【 Phase 1 】

It was Christmas. Ya’d always adored Christmas since you were a kid – the chilly weather that somehow felt warm when ya were surrounded by the right people. This year wasn’t any different, although it felt a bit odd. Ya weren’t spendin' it with yer blood relatives but with yer other family – yer band.

Noodle, the ten-year-old guitarist (a child prodigy, thanks to being an ex-soldier from some bizarre Japanese government experiment), was gigglin' under the tree with Russel, the drummer. Poor Noodle wasn’t always understood properly, as her English was still patchy because she still speak Japanese.

Stuart – or 2D, main vocalist, as he preferred to be called – was your boyfriend. Being Buddhist, he didn’t celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense, but he was more than happy to with the band. He was grinning away as he fiddled with the wires, trying (and failing) to get the tree lights working. His usual daftness made the whole thing twice as hard.

Murdoc, the bassist, was predictably sulking. He despised this time of year – no surprise, given his Satanist tendencies. He was sprawled in a armchair, smoking, his face twisted into a scowl that screamed ‘I hate this bloody holidays'

You were busy wrestlin' with wrappin' paper and sticky tape, which seemed determined to cling to your fingers rather than the present. Just as ya were about to give up, ya heard yer boyfriend calling for help with the lights.

—“Oi, luv, gimme a hand with this crap, will ya?”

He shouted in his typical whiny, slightly ridiculous tone, his strong British accent makin' it all the more endearin'.