“Plan ahead.”
MacGyver* #quote
In today's news, a blog posts a story for people to read. Anyway onto
the flash fiction!
Elves VS
Fairies
“Christmas is
but a few days away. I expect joy enchantments on all the toys,
dolls, game consoles, action figures...cover everything!” The elf
manager yelled at his underlings. “And I swear Jerry if you don't
enchant your batch of collectibles because 'they're not real toys'
I'm firing you. You know what? We could all get fired!” The elf
manager couldn't hold back his panic any longer.
“You mean the
rumors are true?” one elf worker said. “Santa is considering the
fairies's offer?”
The elves
stopped moving, something they rarely did when they were on the clock
in distorted space-time inside a store. The janitor stood in place
and magic allowed the air in the pocket of the store they were in to
move to keep the elves breathing but the rest of reality at bay. They
spent time in store enchanting toys with joy to keep Christmas a most
joyful holiday. Other beings handled other holidays but the elves
didn't need to worry about them for their paycheck.
“Yes, the
faries's have swayed Mr. Claus. His decision is going to be based on
our performance this Christmas. He didn't tell us so we wouldn't work
harder just to impress him. Speaking of which, get to work or we're
all out of a job!” The manager's task force went to work and the
manager did the small work too. Productivity had to be maximum to
beat the fairy methods.
Santa Claus
cared for his elf workers over the many, many years their people fell
under his employment. The immortal man of mysterious cheery magic
took care of them well. However he cared for one thing much more than
any elf. He cared about Christmas. In the modern days he enchanted
presents with joy instead of delivering them since people bought
things themselves now, and if anyone could do that better then the
elves would be dismissed.
Fairies
did not do their work themselves. They were creatures even smaller
than the elves and not nearly as hardy. So they use machines. A fairy
stopped time just as an elf would and rode into a store with a
massive tank-like thing with many arms. It would then spray dust over
toys that would be purchased or it would go into households and spray
them there. Smaller models of these devices would scour
smaller places and behind them all
and behind it a second device would use magic to remove evidence of
the machine's presence there.
Santa organized
it so that the fairies did half of this year's Christmas presents and
the other half went to the elves. Santa usually spent the actual day
of Christmas in observation. In an attempt to keep the elves unaware
of it, he tried to convince half that each of them were on vacation,
but not telling other groups of them. Compartmentalization! It didn't
work, and the elves worked their hardest.
Mr. Claus made
his evaluation and told the fairy king personally.
“King
Sparkles, you covered all the toys in a quarter the time of my elves.
But your accuracy was exceptionally questionable.” Santa Claus
poured over the data in the same way as his Naughty and Nice list.
“You covered toys that you shouldn't have, and even the pets of
some people. I simply cannot have this much magic wasted.”
King Sparkles
held back a smile and spoke very humbly. The clever king always knew
how to cut deals. “Well, Christmas joy needs to be brought the best
it can. Perhaps the accuracy of the elves is needed and my people's
machines can just...help?”
Santa Claus agreed and purchased the machine's for the elves, as
King Sparkles intended all along. He didn't want his people working
Christmas labor, but he wanted to sell his machines. Now he just
needed to speak with the ghouls of Halloween.