Illuminated

[in_extremis]

WHO: Open! Treat this as a mingle, there's a big thing in the middle of the city
WHERE: Right in the middle of Temba, by the fountain
WHAT: A big display of festive spirit. Bring your own traditions!
WHEN: After freed from the ships
WARNINGS: That's up to you. Mark your threads accordingly.


a. the fountain
The brief had been 'Rockefeller Centre', and Tony wasn't going to deliver anything less when Jan asked, but the impact was still yet alien, and honestly underwhelming in the glare of sunlight. The tree selection had already been slim, between their strange colours and threateningly putrid sap, and complicated further by the blanket of ash that still clung to many boughs and had left swaths of the nearest forested area suffocated and brittle. The ultimate selection was more purple than Tony had been envisioning, and while he would readily call it coniferous, if that was a reasonable designation given the circumstances, its 'pines' were tiny cups that had to be shaken vigorously in its transfer into the city to divest it of gathered ash and bugs.

It was impressively massive, though, and those cups, now stationary, could be made festive. At least, Tony hoped that was how they would look, once the sun went down. At the moment, the lights that he had installed throughout the branches and the water that glowed with pollen from Sh'ka didn't make much of an impact unless he cupped a hand over a branch, careful not to disturb it too much and spill all of the water out, to check that any of it had actually made it into those little leaves. Maybe he could salvage this with the rest of the decorations before Jan got back to check on the progress. They were scattered around the pavement by the fountain, mostly scraps from the forge that caught the light well, or had been dunked into the wealth of glitter so generously provided by the Agrii. There were strips of fabric, bent utensils, and baubles that for the most part looked like stars, though in a great variety, from dimpled copper suns to strings of glass constellations. There might have been enough to make the tree look richly cheery. Now that it was securely upright, the problem was going to be reaching the top of it. Someone was going to have to reach those upper branches, and find something to crown the Christmas tree at the very top to really finish it off.


b. make a wish
"It's how it works," Tony encouraged. "The tree isn't complete until you've made your wish. Whole thing will fall apart without it."
Everything had been prepared and the process couldn't be easier, so you might as well make a wish. Take an envelope from the basket at the base of the tree and write the thing you hope for the most inside. Maybe it will come true once you tie it onto a branch with the attached big, red bow.

Comments

MAKE A WISH

[in_extremis]

[post your wishes here! they're a small scrap of paper, hanging from the tree in an envelope, but you can get weird with it]

[wearingthestars]

I wish for Soldier to smile.

[the_freak]

Something to hold all my tapes/records.

[daddy_longlegs]

Energy to keep up with May

+ one for May:
To see Santa

[winsomelosesome]

I wish for a kiss from Santa

XO

[stitch_witch]

A full sized loom

[what, they're supposed to go without there wishes, right? That's the fun of it]

[thepurpleone]

Uranium

[pursuitofcappiness]

For everyone to have a good next year.

b

[cactusy]

"A wish," Shaw repeats, studying the guy with clear skepticism. She's been lingering by the tree for a few minutes, but it's a good thing that he's chosen now to approach - she'd been studying one of the hanging envelopes, and had definitely been just about to open it up. Oops.

"Like a 'make a New Year's Resolution' type of wish, or like a 'Tell Santa what I want for Christmas' type of wish?"

[in_extremis]

That was approximately the look that Tony had expected from her, though he hadn't worked out yet if it was because her face was going to do that anyway, or because she had figured out who she was talking to. She had all of the pieces to put that puzzle together, after all. Her skepticism was met with a curious study, blue eyes cold and intent enough that the slant of his smirk seemed like a challenge. It grew as he seemed to consider his answer, mouth open and ready to tease about sitting on Santa's lap, then he lifted his chin with a cough of realignment as he plucked an envelope from the basket to hand expectantly to her. "Is there a difference?" he asked.

[cactusy]

Tony will get his answer in a few minutes, when she gets around to asking his name - no one has identified him to her yet, so that one crucial piece of the puzzle is still missing.

"A big one," she says, expression unchanging even as she allows him to hand her the envelope. "For one thing, I'm not five years old."

[in_extremis]

As though this was a perfectly reasonable answer, Tony gave an academic nod, giving it the high minded consideration it deserved. One thing they could all agree on in their years of experience was the well-observed, "Worried the other kids will make fun of you." Dropping his voice, he encouraged, "It is a secret, you know, no one has to know that you think it's Santa reading these cards himself. I won't tell anyone."

OTA + just for Tony (and Steve and Soldier if around)

[winsomelosesome]

OTA

The upper branches were being at least partially handled by the small figure flitting up into and through the branches, and back down for ornaments like some kind of Christmas fairy. She was doing her best to encourage any on lookers to do their part and join in, though the cold wasn't helping with getting volunteers to stay long.

She landed on an onlooker's shoulder to take a breather and pointed to empty spot on the tree, "What do you think for that spot there? A star or one of these glittery forks?"

For Tony (And Steve and Soldier if around)

It was almost perfect, just what she'd pictured when they'd all sat down before the ships interrupted their plans. She looked up at it proudly, cheeks flush from the cold and gave Tony an excited hug from behind.

"It looks just how I thought it would. The birds and stuff'll be fine, right? They can use a little Christmas cheer too." The ones that hadn't been knocked free in the move.

[cactusy]

Shaw doesn't startle at the sudden landing, but she does narrow her eyes, trying to decide if and how hard she wants to complain about her sudden visitor. In the end, she decides not to, at least for now (not unless the frown counts, anyway, which it honestly might).

"Glittery fork's more unique," she grunts. "No, you know what, both; go big or go home."

[winsomelosesome]

The frown doesn't seem to register, or at least Jan doesn't seem to care, determined to spread cheer if she has drag this place into it kicking and screaming.

"Gonna need a hand then," she says, pointedly waggling her tiny fingers before taking off to grab a fork and start hauling it towards the tree, "Come on, I can't do this whole tree by myself."

[stitch_witch]

There were many things going on here that Lark did not know what to do with. What was the purpose of this tree? Why was it decorated? How was there a tiny little woman flitting about? The woman, bundled up in a thick sweater and scarf and mittens, regards the little figure on her shoulder and considers the question.

"I suppose I would wish to understand the purpose before I weighed in. It is my fear that I am quite out of my depth."

[winsomelosesome]

Ah. Jan hadn't counted on having to explain the muddled history behind a Christmas tree, and she hesitated a moment as she tried to remember what was myth and what was fact.

"Festive holiday cheer?" she started with an uncertain look, "There's a whole history which involves stealing bits and pieces from other people's celebrations, but basically- it's winter, we make the tree pretty and sparkly, good will to all men. All that jazz."

for 🏵me🏵

[in_extremis]

It still didn't feel quite as satisfying to Tony, who considered the tree skeptically even as the glow intensified in the low light with the setting sun. There must have been more he could have done, to make it feel like home and the extravagant holiday celebrations that Jan was used to. Her enthusiasm was hard not to smile at, though, and as she knocked into him, he gave her arms around him a pat before lifting a hand up for a kiss, then cradle against his collar to try to warm the skin that felt like ice to his lips.

"If they were that attached to this tree, they'll come find it again. Add a few feathers to the vision," he replied. "Were you always worried about the birds when you were picking out a Christmas tree? I only actually went to get the tree myself couple of times."

🏵

[winsomelosesome]

"Well they were usually all ready cut when we were picking them out, I didn't think about what might've been living in them," Jan admitted with a vaguely guilty but mostly amused look.

"How are you so warm?" she added with a contented sigh at the shared body heat sinking into her hand.

[tyrants_son]

A strange sight to see, unusual enough that Felwinter pauses to watch, or rather to get a better study of this tiny figure to ascertain just what exactly he's looking at. Such as proves unnecessary when said tiny figure ends up landing on his shoulder.

"...you are...human?" Not exactly a response to the question Jan's asked, but he can't help but be curious.

a - ota

[deal_me_in]

There were other additions to the decorations on the tree, slivers of metal dangling from various bits of twine or ribbon or whatever string Cayde had found to use. They were varying colors, these tags, and closer inspection would reveal names stamped into them. Names of people present in the city. Names of people who weren't any longer. Names of people who might not have ever been there but when he'd first found the tag press and the little pouchful of tags, there were a few he hadn't recognized and he figured they were of people who were missed.

If he wasn't hanging things in every bit of the tree that he could manage- which really left little to limits when he could jump the entire height of it- then the Hunter was off to the side, hunched over a slab of rock he'd dusted off, a plump mothcat perched on his shoulder as he set tiny little metal letters into some sort of contraption.

"Is Billy with a 'y' or 'ie'..." he asked no one in particular, perhaps even the mothcat as he poked through a box of letters. "He it's fine, pretty sure I know which one..."

[doubled_speed]

"Which one?" Tommy asks, even though he knows both of them us a y. Unless they're talking about a whole other Billy here. Billie. Whatever. For right now his real intrigue is finding out the reason for hte name. He doesn't care about the rest of this. It's just... Well, it's just trappings.

It doesn't feel like home. Maybe it should, but it doesn't. So he guesses he'll just support whoever he can however he can. Even if it means being out here in the cold where he's shivering in his faux-fur lined boots.

[deal_me_in]

"Uh... Both. There's two now, right? Either that or there's a typo on the directory," Cayde says as he finally fishes out a 'Y' and holds it up between finger and thumb. "Maybe I should find me some tweezers, that'd make things way easier..."

It takes him a few tries to get the letters into place before he slips in a piece of scrap metal and then pulls the lever down then up, picking out the freshly mint tag.

"Tadaaaa!"

[cactusy]

"You guys really are a bunch of saps," Shaw mutters, admittedly at least in part to herself: her eyes roam over the tags already hanging on the tree, not so much reading them as counting them.

"Looks like you've got more up here than are on the ship's rosters; who are the extras?"

[deal_me_in]

The Hunter laughs at that. "Tree's not that sticky at least."

He gets up once he's strung the next set of tags, slipping the fluffy mothcat from his shoulder to pass over to Shaw with a roguish grin as he turns his metal face towards her.

The creature meows in lazy protest but otherwise dangles without any effort of trying to reclaim his perch, and if Shaw obliges, she'll find the strangely winged feline hardly weighs as much as a kitten despite being perhaps width of a football and almost twice that in length.

"Some names are people who got whisked away again. Others are just people from back home who aren't here."