16456/Tis the season..

Tis the season..
Date of Scene:	01 December 2023
Location:	Fourth Floor: Lounge and Sitting Room
Synopsis:	Danny, Gabby, Josh and Patience begin to decorate the Candle's lounge for the winter holidays.
Cast of Characters:	Patience Alperen, Daniel Ketch, Gabby Kinney, Joshua Foley

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Patience Alperen has posed:
Thanksgiving has just passed. There was a time where that signaled the start of the next festive period leading toward Yule Tide, Christmas and the rest. These days, commercialism has pushed that transition back to Halloween or even earlier some times. But for those who try to focus on the meaning and reasons for the celebrations, timing is relevant.

Now that the beginning of December has arrived, Patience has carried a small box of decorations into the lounge area of the Candle. She is mindful of the various religions and beliefs shared among the JLD members and has no interest minimizing any of them.. Finding a suitable corner, she sets the box down and studies space. A bookshelf. An antique lamp and a few chairs and a side table. Tapping her chin she considers her plan of decorating attack.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Daniel used to like Halloween, but his sister died and he turned into a Ghost Rider in Halloween. Too many negative associations. Christmas? It was fun until he was about 12. The religious connotations long lost for him. Not that he is even into religion, he lapsed big time.

In his opinion, gods are all bastards. (Except, maybe Thor).

He keeps his opinions to himself, though. Particularly around people that considers religion important. Like, for instance, Patience. Maybe Patience. Given she is technically the descendent of the Christian God and wields a relic of the faith as a weapon he assumes she takes her religion seriously.

Maybe he should ask! Because when he sees her with a box of decorations, he makes a double take. "Oh, right..." as if the ever tacky decorations in the shops of New York weren't a big clue December has arrived. "Er... I mean. Good afternoon, Patience."

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney shuffle in carrying with her a cup of coffee that she stares at with a forlorne expression. Because she knew, no matter how strong she brewed it, no matter how much sugar she might dump into it, any boost it might give her was going to last maybe a few minutes at best. Still, it was hot and she could hope maybe her brain would make believe it worked more than it did. A sip is taken, her eyes drawing up to regard the pair already here.

"Hey Patience, Hey Danny. Sorry I wasn't around to help with the latest feathered menace. How's things?" Of course her gaze is already moving toward the decorations. Sparkly.

Joshua Foley has posed:
Joshua had not expected others to be present. He was just planning to check in, make sure Nettie was okay and then dip back out again. So when he comes across the group, there's a moment of awkward before he straightens himself back up, and a quick once over to make sure he was presentable.

"Evening all. I'm not interrupting, am I?" he asks with a touch of worry as he fidgets his hands. "Just wanted to see how mom was doing and all." His shoulders roll in a shrug and his eyes find the box. "Oh, you're decorating!"

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen sets the box down as she hears movement and voices.

"Hmm? Oh hi Danny. Gabby." She looks amused at Josh also shows up, "Hello Josh. No you're not interrupting anything. We all just got here, honestly."

Turning around to look at the others she explains briefly, "I thought it would be fun to decorate part of the shop to include all of the holidays and festivals from around the world that are observed as we get closer to Winter Solstice and the New Year. Everyone should get a chance to celebrate as they wish." She may not share the views of everyone else, but it doesn't mean she won't respect them. That's how community, how teams work. And probably why the Church is regularly frustrated with their current Magdalena.

Daniel Ketch has posed:
Daniel gets blinks and frowns as Gabby and Josh appear at the same time, coming into the room from different doors. This kind of coincidence is unnerving and happens all the time, because mystical mumbo-jumbo. He can't get used to it.

"Uh... hello, Gabby, and person I don't know... Josh? Well, I am Daniel Ketch. Or Danny." He shrugs at the decorations idea, "if you need help..." he offers.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
"As long as there's glitter and/or shiny lights," Gabby shares her own thoughts on the matter. Yes, she says and/or. Curious she wanders closer to peek into the box of decorations that Patience has pulled out to see what it has to offer.

"Oh, yeah, Danny this is Josh Foley, recently adopted by Nettie. I knew him from awhile back and then he got unalived and re-alived so..." Her hand gives a little lift and shrug balancing her coffee cup in the free hand. "Fits the theme for here a bit. Plus he's got some awesome powers. Josh, Daniel's one of our Riders."

"Where'd you find these, Patience?"

Joshua Foley has posed:
To be fair, Josh has no problems with religion or church. It was just his parents bright idea to excommunicate him after his powers activated and he died and came back to life. It was an awkward time, all around.

"Decorating sounds like a great idea, Miss Patience. I'd be happy to assist." Joshua comments before Daniel introduces himself and the golden hued mutant smiles in warm greetings. "Hello, Danny. I'm Joshua, or Josh." Then Gabby steps in for the introduction and he laughs. "As Gabby said, I'm also Nettie's adopted son, and help the group as a healer... beacuse well. It's what I do best. Besides kickflips."

A pause and then a shake of his head. "Naw, healing is definetly better now." But then Gabby's tone catches his attention. "Uh. We don't have haunted decorations, do we?"

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen steps to the side so that everyone can look into the box. It isn't a huge box or vast selection but a number of beliefs are represented. A small Christmas tree. A Nativity scene, a Menorah, a Kinara among others as well as a number of strands of lights to be used.

"Oh I didn't realize you hadn't met Josh yet." She offers an apologetic smile.

Back to the decorations she offers, "I actually went shopping at a number of curio and antique stores. If we're going to celebrate it feels.. mm.. disrespectful to use new and commercial decorations, you know? The Candle is our home. It should feel like it I think?"

Looking to Josh, she laughs, "Please, just Patience.." She looks to Gabby, "And I think I missed something.. a feathred menace?"

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"Here?" Daniel glances Josh. "I am sure there are haunted decorations somewhere," comments the young man, deadpan. "Patience here does the de-haunting bit well, though. These should be safe," the last sentence said while rummaging through the box. "Pretty sure I don't know what half these things are, I mean, if they have any meaning besides the obvious."

At least they don't seem as garish as the 99.9% of what the shops of New York are using. "Uh, yes. Those damn disrespectful commercial decorations," he has to agree.

Gabby Kinney has posed:
Gabby Kinney lets out a small breath at Patience's explanation. "Oh okay then just making sure..." Josh just gets an enigmatic grin. Was she just pulling everyone's leg on that? Quite possibly.

She does step to the side so others can look, though her hand fishes in to pull out some lights. "I can work on getting these untangled. I'm surprisingly good at that. Besides, I haven't really decorated in a few years. Should be fun."

Joshua Foley has posed:
"Sara told me about the Demongroogoose, or whatever it was called." Josh frowns. "I haven't had a chance tio really check on Nettie since that happened." He makes his way over to the decorations, looking down at them with a curious tilt of his head.

Finally, he decides to withdraw the tree. "I can work on setting this up. I've always wanted to try to set up an artifical tree. Been so used to the real thing."

Daniel Ketch has posed:
"The what?" No one told Danny about demon goose. It sounds like something Nettie would get into, though. "No, I don't want to know. You know what? You get the decorations set and I will get a coffee pot going. Coffee is Christmas worthy, right? Of course it is. Give me ten minutes." He sneaks out.

Patience Alperen has posed:
Patience Alperen nods slowly. "Yes. I'm sure Nettie has a box of haunted decorations someplace.. hopefully fully warded" she says with a wry laugh.

"Demon goose?" She blinks. "I didn't hear about that either.. wow."

"Thanks Gabby" she offers about the lights. "There are I think four strands and a couple of new boxes too."

Moving to give Josh a hand, the tree is isn't huge, really just about three feet tall. Enough to hold a corner of the room but without dominating.

"We don't have to get everything up now. We can leave some of it for thers on the team to put out as well. Everyone that wants to be a part of it certainly should get the chance!"