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]

"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.

[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."

[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.

[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."

[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."

[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.

[always_the_moon]

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

[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!"

[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?"

[bodldops]

"Good f'beanin' someone over the head. As she's demonstrated." Ace drawls, accepting the rum and coke Oswin hands her.

"It was an accident, give it up." It's possible Ace has heard this more than once from her mun.

[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.

[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.)

[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."

[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."

[pullsneedles]

"He's Lucas and I'm Aura," the woman says with a jab of her thumb from one to the other. "And before I forget, may the calendar keep bringing happy holidays to you."

"What're latkes?" Lucas asks.

"Potato pancakes. Best things ever, trust me."

[sdelmonte]

"You want the latke story," Knox asks, "or just some latkes. It's a nice change from ham and sweet potatoes."

[pullsneedles]

"Sure we want the story," Lucas says with a smile.

Aura reaches for a remote and pauses the Christmas special on TV.

[sdelmonte]

"Knox, since you volunteered..." Alex wants to see how much Knox gets right. And wrong.

"OK...once back in the Greek era, there was a king who decreed that the Jews couldn't be Jewish. And then he defiled the Temple in Jerusalem. That didn't go over well with the Jews."

[pullsneedles]

Lucas looks intent, though puzzled.

"Jews are people who practice Judaism, which is a religion," Aura fills in. "I don't know how much of it I can sum up but one big point is that there's been a lot of persecution towards the Jewish people."

The boy frowns, "That's not very fair."

"To put it mildly," the woman agrees.

[sdelmonte]

"We'll fill you in later," both Alexes say. "Where are you from that you don't know about Jews," Knox adds.

"Anyway, the Jews rose up, led by Judah Macabee. That's Hebrew for 'the hammer.' He was an early folk hero slash warrior. And his troops prevailed pretty fast." Which is not actually the truth, but Alex didn't know that till recently.

[pullsneedles]

"Tazmily on the Nowhere Islands," Lucas fills in. "So he had to fight?"

"Yup," Aura agrees. "But there's more to the story."

[sdelmonte]

"The war was over. But the Temple was defiled. And they needed pure olive oil to light the grand candelabra there. What was called the Menorah. They only found enough oil for one night. But they had to light it.

"And wonder of wonders, it burned for eight nights!" Knox really gets into the stories he tells.