And We're Gonna Pull Through [Bendytimed to After System Shock]

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

It's probably a solid two weeks before Christmas is due, assuming that their Thanksgiving dinner was on schedule which, given the nature of the ship, it presumably wasn't. But the robot attack was terrifying and disheartening and exhausting, and Howard wants a holiday, so according to him, it's Christmas. A nice, relaxing break from things trying to kill them.

Aside from this strand of Christmas lights doing its damnedest to strangle him, that is. Howard's managed to get it around his neck, and if it weren't for the fact that finding light strands is hard enough on Stacy, would be cutting it off with scissors.

He's still a bit beat-up, bandages around his head and his knees and one looping around his torso, under his shirt, but thanks to the healers and medical technology on Stacy he's not in much pain. His foot being in a brace is the worst of it.

He's managed to salvage an old plastic tree from a run-down building. A few packets of hot cocoa from the Warehouse sit on the table. Flossy Raptor is downstairs and dressed in a Santa hat and bizarrely, a feather boa in a shade of green too lime-ish to be Christmassy. A clunky-looking dog-sized gift for Zouichi is by the couch, wrapped in tin foil and newsprint, and another is on the table for Karis, although it's unwrapped. No one else quite makes Howard's list this year.

He pulls his way out of the tangle of lights. Christmas numero dos sans his family. Christmas numero uno on Stacy. He finds he's less okay with the former than he was last year, but more okay with the latter than he'd presumed.

Anyone who walks into the kitchen of the Susono Inn will be greeted by the rare and unusual sound of Howard humming. Go Tell It On the Mountain, actually. He even sings the section of the first verse that he vaguely remembers under his breath.

"Go tell it on the mountain, up over the hills and everywhere, go tell it on the mountain, tell them something, I don't care."

Comments

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"Words to live by," Zouichi said, patting Flossy briefly on her fuzzy snout. By now any damage he might have sustained from the attacks had healed completely, leaving him free to rummage through a box and take out a glittery fake icicle.

Some of the glitter came off on his glove.

There were several presents from Zouichi under the tree and one of them was for Howard. For some reason, it was wrapped in cloth rather than in paper; it was also relatively compact and felt metallic under the wrapping. Hmm. Maybe a tin of some sort?

"Is that a Christmas song?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"You helping me decorate, man?" Howard cringes at the glitter. Doesn't Zou know glitter never comes off of anything? Epicurea should have learned him good; Zou's body armor will be sparkly for years now.

"Yeah. My mom liked it, which is dumb, because everyone knows Jingle Bells Batman Smells is way better." Although given Stacy, if they sing that they may offend someone who knows Batman personally.

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

"I guess so. All I have to do is put on these ornaments, right?" Zouichi hung one of the glittery icicles on the tree. If Howard hadn't wanted a glittery Christmas tree, he wouldn't have brought out the box, right?

Zouichi paused for a moment, still holding one of those spangly little ball ornaments. "Did she sing it for you?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Yeah. I was thinking tinsel, but I'm worried that You Know Who would choke on it." And with that he rolls his eyes at the cat, which is gnawing on the plastic tree. "I guess the rules of you being taller means you'll be the one putting up the star."

He snorts. "Nah. She wasn't the lullaby type. My grandma sang it, though. The people at Toha ever sing you anything?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

He glanced over at Emergency Rations. "Why does she keep doing that? And are you sure you don't want to put the star up? You did find the tree. I could... I don't know, hold you up or something."

"They..." Zouichi stopped, then shook his head. "Not really, no. Besides, it wouldn't quite be the same, having scientists sing to you." He did wonder what it would be like, on occasion. Being part of a human family, like Howard's. How would it have been different? Would he have been different?

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Kaya needed a break. Between the attack, losing Zhin and finding out that Negi, the only little brother she had on the ship was gone, it was important for her to try and find things to make her happy. Sure, there was Billy and Ronnae she was staying with, and seeing Nokosi anytime was good, but her heart had been feeling heavy nonetheless.

She took the wandering the ship, as she was inclined to do a time like this, and was happy to find an inn she hadn't been to before, and more than pleased to see Howard, although her first instinct was to make sure he was recovering comfortably.

"Hey," she greeted him, a small smile on her face. "Sounds like you're keeping busy. It's...Christmas time, right?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I don't know. Close enough." No, Kaya, he didn't get you any presents. Don't take it personally. "Figured I kind of needed it anyway, though. Since pretty much everything about the last week sucked."

Kaya's looking a little worse for the wear, too. Like maybe she got even more roughed up by the whole thing than he did.

[kaya-waterwave.livejournal.com]

Kaya definitely had no problem not getting a present: with all of the things that had happened to them lately, Kaya had pretty much loss track of time. "You can say that again. I haven't seen an enemy like that since the Nightmare King, and that was the first time I saw a Terminator. I NEVER thought I would see those horrible things again."

But she had, along with those scary, crazy robots from Jamie's world and a host of other evil robots. She has recovered from most of her bruises and cuts, though emotionally she still looked fairly battered.

"How did you fair?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I'm so glad I missed out on the Nightmare King thing. This was enough excitement for me." He considers asking her if she's alright, but he figures if Bubbles wants to tell him anything then she would let it happen naturally. She's not the type to keep her emotions as under wraps as he does.

"Alright. Got a nasty concussion and a third degree burn. Nearly died like, eight times." He points down as his foot, still in the brace. "Breaking my ankle was the worst part."

That's a lie. The worst part was realizing, really realizing, how mortal Zouichi was. Or possibly being certain he was about to die in that MRI machine.

[teethofneedles.livejournal.com]

Karis sauntered in. It really was a saunter instead of her usual sullen half-shuffle. She was in a (relatively) good mood. The robot outbreak had given her a chance to do what she did best: break things. She had a few more nicks and bumps, but considering her current state of being, that wasn't really all that troublesome. When she spotted the tree and the lights, she froze for a moment, eyes narrowing.

"...is it that time of year already? Damn."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Nah, it's probably not. But it's Christmas because I say so and I want to look at sparkly twinkly things." And that's all the excuse he needs, really. He's practically an adult here, he can do what he wants.

"You're looking less pissed off than most people."

[teethofneedles.livejournal.com]

"I got a chance to beat in some heads. That always improves my mood," Karis replies. Then she looks puzzled, "...the Hell is Christmas? You mean the Feast of Winter Veil, right?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Anyone we don't like or just robots?" Howard winks at Karis.

"Uh, no, dummy, I mean Christmas. God."

[theboywhodied]

When Cedric sees the familiar lights appearing on the house, he knows what Howard's up to. He also knows that it's time to quickly round up some presents! He scampers away, hopefully without being seen, and returns a few hours later with a lumpy green bag.

He's humming a familiar tune when he slips inside the inn, piling things around the tree. What a lovely day this is going to be, a far cry from the past week.

((Threadhopping's cool! Cedric has presents for all the people and pets he knows, go wild.))

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Oh. Hey. You didn't get yourself killed." Howard tries to sound less relieved than he is about that.

At some point Howard's going to get used to people who don't live here just walking in. Right now, though, he adds "do wizards not believe in knocking before entering?"

[theboywhodied]

"I promised I wouldn't," Cedric smiles up at him, planting a somewhat square package wrapped in what looks like old aluminium foil at the base of the tree. It has Howard's name written neatly on a tag of tape, next to ones labeled 'Zouichi', 'Kaya', 'Alan', and 'Spot'.

He shrugs apologetically at the next statement. "I'm sorry, I was in such a rush! I saw the lights a few hours ago and wanted to have everything ready before people started leaving. I might've almost knocked down the door."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"You know she doesn't live here, right?" Howard says, pointing to Kaya's gift. He's criticizing because he doesn't quite know how to respond. He didn't get Cedric anything, and now he feels awkward, because he assumed he liked Cedric more than Cedric liked him, and this all seems backwards. Furthermore, gifts weren't really commonplace in the FAYZ (in that they didn't exist at all), and he doesn't want to feel indebted to Cedric.

So instead he just shifts his weight in social discomfort, foot to foot.

"I didn't get you anything. I guess you can grab something out of the warehouse if you want."

[nobel-berserker.livejournal.com]

"Oh maaaaaan, home sweet home... nice to see ya made it, buddy," Allenby slumped against the doorway and gave Howard a little wave, her eyes taking in the bits of decorations and the continuing struggle with the string of lights, along with the bandages on her roomie. She had some of her own, of course. Laser blasts could be pretty painful.

The song wasn't familiar to her. Actually, Howard humming wasn't familiar and none of the decoration stuff was either. "So what are you up to now?"

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"Same. Did you punch any robots?" Allenby's love for punching things is renowned throughout the land, after all.

Howard rolls his eyes. No one in this house but him celebrates Christmas, and he's not even religious. What's wrong with this place? "Christmas, dumbass."

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi shot Howard a look. "How are you feeling, Allenby?"

Also, did you want any sugar cookies because Zouichi made some and they are all stacked up on a plate on the table nearby.

[nobel-berserker.livejournal.com]

"Hey, I ain't a dumbass! It's not my fault I didn't do anything fun from age six to seventeen," Allenby said, straightening up with a glare. But the sugar cookies were a welcome distraction, hell yes Zouichi you are the best housemate.

She grabbed a couple and sat down in the chair, still watching Howard for the idle entertainment of the decorating process. "But I feel fine. Kinda beat up, but I'd rather have some band-aids and all my skills than intact without 'em." The grin returned. "And I started by punchin' the robots, but it was a lot more fun taking 'em out with a broken cable. I wish they had actual facial expressions, 'cause they would've been great!"

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

Ildraniath does not believe in knocking. Knocking is for people who are Not Eldar. So she simply glides into the kitchen (well, really, she's been poring through the inn on her own, the kitchen is just her latest stop).

"I'm looking for Zouichi," she announces in a cool, collected tone of voice. The kind of voice that people use when they're being polite because of social norms, not when they really mean it.

Bendytimed to after Ildy finds Z

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi had left the kitchen after he'd finished the latest batch of pastries and set them out to cool, adjourning himself to the library for a brief respite before he returned to finish the last of them. And there he was still, thumbing through the pages of one of the books there, perhaps looking for the next novel with which to occupy his free time.

So absorbed was he in doing this that he would hardly notice someone slipping into the room unannounced.

[futureisclear.livejournal.com]

What was there to say just now? Ildraniath wasn't sure. They'd exchanged words after that incident with exchanged bodies, but then robots had arrived and everything had become a complicated mess. Ildraniath shook her head slightly; she was a grown woman, she ought not to be worrying about things like this. So, after a long moment of standing in the doorway she walked over to Zouichi, footsteps light and nearly silent.

"Might I ask what you're reading?"

[zouichi.livejournal.com]

Zouichi looked up at the sound of her voice, smiling almost involuntarily upon seeing her there. "Farseer. This is a pleasant surprise." Which was perfectly true; he hadn't been expecting her to pay him a visit, not when the other denizens of the inn were likely to be present. Certainly not when they were celebrating a holiday. But he was glad to see her all the same, even (or perhaps especially) after the events of the past few days.

"He piled upon the whale's white hump," he intoned, "The sum of all the general rage and hate felt by his whole race from Adam down; and then, as if his chest had been a mortar, he burst his hot heart's shell upon it."

Zouichi closed the book, running a gloved finger over the spine. "Not reading, exactly. More like deciding what to read next. This one is an old Earth novel, from a country halfway around the world from my own."