[Sig – 13 years]

"You don't have a Christmas tree?" I ask.

Aunt Rachel just informed me that I need to get dressed if I want to go with her to buy one. While I knew she'd prefer an artificial tree rather than a live one, I thought she already had one. People having a tree already if they set them up just seems like how it is to me. Especially for someone her age.

But she doesn't.

"No," she answers. "It was just me at my old place so I had a smaller one, but I gave it to one of my neighbors from up there when I moved, and my ornaments as well. So we'll need to pick out not just the tree, but decorations for it, too."

There's no way I'll get to pass up the chance to go shopping for winter holiday decorations with her. I've never gotten to go shopping for them before; my parents never decorated and I never had enough money to buy decorations of my own for my room. Not unless I wanted to tap into my savings for bigger things which would last longer. Like computer upgrades.

"Alright," I say. "Be right back!"

Once I'm ready to go, we leave and she drives us to the store. It's a bit crowded, which doesn't surprise either of us since it's the day a lot of people start setting up for the Festival of Frost. Decorating begins a month or so in advance, and so do events for it. I grab a cart and push it as we navigate our way to the holiday section to pick out a tree.

They come in so many sizes, and there are both green ones and white ones. Some have lights already on them, some don't. The lights come in white or multicolored. We can buy strands of lights in those colors, in other single-color strips, or in dual- or tri-colored. Even the lights themselves come in different types. So do the ornaments and garland.

There's so many things to choose from…

"I just realized," I say as we look at trees. "But we're gonna need more than one cart."

"Maybe," Aunt Rachel says. "I hadn't thought about how big the tree is, and that will probably take up all of the space. With the decorations, we might not have enough space. We might not be able to bring it home ourselves."

"Oh," I say. "I was just thinking that one cart won't be enough for the basement's tree, its decorations, and one for my room and its decorations."

With my sub count only growing, so too is my income. That means I have more than enough money for decorating the basement and getting a tree for my bedroom as well.

"We don't need three trees, Sig," Aunt Rachel ruffles my hair. "And I'm not sure one would fit in your room."

"They have small ones!" I point. "But for the basement, I think this-"

A cart rams into me.

"Hey!" I glare at the old man who rammed me.

"Out of the way!" He says. "Some of us are trying to shop!"

"So are we!" I tell him. "You can go around us!"

"Or you can move!"

"Or you can go around instead of ramming people looking at trees!"

"Sig," Aunt Rachel says. "Let's just-"

The old man rams me with his cart again. Anger flares within me.

"RAM ME AGAIN, ASSHOLE!" I yell. "I'M NOT AFRAID TO FIGHT BACK!"

The crowd around us goes quiet as people start to look over.

"YOU WANT TO GO AROUND US, YOU GO AROUND US! YOU DON'T START RAMMING ME WITH YOUR CART! THAT'S ASSAULT AND BATTERY AND I WON'T HESITATE TO SHOVE YOUR FUCKING CART UP YOUR-"

"SEBASTIAN!" Aunt Rachel's tone is sharp.

When I look at her, the old man rams me with his cart again.

"THAT'S IT, JACKASS!"

I grab his cart and shove it back into him, causing him to grunt and fall to the ground.

"NOT SO NICE WHEN SOMEONE DOES IT BACK, IS IT?"

"SEBASTIAN!" Aunt Rachel snaps again.

"He attacked me!" I protest. "And made it clear he had no intention of stopping! I'm well within my rights to fight back!"

"He's old!"

"That's not a pass for breaking the law!" I snap. "He was purposely and deliberately striking me with intent to cause harm, judging by how hard he was ramming. The only reason I'm even still standing is because Coach Adam's training has helped me with balance, so I don't get knocked over easily! Despite that, I was still stumbling from the hits! But those rams hurt! And the law states that if someone is attacking me, I can use reasonable force to stop them! And he sure looks stopped to me!"

"You can't-"

"Look!" I lift up my hoodie and shirt. "Red marks! And you know how durable I am, Aunt Rachel! And I didn't have those earlier. It fucking hurt!"

I pull off my hoodie and examine my arm. There are red marks there, too. If only the divine blessing I supposedly have would protect me from crotchety old men who feel entitled to shoving people out of their way. One would think the protection blessing would, but apparently not.

Jeez does this hurt.

"How much mana do you have, anyway?" I ask the old jerk as he rises to his feet, anger on his face. "Because it's well known among my millions of fans that I have around 30. And my body's well-conditioned. Meaning that I shouldn't have red marks from someone even at my own level. Not as badly as this. I can fall out of a tree and not have red marks. Were you trying to put me in the hospital? Because if I were a normal kid, I'd have definitely broken some bones with how hard you rammed me."

The jackass grabs his cart and tries to ram me again. This time, it suddenly stops two inches away from me. That wasn't me, and it's clear the old man is still trying to ram me. He actually pulls it back and tries again. Then starts struggling against whatever force he's encountered to try and pull back again. Whoever's doing that is now simply holding the cart rather than stopping it.

"That's not me," I hold my hands up and look at Aunt Rachel. "He's strong enough there's no way I could stop him. The only reason he fell is probably because he's not as stable as me. Physically, I mean. Well, mentally as well, I guess. And will you stop trying to ram me? You've already done enough you can get arrested for it!"

"You're the one getting arrested-"

"No, I'm not," I snap. "I defended myself against someone who is clearly intent on attacking me! You've left red marks when I wouldn't have if you weren't strong enough to break the fucking bones of an ordinary person."

The old man opens his mouth, and a phoenix swiftly soars over and lands on the end of the cart closest to me. They move so fast, it almost seemed as if they appeared right on the cart.

"I wouldn't, were I you," the phoenix says. "You've already drawn enough negative attention to yourself. It would be a shame if you suddenly turned to ash, wouldn't it?"

I don't recognize the voice, and her feathers are oranges and gold rather than white with blue accents, but she's definitely a phoenix. Her feathers possess the same flame-like characteristics as the only other phoenix I've ever seen before even if not the same colors. The voice is distinctly female, too, so it can't be the uncle Xander recently mentioned as learning he has.

"And considering that your last ram which connected was magically-reinforced and you have 60 mana," the phoenix says. "It's pretty clear you were intending on hurting Sebastian, there. Especially since your last attempt was even more reinforced. Being grumpy is no excuse for attempted murder."

Didn't you just threaten to incinerate him?

"Now," the phoenix says. "If you were to be treated the way you're treating this boy… then perhaps I should ram you with the cart? I mean, you're in my way for my shopping. You hit him three times, then attempted a fourth. Let's see… one."

The cart slams into the old man, knocking him over.

"Two."

The cart slams into him again, though mostly just the wheels and lower rack since he's already on the ground.

"Three."

The cart pulls forward, then rams back again.

"Four!"

The cart repeats its previous action.

"And as for you," the phoenix turns her head to look at me. "Lift up your shirt again."

"W-why?"

"I want to see the marks."

I lift my shirt up again, and the phoenix seems to inspect the marks from her perch.

"The reddening has worsened," she says. "Which is no surprise. Two of your ribs are fractured. Adrenaline from the unwarranted attack is probably the only reason you aren't feeling it yet."

She lifts a wing and points it in my direction, and a golden light flows out of it and into my side. It travels up to my ribs and spreads, then sinks in. What pain I am feeling fades as that happens.

"There we go," she says. "I've healed your ribs and the other damage. The redness should fade soon."

She examines one of the Christmas trees on the shelf where the old man's cart had been before she moved it.

"Yes," she says. "I do think this is the one I want."

She hops down to the floor and touches a box underneath the shelf, then pulls back. The box comes out, and she flies it over to a cart… that looks to be full of every package of gummy worms the store had in stock. Then she lands on the cart's handles and it begins moving once more.

That gets the crowd moving again.

"Bas?" Aunt Rachel asks, and I turn to face her. She takes a step back. "Why are you crying?"

"It's ruined…"

"What's ruined?"

"T-the shop-ping trip," I answer, then try to steady to my voice. "It's the first time I've ever gotten to do something like and-and-and then he attacked me and I-I-"

Aunt Rachel pulls me in for a hug and I start crying even harder. She rubs my back and rocks me a little as I just bawl. A fun shopping trip to get Christmas decorations for the first time got ruined. The whole day is ruined.

"Why don't we head back home for a little bit?" Aunt Rachel suggests. "And once you've calmed down, we come back?" Her voice drops. "And when not as many people are going to be staring at us, too. There'll be different people here later."

~~~

[Sig – 13 years]

When we return home, Mr. Fuller's truck is parked on the curb, and he and Hunter are talking while leaning against his truck. Turtle's running around the front yard, just playing in the snow.

While I'm happy they're here, I'm also a little annoyed by it. First our shopping trip got ruined when I got attacked, and now Mr. Fuller's here. Why can't today just be fun for my aunt and me? It's my first time ever getting this and it's just going wrong in every way.

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"Sorry if you wanted the yard pristine," Mr. Fuller says when we get out of the car. "Turtle was getting antsy in the truck."

"Snow's meant for playing in," Aunt Rachel smiles at him. "And since you're welcome here, so's Turtle. And I did invite you over."

Oh, great. So she didn't even want to let us relax and calm down at home, she just wanted to hang out with her boyfriend.

"You didn't tell him what happened," Hunter says. "But I saw a video of a phoenix asking an associate if they had more regular and sour gummy worms, well, staring at her but there was apparently telepathy not getting picked up by the phone. The person recording it said what was being asked. Then after getting them, the phoenix went to pick out a Christmas tree…"

So people got to see me bawling like a baby. Fuck my life. This day just can't avoid getting worse, can it?

"Yeah," Aunt Rachel pulls me in to her for a hug. "Bastion's still shaken up by the encounter. This was his first time going shopping for stuff like this, so for that to happen during it…"

"Ah," Mr. Fuller says. "So that's why you wanted to know if I could do it this morning instead?"

As I look up at Aunt Rachel in confusion, she gives her boyfriend a small nod. Do what today? Why would she want to do something with him early if I'm the one who's upset and depressed?

"Let's head inside for a minute," Mr. Fuller says. "I want to check S.G.'s ribs. I know a phoenix supposedly healed him… but I still want to check."

We head inside and I pull off my shirt and hoodie. Mr. Fuller gently pokes at my ribs and asks me about the pain level, but there's none there. The phoenix healed not just my ribs but my arm, too. All of the pain is elsewhere.

My first real shopping trip for holiday decorations got ruined and I was attacked by some jerk. Aunt Rachel doesn't really care about me, and probably hasn't since she got a boyfriend. Her boyfriend decided that coming over to do whatever it is with my aunt is an acceptable response to hearing that I got attacked. The whole damn world got to see me get attacked by an old man for no reason.

"All good," Mr. Fuller says. "Since you're breathing fine, your range of motion is normal, and you're not feeling any pain, you probably don't need additional checks. Get your shoes and hoodie back on."

"Why?" I mumble.

"Rachel should really be using winter tires," he answers. "And rather than paying for a shop to install them, I'm doing it. The plan was for me to come over earlier tomorrow and do it before church. I've got the tires and tools in my truck."

"What does that have to do with me?" I ask.

"You can get your permit once you're fifteen," he says. "That's a year and a half away. Not a bad idea to learn how to change tires now. Hunter learned when he was even younger. Come on."

"Oh."

I go outside with Mr. Fuller (after pulling my hoodie and shoes back on), and he hands me insulated work gloves from his truck. A lot fewer tools are needed to change tires than I expected, and it's a lot faster than I thought it'd be, too. I do have to make sure I don't tighten it too much – since I'm so much stronger than a regular person – but that's really the hardest part for me.

Though we also apparently have to make sure the tires have enough air in them, but not too much, either. Mr. Fuller shows me how to check them with a little gauge which shoots out a little stick to indicate pressure level.

That's kind of cool, and once we finish adding air in to the tires as needed (using a portable compressed air machine thing he brought), I play with it a little bit. If I push as hard as I can with air magic, I can actually get it to stick all the way out. Barely.

"Come on, dork," Mr. Fuller chuckles as he gives me a light shove on my head. "Let's put the old tires in storage so they can be swapped back on when spring comes."

Mr. Fuller and I take those down to the storage room in the basement, then return to the front and make sure everything's been put away. When we head into the house, Aunt Rachel greets us with hot chocolate. Hunter's playing tug-o-war with Turtle, the dog letting out snarls with a wagging tail. They don't sound hostile, so he's probably just really into the game.

"All done?" She asks.

"All done," Mr. Fuller answers. "The tires are good to go, just keep in mind that it might feel a little different as you adjust to them. And don't think it means you can drive on snow and ice willy-nilly, you still need to be careful."

"I will," Aunt Rachel responds, then looks at me. "Are you feeling ready to try again?"

"Um… maybe," I look at Mr. Fuller for a few moments, then back to Aunt Rachel. "Um… but how're we gonna get the stuff home? And can we maybe go to a different store?"

What if the old man is still there? Or the staff are angry at me for defending myself?

"Sure," she answers. "And as for the tree, it'll probably fit if we don't get one too big for here, we'll just need to put the back seat down."

I look at Mr. Fuller again, then back to Aunt Rachel. What if someone else decides to do that to me? There might not be a phoenix around to take charge of the situation and do… well, karma, I guess.

"But not both trees," I tell her. "Remember? I'm getting one for the basement, too. And a small one for my room. We'd need to make multiple trips."

"You can just say it, Bas," she smiles a little. "I'm sure he won't mind."

My face heats up. I can't say it. There's no way I'm asking him for help.

"Wondering if I'd be willing to help with transportation?" Mr. Fuller asks, and I nod as my face heats up again. "Sure. Hunter and I had just finished setting up ours when Rachel texted us, so we've got the rest of the day free. But you'll have to buy lunch for us. Deal?"

"D-deal," I agree. "Um… is it okay if I call Xander before we leave? I wanna talk with him."

It might help me not feel so anxious. And he might be able to explain the phoenix's behavior. But mostly, I just want to talk with him right now.

Aunt Rachel gives me the go-ahead, so I head downstairs and text Xander to see if we can do a video call. He sends me confirmation, so I start the call, and it seems he's in the back seat of a car.

"Oh," I say. "Are you going somewhere?"

"Yeah," he answers. "Are you okay? You look like you're upset."

"Y-yeah," I answer. "A little bit. I got attacked-"

Xander's nostrils flare as his brow furrows. It's rare for him to display an emotion so obviously. Even people who don't know him well would be able to tell he's angry. Which means he might be thinking of how to make sure the attacker paid.

"-but a phoenix stepped in and stopped it," I quickly add. "And I'm just… calming down now. We were shopping and some old man started ramming me with a cart while Aunt Rachel and I were talking about the trees. And I kind of snapped and shoved his cart back at him and blew up at him, then he tried to ram me again. And a phoenix stopped it and she started shoving his cart into him again after threatening to incinerate him. And I dunno. Aunt Rachel and I came back home instead of buying trees 'cause I was really upset, and Mr. Fuller was here and taught me how to change tires. And I dunno. I just wanted to talk with you before we left to go get a tree."

"Oh," Xander says. "Who's the old man?"

"I dunno?"

"Okay," he says. "I'll just ask Grandpa Adrian if he can find out. But I don't know of any female phoenixes in the area, just the one male one. My Uncle Aiden. That ain't his real name, it's just his human name. I'll see if Grandpa Blaze knows who she is."

Should I ignore the fact that he's clearly planning to get revenge against the old man even after hearing that a phoenix dealt him karma? There's no other reason why he'd be wanting to know who the old man was and saying he'd ask his great-grandfather to find out. I did expect that as soon as I realized he was angry, but I should probably tell him not to worry about it.

"She was really nice," I tell him. "Even healed me. The jerk apparently fractured a couple of my ribs, but there's not even bruising now after she treated me."

"Some phoenixes can be really good healers," Xander tells me. "And don't worry, he won't ever bother you again."

Yeah, he's planning something.

"Xander," Mr. Caldwell says. "Don't try to get revenge on whoever that was. That's inappropriate."

"It's not revenge," Xander states. "It's making sure he knows not to attack Sig again. That's different."

"We'll discuss this later," Mr. Caldwell says.

Something tells me he's going to try and make it clear that Xander isn't going to do anything about the situation, and Xander will find a way to anyway.

"Okay," Xander responds, then looks back at his phone. "So you're all healed up?"

"Yeah," I answer. "And… Xander? Aren't phoenixes mischievous, not hostile? Why would one do that?"

"If you were hurt enough you had fractured ribs," Xander says. "Then they were deliberately hurting you. Phoenixes are really protective of children."

"I'm… not her kid?"

"So?"

I guess it's all kids they're protective of. That would certainly explain why Grandpa Blaze apparently primarily cares for a bunch of young unicorns and other creatures, even ones not his own children or grandchildren. Not even a fifth of the group of kids he and Grandma Celeste brought with them for the barbecue were their own offspring.

"Lemme know when you're leaving," Xander says.

"Why?" I ask.

"So I can teleport you a cheesecake," he says. "Cheesecake often helps me feel better after I get scared."

Why would it have to wait until I leave for him to teleport-oh, right.

"Um… you don't have to wait until I leave," I tell him. "I wouldn't really get to eat it then, either. If you really want to send me one, you can do it now."

"You ain't allowed to eat in the car?"

"I mean, I can as long as I don't make a mess," I tell him. "But you said 'a cheesecake', not 'a slice of cheesecake', so I'm assuming you're meaning a whole cheesecake. Which I wouldn't be able to eat all of in the ride. So I'd just have to bring it inside and put the rest away."

"Oh," he says. "Okay. You're in the basement, right?"

"Yeah."

"It's on the table."

I look over and find a box on the coffee table.

"Thanks, Xander," I say.

"You're welcome," he says. "Good luck with your shopping trip. Bye."

"Bye!"

Xander hangs up and I pocket my phone, then I open the box to check out what kind of cheesecake it is. There's no telling with him, other than that it's guaranteed to not have chocolate in it.

Upon seeing what's in the box, I burst out laughing. The bright yellow (probably lemon) cheesecake is already portioned into ten slices, and each slice has a smiley face drawn on it with the caramel swirled into it, facing toward the center.

So that when he's eating it, the face is smiling at him rather than away from him.

Magic definitely had to be used so that the smiles would remain when it was cooked. If this is what he's willing to send someone else as a "cheer up" cheesecake, just what do the ones he eats when he's really scared or anxious look like?

It does taste pretty amazing, and I was right about it being lemon-flavored. There's just enough caramel to complement and balance out the lemon. I'm not sure what the crust is, but it's pretty good, too.

As much as I want to eat more, the one slice I ate has already filled me and I should really head back upstairs so we can leave. I put the box in the fridge, then head upstairs.

"You're looking a lot better now," Aunt Rachel pulls me in for a hug. "Good call?"

"Xander sent me a cheesecake to cheer me up and it had smiley faces on all of the slices," I pull out my phone. "Look, here's a picture! Also, phoenixes apparently really don't like people attacking kids. That's why she stepped in. But yeah, I'm feeling better now. Come on. Wait. What're we gonna do with Turtle while we're in the stores? Since we can't bring him in?"

"He'll stay here," Aunt Rachel rubs Turtle's head. "He's not caused any messes at their place while they're out, so it should be fine to leave him here. Just make sure the basement door is closed, just in case."

I double-check that I closed the basement door, then we all leave. The trip to the store is a lot nicer this time, though it's even busier now later in the morning than our original visit. That's probably why Aunt Rachel wanted to leave right after breakfast rather than later in the day.

But no one tries ramming me with a cart this time.

We pick out two trees which are six feet tall and green, no lights built in. I also pick out a three-foot tree that's green with no lights built in. Strands of multicolored lights are picked for the two larger trees, while I pick a strand of dual-colored lights in blue and green for my bedroom tree. Red and silver garland for the upstairs tree, green and silver for downstairs, and green and blue for bedroom one. I'm able to get short enough garland that two strands of it won't overwhelm the tree if I twist them together. These ones are even thinner than regular ones, too, but not really thin. They still look right.

Our ornament choices match the light choices, mostly. For the basement tree, I stick with green and blue, with some silver. We pick out stars for the toppers for the basement and upstairs trees, but for my bedroom tree…

The snow leopard topper I spot is definitely the one I'm going with for it, so I grab a box and stick it in my cart. We have a basket for just decorations, and it's full. Mr. Fuller's pushing a flatbed cart – this store has some – which has all three trees on it.

After we pay for those, the trees are loaded into the back of Mr. Fuller's truck and the rest is loaded into Aunt Rachel's car. That's when she notices the soda and chips I added to my own purchase.

"When did you even grab those?" She asks as I put the bag of bags of chips into the backseat.

"When you were grabbing the other food," I answer. "If we're having a party, we've gotta have chips and soda! Don't worry, I bought a meat-and-cheese tray, too. One with crackers, not one without. And an extra box of crackers, in case we run out."

"It's not a party… well, I guess it is a party," she chuckles. "Alright. Have you decided what we're doing for lunch?"

"Yeah," I look at Mr. Fuller, who's parked beside us. "You guys okay with sandwiches? I was thinking of pizza, but we're doing that for dinner. Um."

I don't know if he's invited to the party or not, or if he even knows about it. Saying we're having pizza for dinner is fine, since it's nondescriptive. Though I guess he can probably conclude from what Aunt Rachel and I just discussed that the party's tonight and the pizza's for it.

"Since he's helping us," Aunt Rachel rubs my back a little. "Think it's fine for him to come, too?"

"Yeah," I nod at her, then look at Mr. Fuller. "We're having a small party this evening. It's just to celebrate getting trees up. It's just my friends and I, and our guardians. But, well… you're helping us, so it'd be fair to invite you, too, right?"

"Do you want me to come?" Mr. Fuller asks.

"I mean, it'd be rude not to, right?" I ask. "Since you helped us and all? So? Wanna come?"

"Sure," he answers. "Though Hunter and I'll need to head back home to finish getting ours up, but we can do that before then. What time's it at?"

"Four," I answer. "But dinner'll be around five. We're ordering pizza, and Aunt Rachel and I are making barbecue wienies and some sweet-and-spicy meatballs, and everyone else is supposed to bring a side or dessert. You don't have to, and if you do, it can just be something bought at the store."

That last part got added in because of Xander's pies, so that he's not the only one bringing stuff. I apologized for the late addition, and the dads were all understanding once I gave the reason for it. Well, they weren't annoyed in the first place and were apparently already planning on doing so. But they were understanding of my reason for adding it as a request so late.

Me grabbing a couple of extra snacks is just in case they all bring a dessert.

"Alright," he says. "We'll help with your tree, then head home and get ours set up and prepare something for the party."

"Awesome!"

When we get home, Aunt Rachel and I move the couch and love seat a little so that we can put the tree in the corner between them, but still make it accessible. The living room tree gets decorated before we move downstairs, and Aunt Rachel puts the star atop the tree.

In the basement, the tree goes in one of the corners in the rec room. There's also space there for it since the couch is in the middle. The unfortunate part is that the only good spot for it is in Xander's favored napping spot. I'm sure he'll find a suitable replacement for that, though.

"Alright," Mr. Fuller says once we finish setting up the tree. "Time for Hunter and me to head back. We'll see you this evening, S.G."

"See you," I wave.

They all head back upstairs, while I head to my bedroom to put up my small tree. This one's a lot faster to put up, on account of its size, but I make sure it's decorated all the way around despite one part of it facing a wall. I also make sure it'll be in view of my streams, and that the snow leopard faces my computer.

Which reminds me… I probably have a little bit of time to try and get more of the editing done. I want the dodgeball video published before I leave for fitness training with Xander on Monday.

Before I do that, however, I take a picture of the tree and send it to the group chat. There's no way I'm not going to show off my tree to my friends!

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