a little bit of black with a little bit of pink

Christmas Trains

Jennie slammed her work locker closed and stared down at the little wooden train in her hands. Or at least what was supposed to be a little wooden train. Engine to be precise. Right now it was just a block of wood. But it would be a train. One day. Assuming she could ever get this.

The supervisor had made it sound so simple, crafting the tiny engine with a few quick strokes in barely forty five minutes. She groaned and let her head fall against the locker, she probably should have paid a tad more attention but she'd just been excited that she wasn't working with the jack-in-a-boxes this year. The terrifying jack-in-a-boxes. She'd figured it would be easy.

Now she was getting defeated by a bunch of trains.

Or more accurately, blocks of wood that refused to turn into anything even vaguely resembling a train.

Tugging her elf hat from her back pocket, Jennie slid it on her head. Perking up slightly as each step sent the sound of jingle bells ringing.

At least Sana was just as bad at making the trains as she was.

Between them, she'd be surprised if they manage to make one decent engine in the entire month of December.

That didn't mean she didn't love her job. Because she did. It was literally the world's best part time job. Ever. Period. How many people got to say they spent their time working as one of Santa's elves making toys?

Jennie did.

So despite the epic failure of a trains, she skipped into the workshop. There was no way that anyone couldn't be cheerful with the explosion of Christmas around her. Wooden work benches and giant candy canes and fake snow and a rustling fireplace full of students dressed up in elf costumes in vibrant shades.

She'd gotten green this year. Big buttons down her tunic. Candy cane tights.

Jennie wove her way through the benches, spying Rosé's yellow where she was already tinkering with the ovens and Jisoo's blue suit by the robots. After Jisoo had managed to blow-up her workstation last year, she'd been relegated to jack-in-the-boxes with Jennie. Rosé supplying cookies whenever she passed by with baskets for the kids.

Because that's what it was all about, a charity organization's attempt to make a real Santa's workshop for underprivileged kids to visit. All funded by Manoban Enterprises. Some of the other workers grumbled about how it was all a press thing but every time Jennie saw one of the kid's faces light up, she really didn't care why it was happening.

Just that it was.

She couldn't wait for them to start showing up. The workshop wasn't open to the public at first, giving the 'elves' a chance to learn their temporary trades. All toys getting donated at the end of it all. Robots, dolls, and everything else. Including the trains.

Assuming they successfully made any trains.

Jennie dropped onto her wooden stool, surprised that Sana wasn't already sitting across from her. Shrugging, Jennie tucked the unfinished train in her large elf pocket and grabbed a fresh chunk of wood.

Perhaps a clean slate would help.

It didn't.

An hour later she had a deformed train for her trouble and no Sana to console her with equally terrible train cars to accompany them. Still Jennie persisted, gluing the wood to the tiny wheel mechanism just like they'd been instructed. She had to come up with something. Even if it was more of a hacked at piece of wood than a train.

She would not be defeated by a train.

She was just gluing the last axle in place when someone plopped down on the stool across from her, jarring the table and making the wheels go on crooked.