The Christmas Tree

[Shiloh]

During Christmas day, Shiloh dressed up as an elf and delivered gifts to all of the people that were in the apartments, knowing full well that most of them were Meta's and without their families or their traditions this year. She understood their loneliness and their pain, and in their box of gifts, she had included a unique, special ornament for each of them, along with a note:

“Right near this place, your new home, is the last remnant of your old home… and it seems so lonely, so sad. So Santa has brought to you something new, something beautiful… A Christmas tree. It stands just outside of the Ark, where your two homes meet. It has been covered in lights, in ribbons and candy canes… and all it is missing is Christmas ornaments. This is such a silly little tradition, but every family comes together most years to decorate the tree and to hang their favorite ornaments. We hope you will join us. Bring your ornament, and we can all hang them together. Like a family.”

She wasn't sure who would show up, or if anybody would. She had asked Adelaide and DJ to meet with her the night before, and she had even managed to swallow her fear and ask Xapham to help her as well. She had even delivered ornaments to him to give to the orphans he took care of, with their own note as well. The Christmas Tree at night was an even more breath-taking sight, covered in lights and ribbons, lit up, bright and beautiful. She was so proud of what they had all accomplished. It brought tears to her eyes.

Shiloh wore her favorite Christmas dress, with her ornament in hand, waiting to see if anybody else would come.

[WR Harthe]

WR would show up to the event in their usual attire with an added beanie, hands in pockets as they scanned the area. It really was a sight for sore eyes, they had to admit. They weren't normally one to care about holidays, ESPECIALLY now that they had very little to celebrate and no one to celebrate it with, but the random act of kindness from the neighborhood Santa had them in a 'what the hell?' kinda mood, so they decided to show up in a timely fashion and see what there was to see.

They weren't actually home when the presents were delivered, but they would have no doubt in their mind come to find Shiloh was behind the whole thing.

[Djoser Aneksi]

Even after staying to help with the tree, Josie was there bright and early to help go around and deliver gifts. Dressed up as another elf, she would have spent the morning skipping around with the gift bag, making sure that Shiloh had the gift in her hands as the doors opened. 

Now she was giving Shiloh cupped hands over her face and wiping her tears away. "You did it. Now smile, people are starting to show up! I'm sure they'd love to meet the beautiful mind behind it all." She would say motioning to WR. Offering her own wave to them, hoping they'd recognize her as different as she looked. Making a small illusion of small, Christmas colored fireworks appear around the two girls in elf costumes.

[Adelaide]

Adelaide would come by and sneak up behind Shiloh and Josie, grabbing Shiloh's hand and running off the other side of the Christmas Tree she had a huge silly grin on her face. She would be giggling as she lead her friend to the other side of the tree.

"Hey, I know I hung up the other ornament you gave me earlier... but I got one that belonged to my mother and... Well I feel like she would've really liked this and I was wanting you to be with me when I hung it up."

If Shiloh agreed, Adelaide would smile as she pulled out small black crow ornament and she would hang it up on the tree and she would back off to grab Shiloh's hand. The tears threatening at the corners of her eyes.

"This... is beautiful, I'm so proud of you."

She would give Shiloh a huge hug. She would look up and notice the Mistletoe and her face would turn a deep Crimson, but she wouldn't say anything! Things were still... a little weird since she kissed Shiloh last time...

[Shiloh]

Shiloh was grinning ear to ear, leaning close to Josie as she admired the Christmas tree. A few had come up and hung their ornaments, and Xapham's orphans seemed to have a great time. She was excited, waving to WR as they arrived.

However, Adelaide grabbed her hand, seemingly out of nowhere, and the two went off through the snow and cold. Shiloh was laughing with glee, and gladly stayed close to her friend as she hung the little crow ornament. "Its perfect, Adel! I'm so glad that your mom could be here for this!"

As the two girls embraced, she glanced up, and saw the mistletoe as well. Giggling, she pulled back just enough to place a delicate butterfly kiss on her best friend's cheek. "I love you," she whispered, and then began to pull Adelaide back over to DJ.

"This tree came out so amazing! We all did such a great job!" She grabbed DJ's hand with her other one, still holding Adelaide's, and turned back to the tree. "I'm so happy we can all be together, tonight.... WR! WR, come over here! We can hang the ornament Santa brought you, together!" Shiloh was grinning, bouncing up on her toes.

[WR Harthe]

WR was close to turning back and going home until they were addressed by Dj, then Shiloh. They held their ground for a few minutes, contemplating on whether they actually wanted to deal with people tonight or not, but finally began to walk over after a deep, long sigh.

"Hi, I'm here." They said as they approached the group, crossing their arms and avoiding gazes. The ornament dangled from one of their fingers.

[Soni Vox]

Soni slowly stepped up to the tree, admiring its beauty as she approached. The glory of it all sparkled in her ice blue eyes. In truth, it was breathtaking. That Shiloh girl really did a good job. It was one of the prettiest she had ever seen.

The girl looked back down to the ornament that she held in the long sleeves of her oversized penguin sweater. As she looked at the beautiful music note snowflake, she could hear the words of her newfound friend said the day she received the gift. However, with the snow, the tree, and this ornament, new sounds filled her mind. Sounds from nearly a decade ago.

"Did you ever celebrate in the orphanage?" Veronica asked, hanging up the first of many ornaments.

"I guess," the girl replied with a shrug. "But it always sucked. The kids were noisy and always wanted more presents, the older ones were persistent reminding us that Santa wasn't real, and the caretakers were never really consistent on what the whole thing was about anyway."

Veronica chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right." She paused a brief moment in admiration of her work thus far, but also in contemplation. "Well, the main point," she resumed, grabbing another ornament from the box, "of Christmas is family. Some celebrate it to remember a family that changed the world. Others celebrate it so that they can have a reason to show their love to their family through gifts. But everyone, everywhere, despite all the intricate and opposing traditions and beliefs, is celebrating family."

Tears dripped down into her white, snowflake-dotted scarf. Soni began to silently cry, just like she did that day. In that moment long ago, the tears came from the joy of finally having a family. In this moment now, however, it came from missing that family, and wishing Veronica was here to hang up this ornament with her.

[Drake]

Drake would see the festivities and make an appearance, after all he too had received a small gift from Shiloh. That stupid naive girl. This was the opposite of staying under the radar like he had suggested. Still... he could tell that it did improve the mood of all those present. Even kids from the institute where here celebrating and having fun. He rolled his eyes as he went and hung up his ornament on the tree. He'd wave to Shiloh but otherwise wouldn't approach her. Just letting he knew that he too had shown up. With that he would leave and head to an alley way.

Once in the alley he would make sure the coast was clear, then he would focus and activate his shirt shifting him into a spirit form. He would then fly up and over the festivities, hopefully no one below would be able to see him while he was intangible, unfortunately his spirit form didn't have full invisibility. Still he was pretty sure no one had seen him as he phased through the roof of the Ark and floated down to the ground where he would become tangible again. He took a deep breath before turning around... To look at the statue of Rai. He would walk over to Rai and stare at the man turned statue before sighing.

"I... I wish I had gotten to know you better. People seem to respect you a lot. I had only met the man you thought you had to be in order for me to grow... maybe that's what I needed and maybe it isn't, either way I-"

He clenched his fist and forced himself not to cry.

"I'm sorry I never gave you a chance... a chance to be my real father... No, my real Dad. My mother ruined my image of you and even after I recognized her for what she was I still couldn't bear the idea of you being anything but a monster."

No amount of willpower could stop his tears this time.

"I just... I wanted to say that I was sorry... I wish we had gotten to have spent more time together, that I could've gotten to know you... I wish that our first Christmas together could have been different."

With that Drake would wipe the tears from his eyes as he pulled out a small Crystallized Blood Dragon. He would hang it around Rai's neck. It was an ornament that he had made himself. Just for this moment... He would place a hand on the statues chest where Rai's heart had stopped beating.

"Merry Christmas... Dad."

[Shiloh]

Shiloh had pulled away from the group, just long enough to go and greet a couple of the orphans. She smiled and waved at them, holding their hands for a moment until she caught sight of Rai. She paused, not wanting to interrupt his moment... but managed to see the entire thing. She smiled at him, whether he saw her or not, and tears touched her eyes. She wasn't entirely sure who the statue was, from this distance, but she could read his body language enough to have some clue as to what he was doing. She left him to it, and returned to her friends.

[Avice Locke]

Avice opened her door and read her note seeing the girl from the other day bounce down to continue her rounds. Avice considered it.

The fact she’d go around the world and see a world of different cultures made her feel more fulfilled from the lack there of as her own childhood was deprived from. Magic beliefs were taken from her as soon as she had heard one. In their world Santa was real but she couldn’t recall a day she received anything. She wasn’t a good kid that’s for sure. Not many of the others were either. Maybe she just wasn’t as bad as to get her ass kicked but not as good as to receive a gift either. As what most of her celebrations included with, the many cultures she visited on her travels. Not just Christmas things but obscure celebrations from nomads, small troupes, and secluded villages. Many celebrated their own traditions and Avice always felt honored to be invited, involved, and included in something so personal as a outsider. Even for a night it was nice to be welcomed as apart of something.

She wasn’t going to deny herself this regardless of her moods. She did need something that felt like home. Even a little bit. She wondered if Santa’s rules were similar here as they were back home. Granted this place was devoid of decent Qi she doubted it.

She dressed warm and the salty air filled her senses as she took the growing worn path to the Ark and low and behold there was the tree as expected she was seeing the growing number of people but she hadn’t done much yet just simply calmed in the purity of the chilled air and the waves crashing in the distance. Seeing the lights give a different glow to the Ark of which bode so much negativity. Avice was at peace.

[Fell]

Rewards: 

Personalized Christmas Ornament; Every person received a single Christmas ornament, and by coming to the Tree, they were overwhelmed by the Christmas Spirit. These ornaments were returned to them the next morning. All people who hung an ornament gain a +1 to their Energy Stat.

The following people can add +1 to their Energy Stat:

-Shiloh

-WR

-DJ

-Adelaide

-Soni

-Drake

-Avice

This is a slotless item and gives a permanent boost of +1 to Energy.