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It was a cold and dark evening in December, a few days before Christmas, there was going to be a big party to celebrate the occasion in town. That’s why Naomi headed out to her friend’s Emma’s house. Naomi was of average height, had straight brown hair and green eyes. She wore light purple dress on, just for this occasion.
Naomi walked on the carefully lit up road to her friend’s house. She soon found herself walking up to Emma’s door and knocked on it.
“Who is it?!” Naomi heard the irritated voice of her friend shout through the door.
“It’s, err, it’s Naomi” She answered. “Can I come in? I forgot my key at home” I laughed a bit nervously at that. Emma opened the door and pulled me in to the house.
“What are you doing here?” Emma questioned, but before I could answer, she continued to ramble off. “Is there a problem in town? Is it overflowing with monsters again?” Naomi was mesmerised by the sight of Emma’s Diamond Sword that she pulled out. Naomi got pulled out of her thoughts when her friend began to pull on her hand and said: “Come on! We have to save the townspeople from the monsters!”
“Wait! Emma, no” Naomi shook her head hurriedly. “We are not under attack by monsters”.
“Then why did you come here?” Emma looked at one of her only friends suspiciously. She put away her sword and took out her pickaxe instead. Her Diamond Pickaxe. “If there aren’t any monster attacks’, for what reason are you here, Naomi?”
“I, err…” She hesitated. “I came here because…” She took a deep breath. “I came here to accompany you to the party tonight” Naomi observed Emma’s clothes, and was a bit surprised to see that Emma was clad in full iron armour, and not some nicer festive clothes. “You do know there is a party today, right?”
“Err, no?” Emma looked uncertainly at her friend. “Should I?”
“Yes Emma, you should know about it” Naomi sighed. “I left an invitation in your mailbox almost a week ago, you do check your mailbox, right?”
“Err…” Emma opened and closed her mouth repeatedly. “No…” She trailed off. “I don’t think that I have… Wait a sec, which mailbox did you put it in?”
“The one outside your door?” Emma smiled apologetically at Naomi’s answer.
“I don’t use that mailbox, you know that. I just get a lot of spam mail all the time in that one” Emma said while shaking her head. “Use the one behind my house instead” At her friend’s blank look she continued. “The one right behind my house, in front of a dark oak” Emma shook her head and continued. “Anyway, I’m still not going to go to some party”.
“What why not?” Naomi looked at her friend surprised. “Come on, it’ll be fun!”
“What would be fun!?” Emma said exasperated. “All the blinding lights? Giving people stupid gifts and presents? Looking at trees decorated with ornaments and tinsel?” Emma looked over to her brown-haired friend again. Emma took a deep breath to calm herself down. “I don’t go to these things, anyway. Why would today be any different?”
“Because we’re friends, because it’s Christmas. You shouldn’t isolate yourself from people on Christmas” Naomi realised something. “But that’s why you don’t want to go, isn’t it? It’s not because of the decorations, or the gifts” Emma looked confused for a moment. “You’re scared. You’re scared of going to the party”.
“N- No I'm not!” Emma responded. “I'm not scared! I’ve fought monsters, for the love of Endermen! I’ve fought Zombies, Skeletons, Creepers, and Blazes, I have even fought a Wither!”
“And you're still scared of people” Naomi countered calmly, before Emma could continue her rant. “You can't hide from your fears forever, Emma”.
“I-” Emma hesitated for a moment. “I’m still not going. I'm going to go mining for some diamonds”.
“Emma-” Naomi tried to call for her friend, who had begun to walk outside.
“You can't change my mind, Naomi!” Emma called over her shoulder. “Oh, wait, before I forget” Emma stopped for a moment. “Elizabeth, are you coming?” Emma shouted. Naomi couldn’t believe her eyes when she saw that a Snow Golem came down the stairs. “This here Naomi, is my new Snow Golem friend Queen Elizabeth II!”
“Queen Eliza…” Naomi began. “What happened to Queen Elizabeth I?” Naomi looked concerned at the sad look that her friend gave her.
“She, err…” Emma looked down sadly. “There was an unexpected rainstorm. And you know what happens to snow in the rain…” Emma looked back up at Naomi.
“Oh… Sorry that I brought it up…” Naomi looked down at the floor again with embarrassment. She had initially planned to ask where one of the other Snow Golems that Emma had had before, Prince James III for example, but thought that it would be better if Emma didn’t feel worse that evening. “If you won’t go to the party, then neither will I. I’ll come with you mining all night!”
“Naomi, no. Just… No” Emma sighed and shook her head. “You hate mining, and you always tell me to not ‘mine at night’ for whatever reason” Emma said, looking at her best friend with a knowing look.
“Oh, um… Err, yes, no, of course I love mining!” Naomi said not really looking at her friend. “And you know, it is dangerous to mine at night. That’s when all the monsters spawn, you know?” Naomi told Emma like if her friend was a child.
“I know that” Emma rolled her eyes. “But you know I can defend myself. I've got an elf-made Diamond Sword! You know how hard it is to find diamonds, right?” Naomi just looked at Emma weirdly, instead of answering her question. “Naoms?”
“Yes… But, err… Elf-made?” Naomi still looked at Emma as if she had just grown a second head. “What the Nether does elf-made mean?” Emma looked confused.
“Elf-made? What do you mean elf-made?” Emma looked back at Naomi. “I said self-made Diamond sword. Not anything else”.
“You said elf-made, Emma” Naomi said with a smirk.
“No I didn’t!” Emma exclaimed. She thought for a moment. “Did I?” Naomi smiled apologetically and shrugged. “Alright, what I meant to say was that I’ve got a self-made Diamond Sword. Better?”
“A lot” Naomi deadpanned. “So, party or mines? Your choice, but just so you know, Noel will be there” She continued in a sing-song voice.
“Really?” Emma asked sceptically. “Is your brother really going to be there?”
“Yes” Naomi seemed overly happy about that.
“Your brother?” Naomi nodded enthusiastically. “Noel?” Naomi was still nodding just as enthusiastically. “Your brother Noel? The one who goes out like once a year to meet people?” Emma didn’t really believe the fact that Naomi’s brother would go to a party. If Emma feared big crowds of people, then Noel was terrified by them. “You're not lying to me now, right?”
“No, Emma” Naomi smiled at her. “I wouldn’t lie to you, you know that. By the way, he seemed very eager to see you when I told him you were going to come to the party”.
“Oh, come on” Emma sighed. “My manipulative friend, you know I cannot say no when you drag your brother in to one of your schemes involving me”.
“You know I ship it”
“Can't you just take a vacation from all the shipping?” Emma had really become tired of her friend’s shipping. “You practically ship everyone with everyone! Even the married people! Please?”
“Well…” Naomi considered her options, and then smiled when another of her great plans appeared. “Maybe, but only if you put on this dress for today’s party” She held up a dark blue dress in Emma’s size.
“No” Emma’s answer was definitive, and she shook her head to strengthen her answer. “No, no, no. Not gonna happen. Never. I hate dresses. Not even for a billion diamonds” Then Emma looked outside. “And by the way, it’s dark outside, monsters will spawn, creepers will creep, and I want to have at least a small chance of surviving tonight. You are not taking off my chestplate”
“Alright” She gave up with trying to make her friend wear the dress, she knew it was a battle she couldn’t win. “At least take off your helmet when we get there, please?”
“Alright, only the helmet. Nothing else” Then Emma smiled knowingly at her friend. “You know that I’ll only come because of the wonderful Bethlehem cookies that your mother makes?”
“And don’t forget the wonderfully cooked reindeer, I know that’s one of your favourites” They both laughed heartily at that.
“That’s true” Emma smiled mischievously. “I’ll get you that sugar, some way or another, just you wait. Just you wait” Emma narrowed her eyes.
“Never!” Naomi playfully played along. “I’d rather have a snowball war with Elizabeth over there” She turned to look at the living snow girl when she saw that the entire floor was covered in a layer of snow. She slowly turned back to face Emma. “Maybe… Maybe we should begin to go there now?”
“Maybe, I don’t know… It’s fun here, isn’t it?” Emma smiled nervously.
“Emma” Naomi sighed. “My brother is waiting for us. Come on now, don’t be silly, it’ll be fine, nothing will go wrong”.
“Famous last words” Emma began to walk towards the door again. “Let’s go then”.
“Right!” Naomi also turned to the door.” You’ve got everything you need? Have you got your gift?”
“Gift?” Emma was confused, then she began to worry. “What kind of gift do I have to give?! Could I give them this useless Golden ingot?!”
“Err, you can't” Naomi added in before Emma could continue her rant. “There is a price limit of below one iron ingot. Sorry”.
“Hmm…” Emma thought hard. “What about… Eight iron nuggets? It is below the limit of one iron ingot…”
“Well… Do you have that, then?” Naomi questioned her friend.
“Do I have an iron ingot” Emma repeated irritated. “Of course, I have an iron ingot. I just need to craft the nuggets, take one out, place the rest of the nuggets in a box, and wait for someone to unwrap it! It’s the perfect plan!”
“Yes, perfect!” Naomi agreed. “But, are you sure that Elizabeth should come with us? I don’t think they allow Golems inside of the party. You wouldn’t want her to be disappointed”.
“I…” Emma stopped in her search for a moment. “I guess you're right” She turned to her Snowy Friend. “Queen Elizabeth II, I'm sorry, but you’ll have to stay at home for tonight. Is that alright?”
Elizabeth didn’t seem to mind at all, she did barley acknowledge that Emma was talking to her, though. It took a few moments for Emma to get done with it all, but soon they were outside, and they began walking back to town. Emma acted like Naomi’s bodyguard the whole walk, sometime while walking, it had begun to snow again.
“It’s freezing” Naomi complained. “I'm a Summers, not a Winter like you are, Emma” Naomi shivered and looked at Emma.
“You’re only freezing because you aren’t wearing winter clothes” Emma raised an eyebrow. “Anyway, are we there yet?”
“O- over t- there” Naomi pointed to a decorated house with a big Iron Golem standing outside.
“Come on then, let’s hurry up!” Emma took a hold of Naomi’s hand and ran the rest of the way with Naomi in tow, but when she was about to run through the doors, the Iron Golem blocked her way.
“Password, please” It said in a gruff voice.
“Password? What password?” Emma looked over to Naomi. “What is he talking about?”
“I- it st- stood in- in the in- invita- invitation” Naomi looked sickly pale now.
“What is the password then?” Emma expected Naomi to answer, but she got surprised when the Iron Golem answered instead.
“Finish the end of this part of the song” It began, then it began to sing. “Deck the halls with…”
“Err…” Emma began unsure. “Deck the hall with boughs of Holly, Falalala, la, la, la, la, la! 'Tis the season to be Jolly, Falalala, la, la, la, la, la!” When the Iron Golem didn’t move immediately, Emma got worried.
“Merry Christmas, Emma Winter and Naomi Summers. Enjoy the party” It droned on. It moved to the side to let them past.
“Merry Christmas” Emma and Naomi said at the same time, while walking into the unknown called a party.