Faye turned the sign over to read "CLOSED". The morning rush before the Christmas party had kept her quite busy, but by now just about everyone had gone home to get ready, and besides that it was 30 minutes after her sign said she was going to close anyways.

She turned back inside to where her overworked stock boy was back to restocking the flour for what must have been the third time since they opened. She thought wistfully to all the houses that must smell wonderful with the last-minute baking going on. Hopefully someone would bring some of that baking to the Mansion party.

Cody glanced up from his work and asked, "So.... I guess this means you're headed out to the Mansion, right?"

Faye nodded. "That's the plan." She didn't mention this part to him, but that was the plan just about every year. It just usually ended up that, after closing the store, she usually had decided that a quiet night at home was preferable to a party. This year, she was determined to not have that be the case.

"It sounds like it must be quite the party."

Faye turned away to get the broom, rolling her eyes as she did. Cody's attempts to sound coolly disinterested were failing miserably. "Cody, we probably have enough flour, why don't you move on to the batteries? They're in a terrible state." He nodded and went to the back, but she could tell that he was disappointed by her apparent dodge. She waited until he was back and back at work before she answered him: "You know, the party is an open invitation. Your family is certainly welcome to come."

Cody shook his head. "We're not going. Melissa's still sick, and Mom thinks Lindsey's too young to enjoy it."

"Oh, I'm sorry to hear that." She considered it briefly, before asking, "But, you'd be interested if you had someone to take you?"

Cody turned to her, still trying to pretend that he was surprised by the question - or implication. "Well... yeah."

Faye knew she was going to regret this decision. "I suppose we can save the cleanup for tomorrow. If you want, you can leave to ask your parents if you can come. I can stop by your house on the way to the party, and if they say yes, I'd be willing to take you."

"Really??"

She raised a hand to stop him. "But, I'll expect you in bright and early, all right? We'll have a lot of catch up work to do."

"Of course, of course, I'll go right away. Thank you, Miss Brixton!"

"Ah - Cody! Please at least finish up and put the boxes away before you go." He nodded and did so, in record time, and before dashing out the door. Faye sighed and shook her head. If only he was that eager to work all the time.

But, if she wanted to make it to the party on time, she had to get moving. Faye finished her sweeping and ducked into the back stairway leading up to her attached apartment.

Officer Jeffery Evans held mixed feelings about the holiday season. On one hand, the month of december held many fond memories of family, friends and good times had together. On the other hand, it was almost exactly three years ago to the date that he had lost his family to a tragic mining accident on Asteroid 2357P1A. So while he did his absolute best not to be a downer during the most festive time of the year, he still could slip into fits of depression. To avoid confronting the horrors of his past, Jeff typically through himself headlong into his work, a strategy that usually worked splendidly. Except when his commanding office made him take a day off. Like today. Today he had sat in his and Ainsley shared apartment and lost himself in video games while waiting for her to return from where ever it was that she had happened to adventure off to today.

That somewhere was the tropical rainforest of Dittotopia, a region that wrapped around the sole continent like a band, straddling the equator for thousands of miles. Ainsley was broadcasting live from her helmet camera, narrating her exploration as she scaled a sheer cliff in search of a nearly extinct bird. She had just finished a bit of a monologue and was about to place a new anchor point when she received a call from Jeff.

"Hey babe, how's the climb coming?"

Ainsley chuckled a bit, knowing full well that her boyfriend would be following her every move on the livestream.

"Better before you interupted it."

"I'm bored."

"What happen, Captain Holt make you take a saturday off for once?"

"I've got nothing to do!"

"Have you picked out an outfit for the party tonight?"

"Oh wait, is that today?"

"Jeff, did you forget? You know that dad will be there."

"I'm messing with you Ainsley, I've got my stuff laid out already. It even fits nicely with your dress."

"I'll make a proper man out of you yet, Jeffery Evans. I've really got to go though. I've put nearly half a million people on mute for long enough as it is. See you at seven?"

"See you then."

Jeff had lied through his teeth. The party had completely slipped his mind. He lept out of his chair and into action, desperately hoping that he had something in his closet that matched whatever extravagant colour it was that Ainsley had selected to wear.

Twig's really did not want to go to the Christmas party this year. After the cruise, she had had enough of socializing. However, she had wondered how the others had recovered from the cruise, so she made the trek to Ditto Town. She had hoped that Pittersticks would want to stay home, especially since Twig's had asked him to come. So much for reverse psychology.

Twig's opened the door to the Mansion and glanced briefly around. "Great," she thought. I'm the first guess here. - Not counting Pittersticks of course." Further thoughts were cut off by a member of the staff assisting her off with her coat. Halfway through the process the door opened and the a gorgeous blond woman in a white fur coat stepped through the door. The man left Twig's to finish getting her coat of and hang it on the rack and rushed to assist the new guest.

Miss Ottillia Nordin stepped through the door with her maid Violet in toe. Violet held the leash of Ottillia's Indian giant squirrel Owenbranch. Ottillia surveyed the room. "How quaint," she said to Violet. "They are trying to be elegant." Instead of being dressed in black pants and black vests she was used to seeing, the wait staff had on laughing Santa vest. The pianist wore a red tux and a Santa hat. Ottillia accepted help with her coat and strode into the room. The wait staff flocked to her offering her hors d'oeurves, steaming mugs of cider, cold glasses of eggnog, and mugs of hot chocolate.

Meanwhile, Twig's had also stepped into the room and was completely ignored. she could not compete with the tall woman in the sparkling red cocktail dress. Sighing, she looked down at her green sweater with sequins sewn into it, brown leggings and brown boots. She had felt suitable dressed when she had left her cabin. She grabbed a mug of cider off of a tray and seated herself on a comfortable chair next to the Christmas tree. She pulled a book out of her small backpack and began to read.

"Well, seems everybody is quite interested in catching the biggest tipping fish," Delia said, appearing next to Twig's. She slurped loudly from her cup, holding another one out to her guest. "She a friend of yours? Some sort of co-squirrel care-er connection?"

As they approached the Mansion's front doors, Faye noticed the look in Cody's eyes and wondered if he'd never seen it before. She was wrong, but not by much - it was hard to miss the Mansion entirely in Ditto Town's "skyline", but he'd never had reason to come this close to it before. Despite its name, he hadn't been quite ready for its size or grandeur. The fact that it was decorated to perfection only made the image that more striking.

Almost hesitantly, he followed Faye up the steps and through the front door, silently fearing that someone might tell him that he wasn't actually welcome inside after all. But, he had no such experience - an attendant took both of their coats and welcomed them inside.

The first thing Faye noticed was a tall woman, flocked by waitstaff and impossible to miss, immaculately dressed in a stunning red dress. For a moment, Faye feared she was underdressed. She couldn't help but feel that the woman seemed to love the attention she was getting, but she tried to dismiss those thoughts. Her experience with Mr.s Gladstone Sr. and Jr. should have taught her a lesson about judging on such first impressions.

"Miss Brixton, does... does that woman have a squirrel with her?" Faye hadn't noticed it at first, but now that Cody mentioned it, there was another woman standing near the elegantly dressed one, holding a leash for a large squirrel. Faye tried not to frown - she had to hope this one didn't talk, since it was on a leash, but her last experiences with a certain squirrel left her paranoid.

"I believe she does. But don't stare - I've told you before, we have some talking animals in Ditto Town." Cody nodded and turned away. Faye made a point of doing the same, and saw Twigs and Delia Death talking a little ways away. She hadn't seen either of them since the... incident... last summer. Faye had largely recovered from the shipwreck, but there were lingering feelings. Still, she did want to talk to them again, just hopefully about other subjects.

"Come on, Cody, let me introduce you." Faye led the boy over to the two women, momentarily wondering if it was a good idea to invite an almost (but not quite) 15-year-old to a party like this. If no one else brought young'uns, he'd probably get bored very quickly. Still, too late to consider that. She walked up to the two and smiled. "Miss Twigs, and Ms. Death, it's lovely to see you both again! I'd like to introduce you to Cody Lowell, my newest employee."

Cody, meanwhile, had his eyes locked on Ms. Death, unaware of the fact that he was staring. He'd heard stories about her, but he wasn't sure how many of them were true. Was she really a ghost, eternally bound to the Mansion? She looked awfully solid to him. He was tempted to ask, but even if his common sense didn't take over, he just couldn't work up the nerve to say as much.

Dan Baxter sat in his favorite recliner, holding the embossed invitation to this year’s Ditto Town Holiday Party. They’d all attended the previous year and had had a great time, but he couldn’t help thinking about their recent experience on their first cruise.

It was supposed to be a surprise birthday party for his wife – and the sinking certainly was a surprise! Angie’s birthday had been forgotten in the aftermath and struggle to survive, but they’d celebrated later once they were back home.

Angie’s broken arm had healed nicely, but she still had occasional memory problems after her concussion. They’d seen specialists and after lots of tests the conclusion was that she was actually rather fortunate in that the injury could have been a lot worse.

Grace bounced back as well as any nine-year-old kid might, though she seemed to hang around her parents more than before. No wonder, after being separated from them, if only for a short time.

He was daily grateful for his family and that they’d not taken Emma, who was only a toddler, on the cruise.

Moments later both Grace and Emma walked into the room, holding hands, and dressed in matching dresses. They were silver and green with red trim, and certainly fit the bill for the Christmas season.

“What do you think, dear?” Angie followed them in.

“You’re the cutest little girls in town, that’s for sure,” he replied. At that they began climbing into his lap until their mother reminded them not to roughhouse in their fancy clothes.

“Can we go to the party, Daddy?” Grace asked.

He could never refuse those puppy-dog eyes. He glanced at Angie, who nodded. “Wouldn’t miss it,” he replied. “Let’s get you two bundled up and we’ll be on our way.”

"My dear Faye! 'Tis a please to see you, and to meet you, Cody," Delia said pleasantly. Cody's face had a look that Delia was far too familiar with--and could also have far too much fun with. She took another slurp of her beverage, considering. She turned back to Faye.

"How is the shop? I'm guessing you're slammed, what with the season being in full swing."

"Mmm, that's an understatement. And every year, no matter how early I put in my increased inventory orders, it seems like they're always late." She smiled and added, "But, it's never a wise idea to complain about having too much business. Still, I am glad for a day off, when just about everyone in town will be here - myself included."

Meanwhile, Cody finally caught himself - and abruptly shifted his eyes to Twig's instead. She was wearing a Christmas sweater, and he was wearing a suit. Was this too much? His mother thought he should dress in his (relatively) nicest clothes, but it felt like it just made him look even more out of place than he felt. He felt like an imposter.

So, in the hopes of fitting in, he cleared his throat and asked, "So, Miss Twig's, and... Ms. Death, what do you do? My, uh... my family's new to this town, and I... I haven't met very many people yet." Well, given how many customers he saw in a day, that wasn't strictly true, but it was the best he could come up with.

Twig's put her book away at Delia's approach. She accepted the cup. "No," she quickly explained. "I have never seen that woman in my life. I do like squirrels. I spent my childhood playing with them. I followed one in particular around - that's how I got my nickname Twig's. Unfortunately, Pittersticks has decided that I don't do enough as head librarian of the Reading Library to promote reading and book discussions, so he follows me places and tries to bully people into doing what he wants them to do. Nothing I try discourages him." She trailed off as Faye approached with a boy in toe.

Twig's nodded at Faye's introduction. She smiled as Cody addressed her and Delia. "Hello Cody, it's hard to be in new places. I don't know a lot of people in Ditto Town either. Faye, it is nice to see you again.

Kaelin sat on her bed, looking out the window. Maeve was bustling about, cleaning a few last minute things. Kaelin never understood her sister's compulsion to make sure everything was Just So before they spent the night away. Maeve always said it was because it felt nice to come back to a clean house, but Kaelin never felt much of a difference. There were a lot of things other people felt that she seemed to miss out on. Instead, she contented herself with inspecting the lazily falling snow.

"Hey," Maeve said, sitting down next to her. "Everything ok? Why haven't you finished packing?"

"Eh," Kaelin grunted. "Not in the mood."

"You had a blast last year, and I had to make you go then."

"Yeah."

"Grace should be there," Maeve said, hopping the mention of her little sister's friend might shake some joy loose from the Cretan tunnels of her brain. Instead, Kaelin sighed heavily and plopped her head onto her knees.

"I know."

"I thought you liked Grace...did the two of you have a falling out?"

"She probably hates me."

"What do you mean? Why on earth would she hate you?"

Kaelin shrugged with her hands, struggling to insure her tears would not make her voice crack.

"I just, I just left her on that stupid island," she said. "Everything was fine and I just couldn't and I didn't even tell her why because I didn't know why and then I didn't even tell her goodbye or make sure her mom was okay because I was being an idiot when I should have been dealing with stuff because I actually knew what was going on."

"I'm sure Grace doesn't hold it against you," Maeve soothed. "She's a rather forgiving child, and besides. Once the emergency responders got there, she was bundled right up into that chopper with her mom. It probably was all just one big whirlwind."

"Yeah, but before that I was still acting like I was two. Who wants to deal with that?"

Maeve nearly reminded Kaelin that Grace's beloved little sister was about two, so she definitely had experience, but decided that was more of a sisterly thing to tease about, and not appropriate to the discussion at hand.

"I'm sure it was not as big a deal to Grace as it is to you," Maeve replied. "Beside, you have to remember, Grace is a good three years younger than you are. It probably was no different than a momentary event with one of her schoolmates."

"...Grace is my age, though! She's almost my height!"

"Indeed, and she might pass you in a few years. You might be the same size as some of your peers, but you are nearly a foot shorter than I was at your age."

"What? Maeve, stop it."

"I'm quite serious. If you follow my growth patterns, you'll only grow a few more inches."

"But I thought both Mami and Tati were quite tall. You are."

"Yes, but you had a very different growing experience, to say the least."

Kaelin considered.

"But Grace knows a lot, too. She's not like some baby."

"No, but there are lots of years and stages between baby and your own. Grace is a good match for you, and I hope she teaches you how to be more of a kid. She also has had very few of the same life experiences as you, and will judge you differently."

"You don't think she'd be mad?"

"She is not your sister in arms. You did not leave her in the face of danger. If anything, you made sure she would not come to accidental harm. She probably has no idea what was going on."

"She's not that daft."

"No, she is a normal child," Maeve replied, rising. "At most, she'll want to know what happened only so she knows you were safe. Now, finish packing your things, and tape your shoulder so you don't sprain it again. If you really feel badly, we'll leave early, but either way, I don't want to be late."

"Mmm, hopefully Maeve comes by," Delia said to Twig's, grinning like a scheming child. "I heard she and Pittersticks got into it last time, and the squirrel ended up on the losing side of the battle. Bet he'll be quite reformed when she's around."

~~

Delia listened politely while Twig's gave her answer to Cody's question, smiling cheerily. She nodded as Twig's agreed on the disadvantages of being new, then turned to Cody herself.

"I work with dead things. It's all in the name--Delia Death. If I have to deal with ya, you're probably dead."

"Jeff, you look ridiculous!"

Ridiculous indeed, a darm green sweater vest over a white dress shirt and a black tie to match his shoes might have looked quite snazzy on anyone else, but it just missed the mark on when worn by Jeff.

"But I match!"

"Look, I know that you're worried about seeing dad again. I am too. But this just isn't you, ditch the vest bro."

Jeff dejectedly ditched the vest. "better now?"

Ainsley smiled, he was so cute when he was mad. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, she produced a wrapped christmas box. "Here, try this on for size."

The frown on his face tranformed almost instantaneously to a smile at the sight of the present. "What is it?"

"Open it, silly"

"Wait, I got you something too." Jeff sat the box down and reached another, much smaller jewlery box. "Don't worry, I'm not proposing."

"Good, because then I'd have to kill you."

"Fair enough. Here, take it. We'll open at the same time."

Moments later, Christmas wrapping filled the air as the two torn into their respective packages.

"Its perfect!" They both shouted simultaneously.

Cody nodded to what Miss Twigs said. It was nice to have a sympathetic ear, but before he could say anything back, Delia Death explained what it was that she did. Cody was back to staring at her, this time with a faintly horrified expression. Was... was that supposed to be some kind of hint?! "But... I mean, this is... you're not working right now, right?!"

Meanwhile, Faye glanced back at the woman in the elegant red dress. "Speaking of new faces, does anyone know her? I don't think I've seen her in my shop." 'Not that I would have.' She thought, despite herself. She had yet to even hear the woman speak, it was far too early to form an opinion, she reminded herself.

Maeve walked up the steps on the Mansion, Kaelin in tow. The younger girl was particularly struck by the decorations, and, especially once inside, quite glad her sister had made them dress up. Not that it was much of a consolation, originally: Maeve had been quick enough to pick up on the formality of this year's invitation, but she was also old-world enough to immediately insist on traditional dress. The silky fabric was undeniably appropriate to a black tie affair, but the blue colors was decidedly un-Christmasy. The design, too, was quaint (to put it lightly) when compared to the likes of the fashionable Miss Nordin: the idea of a long dress with such outrageous slits and gaps that it merited its own set of pants most likely did not fit in with Dittotopian High Society. Yet still, here they were.

The more she looked around, the more the overly decorated festive vests helped balance things out. It seemed this would be a strange mix of things, as things often were in Ditto Town, and that suited just fine. Grace had not yet arrived, so Kaelin made a beeline for the snacks.

Maeve entered at a much slower pace, taking in how the furniture and decor had moved around the Mansion. She also took inventory of the people who were present. She, too, had seen Miss Nordin, but had also picked up on the fact that a new squirrel was present and a certain old squirrel was nowhere to be seen.

Hopefully no one beside Pittersticks was too mad at her for her previous squirrel freezing ventures.