We Survived the Snowmageddon

[worktodo]

Who: Albert Rosenfield (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!]

Comments

[doitrockapella]

[An infamous day both she and 1997 don't know about yet.]

Something to look forward to once I get back. But you said "began" — are you a citizen now?

[bywiseguidance]

I am. For two years now. Which means I am now an official agent.

[doitrockapella]

Congratulations. That's an accomplishment worthy of a toast.

[She raises her mug in the universal gesture of a toast, then offers it to Ziva for a follow-up clink.]

[bywiseguidance]

Why thank you.

[She's pretty proud of that herself, even if she would have never thought she'd renounce her Israeli citizenship just a few years ago. She takes a drink of her chai and smiles.]

What of you? You seem the well-traveled type.

[doitrockapella]

That's one way of putting it.

[She takes a sip herself, more to hide her smile than anything else.]

The agency — ACME — specializes in high-stakes thefts. It's a narrow area in the field of crime, but their operations cover the whole world. So yes, I've been all over the world, too.

[And all of those statements are technically true. Albeit somewhat misleading if taken all together, and left with a few rather important parts omitted.]

[bywiseguidance]

Narrow indeed. I would not expect such specialization, really.

[But hey, stranger things have happened, she supposes.]

I have certainly never heard of it.

[Misleading truths are kinda common in her history...]

[doitrockapella]

I cracked a big jewel theft case in Sweden one Christmas.

[More than ten years ago, but who's counting.]

It's somewhat unique in that. Agents tend to work alone or with a single partner, and when you're not actively assigned to a case, you're free to pursue your own interests in the meantime.

[She sips her drink again, debating continuing, and then:]

At seventeen, I'd worked and solved more cases than any other detective in the agency.

[The unspoken revelation there being: yeah, the agency uses kids.]

[bywiseguidance]

[Ziva looks...kind of resigned to that, actually. She's encountered plenty of organizations that use children--she herself was trained from a young age, mainly because her father was ambitious and wanted his children to follow in his footsteps. Hell, Ari was literally born for it.]

...at seventeen? How long were you working for them?

And did they not realize that it could be dangerous?

[doitrockapella]

[She smiles a little wryly; this isn't exactly a secret, but most people don't ask; while she'll have to watch the conversation carefully to make sure it doesn't get out of hand, there's still something sentimental about talking about ACME now.]

I started at eleven. That's unusual, though; normally they wait until prospective agents are thirteen or fourteen. Then there's a rigorous training program to get through before qualifying for agent status.

[She offers a slight shrug.]

It's an institution of prodigies. And now you know why it's so specialized.

[bywiseguidance]

[Ziva was almost disbelieving. She'd been considered a 'prodigy' of sorts in Mossad--Eli David's daughter, trained from the cradle to be an agent, joined straight out of her mandatory military service. But even then, she had been 21 before she started Mossad missions.

Granted, they were very dangerous missions, in no way appropriate for someone who wasn't an adult--even 21 was considered young.]

And to think, I was considered young when I began.

[doitrockapella]

It sounds worse than it is. The agency's changed a great deal over the years; you wouldn't recognize it, if you compared where it began to where it is now. The criminals ACME chases aren't killers anymore.

[And that's as good a time as any to change the subject.]

A criminal investigative liaison from Israel. Mossad is the agency responsible for overseas work in the Israeli intelligence community, isn't it?

[bywiseguidance]

Anymore.

[She'll allow the subject change though, she's not interrogating Carmen after all.]

Primarily, yes.

[doitrockapella]

I feel as though I should toast you again.

[This time, she doesn't hide her smile, and it's a friendly one.]

What do you do outside of work?

[bywiseguidance]

[Ziva smiles back and takes a drink.]

I like to read, cook, keep myself in shape, go out with friends. My life has become calmer...mostly, anyway. I am hardly bothered by that.

[doitrockapella]

"Calmer" can be a double-edged sword, sometimes. But I'm glad you're content with it.

[bywiseguidance]

I have very nearly had my fill of excitement. It is good, to be able to relax a little.

[To let down her guard, to allow herself to get close to people.]

Still, being idle does not sit well with me. Perhaps once the snow melts I will travel as we are apparently supposed to do.

[doitrockapella]

Do you have something in your roster that flies? I'm all for experiencing a wide variety of methods of travel, but believe me, around here it never hurts to have a set of wings as a fallback. Getting at the very least the badge for Fly and the HM on one of your roster is as basic a necessity as owning a car around here.

[As evidenced by TEAM FBI'S SUPREME FUCK-UP OF YESTERMONTH. But we're not talking about that.]

It's Falkner in Violet City who gives the badge needed for Fly in Johto; over here I think it's Erika, in Celadon City to the west. I imagine it's safe to assume you don't have Erika's yet. Did you stop in Violet for Falkner's?

[bywiseguidance]

I do. Hiccup gave Laila to me. Or back to me, he says, and the Gear seems to collaborate it.

[OT being Ziva David and all.]

I did not. Do you need each?

[doitrockapella]

It's right. I remember that she was yours.

[Actually, Ziva's Pokemon are part of the reason that Carmen and Hiccup are friends in the first place. Go figure.]

It's better safe than sorry. Some people do, and others don't seem to; I think it has something to do with whether you're a registered breeder or not. Either way, I wouldn't advise trying to fly until you have both. I discovered that one the hard way once.

[bywiseguidance]

[She nods.]

What happens if you do not?

[doitrockapella]

[A wry smile.]

You fall.

[bywiseguidance]

[Sigh.]

The ledges, and now this. One would think if you had a creature capable of carrying you in flight, they would be able to without an arbitrary bit of metal.