𝕬 𝖍𝖚𝖌𝖊 𝖘𝖓𝖆𝖐𝖊 𝖎𝖘 𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖆𝖑𝖎𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝕹𝖊𝖜 𝖄𝖊𝖆𝖗!

      Cream, as promised, brought her own mistletoe home to her parents. The father kissed his daughter on the forehead and attached mistletoe above the entrance door to the kitchen, so that he and his mother would often kiss when entering and leaving the kitchen, since they often enter the kitchen. Then Ice decided to go to work, and Cream decided to go with her father and help him at work. She sometimes went to work with him and helped him. She even liked her dad’s work and even thought that she would also work there in the future when she grew up. Of course, Ice agreed and took his daughter with him, and she took her beloved chao with her so that he would not be bored without the mistress of the house. While they were walking to the post office, where Ice worked, a crowd around them was running about their business, buying everything and decorating their entire city. — Everyone here ran away! There’s really nothing else for them to do other than decorate the city in a day today, although the New Year is still far away and this, for example, could be done tomorrow. Or one of these days. — said Cream. — Alas, nothing compares to the New Year. What can you do? — the father answers questioningly. — May be! — I’m not arguing, Cream. Because of the New Year, all the people of Mobiustown are running around like Sonic with a cup of coffee, just to get everything done at once in a couple of seconds. Of course, this is sometimes too much. Especially when the mayor issued a new decree for everyone to buy and celebrate twice as much and stronger. He didn’t even really think about us, poor families. Although what kind of poor families? We are the only poor family, unlike the others in the city. Although we don't even complain about it. Moreover, we should be glad that at least you and your mother, and you too, Cheese, are the only ones who are not too obsessed with the holiday and can do ordinary things as a couple, as on ordinary days without holidays. — I know, dad. — the rabbit agreed, and Cheese also agreed in response, assenting to the hostess: — Chao-chao! So they came to the post office, changed clothes and entered through the service door for the servants, checking letters and parcels, while the other postmen accepted parcels and letters from clients and left approval stamps, and also repeated to everyone: — There is an urgent package! Happy New Year! There is an urgent package! Happy New Year! Ice at this time climbed the stairs on wheels and checked letters with envelopes for stamps. All the envelopes, oddly enough, had stamps. Nobody forgot anything. — Dad, I didn’t understand something. — What? — Why is everyone in Mobiustown, including the mayor himself, afraid to talk about... — the daughter looked around, flew up on her ears and flew up to her father, whispering in his ear: — About a naga named Scourge. Ice widened his eyes at what he heard for half a minute, but then recovered from the shock and decided to explain to his daughter, since she asked: — Do you understand, Cream? Scourge is a Mobian who... Not really a Mobian... He... More like... Half Mobian and half snake... That's why they call him a nag... He has a snake tail instead of legs and more he is a predator... They say that he is a cannibal and loves to eat other Mobians and their children... Some parents, by the way, secretly scare their naughty children at night so much that Scourge eats the naughty children so that they will be obedient. — Is it true? — Certainly. Out! Look in his box! - the father pointed to his daughter at the empty box, which was filled with cobwebs. The box was marked with Scourge's name, which was also crossed out with a red cross. — There is not a single greeting card, letter or parcel in his mailbox. Neither to him, nor from him! — None at all? And never? — the rabbit sympathized a little, deciding that perhaps this snake was so evil because no one gave him anything. — Unfortunately yes. But what can we do? He does not deserve gifts and congratulations, since he is so bad and greedy. — Ice explained, at the same time he discovered a couple of letters that were without stamps. — Yeah! Someone forgot to put stamps on letters before sending them to someone. — the rabbit takes them and goes down the stairs, after which he gives them to his daughter. — Please take this to the Workshop and put it in the mailbox without stamps! — Of course, dad. I quickly! And Cream skipped along with Cheese to the Workshop, while Ice continued to check the remaining parcels with letters and postcards in other mailboxes.

At the same time

      Scourge and Fiona quietly entered the Workshop at the same post office through the back entrance. The serpent took off his mask and hung it on a hanger as a hat. Afterwards he took out the scissors and gave them to Fiona. She began to cut out the envelopes and take out letters from them, which Scourge tore with his clawed fingers into very small squeaks. Then, like a broom, he swept all the dust from the papers under the carpet with his tail. — It will take them months to sort it all out and fix it. — Scourge laughed to himself, swapping some parcels and letters in the mailboxes. Fiona helped him, also changing the boxes. — That's right! So! Yours will become hers, and hers will become yours. Hee hee hee. — Let’s not forget to rip off the extra stamps from the envelopes. - said the snake and took out a couple of envelopes with stamps from a large blue mailbox. He tore off a few stamps and threw them away, and the envelopes themselves, now without frames, put them back in the drawer and grinned, clutching his stomach. Fiona took out a couple of letters from two envelopes that were not yet tightly closed and, noticing in each letter the words “I want”, “I need”, “I will give” and “I will”, she added the syllable “Don't” and "Won't" to each such word. And it turned out: “I don’t want”, “I don’t need”, “I won’t give it up” and “I won’t”. With a grin, she then puts the letters back into the envelopes and seals them with super glue, so that they definitely won’t open this time, but only the recipients. Then she put the envelopes back. — You are my smart girl! — the naga patted her on the head. — I know, but these are just flowers. Now there will be a surprise for everyone in the form of berries! — the fox said with a grin and began throwing fake letters into other mailboxes. At the same time, she named each envelope that she threw into the boxes out loud, what each of them was about: — Subpoena! Subpoena! Subpoena! Conditions of blackmailers! Notice of dismissal! Pass this on to someone else! You are being evicted! You are being banished to another city! You will be fined five thousand gold rings! Another notice of dismissal! You are being evicted! And another subpoena! Afterwards they laughed like real hooligans and suddenly heard that someone was coming here. Scourge took Fiona by the waist and crawled to the ceiling, deciding to hide there. Perhaps, as he thought, they would not see him there. Cream herself entered the Workshop through the red doors with a box in her hands. She placed the box next to three that also had no stamps and thought: — “Why am I worse? Now I’ll stick stamps on each pair myself and I’m done!” Having thought about this, she takes a tape from the table that looks like a tape measure and tore off several stamps, sticking them on the parcels. — “That’s it!” You can return them back and show your dad. He’ll be happy when he finds out that I did one of the works here myself.” Suddenly Scourge felt his nose itch. Turning his nose, he prepared to sneeze. Having opened his mouth wide, he could barely hold on and even almost shouted. — “She’ll hear us now!” — the snake was mentally frightened. Fiona lightly reached her hand towards the snake's nose and put her fingers into his nostrils, scratching them for him, twirling her finger. The snake sighed with relief and whispered: — Thank you. But suddenly Fiona herself accidentally sneezed so loudly that she bulged her eyes and covered her mouth. Even Scourge's eyes widened, not expecting this. Cream heard a sneeze and turned around, looking up. When she saw a huge green hedgehog snake holding a red fox in his hands, she was so afraid of him that she screamed at the top of her lungs. Scourge and Fiona were so frightened by the rabbit's scream that they screamed with their eyes bulging out. Cream screamed again, frightened by their scream, and the naga and the fox also screamed back in fear. Having finished screaming, Scourge jumps from the ceiling and, upon landing, looks menacingly at the rabbit. Cream again screams heart-rendingly from fear, and the naga and the fox then scream again, their eyes bulging and getting to their feet. The snake even raised his hands up in fear as he screamed. They finished shouting again and Cream stutteringly asks: — You... You... You... This... This... This... — This-this-this. — Scourge mimicked her and, bringing his muzzle closer, growled: — I am naga Scourge! Cream shouts out again and, having taken a couple of steps back, accidentally falls into a pit for gifts sorted into wrappers, which, one by one, descended onto the railroad track in the basement and were compressed under the pressure. The rabbit fell through and got stuck in the middle, kicking her legs from above and screaming: — HELP ME!!! SOMEONE HELP!!! Scourge and Fiona looked around and made sure that there was no one here, no one had heard and would come to the rescue, which means no one would come here and notice their dirty tricks along with them. They are about to leave for the back exit, but suddenly Scourge stops. He turns around and thinks: — “What if no one comes running at the last moment and saves her?” — he thought and decided to stand and wait for now, maybe someone would respond and come running to save her. However, there was no one behind the red door and no one came running to save the rabbit. The rabbit herself almost sank deep down and was about to be crushed. She still continued to scream: — HELP ME!!! A-A-A-A... Still no one responded or came running. — Why are you standing there? Let's run! — said Fiona. However, Scourge didn't want to leave. Something seemed to force him inside him not to leave and to help her. Gritting his teeth in anger, he crawls towards the pit with the boxes and reaches out his hand, grabbing Cream’s leg and pulling her back. Pulling her out and putting her on the floor, he was rude to her: — Don’t you turn around and look at your feet before walking back? You could have died. Then he turned around and was about to leave. Cream was still standing still and didn’t understand it. However, she said: — Thank you for saving me. Naga froze at what he heard and after a minute of silence asked: — What did you say? — Thank you for saving me. — Cream repeated a little shyly. Scourge slowly turned to her, noticed the wrappings for boxes and gifts, took it and slowly crawled towards her with a threatening look and hissed through his teeth: — I just noticed that you were poorly packaged, baby. Cream stood still with bulging eyes and was a little afraid of the hedgehog snake. He began to wrap the rabbit around with wrapper and thus seemed to be wrapping her as a gift. When she was wrapped around, she did not see anything and, standing still, extended her arms forward. — HEY, WHERE ARE YOU??? Scourge and Fiona at this time managed to leave through the back entrance and ran away. And only then Ice entered through the red door along with Cheese, since they were looking for her and did not know that she had been here for so long. — Cream! — DAD!!! — she shouted when she heard her father. He noticed it and took off the wrapper. — Why did you stand here for so long? And why did you put a gift wrap on yourself? — Ice asked politely. Cream wanted to first tell the truth that she saw a naga and some kind of fox here. However, since they saved her and did not kill her, she decided to remain silent and slightly lied: — I just noticed two more boxes without stamps and decided to help the workers by deciding to stick stamps on the parcels myself. And then I wanted to try to wrap them in a gift package, but... It didn’t work out. Ice listened and did not scold Cream, knowing that she wanted what was best. He helped her unravel and went back with Cream to check the rest of the parcels with letters. At this time, Cream herself became a little sad and thought about what happened to her today in the Workshop, when Scourge himself appeared before her eyes. She thought: — “If Scourge is such an evil and terrible predator, then why did he save me?”