/puts on the Twisted Sister Christmas Album [OPEN/CLOSED]

[astonishing_xmods]

WHO: Everyone on campus!
WHAT: Holiday goingons
WHERE: The Institute
WHEN: Threads can be set at any time this week.
WARNING(S): if a thread goes into warning label territory, either throw it in the subject line or take it to a separate log.

The entire campus is decorated for the holidays in red greens and silvers. It seems just about every major winter holiday is represented in some way. In the main lobby, there's an absolutely gigantic tree done up in a brilliant light display, with Emma Frost's touch added to the star. She's probably off somewhere enjoying a spot of cocoa with her old comrades, even. But really this wasn't so much for the Institute itself, but for all of its students. The ones that had no other home to return to....

Comments

Meanwhile, in Genosha...

[biot_savart]

There was nothing quite like the sound and scent that smoothed over the senses like that of a burning candle. With great care, Erik guarded the old flame, sustained for these many days by his own magnetic wizardry, with his hand. The chamber, after all, had been a bit breezy that night. Erik set alight the seventh candle on the intricately smith'd menorah, giving a small silent prayer before stepping away from the display.

As an old flame of seven nights burned, an older flame of several years would make her presence known.

"I must apologize, Gabrielle... I have been so distracted, we've had no opportunity since you arrived to actually discuss things besides the dreary worlds of politics and diplomacy..."

[imah]

"If you keep apologizing, as if it's an automatic response, Erik," Gabby spoke as she stepped more fully into the room. "I have to admit it's... nice having an actual family to spend the holidays with, given the situation with David..." a sigh. No. She didn't want to talk about her son right now.

"I called Charles this morning... He hasn't heard from you in months. If we're going to be speaking personally... you need to reach out to him, Erik."

OPEN

[niepokonany]

[A - Before Christmas]

This was a bit of a weird year for Feliks. With his thesis eating up so much of his time, he felt like he'd missed Advent altogether -- he didn't even bake any pierniki this year! The draft was finally finished, but he was still sort of in the process of recovering from it even after classes finished for the holidays.

Which was why he was exhausted enough to be a little bit out of it. He'd taken up camp in a broad windowsill, where he'd dragged some of the couch cushions, and was sitting around in his warmest pajamas and watching the snow fall -- completely oblivious to the sprig of mistletoe pinned cheerfully to the top of the windowframe. Who even put mistletoe on windows?

[B - Christmas Eve, Nightfall]

He'd been working hard all day -- and on an empty stomach! Fast days were just the worst. Early in the morning (well, early-ish), he'd sequestered himself in the kitchen, taking over a sizable portion of it. His trip to the Polish grocer a few towns away had taken place a few days ago, and all his preparations were falling perfectly into place.

Of course, his parents were upset that he'd decided against coming back home to Kraków with them for the holiday. But with things heating up the way they'd been, he'd sort of felt like it would be better to spend Christmas with his other family, the one he wasn't born with. (Besides, he'd reasoned with them, he could show some of those Americans how to do Christmas properly!)

Come nightfall, there was a big table set up in the corner of the dining room, with some extra chairs at the side in case he needed them -- there needed to be one empty seat at the table, anyway! The spread was huge and varied. Carp was hard to come by in America, but he'd managed to find some to fry. There was barszcz, and herring, and pierogi, and poppyseed cake, and an assortment of other foods -- twelve in all, with no red meat in sight. He'd laid out an opłatek on a plate near his own place, and tucked some straw beneath the tablecloth, and dressed himself up properly, with long slacks and an only slightly gaudy waistcoat and his hair tied back in a ponytail. Everyone he knew had been invited personally, and informed that anyone else was welcome, too.

And, with all that finished and the light outside starting to fade, he gave the table an approving once-over, then snuck off to the window to search the sky for the first star.

[C - Christmas Day]

Regardless of who did or didn't turn up to Christmas Eve dinner -- or accompany him to Church afterwards -- everyone Feliks was close with could expect a knock on their door and an almost immediate armful of excitable blond on Christmas morning.

"Wesołych Świąt!"

[knighterrantofthedragon]

Alric would have apologized that he couldn't be there--he had holiday obligations at home in Kaitheny, after all, given his station--but he'd be back before the end of the year to catch up.

C;

[thirdarrow]

The invitation had been quite thoughtful, but Takakage couldn't make it due to being out to Zian's for Christmas and having several emergency cases over the long weekend. However, he would be back on the next Monday, drinking tea in the staff lounge and looking exceptionally tired.

Of course, he had posted a card to Feliks on the way to work on Friday, so he was half-expecting the blond to pop up and probably scold him for working in a holiday. Or something.

OPEN

[koukai_kirai]

[A - Anytime in the days near Christmas!]

Hijikata didn't do Christmas.

He never had. He wasn't Christian, and really, under those circumstances, all it was in Japan was an excuse to buy your girl something and eat cake (or, thanks to some asshole Western marketer years ago, gorge yourself on fried chicken). None of those ideas appealed in particular, to be quite honest, so at the end of the day, Christmas was just another day to him.

A particularly obnoxious day, surrounded by similarly obnoxious ones. With all the damn lights, and the talk of presents, and the sudden outbursts of heartfelt religiosity from otherwise sensible people, he was about ready to be done with Christmas by the time December started.

His ill-temper became more and more readily apparent as the month wore on, and he started spending more and more of his time sneaking outside for increasingly long smoke breaks.

If he heard one more "grinch" joke, someone was getting their ass kicked.

[B - Christmas, anytime in the day, the gym]

That was it. He couldn't stand being around the giggling mass of obnoxious holiday festivity anymore.

He'd gone for a smoke break and simply hadn't come back, wandering the campus for a while until he found himself at the gym -- because who the Hell was going to be there on Christmas? Stepping into the kendo club room, Hijikata simply let himself breathe for a little while.

Since he was there, he decided, he might as well get some training in. He changed into his practice clothes, stretched out, and fell easily into the meditative calm of performing katas he'd known for years and years.

Re: OPEN

[aquawayfinder]

(warning, on pain meds, post hospital, so my posts may be a bit odd)

Taking a break from the festivities, Aqua decided to use the time to check out some of the areas in the school. She generally worked out outside, but maybe the students should be brought into the gym more at the start of the new term, so she was checking out the gym.

When she saw the... student? Some of the older students it was harder to tell with. There were more students here, and more teachers, than she was used to.

"Good morning," she said with a warm smile, even though it had not been morning for some time.

open

[fathoming]

Naija could be found singing to the tree, a haunting version of the Carol Of The Bells, which she'd kindof picked up by osmosis. The ornaments vibrate too and whatever life in the cedar wakes up and bends towards her, as does the mistletoe and wreaths. Anything nearby capable of flowering does so despite it being less than twenty degree outside.

[littlewhitelies]

"That's INCREDIBLE!" Volume control, M'gann. The outburst comes courtesy of a young mutant holding a platter full of holiday cookies close to her chest as she watches. She only catches herself after speaking, and tones herself down a little. "O-oh, and very beautiful too and... and it's really neat. It's a nice arrangement."

Both in terms of plants, and the quality of the song. The only thing M'gann has achieved that's even CLOSE to that quality is experiments with family wine glasses.

open

[the_prodigal_son]

[A - Gifts!]

Jack was serious about his gift plans - Beast Boy, Bridget, Kanji, Sam and Eren are all getting herpes. Naija gets a stuffed fish. And Feliks gets a plastic silver tiara (it sort of obviously cost a dollar). All of them are wrapped haphazardly in small cardboard boxes, and will be delivered by in order of mention personally by Jack, who is storing all of them in his sweater until they are delivered. Yes, there are a lot for one sweater. No, he does not care.

[B - Candy!]

To everyone not on Jack's Christmas list, he is bought about 30 dollars' worth of candy canes and is handing them out just to make friends. These are amazingly not stored in his sweater and he's usually only carrying one box at a time. He'll just be wandering around exploring and offering candy to whoever he bumps into. Because why not.

[C - Dinosaurs.]

Have I mentioned Jack stole half the snow on campus? It took a week or three and he didn't sleep much, but it has all been relocated to a huge sculpture behind the mansion of two dinosaurs playing soccer against a team of human players. He... worked hard. He is also not a good sculptor, but the shapes of the T-Rex and stegosaurus are clear. As is the effort and good intentions.

[niepokonany]

[A]

[Feliks opens the door in a pink t-shirt, and a pair of long pajama pants with clouds, rainbows, and unicorns on them, because fuck the police. He's pink-cheeked with excitement, and positively aglow with Christmas spirit, his hair a soft, slightly messy blond halo.]

Hey! Wesołych Świąt!

[Jack is getting a big ol' hug!]

Open!

[presto_turn]

Or, in some other cases, those who'd found a second home among friends.

Shindou had known he wouldn't be able to bring himself to return to Tokyo over the winter break, almost from the moment he'd convinced his parents to let him remain at the Institute another year. He remembered the violence over his last holiday season here too clearly for the thought not to send nausea and stress roiling through his gut. Before the recent, tumultuous news and the clash with the FoH in the city, he'd already brokered a deal with his mother and father: He could stay over at the school through the academic year, if they could interrupt both New Year's and his birthday in the coming months to visit.

And -- this was the actual concession on his side -- if they could "talk as a family about his future," then, too. He can't say he doesn't dread that and feel guilty for dreading it. It isn't that he doesn't want to be at home. It's just...there are things that are important to him here, too.

[1 - Christmas Eve, Evening - Music!]

But that's all too heavy to linger on during the actual holidays. So, once classes are done, mid-term papers are in, and some of the exhaustion from the past week has begun to fade, Shindou forces himself to relax. Already clad in his PJs (complete with fuzzy slippers; they're comfortable, okay??), he stakes out one of the quieter student lounges with a thermos of the gourmet cocoa that had come in the inevitable winter care package from home and a seasonal playlist on his laptop. It seems like he almost never has time for music anymore, lately, and that's long overdue for correction.

Not tonight, though. He doesn't even care if anyone else happens in, he's going to let the entire set play through, starting with a recording of Handel's Messiah and tripping through a few other seasonal works. Shindou listens to those like he's halfway dreaming, mug of hot chocolate clasped in his left hand and the right keeping time with the music in a miniature imitation of a conductor. It's a little ridiculous, maybe? But so relaxing.

When he runs out of classical music, the playlist switches over to a few more traditional carols, and then if the room's quiet enough he might even be caught singing.

[2 - Christmas Day, All Day - Presents!]

After literally having to brawl with anti-mutant thugs to get his shopping done for the year, you better bet Shindou's making a point to deliver as many of his gifts as he can in person, come the big day. He's ended up with kind of a lot of them? Almost anyone who's made a point of attending the soccer club's practices regularly can expect to get a small gift from him ("small" in Shindou's parlance usually meaning a pro jersey or new pads or cleats.) So can his teachers; those are all consumables, tea and sweets and similar, at least save for Saitou's. That had bore more thinking on, as had the presents for the rest of his trainee team. And, of course, those for his roommate and his friends from before the Phoenix Incident.

He'll be at it almost all day, whenever he spots someone he still needs to exchange gifts with, darting out of sight for a moment and returning with gift bags carefully stuffed with decorative tissue to hide their contents. He's enjoying himself. It's a good excuse to make sure he wishes everyone he knows happy holidays.

At some point during his rounds, someone tugs a red-and-white Santa Claus hat down over the waves of his hair as a joke, and the fact that it's still there come time for Christmas dinner is a positive sign of how the day's kept him feeling buoyant. Now he just needs to tuck away the gifts left for those who'd headed back home for the break...

2:

[realmenknitplushies]

Huh? Seeing Shindou try and vanish, Kanji frowns slightly, tries to start chasing after his team-mate - he just wanted to give him some stuff he'd made, dammit! Even if he wasn't admitting to making it, perhaps...

But he waves as Shindou comes back, all the same. "Heh. Havin' a good day, man?"

OPEN

[littlewhitelies]

This has been shaping into an interesting Christmas away from home. One lacking in presents so far, with M’gann being a new transfer and not having much in the way of shopping time or a dedicated budget for it. But NOT celebrating the winter holiday is unthinkable. It’s the first time she’s gotten a truly white Christmas, complete with trees and lights and a real roaring fire in the fireplace.

(…Granted, the last thing she stays well away from, aside from a brief glance at it and a nervous smile.)

Point being, even if she doesn’t have presents to give out, M’gann is determined to celebrate. She can be seen darting around the campus here and there, double checking decorations and maybe putting up a few of her own. But the true holiday battleground takes place in the kitchen. M’gann is stocked with her memorized recipes, extra cookbooks, flour, eggs, sugar, chocolate… and a lot of enthusiastic telekinesis to help her out along the way. If M’gann has her way, there’ll be plenty of holiday foods courtesy of her.

If that means that a lot of ingredients are getting whipped through the air at high velocity as she cooks, that’s just a risk of the assignment. But people might want to be careful when venturing into the kitchen and watch for flying dishes.

[realmenknitplushies]

Kanji hadn't been sure what the best thing to do for the season would be. But... well, everyone liked things to eat, right? So he'd figured - perhaps some cookies, in seasonal colours? Perhaps a strawberry cake like from home? He's just hoping that no-one takes it as something too mushy, but given what he knows about American Christmas, it seems to be a plan...

However, what was not part of the plan was flour to the face as he went to get the latest cookie batch. It's just a mercy that the cookies themselves are undamaged, but he spins, sparks popping off him, to see just what the hell is going on...

Open | Just about any time during the holidays

[blooming_resonance]

[The interesting thing about not really having a home or family to return to during the holiday break means that... Sakuya just gets to stay on campus and hang out. New Year's would be about the only thing she had a reason to celebrate, but letting herself get into the... festive mood, the high spirits, of the season? Oh she's not adverse to that. Being an empath makes it rather easy to get into the holiday spirit, so to speak.

She's got little gifts of candy to hand out to any student that wanders by her office during this time, and for the most part, that's where she stays during the season, catching up on paperwork and going over student files.

Every so often though, it's possible to catch her out wandering across the school grounds - especially on Christmas day itself.]

[soundandfurry]

-Kagerou didn't pretend to understand the holiday. Even back home, she never really understood a lot of holidays celebrated by normal people. But Christmas she could dig, because she could wander around in her wolf form and get pets and free food for the most part. People seemed really eager to happily greet a dog or dog-like thing during this particular holiday... She wandered up to Sakuya as well, tail happily wagging, as if expecting a treat from her as well, even though Sakuya knew well enough that she was a student and not someone's pet.-

Open: Wherever there might be people celebrating

[eileaneathompson]

(warning, on pain meds, post hospital, so my posts may be a bit odd)

Christmas. Alone. The last several years she had spent the days of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with friends, and the nights alone; her parents off on some trip or other. This year she had thought it would be different, living in a dorm. And she was right. She was going to be alone for both.

Eli curled up in a seat against a wall at the start of the festivities, prepared to sit there until it was time to collapse into bed. She knew she would be alone. But if she sat out here maybe it would feel a little less empty. Maybe? Her dad had sent her a check that said "merry Christmas", but no card, no visit, nothing from her mom. She had texted all her friends. None of them had replied.

She was wearing a pretty dress, a deep evergreen dress picked out with small crystals and faint red glitter. Her hair was pulled back with red and green pins that caught the light. She had made herself up with care, she was pretty and she looked ready to have a great time...

Until one saw that she was sitting alone, pushing her straw around her eggnog without sipping it, and looked like she was trying hard not to cry.

[nobodysweapon]

"You are not celebrating."

Laura would have looked festive in her outfit if she tried to smile. But she still had that almost scowl that was her face. Laura did her best to try and mingle but socializing was far more exhausting than assassinating political figures. So she moved herself toward the edges of the room, looking for some form of rest. The girl she found was, of course, not rest. But sometimes you had to push on when you needed to.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She was trying, but it seemed more like an interrogation question than an attempt at sympathy and offering assistance.

Open - The grump who doesn't understand Christmas

[tiamaris]

(warning, on pain meds, post hospital, so my posts may be a bit odd)

Once again, Tiamaris knew nothing of celebrating the holidays, he just knew the school was putting out a lot of free food. And free food... Yeah. He would eat that. So he was wherever the food was, filling his plate with meat. Again.

Open - Help Aqua learn the "true" meaning of christmas?

[aquawayfinder]

(warning, on pain meds, post hospital, so my posts may be a bit odd)

Aqua did not understand this holiday, but that was fine. People were happy, they were smiling and eating and talking. She smiled warmly and made her way to a seat where she could watch everyone enjoy. There was an empty seat to either side of her. "Terra, Ven," she whispered, missing them keenly. Missing everyone.

But still, the smile would not leave her face. The joy in the room was infectious, and while she missed her friends, missed her family, she was glad to see so many students having a blast.

[knowitallgoddess]

"You look pretty happy. Has the season taken hold of your heart?"

Palutena wasn't one to speak. She enjoyed holidays with a relish. It also meant gifts from home, even if she couldn't visit her parents. Still, it was enough for her to know they cared and she emailed them every night so it wasn't as if they were too distant.

open

[denialism]

[Adachi didn't care about the holiday. He didn't buy anyone presents or expect to get one. He didn't pay much attention to Christmas, because aside from the tacky ornaments he couldn't avoid, what was there to notice? He didn't even like American-style fried chicken that much.

Boring.

He was bored a lot. It was fun when he only had to worry about his own constructed world, but now he had to do a bunch of other stuff. It was a pain. Well, time for work! He dutifully set out to patrol the campus buildings (barring the one he wasn't allowed to go near), but he didn't make it far. He lingered in one of the lounges. The TV was on, and it wasn't the stupid news, for once. (What was everyone's obsession with the news here, seriously?) He stopped to look at the movie that was playing.

At first it just seemed like some boring Christmas party scene, but then, suddenly, there were guns! And terrorists! Adachi's eyes lit up. Somehow, he'd never seen Die Hard before, although he'd heard of it. Wow, he hadn't known there were good Christmas movies. He sat down, with a laugh.]

This is great!

[fathoming]

Naija was across from him, munching on a bag of shrimp chips, which tasted homey.

"Isn't it? I wish all movies were like this."

open; christmas eve (warning for references to death)

[garganteren]

[Of course, he loved Christmas. Who didn't love Christmas? It was the best time of year! But at Christmas, you were supposed to be with your family, the ones you love—and eat dinner and sing songs, and give presents... His family was far away, and he didn't even get a card from them. Even if they'd sent him one, the school wouldn't give it to him. But he didn't think they'd send him one.

If he could go home, they wouldn't want him there. They'd always treated him like their own son, and he knew they still wanted what was best for him, but... He wondered what his birth parents would have done. His mom wouldn't have wanted him to die, right? He hadn't wanted her to die...

He didn't want to talk to anyone. He wanted to be left alone. Fortunately, his roommate had left for the holiday. Eren didn't see him around much anyway. He was probably staying with other people to avoid being around Eren. That suited Eren fine. He'd rather be alone. So he stayed where he was, ignoring any knocks on the door, lying in bed with the lights out.

But he hated being cooped up all the time, especially on Christmas Eve. He just couldn't stand it! It made him feel even more like a prisoner here. Eventually, he slipped out, trying to avoid the other students and the staff, and he made his way outside. The night was clear and cold. He walked out into the trees, finally finding a place that seemed out of everyone's way. He sat down on the cold ground and curled up before bursting into tears.]

I miss you, Mom.

[[ooc: Feel free to talk to Eren when he's locked in his room or when he's outside! If you'd like to talk to him another time, he'll probably go back in his room.]]

outside

[soundandfurry]

-Kagerou already spent a great deal of her time outside, even with the weather getting that much colder, so it didn't take her long to come across Eren. Just in time to hear those words, and to see those tears... And it hurt. Deeply and profoundly. She knew that pain so well. Just seeing him like that was enough to remember her own loss, of how precious her mother was to her...

Eren had never seen her wolf form, that she could recall. She hadn't even thought of that when she let out an audible whining sound, tail dragging low as she stepped forward. There was nothing aggressive in her stance at all. Just sympathy and a desire to comfort. But being a wolf, and not the girl he'd come to know... it was any wonder how he'd react.-

OPEN

[spes_phthisica]

As a child of a nation where Christmas is mostly marketed as a date night for couples, and as someone whose only memories of any kind of community involves gang life, criminal institutions and psychiatric wards, the western celebration of Christmas is alien in so many ways to Souji. And although he doesn't really have that much of a family as such at Xavier's, he is absolutely entranced. So he can be found wandering all over campus, swathed in a huge Cristmas sweater and fuzzy leggings, staring in wide-eyed delight at the decorations and smiling at the strange fellowship of the students and teachers around him.

He'll accost anyone who seems a bit lonely or maybe is just standing still and looking interesting to talk to, flopping down next to them with completely unself-conscious - and slightly unnerving - grace. "Merry Christmas! Do you want some candy?" The boy also has a bag of fudge large enough to feed an appreciable fraction of the whole school.

[kickstart_my_heart]

Bridget giggled openly, Souji's spirit infectious to the young man.

"Don't mind if I do," Bridget carefully plucks himself a square, popping it into his mouth and letting out a pleased sound as he chewed.

OPEN - cw underage drinking

[theveilisin]

[One would think that someone as sociable as Luvander would be all over the place for the Christmas celebration, but not so. In fact, he seems to have evaporated from his room at approximately 5am, and it might be a bit tricky to find him. The reason for this is that he's secreted himself away in one of the now empty classrooms, clearing a space on the floor where he sits curled up wrapped in a blanket. Around him, there's a circle of empty cushions, as if he's waiting for someone, and in the middle of the circle is a bottle of strong liquor which he's almost certainly stolen from somewhere.]

{...and I think I'm getting along with him, at least? At any rate, it's truly a travesty that someone as delightfully charming as me hasn't made more friends yet - Oh, shut up Chastity, that is a preposterous lie and you know it. I've never been shy!}

[It might be hard to understand what he's saying, since he's speaking Volstovic, a language which sounds like someone might have taken Hungarian, Romanian and Polish and run them through a meat grinder together. But the fact that he's sitting around talking animatedly to himself in an empty classroom with a bottle of booze he definitely shouldn't have is probably alarming enough.]

[deceases]

[ Having nothing but a village full of vampires waiting for you back home doesn't really make it attractive to go home over Christmas break..

.. but then again, staying doesn't sound like the best idea either when you wake up in the middle of the night and the other bed in your room is empty. Especially not when you already have trouble with bad things happening to people you sleep in the same room with overnight, and especially not when he knows there's been attacks on the school before, apparently..

So it doesn't take long before Natsuno drags himself out of the bed, giving a single glance at the time before letting out a groan. But even so he lazily slips on a pair of sneakers, not bothering to change out of the wrinkled shirt he was sleeping in (not much of a Christmas partygoer, here) and making his way across campus to look for the guy. Most parties should have died down by now, right.. him hanging out at some stupid party sure would be something better to find than.. well, who knows. Him face-down in the lake and not in the wasted kind of way or something.

Since the classrooms are not exactly the first place he thinks of looking though, Natsuno doesn't arrive there until much later - and when he does hear sound coming out of one of the classrooms, no matter how impossible to understand for him it is, he does take a look.

And immediately looks even more grumpy when he recognizes the person sitting there. ]

What are you doing. [ He's the grumpiest sleepy person right now, standing in the door opening still looking pretty disheveled from waking up and running around. Don't do this crap to your poor babysitter, man!! ]

[comparative_insanity]

[This year, Fai has made a compromise with his parents. He'll stay at the Institute over Christmas, celebrating with his less-than-conventional family there, and then he'll accompany his parents to Italy over a weekend later.

Meaning that he'll be roaming around the grounds hunting down just about everyone he knows to hug them, wish them a merry Christmas, and shower them in presents. He may or may not be dressed in something like this - that is to say, he definitely is, with a glamour depicting glittering frost over his shoulders and on his hat for extra dramatic effect.

Feel free to be pestered by his holiday cheer in one form or another. Nothing is worse than a brisk and chirpy teacher, let's be real.]

[nobodysweapon]

"Hello Fai."

Laura was... pleasant, not overwhelming the world with cheer, but she was not the sharp caustic girl she was with most of the institute. Well, she was trying to be less caustic, but it was a process.

"I was hoping to talk to you." She seemed apprehensive, "Privately?"

[nobodysweapon]

A - Christmas Eve
Nobody has ever looked more deadly in a sexy elf costume than Laura Kinney. Feliks had decided she wasn't being festive enough, so he helped her with her wardrobe. This didn't improve her sense of Christmas cheer. There was this thing where she came down a chimney and killed a bunch of people when she was twelve, ruined her idea of a good Christmas.

But she was endeavoring to change, and change she would. She was going around with a plate of cookies offering them to people in an attempt to 'make friends,' and if you caught her under mistletoe she would oblige with the tradition, and this time she did not grab anyone by the collar and kiss them square on the lips in a terrifying display of energy.

It was... nice, to be back here for Christmas again.

B - Christmas Morning.
She decided to do the pajamas thing for Christmas morning, which means it is a very good thing when she went shopping she bought some. The shirt was covered in tiny candy canes, and the pants were red and white striped. She was surprised that she had presents, even if logically she understood there were people here that cared about her even knowing she had a history of killing a lot of people. She tried to imagine doing this holiday as a proper child... then she decided not to, that line of thought was painful.

Thinking about Christmas with her mother, or sensei, or her aunt and her cousin. People she could never see again. Does Laura look moodier to you right now?

C - Christmas Day
Laura tried to be slightly more festive, so instead of all black she wore a red top. And her jacket is green forest camo. That's festive, correct? She decided to spend the day wandering the grounds and the woods on her own. She was feeling a bit too crowded in the school proper right now, plus she had always liked the outdoors. It made her feel... free. Free of all the things that tied her back to who she used to be.

If you want to talk to her she is probably reading and doing homework in a tree somewhere. Like, you know, that was what someone did on Christmas Day.

A is for AAACOOKIES

[littlewhitelies]

Why did she never think of wearing something THAT sparkly? It's with a slight sense of envy that M'gann drifts closer, for a better look. (She can always memorize it for next year, she tells herself.) Plus, there's the fact that there's cookies available.

She drifts in, perhaps unwisely out of the corner of the other girl's eye. She's already talking, with a plate of her own cookies held up for exchange.

"That's a really nice dress you have; the color is really pretty." She may be just SLIGHTLY biased towards it, of course.

Content Warning: Underage Drinking and Underage Hangovering

[anythingwithstrings]

A - Christmas Eve
Maya had spent the better part of the evening Skyping with friends and family all over the globe. Former Institute students all grown up, friends from Degrassi also all grown up, her sister now coaching Olympic hopefuls in California, her parents who were doing okay in Toronto.

It was very little wonder her mood was tanked, and had put her skills at stealing and sneaking to take some hard liquor to a remote part of the school to get VERY drunk. Everyone had their lives on track, they were older than her. On their way to what they wanted or already there. And here she was, still a kid, still in school, trying to keep up with a world out to get her and homework. Forcing herself to be supportive, cheerful, and happy didn't help. She loved her friends and family but this wasn't fun anymore. Some symphonies were interested, but when comparing her records to her situation realized she was a live grenade of problems with the current atmosphere around mutants, even with the strives Dazzler has made for everyone.

Nobody wanted to take the risk. She couldn't blame them, but she could get drunk, then blame them more easily.

B - Christmas Day
Sound sensitivity while hungover sucked. She couldn't up her music loud enough, so everything else was a bit too intense. She was only thankful that with her ears so sensitive she could put on a pair of sunglasses and walk around with her eyes closed and not run into anything. She'd worry about presents and stuff when her head hurt a bit less.

Right now she needed some food, water, and for people to stop playing The Ringing of the Bells on repeat. Unless those were in her head, which was entirely possible. Maybe she could find a healer mutant to cure her hangover...

OPEN | Morning to Afternoon; Dec 22nd

[hearmyfeels]

It had taken her 43 text messages and two emails to settle her Christmas schedule. Of course she was going home, but when had been up in the air until the Saturday before. Meulin had really wanted to stay for any parties but her dad was insistant on having her home for winter break. Their agreement had come out at her leaving the 22nd and coming back on the 30th. Sure, she didn't have a ton of friends but it was still so much more exciting than home and she had plenty of people to talk to. Her sisters would understand. And it was for that reason that she found herself running extremely late with presents. They seemed to be mostly small and she seemed to be giving them out to everyone. Even people she'd never met and just passed in the hall. Her bag is getting a little low and she's running through the halls on her way back to her room. It was time to pick up the second round. Spotting someone on the way is really only a matter of time and she raises a hand to wave them down.

"Ah--wait!" She grabbed their arm and skidded to a stop, "I have something for you!"

[friendofdorothy]

Liir flinched, wary of intruding on Meulin's privacy again. He closed his eyes, breathed deep and went through the mental exercises he'd been taught to keep his power at bay. Then he opened them and a tiny smile appeared on his lips.

"Oh?"

OPEN

[vanishingdusk]

[Yuuko honestly didn't know much about the holiday other than what she'd read rather recently. Which she only did because she didn't know what Halloween was when that came around. She needed to know about all these holidays because they seemed like such fun!

Having no family to return home to, Yuuko spends her holiday on campus. Most of her time is spent preparing the clubroom for the Paranormal Investigation Club, but she can be found around campus occasionally setting up mistletoe in strategic locations. For being alone, she seems cheerful enough.

And she also has a little something for everyone! It might not be much, but it's hard to afford things when you don't have some kind of job.]

Open, outside.

[eternalprincess]

[The main reason for her to head outside was to get a little air, and avoid most of the mistletoe, wherever the stuff's been hung up. Well, she was only allowing kisses on the cheek or to the back of the hand so far.

After the trouble at the mall she's heard about, it was nice to have something like this to let everyone relax again... For tonight and hopefully up until the new year.]

[Locked to Beast Boy]

[kickstart_my_heart]

To say it had been a busy holiday was something of an understatement. Dealing with the Friends of Humanity crashing his shopping trip with his friends had put Bridget in something of a strange mood. A very real and untimely reminder of his current place in the world as a mutant, and the implications thereof. It had made regaining his Christmas Spirit difficult to say the least. And while exchanging gifts and spending some time with friends had helped...

There was still a sort of heaviness to the way Bridget carried himself. Some closer to him would probably notice it more than others...

[tofudog]

Did Bridget think he could get away with being downcast at this time of year? As soon as he realized Bridget was upset, Beast Boy made it his mission to lift his crush's spirits. It was with this goal in mind that he'd donned a santa hat at (what he hoped was) a jaunty angle and set out in search of his friend.

It didn't take long to find Bridget. He approached with a grin, a joke coming easily to mind. "Hey Bridget! What did one snowman say to the other?"

Hey, his jokes helped before. It couldn't hurt, right?