Christmas came without issue, we had paid a visit to Brad and Michael and brought them a JCB tough mobile phone and a spare laptop I had leftover in a closet, with that they should be able to contact us fine in case of an emergency, we also had left them a crate of beer to keep them going. Brad had fixed the door so it took a few knocks to get in, they thanked us for the beer.
I came to an agreement with Sierra that we’d buy each other a present through the internet and not to look at what it was until it came, even paying extra to have it wrapped. I had bought her a cute set of denim girl cut dungarees that I thought would suit her. I hadn’t a clue what she’d got me so when the parcels came through I was kinda excited. Sierra answers the door and brings them in, setting them down on the counter. I was sitting at the computer, headphones on and watching some More than Computer Mouse videos. I was feeling pretty content so I decided to tweet to her.

Cynthia @AnRX7Driver: So um @mtcmouse, huge fan. Merry Christmas. Hope you didn’t paintball Saint Nick too badly!

Sierra abruptly pulled the headphones off of my head and places a box on my lap. I spin the chair around to see her. She’s standing there, wearing a horrific christmas sweater and a short green pleated skirt.
“Looking good Sierra” I smirk.

“Its awful and you know it” she giggles, tugging at the wooly sleeve. Her present is on the coffee table, next to a steaming cup of hot chocolate. It hadn’t snowed this Christmas, it almost never does this far down south; but it was very cold and there was little in the way of heating. “Why couldn’t you crank the heating up?”

“The bills are immense, I’m running out of funds” I shrug, trying not to think of how much money I’ve got anymore.

“Why don’t we rob a bank then miss Villain”

“Thats not a bad shout, I was thinking an ATM robbery might be easier” I snort at the thought of putting a sock on my head and trying to stick up a bank, my hair would probably be a mess.

“That’d do it, a bit of Boxing Day crime. No-one's expect it, but thats not right now, its Christmas Day!” She plops herself down on the sofa and grabs her present, ripping the paper to shreds. I stifle a laugh when she pulls them out.

“I reckoned you’d look positively adorable in that” she rushes off to the bathroom, presumably to change into it. I gaze down at the brightly wrapped box on my lap, giving it a bit of a shake I hear a few seperate things rattle about. “Could be anything really” I place it down on the coffee table, waiting to see Sierra in her new outfit. On Christmas Eve I had invited Miura down for a drink, and to introduce her to Sierra; who she hadn’t met yet as I’ve tried to keep her hidden for the most part. Sierra returns from the bathroom, dungarees on. She looked even younger than before.

“It really does suit you Sierra” She’s grinning ear to ear, seemingly pleased with my present.

“Well then, open yours!” I tear open the paper to find a very posh looking case. I unzip it and find...make-up.

“This is...I’ve no idea how to use any of this”

“Good thing I’ve been practising. Loads of tutorials online, gonna doll you up for Miura. I look forwards to finally meeting her” She springs up and yanks my arm, dragging me back towards the bathroom. I was beginning to feel like I might be in there for some time.

About half an hour later. She was done, foundation, eyeliner, mascara. The lot. She grabs a mirror and shows it to me.

“Holy crap” I looked like a model, a model with a shiny robotic arm yes, but a model nonetheless.

“Miura’s gonna love you when she’s over this evening”

“Do you read my messages?” She nods, still grinning like a mad woman, her sharp white teeth glinting in the light.

“While you’re sleeping”

“You cheeky little git” I lightly bat her around her head with my normal arm, she ducks it and runs into the living room. I follow her after a couple of moments more admiring myself in the mirror. I straightened the skirt I had decided to wear that day and turned on the TV, switching it to Dave.

“They’re running all the Top Gear specials again this year” I point out.

“Well thats something to pass the time watching” Sierra says, crouching behind the small christmas tree I had pulled out of a cupboard. There wasn’t the spare space to have a properly sized one, so a small fake one in the corner would do. I move over to the window, gazing out down over the town, puddles are illuminated by a mixture of chip shop xenon and bright christmas lights, no doubt in what holiday season it was. A gritting lorry trundles along the road outside of the apartment. I wince at the thought of the salt getting caught on the underside of my car, the rust would likely kill the old sports car. It was in good shape but one particularly bad winter could spell the beginning of the end for it.

A few hours later the sun sits low on the sky and I’m expecting Miura any moment now. I pick the tree up and place it on the coffee table.

“Sierra you found the drinks yet” She had ducked into the freezer in the kitchen, could probably fit inside it with how small she was; although I wasn’t planning on making her find out. I hear a thump and a yowl. “You okay?”

“I bashed my head on the top of the freezer, but the good news is that I’ve found your beer, very classy” She strolls into the living room, one hand rubbing the top of her head and the other clutching a crate of alcohol.

Then came the knock on the door I was anticipating. “Sierra go into the bedroom. I’ll get her in and introduce you then okay?”

“Roger” she skips off to the bedroom, shutting the door behind her. I close my eyes, looking to see whether it was her, searching out for her car. “Yup, Fiesta ST. Its her” I attempt to mentally fortify myself, trying not to become a shivering wreck facing her. I was used to Sierra, she was a great friend to me. But Miura was the girl I had a crush on, she was always really nice to me, and she was pretty and liked cars, and now she was here not because she needed to, but because I asked her to be. I was excited and worried all at once.

“Calm yourself Cy, its just...two women, well three, friends”. I take a deep breath and open up the door.

“Good evening, Cy!”
“Miura! Come on in, Merry Christmas” I step back, allowing her to come inside, she takes off her boots and I close the door. “I imagine its bloody cold out there” I sit down on the sofa, opening the crate and grabbing two cans out.

“It certainly is” she hangs her coat on a hook on the door before joining me on the sofa, she peers closely at my face. I pull back a little, feeling uncomfortable about how close she was getting. “Are you wearing make-up? You are!” she smiles, picking up a can and cracking it open. “When did you learn how to do yourself up like that then”

“I kinda didn’t, uh, let me introduce you to Sierra, come on in!” Sierra pokes her head out of the bedroom.

“Uh hi! I’m Sierra, you must be Miura” She edges further into the room.

“Cy, how long have you been hiding this extra tenant of yours?” Miura asks with a stony look on her lovely face. I begin to panic.

“Uh um, since uh, I broke her out” Miura gives way into laughter.

“I’m only joshing you, its nice to meet you Sierra” she puts out her hand for Sierra to shake. Sierra bounds forwards to grasp it

“Thank you for letting me stay here Miura, and you Cy, for rescuing me..” I don’t necessarily know why, or particularly understand, but Sierra suddenly bursts into tears, hugging each of us in turn and attaching herself to my waist. I pat her on the head until she stops crying and just sits there, snivelling.

I wasn’t sure what to say after that. I just sipped at my drink. Miura is the first to bite the bullet.

“So Sierra are you the little make-up artist in the making huh?” Sierra perks up and lifts her head from my lap.

“Yeah, I watched a bunch of tutorials and stuff. Some American called Syren, she's one of us Emerged too”

“So by all accounts you’re Eunos then Cynthia?” Miura turns her gaze to me.

“I-I am, although I’m not out to harm anyone who didn’t deserve it”

“Those other Emerged you set free killed two people, you know that right?” she shook her head, seeming to disapprove of it. Sierra springs up to my defense.

“They imprisoned innocent Emerged, people who didn’t want anything more than to just live their lives, now everyone sees them as criminals! As far as I care their lives are forfeit” I nod, agreeing with Sierra.
“Plus in that breakout we rescued Glenda’s son Miura” I put forward, hoping Miura knowing her would soothe her worries and bring her about.

“And my friend Brad. He's a lovely gentle giant of a man, helped me escape the van when Cy crashed it to get us out” Sierra smiles.

Miura looked at us both and sighed. “Just please don’t do anything more. You’re already wanted and pushing it. I’m here hanging out with criminals, well when criminals are this cute who can blame me” Me and Sierra both break out into blushes, Sierra hiding herself behind a cushion. Miura giggles, downing the rest of her drink. “You’re both so bashful, its positively adorable” I nearly do a spit take of my beer. I decide to change the mood by putting on some music, mimicking the album opening.

“Everlasting Dance Trax, Everlasting Dance Trax, S-E-B S-E-B S-E-B, Super Super Super, Super Eurobeat”

Miura, who by this point was a little bit on the tipsy side, starts to bob her head to the music, whilst Sierra grabs a can out of the crate.

“Aren’t you a bit young to drink Sierra?” Miura asks.

“I’m actually 20” Sierra responds indignantly, looking more like a 15 year old. She stomps her foot, not helping herself very much.

“Let her drink Miura, I remember you drinking when you weren’t of age” I wink at her.

“Fine, but if she claws down the curtains its on you”

“I would never!” Sierra’s tail was standing straight up and she downs an entire can. “I can hold my drink see?” She stands up suddenly and nearly trips over the table, she chucks the can towards the bin, missing and somehow managing to land it in the sink instead. I burst out loud laughing. She turns and flicks one of my antenna experimentally, and suddenly my head is invaded by static. I lay back, clutching my head in pain.

“Gah that hurts, static is too loud” I focus on retracting my antenna and that seems to fix it. Sierra is leaning over me.

“I’m so sorry Cy, I didn’t know what that would do” she winces, looking super guilty.

“Nor did I, you’re forgiven, just don’t do it again please” We settled down to listen to music and just drink away our troubles. Miura fell asleep on the couch at one point and that just left me and Sierra to drunkenly play Mario Kart together, eventually Sierra passes out, her head resting on my lap. I pause the game and just take in the room.
It stinks of beer, cans litter the room. Miura is sprawled on the sofa snoring, whilst Sierra is making preening noises in her sleep. “Must be having a dream of some kind” I reach across to grab a pillow and place Sierra’s furry head on it. I bring a blanket out from the bedroom and lay it over Miura. I take the Switch we had been playing Mario Kart on and retreat into my room to play by myself, the party was fun and all but certainly tiring. I lay in the bed and change the cartridge out for a JRPG to play by myself, after some leveling and a few story missions I feel the buzz of alcohol wearing off, and tiredness kicking in, turning the console off and placing it on the bedside drawers I let sleep claim me.

The sound of the radio rouses me. I could always hold my drink pretty well so the hangover was thankfully minimal, my tolerances had seemingly remained the same. I had fallen asleep in my clothes and the apartment still reeked of alcohol. I opened a window to air the place our and grabbed a change of clothes. “I need a shower, and bad” I felt super icky, never liked sleeping in proper clothes, preferred proper Pajamas. Miura and Sierra were still conked out in the living room.

I ducked into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Slowly pulling myself out of the sweater I had been wearing I am given a stark reminder of my new proportions. Despite the bra I had worn underneath the extra weight still makes me stumble forward once it was clear of my chest. It was just enough that I had nearly hit my head on a little mirror that extended out from the wall. I twist the bra around and detach it, letting my boobs breathe free. It still gets me when I see them. I glance in the mirror and see my made up face looking back at me, there are makeup wipes in the box with the rest of the stuff on the counter. I feel slightly bad for removing Sierra’s handiwork, but I didn’t want it to all run down my face in the shower.

Finally undressing completely I step under the shower and twist the knob to get it going. It comes out freezing cold initially, I bolt out of the way of the onslaught of ice with a little yelp. I slowly tease my hand under the water hoping to feel it warm up, eventually it begins to rise in temperature and I slip under the showerhead. Water falls down and around every curve on my body, going in between my breasts and down the small of my back. I hear the creak of a door opening, and I quickly cover myself with my arms, turning away from the door.

“I’m in the shower, can’t this wait?”

“Nope!” a voice replies and jumps me, grabbing hold of my waist. I feel small hands grabbing my flanks and squeezing.

“You’re super thin you know” Its Miura, who still seems a little tipsy. She looks up at me with a jealous spark in her eyes. “I wish I had your figure” she was still dressed and therefore now soaked through.

I pushed her away and she steps out of the shower, I could see her bra through her soaked through shirt and I couldn’t help but blush and stare. Both of us standing, slightly embarrassed, but we couldn’t help but admire each other.

“Look Miura, you can use the shower after ok, go grab a towel before you expose yourself to Sierra as well” She nods, seeming to sober up a bit. A dose of water would do that to you I suppose. She slunk out of the room, wrapping herself in a towel. I get down to the business of washing my hair.

A short while later I walk out of the bathroom, dressed in a skirt and a long sleeved v-neck shirt. “Its free Miura” She rushes into the bathroom behind me, not looking at me directly. Sierra has roused and is busy brushing her tail, she looks up and winks at me.

“You two had an encounter in the bathroom I hear, I got all the juicy details Miss Hourglass” I blush redder than ever before.

“She’s still pretty drunk, you cheeky little minx”

“Ferret”

“Mammal, whatever” I cross my arms. “Moving on, we need more money. I wasn’t joking about that robbery you know”

“Oh, I know” she winks at me. “I know just where to do it too”