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

Reynard is back to staring, a frown on his brow. So many questions. They seem to mount endlessly. Once she's given her answer, he shifts his weight to one leg and tilts his head at her. "You know, for someone so open about answering my questions, you're very mysterious. What do you mean 'you've all heard of me'?"

"I..I am trying to answer them."

Hazel frowns slightly. She's not doing a proper job at explaining herself, clearly. Of course he'd be confused. He's been all alone for so long. She takes a large sip of her drink before pressing her free hand to her chest, gesturing to herself.

"You're older than I am. Than we are. We've heard of you because every one of us is only here because of you. That's all. You were the first, and the rest of us followed. Of course you're rather well known."

Hazel is trying her best to explain and Reynard is trying his best to understand. He watches her carefully, brow weighed down with a frown, as if taking note of her gestures will help him decipher her words.

"I don't understand," he admits. He rubs his beard again before using both hands to try and help him ask his questions. "I'm the first… spirit?" He squints, brow shooting up again. That seems… impossible. Surely they were all born at the same time, made simultaneously by some whim of Nature. "Or the first to come to the Nexus?" His expression drops. "Are there more spirits in the Nexus?"

"No."

She shakes her head. Reaches forward and presses the pad of her index finger against his fancy coat right over his heart. The breeze picks up again. The sound of leaves tumbling in the wind, tinted by winter's chill fills the air.

"You're the first to become human. The first one to try and gain a body. We would not exist such as we are without you." Hazel's words carry on the wind and through it, each word falling into Reynard's mind like another tumbling leaf.

It is one thing to be a spirit, intangible and yet present. Acting through nature and for it. But it is another altogether to become human. Or close to it. To inhabit a body of the living and walk among them. They who gave shape and form to the creation myths. The dreamers. The sky watchers.

It is easy to see something else in those amber eyes that stare up at Reynard now. Something primal and ethereal, nothing more than a spirit of the air. But she blinks and it's gone. Because Hazel Tasker is also human, and it's a choice she made because of Reynard's decision to do so first.

"We owe you a great debt." Her voice is normal once more. Quiet and serious.

Yet again, Reynard is left staring, speechless. After a while he flinches as his thoughts creep up on him. He gained a body... Became human... Chose to become human..? A part of him instantly recoils. But he remembers everything... why doesn't he remember this? Why doesn't he know this?

His eyes flick back and forth, and this time he really does look like he could use a seat. He stumbles back a step and half turns away from her, running a hand through his hair.

"I don't... understand," he mumbles. "I don't... remember..."

Maybe he doesn't want to remember. Maybe Winter doesn't want him to. Maybe he just never thought to try, even after all this time... What is he? What is he? Winter, right now, but the rest of the year...

"I'm sorry. Don't try to take it all in at once, perhaps. We've only just met after all..."

Hazel's touch is gentle, like a light on in the window beckoning in the workers from the field as the nights grow longer. She nudges him toward a chair, pressing a glass of cider into his chilled hands.

"All you need to know right now is that I'm like you, and I"m very grateful toward you for being who you are Reynard."

While she talks he lets her guide him over to a chair, but before he can sit, he turns his troubled brow to her, searching her eyes. "I have so many questions." He looks away. "So many questions and so little time."

In this place time snaps and twists strangely, but he can feel it move nevertheless, future becoming past in a breath (and then sometimes resetting or reversing, but such is the way of the Nexus).

He looks back to Hazel and grabs ahold of her arm. "Are you staying? Will you be here even when my Season has ended?"

"Reynard you and I have nothing but time."

Her reminder is soft, gentle as she can make it. They're not mortal like the others here. Not entirely. His touch on her arm is cold but not unkind. It is leaning against a frosted window and watching the snow from the comfort and safety of one's home.

It's taking the first step into a freshly fallen snow and breathing in the crisp cool air. He's asking her to stay. The first spirit Hazel has ever come into contact with at the height of his power....and he doesn't want her to leave. She's flushing slightly and it has nothing to do with the drink she's had.

"O-of course. If that's what you'd like. I've never had the chance to work together with another spirit in person before, and you can see firsthand the work I do to prepare for you. Yes. Yes I think I'd like that."

She's right, of course. They have time, and he has patience. It's the memory of mortal life that reminds him of fear, of selfishness, the knowledge that things can change in the blink of an eye. That she accepts with a blush allows him to relax and relinquish his grip on her.

"That's what I would like," he says with certainty. Though his renown, or infamy, is still strange to see affect a spirit like himself, he's not going to question it any further. Not yet. That it seems to be working in his favour doesn't give him much incentive to either.

He rests his hands on his hips and tries to look close to casual. "Do you have somewhere to stay?" He looks her up and down and hesitates. "Are there... traditions... or duties for this kind of thing?"

There's anxiety slightly that comes with his request. A worry that he'll not be satisfied with her work. That he'll change his mind once Winter's over. She's never met another spirit face to face before either. Her only leg up on Reynard is knowing they exist at all. Hazel manages to quit her embarrassed blushing and stifle her worries for the moment.

She knows all too well the importance of balance. It can become easy for her to get swept away in the details. The numbers, the what ifs. Planning (and worrying) for every possible scenario. It's equally as important to know when to step back and let what will happen, happen.

"I do not. I've been drifting since arriving here, taking in this place and trying to understand it." Hazel spares another look around them at the scenery and the Nexus proper.

"And I really don't know. Probably not? I really truly haven't met any other spirit before you in person, I promise. I'm just stumbling through this as best I can trying to mind my manners."

Edited 2018-01-03 03:39 (UTC)

Generous hospitality is not necessarily a Winter trait, but keeping people he cares about is. And while she doesn't know of any established courtesies between spirits Reynard can't help but feel that it's his duty to make sure a fellow Seasonal spirit is looked after. Besides, it gives him an opportunity to make sure he knows where she is.

Thinking of easy solutions, however, is difficult. "I know of all the bed and breakfast establishments worth knowing," he tells her after a moment. Then he hesitates, shifting his weight from one leg to the other before settling his hands on his hips. "Or... My own cabin, on my world- our world, is... Well." He half laughs. "I won't be using it for a few months."

"I had considered finding a more permanent home for myself here in the Nexus. It would be so convenient not to have to move every few years if I stayed here and simply commuted to Earth for my work and duties to Autumn, but I'd hardly know where to start looking."

Her eyes widen at his offer. Offering to allow a stranger into his home? What a decidedly unWinter thing to do! The generosity has her smiling before long, small and understanding.

"You wouldn't mind if I moved some of my things and stayed there for the Winter? Are you sure?"

Having someone he doesn't know move into his personal space? Yes, yes he would mind a great deal. But there's no better way to keep his eye on her than to loan her his home.

He puts on a smile. "Of course. It's not a very big place, and you'll have to excuse the mess, but you can have it for Winter."

"Thank you for your hospitality, Reynard."

Hazel offers the smallest of hopeful smiles. She couldn't have even planned for this to have gone as well as it has. She was still busy worrying that he would hate her, and now she's going to be staying in Reynard's home for a few months.

How strange.

"Do you think now perhaps we could get a drink and you could show me around?"

Reynard turns on the spot, looking around him. They're at a solstice related celebration filled with Winter things. The air outside has a bite to it, the air inside invites people in. Winter is in full force here. What else could he be doing? Surely overtures for another Seasonal spirit were a part of his duty...

Still he's little awkward when he turns back to smile at her. "Yes. Right, yes." He places a hand gently on her back, pushing the untouched cider she'd given him into her hands. "Where have you seen already?"

There's a tiny knowing look on Hazel's face as she accepts the drink she'd tried to offer him earlier and takes a small sip of it. It's gone rather cool but it's of no matter really. Reynard can't be helped for not being particularly warm to the touch, after all.

It's not his way.

"I saw the block that was fragmented between planes during the Samhain celebration. I spent some time wandering round that area, but it was mostly little shops of one variety or another."

With the spirit's hand on the small of her back, Hazel falls into step next to him. Letting him guide them where he will.

"Do you control the whole of this place like we do on Earth? I can't believe there's a whole other plane we have reach in. I hope I haven't been shirking my duties here..."

The mention of Samhain gets an unhappy wrinkling of his nose, but he presses past it. If there's anything he wants to avoid talking about right now it's that.

"There are a hundred hundred shops to discover, but let me show you some of the wilderness." He assumes she enjoys Nature just as much as him, after all. Why would they focus on civilisation when there is wilderness to explore?

"It's... different here. Easier, and more difficult. It takes very little to change things here, but this place is fickle. It likes to be convenient for people, and Seasons rarely are, so you often have to redo your work," he explains. "It snaps back to how it was before and... Well. You'll feel it when your Season comes around again."

The quieter the voices from the Plaza get the more pronounced their footsteps crunch through the fallen snow. Winter has a way of silencing the world round it. Sending animals to hibernate or gone entirely for warmer climes. It brings a sense of serenity to the air, crisp and cold as it is.

The whole world waiting with bated breath for Spring's thaw and a return to hustle and bustle. Hazel allows her eyes to slip shut as they walk a few paces and enjoy that void of sound. It's easy to imagine there are no other souls save for the two of them in that moment.

The breeze picks up ever so softly and carries Reynard's words to Hazel.

"It seems like rather a lot of extra work. And yet I've not noticed anything amiss back home. You've done quite well keeping up everywhere however long you've been here." Hazel sips at her drink. A tiny mischievous smile on her face hidden by the action.

"We aren't our Seasons..." He pauses and corrects, "Not the whole Season. A part of it. A servant to it, but not all of it."

Looking around at the glittering air and frosted plants, he can't help but feel a warm sense of pride. "Our Seasons persist without us. We just..." He rolls a hand as he thinks. "Channel their power. As long as I make sure to spend my time roughly evenly... everything works out. Winter tells me where to go and when to go. I can hardly be led astray by my own Season."

"How easy it is to forget that sometimes, in the midst of it all."

The world of dancing colors she helps create for a few weeks of the year drowned out now in a sea of whites. Frigid greys and blues. It's beautiful too, in its own way. Hazel may be out of her element here but she does not feel unwelcome. She has quite the host to make sure of that.

"Likewise, the winds have always guided my hands." Hazel gives a nod of understanding. "I try so very hard to make a difference, though. Perhaps it's vanity."

It's a layer of white on a blanket of dead leaves and decay, a carpet Winter couldn't do without. Not in this place, not for this Winter.

Reynard shakes his head. "Not vanity. Love. The need to do our best to serve what we love, to make the world sing about it." Realising he's talking to someone who might know, might understand, he turns to her. "You feel that way too, don't you?"

Eagerly now, he turns to her as he walks, putting a hand on his heart. "I find that often the best way is by making humans understand it, feel it. They remember. They don't live long, but they live longer than most creatures. They can be as good at honouring and respecting it as they are at destroying and erasing it."

"My season gave me life. Of course it's out of Love and Devotion that I tend to my duties as a seasonal spirit."

It doesn't feel like the words are lacking the depth for which she feels when she's in her season. Hazel knows that her humanity fades to nothing but a background memory in those weeks. Unlike Winter, however, Autumn is a time of careful planning and introspection. Of balance and protection. She doesn't become as cold as he during her time. It's simply the nature of her Season.

"If only we had met sooner I feel you'd get a more respectable answer out of me. One I'm sure you'd appreciate more in the state you're in until Winter's end. It's all so...so Much during the season. Now it feels like I've been woken from a very nice dream and I know I'll not get back to sleep and to that place again for some time."

Reynard returns his gaze to the path ahead. It's the start of the Season. The initial flurry of work is over and now he just has to maintain Winter's grasp. Right now he has time time to think, and to listen.

He looks at her again suddenly. "How old-?" He catches himself and laughs, shaking his head. "No. That's not right, is it?" Calming himself, he tries again. "How long have you been... here? Human?"

"Are you asking a lady her age, Reynard?"

Hazel can't hold her serious expression for very long. It soon dissolves into a teasing grin and she nudges him with her shoulder. "That's not very polite of you."

She sips at her cider for a moment before casting a look around them. Pulling her shawl a bit tighter over her shoulders. She's more resilient than a human yet, but it's best to be cautious all the same.

"I first took on a human form in what's now Ireland, two thousand years ago, during the very first Samhain the Celts celebrated. Before that I'd watched and wondered. Yearned for a body of my own. But it took time for me to take the next step."

Reynard opens his mouth, but closes it again with a huff and an innocent shrug. That's certainly not what he meant...

His playing fades quickly when she answers him properly. "You've experienced a lot of human life then," he mumbles. Turning to her he adds, "Real civilisation hasn't been around all that long. Now you can experience so much of it at once." He looks back to the snowy path. "But you've been around long enough to get to know what it is to be… like us. In this world."

He shakes his head slowly. "I can't believe I never found you before now."

Ho Ho Ho! Happy HP Holidays!

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