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"Merry squidmas Dedf1sh ! Here's your gift !"
...
Ahato heard a lot about squidmas.
Ever since she'd been rescued from the underground by the new Squidbeak Splatoon, she'd tried her best to learn as many things about inkling culture as she could in hopes of fitting in better ... But also because she saw how happy Callie was to share it all with her. Something in her smile made Ahato's long dead and cold heart feel a little warmer. Every month she learned about a new little tradition, a new way to eat a different kind of food, get into costumes or throw gifts at each other. At first it was summerfest, the perfect excuse to lay down on the hot sand of the beach and enjoy the sun for hours. Then it was Splatoween and all of the autumn celebrations around eating pumpkins and candy. But this month of December seemed to be by far the most important celebration of all : squidmas. Now, Octolings had something a little similar in the form of octavius, another winter celebration where people got each other gifts. But squidmas was definitely much bigger and more important, as the world seemed to center almost exclusively around this themes weeks and weeks before the celebration even began. Learning about all the details of the holiday was a little overwhelming, but for what she understood, the most important part of it all was finding gifts for everyone you loved.
And ... Ahato thought that she'd need to know this year. Squidmas existed. It was important. It made people happy.
What she didn't expect was to be INCLUDED in said celebration.
"... Callie. I didn't buy you a gift."
"Yeah I know ! It's okay, you don't have much money at the moment. I got you a gift because it made me happy, and hopefully because it could make you happy as well !"
Ahato took a long pause as she looked at the gift and began to feel a little tense. While she'd been getting better lately ... Sanitization often made her feel disconnected from her own feelings. What was she supposed to do if she didn't feel anything about the gift ? What if she didn't like it, or at least her body didn't show enough emotion for it ? Callie didn't deserve to feel sad if her gift wasn't appreciated. It wasn't her fault. She'd done everything right.
"So are you going to open it ?"
Ahato glanced at Callie, nodded and took the gift before very carefully removing the giftwrap
in one piece.
"Awwwwh, you can shred it if you want !! This paper is made to be DESTROYED !!"
"You obviously spent a lot of time to fold it properly to wrap this gift. I would rather not destroy this carefully crafted surprise."
"You're sooo sweet ..."
Ahato finally took apart the last bit of paper surrounding the gift, only for it to reveal a cute little white sea bunny plush carefully placed into a gorgeous pink and golden box. Ahato stated at the item with curiosity for a bit, wondering how she could react to this. It was visibly an item one may call "cute". She could easily see a child play with such item, perhaps even herself if she had the luck of ever being gifted such wonders as a child. But as an adult she was ... Unsure. She could still see the appeal. But her brain was confused as to if she was even meant to enjoy such things in the first place.
The octoling meticulously opened the box, and made the plush slide into her hands before dropping the cardboard on the floor. Simply touching the fabric of said item was enough to make her feel weird. GENUINELY weird. She'd been sensitive to all sorts of textures when she was younger and unaffected by the curse of sanitization. But it had been a while since the last time she felt this strongly about an item. Some part of her was so overwhelmed by the plush that she almost considered immediately dropping it on the floor to avoid having to think about so many textural informations at once. But she didn't. Instead, her arms strangely began to wrap around the plush and brought it closer and closer to her chest, until she was pressing it hard against it. Being able to clench something as hard as she wanted without the fear of ever hurting it was comforting. The gentle touch of the fibers against her skin was comforting. The same kind of comforting as Callie herself. Ahato loved this plush. She loved Callie.
"Hey ded ? ... You're crying."
"... I love this gift. Thank you."
She said the truth. And it never felt better.