JP: Jean-Paul had mistletoe...and he was amused.
Max: Max, wearing maybe a little bit more than the rest in the room, placed the box marked 'xmas decoration' down and looked over to the tree. "That tree's naked."
Penny: Braving the depths of branches, Penny tried not to topple the tree while it did its best to bury the red girl with its needly mass. She nudged it several times, while the stem still refused to fit into the stand. Obviously it still needed some carving.
Greer: Greer was battling with untangling the lights, "Who put these away... they should be hanged..."
JP: "Well, it's time to fix that, isn't it?" He grinned up at the tree and Penny apparently doing battle with the tree. "I'm convinced there is no safe way to put away Christmas lights. They just want to be like that."
Max: "Ugh, christmas in winter, feels so unnatural." Max added while watching the tree shimmy and shake.
Greer: Greer raised an eyebrow at Max and decided to let that one go. "Sure there is but you need a cable wheel...."
Max: "Or a good pair of scissors," Max joked.
Penny: Unable to make a surprised sound, Penny merely froze and blinked instead, herself and tree tipping dangerously to one side until the whole affair came tumbling down. Flailing a bit, she eventually managed to tell up from down and poked out her head.
Greer: "You okay Penny?" Greer looked over at the tree destruction.
Max: Max stepped closer, "Need a hand, Penny?" he asked
Callie: Callie entered the room, pushing a large tea tray filled with baked goods (bought) and large mugs of hot chocolate, each with a peppermint stick as a twirler. "Happy Christmas, all! Hot chocolate break!"
JP: "We're unnatural people." Jean-Paul answered Max, moving to try to help Penn-oooh, chocolate! "Happy Christmas, you've brought delicious things."
Penny: Putting on an awkward smile, Penny reached down to fish for her chalkboard. "Sorry! Anyone hurt?"
Greer: "I'm not getting up til I find the end of this...." Greer was on a mission.
Callie: "I have! Store-bought but from a very lovely patisserie."
Max: "If anyone was hurt," Max told Penny, "Then their booboo can be fixed with the hot chocolate."
JP: "Fight the good fight, Greer. Never surrender." He gladly went for the chocolate, sighing happily as he took a drink then went to help with the tree.
Penny: Penny's smile turned into a grin when she spotted Callie with the tray, promptly leaping out of the felled - but otherwise unharmed - tree and bounding over to get a cup for herself. Which proved tricky as always, the cup deciding to make things difficult for her long, unwieldy claws.
Greer: Greer eyed Penny. "You want a straw, honey?"
Callie: "Oh, here, sweetie! I brought a bowl with a straw for you!" Callie took the bowl from the second tray on the cart.
Penny: Looking up, Penny thanked Greer and Callie with a smile, as the latter dipped the straw into her cup.
Greer: Finally she found the end of the string of lights. Half the battle was won! She sped up a little in her task.
Callie: "Sugar cookie?" She snagged one and went to inspect a large box of decorations. "How lovely!"
Max: Max sipped from his cup and shifted closer to Penny, "So... you still need to tell me what you want for christmas."
Penny: Penny watched Max while diligently sucking on the straw between her lips. Then she thoughtfully cocked her head, before putting down her cup. "I can be happy without things," she wrote in response.
Greer: Greer finally located the problem knot and the whole lot unravelled. "I win!" she announced triumphantly.
Max: "Hurray! Have a cup of chocolate! And a cookie!" Max cheered Greer, then turning back to Penny, "You sure? Because I got some extra bit of money that I can spend of stuff. You know, like presents."
Callie: "I'm making all of mine this year!"
Greer: Greer laid the lights out carefully so they wouldn't get tangled again then got up and went to pick up her cup of hot chocolate.
Penny: After carefully snatching a cookie between the tips of two claws, Penny resumed looking thoughtful while nibbling on the chocolaty goodness. "I never had a plush animal," she wrote after another moment of contemplation. "One that survived through a single cuddling, anyway."
Max: A grin grew on Max's face. Finally something he can buy. Now what plush animal could be tough enough to stay alive after a Penny cuddling...
Callie: She went over to the tree and inspected it. with the help of her powers, she got it upright and in its stand. She then made it grow fuller and taller, making it more confused than it already was. "Sorry, tree. Next year I'll see if we can't get a pretty fake one."
Greer: Greer settled down with her hot chocolate and a cookie, curling up a little way away from the others with them.
Max: "Atleast the tree didn't have a chipmunk or squirrel living in it." Maybe a leather plushie. Bondage Care Bear.
Penny: Smiling back at Max, Penny then watched in amazement as Callie moved the tree and even got it to stand upright. "Can't you fix it again when we no longer need it," she asked with the aid of her chalkboard, a hopeful expression on her face.
Callie: "I don't know...that is a bit beyond me. We can use it fully, so it won't go to waste."
Max: Reading what Penny wrote, Max suddenly wondered what she does if she ever ends up having to say a lot. Then he wondered how she would write a speech in front of a class. And then he wondered if there was something like an industrial strength plushie.
Greer: "So you're advocating slicing it up and burning it after?" Greer asked, munching on her cookie.
Max: "Ooor turning it into mulch... or something." Max added.
Greer: "Burning it would smell better...."
Penny: "We can make a nice fire with it to roast sweets," Penny suggested.
Callie: "Why not? It is just a plant. It is dead all ready, and by the time we're done it will have been completely useful."
JP: Jean-Paul decided he needed to make Penny a snuggle-proof teddy bear to give her as well as her present he had all ready made. "I am all for some roasting sweets."
Callie: "I have large marshmallows. I could not find the small ones."
Penny: Thinking about what Callie had said, Penny reconsidered and gave another suggestion. "Or we could use it to plant flowers when it has turned to mulch."
Callie: "That would work too."
JP: "Hot chocolate and marshmallows, now we just need some gingerbread for the hot chocolate, yeah?" He finished his current cup of chocolate off, deciding to take a string of lights and move for the tree.
Greer: Mmm gingerbread. "I like ginger bread."
Penny: Penny suckled on the hot chocolate straw after making the cookie disappear, before facing the tree once more. She considered helping with the lights, but the thin string and her claws certainly wouldn't agree with each other. So she went to look for pretty things to decorate it with instead.
Max: Max downed the last couple of sips of his hot chocolate then jumped for the string of tinsel hanging out of the box, wrapping it around Penny.
JP: Speed decorating was on! Well, as far as the lights were concerned. Jean-Paul hopped back, plugging them in in hopes that they would still work. "Victory!"
Callie: "Yay!
Max: "Shiny blinky shininess."
Penny: Penny whirled around with a grin on her face when the tinsel tickled her skin. Naturally, all she accomplished by that was getting wrapped up in the glittery strings.
Greer: Greer giggled at Penny, "Oooh let's decorate Penny!"
Callie: "How pretty!" Callie lifted out an old wooden bauble and hung it on the tree.
JP: "Oh hey, I'm for decorating Penny." There was much more tinsel where that came from. Jean-Paul grabbed a fistful of it and gave it a toss.
Penny: Ending up sitting on the ground, with strands of tinsel hanging from her spiky hair, she looked at the others with big eyes while trying to liberate herself from the sticky mess - only to somehow end up with even more of it on herself.
Greer: Greer giggled and pulled out her phone to snap a picture, "That's adorable!"
Max: "Don't give me that, you like being shiny." Max told Penny, then did his part in decorating the actual tree. He hung a red and gold patterned bauble.
JP: A bit of shifty side-eye in play, Jean-Paul decided Callie would be the next victim of speed tinseling.
Greer: Greer took a picture of that too.
Callie: Callie stepped back form putting another green and silver ornament up when she found herself in a storm of tinsel. "Noooo!" she wailed, trying to pull the slivers of whatever silver shiny paper it was made out of. "It clashes with my skin!"
Greer: "It looks spectacular!"
Penny: Shaking her head from side to side only managed to get the tinsel tangled up in her hair, so Penny decided that it could stay where it was for now. Stalking Max seemed much more promising for the moment, grabbing two large claws full of glittery things to help her out.
Penny: Pouncing him to wrap the tinsel around the quilled boy got just as much stuck on him as it added to her own collection, however, as the sticky stuff refused to let go of her fingers.
JP: "Everyone should have a little bit of shine to them." To make the point he went ahead and gave himself the tinsel baptism.
Greer: Two more pictures were snapped. Greer grinned at her collection and her lack of tinsel.
Callie: Callie stuck her tongue out and tried to get the stuff off. "This is horrible!"
Greer: "It's pretty!"
Max: "Argh! Noo, now I look like a fancy hedgehog at a parade."
Penny: "Then you need some, too!" Penny barely took the time to scribble those words before moving on to assault Greer with tinsel, as well.
Callie: Callie grabbed the packet of tinsel from JP and dumped the whole thing over Greer.
JP: "I don't know, it looks like you have tiny shiny flags all over. It's actually quite fun." And now there was a tinsel explosion. Jean-Paul ran through the assaults, grabbing a bit himself and deciding to go decorate the rest of the room as he did. "Does this count as decorating or trashing it?"
Greer: Greer eeped and flailed at the double dose of tinsel. She shook her head til the pile fell off and onto her shoulders, managing to get her arm out, "Someone take a picture?" she held out her phone.
Callie: "Trashing, I suppose." Callie extricated herself from tinsel town and took the phone. "I'll do it!"
Penny: Not daring to touch the delicate phone with her claws, Penny focused on helping to find Greer's face inside the tinsel-pile.
Callie: She started snapping away, thinking she should have brought her camera. She got one of everyone ad the tree.
JP: "Well, it's quite fun trashing!" Jean-Paul tossed more, very tempted to do a run-by of the rest of the school.
Penny: Looking around, Penny found out that they pretty much decorated everything but the tree so far.
Greer: "Can you un-trash me so I can help?"
Penny: Deciding to be helpful, Penny started to carefully slice away at the worst of the tinsel, even nibbling on some to drag it away with her teeth.
JP: "Just shake?" He tried to take his own advice but it was less than successful but still fired ahead, coming to the tree. "We should have put the topper on before we stood it up, shouldn't we have?"
Callie: She handed the phone back to Greer and went back to decorating the trre, blowing some tinsel out of her face.
Greer: "I can climb it...." she took the phone back.
Max: "At least there's blinking lights on the tree, and a pair of balls hanging there at the bottom. That should count as something."
JP: "I'll hand the star up to you then?" He eyed the tree, wondering just how strong the top of it was.
Greer: "Sure... or... can't you fly?"
Penny: Penny nodded and went to find something for Greer to put on the top of the tree. Peeking into one of the boxes revealed a hollowed out pumpkin. That didn't seem to be in the right place.
JP: "I'm afraid to kick up all the tinsel. It could be disasterous."
Callie: "Well, wait." she made the tree bend down "Ok, now put the topper on."
Greer: "... Well that's no fun at all."
Max: "But it is efficient."
JP: "Look at Callie and her sensible suggestions. I wanted to tree a catgirl." He grinned though, going ahead and popping the star right on.
Callie: "Sorry! I'm used to getting this all done so we can relax by a fire and stay up all night."
Penny: After she didn't find anything she liked, Penny looked around the room and smiled when she noticed the stack of firewood by the fireplace. She headed over to pick out some pretty looking logs of wood.
JP: "So, what do you usually do for Christmas?" He asked the room, finally pleased at the state of the star after fiddling the crookedness out of it.
Callie: "We do not do much - stay home, cozy and warm drinking hot chocolate with lots of cookies and stories."
Penny: Penny sat down next to the tree, crossed her legs, and put the pieces of firewood in her lap. "We always used to have a nice evening with everyone from the charity and all the people we cared for," she wrote on her chalkboard. "One time there were no trees anywhere and we used a cactus."
JP: "We went ice skating a lot of the time. The rink would open up for free around Christmas." He laughed at the cactus bit as he read it. "Sounds like a good time."
Greer: "For the last few years... not a whole lot..." she frowned. "Last year I tried visiting my parents... didn't go well."
JP: He cringed at that. "Sorry to hear it. Do you have anything to do with them now?"
Greer: "Only Simon, Billy's on mom's side...." she picked up another cookie, "I mean... I figured I should try, they thought I was dead for two years so you'd think they'd just be pleased I'd show up."
Penny: Penny gave a Greer a sympathetic look. "That's sad," she scribbled on her chalkboard, complete with an unhappy smiley face.
Greer: She shrugged, "Not really surprising... they're not keen on the whole orange and black thing I have going on..."
Penny: "This year you can celebrate with us," she added after cleaning her board, this time accompanied by a much happier smiley face. "It will be great!"
Max: "Christmas at my place is stay up past midnight on christmas eve, open presents, head to bed, wake up to enjoy presents, go to church, come back and start with christmas lunch, which is kind of like sunday lunch but we use the fancy plates and glasses."
Greer: Greer smiled at Penny, "Yep and free of awkward dinner conversation for Scott.... I really should get him something to aplogise for last year."
JP: "Oh yeah, the lunch is always awesome...we're going to be cooking after we decorate here, yeah? I could use a whole lot of Christmas stuff."
Max: "No way I'm cooking, that's a chick's job."
Penny: "I finally get to spend Christmas with my sister!" Penny held up her chalkboard once more, smiling excitedly at the others.
Callie: "You can cook, JP, I'll um. Set the table?"
JP: "...oh you didn't just say that, Prickle." He gave Max an amused side-eye and smiled at Penny. "That is a big plus for me as well."
Greer: Greer looked at little sad. She missed her brother. She picked up another cookie and went to sit down on her own again.
Callie: "I am a chick and you do not want to eat the food I prepare!" She tossed some tinsel she'd managed to get off herself at him.
Max: "Actually my stepbrother and I kept being chased out of the kitchen by my stepmom and step aunt and the stepcousin... not sure what you call the family. So yeah, don't blame me, blame the people who raised me."
Penny: "I'm only good at cutting veggies," Penny wrote for the others, before she turned her attention to the project at hand, picking up a piece of firewood.
JP: "Well, if you ever want to learn how to cook I'll be glad to teach." That went out to all. "Though I'll warn you I'm pretty picky about food once in a while."
Max: "And I'm just pretty prickly apparently."
Greer: "Dad's kind of a chef... I know how to cook... I just don't bother much of the time.... I can eat meat raw."
Callie: "Dad does some cooking, but we have a chef - he's very good."
Max: "I think anyone can eat meat raw.... except chicken and pork, that I atleast know. I miss biltong."
Greer: "I don't have that problem either... I can eat anything."
Callie: "Biltong? What is that?"
Max: "Dried and cured meat. South african delicacy. Kind of like the american beef jerky, only.... how do you say in english.... better."
Penny: "I eat everything," Penny informed the others, before returning to slicing bits of wood off from the piece in her hands.
JP: "Oh I can eat anything but when I'm cooking I'm pretty particular. Just sort of orderly or something I suppose."
Max: "What's it going to be?" Max asked Penny.
Callie: "Ah. I have not eaten Beef Jerky or Biltong."
Greer: "Beef is better fresh... and still bleeding."
Max: "Make mine medium to rare."
JP: "So can we assume whoever gets the wood carving got a Penny original?"
Callie: "I do love steak tartare!"
Penny: "Figurines for the Christmas tree," Penny let Max know, pausing long enough to write down her reply. "I hope they turn out pretty."
Callie: "I bet they'll look really nice, Penny. Though we are going to need more firewood."
Greer: "I'm sure they'll look lovely, sweetie." Greer gave her a smile.
Max: "Oh, you mean like the christmas story? Baby santa under the christmas tree with rudolph shining his nose so bright to signal the three wise elves where they are, who are each bringing a gift for the new pudgy born. Tinsel, blinking lights and a christmas card?"
Max: "Now that would make excellent figurines."
Greer: Greer just looked at Max, eyebrow slightly raised.
Callie: "I don't think that is how the story goes."
JP: "...I would pat your head but I'm afraid you'll want a special hug."
Max: "A nice tight one."
Callie: "Ouchies."
Penny: Penny cocked her head and put on a wry smile. "I can try..." she scribbled with one hand.
JP: "Now I sort of wish I had drawn you for my secret santa just so I could have made your quills little soft sleeves or something."
Max: "You knit as well?" Max asked. "He cooks, he cleans, he decorates and knits. Gonna make someone a happy groom one of these days?"
JP: "Why yes I will, I'm glad you recognize my quality."
Greer: Greer giggled, "I told you you're a girl...."
Callie: "You are some sort of superman, JP!"
JP: Jean-Paul looked to Greer, giving her a look that definitely was not filled with holiday spirit.
Greer: Greer grinned back. Her work here was done.
JP: "One of these days I'll sheer you and I'll give you a badly sewn afghan."
Greer: "I wouldn't do that. I know where you sleep."
JP: "You assume I stay in my own bed that often?" He smirked going back to decorating the tree.
Greer: "You assume I didn't learn your scent already."
JP: "...quit smelling me, that's really creepy."
Penny: Sitting inside a circle of wood chippings, Penny held up her first figurine to give it a scrutinizing look. She tried to decide whether it look more like an angel or a very large beetle.
Greer: "And I win again!" She laughed.
JP: "If winning is being creepy and smelling people I think I'll stick to well cooked meals and decorating."
Greer: "It's not creepy, it's neccessary. I'm a feral mutant, I have a bad memory for names. Smells are better."
Callie: "I am creeped out, too. At least, do I smell good?"
JP: "You're meaty. You might not like the answer to that."
Greer: Greer nodded, "Yep, you smell very nice. Most people do.... only mean people smell bad really."
Penny: Penny shifted towards Callie and curiously leaned closer.
Greer: Greer couldn't help giggling at Penny. She was adorable.
Callie: "Er...it's my perfume. Chanel 5."
Greer: Greer shapeshifted and had a sniff of Callie, "Nope. It's not the perfume."
Penny: Penny gave Callie's neck a very brief lick, before leaning back with a smile. "It smells good," she wrote down. "I like it."
JP: Well...that was something, wasn't it? "Here, maybe you need this so you can do that to more people." He held out the mistletoe to Penny.
Callie: "I love mistletoe. So much fun."
Penny: Titling her head sideways, Penny gave the mistletoe a curious look.
Greer: "You'd be amazed what you can tell about someone from how they smell.... showering doesn't always cover it all up." She leaned and sniffed at JP just because.
Callie: "I don't want to know!"
Greer: She grinned fangily at Callie.
JP: "Anything interesting then?" He looked to Greer expectantly. "It's sort of like getting your palm read but not absolute silliness."
Greer: "Nothing I didn't already know."
Penny: Penny carefully took the mistletoe between two clawed fingers, careful not to cut it by accident. At first she gave it a scrutinizing look, then sniffed it curiously, and eventually settled on nibbling one edge for a bit.
JP: "Aw, come on, share?" He gave a bit of a pout.
Callie: "It is poisonous! Don't eat it!"
JP: "Oh, oh , yeah, nooo eating the mistletoe. Not a good idea. Just put it over anyone you'd like to kiss...or in your case, lick sometimes."
Penny: Penny stopped the nibbling and looked between JP and Callie. "I never had a kiss-twig at any Christmas before," she wrote for them.
JP: "Well...new traditions?"
Greer: Greer sniffed a little more at JP, "Are you suuuuuure you want me to say?"
Callie: Callie very very carefully gave Penny a tiny kiss on the cheek.
JP: "Do I smell like a bad person or something?" He sniffed his wrist, wondering what bad smelt like.
Greer: "Well I was just wondering if Adam or Reed would want me to say.... oh wait too late." She grinned.
JP: "...yeah, might not want to spread that one around. I'm not sure what either of them would feel about that being common knowledge, actually."
Callie: "You naughty boy! But not to worry, I won't say."
Greer: She laughed, "Well you asked...." she sniffed again, there was a familiar scent she hadn't smelled in a while too, "And you smell like Rogue..." she cocked her head on one side.
Penny: Smiling at JP, Penny nodded and decided to give it a try. She held it above Greer's head and waited for something to happen. Moments later, a frown appeared on her face. "I think it's broken," she wrote on her chalkboard.
Penny: She turned to look at Callie and grinned. "Oh, now it works," she added.
JP: "Yeah...not for the same reasons." He thought he'd clarify that right away. "Sometimes you have to be patient with the mistletoe. And if it doesn't work just go ahead and do it yourself. Makes it happy."
Greer: Greer looked at Penny, lifted her arm to raise the mistletoe again and kissed her on the cheek.
JP: "It's mistletoe magic!" Jean-Paul clapped, quite amused.
Penny: Penny grinned at Greer, too. "I think I just wasn't doing it right."
Callie: "But now you know how to do it, so let the kissing begin!"
Penny: Penny eagerly bounced up and down with an excited grin on her face. She couldn't wait to try out the mistletoe with the rest of the school.
JP: He looked to the others and smirked, knowing that they had created a monster.
Greer: Greer patted Penny fondly on the head and shifted out of her fur since it was rubbing uncomfortably on her clothes.
Callie: Callie dimpled devilishly. "So, hold it up high over your head and watch the magic happen, or hold it over someone else's head..."
Penny: Penny nodded in response to the explanation - it sounded easy enough and quite fun. Next she jumped to her feet, proceeded to hold the mistletoe first over JP's, then Max's head, and put a gently kiss on each boy's cheek.
Penny: "I'll try it out in class!" She hastily scribbled the words on her chalkboard, before bounding out of the room, waving the mistletoe about.
Callie: "Oh dear."
Greer: "Why do I have a feeling this is gonna come back to bite us in the ass...?"
JP: "I don't know, I think this is going to be awesome."
