"If you keep clenching your jaw like that, you're going to need a night guard," I pointed out on day three. He glanced up at me from under his hair, trying hard to glare. It would've been successful too if he hadn't blushed a bit. "You already have one, don't you?" "Shut up," he said, turning back to the tether. I cackled, looping around the tether and stopping at his side. "You know, Mom did say she'd be happy to outsource some help." "I know. But I don't think outsourcing would help. How many other people in Crystal Springs can wield Christmas magic, anyway? It's so specific it bunched together way north of the rest of the magic, and we're already pretty north." "North northwest-ish, really." Bernard hummed in agreement, absent mindedly scribbling in the log book. "I just wish we could pinpoint what was up. Does it need more power? Less power? We've checked the tether design up and down and all around and it's all working the way it should!" "What if you just tried loading? I mean, all the gifts are ready. Half of them have been living in the square for a good few days now. And like, don't they have Christmas magic, being that they are Christmas gifts? Maybe the bag is hungry." I ducked behind the bag and yelled, "Feed me! Feed me!" The logbook slammed shut. "The bag doesn't sound like that." I popped back up, elbow on the base. "What does it sound like then?"  "It doesn't have a voice but if it did, it wouldn't sound like that. This isn't Little Shop of Horrors." He tapped the butt of the pencil against his chin, looking thoughtful. He looked at the gifts surrounding the tether, all wrapped up nicely and ready to go. Tapped the pencil some more. Frowned a bit harder. Then, finally, he spoke. "You know what though, you may have a point. If anything, it's at least worth a try." "That's the spirit!" I said, ducking back down behind the bag and squeaking, "Oh thank you, Bernard! I am so HUNGRY!" Bernard chuckled. "I think I liked the lower voice better."

I cannot express to you all how fun Bernard and Jacqueline are to write. Take a SECOND snippet because I enjoy their sibling-esque bickering 🤭🤭

"Yeesh, you look like sleet." "Nice to see you too B-Man." I walked past the couch in my sitting room, which Bernard had decided to make himself comfortable on. He lay across it, his feet propped up on the armrest closest to me. "What kind of storm did that?" "All of them and then some. And you can thank your Christmas explosion for all of that.” Bernard grinned, looking down at the papers on his lap. “I know you love it.” "I am beginning to have doubts. I think I'm more dirt than snow right now." I shook some snow off my sleeve and onto his head for good measure. He brushed it off. “Stop that.” “Make me.” I leaned over the couch by his head to see what he was working on. There were graphs and charts, and some preliminary designs for tether improvements. I pulled a face. “Ugh, gross. More paperwork? Good grief. You just don't stop, do you?" "This is stopped! For me, at least. I'd much rather be down in the Valley working on the new design instead of reviewing it up here." "Still sentenced to bedrest?" "Yep. Judy'll kill me if I set foot onto the floor before the New Year. I mean, I feel fine! The dark circles are gone! I've been doing nothing BUT resting!" "He said, laying on my couch with a swath of paperwork." "She said, barely missing the throw pillow I lobbed at her head." I grabbed the pillow he threw my way, throwing it right back. “Stop making my room a mess!” “Make me,” he taunted, the pillow hitting the back of his hand and plopping right down onto the floor behind the sofa. "Once I shower, it's over for you, B-Man." I spread my index and middle finger, moving them from my eyes to his and glaring at him. He did not take my threat seriously. He laughed, shaking his head as I closed the door to my room and headed over to the washroom for a nice, hot shower.

Hehehe. ANYWAY. Notes/what's NEW in this chapter:

Word count actually stayed more or less the same? I think I maybe added 1-2k more words. It's just over 30k still. It's a LONG ONE so make sure you have some WATER ON HAND!

One of the big fixes I've been doing is making sure Jacqueline refers to Blaise and Winter as Dad and Mom. I mean. She's telling us the story from HER perspective. Why wouldn't she?

A few refinements here and there with syntax, grammar, and dramatically reducing the SAID count. I double up on those bitches sometimes--need to work on that!

SUCCESSFULLY managed to NOT add more scenes! WOOO!

Also cleaned up CS Lore that was sprinkled about in this chapter! I think it's now uniform in more or less all the big CS-Verse works (Frostmas is ongoing)

“You covered my mouth! Desperate times call for desperate measures, Bernard. Is there an emergency? Did the tunnel collapse?”

“No! No. Everything’s fine. The tunnel is fine. We’ve got like five hundred meters left. Come on.”

Grabbing the elf by the shoulders, Bernard steered him up the back stairs and down the hall, even further from the crowds and fellow elves.

“Then why the look!”

“The look?”

“Yeah! Your ‘we-need-to-talk-right-now-IMMEDIATELY’ look!”

“My what? I don’t have a look like that.”

“Yes you do! Your face gets all wide and your eyes go all big and you look like you're seconds away from lockjaw. You should look into a night guard or something. Want me to book you in with Dr. Maple? I could—”

“No! I already have one!”

Curtis snickered.

“Oh. My god. Okay.” Bernard pinched the bridge of his nose and took a deep breath in before loosening his stance. “Listen. How far have you gotten with the Handbook?”

"Almost halfway! There's a lot of rules in here that we really should be following. I think we should start playing Christmas music a lot more, it's good for us elves, according to the handbook. There's lots of benefits—"

"That's nice. Listen, I need you to do me a favour and I need you to keep it between us. Got it?"

"Uh, sure. What is it?"

"Father Time sent a message to Jacqueline and I. He said there's a clause we should be on the lookout for."

“Oh. Oh. We really needed to talk right now immediately, huh?”

“YES!” Bernard hissed. “You think I’d risk a confrontation with Santa like that for nothing?”

Curtis shrugged.

“I don’t know how to feel about that.”

“I’d take it as a compliment.”

“Hmm.”

“So Father Time? HIMSELF?”

“Yep. Pulled us right out of time to give us the news.”

“A clause? Are you sure?”

“All signs point to a clause, yes.”

“And it didn’t immediately come to mind for you?”

“Curtis, do I look like I have the clauses memorized? There’re probably some in there that I don’t even know about. Why do you think I carry the card with me?”

“Dramatic effect? A Santa intimidating flourish?”

Bernard couldn’t help but laugh. “And also so I don’t have to memorize things that don’t directly apply to me.”

“Even then, if it didn’t immediately come to mind for you, we haven't had to deal with it in a while!”

“Most likely.”

“Yikes!”

“He didn’t tell me what it was—”

“Because he didn’t know or he couldn’t?”

“—unclear. But here are the specifics I was able to make out. It is a clause that happens in the eighth year of being Santa," Bernard tapped his finger. "He has until the twenty-fourth of December to fulfill the clause or that's it."

"That's it? What do you mean that's it?" Curtis' eyes went wide. "You don't mean it it, do you? Like, curtains for Santa?"

"That's exactly what I mean."

“Whoof. That’s a doozy.” Slinging the book around to his front, Curtis opened it up and began to read. “There's lots of different clauses in here, but I haven't come across one like that."

"Well, keep an eye out. The moment you find one that fits the criteria, tell me right away. Do not tell Santa, as tempting as it may be."

"But Bernard—"

"No buts, Curtis." He took a deep breath in, moving closer to the elf and speaking earnestly. "I know you can feel it too. The spirit of Christmas leaving. Dying. If there's any way we can fix this, we gotta try, and yes, that means not telling Santa something. Can you do that?"

Curtis looked downcast, closing the book shut and staring at it thoughtfully for a while before answering. "Yeah. I can do that."

"Good. Thanks, Curtis."

❄🎄🎅🏻✨

They're REALLY IN IT NOW, BOYS! Enjoy Year Eight on ao3 HERE, and on fanfiction dot net HERE :)

As for what's 🆕NEW🆕 this glow up....

Nothing much, actually! It was all more or less on point!

Grammar/syntax/characterization hotfixes mostly

Doubled the dialogue somehow, as per the ush. use. as per the usual. but however you spell the short form

another "blast to Jack retelling his parts to Jacqueline" in the present" has weaved its way in, featuring ROME and CANNOLIS and DITE

Tried to make sense of wtf I was going on about with the Winter/Jacqueline Dome scene (as they chat about it on route to Bernard). I think I made it worse. I genuinely don't know what my angle was there but I know I had one, I just can't find it, if I ever even HAD IT

It deffs had to do with how Jack fucked around with the Dome/Lockdown measures and Jacqueline, is regrettably, finding out about it in the worst way possible (ouchies)

[ID in ALT]

Short enough it fits in a screenshot. WILD. ALTHOUGH! It is SURROUNDED with little snippets from the year (hence the "see right side" note up top)—I imagine they were written while I was struggling with Year 6.

Anyway! Let's hecking get into this, yeah?

Jacqueline's Intro

Guess who scrapped it!

THIS GAL

Fun fact: I actually never liked the intro. I felt it really deterred from where I left off in Y6, so when I went back to read it and still felt this feeling, I scrapped it

As of writing this, I THINK I'm going to add it post-the tree and fast freeze hair scene? But we'll see if it works with the funky flow of things~

OKAY REGROUPING A WEEK LATER BC YOU GUYS. AS I READ THROUGH IT TO FILL THIS THING OUT I REALIZED SOMETHING. THE EVENTS OF YEAR SEVEN? THE WAY I WROTE IT, ALL HAPPEN WITHIN A DAY:

Jacqueline heads back to the Pole January 3rd

She has the convo about the Final Form Resort with B on January 3rd

They come up with the arson idea on January 3rd

She gets the twins clearance from Santa Jack during his wee lil interview on January 3rd

SHE GOES HOME AND GETS BLINTER APPROVAL AND THE TWINS TO AGREE ON J A N U A R Y 3RD

THEY THEN. IMMEDIATELY GO UP TO THE NORTH POLE AND JACQUELINE DOES THE WHOLE AIRPORT SHENANIGANS WITH JACK ON JANUARY THIRD

WHILE BELOW THEM. THE TWINS WING IT UNDER BERNARD'S WATCHFUL EYE. AND BURN THE NORTH POLE RESORT STUFF TO THE GROUND.

ON

JANUARY

THIRD

Now when I originally wrote this, I had not picked up on that at ALL. I thought that there'd been some time in between, but alas! I did it all on the SAME DAY. It only FELT LIKE IN BETWEEN TIME BECAUSE I KEPT TAKING LONG BREAKS BETWEEN WRITING SESSIONS!

AH!

SO I HAD TO OVERHAUL THAT WHICH DRASTICALLY CHANGED THE WHOLE CHAPTER FROM HOW IT ORIGINALLY WAS, ESPECIALLY SINCE THE TWINS ARE 12, NOT 8 (hundred) LIKE I ORIGINALLY HAD THEM IN LIKE. 2012! FUCKIN EH!

So NOW, without FURTHER ado. The Behind the Scenes of Year 7 Mark 2 because ah-fuck-i-can't-believe-i've-done-this dot vine.

Scene 1: Freedom

As per the crossed out original opening of this BTS, I decided to move the intro somewhere else, and found a good place for it, I think. I didn't want to break up the flow from Y6 into Y7, and I kind of like it a LOT better like this! :)

"Right now immediately" is tumblr vernacular/maybe a reference to the breadsticks meme?

Don't worry, she DOES find her left shoe again! Snow likes her a lot so when she went back up north she was like "HEY SNOW. YOU SEEN MY SHOE." and the snow yeeted it right out of a huge drift and slid it her way :)

And FINALLY she decides to come CLEAN to Blinter

I gotta tell you guys. Writing Blinter has been a STRUGGLE in these old parts. I have to keep remembering that CS has not happened, nor has MtF, so Winter's frozey and Blaise needs a Fucking Nap. I ALSO have to remember that they are decent parents. Like, they are trying their best. And as I read through these old chapters, some things they said were phrased in such a way that I was like "Hmm. My parents would say that. Let's change that!"

The other thing too is that a lot of lines in Frostmas were peer reviewed and quite well liked in the reviews, so trying to keep those in (because I liked them too!) while updating the vernacular and making sure everyone is in character has been a CHALLENGE. But I think I did well enough! HOPEFULLY.

My apologies if there was a line you liked that's GONZO now 🫠

Scene 2: Coming Clean to Blinter

This scene actually held up pretty well!

One major change was Blaise's anger. It was directed at her, so this time around I tweaked his vocab to make sure it was directed at her disappearance, and to hopefully show that it's coming from a place of concern and fear and that's why he's angry about it lmao

Winter too! Though she deffs didn't appreciate Jacqueline's sass levels, which are 100% hints I've dropped about what happens to her at the end of Year 10 >:)

"...they had grown into a sentient enchantment"

^So the gates at Frost Manor were NOT enchanted by Blaise to open on their own, funnily enough! They grew into sentience on their own. It happens sometimes ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

But the gates are one of my fave characters and they really love the family which is a good thing given they've been standing on that lot for like, four thousand or so years

RIGHT INTO THE FUN BITS

"Mom’s thumb rubbed my cheeks, her lips pursed. “Jacqueline darling…what have you done to yourself.” She chipped away at the ice on my face, head tilted, looking…perplexed."

The MOMENT she sees Jacqueline she's like "this is fake as fuck. why have you put all this ice on your face. what in the actual fuck, Jacqueline"

She's gd Winter ffs!!! And Jacqueline ain't SLICK! She thinks she is but she's really not :) But she tries and we gotta give her credit where it's due!

"I know it's convincing" says Jacqueline, meanwhile Winter's thinking "it's a mess, actually, and close up not convincing in the slightest but you've had a long day so I'm not going to roast you about that this time :)"

"Your FATHER trying to reach out" is a new line! Since I decided how Blaise's connections with the kids worked I figured I'd mention in in Y7 lmao. He's like "I'll leave you be but I am there if you need me" meanwhile Winter's like "I am a constant threat presence"

It's an interesting view into how they both grew up, actually, how they approach parenting and how their connections work!

Winter was surrounded by loud, loving sisters and a lovely mum. They were/are very tight knit and it shows with how active her connections with the kids are

Blaise didn't have a lot of freedom growing up, CONSTANTLY under the watchful eye of his parents AND brother AND the entire nobility AND the entire gd continent so he, of course, is very much like. Give them the freedom they need but support where you can kind of thing

sups off topic. Getting back ON topic. AH.

the line about the spiked warm drink was one of MY faves and I did my best to make sure I could keep it in there >:)

Scene 2.5: The Actual Chat

Blaise's hair is his worst tell. And the truth of the matter is, he can 100% keep it temperate if he wants too but he doesn't—he is the reason Winter always beats him at poker or any card game involving bluffing, really :P

Blinter deffs were unsure she'd be back by Christmas, given how everything went with the first child. They tried very hard to be hopeful and they were, doubt just creeps in REAL EASY especially when you're THAT old and have SEEN SOME SHIT

And the thing is, they DO understand! They've both been there. Dealing with some gnarly extenuating circumstance, that may or may not have been caused by family members or at least, contributed to by them, and they have fought through it and clawed their way out of the ground time and time again and are reminding Jacqueline about that in this whole scene. And also me. Because I frequently forget the shit I put these two through when they were younger (see: civil war, the call, day of darkness)

Blaise's speech about how many times can you keep doing it is loosely inspired by this post which whenever I see it I go hope IS messy, and also, BLAISE VIBES bc that's his core lmao

And it makes me feel better for constantly trying again and again even when things seem hopeless

hope really is messy business, isn't it? ANYWAY

"I am a simple woman. I just like to watch people flail on ice until they fall over.” “A worthy pursuit.” “Thank you, dear.” Dad nodded over the rim of his cup.

this was newly added, i fucking LOVE Winter she's so funny and Blaise is just like "you're valid hun" like. I love them? 🥰🥰🥰

And WHAMMO! WE INTRODUCE THE ACCIDENTAL FREEZE!

Which was HUGE foreshadowing, lol, as that's LITERALLY what HAPPENS as we know by now in Year 10!

You've heard of sad. You've heard of bad. Get ready for ANGRY. REALLY, REALLY FUCKING ANGRY! That's Jacqueline's nature as a frozen sprite, if you haven't noticed lmao

Reading this now post writing it, I'm like, DAMN, I could go for a Blinter sammy hug. That sounds delectable!

Scene 3

I have I ever told you all how I can pinpoint the exact moment Jacqueline's heart freezes? No? Well, I can, and if you're curious to know, it's in this scene 🤫

Scene 4: Visiting Gran

Yet ANOTHER instance of fixing shady character shit, oy VEY.

One of my pet peeves is Mother Nature being characterized as the BIGGEST bitch, derogatory, completely uncaring and cold. Like, yeah, Nature do be like that but also, it do be warm and comforting and nurturing, you know?

And she always seems very nice in her scenes in the movies so, you know, the MOMENT someone is like "she doesn't CARE" or ANYTHING like that I'm OUT.

So when I catch it happening in MY work I'm like, oh HELL NOOO

And I think this scene had a few instances of it that have since been refreshed and cleared out :)

CS HEADCANON ALERT: Fairies can shrink their size to get into small places! So can Pixies.

CS HEADCANON ALERT: The Legendary Figures all guard a specific type of magic that was used to create the World. Oh, there's all sorts of magic involved there. But the big ones, the ones that are easy to pick up on and most common? The Legendary Figures guard it, and make sure it keeps flowing and that the world keeps turning

This is why MN says that she felt a shift and things felt righted—Jacqueline, being a Legendary Figure atm, coming back out into the world proper, tips the magic balance back to where it should be.

Hence the comment of "having the legendary magics back in the fold, and all that" and the meaning behind it! Which maybe you didn't need to know. But hey! You know now! :)

Scene 5: VINDICATION

Because that's Jacqueline's thought the ENTIRE time the council is meeting. I WAS RIGHT THE ENTIRE TIME and she is READY to gloat about it and WILL gloat about it FOREVER

And now we're getting into the messy business of "how come the Council didn't know Jack wasn't supposed to be Santa" and the obvious plot hole in tsc3 of "How did FT NOT pick up on Jack doing that?" which are smaller facets of the whole HOW DID THEY LET THE THEME PARK HAPPEN ANYWAY?! Argument

They didn't! Jack just did it. And as for timelines, well, FT coming in CLUTCH with an explanation! Of sorts.

I mean, they gave us the answer in tsc3—their powers don't work on other Legendary Figures! So if a Clause is used, Christmas magic, in conjunction with Time magic, BY the guy who uses the WINTER MAGIC, well. It's going to get messy and the timeline's gonna be all sorts of fucked up and FT is popping up now to start tackling that problem

And because we are more than halfway through, and we all know how the movie ends, so...time to start having FT figure out the shit going on!

Especially with Y8 being right around the corner, lol.

"Picture of poise and grace and such" was I think, "Picture of sophisticated grace" originally and yes, it was a Frozen reference.

Scene 6: Jacqueline's Intro

Tada! This is where I moved it! When the New Year starts proper! I thought that was rather brilliant on my end :3

Apparently, this opening was one of the heavily enjoyed ones? Idk. But I'm happy with where it is and glad I didn't have to scrap it entirely! I kind of like them, you know? I like that Jacqueline essentially TW's us for what shenanigans are gonna happen NEXT before telling us about said shenanigans.

Also. Sometimes. the Canadian just SLIPS OUT. And it sure fucking did with the last line of the intro lol

Fun fact! Jacqueline's a dual citizen. Her other citizenship is Canadian 🤭🤭

Scene 7: Breaking into B-Man's. Again

Idk WHY. When I was writing this. Jacqueline was like. I commit breaking and entering as a hobby into Bernard's house, specifically. But! Here we are!~

We can also see the uh. Friction getting to Bernard, with him being snappish @ Jacqueline

tho admittedly it's ah. well deserved given that ah. She did break into his house and deliver bad on bad on badder news!

Scene 8: LOTS of BAD Ideas

Like. SOO many bad ideas.

Okay. So we got like. The final version of the Resort, right? Then we have Jacqueline's big plan: FIRE.

And Jack calling in actual reporters from the ordibeing world

So you'll NOTICE that THAT detail wasn't on the notes! That'd be because I added it as I was writing! I realized that like, if he'd dropped off all these tickets and people were calling it a scam and y'know, social media circa 2001 was going OFF about it, it'd be ideal for Jack to fess up asap before other people took the credit for it OR everyone deemed it a scam with fruitless investigations and whatnot (if that makes sense)

BASICALLY it was to give the Resort a sense of legitimacy given that it was this close || to being brushed off as a scam or silly marketing scheme (which aren't totally untrue statements)

Do I know where Jeff works? NO! All I know is he's the only reporter (him and his team) to come up and the interview is gonna be SO exclusive lmao

Bernard probably had to talk Jack down from hosting a whole ass PRESS CONFERENCE lol, bc he absolutely would. 100%.

An aside: I bet the pieces on news stations when reporters who have kids go to the Resort are interesting pieces lmao. The whole world is probably like "wow! crazy!" and the news casters are probably like "A fun activity to do with your kids this Christmas!" and the Council is probably like "Woahg. They're?? Not thinking it's the real deal? Crazy"

This got off topic, but YEAH! The reporter bit was added in as I was originally writing! Neat facts!

"Your fascination with arson concerns me, Jacqueline. Especially considering your alignment and all."

^Okokok this is one of my fave lines. It's a call back to her suggesting they burn his satchel the year before. It's also very true: she quite enjoys starting fires. Loves her a good fire, that Jacqueline. DEFFS the summer sprite blood there. The Twins also have more winter sprite tendencies! Fiera constantly overheats and LOVES being cold. Fino always has a window open when it's nice and cold outside. That sorta thing!

Jacqueline: suggests the TWINS join their efforts

Literally Everyone: are you insane

Jacqueline: >:O. YES! OBVIOUSLY!

"...I know listening is hard for them, but I would rather have a controlled fire than something akin to the Great Fire of London." “Hey! They were young! It was an accident.” “They started that?!” “Oh! I assumed you knew? I thought that’s why you brought it up.”

The Twins did, in fact, start the Great Fire of London. In 1666 specifically. That one.

They didn't mean too! They were quite young and missed Jacqueline so they took the long maiden voyage out of Crystal springs, all the way across the world to Europe and met up with her in London, promptly SETTING IT ON FIRE.

I think they're both complicit. Fiera was sparky and Fino wanted to pet the animals in the barn. It is what it is, I suppose ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Scene 9: Crashing the Interview

Making Jacqueline channel Jack brings me great joy for reasons I cannot express but could probably be easily summed up as ANGST

“And his name is Jeff, which I think is very funny for a bigshot journalist doing a travel piece. On Santa Claus.”

->She's calling me out :( I didn't have a name for Jeff so I went with Jeff bc I had just watched WWDITS and Jesk existed and was a thing 🙃🙃🙃

(In Nadja voice: It's like a weak ejaculation!)

“On the biggest news story this year!” “The year is still young, y’know."

I wrote this bit. Remembered that Y7 takes place in 2001. And my face was immediately like

"Since this is an off-school year" Jacqueline says, surprising even ME as I didn't know that's how they did school in CS

But I'm getting the vibe for magibeans, they take decent breaks between schooling years just bc of longevity or something. Idk. I'm working on it? I guess?

Like when people take gap years to travel or whatever, lol. Would NOT be surprised if Magibeans did something similar but the students would go travel into the ordibeing world or do magical research or projects or SOMETHING like that, lol

"I winked at Jeff, which seemed to do the trick as he laughed heartily, thinking it was some sort of joke amongst us magibeans"

I spent this whole passage thinking of the culture shock Jeff must be dealing with and cackling

Also. Love having Jacqueline throw her title in Jack's face, makes me cackle >:)

Scene 10: Best Laid Plans Start. A MONTH OR SO LATER! NOT ON THE SAME DAY!

I am so mad about this same day thing, honestly

SO HERE WE SEE THE FIX! THE PLAN HAS BEEN SET UP AND N O W JACQUELINE IS BROACHING IT WITH THE PARENTS AND IT IS NOT A ONE DAY THING, IT IS AN OVER TIME THING

Imagine being Jack. And dealing with THESE THREE GREMLINS on the most STRESSFUL year of your REIGN AS SANTA SO FAR.

It's also been very fun writing Bernard, especially when he gets a little win—like ruining everything on airport day specifically >:)

Jacqueline references this CS fact when she talks about how Fiera and Fino may have invented the fire hazard/fire safety

Hot girl soot is just a play on hot girl shit. So it's. You know. hot girl shit. Eating hot chips. Girlbossing. Starting fires. Practising elemental control. That sort of thing!

And this is immediately followed up with ANGST. I surprised myself with it too, tbh!

"And thinking of the amounts of paperwork the Resort will result in? Arson just seems more and more promising" Blaise is not here for the paperwork at ALL. I am thoroughly convinced that if he remembered Frostmas, he'd throw Jack into a lake and yell THE PAPER WORK I HAD TO DEAL WITH! And Jack would resurface and be like "gee dad. you really need to cool off" and push him into the lake with a snowy assist

The news the next day: Old Man is thrown Into Lake By Even Older Man.

Byline: IT'S ABOUT THE MASSIVE AMOUNTS OF PAPERWORK!

So that's why he's all "hell yeah" for arson, lol. He really really isn't looking forward to the bureaucratic NIGHTMARE the Resort will be—between the secrecy laws being broken, preventing the other secret magibean places from being exposed, and lady only KNOWS how much witness damage control? YEAH. BURN IT BEFORE HE DOES WHEN IT ALL CROSSES HIS DESK

Scene 11: Actually LAYING the PLAN

One day. What is WRONG WITH ME

Anyway! This scene is all new! To explain how the twins get up there and make a lil name for themselves BEING up there so that when the fire ACTUALLY HAPPENS it's not as sus as could be. even tho. y'know. it's DAMN OBVIOUS LOL

It turned into another one of those back into the present scenes where the cold front is recounting the tale with one another and this one was SO FUN and made me weak

the implication is that the twins somehow managed to weasel themselves into the cold front's day off plans? I think that comes across

Not that Jacqueline minds, of course! She sees Jack too often at this point and is more than happy to have her other siblings hanging out too, let someone else bother the man while she takes a beach nap

She just likes to tease him bc yes, the twins absolutely DO have Jack right in the palm of their hands, the sneaky lil hotheads

Scene 12 & 13 & 14: Fire Time

12 is deffs my favourite scene! Well, one of them, lol. Just. The image of disgruntled Santa Cosplay Jack watching two fiery beings try to shove themselves into a backpack while the other sibling loses it laughing beside them and just being like. I GUESS THIS IS MY LIFE NOW. Just SENDS me.

"He stopped beside Fiera; they stared at each other quietly for a moment before Fino nodded" <- this is twin telepathy at play right here

"Bermuda?" "Neutral Territory" <- don't quote me on this. to my understanding Summer mostly deals with Bermuda so she's HAPPY to host fight dates for Spring and Winter, helps ease their squabbling and also makes it easier for Summer when she hands off with Spring.

This could be why the Bermuda Triangle is Like That, lol.

(I know there's science in that shit. Let me suspend my disbelief for one goddamn moment, where is the WHIMSY)

Yes I named the Fire Marshal Marshal. A silly thing that was unappreciated when originally revealed so now I am making it VERY OBVIOUS

But also, he's more of a character in Y7 PROPER now, given the whole. FIRE thing we have going on here, so now his name has to be in your face instead of one off wordplay joke.

RIGHT! SO! FIRE TIME

You guys would not BELIEVE the pause this scene caused me. I got right up to go time and then paused like "huh. how do you start fires".

Did I google it? Yes! Needless to say, reddit has a sub for EVERYTHING and I learnt about a very prolific serial arsonist and now may have to take out another book from the library, but that's neither here NOR there

I also googled "is varnish flammable" and it is, more so than paint so, here we are lmao!

Would NOT be surprised if I was on some kind of list, especially since half this research was. In fact. Done at work 😬

Scene 15: Cold Front Time

I went on a whole ass OTHER research rabbit hole involving PLANES and POLAR TRAVEL for this one lmao

Boeings don't GO into polar regions! I know this now! And more! The wikipedia page on the Lockheed planes was very very very long and informative, wow.

when Jacqueline says "terrible new paint job" please know it is the exact design it had on it in the movie. The Santa flying on top of the plane design. That one lmao

As for the crew, I was thinking about this and I wasn't sure they'd be human/ordinary, non-magical people, y'know? But I FIGURED that Jack would know some seedy mofos/have people who owe him or vice versa and he'd be able to cash in on that for a situation like THIS.

I know nothing about the crew, other than the pilot is very tiny, dressed like an old timey pilot, and you cannot see their defining features so all you know is that they are a creature of some sort but that's it!!!

"Have you ever waded through molasses, let alone cold, non-magical molasses? It’s exhausting.” “I wouldn’t know. I was in Chicago at the time, not Boston.

You guys. I have been resisting the urge to reference the molasses flood of Boston MA the ENTIRE TIME Jack has compared the Christmas magic to Molasses. I finally caved. Hashtag worth it.

Trying to figure out how the people got into the pole, given the itty bitty hole and GIANT plane and lack of any environmental storytelling was a CHALLENGE, but I'm quite happy with it!

I originally wanted to have Jack talk about putting in a historic display that leads UP to the Resort and say some BS like "It's the FINEST iteration YET" but I was like "woah there, dani, you need to calm DOWN" and so I canned it at the uh, Disney pre-show mentions lol

Anyway. Jack never says the I told you so as they head down and see the FIRE, but I think it speaks for itself 🤭🤭

Scene 16: Twinsplinations

When I tell you. Fino and Fiera have been practising this bit ALL YEAR. I mean it

They are giant hams. This whole family is tbh (and we love them for it? I think?)

They're so good that even Jacqueline was like HEY LIVE THEM ALONE >:( despite knowing they were playing it up--but this is also a side effect of her own predicament lol. She's entering her angry era ;)

I deffs modelled the "what's salvageable" bit after the exact same scene in tsc3! I love me a bit of mirroring here and there >:)

I am pretty sure they would've gotten away with it if Jacqueline hadn't ended the scene the way she did. Absolute banger, of course, but my GOD she's causing problems on purpose, isn't she? heh.

REGARDLESS. These two continue to vex one another and quite frankly, exhaust me. Remember when I wanted to update every thirteenth? And this was updated late July? And the BTS is now being posted in (checks watch) AUGUST?!!? AND YEAR EIGHT HASN'T GONE UP YET???

AHHHH

Scene 17: Home Safe

So I reworked this scene quite a bit! Blinter is now included, and Jacqueline's mood post-arson can only be described as:

So. Let's see what notes and references I snuck in here!

None, apparently! But I am a big fan of this whole scene and interaction. Hitting us with the Winter angst when she asks Jacqueline to stick around! Whatever the heck Blaise and Winter are saying with their facial expression! I sure as shit don't know, but they sure do!

Scene 18 and 19: The Finale

When Jacqueline finally goes back up North to spy/scout/antagonize Jack for the most part, and she talks to Jack about everything, and he mentions the security footage and how the missing bits and how security was just like WHOOPS, I 100% pictured Gary(?) from the series. Heard it in his voice and everything!

I have to keep reminding myself that Jacqueline and Bernard are on the same team here, lol. And that the elves are HAPPY to help make things messy for Santa! So the erasure of the bits of security footage that showed the twins causing the fires was added to aide that bit

And I feel deep in my bones that they pulled a Speed and looped old footage of the twins eating with Bernard in case Jack was a wee bit too clever lol

And then we have the reveal as to why the security officers in the movie were human, and not elves! Jack time out'd them, which means Jacqueline made cute little ice statues of them and sent them off to help the others with the TUNNEL lol

The permanency of the PEN. me @ me:

Um, the carbon monoxide thing is new! I think about that story of the guy who was leaving notes for himself he couldn't remember, and how it ended up being carbon monoxide and a broken detector, quite frequently.

This year had like a LOT of explanatory semantics re: how the Resort was received/took off in the mortal world. That was one HECK of a summary passage to write in this last scene!

And I SOMEHOW managed to preserve the same end sentence. FUNK YEAH!!!