[center][h3]Christmas Village - Decorations[/h3]
[b]Edward, Sectonia & Fujiwara no Mokou[/b]
[b]Setting:[/b] Snowy Thursday Afternoon
[b]Wordcount:[/b] 1826 (+3 exp) (+6 Rapport for Mokou, Ed, and Sectonia)[/center]

The trio of Edward, Ganondorf, and Ramattra had lapsed into relative silence after the attempt to broker an allegiance had, in Edward’s eyes at least, floundered without much conclusion. It was all well and good to raise the idea of allying together, but without much of a concrete goal the Dreadnaught did not see it really going anywhere. A general stance against heroic idealism wasn’t a particularly solid foundation, even if he could see the merit in taking a collective stand against any particularly foolishly impractical ideas.

Thus the rest of their time was mostly taken up by the sound of wood being chopped, save for a brief interruption when Edward had to panickily stop his golems mid swing before they sent a pair of tree climbing flea children plummeting to the ground.

Usuring them back to their caravan was as good an excuse as any to break ranks and seek some time with his own thoughts without the noise of woodcutting getting in the way. He got about a minute of this before being approached by Sectonia who came bearing the gift of a festive outfit.

As he’d gradually find out, he’d gotten off rather lightly.

[color=ea590c]”Well, this one looks warm at least”[/color] he said as he examined the [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/312db7ec3b73.png]bulkier[/url] of the two outfits. It was certainly better than the [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/8bcfc1cf9ab1.png]parade uniform[/url] in that regard. 

[color=ea590c]”It even has armor, though I can’t say I’m familiar with the material”[/color] he noted after tapping a shoulder pad with a knuckle.

[color=92278f]”Seems to be fiberglass.”[/color] Sectonia said, taking a glance at where Edward was tapping. He was her last delivery, so with that done she could think about what she was going to do next. The other thing she wanted to do, besides costumes, was decorate things. Maybe show a popstar christmas? 

[color=ea590c]”Interesting”[/color] Edward replied, before completing his inspection and turning his attention back to the queen.  He began to say[color=ea590c]”I take it you’ve fully committed to this…”[/color] paused briefly to find the appropriate words and landed on [color=ea590c]”[i]novel[/i] solution to the storm?”[/color]

[color=92278f]”This is not the first time I’ve seen Christmas, and this is not the first time it may be involved in a ritual. It is a big holiday on Popstar, probably the biggest. So while I’d prefer more crystals, I understand how this works.”[/color] Sectonia said, no embarrassment in her voice, but also not a whole lot of enthusiasm either. 

[color=92278f]”Why, do you not have this holiday where you're from?”[/color] She said.

[color=ea590c]”Winter festivals are rather common, but no, I’ve not encountered one specifically called Christmas”[/color] Edward replied, finding it curious that it seemed like this specific one might be something that existed in multiple realities, before asking [color=ea590c]”What would the crystals be for? Decorations?”[/color]

[color=92278f]”Of course.”[/color] Sectonia said simply. The group knew what she was into, and left those jobs for her or so it looked like. [color=92278f]”For example...”[/color] Sectonia said, summoning a crystal platform and using her crystal axe, smashing and chopping it up until it was carved into a series of crystal stars and hearts which she hung up on the nearby building.

[color=92278f]”Stars, Hearts, christmas trees, or just round baubles and candy canes. These are good examples of decorations. Larger buildings might have a loop of holly above their doorways.”[/color] She continued, explaining how decorations should be done. At least how it was done on Popstar, which while close, was different from traditional christmas.

[color=ea590c]”I see”[/color] Edward said from a good way back, having gotten well clear of axe swinging range, not to mention crystal shrapnel range. Now though he stepped in and picked up one of the stray shards. He inspected it for a moment, before proceeding to start casually whittling it with a small knife while they talked.

[color=ea590c]”That your next task then?”[/color]

[color=92278f]”Indeed. Although it will take quite a bit of time to get all the decorations up. While my antlers can handle the smaller stuff, the more people on the task, the faster it will go. And outside of hunting those snow imps, which I’m sure some will reveal themselves as we decorate, this task will be the lengthiest out of all of them.”[/color] Sectonia said, getting back to making more crystal decorations in roughly the same manner. 

It was at this time that a familiar white haired girl wandered into view, dressed in a [url=https://cdn.imgchest.com/files/82ec8145662c.png]fairly extravagant[/url] christmas outfit, one far different from the normal set she wore. The Phoenix had initially tried to decline, but she had eventually folded for the ‘christmas spirit’, forced to loop her arms around the back of her head instead of keeping them in her pockets as she usually did, [color=ed1c24]“Hey. Looks like you two are keeping yourself busy. Carving out some decorations?”[/color] Mokou asked, walking over to the two as they kept working.

[color=ea590c]”I suppose we are, yes”[/color] Edward replied without too much enthusiasm, pausing his whittling and examining the palm sized crystal star he’d produced and suggesting [color=ea590c]”It might be better if we string these up rather than placing them individually. Also we should use a workshop rather than littering the place with shards like this”[/color] 

As Edward said this, an antler was sweeping up all the gem dust and shards into a pile, while another one was pulverizing the gems into a fine powder. Some of this powder would be placed to make some areas pop, much like glitter but far less sticky, while other dust was being used to help decorate some decorations themselves.

[color=ed1c24]“Hm. Suppose that [i]wouldn’t[/i] be too exciting of a task. Can’t say I’ve done much decorations, hard to have a reason to when you lived far and away from civilization, but I don’t have anything better to do”[/color] Mokou says with a shrug, walking over to the pile of crystals and picking up a sizable chunk, [color=ed1c24]“Got a spare knife I can use?”[/color]

The man flipped the knife around to hold it by the blade before offering Mokou the handle. He needed to go change into his new outfit anyway.

[color=92278f]”There may be decorations that they have ready to set up. Ornaments I can create, however Wreaths and other such items we would need to use their supply. Perhaps you could find and place those? They often go on doors or above doorframes.”[/color] Sectonia said, offering a faster method for these two as while she could craft her own crystals fairly well with her spirits, they had to do it with a much slower method. 

Finding the storehouse for decorations didn’t take too much time, asking around they were brought to a fairly festive building that was large, but not too descript. Unlike the costume shop, it wasn’t like people came in here all that often with much of the decorations stored in festive looking crates with names on them. This did bring up a decoration Sectonia forgot as her gemstones gave a glorious glow in the moonlight, something that might be a problem here. Christmas lights, and they could go nearly anywhere and make any pattern.

“Wreaths? Sure. I know the basics on where those go, so no need to tell me” Mokou says, tossing the crystal back into the pile before walking over to the wreaths in question, picking a few up and slinging them over her shoulder, slowly floating off to set them up around town.

Edward (now donning his festive armor, having changed while the other two asked around) had found a set of stars attached to part of them, one of which he turned here and there before speculating [color=ea590c]”I think these are meant to go atop something? A staff, rod, pole or.. Oh or perhaps a treetop? We could decorate some of the surrounding ones to liven up the dark forest around the town perhase?”[/color]

[color=92278f]”Either of those options work. Perhaps set up some lights if you are going to decorate the trees. I realized that my gemstones glimmer with moonlight, but with the absence of the massive moon backdrop of my home lights may be needed to make everything glimmer properly.”[/color] Sectonia said, explaining her new thoughts as she continued to craft her crystal ornaments. 

[color=ea590c]”We’ll need fire then, or some sort of magical or technological light source. Lets see what we can find”[/color] Edward replied, before continuing to pop open crates to see what they could find.

Tinsel, baubles, lights and more were found, along with a mischievous flea child who had thought they had a very good hiding spot before they got locked inside of it by accident. 

The light issue, however, was still an issue, until Edward got creative with his enchantment, and had three bronze golem squads wrap themselves up in tinsel and hold a massive star of crystal up above their heads. He then fooled the universe into thinking these crystals were weapons, which to be fair, they could entirely be used as, causing his seating weapon enchantment to cause each one glow with heat and, more importantly, light

These lovely radiators for one lit up the village, and that light was reflected off of many smaller carved crystal decorations that had been strung up and hung between the houses, or wrapped around several of the largest surrounding trees.

The warehouse stocks were also put to good work, wreaths decorated doorways, tinsel and baubles joined crystal decorations. There were also a number of more specific ornaments, such as colorful straw goats that had to be kept well away from the burning stars, large stockings, little figures of reindeer, jolly red beaded men, festively clad elves. 

By the time they were done flying around putting all this up, the town was literally aglow with festive cheer. Sectonia gave her two helpers a thumbs up of approval once everything was done, making everything beautiful with the additional glow of her hand made crystal ornaments reflecting and glowing with the light of the christmas lights, making things just a bit more ephemeral. 

Mokou herself seemed pretty content with the decorations, having flown around and placed the wreaths in various hard to reach locations. She even seemed to have decorated her own hair with a smaller wreath, letting it contrast with the white. Once she returned to the other two, she gave them a thumbs up, before ultimately floating off once again, her work done in this area.