worktodo: (COFFEE ☮ why does it taste like fish)
Albert Rosenfield ([personal profile] worktodo) wrote in [community profile] route_10652012-12-23 03:53 pm

We Survived the Snowmageddon

Who: Albert Rosenfield ([personal profile] worktodo) and whoever is congregating at the Justice Farm for the Christmas holiday!
Where: El Rancho del Justicia, aka Albert's house in Saffron City
When: Anytime between Monday the 24th and Wednesday the 26th!
Summary: A lot has changed in a month, but some things never do. Losers getting together to fail their way through the holiday season is one of them.
Rating: Individual threads may vary, but let's go with G overall and warn otherwise!
Log:

Despite generally doing a very excellent Grinch impression, Albert doesn't actually hate Christmas. Granted, it's not one of his favorite holidays the way that Thanksgiving is — it's a little too overdone, a little too commercial, lacking in some of the spirit of togetherness in favor of the spirit of consumerism — but it is decidedly a holiday, and once again Johto has presented him with a situation where he is forced to make a choice. For the second time this year (by Albert's reckoning), Johto appears to have done everything in its power to prevent them from putting on a holiday, including but not limited to summoning up the actual apocalypse. The question that begs to be asked, therefore, is simply: is Albert willing to surrender Christmas in the face of all these apparent attempts to ruin it?

The answer, naturally, is: oh, hell no.

It is, however, an undeniably different atmosphere from the one that filled the house on Thanksgiving. Most of the occupants of the house are worse off now than they were then, be it emotionally or physically — some from spooky encounters, some from harsh truths, and some from going out in the apocalyptic snow like the damn fools they are — so if there's slightly less pep and enthusiasm saturating the grounds, that could certainly be why. Any decorations applied to the outside of the house have been battered at best and outright wrecked at worst. But as the slightly paraphrased song lyric goes, "Though the weather outside is frightful, by the fire it's so delightful", and the interior of the house is a thankfully different story.

On Monday, Albert will be spending the Eve of Christmas largely in the kitchen, having allotted the whole day for getting all the components of Christmas dinner prepared and readied in advance; on Thanksgiving, it's a fundamental part of the holiday tradition to run around the kitchen like a madman trying to get dinner to the table on time, but for Christmas, he'd rather everything just go smoothly. Early arrivals are welcome to hang out in the cozy parts of the house, grab some cocoa, and carefully avoid him; otherwise, they might get drafted into menial labor like shoveling out the front walk or putting the finishing touches on the interior decor before the party officially kicks off.

By Tuesday, it's all Christmas all the time; there is no victory quite so sweet as the one that comes hard-won, and as far as Albert is concerned, the most effective "screw you" to Johto's Snowmageddon is putting on an occasion that is positively bursting with holly and jolly anyway. Somewhere near the kitchen, Zack the Porygon2 is contributing by blasting from his Gear's speakers a concert of every Christmas song he knows (of which there are three: "Feliz Navidad", "Grandma Got Run Over By A Stantler Reindeer", and the Weather Girls' "It's Raining Men"). A stately (albeit slightly lopsided) Christmas tree that is probably the Johto equivalent of a Douglas fir is set up in a corner of the living room near the fireplace — which is burning merrily — and its branches are decorated with makeshift ornaments like Pokeballs and paper throwing stars along with the standard colored bauble variety. Stuff your presents below; there'll be time for opening them later, but for now they're part of the decor. There's holly on the piano and fake candles in the windows, and you better believe at least half of those doorways have mistletoe strategically placed near them. Don't get caught! (Or do, if that's what you're here for.)

The one new and interesting addition to the house can be found in a corner of the living room, where a little space has been carved out for a small end table topped with coasters, a chair, and a tripod apparatus just the right size for holding a standard Pokegear. Got someone to call and wish a Merry Christmas? Do it from the comfort of this corner like it's Masterpiece Theater.

But however Tuesday is spent, there's sure to be a lot of love, gifting, and good Christmas cheer. Or else.

When Wednesday comes along, it'll be the standard post-Christmas wind-down — leftovers aplenty in the kitchen, trash bags of crumpled wrapping paper tucked into the corners, and a nice low-pressure environment in which to interact, gush over gifts, and enjoy the spirit of the season a little longer before getting right back to work on Important Business. For some, that might mean playing in the snow or having a snowball fight; for others, that might mean coordinating federal agent business for the future. But either way, it's another Christmas survived, and that's what really matters, right?


[OOC: Just like last time, this is an open log for everybody coming to Albert's for Christmas! Feel free to start your own threads as you please — open them to everybody, close them to specific people, whatever works for you. Just make a note in the header of what day it's taking place on and who all's invited, and have fun, everybody! Also, for people who aren't physically present at the Farm on Christmas, feel free to use the designated Skype Thread™ to chat with them over video anyway!]
doitrockapella: (YOINK ❖ smell you later detectives)

[personal profile] doitrockapella 2012-12-25 03:51 am (UTC)(link)
[COOPER WHY ARE YOU WALKING IN THE WOODS

WHAT IS ACTUALLY WRONG WITH YOU

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE, MAJOR BRIGGS?

That is, he might just hear footsteps behind him crunching rapidly through the snow like someone's running — and that would be because, well, someone is.]
tapestodiane: (MIKE)

[personal profile] tapestodiane 2012-12-25 04:02 am (UTC)(link)
[... yeah, so if there was one thing he didn't feel like flashing back to -]

[But he takes a breath and turns around to see what's happening, because he knows that it isn't him and he's not pursued. Well, likely not pursued in the way that has him fleeing for his life, anyway. But people running is always something he notes with a particular kind of attention, and so he listens to the nature of the footsteps and keeps his eyes open.]

[Ever the FBI agent.]
doitrockapella: (OBSERVE ❖ you put the lime where)

[personal profile] doitrockapella 2012-12-25 04:10 am (UTC)(link)
[When Carmen runs, nine times out of ten it's the result of a chase; there's a fine art to staying just enough ahead of her pursuers that they can't manage to apprehend her, while still giving them that tantalizing sight of her to make them think they might. It's a balance she learned to walk instinctively a long time ago, one she's become a natural at perceiving and employing.

This is the one time out of ten where she's running like her life depends on it. Or maybe like she thinks someone else's does.

Her coat, that same familiar red, is an unmistakable burst of color in the otherwise snowy landscape, like the bright splash of a cardinal's feathers against a gray winter's sky. If he's keeping his eyes open, he can't miss her. She's not trying to hide.

And when she spots him, she slows to a gradual halt, almost hopping the last few steps as momentum carries her farther than she intends and makes her leave deep footprints in the snow.]
tapestodiane: (hawk)

[personal profile] tapestodiane 2012-12-25 04:25 am (UTC)(link)
[He stays in place as she moves, relaxed by knowing who it is, but not really by the fact that she's moving in this way, looking at him like this. Yet at the same time there's a calm settling over the scene.]

[It's just him and her and snow between them.]

[And that's precisely what he lets it be for a moment, just watching her as he turns to face her fully. He doesn't look confused. More like he's waiting for something.]
doitrockapella: (REVEAL ❖ it's everything and nothing)

[personal profile] doitrockapella 2012-12-25 04:37 am (UTC)(link)
There you are.

[Her voice is eerily quiet, a little too lacking in her usual bravado to sound entirely natural coming out of her mouth. Like the strike of a chord on a piano, there had been a moment when she was running when a burst of fear had hit her, urged her on. Now, like the notes fading away into silence, it's receding at the sight of him.]

Detective.
tapestodiane: (worry)

[personal profile] tapestodiane 2012-12-25 04:42 am (UTC)(link)
I'm not leaving.

[It's reassurance for what he thinks might be going through her mind. She's spent so much of her life running from people it would be easy to assume they'd leave her behind - but he has no intentions of doing that.]

[And even if that's not what she's thinking, it might be worth something to hear regardless. Especially when it's true.]
doitrockapella: (TOUCHED ❖ call me detective again)

[personal profile] doitrockapella 2012-12-25 04:47 am (UTC)(link)
[She picks up her feet, making her way through the snow over to him, and as usual doesn't hesitate to walk right into his personal space — but this time she continues on further than usual, pulling him into a brisk but genuine hug.

When she does speak, there's already a touch of her usual humor back again. The moment of crisis has passed; things are settling in again like the snow in the trees around them.]


I'd follow you if you did.

[But it's good to hear anyway.]

What are you doing out here?
tapestodiane: (is that easier to believe?)

[personal profile] tapestodiane 2012-12-25 05:01 am (UTC)(link)
[He hugs her back, appreciative of the gesture and words, and reaches for one of her hands.]

Looking to salvage some of the porch lights. If I can find any.

[And also retreating for a minute or two to have a moment of introspection, but that's what she might find between the lines, not in print.]
doitrockapella: (VAN GOGH ❖ more like van gone amirite)

[personal profile] doitrockapella 2012-12-25 05:27 am (UTC)(link)
[She lets him take it without hesitation, pleased and relieved for the old, familiar contact.]

If anyone can, it's you.

[And if anyone can read between the lines with him by now, it's her — and that's why a moment later, she adds:]

When you get back... [And since it quickly becomes almost painfully clear she's not sure how to articulate the next part, she suspends that sentence a moment and looks almost hesitantly for the words she wants before defaulting to the ones she knows best.] ...You should find me. I'll give you a prize if you do.

[Or a gift, more like, but she might as well use the terminology of the game they play.]