Logs:A Very Mongrel Christmas
| A Very Mongrel Christmas | |
|---|---|
| Dramatis Personae | |
| In Absentia | 2024-12-25 "Shit, if you didn't leave normal waaay the hell behind when you manifested, sure as shit gonna when you rock up here, right?" |
| Location
<NYC> Hellhound Bikes - The Hole | |
Located not far from Jamaica Bay in a predominantly Latinx sector of East New York, this garage doesn't look like much from the outside. A low-slung squat dingy brick building with a hand-painted sign over front proclaiming it to be HELLHOUND CUSTOM CYCLES, this garage has a small office area with its own pedestrian entrance from the street at the front, containing a minifridge usually full of beer and beaten down old desk with a ledger and an antique cash register that no one ever seems to use. The rest of the space is roughly L-shaped, its walls lined with racks of tools and heavy workbenches with built-in steel drawers full of hardware and spare parts. There's a raised platform in the wider leg of the space for working on one motorcycle, and there's space in the narrower leg for parking at least three more. Hellhound Bikes is decked out for Christmas and the Mongrels do not do decking out half way. There are glittery garlands and multicolored string lights everywhere, a big fir tree out back laden with ornamentation from traditional colored glass bulbs to pipe cleaner angels made by toddlers to diamond-encrusted stars. There are more gifts than fit under the tree, and more stashed inside the garage, though fewer with each trip Santa makes through here. The entire building already smells delicious even with supper still at least an hour out, and there are Christmas carols jingling inside and out. Tian-shin, dressed smartly with her Mongrels vest over a red brocade mandarin shirt and black bootleg jeans to accommodate clean, neat engineer's boots, is staying far away from the food prep, which is at capacity for further help in any case. Instead she's tending the roaring fire out back and chatting with their early-arriving guests. Karida has been very busy helping in the kitchen, less so directly with the food just now and more scrubbing the piles of dishes that are already starting to add up. Her own vest is very barebones, barely patches at all -- not her name, not the club insignia -- save for the small front tag and larger back rocker indicating PROSPECT over MUTANT MONGRELS MC. She's wearing the vest over just a red and green flannel -- maybe not enough layering for the outdoors, which is possibly why she's beelining straight toward the fire when she comes out. Or maybe that's because she's got a first round of appetizers to leave here for early snacking -- deliciously spiced kebabs with a range of dipping sauces, stuffed peppers; maybe the potato fritters are someone's attempt to pretend this decidedly Christmas celebration is somehow interfaith. She's setting these trays out on empty barrels serving as tables near the fire, with a hearty: "Yo, dogs -- uh, friends-of-dogs, get it while it's hot." Cyan is staring -- more wide-eyed than usual -- at the display of colours, glitter and festiveness. He's trying his darn bestest to not be too noticeable, but against the backdrop of Christmas Cheer the black hoodie and his multiple layers of facemasks stand out. Friends-of-dogs is that what he is? The invitation to come here was confusing at best, but it did seem a lot better than the cult-pamphlet or hanging at the hotel alone. Without noticing it himself he's slowly made his way closer to the fire and appetizers, his gloved hands hanging on to the neon-green sequinned scarf as if it's a life-line as he stares at the appetizers, much like a cat stares at food it intends to run off with. Biker Santa's sleigh has been parked outside for a little bit now, as Ion whirlwinds through the kitchen to make sure the somewhat chaotic food prep is running apace. He's emerging from the building now, dressed in full on white-trimmed red Santa outfit (his much more heavily-patched Mongrels vest is, though, over top of this), hat trimmed with glowing el-wire. Somewhere along his last stop he's picked up a poinsettia lei, strung through with tiny Christmas lights, twinkling despite their decisive lack of being-plugged-in-to-anything. "Ey-o, this one boozy, this one not --" He's setting two very large insulated carafes down along with a few stacks of drink cups -- they are labeled EGG NOG in Hotshot's messy scrawl. The booze one has a skull-and-crossbones (just the regular kind, no strange Mongrels mutations) sticker slapped on it. "Oh shit! Lil mushroom guy -- got something for you --" He's snapping his fingers, pointing at Cyan with this excited recognition, and promptly vanishing (literally -- he has simply disappeared on the spot, leaving a faint whiff of ozone behind.) "Thank you!" Tian-shin gets up to make herself a plate, one of each appetizer arranged in a neat circle, and a cup of eggnog (with skull-and-crossbones). When Ion vanishes she goes up to Cyan. "Hey! First time here? Don't worry about Ion, that's norm..." She trails off. "Well. He just does that sometimes, he'll be back. I'm Tian-shin." "Shit, if you didn't leave normal waaay the hell behind when you manifested, sure as shit gonna when you rock up here, right?" Karida has a slightly starry look in her eyes for just a moment when Ion vanishes -- not like she hasn't seen it plenty today but, hey, it's cool every time. She jerks her chin upward to Cyan -- "Hungry? Grab a plate, we're making so damn much. -- Is it like this every year?" This part, at least, is kinda hopefully directed toward Tian-shin. "Err..." Cyan is staring at the space that recently held the Sparky Soup Man, before his eyes dart first at Tian-shin, then to Karida, then to the door, then back at the Not-Ion space. No one else is reacting, so it has to be normal, right? Is this a New-York thing? "I'm Cyan-, " he's still feeling discombobulated, not entirely trusting that Ion really did disappear, "-I uh, yes, new..." He points at the space he still can't seem to take his eyes away from. "Is he like, a real Santa?" Tian-shin's smile brightens just a little. "I think it actually gets more like this every year. Ion collects people the way he gives nicknames. I suspected you don't actually go by 'lil mushroom guy', but I didn't want to assume." She has her cup lifted halfway but then stops, brows furrowing. "Huh. I guess that depends what you mean by...real Santa?" She tips her head at the tree and all the gifts under it. "I don't think he's literally Saint Nicholas, but he does in fact zip around distributing gifts, so..." She shrugs. "Maybe?" The fact that Ion is reappearing just as sudden as he came may not entirely help with Cyan's discombobulation. This time he's got a large gift bag in hand, colorful crinkly red tissue paper licking out of the top like flames and a terribly gaudy enormous multicolored bow stuck to the front. The tag has a picture in crude line-drawing of a small mushroomy shape in the TO:, and a cheerful Santa sticker in the FROM:. "This you!" Ion is declaring, proudly, as he thrusts the bag at Cyan. "Merry Christmas --" And, once more, he is vanishing. The hum of his festively adorned bike -- and the bright cheerful glow overhead as it lifts off into the sky with its (very carefully secured) cargo behind it -- suggests that this time it is For Good. Or at least until he stops by to pick up the next batch of presents. Karida bursts out laughing when Ion returns, one hand actually slapping her thigh with the guffaw. "-- Real-enough-Santa, I think, damn. Merry Christmas, Cyan-the-mushroom. I think whatever the fuck Ion is, it's a category of its own." If ever anyone’s eyes could twinkle, Cyan’s would. Clutching the bag tightly a quiet “oh wow!” of sheer wonder escapes his lips. It takes him a moment to shake off the feeling that he just witnessed a real factual miracle, but eventually he clears his throat and takes a proper look at the two people talking to him. “Not like Christian Santa, but you know?” He shrugs, “with so many mutants running around it makes sense at least a few would have real-santa-like powers.” His tone is utterly earnest, still a little spellbound, bouncing slightly on to the toeballs of his feet. Then he adds, in a more somber tone: “Like I know there’s not a like a jolly old man living on the North Pole, the North Pole is fucking cold.” "Does Santa have powers?" Tian-shin is frowning thoughtfully. "I guess he has to be kind of. Malleable? To fit down chimneys. Oh hey, your brother! Ka..." She sighs. "The stretchy one. What else. I'm not sure it's Santa who makes the sleigh fly, or if that's a magical reindeer thing. Sorry, my Santa lore is mostly second hand." She guffaws suddenly. "From Ion." "You think he gets all across the globe in one night without powers? Even your bikes aren't that fast." Karida is nodding, emphatically in assent with Cyan. "May be some mutant Santa out there -- I think Ion's definitely in the running." Her smile broadens at the mention of her brother. Very helpfully: "You mean K? I dunno if he's got the jolly, though." Cyan nods, studying Karida far more than he’s been studying Tian-shin. There’s something there, the gears in his brain are telling him, something he should be picking up on. “There could be multiple, to get to everywhere in one-night, probably a whole league of different powers involved, teleporters and people who can walk through walls and like...” he stops himself from demonstrating as it would require him to let go of his present, and that’s just out of the question. Then the gears in his head click, and his former staring at Karida gets properly intense. “Hottie Viking?” there’s a spark of recognition in his eyes as he addresses her “Did you do the whole-” his fingers rapidly tap the bag in his arms “-body change to yourself? I didn’t recognize you!” Then, taking a small step back, he adds “I don’t want any more eyes, okay?” Tian-shin arches an eyebrow at Karida. "Wait, but aren't you all..." Cyan's vision quickly distracts her from this presumptive complaint. Possibly this is not her first eggnog tonight. "If you pitch League of Santas to Ion, I bet he would assemble one next year. He might not even wait that long." Her other eyebrow goes up now. "I mean...subjective, I guess, but we have several Vikings. Wait wait wait, did you say any more eyes?" "Yeah unfortunately Hottie Viking does not narrow it down around here, they got a whole raft of us now. Karida looks over her shoulder like she is slightly considering casting a Viking Summoning Spell, but she forbears. Instead, just as helpfully! "You musta met K. He's still looking pretty beardy tonight but you're not full wrong he did help me with a pretty big glow-up once upon a time. How many eyes," this question comes lightly matter-of-fact, "did he give you? I can wrassle him if he's flaked on fixing something for ya." “There are more Hottie Vikings!?” Cyan can’t entirely decide for themselves if that’s a good thing or an absolute disaster. “Err, he just gave me one, “ slightly loosening his deathgrip on the present he lifts one of his hands so he can point at his palm, “right here.” “No need for wrassling, he was very nice and professional and didn’t mind getting high at all.” "Give you --" Tian-shin studies Karida steadily, possibly for indications she's pulling someone's leg. "-- an eye?" She's studying Cyan now, possibly for indications of extra eyes. "Alright, you have both officially lost me, but we have -- oh! You don't mean Ka...ass, that must be Ka..." She heaves a deep sigh and visibly gives in. "K. We have four of them. Here, anyway." Karida's amusement when Tian-shin gives up on the names looks just a touch triumphal "So many more. We tend to swarm." She relaxes, no longer with a keen brother-fetching look in her eyes, when she is assured that Cyan has only been mildly mangled by her sibling. "Most of my family is pretty getting-high-positive, with, uh, weirder effects in some of us than others --" There's a clattering sound in the kitchen, some swearing, and she now looks over her shoulder with a small cringe -- "Shit, I gotta get back to dishing if I'mm'a earn my keep around here. See-ya-round, mushroom dude." She nods to Cyan, tosses off a casual salute to the other Mongrel, and lopes back inside. “I think his name was Ka-” Cyan’s face scrunches in concentration as he tries to remember the name. “-He was tall, and had a beard and uh...very enthusiastic?” He waves at Karida as she leaves, with a small finger waggle and a barely heard “See ya” as she disappears. “Err...fuck, at the hotel they got it when I added Viking to description, but if there’s at least four of them...” he sighs, looking to Tian-shin “...is this a New York thing?” "I haven't got much first-hand experience yet," Tian-shin says confidentially, with just a wink of a smile, "but watching K fidget kind of makes me feel kind of like I'm high already." She watches Karida dash off with far more satisfaction than seems altogether proportional, but he attention turns back to Cyan soon enough. "Wow, that's all it took? Maybe they just don't have a lot of hot bearded Vikings around." She gives a good natured shrug and takes another sip of her eggnog. "Meanwhile, we're rolling in them. It's not a New York thing. It's a Magnússon thing. Or Magnúsdóttir, in her case. I am dying to hear about this eye business, but if I don't put some food in you I'm going to wind up on Santa's Naughty list. If you have special dietary needs that aren't..." She waves her plate at the rapidly vanishing appetizers. "I'll do my best to make it happen." “Oh no I can eat just about anything..” Cyan gives her an appraising look, maybe it’s cool, she is friends with Santa after all. “I just shouldn’t touch or breathe on other people, or stuff they put in their mouth, so I’m waiting for it to be slightly less...” He looks longingly at the remaining appetizers “...crowded?” Tian-shin nods with an unvoiced "ohhh", and glances at the busy table, but does not ask why Cyan can't. Just very matter-of-factly offers them her plate. "I've been grazing all afternoon, I'll grab some more when the next wave comes." Her eyes narrow speculatively. "Or, probably, if I yell 'K' really loud, it'll summon a Viking who can bring me food. Maybe an experiment for another day." She waves Cyan toward the warmth of the fire. "C'mon." Cyan accepts the plate with a grateful nod, even though it does present him with a logistical issue. With one hand clutching his present and the other holding a plate, there’s really no hands free to lift his facemasks so he can eat. He giggles a little at the comment about calling for K, and for a moment his eyes look soft, almost warm. “Yeah, sure,” he makes his way over to Tian-shin, weaving expertly out of the way of anyone who comes too close. “Imma need a table. Or I could go back to Extra Eye K and ask for another hand." | |
