Day 4 of the 25 Days of TF-mas! (contains female to wreath tf)

It took Kat quite a while to get Lorrie set up in Vanessa’s lawn. Kat brushed aside the dark hair its current form had from its face and stepped back to admire its handiwork. It’d been a busy day for Kat, and the latest fruit of that labor was a pristine lawn inflatable. The decoration, once a snarky social media obsessed girl that shamed carolers online named Lorrie, had finally been inflated to full size. She stood tall and was painted to both resemble Lorrie and to appear to wear a festive attire. Her arms were folded across her tummy and a hidden speaker played public domain holiday music to give the appearance that Lorrie was caroling in the yard. Kat nodded to itself and found itself sorely lacking in another victim. There were so few decorations set up yet, and the wish Vanessa, who currently sat in her own home, wrapped around a present as its paper, made regarding a perfectly decorated home was sorely behind schedule. Determined to right this injustice, Kat set out once more in search of inspiration.

After Kat was gone, a car rolled up to Vanessa’s home, and a woman stepped out, still clad in her café barista uniform. She approached the lawn decoration. It looked just like that girl that was laughing at carolers in the café. The one that Kat had been following. Unable to see anything else out of the ordinary with the inflatable itself, the barista got back in her car and set off, not wanting to lose Kat.

Helena sighed dramatically, shoving her phone into her coat pocket with a huff. Three times. Her call had gone to voicemail three times. She wouldn’t even be all that frustrated if they hadn’t been planning to shop together for the holidays for weeks now. Honestly, what kind of person stands their friend up for holiday shopping? Whatever their excuse was, it had better be good for her to be left standing in the cold like a fool for so long. Four times. Helena stamped her foot in frustration. She didn’t get a lot of PTO at her job, and getting a Saturday off in December was practically a miracle, why did this always happen to her? Upset and cold, she made her way into the department store alone. It had only been eight months since Helena had moved to the city, and the massive selection this store had still floored her. The scent of cinnamon and cranberries hung in the air, decorations lined every corner and hung alongside big banners advertising their holiday sales, and music played above the droning of the bustling crowd of shoppers pleasantly. It all was almost enough to make Helena forget her frustrations and let the merriment carry her away. Almost. Despite her friend being the one to cause these feelings, she still lamented not being able to share in them like they had planned, and Helena couldn’t help but wonder if it was something she’d done to make them abandon the idea of spending this time with her outright.

Drawn to the atmosphere that surged out of the enormous shopping building, Kat strode confidently into the department store. The sights, sounds, and scents were nearly enough to bowl even Kat over, which only made the place all the more interesting. But the only thing more interesting than all of this energy was the outlier, and Kat quickly homed in on the rather dour expression of Helena, sitting on a bench off to the side, near the bathrooms… alone. Helena was pretty plain in a comforting way. She had a cute, round face with just a light dusting of freckles here and there, brown hair that was wound in a little braid she draped over the front of her shoulder, and simple, functional clothing. She didn’t stand out and was comfortable not doing so. Despite this, or maybe because of this, Kat approached her and sat down beside her.

“Oh- I’m sorry,” Helena murmured, a bit startled to have a stranger sit beside her. She turned to look at the woman that sat down. She was rather pretty. Long, black hair that curled slightly into waves, a light-colored beanie contrasting nicely, and an intensity about her that drew one in.

“You’re sad,” Kat noted, more a statement than anything else.

“That easy to tell, huh?” Helena chuckled, looking down into her lap and fidgeting with her hands.

“Yes.”

The abrupt and simple answer caused Helena to laugh a little more earnestly this time, “Straight to the point. Not a lot of people are direct like that, its refreshing.” She said, no doubt referencing her flaky friend and their unknown reasons for ghosting her. Kat’s silent stare prompted Helena to continue, “If you were wondering why I’m so grumpy during the most wonderful time of the year,” she began, taking note that the song playing over the intercom agreed with her assessment of the season, “It’s because a friend of mine didn’t show up. We planned this shopping spree together for so long and today they won’t even return my calls.” She sighed, “I’m sorry, its not really your problem, I just really needed to vent.” She avoided looking at Kat, worried that there was any number of harsh or judgmental looks aimed at her.

“Do you have a wish?” Kat asked rather suddenly, after a few seconds of silence.

“A wish? What, you’re my fairy godmother now?” She laughed again, but quieted when Kat did not join in at laughing at her joke. She cast her gaze out over the crowd, “If I had to wish something, I guess it would be to have someone look at me the way people are looking at those wreaths,” she said, pointing to a display of festive door decorations. It was a pretty good sale, all things considered, and the patrons of the store took great excitement and fascination with picking one out to bring home. The look of ‘I’m happy to see you’ is all Helena really meant, but Kat was never one to split hairs on metaphors.

“I can do that.” Kat said, suddenly excited with its new idea. Kat reached and took Helena’s hand, pulling her along to the entrance again.

“Wha- hey! Woah- where are we going?” Helena cried, though she had to admit that Kat’s offer didn’t sound so bad. Whatever this woman had in store for her, it beat being stood up, right?

Kat wordlessly but with great fervor pulled a bewildered Helena down the road towards Vanessa’s home. The outside was just starting to be decorated. Some lights adorned the outside and there was a cute inflatable caroler in the yard. Helena definitely could see the makings of a proud competitor in the unofficial contest of best decked out home on the block. She panted a bit, Kat really didn’t slow down till the very end, and Helena was not expecting to sweat in weather like this. Before she could really voice a question, Kat marched up the walk and turned around at the door, beckoning for Helena to join her. After a few seconds to catch her breath, Helena followed her up to the front of the door. She looked around, unsure of what to say. This woman was strange to be sure, but honestly, Helena had all but forgotten her friend’s transgressions already, and that was worth a good deal on its own.

“Are we going inside?” Helena wondered.

Kat shook its head, “No, no, you’re gonna be out here. Everyone will look at you like a wreath,” it explained without really explaining anything at all.

“What are you talking abouthh?” Her question was a bit altered by the bizarre feeling invading her mouth. Her tongue ran a quick investigation over her teeth and cheeks and reported back nothing more concrete than a persistent, strange sensation. Kat’s only elaboration was a smile. It was a pleasant smile. Genuine. The type of smile that was rare to see in someone Helena’s age with how overly cynical everyone could be at even the most pleasant of times. It was comforting and pure, almost enough to distract her from the prickly feeling erupting all over her skin underneath her coat. It started out as mild discomfort, then changed to be a little painful. Despite the cold, Helena shed her coat in an effort to understand what was causing this feeling. Her breath caught in her throat when she saw her skin. It bulged and bristled with tiny green thorn-like growths. They were not painful on their own but moving and snagging on her clothes caused them to irritate her skin like nothing else. The words Kat had told her started to sink in when the spines grew out more and more, unimpeded by the bulky coat. They were green. Like pine needles. Helena cast a panicked look up to Kat, sputtering and stammering about what this was. How it was impossible. How it was somehow something that Kat was doing to her.

Kat silenced her very simply. It stepped down a step and placed mittened hands over her cheeks, “I’m granting you a wish. No more being cold and no more being alone. Everyone will look at you like a wreath.” Kat repeated those words. Everyone will look at you like a wreath. The words rattled around in her head for a bit longer. She told herself to forget how freaky this was in reality and to just look at the facts. The changes were strange, but not unpleasant without the coat snagging on her so much. She could also tell that she wasn’t becoming some cheap, plastic thing. These needles and the little cones she could feel sprouting over her were very much alive. She was alive, maybe for the first time in quite some time. She’d been working herself to the bone, and now lived too far from family to even spend the holidays with them this year. Life was… in a word, overwhelming. The sensations she felt now were exhilarating, new, and above all, beautifully pleasant. Even as a hole opened in her abdomen to give her the proper shape, she felt whole.

Helena smiled at Kat, who smiled back. She wanted to say thank you, but her mouth had already begun to slip away. No wreath needed such a thing. Instead, she had little baubles and ornaments adorning her, giving her a pop of color here and there between the green and brown of her body. Her arms faded away, and Kat helped her legs fold back and encircle her to give her body a sturdier base from which to hang her. Kat hung Helena on the door, letting her display her beautifully arranged needles, cones, and decorations to the world. If this were a contest, Helena figured with the last of her coherent consciousness, she would surely be the finest wreath in the neighborhood. Kat looked at her with the same excitable look she’d wished for, and that was all the gift she needed this year.

Meanwhile, the barista girl had lost track of Kat. She was certain the creepy woman had gone this way but there was no sign of her anywhere. Sitting in her car, she took stock of what she knew. She’d seen her sitting around where Carla had been with no sign of her anywhere except the books she had left behind. Then, she saw her eyeing that sarcastic girl that loved making fun of the holidays and followed her to a house where the woman had left with a big ole inflatable. She would go back to that house and see if she could catch Kat there and confront her. She looked at the fantasy novel in her passenger seat, “Don’t worry Carla,” she said softly, “Elliott is gonna figure this out…”