nexus_crossings | Ho Ho Ho! Happy HP Holidays!

Ho Ho Ho! Happy HP Holidays!

There is something different about the Nexus this Christmas season. There is a light snow falling over the entire Nexus plaza. The snow is gentle, with no real coldness to the falling snow flakes. As one approaches the main gathering area, they will notice that there are many Christmas decorations, including garland hanging from the air, and there are twelve towering decorated Christmas trees, some sparkling with tiny icicles, some glittering with hundreds of candles. There are also thousands of floating tiny candles in the Nexus plaza, that gently move at their own discretion.

In one corner, there is an orchestra, directed by a Dwarf. All of the musicians are playing music on instruments made from ice. In the center of the Nexus plaza, is a huge banquet table, loaded with holiday foods and treats that showcases a variety of food from different cultures, and some of the different worlds that gather into the Nexus itself. The main delight of the banquet table is that magic can make the food replenish itself, meaning Christmas dinner never has to end. Most will be able to find something they would enjoy. With the added perk that the food is LOL-free.

There are some added little Christmas adventures, for those who get caught up in the holidays. Here are some of the extra options for the Holiday season.

Secret Santa!
There is an added bonus to the Secret Santa gifts this year. The presents will deliver themselves! There are tons of wrapped gifts floating through the air, destined to only drop when they reach the person to which they are intended. Please note that not all gifts will be given in the spirit of the season. There are a few prank gifts floating around too. Be sure to watch out for them!

Christmas Crackers!
There are Christmas crackers scattered among the tables, and in amongst the branches of the trees. They are decorated with festive paper that is twisted at either end like a sweet wrapper. Inside of the tube are prizes, and some contain Muggle prizes such as a paper hat, a plastic toy, and a slip of paper with a joke printed on it. But the rare person will receive a unique, peculiar magical prize, and will envelop everyone nearby in a cloud of blue smoke.

Weasley Sweaters!
Time to try your luck at the Christmas Sweater bin. There is a large rotating clothing rack that seems to have an endless supply of them. Each one more Festive than the last! Pick one and show your Christmas spirit for the rest of the day.

Enchanted Mistletoe!
Be warned Nexus traveler, the Nargles** have hung enchanted Mistletoe all around the plaza. If an unlucky person steps underneath the Mistletoe, they will find that they are magically stuck to the spot, until they can find someone to kiss them. Of course, the kiss can be platonic, familial, or even romantic. For a few unfortunate people, the kiss may be the last thing they would want to do... but it is that or be stuck in the same spot for the rest of the season.

**Nargle Wiki
[Click Here for information on the HP Holiday Event!]
[Your character is free to give other Christmas gifts to people they care about -- HOWEVER, please do not deliver your Secret Santa gift. That will be handled by the Secret Santa moderator. Please post details on your Secret Santa gift in this post please.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

He makes a little more progress on his food while she's gone. He's not particularly hungry, but he always eats what he takes, down to the last grain of rice. If he has to sit here all evening picking away at it, that's exactly what he's gonna do. Fortunately it's not quite at that kind of extreme yet.

Jim looks up when she returns, and accepts the mug, breathing in the scented steam. Smells familiar, pretty much how he remembers the first round, all those weeks ago. "Thanks."

He hadn't really paid that much attention to her previous exploration of the plaza, so he can't call her out on stretching the truth a bit for his sake. Not that he would anyway. He, of all people, can certainly sympathize with bending the facts a bit to smooth things over. "There's some kind of magical sweater rack or something like that," he tells her, pulling at the collar of the one he'd found. "And some kind of party favors over there, I think." He hasn't gone to get any himself, but he's seen several people with the paper Christmas crackers and some silly, flimsy hats that must've come out of them.

"Party favors?" She quirks an eyebrow at him and then looks around to see if she can spot the table he's talking about from here. It's just out of sight, but she can see the people with funny hats. She laughs softly at the sight and turns back to Jim. "I'm not sure those hats are doing anyone any favors," she jokes, taking a sip of her cider to keep from laughing again.

That distraction now played out, she looks over Jim's sweater with a curious look on her face. "What are the symbols on there? I know the ones for Christmas, but I've never seen those before. The colors don't seem right to be associated with either Christmas or Yule."

That gets a small smile out of him, too. "Yeah, I don't think they're meant to be the height of fashion."

"Hmm?" He glances down at himself, like he'd forgotten what it looked like. A fair assumption, since he'd only seen it for the first time no more than an hour ago. "It's a Hanukkah sweater. These ones here are dreidels; it's part of a game kids play during the holiday. The big ones are a special kind of candleholder called a menorah."

Her head tilts slightly to one side as he walks her through everything on the sweater. This is all new to her, too. "I've never heard of Hanukkah before. Is it a new thing? Or is it less popular than others?"

Amelia, why do you ask questions like these? There's no telling Jim will have the answers you're looking for about every random thing you come across in the Nexus. It's hard for her not to ask when something comes up, though.

New? That actually gets a real smile out of him, though he's certainly not mocking her for not knowing. "It's older than Christmas, but it's only celebrated by Jewish people."

Hey, at least she's asking the right person. Jim may not be a big fan of discussing his personal beliefs, but history and culture, that he can do. And it's something else for him to think about, rather than what else this time of year tends to mean to him.

"It's based on an old story from about twenty-four hundred years ago, when the Temple was under Greek control. A Jewish army called the Maccabees revolted and took it back, and since it had been desecrated, it needed to be purified by burning the menorah in the Temple every night. There was only enough untainted oil left to burn for one night, but it miraculously lasted eight nights instead, just long enough for them to be able to get more."

Stories with meaning like this are some of Amelia's favorites. She's never been one to care about prose or fiction; As a pragmatic woman, knowledge she can put to use at a later time is always going to win out over anything without a practical application.

Still, there are a few details that don't quite add up, as she lacks the base of knowledge people from Earth have. "Now the people celebrate this by lighting eight candles on this strangely shaped holder? But... why would they do that? They purified their temple - shouldn't that have been the end of it?"

Even if her goal was only to get him out of his head, she's doing a decent enough job of it, seeing as this particular holiday has little to do with his current problems. "The history's pretty long and complicated, but the short version is, the Jewish people had to deal with a lot of people trying to either kill them off or convert them to other religions, which is what the Greeks were doing. Jewish identity is a big deal - it's always been a relatively small tribe, compared to some other cultural and religious groups on Earth. There are a lot of specific traditions that only Jews follow, and the religiously observant have a code of law that they're supposed to live their lives by, handed down by a prophet thousands of years ago. Having a miracle like the oil was seen as proof of God's favor with the Jewish people, and an affirmation of Jewish identity in the face of those who would make you forsake who you are."

He smiles slightly, shrugging. "It used to be a really minor holiday, way back when. Kinda got more important when Christmas got popular around the same type of year, since most Jews don't really celebrate that one."

The stories that come along with getting Jim to open up like this are fascinating. Understanding why people do and believe the things they do helps her in so many ways, and a story about culture and history is the perfect way of doing so.

"So it's as much for the sake of history as it is for worship?" Her head tilts curiously as she thinks about everything he's told her. So many details to remember and ponder through. "They can't celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas? Or they choose not to?"

"Yeah, exactly." Jim nods, her assessment of the whole thing pretty spot on. "History and culture's at the center of a lot of it."

Oh, well then. She'd mentioned Christmas earlier; apparently she doesn't know as much as he'd assumed. That's his mistake for not asking. "From the religion angle, Christmas is about celebrating the birth of another religion's demigod, so that part's not compatible," he explains, his choice of words casting no judgment on either side of the argument. "As far as giving presents goes, that happens all eight days of Hanukkah while Christmas just has the one, so why trade down?" Jim smiles a little then, trying to lighten his own mood. Jury's still out on whether that's working.

All of these holidays are still very new to Amelia, so she often gets details mixed up. That might change eventually but for now? Jim explaining all of this is very helpful.

"I can see an argument to celebrate both," she counters, winking at him so he understands the teasing in her voice. "But I suppose if you're choosing one over the other for the sake of how many gifts you'll receive, Hanukkah makes the most sense." She's not used to being on the receiving end of gifts, but she can see this being very useful for the giving of gifts as well. "I like the idea of being able to choose for whatever reason you want, though. There's a lot of freedom in being allowed to do what makes you happiest, or what makes the most sense to you."

Jim has never really cared so much about getting presents, not that he's had very many through his life. Hunter's project this Hanukkah is a new thing for him, little trinkets and thoughtful mementos that show how much effort the other man has put into finding something meaningful to Jim. So he just smiles a little, preferring to think fond thoughts of his partner rather than the years of disappointment from his childhood.

That last statement from her resonates pretty well with him, too. "Yeah, I hear you. Tradition's not for everyone, but a lotta people find comfort in it. Do you do anything to celebrate this time of year?" he asks, a little curious. If all of the major Earth winter holidays are new to her, maybe she does something else for the solstice.

She shakes her head a little at the question. "Not really. My family marks the coming of the Winter Solstice with a family meal on my world, but nothing more than that. Christmas, Yule, and Hanukkah don't exist there, so we keep the the simpler things in life." A beat, and she laughs softly. "We didn't even give presents except on someone's birthday or in celebration of some great achievement. I would've loved to have more excuses to dote on them like all of these winter holidays." Giving presents is the easiest way for her to show how much she cares, which is always difficult to when she had to invent reasons to leave gifts for her loved ones.

Oh, well that's... yeah, he kind of understands that. Not so much with his relationship with his mom, maybe. But Sam, and his grandparents... yeah, it would've been nice to have that sort of thing more often. "Yeah, I hear you."

He doesn't particularly want to talk about his family though, not in that kind of detail. Fortunately there's a convenient way out of that particular line of thinking. "Hunter doesn't do that sort of thing either, but he's been... getting me stuff. I'm still trying to figure out how to return the favor."

"Oh? Does he celebrate one of the holidays? Or was he looking for an excuse to spoil you?" She gives him a teasing wink. It's rather endearing to see Jim Kirk get a little flustered about receiving gifts from the person he loves. Not that she'll ever admit it out loud, of course, lest it get back to the non-bearded one. "From what you've said about him, I get the impression he isn't worried about return gifts. Maybe he wants you to simply enjoy being doted on for a while?"

Jim Kirk is a man who does not blush.

Lies. There's a faint pinkish tinge to his cheeks and the tips of his ears, if not from her teasing, than from the slightly uncomfortable - yet touching - fact that Hunter is doting on him, something he's still not entirely used to. Nobody does that. Never have. Except that's changed now, and what does he do with that?

"He doesn't celebrate them either, no. But... even if he doesn't expect anything, I still feel like I should." He looks back up at her, smiling slightly. "I've got enough time, I might as well."

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Ho Ho Ho! Happy HP Holidays!

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject