-so-mo?” Yue would echo with her ears hanging.

Again, he groaned. “Right–” Kysuei seemed to had almost forgotten that Yue was human. Leaning in closer, she lent him an ear. “The Phisomo is a tradition where we all gather around and see who can step deepest into the snow!”

Suddenly, Yue shrinked her expression. “Is this just another plot to mess with me?”

The man in response clutched his teeth and howled, “NO YOU IDIOT!” Quickly softening his voice when the group's collective gaze stabbed him in the back. “Ugh… It's not that.” He whispered. “Though…” His voice peaked with guilt. “It might be–”

“Kyusei! Did something happen?” Tasu was quick to pick up on his scarlet cheeks. “What happened?!”

Holding out one paw, Kyusei responded with a low sniffle. “We're fine. Yue was just confused about the Phisomo is all.”

“Hm? What are you confused about?”

Yue darted her gaze to the floor. She wanted to curl up into a ball and get tossed in the sun. But fate was not so fortunate to allow that. She needed to come up with a response, and fast. “U-uhm… I needed to know… uhm– how to measure the depth of our paws.” Kyusei seemed to jump at the idea.

The short ball of blue fluff tilted to the side. She was about to speak before Nokuro interrupted. “Hm? You didn't bring a ruler?” the fox asked. When Kyusei attempted to speak up, Nokuro deviously snickered, cutting him off as well. “Fufu~ how nostalgic.”

“Nostalgic?” Yue once again echoed. That she was good at doing in conversations.

“Oh? No one's ever told you?”

Kyusei suddenly cut them off– “No, shut up Nokuro! Don't tell her!”

“Haha, why not?”

The two fought over who could speak the loudest. Eventually ending with Nokuro stepping down on his foot, making the spat come to a sudden silence. They looked back at Yue.

“Kyusei —back when we were little— was doing Phisomo with the bunch of us like usual. But unlike most years, he forgot to get a ruler.”

“N-nokuro… ple–”

“So basically, we all had to measure with our nails who was the biggest...”

“Nokuroooooooo!”

With a snicker, the fox came to a dramatic halt. Pressing their foot on Kyusei's a little more. That's when they too were cut off by Zukoi! “Basically, when Kyusei was measuring Nokuro's paw depth, they pressed his face into the snow with their foot.

Yue looked back at Kyusei, astounded. She didn't know what to think! A part of her wanted to reject it, but Kyusei's bright red face made that hard to deny.

“R-really?”

Kyusei dropped his head. It was true! She couldn't believe her eyes! That would explain so much, from the way he spoke, to the way he always seemed to blush around Nokuro around thia time of the year. It all made sense!

As always, Nokuro snickered, patting the fluffy back of their embarrassed childhood pal. “Well, should we get to measuring?”
—

---

The vestige of light swayed from side to side. Clutching on to its last flicker of life before its flames were snuffed. Dead silent. Ever so occasionally cut off by the groaning howl under so much pressure. Because of its age, the building had begun its own process through the cycle. How ironic.

“It's that time again.” A voice gently whispered. Of course… no response. Never would there be a response. “Do you remember the day we met?” Still… nothing.

Lord how he despised that silence. It's the type of silence that can infect everything and everyone around it. It is the type of silence that can cause you to lose any sense of time.

Back in that time, where the wind howled a monotone song. And the black skies complimented the white snow. It was back then that they used to talk.

Actually… now that he thought about it. She never talked, not even once. Not until that day. The memory of a distant picture, repressed memories of a creature, completely black flesh and red eyes, with a splotch of scarlet trickling down her face. She held them close, despite already being a corpse.
“Die”

The fox snapped awake! He instinctively glanced at the ticking clock to his left. The shorter hand curled towards a six whilst the longer hand pointed its purple star at the number two. “Still?”

He hated this; the silence, the lack of complete silence, and the constant dread that came with it. He wanted something to happen so badly. He needed something to do. Yet… every time he tried to stand, his legs fell numb. “What if she wakes? What if someone comes? What will she do without me?” All these thoughts flooded in his head quicker than time passes.

He sighed to himself. Nothing as always. He was stuck; doomed to cuddle her in his fluff.

Looking down, everything he just thought froze. And… in a simple second, so insignificant to the human, those scarlet eyes! A chill ran down his spine. A delusion?

His eyes flickered. No! It's the real thing! Throughout all of his eaons, not once had she—she wasn't dead?
—

---

The depth of one's paw symbolizes their fortune in the next year. Yue recalled that from a book she once read. Seemingly each paw, from width, height, depth, even to the texture under the snow had been carefully detailed and logged. They even had an approximate percentage of the population expected to have each paw type.

Yue thought nothing of it at the time. So she put the book away like the rest. She never expected it to come up so soon.

Time was quick to pass. Yue always wondered why that was. It seemed like she lived on an entirely new planet. Which she may have done literally, but it seemed more like she was born here. Like her body knew what shape it was always meant to be.

“Let's see… good fortune! You might be getting a boyfriend next year~” Nokuro shot a sly grin at Zukoi, the bird squawking back with a teary-eyed confession. “You always say that.”

“Next up is Kyusei and Yue!” The group collectively giggled at the heavy blush weighing down on the duos’ cheeks. Their gaze hidden from one another. Of course they got paired up! The entire group made sure of it. When they picked the straws, Nokuro always held two out of the cup, replacing them with duds that would change names depending on who had yet to be picked.

Kyusei held out his paw. He did this many times before with the woman. However, having now done it in public seemed like taboo. He was really expected to let Yue admire his paws without any of the fun that came with it? He whined at the idea.

Similarly, Yue dropped her jaw for the sight! Ever since the two met, not once had Yue's mind strayed away from these peets. She was intoxicated with them; the way they mercilessly mushed her, pinned her, grinded her into the floor. It infatuated her to the point she could no longer think straight when in proximity to the plump paws.

Yue shook her head violently. She needed to snap free from this collar! The way they swayed, playfully wriggled, forming a coil of overgrown hair. Or the music they made upon contact with any surface. A crunch, a gentle “thoom,” even the way they settled; spreading his sole out. It looked like a snowball melting into a puddle!

“Yue– not in front of them…” Kyusei whispered in a way that made the human shiver. Indefinitely chained to this collar.

Using her newfound claws, she mustered the power to measure that the paw was about six claws wide. That was about two times larger than anyone else's so far! Another reason she admired them so.

“Tell us when you two are done~” Zukoi playfully snickered before skipping off with the rest. Ironically, adding to the volume of exposure the two felt.

Even as they froliced off, puffing up balls of ice in their hands, bombarding each other with snowball after snowball. The two were frozen in place. Where to start? How is it that people so intertwined with fate; living day in day out inside the same shack, sleep in the same cozy bed. How could they feel so overwhelmed here and now?

First came the stomp, the squeeze, crunching of snow compressing. Ice turning to slush. The paw spread, toes extending out to gobble more snow under his weight. It made Yue shiver with delight. Merely the perspective of the snow must've been heavenly.

With that over, Kyusei raised his paw. As if he didn't mercilessly crush the snow. As if he didn't wiggle his toes out of playful spite. As if he couldn't care less of the destruction one stomp caused. Yue didn't even blink; how could she when there's the most celestial pawprint right before her. What she wouldn't do to get on her knees and–

“Yue~ you gotta measure my paw depth silly.” Kyusei whispered in an amused tone. Should… stepping on things make him feel so powerful? He wasn't sure on the specifics, but he accepted that this feeling was good.

Yue scurried to stuff her finger in the pawprint. Her head suspended right over the hole because she wanted to measure it. Yet no matter how much she tried to focus, even the mere outline of a paw made her shiver.

Just the way his paws so obviously couldn't keep still, and the visible marking of where Kyusei's digits pressed. His pawpads adding a small dent in the snow.

*Thoomph!* A spike of cold struck at the back of Yue's neck! Causing her nozzle to fall directly down and into the imprint. That heavenly scent of rainforests, the warmth, god even the texture. She could die happy here and now.

“Pfft–HAHAHAHA! Holy crap it happened again!” A voice giggled in the distance.

“S-Sorry Yue!” Yelled out Tasu.

The human's heart froze. She couldn't take it. Lifting her head before anyone noticed her excitement plastered all over her face. Of course, only Kyusei would know her true nature.
—

---

The cozy campfire wrung out the moisture in their fur. Both white and black. “Was it fun today?” Yue nodded in response while she wrapped a paw around her red-striped back. Cold, she forgot how that felt. Albeit, not the greatest stimulation. “Can't believe that it's been a whole year since we met.”

“Yeah.”

“I can't even think of a time when we weren't together.”

“Yeah…”

“Hm?” Suddenly Kyusei gripped Yue's arm. “Are you still thinking of that fortune?”

Yue's droopy eyes settled on Kyusei's thigh. “Y-yeah… what do you think it means?”

“Hmm,” he put a finger on his chin. “curse… most take that as a sign of misfortune. However I'm not exactly sure if it means that.” He hypothesized. “It's mainly known as the immortal relation; when an ethereal is eerily similar to their ancestor immortal's. But… you weren't born here. So that shouldn't really be possible.”

Yue let out a loud yawn in return. Today was a long day, and she didn't have the energy to think too deep into its meaning. Instead pressing her head into Kysuei's chest fluff.

“Ah– t-tuckered out huh?” Blushing, he rested one arm on her head and the other on the arm of the couch. “Guess we'll wait… I'm getting tired myself.”

At last, another day, another mystery to solve. And a new picture to add to the frame.
Whether lovers, friends, or entangled in the endless strands of fate, each snapshot captures a moment, frozen in time to forever be remembered.