(december catch-all) LEGGY KRAMPUS IS COMING TO TOWN

[vestigemods]

DECEMBER CATCH-ALL

► YOU WANT SNOW? WE GOT SNOW

To all who've endured the last couple of dismal months, congratulations - you've broken through the windy rains of October and damp, depressing ones of November to an inexplicable peace falling over the containment zone. Untouched snow covers the ground, a veritable winter wonderland. It's almost idyllic, even if not quite in the same way that the early weeks of summer may have been. The air is brisk and chilly, but at least you can see the sun again. In fact, the heat of it on your skin is almost enough to make up for the chill, at least when the sun is at its peak.

Make snowmen! Have a snowball fight! Perhaps even skate on the frozen lake - Foodland seems to be stocking brand new sets of ice skates in various sizes, their colors obtuse enough to make sure you'll be spotted even if it starts to snow. And... consider showing a little pity on the local wildlife if they come a-scritching at your door? If you're cold, they're cold, et cetera.

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE

But December has a little bit more misfortune in store than just a little bit of nippy weather. On the 16th + 17th, you might start to feel... a little strange. Maybe you've come inside from a rousing snowball war to park by the fire, but instead of warming up, you just... keep getting colder. In fact, your temperature keeps on dropping no matter what you try - blankets, a hot bath, none of it seems to do more than slow down the speed at which you're cooling.

Or maybe you're not cold at all... but oh, you're starting to wish you were. Because your temperature only keeps rising, like a hot flash from hell no matter what you do to cool down, with sweat beading on your forehead and dripping down your neck. You may even find yourself desperate enough to strip down to your underclothes and lie in the snow, if only for some sort of relief. Don't worry, though - whether you're too hot or too cold, it'll go away on its own eventually. Let's hope it's before the hypothermia gets too bad or you go delirious with fever.


Then, throughout the couple of days before Christmas, the snow kicks up to a flurry. According to the children's books in Foodland, this is a telltale sign that a magical gift-bearing man called Santa Claus is on his way. But kids' books never do tell the full story, do they?

True to form, there's a pitter-patter up on the rooftop. Is it reindeer paws? Since when do reindeer have paws, anyway? Then the fire in your fireplace, if lit, goes out with a magical puff of air... but what comes down your chimney is quite a bit worse than the stories. His Naughty List is filled with those who have yet to satisfy the elder gods with their horrible death, and rather than bringing gifts and cheer, this particular Santa has come to collect.

Two clawed hands wrap around each side of the fireplace, eyes pale as the snow, the beard around his gaping mouth tinged with the red of blood. But there are more hands now, so many hands, so many too-long arms, peeling himself from your fireplace to attack. He moves quickly, almost uncannily so, with an agility one might not expect from one with such gangly arm-legs. His hands are sharply clawed, perfect for swiping and drawing blood - but that's not what he's trying to do. No, his goal is to drag those who've been Naughty back up the chimney from whence he came, hauling them off through the flurry of snow and disappearing from sight if you try to pursue. But it's fine. Being choked to death by Leggy Krampus's obscenely long prehensile tongue isn't... the worst death, at least?

► MOD NOTES

• This is the December Catch-All Log, for any action top-levels throughout the month. Large gatherings (parties, meetings, etc) are still encouraged to post their own logs for organizational purposes!
  
• Refer to the bottom half of the November + December Bulletin for any December-specific info to potentially include in your prompt, as well as more specifics regarding the events.
  
• Because this is a catch-all for everywhere + all month, try to remember to label your top-levels with identifying information like the IC date and location of each prompt (whether in the subject or in the prompt title within the comment). Also consider mentioning if any of your prompts are event prompts!
  
• December's specific resources can be found in the Not-Bulletin.
  
• Any questions can be directed to this top-level or, for a quicker response, to Trace on discord/plurk.

Comments

12th, for wen ning.

[mannerless]

( it has been... a bit different with ning, since he died and returned. at first, just looking at him felt like it thumbed a fresh bruise, so soon after he and his sister and the rest of them marched to hang on his behalf. to hang and to burn, in the case of wen ning and wen qing - and though there's resounding proof that such a thing didn't actually happen, it spent a number of weeks being a topic that wei ying couldn't stand to face directly, dancing carefully around it in his mind to stave off the mind-numbing guilt that washed over him each time he failed to do so.

but quite a bit has happened since then. what were once open wounds have closed, faded to a dull ache with time and the insight regarding his future offered by the likes of lan zhan and a-yuan. and ning himself has continued to be just as diligent a friend as he always has, even trying to intercede with the mindfuck tree-sitters on his behalf just a few weeks ago - and all of this after how wei ying has been acting. he hasn't been mean to him, of course, he could never. but he has always had some sort of excuse not to be alone with the man, and when he looked at him, his gaze lingered vaguely on wen ning's nose or cheek rather than meeting his gaze. there's no way the man didn't notice.

perhaps it has been eating at wei wuxian, or perhaps the revelation comes all at once - but this morning, as he sits at the table with his bowl of sweet puffy cereal and catches sight of wen ning in the corner of his eye, he comes to the abrupt realization that the guilt he feels for their distance is stronger now than the guilt he feels for wen ning's supposed fate and whatever he endured in lieu of it. and he finds that he isn't so hungry anymore, rising to set the half-eaten bowl by the sink as he says, ) Wen Ning.

( ah, he hadn't meant for that to sound like apology, but it certainly did. it isn't enough of one, obviously, but he makes certain to brighten his tone just a bit to add, ) Take a walk with me? I thought I might head to town for a bit, and it's a fantastically boring trip without company.

[lookslikeacinnamonroll]

[ Something has been... wrong. No, maybe "wrong" isn't the best way to put it. Maybe more like "off." Something has been off, between Wen Ning and Wei Wuxian. He doesn't know what that something is, or how to set things right again, but Wen Ning has just been trying to continue on as normal, as quietly and unobtrusively as he can. He steps in when Wei Wuxian needs help-- like with those strange creatures from the tree-- and disappears when he's not needed.

As he walks into the kitchen of their cabin and sees Wei Wuxian sitting there, eating cereal, he freezes slightly, not wanting to intrude. ]

Wei-gongzi. [ Ah, but there comes an invitation. Wen Ning's posture relaxes somewhat, releasing the tension he hadn't really intended to hold. ]

Y-yes! I mean, I would like to walk to town with you. The road can be dangerous, and it's best to travel with company.

[mannerless]

( as indelicate as wei wuxian is (or at least has repeatedly been) known to be, it's impossible to miss the way that wen ning's entire being seems to exhale half of its tension at even so banal an invitation. a request, really, posed as a favor to wei ying.

(there's that bruise again, sore under the weight of his chagrin. he needs to treat wen ning better than this. this man has stood by him far more reliably than anyone else ever has, even lan zhan, and what thanks has he gotten? punishment, courtesy of wei wuxian's rampant guilt.)

the agreement comes with a spark of enthusiasm that he hasn't heard in quite a while, and he rewards it (see? already doing better) by flashing a brief grin of his own. ) You see? Those were my thoughts exactly. Hold on, let me just-... ( pardon him, lifting the cereal bowl to his mouth to chug the better part of what remains, then getting up to set it beside the sink. ) I'll meet you back down here in ten minutes? ( if ning has any 'actually, i was in the middle of a thing and need like an hour' sorts of qualms, now would be the time to speak. )

[lookslikeacinnamonroll]

A-Alright. [ Wen Ning watches nervously as Wei Wuxian shovels the rest of his cereal into his mouth-- worried that he might inadvertently choke if he tries to swallow too much at once, but too timid to actually issue any sort of warning against it-- and before he knows it, Wei Wuxian is whirling about the kitchen and away towards his own room. ]

Sure. Ten minutes. I'll be here.

[ He'll use the first part of those ten minutes to wash Wei Wuxian's cereal bowl and set it upside down on a towel to dry. His bedroom is on the first floor, so it doesn't take him very long after that to grab the shearling-lined jacket he had picked up at Foodland when the weather had started turning cold, and return to the kitchen to wait for Wei-gongzi to return. He's there before eight minutes have even passed, so by the time Wei Wuxian comes back down the stairs, he's sitting patiently by the kitchen table, drumming his fingertips nervously along the tabletop. ]

oh my god ning don't wash the bowl

[mannerless]

( alas, wei wuxian has not had quite the consideration epiphany it would take to notice and appreciate that wen ning has washed his bowl. but that's hardly anything new, really - he never has noticed the little things like that, however much he probably should.

meanwhile, he returns at around the ten-minute mark wearing an extra set of layers - his jeans now bulge just slightly with what could very likely be some sort of long underwear or even pajama bottoms, not to mention two layers of hood hanging down his upper back (he hasn't yet learned to tuck them inside one another). overlong sleeves cover his hands, which fold now behind his back as he raises a half-teasing brow at the man at the table. )

Mm, so terribly serious. We're grabbing groceries, not marching off to war. Ready to go?

[lookslikeacinnamonroll]

[ As soon as he hears Wei Wuxian's footsteps tromping down the stairs, Wen Ning leaps up to stand at attention--

--then immediately withers down a little bit after the jab at his seriousness. He was being too eager again, wasn't he? He needs to relax. He nods, half to Wei Wuxian and half to himself. Yes, he's ready to go. And yes, he needs to relax. ]

Let's go.

[ He's got a pair of heavy jeans on underneath the robes he still hasn't quite managed to give up on wearing, tucked into a sturdy pair of boots. He offers Wei Wuxian a half-apologetic smile (even if he doesn't really have anything to apologize for) and goes to hold the door open for him, bracing himself against the blast of cold air from outside that accompanies the gesture. ]