Didn't see a claim on this in the DE...

[themightyspazz]

...but if somebody's already called this, let me know and I'll take it down.


FOURTH WALL BREAKDOWN, Y'ALL.

Have some coca/eggnog/whathaveyou, compare presents, and enjoy the festivities at the end of the universe.

Comments

[sdelmonte]

Alex sits at a table with a cup of tea and a bowl of cereal, wearing his Jewish Museum ID badge. Knox is with him, busy wrapping the last gift for Rapunzel. There is a newspaper in front of both, opened to a certain article.

"So you gave a funny quote. Didn't expect that from you, Alex."

"Neither did I, Knox."

"You should know how to talk to the press by now. You know how we twist things."

Just another morning for the pup and the mun.

[pullsneedles]

"The truth is a funny thing," Aura comments when she gets her own copy of the article. "Except for the fact that I haven't had a single latke all year. That's sad right there. But it's not your fault that you were right about something funny."

She holds the article for Lucas to see.

"That's possible?" he asks.

"For some people," she answers, affectionately scratching his back. "Though I think holiday burnout plays its part as well."

[sdelmonte]

"Er, hi. I don't think we've met. Or that you've met my buddy here," says Alex the mun. "We're both Alex.

"And we should make sure you get some latkes."

[pullsneedles]

"It's gonna snow-ho-ho right here in Dixie!
All will be white overnight; it will be cold!
On Christmas Day-hey-hey right here in Dixie!
We'll do-si-do in the snow so I've been told!"

"This is a funny sorta thing t'watch," Lucas says from the cozy hideaway that's been made from a corner booth, snug in a hoodie and sweat pants.

"It's my favorite Christmas special," Aura replies from next to him, clad in the same and her legs stretched out along the booth. "And it seemed appropriate since everybody said it's gonna snow today. But I don't think I quite believe'em. Could ya please pass the Cocoa Puffs?"

Lucas pushes back the sleeve of his hoodie and grabs the box.

"Here ya go."

"Thanks hun."

"So, are you without your family on Christmas, too?" the boy asks.

"Mm. Not really. I was last year, but it was all right. Until somebody else wakes up today, I am. But y'know, you're never really alone at Milliways."

"Yeah..." Lucas agrees with a smile.

[withherhands]

Karen comes stumbling in, mug of tea and knitting project bag in her hand, hair still messy from bed and dressed in yoga pants and a "British at Heart" t-shirt. A small, brown mackerel tabby comes in after her, then freezes as the door closes behind her.

"Ah, the perfect place for a cinnamon-roll induced coma. Come on, Peanut," she says, taking a seat in a chair that the cat promptly hides underneath.

[bjornwilde]

And Don walks in wearing a moss green sweater, black workout pants, and the happy glow of making Christmas magical for his daughter for at least one more year.

"Happy Holidays everyone!" He says after taking a sip of coffee.

[pullsneedles]

"Happy Holidays!" Aura and Lucas chorus from their booth.

"Want some zabaglione?" the chef offers. "Made it in record time today."

"She's gonna make it into ice cream!" the boy adds, excited by this prospect.

[bjornwilde]

"Oo, what's zabaglione?"

[leeshajoy]

Enter one Leesha, still in her scrub top and khaki jeans from work. Some of us still have to do their job on Christmas, if only for a couple of hours.

"Whoof." She sags into the nearest chair. "I am SO ready for this holiday season to be over."

[themightyspazz]

And enter one - well. Not really enter, seeing as he was already here. But Jack's in a booth with his PJs and USMC hoodie and firebender in tow.

"Aren't there, like, only 24 hours left in it?"

He stops typing and bites his lip.

"'less Boxing Day counts."

[leeshajoy]

"There's still New Year's," Leesha points out. "But at least I don't have to do crap for the next couple of days. I need a break."

[camwyn]

"I'm not really looking forward to driving two hundred thirty miles tomorrow ahead of a winter storm," says the fortyish woman in the ponytail, red sweater, and hidden-pocket cargo pants. "Any chance I can borrow and load up your cow, Ellen?"

"You're not taking my cow to the Commonwealth without me."

[sdelmonte]

"Hey, Cam. And must be Ellen. Hi. I'm Alex.

"Would have brought the cats, but that would probably violate the rules of causality or something." The cats being those that Cam left with Alex and Batya. "Besides, this place is not catproof."

[camwyn]

"It's okay. I appreciate the thought," says Cam. "I don't trust Kamella not to wind up hiding in the smallest place possible here anyway- speaking of which, I have a new carrier for her tomorrow."

Ellen nods politely and says, "Good to meet you, Alex."

[themightyspazz]

"Yeah, on a scale of suckage from stubbed toe to global thermonuclear war, that's about..."

The Scots-Irish kid in his PJs and USMC hoodie pauses in thought before resuming his typing.

"...maybe a 2 A.M. meeting with Donald Trump."

The 18-year-old firebender looks on at the computer screen, unimpressed.

"Is it, like, the drive into Boston proper?"

[bodldops]

"Iiiiiiiii have a sonic screwdriver!" A thirty-something gal bounces in waving a specialty Wii remote gleefully. She's shadowed by three other women, one of whom is rolling her eyes hard enough to hurt.

"Y'do know that thing isn't real, right? I hope?" Ace drawls while Oswin hunts for a shaker under the bar and Katya scouts for the high-shelf vodka.

[bbq_platypus]

A twenty-something turns his head, glass of Summit Winter Ale in hand.

"Ooh! I've got one of those! Though not the controller, just the toy one."

Leela raises an eyebrow and speaks through a mouthful of Christmas cookie. "What use is a sonic screwdriver if it isn't real?"

[camwyn]

"I'm just going to be over here with my TARDIS cookie jar, myself," says the dark-haired fortyish woman with the ponytail. "Present from my sister. Makes the right noises when you open and close it, but alas, it is no larger on the inside than the outside."

[always_the_moon]

"Pray tell," inquires the equine moon-goddess, "what is this 'Christmas' of which you all speak?"

[not_my_sandbox]

Something that probably looks like a parasprite with a tiny monkey body buzzes toward the equine.

"It's a holiday to celebrate the passage of the winter solstice," the bugeyed fairy says. "I haven't figured out why it is called Christmas, though. Ancient history, most likely."

The fairy has a nice, audible voice despite her size.

[not_my_sandbox]

There is a bespectacled almost thirty year old man ("But people tell me all the time that I look young enough to be a high schooler!" *preen preen*) who doesn't quite come in the door. He's wearing black pants, a white t-shirt with absolutely nothing printed on it, and slippers ("Look, I don't mean to be fashionable, it just happens!") and a worried expression on his face.

"Nope!" The door slams, and the guy is gone.

"See, why can't we do that?" asks the red-headed dark-skinned goddess sitting a few tables away.

"Because it is inconvenient, plotwise," answers the tiny, bug-eyed fairy buzzing above the goddess's table. "At least he hasn't set you on fire for a good long time."

The goddess gives the fairy a look. "Well, he is being inconvenient, plotwise. He's supposed to interact with these other muns."

"He's kind of like you that way," answers the fairy. "Not exactly friendly, not exactly unfriendly either." The fairy pulls out a larch pouch decorated with a bow out from... well who nows where. Hammerspace maybe? "Merry Christmas!"

The goddess sniffs at it wide eyed. "Is this? Oooh! Ummm." Hammerspace shenanigans and... the goddess offers the fairy a large box wrapped up in red foil and yellow lace.

The fairy sets the box down on the table and tears into it (our fairies a different, mainly in the strength and loudness department). "Teeth! Zombie teeth and goblin teeth and orc teeth and camel teeth and jungle horror teeth and demon teeth and wyrm teeth and dragon and wallbeast and dwarf and ogre and..."

"If you want large volumes of special teeth, you know where to find me, just don't tell anyone else who your supplier is," the goddess warns as she cuddles the pouch the fairy gave her.

"I can build so many fizgogs and werblerhubbles out of these. Maybe a whosprangit!"

[themightyspazz]

There's a 19-year-old boy of Scots-Irish descent in a corner. He's still in his PJs, and splits his attention between a bowl of M&Ms and his laptop.

He got the USMC hoodie he's wearing for Christmas. It's comfortable enough.

Mako's next to him, looking over his shoulder at the laptop screen every now and then.

(John and Voodoo are both out, say sorry.)

[gorgonfondness]

"Hey kid, I've got a deal for you."

So says the woman who, too, is in a hoodie. Though a very different one.

Said woman reaches from her booth and pulls a very puzzled Mia to her.

"Would you be interested in getting me a Heat Miser in exchange for this little lady being a Snow Miser?"

"I beg your pardon?" the Guildmaster asks.

[saphyria]

Sunshine is stirring a large stew-pot full of spiced cider on the stove, spreading the warm scents of apple, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves around the back room.

There's a curly-haired brunette ensconced on a nearby couch with a cup of wassail at her side, deep within the pages of Lapham's Quarterly. Or perhaps she's secretly happy at being ignored by the white cat who has gone exploring (likely in search of free food and scritches).

[cameoflage]

A pair of androgynous doppelgangers walk into a bar, wearing similar clothes for extra confusion. One is wearing glasses, the other is not. Also, the one with 20/20 vision is wearing authentic Victorian clothing; the bespectacled one's outfit is clearly of twentieth- or twenty-first-century manufacture (and fabrics), particularly the fuzzy socks and mismatched fingerless gloves. (One has a skeleton design, the other is black-and-purple checked.)

There is a Homestuck fairy god troll bringing up the rear.

"Oh yay, a bar! And we're only seven hours late," Cameo says with facetious chipperness. Thurlow looks thoroughly unimpressed.