Something more than Christmas Spirit
Holy crap
That was Ellie's mindset since that day she battled with her teammates in the park. It was hard to shake that night out of her mind, and even though it was Christmas day, everything just felt weird.
As was family tradition, they all opened their presents in the morning. The tomboy had never been all that finicky when it came to presents. It was almost tradition that her present mainly consisted of a card from both her parents saying that they'd still continue to support her hobby hiding in the garage.
Ellie had everything she could have wanted. She had a dog that was FREAKING OUT over all of the wrapping paper, barking at the bows that were constantly being stuck on his fur. She had another prepaid year of planned work on The Vortex. She had both of her parents around, which was a rarity in itself. Yet the blonde didn't seem to have her usual energy to her.
Sitting on the couch and sipping from her coffee mug, Kat couldn't help but crinkle her nose a bit as she watched her daughter acting so unusual. Her husband was fussing with the new jacket she had bought for him and partially whining about the jacket being too expensive. Kat ignored his pestering about how she had supposedly spent too much on that piece of clothing.
"...Ed... just go put it in the closet upstairs... promise you'll wear it to work... I think it will make you look handsome."
Normally Ellie would have groaned at such a compliment being passed from one parent to the other. Yet she was quietly just sitting there with a dog decorated in 4 sticky bows on her lap.
The blonde man shrugged, then made his way up the stairs, each step creaking slightly.
The woman on the couch set her mug on the nearby coffee table, then addressed her daughter. "...Ellie... what's up?"
The young adult muttered out "...nothin' I guess... why?"
The redhead sat there, lips pursed as she looked at the tomboy. "You aren't acting like your usual self. You should be happy. It's Christmas!"
With her hand ruffling Aque's long fur, Ellie's shoulders rolled into a shrug. "Eh... just doesn't feel like X-mas, ya know?" It probably had everything to do with that battle the other evening changing her perspective on the world.
Ellie's mom sat there for a moment. "You know... I have found that sometimes, when I don't have that holiday spirit... that donating to the less fortunate can bring back the feeling of the season."
In a vaguely agitated tone, the blonde pointed out "...um... how th'hell do ya manage to hide donations from Mr. Money Grubber?" Mr. Money Grubber was her Dad. Both Ellie and her mom knew that Ed Spectre was the penny pinching-est man out there.
With a slight wink, the woman confided "...Dad doesn't know everything, Ellie!" She picked up her mug again and took a sip of her coffee. "...after we have breakfast... I'll sneak some canned goods into your backpack... and you can take that down to the donation box."
The blonde couldn't help but look at her mom in a skeptical manner. "...dunno if that'll fix it... but I'll give it a shot..."
After a breakfast of donuts (for Mom and Dad) and burnt bacon (for Ellie), the tomboy left with her dog for the donation box. She had exactly 5 cans of soup to offer. It really didn't help this strange feeling, but after she had done such, she only then remembered that Evie had been asking about participating in this about a month earlier.
Twisting her mouth slightly, she pulled out her cell phone to send the other girl a quick text.
Donated 5 cans of soup. That good enough?
Aque decided to tug on his leash just at that moment, almost causing the blonde to drop the phone. With a halfhearted sigh, the tomboy then began to make her trip back home. Maybe Mom wasn't right, but she had tried to help.
And that counted for something.
