[$] Playing Naughty or Nice

“Don’t you dare grrrr me, Karla!” Holly snapped, teeth grinding in frustration as she brandished the scroll like an accusing finger. Her round, overstuffed belly gave a faint wobble as she stomped her boot into the snow. “We were tasked to get rid of the names on the Naughty list! This—this is the Nice list!”

Karla let out a deep, lazy growl, shifting her weight slightly. Her tall, imposing form lifted the overflowing sack on her shoulder with ease, the faint jingle of bells adorning her hair and horns sounding almost mocking. The movement caused her massive chest to bounce not so subtly beneath her fur-lined outfit, the heavy curves straining against their confinement as if to taunt Holly further.

“Oh, no you don’t! Don’t you stand there and act like it’s no big deal, hooves-for-brains,” Holly scolded. “What were you thinking?! Did you even look at the names? ‘Baking cookies,’ ‘shoveling snow for neighbors’—how exactly did you think those were naughty behaviors?!”

“Grrrr...” Karla rumbled back, waving her hands dismissively, the jingles on her horns punctuating the moment with smug subtlety.

“Oh, don’t you growl at me like it’s my fault!” Holly shouted, her face flush with frustration. Her belly strained against her snug, festive outfit as she gestured dramatically to Karla’s enormous, wobbling midsection. “You’re the one with the warped sense of justice! And don’t think I don’t know what this is really about. Just because you never made the Nice list doesn’t mean you get to doom the rest of us!”

Another deep grumph came from Karla, punctuated by the faintest jingle of bells as she adjusted her stance, her hips swaying from left to right. The sound could have meant anything—a protest, an insult, or simply stubborn agreement that it was, in fact, Holly’s problem now.

Holly’s frustration only deepened as she pressed a hand to her belly with a faint groan. Leaning against Karla’s belly, her huge boobs pressing flat against the rounded surface, she said, “For the love of… We’re stuffed to bursting already, Karla! Did you think we could just fix this? Did you even stop to think for one second before gulping down half the nice population?!”

“Grrr…” Karla muttered, patting her enormous belly with a look of smug satisfaction, the curve visibly wobbling under her touch as if it, too, was pleased.

Holly’s face twitched, her full frame tensing with barely contained irritation. “Oh, you like this, don’t you? Of course you do! While we’re out here waddling around and miserable, you’re sitting pretty on… on a mountain of…”

WHISH-SNAP

The sharp, whiplike sound of paper snapping unceremoniously into place cut through Holly’s rant. “Joy”—who, of course, was only named Joy at work—stood off to the side, her frosty expression colder than the surrounding snowdrifts. She let out a cold, unimpressed breath that puffed visibly in the winter air as her icy fingers snapped open another parchment—the real Naughty list. Her wide, frosty hips shifted slightly as she adjusted her stance, her massive backside bumping into Holly’s own considerable tush.

“Are you two finished?” Joy said dryly, her voice laced with icy pragmatism. She held up the correct scroll, one ablaze with frosty magic. “Because while you’re busy bickering, I’ve found the real attendees.”

Holly froze mid-gesture, her face locked in an awkward grimace as her overstuffed belly gave a faint groan of protest. “Wait. You what?”

“The real Naughty list.” Joy waved the scroll lightly, her tone absolutely void of amusement. The motion caused her scroll to crackle with icy magic, but it also drew a faint jiggle from her pronounced curves. “Yes. The one we were supposed to be working on hours ago, before someone decided to go rogue.” Her cold glare landed pointedly on Karla.

“Grrmph,” Karla rumbled, shrugging with exaggerated nonchalance, her chest bouncing lightly with the movement as if to say, You’re welcome.

Holly groaned loudly, slapping her palm to her face. The motion set off a faint ripple through her own curves. “Yeah, yeah—good work or whatever. And now we’re behind schedule. Again.”

Behind the trio, the rest of the team—a mismatched crowd of elves, frost maidens, and snow specters—stood in various states of exhaustion and overstuffed frustration. An elf in candy-striped leggings groaned audibly, leaning against a nearby snowdrift as her round belly pushed against her snug outfit. A frost maiden rubbed her swollen midsection, letting out a faint sigh of discomfort, her icy robes straining against her ample curves.

“More eating? Really?” one of the snow specters moaned, slumping slightly as her form rippled with exaggerated fullness. “I can barely move as it is!”

“Tell me about it,” another elf muttered, her massive backside jiggling slightly as she flopped onto a wooden crate for support. “If Karla had just read the list right, we’d all be sipping cocoa by now!”

The group let out a collective groan, a chorus of frustration and fullness echoing through the snowy clearing as Holly turned back to glare at Karla one last time.

“Well,” she muttered, dragging a hand down her face again, “I hope you’re happy, Karla. Because none of us are!”

The snarling Karla responded with what sounded almost like a purr—smug and smooth—as her clouded breath rose into the cold, twilight air…

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Last poll winner! And stowwy!! owo)/