I haven't EPd anyone in a while, so MULTIPUP TIME!

[vance_prime]

The holiday season is upon us, and everyone is preparing.

Alyx Vance is drawing Christmas cards for her close friends, while D0G takes the twins for a brief walk around the lake in their baby carrier.

Twilight Sparkle is making a list and checking it twice. And then twice again for good measure. It just won't do to send Hearth's Warming cards to a faulty or outdated address, after all!

Princess Luna is reading a book about the modern pony holiday of Lunastice, in order to be better prepared this year.

And the cat is curled up in front of the fireplace fast asleep.

...okay, maybe not everyone is preparing.

[Open until it scrolls. Please specify who you're tagging.]

Comments

[hecu_marine]

Dr. Freeman's back home, doing physical therapy to keep up the recovery pace he set after he woke up in the infirmary. Which is actually more reasonable than one might expect. Unlike some people, he prefers to lie down when he's tired. It's just that up until recently he's never really had the chance to say 'okay, that's what I'll do' and not have horrible consequences. In fact, the only consequences today are that while he's at the Greenbrier, Adrian Shephard is at Milliways instead of him.

And maybe taking just a sidelong glance at Ms. Vance's art work, so he can look away in a hurry if it's something she's trying to keep a surprise.

[vance_prime]

"Shephard," says Alyx without looking up from her work. "Anything to report?"

[hecu_marine]

"Nothin' in the way of official business beyond the usual patrols'n logistics, ma'am," says Shephard. "Meat supplies're holdin' up and the Antonelli sisters've been buildin' their greenhouse rig in one of the old guest houses so we'll be able to git a fair few of the Geneva repository seeds started before last frost rolls around."

"Got some invites to a troll holiday here at the Bar, on the unofficial business side of the line."

[vance_prime]

"Oh, yeah, I got an invitation to that," says Alyx. "It was a little sparse on detail, though..."

[hecu_marine]

"Got some details out of Kanaya," says Shephard. "Mind if I sit?"

He wouldn't ask back home, but shit, it's Milliways.

[vance_prime]

"Go right ahead," says Alyx with a magnanimous gesture.

[hecu_marine]

Shephard nods and settles into one of the chairs.

"I been to one of their holidays before this, 'bout this time last year," he says, "but the year on their world's 'bout twice as long as an Earth year. So this here's the midway point through the whole year, for them. They're celebratin' before the dark part of the year starts. Big get-all-your-friends-together-'n-eat kind of day."

[vance_prime]

"Any particular events I should know about? Or things I should avoid?"

[hecu_marine]

"After the eatin' they all go outside for mock battles," says Shephard. "Sounds like snowball fights but it don't hurt none to be ready for sticks or shit like that. Those run 'til about dawn, so dress warm."

He scratches his nose, thinking.

"It ain't a gift givin' holiday, neither. I'm gon' be givin' Karkat and Kanaya some presents for Christmas, but that ain't the same day. Just bring food'n make sure to check which dishes've got the poison in 'em on account of those're meant for troll snacks, not human ones."

[vance_prime]

"Should I bring the twins, d'you think?" Alyx inquires. "It's just, that seems like a long time to leave them with a sitter."

[hecu_marine]

Shephard thinks for a bit. Eventually he says, "Lemme ask Kanaya 'bout that first. I dunno how loud this kind of thing's gon' git and it might be askin' too much to hope it don't give 'em a bad time."

[vance_prime]

"No, no, I'll ask her," says Alyx. "I just wanted to check and see if she'd told you anything along those lines."

[hecu_marine]

"Nothin' one way or the other," Shephard says. "Sorry, ma'am. Didn't think to ask."

[vance_prime]

"That's okay. Just thought I'd ask," says Alyx with a shrug. "Anyway."

There's a lull in the conversation.

"...you planning to go to Rowlesburg for Christmas or...?"

[hecu_marine]

"Sure would like to," says Shephard. "I got to see my momma'n Dan, and I been workin' my ass off here to git Eleanor some sheet music'n maybe some recording gear or somethin' as a present."

[vance_prime]

"Well, I don't see any reason why you have to stay in the Greenbrier," says Alyx thoughtfully. "You have my permission to go on vacation."

...that doesn't sound quite like the right terminology for a military situation, but fuck it.

[hecu_marine]

"Leave, ma'am," says Shephard. "It's leave, not vacation. But, uh- thanks, I'll take it."

"Oh, and if Voodoo comes around makin' comments 'bout home movies or some shit like that, there ain't any. Told him I was in my high school marchin' band'n he started laughin' his ass fuckin' off."

[vance_prime]

"...you were in what now?"

Just one of many things Alyx knows nothing about because she never had any formal education.

[hecu_marine]

"Band, ma'am," says Shephard. "Played the drums at halftime durin' our football games, mostly.... uh.... this ain't ringin' bells, is it."

[vance_prime]

"I'm guessing you weren't in a rock band, so no."

[hecu_marine]

"Naw, didn't never manage to git one of those together," says Shephard. "This was marchin' band. Whole bunch of kids 'bout fifteen to eighteen years old or so each git their own instruments'n wear uniforms that make 'em look like total assholes, but they git to march out on the field when the football players ain't playin'n perform in front of all the folks who came to watch the ball game. Takes a shitload of work to git thirty kids all marchin' in sync'n performin' the same music together on a shitload of different instruments, I'll tell you what."

[vance_prime]

"...and... people wanted to do this?"

[hecu_marine]

"Sure," says Shephard. "Gets you noticed, shows you got discipline, gives you somethin' to do when football's too fuckin' easy to bother goin' out for the team, and there ain't a whole lot of things compare to hearin' a whole game's worth of applause if your band's good enough."

[vance_prime]

"--wait, you think a game where you have to hurl yourself on top of another guy to make him stop moving is easy??"

[hecu_marine]

"Compared to rugby? Sure," says Shephard. "You don't stop the damn game after every fuckin' play in rugby the way you do in football. No stopping 'cept for penalties, setting back up after a try, or carryin' an unconscious player off the field. And a football quarter's fifteen minutes long, but rugby's just halves and a half is forty minutes long. You get in a rugby scrum, you keep moving."

[vance_prime]

Alyx shakes her head. "I've said it before and I'll say it again: You are certifiable."

[hecu_marine]

"I mention you don't git pads in rugby? Just mouth guards for your teeth," says Shephard, and grins cheerfully. "Anyways, yeah. That's how come I was in band instead of football."

ETA: I gave completely the wrong number for the size of the Preston High School Band. They would have had a hundred kids marching at the very least. my apologies, assume Shephard said the correct number.

Princess Luna.

[turn_the_wheel]

Matrix can complain all he likes about ponies, but Wheel finds the form fascinating.

That's why he still hasn't ditched the alicorn shape yet.

He tilts his head, the better to read the spine.

Lunastice... That's a new one to add to the long list of observances.

[always_the_moon]

He draws Luna's attention instantly. Alicorns are extraordinarily rare, even in Equestria.

"We beg thy pardon, but have we met?"

[turn_the_wheel]

And Wheel, now being able to dictate his form, might be considered a cheat. Wheel thinks it's just logical for a tarot card to be something a little more than different. Take away horn, wings or both, though. and he'd pass for any other pony you'd see in Equestria.

Straightening himself up [it wouldn't do to have sloppy posture in front of royalty], he shakes his head.

"Unfortunately not, your highness. Allow me to introduce myself. I am the Wheel of Fortune. Wheel for short."

[always_the_moon]

"Well met, Wheel of Fortune," says Luna with a polite nod of her head. "We are the Princess Luna, Monarch of the Moon and Bringer of Night to all Equestria."

[turn_the_wheel]

"And I am an aspect of cycles, chance and change; good fortune and bad. A ... personification, of sorts, your highness."

Ponyfication in this case?

[always_the_moon]

"...personification?"

[turn_the_wheel]

"A physical representation or embodiment of a concept or idea. In other words, a symbol."

Does that help?

[always_the_moon]

"Thou art a symbol," Luna repeats. "And yet, here thou art."

[turn_the_wheel]

"That is correct."

To both statements.

"It's quite extraordinary when one thinks about it."

[always_the_moon]

"We see. Was this always the case?"

[turn_the_wheel]

He thinks about it. For just a moment.

"Yes, it was, your highness. For me, I always was a living symbol."

Even before his Awakening.

[always_the_moon]

"And... what dost thou do, in this capacity?"

[turn_the_wheel]

"I am tasked to come to the aide of those dealing with troubles of the soul, but only at their behest."

[always_the_moon]

"...couldst thou be more specific, please?"

[turn_the_wheel]

"Of course, your highness. If your life was full of misfortune and you wished to change that I'd help you find the source of your troubles so you can gain what you truly seek. But only ever when asked."

[always_the_moon]

Luna snorts a laugh. "And where wert thou a thousand years ago?"

[turn_the_wheel]

"It's a vast multiverse, your highness, and we tarot are but a few to help so many. Fewer still a thousand years ago. I am truly sorry no one was there when you needed it."

[always_the_moon]

"'Tis rather cold comfort now," she says, but there's no real rancor behind it. She just sounds tired.

[turn_the_wheel]

He nods. Luna seems so ... sad. And worn.

"We are here now, though, and perhaps that is better than never?"

[always_the_moon]

"I suppose."

[turn_the_wheel]

Ooohhh poor Luna.

"Is there something weighing on you?" Pause. "Or would you rather discuss your book instead? I have never heard of a Lunastice."

[always_the_moon]

Luna brightens up slightly. "'Tis a holiday begun during Our exile," she begins. "A celebration of the moon and the night, on the longest night of the year."