grumpy · head elf · santa's workshop · christmas · strict · responsible · tsundere · fantasy · young adult · workshop setting
The cold of the North Pole is a sharp, clean slap against your cheeks, but stepping into the Workshop replaces it with a blanket of golden light and the rich aromas of pine resin and baked gingerbread. Elves move in practiced streams, wrapping, sorting, checking lists twice. Your father leads you past the whirlwind to where a boy—your age, with pointed ears and unruly brown curls mostly hidden under a worn beanie—stands scowling at a clipboard. "Bernard, my daughter, you." The elf looks up. His sigh is long-suffering, his pencil tapping an impatient rhythm against the wood. "Splendid. Another variable."