"Yeeep!" came the deer's shrill deathrattle. All at once she stiffened up to her full height, and fell face first onto the floor.

The fluffy tail went with her, and Kris was left grasping at nothing for several moments. He had to process what he was seeing.

There was no way that had happened. He tried to blink it away, but there sat the poor girl's corpse each time his eyes opened.

He poked at her, when blinking failed. Her body felt stiff. Kris thought he remembered something about stiffening being part of the death process, so this was a very bad sign.

He shook the girl and got no response.

His stomach entered freefall.

He had murdered her. On accident. Somehow. But he was a killer. The girl just wanted to show him some stupid gloves and he had paid her back with murder.

How would he explain this? Did all reindeer die when you touched their tails?

Kris thought of his impending life behind bars, and of Noelle's sad little pink funeral.

And then the girl's arm moved.

The pint sized killer stood transfixed as his victim, ever so slowly, started to move.

The doe pushed herself to her hands and knees, and then she rolled over onto her butt.

She looked up at Kris, and he saw wide green eyes with little beady tears forming in the corners.

He was so happy that he wasn't a murderer, but somehow the lingering fear he saw made him feel worse.

She hugged her knees to her chest, and took a few deep breaths. When she was ready, she said, "I'm okay, Kris."

Kris nodded more times than he meant to.

"That was just... a r-reaction I have, sometimes..." she looked down at the floor. "When something scary or surprising happens."

After a moment, she looked up at his eyes.

"It's not nice to touch somebody's tail without asking, you know."

His chest felt tight, and his eyes stung. He was about as sorry as he had ever been, and he wanted her to know. Something rare started gathering in his throat.

Noelle simply looked at him for a few more moments, before her face softened.

"It's okay, Kris. I know you're sorry."

The boy found himself blinking, on top of everything else.

That seemed like the Dreemurr family superpower that she had just used. That strange ability to know how he was feeling without him indicating it.

That rare something changed course, a little.

"How did you know that?"

It sounded low and groaning like a frog's noise, but every word came out clear.

For several moments, the words and the children lingered there. Kris stood, consumed by a burning feeling, and Noelle sat with an "o" for a mouth.

Finally, when her wits returned, she said. "It's your eyes."

Kris blinked the things in question.

"They're really uh... expressive. I think that's the way to say it. Really, your whole face kind of is, but especially your eyes."

Kris brought a hand up to his face, and he felt how tight his cheeks felt. How rigid his nose had gotten.

"Even if you don't talk, or anything, it's usually pretty easy to tell how you're feeling."

She let the boy smoosh his face in peace, before she added, "That's how I knew you weren't going to run away when I was showing you my clothes." A little grin formed on her lips. "You looked like you liked it."

Kris felt his cheeks grow warm, and they grew even warmer when he realized that she knew what that meant.

"Want to see the castle, now?" asked the girl, as she rose to her hooves, and Kris nodded. He was glad to be off the subject.

"I knew you could talk," Noelle murmured as they went. Kris could only nod.

She led him out of the closet's harsh fluorescence, and back to the pink-tinged rays of her room.

The pair marched up to the long-awaited castle, and Kris followed the girl's lead when she plopped down in front of it.

"So, this is my castle," she said. "It's where my dollies live. I think it's pretty neat."

Kris also thought it was pretty neat, for as pink and girly as it was.

The castle was huge, and fairly detailed. It had six high walls, which ended in turrets and spires. It was mostly pink, but the roofs of the spires were white, and red plastic flags dotted the top of the structure every so often. He could see the outlines of bricks on the outside walls, and in the front there was even a gate.

The castle, despite its pinkness, would make an excellent staging ground for all sorts of battles and campaigns and sieges. He suspected the poor thing had never been used for that, though.

"Check this out," Noelle told him. The girl undid a latch, and opened the grand structure up to reveal its guts.

Kris saw that he was correct. It seemed like a miniature version of his mother lived in this castle. Everything was flowers and frills and doilies inside.

Noelle pointed out a kitchen, and a bathroom, and a nursery, all adorned with cute little pink furniture. There was an indoor garden, and an art studio, and a rumpus room, whatever that was.

It lacked an armory. Or a dungeon. Or even a throne room.

Much like the Holiday home, the seemingly grand fortress was less of a castle and more of a big house.

From out of a tiny master bedroom, Noelle produced two dolls.

"Here's my dolly, Princess Fawna," Noelle said proudly, holding up a little plastic deer in a pink dress. She had small antlers, flowing blonde hair and a little tiara. "She's super cool."

Kris would let Noelle have this one.

"And here's her... friend, Chazz the Knight. Check him out."

Noelle held up another plastic deer. This one had the saddest knight costume Kris had ever seen, if he could even call it that. He had no cape, or breastplate, or boots, or shield or sword. Just shoulder pads that accentuated big plastic muscles. He had a swoosh of blonde hair and big antlers, but only a tank top and shorts to protect everything besides his shoulders. Kris thought he looked more like a beach dude than a knight.

"I'm not sure if they're supposed to be married, or friends, or related, or what..." Noelle rambled. "But it doesn't really matter, that's what imagination is for."

Kris nodded. He also didn't really care how Chazz and the princess were related.

"So, do you want to play?" asked the girl.

Kris scratched his head. He didn't really know how to play with dolls.

"It's not hard, or anything," Noelle explained. "You just kind of hop them around and do voices for them."

After a second Noelle thought to add, "Uh, and I can do voices for yours, if you want. I'm pretty good at it."

Maybe his super weakness wasn't all bad.

Kris thought, for a moment. This didn't sound too bad, once he got past the girliness of it. And he had nearly murdered her, after all.

He could try it, once.

The boy nodded, and Noelle handed him the lame knight.

The doe wiggled around a bit and made herself comfortable. When Kris had followed suit, she bounced her little princess through the gates of the castle-house. In a squeaky, high pitched voice, she said "Ugh... I think I'm the only woman in that office who knows how to do her job."

After an expectant look, Kris remembered to put down Chazz in the confines of the castle, and bounce him a little.

"You should say hi to the kids," said Noelle, in a fake low voice that sounded like a mouse attempting to be tough.

"They should be in bed," answered the squeaky voice, as the princess hopped around. "I don't want to wake them."

"They want to see you," said the goofy voice again.

At this point, Kris decided that Chazz should be upside down.

"Kris!" said Noelle's normal voice, "Chazz can't fly."

Kris shook his head. He wasn't flying. He was doing a headstand, to cheer up the grumpy princess. Noelle needed more imagination.

"Well, I guess it's fine. Just remember to keep bouncing him once in a while."

Kris nodded.

As their doll games went on, Kris found himself paying less attention to the tiny plastic drama, and more attention to the girl narrating it.

She really seemed to light up as she played out her stories. She chuckled and smiled up big grins when she thought of something funny, or when Kris' unorthodox doll maneuvers hit just right. Kris thought she looked different than she had when he first saw her.

When she got all smiley her face didn't look as thin or tall as it did when she was trying to shrink away. Her hair looked different, too. In the filtered pink light of her room it looked less like polished metal and more like shiny gold.

"Oh no!" cried the princess, in a voice that sounded like Noelle's. She hopped after Chazz, who was in the process of whooshing around the castle like a deflating balloon. "Come back! Don't pop!"

Kris found it funny that Noelle thought she was good at voices. It wasn't the kind of funny he could laugh at, but it was enough to make him smile. The doe really only managed about four distinct voices. She had her deep, goofy sounding "man" voice, her squeak-pitched woman voice, a boy's voice which was just a less deep version of the man, and a girl's voice.

The girl's voice was just her voice, and it was the only one Kris thought was good. When she was concentrating on her doll stories, and doing the regular girl voice, she sounded clear and even like a bell.

Despite the princess' protests, Chazz popped. Or, Kris kind of tossed him in the air and he fell down, and that would have to a good enough pop.

As the giggling princess read him a quirky eulogy, Kris thought that that must have wrapped up the most inventive doll plot yet.

Most of the stories Noelle came up with followed the same pattern. The man voice would try to get the woman voice to do something, and she wouldn't. The boy voice would tell the girl voice he would do something, but he didn't. And sometimes the man voice would invite the girl voice to come play. The last scenes didn't really didn't have much plot, so that was how Kris managed to get Chazz to suck up the stuff that balloons were made of and explode.

He wasn't sure how to top it.

Noelle sat the princess down next to her fallen friend, and looked up at the boy.

"That was pretty good, Kris."

Kris nodded, and smiled just a little.

"I think I'm all dolled out, though."

Kris blinked at her.

"We've been playing a while, and I don't think we're going to top that story any time soon."

Kris had to agree with that.

"Is there anything you want to play?"

The boy thought for a moment. There was something he wished he could be playing, but he didn't think Noelle could help much. It was worth a try, though, since she did ask.

He didn't know how to communicate it, though. It was a hard thought to express, even with his super weakness. After a second, though, he had an idea.

He picked up Chazz and Princess Whatsername, and booped their heads together. He even made a little clashing sound, for emphasis.

"Kris!" cried Noelle, in the same angry-smiley way as before, "Dolls shouldn't hit each other!"

The boy frowned. Only one way, then.

"I like games with fighting."

The sound captured Noelle's full attention, but she wasn't stunned as long as the first time.

"Oh, you like fighting games?" She grinned at him. "Well why didn't you say so?"

Kris gave her his flattest look.

"Oh wait, you did..." she realized, scratching the back of her head. "Well, it's alright. I know exactly what we can play!"

The deer hopped up to her hooves and offered Kris a hand, which he took.

"If you like fighting, you're gonna love this," she chimed, as she led him out of the World Where Everything Was Pink.

They walked in silence for a while, but by the time they reached the stairs, she piped up, "You know, I don't think anyone's ever played dolls with me until I got bored of it."

Kris tried to look up at her, but she was looking away. "No one's ever seen my whole wardrobe, either."

They had stopped about halfway down.

"I try to get Dess to play stuff like that with me, but he always runs away the second I turn my back... Your brother does that, too. And he's too fast to catch..."

Something about the way her voice sounded told Kris it would be a good idea to squeeze her hand. Delicately, so as not to kill her, Kris tightened his grip. That got the girl to look over at him.

"But you're... reliable. You know?" She was grinning wide, but her eyes looked too shiny.

The sight made his chest sting, but somehow it compelled him to smile, too. The boy returned her gesture as best he could. His mouth wasn't used to grinning so big.

Kris wasn't sure how long they stood like that, but all too soon a realization hit Noelle. She blinked a few times, and her eyes stopped swimming. Kris' tired lips took that as a cue to settle into something more manageable.

"Anyway," she went on, as they resumed their trip down, "Like I was saying, I think you're gonna like this."

Kris thought he heard thumping on tiles several meters away.

They made their way through the standing room, and Noelle clacked them through the kitchen. Finally, they arrived in the living room, where Mom was smoothing her skirt and opening a book.

The same book she tried to read to him every Sunday, he recognized. Only, the little red heart on it was upside down. Maybe it was a different book, then.

"Hello, children," she called to them. "Did you need something?"

"Hi Mrs. Dreemurr!" chimed the girl, letting go of Kris' hand to skip over to the TV. "We just got tired of dolls, and Kris said he wanted to play fighting games."

"Oh, I see," nodded his mother. After a few seconds of looking at her book, she furrowed her brow. "He did?"

Noelle fiddled with something under the TV, and Kris tried not to stare at her tail. "Yep!" she chirped, "He did."

Mom looked at him for confirmation, and he smiled. And then she smiled, and waved him over to whatever Noelle was doing. "Alright then, children. Have fun with your games."

Kris nearly did a double take when he saw what Noelle had found. It was a shiny purple Nontendo. With two player-one controllers plugged into it.

Noelle's weird hoof-hands held a few cartridges up to him.

"Which one do you want to play?"

They all had interesting art. One had a shirtless guy doing a kick, and another had guys in karate outfits staring each other down. Kris selected the one he recognized, though.

"Good choice," she said.

The doe twiddled with a couple of wires, and hit a few buttons, and before Kris knew it the logo for Super Smashing Fighters was playing on the giant TV screen.

Kris wished he had known that Noelle had these kinds of games when she had first taken him inside to play.

The tapped their way to the character select screen. The Holidays seemed to have characters that Kris didn't recognize, but he went with the cool silent hero anyway. He was sure she would pick the fancy pink princess, but to his surprise, she chose the spiky turtle.

And then she whomped him, mercilessly. He barely got a single arrow in edgewise.

Kris chalked it up to being unfamiliar with the controller. And it seemed like he was right, as their next bout felt far more competitive.

Back and forth they went, trading wins, and showing each other tricks they knew. They groaned when their random stages were terrible, and laughed when random bombs killed somebody.

Eventually they grew tired of sitting, and laid down on the plush carpet.

Kris noticed the gingerbread smell, again.

Some uncounted number of brawls later, a door slammed open somewhere else in the house.

An agitated voice yelled "Never again, in my whole life!"

And then Mr. Holiday said "That's why they call it a hazard, bud."

The two paused their game and looked to their left.

"In here!" called Mom, and several sets of feet clacked on the kitchen floor.

In a few moments Dad, Azzy, and an absolutely soaked Dess stood in the living room doorway.

Dad smiled at the sight before him, while Asriel gave Kris a relieved look. Kris was happy to see him, too.

Dess just looked impressed. "How did you get out, dude? I thought we were gonna have to save you from Pink Heck."

"Hey, watch it, kiddo," said Mr. Holiday, who chose that moment to ambush his soaking son with a towel.

Noelle responded with a raspberry directed at her brother. "I'll have you know, Kris actually likes playing with me. So there!"

Kris kind of wished she hadn't told the other boys that, but he also didn't correct her.

"Well whatever," said a marginally more dry Dess. "We're playing actual fun games now!"

The two children joined their peers, while the two adults joined Mom.

"They wanted to play games," Mom explained to Rudy, "I hope that is alright."

"Oh, totally," said the jolly old deer, as he and Asgore found spots on the couch. "Between you and me," he told the elder goats in a tone he probably didn't think Kris could hear, "games are usually the only way those two get along."

As Kris, Noelle, and the two newcomers all squared off with each other, Kris thought Mr. Holiday was right. When the reindeer siblings beat on each other in-game, their trademark bickering was absent.

They really were weird.

After who-knew-how-many more polygonal beatings were dished out, the conversation on the couch turned to time, and dinner.

Seemingly all too soon, Mother informed them that it was time to go. After a little prodding, Noelle and Dess put the Nontendo away, while Mom and Dad led them to go put their shoes on. When the reindeer children were back, the adults made everyone line up and say goodbye.

"See ya later, kiddos," Mr. Holiday told the boys, "Try not to outgrow me, the next time I see ya."

"Bye, dudes. Maybe we can do something cool, the next time you come over," Dess said, mostly to Kris. "No weird dressup games."

Noelle harrumphed at her brother, before she chimed in "Bye! And, um, maybe you could have a sleepover next time! I've always wanted to have a sleepover with a friend."

Noelle's suggestion earned some noncommital chatter from the adults, but a nod from the boy.

Reluctantly, Kris waved to the reindeer kids. Azzy held his hand again, which made it easier, but he was still a little sad to have to go. It turned out the Holiday children were actually pretty cool, and so was their house. Not what he expected at all.

It was about as far from a dungeon as anything could be.

The walk home was much easier, for many reasons.

For one, the evil sun had slumped back behind the treeline. Perhaps it was pouting that it failed to ruin Kris' day. For two, Asriel regaled the family with the story of how Dess golfed his way into a lake. And, for three, Kris' body felt ten times lighter than it had that morning.

The rest of the day passed in a blur. As soon as they were through the door, Mom rushed her boys into the tub. When they got out, the discovered that Dad had produced various types of pizza. And ice cream, Kris found out when the pizza was gone.

For some reason Dad bought an obscene amount of ice cream. Tubs upon tubs of it, in many flavors. And he even told Kris that he could have as much as he wanted. Mom made him walk that back, though, so he just said Kris could have ice cream whenever he felt like he needed it. For some reason Asriel wasn't included in the conditions, but Kris promised himself to share with his brother, anyway.

The boy wondered if Dad realized just how often he was going to "need" ice cream.

That would be something to exploit later, though. Even with a couple of scoops in his belly, the weight of the day began to press on Kris, and Asriel too.

Before the little goat knew it, the two of them were laying in their beds, in the dark. Kris noted that his bed wasn't as soft as Noelle's bed, or even her couch, but it felt perfect against his back.

Coiled energy and tension released, and after a minute the boy felt like he was floating.

Sleep didn't find him, though. He was still thinking.

He listened carefully, and he couldn't hear deep breaths across the room. That meant Azzy was feeling the same way.

"Did you win that race?"

After only a moment, Azzy replied "Of course. Dess is pretty fast but he's never beat me."

Kris smiled.

"Did you notice Noelle called you her friend?" Azzy asked.

Under his covers, Kris's feet began to wiggle.

"Yes."

After a minute or two, Azzy asked, "Are you her friend?"

Silence sat for only a moment.

"Yes."

Asriel only offered an affirmative noise. That was enough for Kris.

After a few more minutes of silence, Kris heard deep, steady breathing from across the room.

He also heard thumping. A few moments later, his door silently creeped open, and the scantest ray of light peeked in.

Mother looked in on him, and saw his opened eyes. Normally this event meant trouble, but this time he could see her smile. She nudged the door open a little further, and with grace that should be impossible for a creature her size, she snuck over to him.

"Good little boys should be asleep right now, my child," she whispered, but there wasn't even a warning in her tone.

Kris just nodded at her.

"I thought all your adventures would have put you right out," she admitted, and Kris could only shrug. He thought the same thing, but there was something on his mind, despite his tired body.

Mom stood for a moment, and gathered her words, before she said "Your father and I are very proud of you, dear. We do not think you could have done a better job of interacting with your peers."

Kris smiled at her.

"Noelle is nice."

He felt almost obligated to say it. He probably wouldn't have had as easy a time if it weren't for Noelle's demeanor. Most people probably didn't want to play dollies with kids who accidentally killed them. Mom was right about her being an exception to the treachery of girls.

"Yes," chimed the old goat, "she is a little sweetheart." After a while, she mused "It is a shame that-" but she stopped.

"Nevermind," she told him. "I just want you to know that you did a wonderful job, today. And that we love you." With that, she ruffled his hair, and gave him a goodnight kiss.

As she turned to leave, Kris remembered one more thing.

"When will I get pie-romancing?"

Mom turned, and he saw the confused sort of furrow on her brow. "Where did you hear..." and then she looked like she smelled something foul. "Oh."

She looked up at the ceiling, as if that held an answer, and finally offered "It will come after your horns come in." She didn't look at him when she said it.

She reached over and patted his head one last time. "But, just try to get to sleep, my child. Think nothing of it."

And he didn't. As his mother glided away, Kris thought nothing of pie-romance, or heat, or sweat. Nothing of golf, or castles, or shaneel. He didn't even think of Azzy.

As he dozed, the boy's mind was ruled by gingerbread, and bells, and fluffy tails, and shiny gold.