Christmas, Christmas time is near

[bringinghopewithme]

Who: Dan, Bunny and you!
What: Dan celebrates Bunny’s favorite holiday of all. The best one. The greatest season.
Where: All over the Pole.
When: After the Halloween plot.
Warnings/Notes: None yet.



I. Time for Toys and Time for Cheer

Bunny tunnels into the Pole and cringes at the Christmas intensity of the assault on his senses. The Pole is always a lot, but this close to the actual day the noise is louder, the hustle is faster, the smells are more intense, and goodness they do this every year? He dodges yetis on his way to checking in with Jack before conducting his rounds through the new Guardians he hasn’t had time to check on in a while.

“Can you believe they do this every year?” Bunny mutters, dodging yet one more Yeti with arms stacked almost too full of toys to see over.


II. No, That’s Enough, Let’s Not Overdo It

As a sort of retribution for being left to his own devices at the Pole, Dan’s decided that he’s going to be extremely annoying this Christmas, and that keeps him motivated and peppy through the darker part of the year in an already dark and cold part of the world.

He can’t help it that Bunny makes it easy to find a ‘bit’ and just dig in. He can’t help it that Bunny makes it so entertaining. That’s why he spends a few hours a day for a week working on hand-embroidering a sweater that manages to thread that needle between legitimately well-made and unwearably tacky. He spares no thread, no sequins, no glitter. The final result is a labor-intensive catastrophe of needlework snowflakes, woven tinsel, fluffy pom-poms dangling from the sleeves and the centerpiece, a patchwork image of Bunny himself wearing a Santa outfit.

Bunny won’t wear it, naturally, which means Dan has decided to rally by going up to anyone at the Pole who doesn’t appear busy and pushing the sweater into their hands. “Can you make my husband wear this? He’s hurting my feelings.”


III. Yeah, Why Can’t We Sing It Again?

“Come on, honey, You got such a beautiful voice. Don’t leave me hanging.”

Dan’s dragging Bunny by the paw room to room, grinning ear to ear, wearing a Christmas sweater with actual blinking lights and felt reindeer antlers on a headband. The more Bunny acts like a stick in the mud, the more Dan amps up the obnoxious holiday cheer, and right now, that means caroling.

Dan doesn’t give anyone an opportunity to object when they open their door. He did, being considerate, bring gifts for each person he stops by with, either something hand-made and intricate for people he knows (coats, wooden puzzle-boxes, a quilt) or cute and useful (a drink cozy, a festive handtowel, warm socks) for those he doesn’t, all wrapped.

It’s a little apology for subjecting them to his rendition of “O Holy Night”, which he starts in on immediately upon the door opening.

Comments

III

[branchifer]

By now, he's been direct enough about it that people know he's comfortable with them giving a tiny flick at his door to get his attention as long as they do it lightly, about the volume of rapping your nails against something.

He assumes someone needs something from him and is surprised to peek his head out, get handed a tiny (read: normally sized to his perspective) wrapped gift, and then -

Have his sense of hearing utterly assailed. Oh no.

Branch briefly winces but quickly schools the look into a smile of awkward appreciation because sometimes someone doesn't have a great voice or they have a bad sense of pitch and this is a tragedy and not their fault and you shouldn't be a jerk about it. His people are very clear on this.

You should just stand there.

Subjecting yourself to it.

Sometimes nodding encouragingly when someone is pushing past a part where they're particularly struggling with vocal control because that's what a good person does. These are the moments where Branch looks like he's restraining himself from giving a soccer mom thumbs up in actual genuine encouragement for Dan managing to get past them, like when you're watching a kid completely faceplant in soccer but are genuinely proud of them for getting back up again.

[bringinghopewithme]

Bunny, meanwhile, stands behind Dan doing his utter best to make solid enough eye contact with Branch to beam directly into his brain - Don't encourage the bit.

"Dan," he says, with all of the stern but gentle I love you but I know what you're doing he can force into his tone. "I don't know any of these songs." He makes the any particularly pointed. "You know I do not know any of these songs."

Why would he learn them. It would be the softest form of blasphemy.

The terrible sweater Dan gleefully, tactically designed for him is hanging in the crook of one of his crossed arms, pointedly unworn.

[hallelujahjunction]

Dan subjects Branch (and Bunny) to the entire three verses of "O Holy Night", including swinging for the absolute fences at that high A note each time, during which he sounds, generously, like tree branches scraping against a tin roof during a particularly wet storm. When he's done, he's grinning even wider than when he started, and he reaches into his sleeve and tabs the little button to make the blinking lights in his sweater strobe.

"I know, Branch and I can teach them to you, can't we, Branch?" He gestures with his nose to the present. "That's an overcoat with down. Reckoned you can always use something warm and sized appropriately for you in this climate. It's from both of us."

Dan's aware Bunny has much too much going on to make inroads with all the new Guardians, which is why Dan's serving as a bridge into the community. Sometimes that means making presents and splitting the credit.

I

[poor_unlucky_girl]

"It's a great atmosphere." Jennifer nods and smiles "They have such incredible work ethic all day long already."

She looks at Brown's paw prints on the snow. Looks over at him as he happily runs to her. Gives him a little hug.

So enraptured by the memory of her beloved friend, she could feel him in her arms as if he had not vanished from her life a long time ago. Her closest friend was nothing but the illusion of a child's overactive imagination. What a poor, unlucky girl.

"That is very rude, mister Narrator."

Uh oh. Did Bunny hear that?

"Oh, I'm sorry did I say something? I was just, heh, thinking out loud."

[bringinghopewithme]

"If you like that sort of thing," Bunny admits, softening his begrudgery, because the Yetis do love what they do and do it well, he has to admit. Even if what they do is very much not his thing.

But of course he hears what Jennifer says, because his ears are that big after all, and Jennifer is hardly much of a liar.

Bunny bites back on his concern as he looks at the girl and her dog. "Thinking about what," he asks, more gently, "being in a story?"

[poor_unlucky_girl]

"Oh! Yes, it does come to my mind sometimes. It's...Strange, don't you think? To think that everything that has ever happened to you is like a fairytale. I suppose it makes it better. Every story comes with a moral, or at least with a message, or...What is the term, catharsis? And that could help someone. It makes it all worth it, doesn't it?"

No matter how much she smiled, how much she reframed it optimistically, she was always alone with her pain. What a poor, pathetic, unlucky girl.

[hallelujahjunction]

"Folks have been considering how to get at the meaning of life since time immemorial. I reckon Jennifer's just participating in an age-old tradition."

Bunny's much quicker at dodging the yetis than Dan is, but the yetis adore Dan, so every time they knock him down in their haste to load up the sleigh or get a pile of toy robots or Furbies moved from one side of the workshop to another, they stop what they're doing and pick him back up. As such, he's a few yards behind Bunny, scuffed up, but grinning and feeling weightless as he gets passed forward.

"Don't mind Bunny." Dan grins. "He's the Grinch."

wildcard

[changechild]

Need thinks Nyara is getting too dependent on her. A certain degree of that couldn't be helped, of course, being torn out of context and into such a jarringly different environment had been very upsetting for her girl. Naturally she'd clung to Need as a point of protection and certainty, taking some confidence from her presence. But whenever she's awake enough to have opinions on the matter, Need hates for anyone, her 'daughters' included, to forgo independence. She won't, can't always be here.

So she's talked Nyara into visiting the Pole again - the poor girl doesn't like it here but has begrudgingly acknowledged that it's a safe enough environment - and wants to be handed over for a night. Dan could likely use her influence again. Nyara hates this idea! What if something happens! But she's here, Need in her scabbard belted to her side.

Nyara is human, at base, but was extensively modified with housecat and cheetah features that give her, among other elements, pointed ears, some white and spotted markings on very short dark fur, feline eyes, and bulbous and knobbly clawed fingers she's hiding in the pockets of an oversized hoodie. Even after months, she's still very nervous and wary and refuses to approach when a lot of shenanigans are happening. It's hard when there aren't shenanigans, frankly, but if Dan and Bunny aren't doing a bit she's more inclined to lurk at a distance looking their way like she wants their attention. It's easier to approach someone if she thinks she can get on their good side by helping!

Re: wildcard

[bringinghopewithme]

There's a bit happening, all right, but Dan is doing all of it, and Bunny tries to make this clear with his eyes alone as they pass the cat woman with a rather plain looking - but familiarly plain looking - sword on her side.

Her body language says she wants attention, so Bunny nudges Dan to interrupt his bit. "Met that one yet?" he ask. "She doesn't look much more comfortable here than I feel," and that might be cause for concern.

[hallelujahjunction]

"Well, I done met one of them," Dan says, interrupting himself from just destroying "Feliz Navidad", immediately recognizing Need in her scabbard at Nyara's side. "That sword I slept with, the one who gave me the deepest sleep I've gotten since I was a baby? That's her."

He hopes Bunny isn't too insulted when he says that, if only because it's hard to argue with the reality that Dan sleeps best when his brain is being hijacked and turned off by a magical force. Comfort, security, and the companionship of his loving husband can only get him so relaxed; sometimes, one needs to bust out the heavy-duty fantastical shit.

But he doesn't know Nyara, and right now his arms are full of presents, so he has to set some down before he approaches. She looks, to him, like a bast but in all the wrong attire, so he considers that she may not be human. Feeling like an outsider would be reason enough to be shy around the bustle of other creatures.

"Hi there. I see you got Need. I'm Dan and this is Frosty."

[changechild]

There's this peculiar aspect to Nyara's feline features. She just isn't 'cute' properly, the way it's very easy for a woman or girl with cat aspects to be cute. Her eyebrows have had to fight to show through the very short fur on her forehead. That fur covers her face unevenly, thinning out around her nose and lips. Her philtrum is divided by a notch. Her ears are pointed and hairy but elfin in shape. She also doesn't quite hold herself in an expected way. It's just an odd, awkward point between "catgirl" and "anthropomorphic cat".

Nyara takes a half step back, turning so she can see both of them, meeting neither's eyes. She's a good three or four inches taller than Dan and he's still carrying things. He's probably not a big cause for alarm right now. If only she'd used her magic to hide her appearance, but she hates to use what little she has for so minor a gain as herself.

Bunny seems far more threatening in comparison. Aside from size he's not really similar to any of her father's creations - if Falconsbane modifies an herbivore, or causes aspects of it to be transplanted to something else, it's generally a horse or something with horns - but he's certainly big with a forbidding aspect. Nyara also knows from her sojourn in the wilderness that rabbits, like any other living thing, are strong in self-defense. She'd been scratched up a few times before Need managed to switch her from hunting with her claws and teeth to using weapons.

"...Need is my teacher," she says. Nyara's voice is low and husky, uncertain. Need stripped out the modification that forced her to speak mostly in a seductive purr months ago. Not for the first time she wonders if she'd get on better with men if she still spoke that way, but - no, she'd hated that voice and hates trying to mimic its sound. "You met her in, she called it the wilderlands?"

Need is unhelpfully silent. Nyara has to get better at meeting and talking to people and that means practice.

i

[bestbrotherever]

[Loki's been working on a spell to filter out the incessant Christmas songs, and he's testing it on the workshop floor. It's been working- except when the giant rabbit addresses him, he can't hear it. He dismisses his spell with a tiny gesture.]

I'm sorry, I'm afraid I did not hear you over the noise. Could you repeat yourself?

[hallelujahjunction]

[Dan's following a few yards behind Bunny, carrying gifts and layered in so much puffy clothing he looks liable to roll if pushed over. He's grinning, although a little short of breath from having just come in from the cold.]

He said Christmas is his favorite holiday and he loves that we do this every year.

[bringinghopewithme]

Bunny's gaze snaps to Dan, his expression incensed, primed for immediate retribution.

Unfortunately for Dan, retribution's easy to come by. Dan is so bundled up in his layers that he can barely put his arms down, and behind him is a bin that the yetis have been storing stuffed animals in. Bunny makes eye contact with Dan, paw gently flat against Dan's chest, and firmly tips him into the bin.

"Nevermind what I said," he says to Loki, as Dan vanishes into the stuffed depths. "I don't know you yet, you getting everything you need here?"

[bestbrotherever]

Loki smirks and even gives a little snicker at the man's misfortune. Swift and clever retaliation; the rabbit has his approval.

"I am Loki, God of Mischief, and I have as much as I could expect, given the circumstances. Though," he looks at Bunny curiously, "Do you consider yourself a host and responsible for the comfort of new arrivals? I was one of the first, and I was told that until we were summoned, Frost was the only Guardian remaining free."

I

[mostdangerousbird]

"No, it's a logistical nightmare," Tim says as he collects a basketful of tools and materials. The basket is shaped like a snowman, but the star and sleigh shapes were worse for storage. "When I was about 15, I ended up having to help deliver the presents due to circumstances. It took us until April."

[hallelujahjunction]

Dan's following behind Bunny, struggling to keep up between his shorter stature and the mound of presents he's carrying. The yetis keep knocking him over, but thankfully, they're very fond of Dan and his presence in their workroom, and that means that they keep picking him up when he falls by the back of his collar, dusting him off, and piling the gifts back into his arms. Given that he's wearing about seven heavy layers of clothing, including snow pants, he's very much unscathed, and his usual surefooted grace has been replaced with a bit of a cumbersome waddle.

"Christmas all the way to April. Now that's an idea that'll keep Bunny up at night." Dan greets Tim with a smile, dumps the presents on the floor, and teasingly claps Bunny on the shoulder. "You better tell him right now it was a one-time thing."

The wrapped gifts Dan's toting around include as wooden, carved puzzle box for Tim, who always seemed, based on Dan's interpretation and observation, to be someone who might take comfort in hiding things in a place only he could access. Dan's enjoyed designing, carving and staining the box, which takes some cleverness to open and then, to close again, requires one wooden 'key' to be removed. The missing key means that the puzzle box can only be re-opened if the key's returned to the correct position.

He doesn't know Tim well. He's been around Tim enough, based on the fact that they've been regulars in the group of people pulled between worlds, but they didn't get off on a good foot and Dan decided to give Tim space. Tim seems to have returned the gesture. But Dan does want to try and at least have a working relationship, given that they're all relatively stuck together.

[mostdangerousbird]

Presents - oh, crap. It's December. Ideas for presents haven't really taken shape in Tim's mind, yet. He's debatably good at picking them (although the debate hinges not on whether it's a good gift for someone and more on whether it's a good gift for anyone).

(It may be hard to get anyone else on board with gifts like "devices that make it easier to stitch yourself up". Tim is going to pick more traditionally appropriate gifts this year. Anything else would seem gauche in this location).

"Do you need a hand?" He's already reaching to relieve Dan of a few parcels because it's obvious the answer is yes. They may not be particularly close, but it can't be comfortable to get scruffed by a yeti. "And yes, it was a onetime only thing due to extreme and unforeseen circumstances, and it was probably made worse by the fact that we could only do it about 72 hours a week."

[bringinghopewithme]

Bunny suppresses a smirk at the idea of Tim's version of North needing mortal assistance. "I'm sure he was grateful for the help." He'll file that away to tease North about once he sees the old blowhard again. "Now, which of these is his?" he asks Dan, picking up a parcel in the pile to help look for Tim's present.

[ferengineer]

The door to Nog's room opens, and Nog's hand almost immediately covers Dan's mouth.

"No. No singing. I've had to hear you the entire time Dan."

[hallelujahjunction]

"You're welcome!" Dan manages to get out before Nog really smothers him. Unlike the other gifts Dan's gotten for people, Nog's can't be carried. Dan's managed to salvage a vending machine from an abandoned office building and bring it to the Pole, and he has no doubt Nog can make good use of it.

[bringinghopewithme]

Bunny smothers his chuckle, but barely, as Nog does what everyone else has been too polite to do.

"Don't be too mad at him, he dragged this all the way over for you," he points out, rapping the side of the vending machine.

II, but after Miggy's post

[forceforlight]

It's just a hunch that Dick follows. After everything that happened in the Wilderlands, he's pretty sure that Dan isn't going to take this well.

He stops by the kitchen long enough to top up his own coffee, then gets a cup for Dan as well. He sticks one of the sugar pots in the pouch of his hoodie, along with a closed container of milk. He doesn't mind black coffee, himself, but they'd rarely had coffee enough in the castle to have any idea how Dan takes his.

Before he picks up the coffees, though, he bends and gives Haley a scratch behind her ears. "Think you can find the smoker for me?" There don't seem to be a lot of them, and Dan's scent is probably going to be the strongest. But the puppy seems to understand enough to give a bark and start moving through the North Pole.

[hallelujahjunction]

The dog does, indeed, find Dan, who greets her with the same enthusiasm he would an old friend, crouching down and tousling her ears and letting her lick his stubble. Dan loves animals. His transient lifestyle's precluded ever having a pet, and now he lives with and is married to a prey animal who sees no benefit in having canines or felines around, so Dan has to satisfy himself by pampering Concrete Blonde. A dog is a welcome surprise.

When Haley tugs at his sleeve and indicates that she's trying to fetch him towards the kitchen, he obliges. He's uncomfortable with how things are going in terms of the group organizing itself, but he doesn't feel as vulnerable as he did in the Wilderlands. If things get intolerable here, he can relocate to Bunny's Warren until things blow over. He isn't chained by some invisible tether to the group.

"Hey there. This your sweet girl?" Dan asks, immediately going to the cabinet to look for a mug for coffee and then stopping upon seeing one already in front of Dick. He smiles. "For me?"

[forceforlight]

"I was going to follow Haley to you, but she gets around the yetis easier." Which is why Dick ended up staying behind, coffees and milk and sugar on the table. "And yeah, she's mine. Tim's nicknamed her Bitewing, but I don't think it's really necessary here."

It's not really necessary back home, either, but the nickname has stuck with the family. And if Dan thinks back, he might remember that the name of the circus Dick grew up in was named Haly's. "Thought it might be a good idea to check in on you. See how you're handling things."