[Mingle Post] Holidays

[passingmod]

Who: Everyone! Open to All
What: Holiday Mingle Log
When: the holiday season
Where: Locations in comments, or add your own.

Tonight, dreams take the form of the winter holidays. Everything is imagined in grand scale, from a winter wonderlandscape to a glorious feast, to gifts under the tree and the inevitable mistletoe. All of everyone's favorite things have made their way into the dreams. And it feels so vivid and real.

(ooc: This is a post to keep threads together for winter holiday antics. Separate posts are also fine, and this one is optional. Feel free to use the location subthreads as prompts, or to add something entirely different. These include hints of the dreams crossing into waking life; those are small and entirely optional as well.)

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Dreaming of a White Christmas

[passingmod]

It's a magical time of the year, when the softly-falling snow makes everything white and ice glitters in the lights of storefronts and holiday decorations. Whole streets are transformed into a winter paradise, to be enjoyed to the fullest or observed from somewhere indoors, warm and cozy.

(ooc: Characters waking up from the winter wonderland may find their clothes have snow on them, if the player chooses.)

[connectedsky]

[There's nothing more magical than a child's first white Christmas...even if it can only be white in dreams.

As a matter of fact, this would be Sora's first snowy day ever. Winter on the islands didn't amount to much, and snow seemed like a thing of fairy tales, especially to the kids. It's no surprise that the child's eyes are wide with wonder as he shuffles through the streets of the city, hardly noticing the fact that his coat is a bit too big for him and that his hair (and everything else) is slowly but surely getting covered in globs of snow.

Now he's found a clear spot, and is making a big pile of snow, trying to shape it into a nice circle before shoveling more on top of that with his gloved hands. Is...is he trying to make a snowman?

Maybe someone should teach him how to do it the right way...]

[guardiano_perduto]

[Ratchet's caretakers were usually pretty adamant about taking care of their charges, but every so often, one would be able to wander off on their own personal field trips. Veldin had never seen snow to this extent - of course he would use the opportunity to explore!

So just as Sora's starting to build a snowman, there's a little pair of yellow ears peeking out of the snow, moving along a trail, then stopping just inches from the boy's feet. A head is next to pop out, securely wrapped in a thick winter hood and aqua eyes bright and curious at the other child's actions.]

[connectedsky]

[At first, Sora is too wrapped up in trying to make his lumpy makeshift pile of snow look like the pictures of snowmen he's seen in books to notice the yellow ears nearby. But the sense that he's being watched creeps up on him, until finally he looks around and spots...a face! That looks like it belongs to someone his age! Well, maybe.]

Huh?

[Sora gets down on his knees, trying to get a closer look at the face.]

Why're you in there? Isn't it cold?

[braidstobows]

[It's been a long time since Homura's dreams have taken this type of pleasant turn. She's oddly at peace as she walks through the quiet, snow-filled landscape, and even smiles to herself, oh so slightly, as she notices the boy playing amid all the white.

Then her sharp eyes notice Sora isn't precisely making progress. She steps closer before speaking.]

If you want to build him up tall and strong, you'll need a sturdier base. [It's a very convoluted offer of help.]

[connectedsky]

[Sora is in the process of globbing another pile of snow onto the mess of a snowman he's trying to put together when Homura approaches him, and that pile falls to the ground with a nice plop when he turns around to look to her. He tilts his head in confusion, unsure of what she means.]

A sturdier...base?

Visions of sugarplums danced in their heads

[passingmod]

Candles and elegant swaths of cloth provide lavish decoration in a vast dining hall. Massive tables strain under the weight of mounds of food of all sorts, from innumerable different counties and worlds. Each plate and serving platter is piled high, and refills itself as soon as it runs low.

(ooc: a small plate of food, or a cookie or piece of cake, may be on the character's nightstand when they wake up, if the player wishes.)

[mooneternal]

A dining hall with infinite food? What better place was there for the glutton of the moon? Usagi couldn't have been more in her element, stuffing her face with everything she could get her hands on. Cookies, cake -- every flavour and colour of holiday treat she could have imagined was here! She barely had enough time to reach for that tall glass of milk to wash things down, then stuff her mouth anew.

/starts working on cross-canon cr wishes XD

[braidstobows]

Homura couldn't help making a comparison to Kyouko. With less grace and refinement, which was saying something. The blond girl ate as if she wasn't sure she'd ever get food again.

For herself, Homura slowly worked on a cookie and a glass of some drink or other that seemed to be fruit punch. She'd already watched enough to know this food didn't seem to have any odd effects such as the food from her dream of Wonderland. She offered Usagi a slight nod.

Someone enjoying the (endless) food this much... "Could you be the host of this gathering?"

:3c

[mooneternal]

"Meef?" she poked a finger towards herself as she looked Homura over, crumbs all over her face, and down her school uniform. Swallowing down all that she had packed into her mouth, she doned an smile and announced a loud, "Nope!" followed by a care-free laugh. "I have no idea who laid all this out, you're the first one I've seen!"

Twelve Days of Christmas

[passingmod]

Perfect fir trees stretch right to the high ceiling of this open room. Elegant lights showcase ornaments fashioned to look like many of the common travelers of the Dreamscape. Beneath the tree are presents, labeled with each recipient (and some of the givers). There may even be Santa sightings.

(ooc: If gifts characters give each other could reasonably be given in waking life as well, they may appear in the recipient's room when they wake up, if the players choose. Unlabeled gifts can range from something like candy or a small stocking stuffer to an outright prank such as forcing the recipient to sing carols or sticking them in a santa suit.)

Re: Twelve Days of Christmas

[waterfell]

Ami approaches the tree, and takes one of the ornaments in her hand as she examines it more closely. It strongly resembles her. How strange. It gives her a sense of something else at work as she slowly turns her head to look at the packages.

One particularly large mound of presents is all labeled as being from her. She's sure she doesn't remember buying whatever might be hidden by the elegant paper and tidy wrapping. She's sure they have nothing to do with her at all. And they're labeled as being for so many different people.

She speaks the question aloud to herself, gruffly. "What is this about?"

(ooc: The dreamscape has decided to provide hand-knit gifts from Ami. She's not amused. They can be anything from mittens to scarves or hats or even a sweater. Since the dreamscape is acting this out, they're probably somehow relevant to the recipient.)

[themanoftomorrow]

Superman, a knit sweater bearing the distinctive 'S' held in one hand, approached Ami with a congenial look on his face. If he kept running into this girl, or her double, or...other people, he figured he may as well be friendly.

He offered her a parcel of his own.

"Merry Christmas. Thanks for the sweater."

[waterfell]

Of all the things she might have expected next, running into Superman was not really among them. Running into Superman holding a sweater she apparently knit for him (it does look like her own careful, even stitches and patterns) is even lower on the list.

She's not sure she's the gift-giving sort, so she needlessly complicates it far beyond the simple polite return comment that's all she really would have needed. It results in her simply wordlessly taking the return package.

What does Superman give people on his Christmas list anyway? And does this qualify as one of the oddest dreams she's had? Her fingers gently wean the tape away from the wrapping paper.

[one_one_se7en]

A familiar armor walks in the middle of the blizzard. The appearance is more akin to the first time Ami might have seen John: Having survived the Ark, but at the cost of the lives of two friends. And being left abandoned in space. Before Econtra called him. And before Ami rescued him.

Tired. Exhausted. With battered armor. Having seen monsters he does not want to find their way into these worlds again.

In his right hand, there is a tiny box.

[waterfell]

She straightens her posture. He looks worn, the way she keeps imagining him ever since he said he'd be returning to his world. Battle-weary, if such a thing were possible for him. Her eyes drop to the box, but look back up to him soon enough.

There's another box under the tree, big enough to notice and labeled with his name: John. No number for a test subject, no military rank, but also no family name. It's wrapped in silver and blue. She nods towards it. Though she acts almost as if she's never seen it before, it's labeled as being from her.

"There's something there," she tells him.

[decaying]

Kanda wasn't sure what he was doing here but he knew he had something to do. Something on his mind. Christmas wasn't a big thing with him, it was hard to be grateful about anything when you lived like him. He didn't have a family as much as Lenalee and Komui would say otherwise.

This Christmas was different, at least in his dreams. He was standing not too far from the girl looking at the tree with the weight of a small slender box inside his black and gold coat. He hesitated until he eventually approached her.

"What's the problem?"

[waterfell]

Ami stayed looking at the tree just a moment longer, as though still puzzled, before turning to Kanda.

"No, it's nothing," she decided. Ridiculous to make a big deal over something so small, she told herself. Though the parcels nearby were marked as being from her, she ignored them completely and turned to Kanda instead. The gift she wanted to give him was not among them.

"Let's go." There was no point staying here, either.

Under the mistletoe we'd kiss / and the world would be in a state of bliss / I dream of Christmas

[passingmod]

What better way to steal a kiss? Some people avoid it like the plague, some try to catch their crush under it, and some people just plant themselves right under it and hope for the best. Be careful; some of these can't be so easily ignored.

(ooc: Magic and non-magic mistletoe both exist here. If trapped under a magic one, the only thing that will let the dreamers pull apart (and wake up) is a kiss. For those caught, a sprig of mistletoe can appear beside the character's bed when they wake up if the player wishes.

[fridgeninja]

It seems to Souji as though he's been standing under this tree for hours, unable for some reason to turn and go back in side. TSamping his feet and rubbing his arms, he leans back against the bole of the tree behind him, watching his breath fog, wondering what's going on.

[braidstobows]

Homura had only wanted fresh air. She'd slipped out of whatever that dining hall was meant to be, and into the cold night. She walked for some time, dressed too lightly to be strictly prepared for the weather, but she didn't seem to mind that. She bore it without outward reaction.

It turned out that Souji was a hard guy to ignore and walk past. This was not his fault, though it earned him a quick, sharp look as Homura suddenly failed to pass the tree.

Her words were drastic understatement. "Is there something going on here that I should know about?"

[fridgeninja]

"I've been wondering that myself," Souji replied. "When you try to walk away, you're unable to?"

[decaying]

Mistletoe. Kanda didn't like it. For a while there had been a running joke within the order involving mistletoe but it had been a rather foolish feat considering Lenalee was the only girl if you didn't count the head nurse. Nothing good could ever come of these things so as he made his way, he made sure not to slow.

The last thing he needed was some crazy woman trying to kiss him.

[drinkandforget]

Lethe wasn't exactly planning to try to kiss Kanda, but unfortunately, she also didn't have his warnings about what might happen with that strange little plant with its waxy white berries. Somewhere along the street, she found herself making no progress any longer, and standing in front of a long-haired, stern-looking boy. Who also didn't seem to be moving along.

"Were you going somewhere?" she asked him somewhat coolly. Move along.

[waterfell]

Well, some had argued she was crazy before, but Mercury had no particular liking for this particular type of holiday antic, either. So when she caught up with Kanda, and then glanced upward to notice a sprig of the stuff...

She knew what it meant, after Econtra. She hesitated only a bare second before her arm came up, and with a simple, quick turn of her wrist, she sliced the offending decoration cleanly apart.

"I have no intention of doing that just because of some plant," she said sharply.