Tree Lighting Ceremony

Horus · Dec 19, 2015

@Thoth

In the context of single people, Christmas did sound awfully lonely. He made a faint humming noise in response, but didn't make any further comment. There was no need; things seemed complicated enough as it was without having to drag family matters into it. Nicolas didn't seem to want to, anyways.

"Panthalassians have something vaguely similar. It would be based more on the lunar cycle than an arbitrary calendar year, however." The moon had pull on the earth's oceans, and the sea creatures tended to base their lives more or less around that.

"I've never celebrated much myself. There isn't much to celebrate during wartime, but if genetic memory serves me correctly, we used to have many holidays."

Nightstripe · Dec 21, 2015

Thresher cut an odd silhouette against the moonlight wearing nothing but his over sized shorts strapped to his waist. Little Cana was an even odder sight as Thresher had bundled her up in several layers and at least three scarfs. The old wolf didn't really understand the concept of 'cold' and so he wasn't really sure how to combat it, even if he understood other people felt it.

The large figure wandered around the tree with the bundle of winter clothes that was Cana on his shoulder. Snowflakes gathered in his hair as his nose sorted through the many scents around the gathering. Eventually, Once he had set himself sufficiently at ease, he let Cana down and gave her a nod. "Go on."

If she shed the clothes he'd stacked on her while running about as she did, it would make little difference to him. As long as she didn't succumb to the winter temperatures he was fine with her doing it.

@Sashi

Sashi · Dec 22, 2015

Cana felt uncomfortable and weird being bundled up in so many layers. She understood that it was to shield her from the cold, but that didn't mean she liked it. The girl kept trying to move her arms as the giant wolf carried her to the tree. The tree was already decorated with a number of pretty ornaments. Her ornament was one she made in class; it was a paper elf. The teacher gave them cutouts and they could color them in and sketch faces on them. She put a face on it and gave the elf a few white puffs and a black belt. That was good enough, right?

When it was her turn, she put the paper elf on the tree. She couldn't put it up very high because she was so small. It was also made problematic by all of the layers of clothing. She ripped off the puffy coat in frustration and put it on the tree before proceeding to roll around on the ground. The snow was getting in her red hair. As she rolled around, her powers kicked in. Suddenly she went from an overdressed girl to a wolf pup buried in clothes. The pup yelped as it tried crawling out of all of the fabrics.

@Nightstripe

Romi · Dec 24, 2015

"Have to say, the whole idea of genetic memory is weird." The idea that they could carry grudges and knowledge through bloodlines, knowing things before they were ever explained. It was far more animal then it was human. Humans didn't do stuff like that, while plenty of animals did.

Some big guy and a tiny child he assumed was the guy's daughter were hanging ornaments, and he gave Ulrich a quick glance. "This specific one is people hanging ornaments on a community tree. Most people will have a pine tree in their home, if they celebrate." Not everyone did, but... well, lots did. He wouldn't sweat the loss of a pine tree personally, but others would be horrified by the idea.

"But yeah, that's the jist of the holiday."

@Horus

Horus · Dec 26, 2015

@Thoth

"It can be very useful, but I suppose it is strange to humans." His whole species had it, so it wasn't so strange to him. He remembered the moment that the two branches of the family split in two not because he was there to witness the storm, but because genetic memory gave it to him. He knew his great-great-great grandfather's face, the way the sea stormed the night that they both stormed away from the court in a fury.

Ulrich snapped out of it, eyeing the father and his daughter hanging up their ornaments. "Hm..." Well, no pine trees in the sea. "We had something of a celebratory gathering; most extended 'families' would come during a certain pull of the tides. It would get quite busy, considering how long lived we are." Not so much anymore; barely anybody celebrated and when they did, they realized that quite a few disappeared every year and not enough young ones came. Ulrich, personally, had never personally celebrated.

"It's quite touching, I see."

Emy · Dec 26, 2015

??? ???

On one of the lower branches of the tree, a small ornament was almost completely hidden in its poorly chosen location. Or maybe, it was that somebody had intentionally put it there not to draw too much attention. Certainly, nobody could have chosen a worse spot if they had tried.

It was a medium sized object, roughly shaped into a twisting goldfish. Its fins were streaked with gold and scarlet and its body emitted a soft light. That was a benefit of being able to be so free with magic on the island but even so, if anybody were to draw near, they might have felt something divine in the air, like a thousand spirits had drifted by quietly and fled under a cloak of silence before anybody had noticed they were there.

Maybe somebody would have recognized what this symbol really was but nobody really kept up with the Accord besides the families already inside of it. Today, it was merely a pretty trinket, one that was probably already eclipsed by the other ornaments there. Which was the point. Sometimes there was no need for any other meaning.

Nightstripe · Dec 27, 2015

Thresher sighed a little as he watched all the clothes fall off the small pup. A few steps let him close the distance and dig Cana out of the cloth ensnaring her, gathering up the clothes under his arm.

"I was a fool to think that would have lasted." He petted Cana's tiny head, made to look even smaller by his size. "We need to work on your control, little one."

@Sashi

Sashi · Dec 27, 2015

Cana was freed from the confines of her clothing by her father. She snuggled close to him as he patted her head. A sad bark escaped her lips. She didn't like randomly transforming like this. To his words she nodded in agreement. Turning into different forms at random was inconvenient at best and dangerous at worst. Despite being only four, she had various fears in relation to her powers. Her past tainted her and granted her early signs of paranoia that may or may not have been justified.

Her paw rubbed against Thresher. Her purple eyes glanced up at the giant werewolf. The slight tilt of the head informed him that she didn't know what to do next.

@Nightstripe

Horus · Dec 27, 2015

@Thoth

Awful. The weather on land was just awful.

Emma sighed, stooping over to gently brush some snow off the top of Luca's head, who seemed enthralled by all the pretty things attached to the tree. Every once in a while he'd try to sneak up and touch one, only to be tugged back by his mother. He'd pout, he'd whine, but Emma was unrelenting.

"Just look, Luca. You don't need to grab at everything you see." She meant it in the most affectionate way possible. Memories. Just make memories. Of course, it probably would've meant better memories for Luca if his father had been there. Where Ulrich wandered off to for the holidays was technically none of her business, and he'd already been by their beach house the other day to spend time with their son. With that aside, however, he'd been mostly absent.

Another deep breath, another tug at Luca's little hand as she guided him to the other side of the tree to look at the other ornaments.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ulrich's attention had wandered from the tree to the people that had gathered, picking through them one by one in his mind. He supposed he could get used to human holidays, as long as they didn't interfere with the running of his kingdom.

Speaking of which...

His eyes landed on a curvaceous, pale woman holding the hand of a small child just as they began to wander over to the side of the tree Nicolas and himself were standing on. Usually there would've been some sort of mental delay, but not this time. As if a switch had been flipped, every one of his senses suddenly perked to high alert.

Without hesitation, he quickly reached over and grabbed Nicolas, turning on his heel and started to usher him away.

"Time to go home." And damn it, if he resisted, he'd throw him right over his shoulder and bring him.

Romi · Dec 27, 2015

Ahh, it was a painful sort of nostalgia to look at the tree, but even then it was better than letting himself think about what kind of nightmare Ulrich's 'family gathering' would be like. Even if he'd warmed up to thinking of Ulrich was a person and not an it, he still hadn't quite warmed up enough to think of him like a human being. HIs real form was still a nightmarish monster of the sea, no matter what he looked like the rest of the time.

He didn't even notice anything odd until Ulrich had grabbed his arm and was hauling him away. It wasn't hard to figure out that something was going on, and he twisted around, looking at the tree as he let himself be hauled off. While his eyes ran over the woman and child, nothing about them stood out - they were just like the dozens of other people there, and as the tree vanished from sight, he was forced to admit he had no idea why they'd just run off.

He'd just have to get on Ulrich's case until he explained.

@Horus - exit

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Tree Lighting Ceremony

Horus

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Nightstripe

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Sashi

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Romi

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Horus

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Emy

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Romi

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