(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

this man is three years old

[deferences]

[today might be the one day sizhui curses his heavily ingrained sleep schedule while in horrortown. he had wanted to stay awake and receive whatever gift the technicians were actually going to grant him, but a little after ten or so, he hadn't managed to keep his eyes open.

if he had, perhaps he would've been more acutely aware something was off at some particular time during the night. (this morning? whichever it is—) he sleeps on nonetheless, so lost in dream-state, there isn't even a flinch toward the calling of his name and barely any movement from the door closing. he buries deeper into his blankets, sighing in contentment, mouth curved in the faintest smile— until there are hands shaking him awake. rousing with a soft ‘mmn,’ the boy rises off the pillows, sits straight up, turns his half-lidded gaze toward wei wuxian then lets his head tilt sideways.]

...Xian-gege? [his voice is thick, sleep-addled on top of extra grogginess from being woken, but he clears his throat, spares a glance around them, licks his lips before reaching to brush some mussed hair aside. (don't be drooling, don't be drooling!)] You're sure up early... [the man looks pleased rather than distressed, yet problems are the first thoughts his mind always leaps to given their location.] Is— is something the matter?

four now! he had a birthday

[mannerless]

( well! that's certainly one thing the boy has gotten from him and not lan zhan - he wakes up slowly. too slowly, that's five whole seconds that wei ying is forced to sit ever-so-patiently on his revelation until sizhui is conscious enough to comprehend it.

'is - something the matter?' wei ying's subtly eager (okay, overtly eager, perhaps almost childishly eager) expression crumples to something more plaintive, and he scoffs out - ) Clearly not. Is that how they wake you in your Cloud Recesses when something's the matter? How terribly ineffective.

o rite MY BAD finally almost out of the toddler stage

[deferences]

[wow, five whole seconds, he's sorry to have ruined the surprise! but for whatever it may be worth, once sizhui is a bit more lucid, his features have brightened somewhat, lips quirked at the sight of wei wuxian totally unharmed. it's good, he likes it that way.

as soon as the man's enthusiasm dips, he reaches out, catches his father's forearm and protests,] I'm sorry, I just thought— [then stops, wrinkles his nose, lets his fingers cinch a little tighter.] Nevermind, it doesn't matter what I thought. Tell me, what happened that has you so excited?

[mannerless]

( the grip on his arm is fine enough - in fact, wei ying has thoughtlessly closed his other hand around sizhui's wrist in return, as if to hold the hand there in place but without any proper urgency.

but now that sizhui has asked... )

Oh, nothing terribly important - just a golden core, is all. ( so in actuality he means 'something extremely important', but semantics. )

[deferences]

[instinctively, sizhui's hand almost reaches to hold that arm in return— almost being the keyword there, because he decides otherwise, lets it hover mid-air a moment longer than he means before finally lowering it again.

not like he needs two hands to feel it, after all, and alongside wei wuxian's barefaced attempt at being dismissive, well—

one slow blink then another, his expression initially wrinkling with disbelief at such a nonchalant response, but despite this, he can't even find it in himself to really be upset in any sense.] ‘Nothing terribly important,’ he says, when it's something outstandingly significant! [he's not resisting shaking his head, though.]

The Technicians... [since who else could have, honestly?] With their wishes?

[mannerless]

( to be entirely fair, it wasn't nonchalant when he shook sizhui awake like an impatient child. and the grin that bursts quietly forth from the scolding is similarly almost childlike in its delight, nearly enough in its own right to make one forget that he and the yiling patriarch are (were?) the very same man.

'the technicians... with their wishes?' it earns a single crisp nod, and - ) I didn't think they'd actually do it. Did you ask for something?

[deferences]

[despite matters, he can't help smiling in kind once wei wuxian beams the way he does; it's so wholehearted, how can he resist? really, this is why sizhui sometimes can't believe he is the fearsome yiling patriarch of legend, because the duality is sorta surreal (but he'll always be dad first). he feels a little self-conscious, having wished for something as simple as robes, but the childhood memories are something significant!]

I did! Some robes and... childhood memories. [which sort of explains why things felt off for him, too.] Honestly? I didn't think they would, either.