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Molly peaked into the living room, watching everyone interact with each other and enjoy the festivities.
Ramsey sitting next to the window, pocketing a pine cone bird feeder she had made with Sylvie yesterday. Indus and Mera where sitting next to the fireplace, talking about something she couldn't hear from the stairway. Car Crash and the other Banzai Blasters were in the kitchen, cheering Dark Star on as he chugged the bowl of eggnog Giovanni set out, while Sylvie watched from the couch - horror apparent on his face as he watched the disaster slowly unfold in front of him. Zora was laughing at Percy’s terrible sweater - a goofy blue and white sweater with a silhouette of a house with a sleigh on top that read in bold lettering on the back, “Santa better have a permit to park on my house.” Percy noticed her as she walked down the final step.“Oh, hello Molly. That’s a very cool sweater you’re wearing.”
“Thanks! Giovanni made it for me.” She showed off the sweater, which was red and had a giant teddy bear head on the front, to Percy. “He made Sylvie’s sweater too!”
She pointed to Sylvie on the couch, who also had his homemade sweater on. His was a soft green with white swirls and snowflakes on it.
“They are both impeccably made.” Percy said at the same time as Zora turned and yelled, “Nice sweater, kiddo!”
Everyone turned towards her then to Sylvie, who started to turn as red as he had when Giovanni had given him the sweater. He immediately pulled his legs up and hid his face in his knees, causing several of the adults to laugh (and Ramsey, who was closest, to ruffle his hair).
Giovanni came in from the back, wearing a green sweater she and Sylvie had bought for him that read, “Dear Santa, please bring more yarn,” a giant smile on his face. He stopped for a second to ruffle Molly’s hair, then took a deep breath and yelled, “Ok, everyone into the garage!”
Once everyone clustered into the garage Giovanni spoke. “Thank you all for joining me today for this party, willingly! Now-”
Sylvie piped up from the back of the group. “I didn’t join willingly.”
“No one asked you, kid!”
“Boss?”
“Yes, Bear Trap?”
“I think that you should work on your speeches.”
Mera yelled from next to Indus, shaking from the cold even with a sweater and a jacket on. “Why did you want us to come out here, it’s freezing! If you don’t respond with a good reason within the next five seconds-”
“Sheesh, lady give me a second to talk!”Giovanni cleared his throat before continuing. “I’ve called you guys out here so we can play… this!”
He pulled out a wrapped box the size of a shoebox, causing his Banzai Blasters team to yell in excitement. He nodded excitedly at their screams. “That right boys, it’s time for The Christmas Brick !”
“...I’m going back to my room.”
Molly grabbed onto Sylvie’s jacket, stopping him from going inside. “What is it?”
“What?! How do you not know what Christmas Brick is?”
Several responses came from the crowd, ranging from Molly’s calm statement of, “My dad stopped really celebrating Christmas after Mom died,” to Zora’s joyful yell of, “I don’t celebrate Christmas. Or any Holiday actually; I just came because you invited me.”
“Me and Indus usually don’t celebrate Christmas either.”
“Oh yeah, I forgot. Maybe we should call it something else now…” He thumped his fingers on the box as he tried to think of a new name for it. His eyes suddenly lit up, “I got it! ‘The Holiday Box!’ Huh? Catchy right?”
Ramsey looked at the box in Giovanni’s hands suspiciously. “What is it? Are we going to throw it at an enemy’s house? It’s a little old school, but the festive look would really put it over the top.”
“What?! Of course not! I’m not sure if it would even break a window despite all the tape on it.” Giovanni looked at the box for a second, trying to figure out if it could do that, before shaking his head. “So none of you ever played this game, besides my boys?”
Everyone nodded.
“Okay so, you get a dollar bill that’s like $10 or higher if I remember correctly, wrap it in tape, wrapping paper, and the occasional box and presto! You have yourself a Chri- I mean Holiday Box! Once you have it ready you get your party to make a circle and toss two dice. Each time someone lands doubles they get a chance at trying to get the sweet, sweet loot in the middle. Oh! And you can’t use your epithet during this game. Or rip off multiple layers in one swoop! You gotta remove them one at a time until the box gets stolen from you. It’s awesome!”
Several of the members of the group still didn’t look convinced, mostly Sylvie and Mera, but they ended up quickly joining the circle - pulled in by Molly and Indus respectively. The Banzai Blasters quickly ran to the left corner closest to the garage door, arguing over the spaces. Mera and Indus stood near the door to the house, while Ramsey grabbed a foldable chair from near the window and placed it in between Zora and Sylvie. Percy stood in between Zora and Indus, causing Zora to say, “aww. Did you miss me, Copper?”
She rolled her eyes, but Molly could see a small smile worming its way onto her face.
Once everyone was situated, Giovanni looked around and nodded. He went and stood between Mera and Dark Star, then pulled out a pair of dice from his pocket. “Ok, I’ll start.”
Giovanni rolled the dice, groaning when they fell on a 2 and a 4, then handed the dice to Dark Star. The dice went around the room, slowly going around the circle. They went round and round, no one getting doubles the first three rounds. Everyone was starting to wonder if anyone would get it, when Zora rolled doubles. “Alright, our first doubles!”
Giovanni shoved the box into her hands, startling her and causing her to drop the dice. As she examined the box Percy picked the dice and rolled it, getting a 5 and a 1, before handing the dice to Indus. She struggled to grab onto the layer, throwing off her gloves to get a better grasp; but even then she couldn't break through. “Holy cow, boy! How much tape did you put on this?!”
“Only one layer! Got to start off easy you know?”
“How is this easy, boy?!”
Zora argued with the box for several minutes, only getting one corner ripped when Dark Star shouted, “Doubles!”
He ran over to her and grabbed the box, ripping at the paper with surprising efficiency as he ran back to his corner. He got through three layers before Molly rolled doubles and got the box, ripping at the paper with much more difficulty than Dark Star had. But, she eventually got one layer off. A dollar bill fell to the floor as she ripped the layer off, surprising the entire circle.
“...Oh yeah, I forgot mom put some extra dollars in between some of the layers.”
The dice suddenly started to move more quickly, the players interested in the prizes hidden within the layers of the box. Percy, Giovanni, and Indus all got it once (ripping off almost 13 layers all together) and each Banzai Blaster had gotten it twice before Sylvie finally got a chance. He pulled at the current layer, digging in his fingers to try to find a good place to grab it.
Giovanni suddenly shouted, “Doubles!” And turned towards Sylvie, who oddly enough didn’t give up the box immediately.
Molly looked towards Sylvie, wondering why he hadn’t given up the box yet -
His finger was stuck in it.
She could already tell that’s not going to end well. Sylvie tried to pull it off, but Giovanni was approaching quicker than he was making progress. “You’re gonna have to g-”
He didn’t even get to finish his sentence before Giovanni rammed into him, throwing him into the table like a rag doll, and grabbing the box. He ran back over to his area, and soon ending up play fighting with Dark Star for the box before Ben stole it. Molly walked over to where Sylvie was and asked, "Are you... ok?"
“Yeah, yeah I’ll be fine.” He did not look fine at all. He lowered down to the ground as he muttered, “I’m just gonna...take a knee for a second.”
He held his right side and whispered, “Fuck, he shoved my elbow into my binder.”
Ouch. Molly winced, remembering the last time Sylvie got hit there. She patted his shoulder in sympathy.
Zora however, laughed at his pain. “Well kid, you shouldn’t have challenged him then.”
“I was trying to say, ‘you’re gonna have to give me a moment because my finger is stuck!’”
“Well then you should have said it in 3 words or less.”
Mera piped up from behind Indus, “yep and if you needed to, you could have showed them,” she held up a finger and yelled, "my finger is stuck!"
Indus gasped. “Lady Mera, there are children present!”
She rolled her eyes, “Please they’re the kids of a villain. I’m sure they’ve seen that or worse multiple times already."
Giovanni looked at her, insulted. “I’ll have you know I’ve never shown the middle finger to someone!...Not in front of them anyway. I have to be a good example for the kids, after all.”
“I’m not a kid!”
Mera rolled her eyes and took the dice from Indus. She got doubles and grabbed the box from Indus and started trying to rip the tape, chipping some nail polish as she did so. A minute later Dark Star screamed, “Doubles!!”
He ran over to where Mera was, and Indus quickly stepped in front of her - afraid that Dark Star might run her over. “Don’t worry, I will protect you, Lady Mera!”
“Thanks, Indus.” She fidgeted with the box some more before handing it over to Dark Star, who immediately lost it to Crusher when he yelled, “Doubles!”
The dice went around the circle again, the energy of the garage picking up with each layer removed. Who would roll doubles next? Everyone wanted to know, their interest totally invested in the game as the final layer got closer and closer. Molly rolled doubles next and Crusher handed it to her; but just as quickly Ramsey landed doubles, and Molly handed it over to him. “Come on, Ramsey! You can do it!”
Ramsey looked at the box for a moment…
Then he shoved it into his mouth, causing everyone to yell in disgust (especially Mera who loudly screamed, “Ramsey, what the fuck?”)
He just smiled at the others, enjoying the chaos he had just caused, before Zora smacked him in the head. “Hand over the dice already, you rat-faced moron.”
He glared at her, but begrudgingly gave the dice over. She quickly rolled the dice (getting a 6 and a 5) and handed it over to Indus. They went around the room, trying not to roll doubles this time. By now Ramsey had already removed the box from his mouth and was just holding it in his hands, not even trying to get the money. Everyone kept an eye on the dice, waiting with bated breath to see who would get the box next.
Sylvie was the first one to roll a double, and Ramsey handed him the box, grinning. He stared at it for a moment before shrugging. “There have been worse things I’ve had to hold.” He started ripping at the box, removing several layers in quick succession, the others watching in an odd mix of disgust and confusion. He got through 5 layers, pocketing a dollar bill hidden in one of the later layers before the others broke out of their stupor and started to roll the dice again. Well, most of them. Molly was still trying to process what she just heard. In the end she decided to drop it. Some things were not worth her sanity, and this was one of those things.
Giovanni got the box again before crusher got doubles and took it from him. There were only a few layers left, causing the dice to go around the circle faster than before. Dark Star screamed doubles before having Ben steal it, then suddenly Crusher grabbed it. He started to tear at the tape prison in a frenzy, the other Banzai Blasters and Molly cheering him on.
Crusher broke through the last layer and held up the money yelling, “I got it!”
“Amazing job, Crusher! I would expect nothing less from one of my Henchman.”
“Th-thank you boss! I love you!”
“I love you too, I love all my minions! Now, lets go inside and warm back up! I’ll make some hot chocolate.”
Molly and the other Banzai Blasters cheered and ran inside, quickly followed by the other adults, and Sylvie flanked the back. Molly noticed he flinched as he sat down on the couch and tugged on Giovanni’s sleeve, getting his attention. She pointed to Sylvie and whispered what he had whispered after he sat on the floor. Giovanni grimaced, then nodded and grabbed an ice pack and placing it on the lap tray holding the hot chocolate. He walked into the living room, handing out hot chocolate as he got closer to Sylvie. When he got to Sylvie he handed the lap tray to Molly and grabbed the ice pack and a mug, handing them to Sylvie. “Sorry kid, I got a little carried away.”
Sylvie took the ice pack and hot chocolate, quietly putting the hot chocolate on the side table and getting up. “It’s ok.”
He left the room for a moment, going upstairs for a second and coming back holding the ice pack to his side. He sat down at the end of the couch again, picking up the hot chocolate and leaning on Giovanni when he sat down next to him. Molly came over and sat down on Giovanni’s other side and leaned into his side, quietly watching the others as she slowly drifted to sleep.