Winters were cold in the city, and an abandoned warehouse could get mighty drafty during the long nights. Luckily, Reoku had connections to get a fireplace and chimney added on to keep him toasty, though he usually spent the nights prowling around and doing his usual thieving.

Now, Christmas wasn't really something the catboy celebrated much since he left home. It was hard to celebrated being with loved ones when there was no one else around. His plans for Christmas Eve were simply to snooze the night away and treat it like nothing special. Another night alone was nothing to stay awake for.

Reoku turned in early that night, only to awaken when he felt the cold return to him. How could that be? He stoked the fire before falling asleep, so it should still be blazing. Blurry-eyed, he noticed that something had smothered the fire, perhaps soot from the rising chimney. If he wouldn't have known better, he could have sworn he heard someone scooting around up on the roof. "Could it be? Nah...that's just a fairy tale to make kids behave....but still..." He paused, bending down to look into the chimney to see what was going on. "Hello? Is there someone up there?"

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Here we have part one of a Christmas gift given to me by my best bud, bro, and chum  EclairTalon Those of you who know me also know that I'm head over heels for his hippo, Mary-Rose. That makes this treat that much sweeter! Thank you so much for this, bro. I love it so much, and I love you dearly! Merry Christmas!

Original artwork ©  Aggro_Badger

Mary-Rose ©  EclairTalon

Reoku © me