17 [voice and action]

[stungunning]

Action!

[During the morning, Milly is out and about, safely and warmly bundled up in the snow and pulling a wheelbarrow along with an equally bundled up baby Noah strapped to her front. In her wheelbarrow she has a pair of pruning shears, a small handsaw, a blue plastic tarpaulin and a few balls of string, and she is clearly a lady on a mission.

A decorative mission.

That's right Luceti, Milly Wolfwood is on a mission to find a Christmas Tree and is taking no prisoners! Feel free to stop and say hello.

When she's back home and Noah's napping, she'll be trying to wrangle the Christmas Tree into place and attempting to dodge Kuroneko and Donut who seem to have been entranced by the decorations.]

Voice

Goodness, I can't believe it's so late in the year already, it seems like we've only just had spring after all! Before we know it Christmas will be all over and done with and we'll be looking at the New Year. I know a lot of people have probably had a very tricky year and perhaps a lot of horrible things might have happened, but you know, I can't believe that it could possibly be all bad.

Does anybody feel like sharing their high and low points of the year?

Comments

[Action]

[savedtheworld]

[He tries to wave her off in vain as she cleans at it.]

Gee, thanks. I hope I make a good first impression, then, for any other Aangs out there! And it's no problem - everything babies do are too cute for me to mind. But I understand why you're concerned about what he eats. After all, with how little he is, you don't want him to start thinking he's a cat!

[And Aang pokes at Noah's outreaching hand, unsure if he should surrender the scarf again.]

[Action]

[stungunning]

[Noah seizes the proffered finger in a tiny gloved hand and fixes Aang with a big, blue eyed stare as he tries to size him up. It apparently doesn't take him very long because there's a big gummy smile following it up.

Milly in the meantime chuckles at the idea of Noah thinking he could be a cat.]

Oh goodness, I don't think his daddy would like that very much at all, he has a vendetta against the cat enough as it is.

[She quietly fixes Noah's hat on his head before carrying on.]

So are you planning to do anything nice for the holidays?

[Action]

[savedtheworld]

[He gives his own smile right back to the baby. And the mention of of the father... Suddenly Aang's heart feels good. He's heart too much about families being splintered in this place. He still remembered a woman who was here for a short time whom had been separated from her baby. Knowing that there was one whole family here... Aang couldn't help but feel good about it.]

Yeah, I want to do lots of nice things for all these new holidays! Mostly I wanna spend lots of time with my friends who are also my family and as many of my new friends as I can, and I want to get everyone presents!

[Action]

[stungunning]

[Milly laughs.]

Well it sure sounds like you've got the spirit alright! Christmas is all about being with people who you love and care about. It's going to be my second one here and my second one ever without being surrounded by my brothers and sisters and parents and nies ces and nephews, but I think we try and make it as cheerful as we can at home. My friends are my family here, and then there's my husband and this little man... it's different but that doesn't mean it won't be just as special as a big family Christmas.

What sort of things do you celebrate in the winter where you come from?

[Action]

[savedtheworld]

I see. Yeah, as long as you have people who are like family... there's still a lot of good from that.

[If Noah still has Aang's fingers in his grasp, Aang lazily starts waving his arm as some odd kind of handshake.]

In my world, there's a few different nations who do different things in the winter. Mostly there's just a few festivals and stuff, but nothing like these holidays. But there's still plenty of opportunities to have fun in the snow!

[Action]

[stungunning]

[Noah certainly does, and as he grips Aang's finger with one hand, he flails the other one as he bounces excitedly in his carrier, making pleased noises. This is fun!]

Oh so you're already used to the snow? That's good; it was a bit of a shock to the system coming here where there are actual seasons and the weather changes. Where I lived was a big ol' desert where hardly anything ever grew without a whole heap of hard work to get it there. I do love the snow even though it's so cold, it's just so pretty!

[Action]

[savedtheworld]

[Excellent. It's liken a little ride with his hand. He keeps it going as he talks, sometimes making it a little wavey.]

Whoa! Really? I can't imagine what it's like to be stuck in the desert and not know all the seasons. It makes me kind of sad, but it also must be real good to experience them for the first time here. In my world, my people lived in the mountains, and I visited places all over the world, including the south and north poles, where it was really, really snowy! So I'm used to stuff like this. But that doesn't make snow any less beautiful.

[Action]

[stungunning]

[Milly gets a wistful look on her face; it's been quite some time since she's talked about Gunsmoke like this. Noah meanwhile is enthralled by his newest favourite person and is enraptured by Aang's magical wavey hand.]

It wasn't a very easy place to live, or very peaceful most of the time. I used to travel all over the place for work, and there was only one time I ever came across somewhere like Luceti with trees and grass and green spaces. I think that was what most of the people were trying to get when it comes down to it. When I woke up here two springs ago it really was like being in a very very strange dream. But goodness, you're lucky you already knew about snow and seasons and mountains. It still seems like something very magical to me, I don't think I ever want to think of it as something normal.

[Action]

[savedtheworld]

[He just keeps it up for a little while longer, slowing down but also pausing every now and then to flash Noah a silly face.]

It's still magical for me, in a way. All of nature is, whether I know it or not. But I guess that's a good thing about this place. Getting to experience all these kinds of things you couldn't at home. Does that mean you've been here for two whole years?