Happy Holidays, You Bastard

Chapter 2

The next day, Jordi had almost forgotten about the previous day's issues because he was so focused on inventing the things the children had wanted in their letters. He was just about to call it a day and go to the house when he remembered the conversation with Santa. They wanted to visit Gruzzlebeard. He turned his head and looked at Santa. Santa was completely focused on his letters and didn't seem to want to be disturbed at the moment.

"Fuck it, I'll go alone," Jordi thought and left the workshop. Since it was already dark outside, he turned into an arctic fox for better orientation. He ran into the forest. The forest wasn't big or thick, so it didn't take him long before he could already see the house that stood on a small hill. He turned back to his elf form and adjusted his hat before stepping to the door. As he was about to knock, he paused and thought for a moment. He realized he didn't even know what he wanted to say. The only thing he was sure about was that he just wanted their chaos to stop. But what should he say? Oh, Gruzzlebeard, please stop hating Christmas. Stupid. Jordi sighed and decided to turn back. He knew that absolutely nothing would come out of a conversation with the old, miserable man. But suddenly someone opened the door.

"Why the hell are you standing in front of our house?" Gugor's evil face appeared in the doorway.Jordi could only imagine how stupid he looked right now, completely taken aback.

"Will I get an answer or do I have to wait until tomorrow?" Gugor crossed his arms over his chest.

Jordi didn't know how to get out of this embarrassing situation, so he decided to confront Gugor. He also crossed his arms and took a step higher onto the stairs that led to the door."I saw you damaging our tree yesterday," he said, more confident than he felt.

An evil grin formed on Gugor's face, "Oh, so you were the bird that attacked me? I should have known"

Jordi was surprised for the second time in two minutes. He couldn't believe the elf in front of him found this amusing. The grin on Gugor's face made Jordi wish he could punch him in the face right now, but he knew Santa would be absolutely disappointed if he did that.

"If I ever see you or Gruzzlebeard near our stuff again, I'll make sure not just a bird attacks you," Jordi said, turning around as he was about to leave.

Gugor closed the door behind him and he felt like he was finally able to breathe normally again. He didn't know what, but something about the evil elf always made him nervous. Maybe it was his arrogant presence, or maybe it was his judging look. Jordi shook his head, hoping these thoughts would leave his mind. He didn't bother turning into an animal, so he walked through the forest with his hands shoved deep in the pockets of his red square pants. Gugor definitely wasn't worth spending too much time thinking about, so Jordi immediately returned to the workshop and threw himself into work to get back into Christmas mood. Only Gilfi was left with him in the glass house.

"What are you still doing here?" Jordi asked, wondering why the other elf wasn't in the house with everyone else.

"I could ask you the same thing," Gilfi shrugged, not looking up from the toy he was working on."Is it the power thing?" Jordi had a feeling that Gilfi wanted to work harder and better than the others to make up for the lack of his power, "Look, it's really not that important. You're just as valid here as Trixie and I."

"Jordi, please," Gilfi took the red cap off his head and ran his hand through his blonde hair. He seemed frustrated, which only proved that Jordi was right. Jordi didn't know how to help him, but he was very sure that if he could he would give his own powers to Gilfi to make his insecurities go away.

"Alright, you don't have to talk to me, but if you ever need me, I'm here," he said, then turned his attention back to his desk. There was a list on it with things he needed to invent and toys he still needed to improve.

"I'm fine," Gilfi said after a few seconds, but didn't seem convinced by his own statement at all.                                                                                                                                                               "It just feels like it would be better if Santa replaced me with another elf," he added to his sentence after a few more seconds. Gilfi wiped his hands on his pants and put his tools away."I'm going to get some sleep" he said and in the next moment he had already left the workshop.

Jordi felt guilty for not saying anything. He ran his hands over his face and sighed. It was the second day of being back at work and everything went awful. He couldn't believe that an evil elf, a miserable old man and Gilfi's insecurities could ruin so much. The Christmas season was always something Jordi looked forward to and made him feel at peace. He enjoyed the work and the stress had never bothered him either but right now the only thing he wished for was that the big Christmas day would come sooner and this all would be over. Of course, it could be worse but if it already started like that, Jordi didn't want to know what else could come towards them.