Christmas What? {Open}

[Anolean Ezel]

Now, this was something he never could understand in all his years of living and no matter where he went in the world, it baffled him. This baffled him to no end and he couldn't grasp the concept let alone the idea of bringing a large tree into the Entrance.

Really, what was the point of allowing humans to cut down a tree, drag it here, sit it up and then stare at it? What drove the human mind to hang stuff from it? Brightly colored orbs stared down at him from his seat in a soft leather chair. Perplexed, he tilted his head to the side, why was their popcorn hanging from the tree as well?

It just made no sense to put a star on the top! What did it all mean? Was it some kind of ritual of human passage? Was it a cult thing and would there be a sacrifice? No, he didn't think so and when he had to stop and ask a human a question, he got told that Santa was coming to see them.

Who the hell was this Santa Clause? Why bring toys to slave and make them feel good about themselves when they where nothing but trash? And for Gods Sake! What was with the stockings and the cinnamon and this annoying music!

He shook his head as he rested it against his fingers, crossing his legs partly, he stared at this decorated tree. "It baffles me." he said to himself as another human came to add things under the tree and more decorations. "What is the point? This tree would be best used for fire wood...and its making such a mess." And the colors...so horrible, green and red!

But really, who was Santa? He never heard of the person until today and so, he was lost in thought, pondering this new person. Was it human or boogie?

[Kazn Ezel]

There was nothing to do and nowhere to go. You would think that after centuries of ceaseless work that it would seem to be a novelty, but such was never the case. Kazn Ezel tapped his cane impatiently against the tiles of the floor as he stared at the scene in front of him. He had always busied himself with work at previous times in order to avoid foolishness such as this. Now that was not an option and he was forced to bear with foolish human folk beliefs.

Oh, but that had never kept Kazn from doing his research. If you were going to loathe something in its entirety, then you had to understand all the little nuances about it. Being older had certainly helped Kazn with the research since the modern legends of humans stemmed from older ones that had been around during his time. Humans enjoyed synthesizing old stories into new ones, and then they would all go on and pretend like that was how things had always been. It was just one giant farce. Apparently, there were plenty of humans that did not even practice or observe this particular ritual. A few years of work in Wonderland meant that the survivors would take any excuse they could get to stop working and start goofing off.

Productivity was usually at a low in the winter months anyways. Kazn was certain that was the only reason this particular set of festivities was never really put down like it should have been. An optimist would have hoped that the goodwill of not shutting attempts to celebrate every year would have contented the slaves, but Kazn took a more realistic approach to it. Potential gains from that were lost from the shortsightedness of humans. They did not understand how fortunate they had it taken away from them. Stories might persist of a time when they were not allowed to celebrate, but eventually none of them would remember it because of their horrifically short lifespans. Miserable.

The eldest Ezel walked a little closer to his son with the rhythmic sound of his cane marking the man's approach. There was no rush, and no need to invade the boy's personal space. "Their sense of decorum is most horrible. You are correct." Horrible icebreaker, but he had to start somewhere. It had been years since he tried talking about something other than work with his son. "Are you truly curious about the festivities? It doesn't get much better when you know more about it." Kazn did not laugh. A slave had once referred to him as a "Scrooge." Upon discovering what exactly had been meant by that... well... the boy didn't have to hold his own tongue after that.

[Garland Von Clossen]

"Oh. Their. God!"

Cue Garland's Theme.

Garland stood at the top of the steps, azure eyes wide and full of a joy the rivaled the most hopeful child. This time of year was simply magical! There were pretty colors, shiny toys, and happy humans! Not to mention that the humans showed their own type of insanity by bringing the trees inside the palace. Now, Garland may have had his own eccentric tendencies, but he would almost never bring in a tree indoors. Except those twenty-seven times. Unrelated events that ended in great fun and a good tongue-lashing from an Ezel.

His hands gripped the railing tightly, using his ability and keeping his balance. Looking over, he saw the Ezels - speak of the devils! - looking grumpy and anti-holiday. His blue eyes then locked in on Kazn. "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey, Little K!" Garland called, his enthusiasm switching over to the man as he waited for his back up to arrive. "You sure like a regular Scrooge over there with your boy. What was his name again? Anolalala? Bah, I can never remember that name! Wish there was an easy way to remember it!" Sighing to himself, he turned and walked out of their view.

Well, at least Garland wouldn't be bothering th-

A figure flew from the balcony, cheering as he did so. Garland flew through the air, arms out wide as if he were flying. Most boogies knew of Garland Von Clossen and his antics. They also knew that he was not capable of flight. As he soared, another, longer form slinked out from the balcony. Jax's leaping ability was much great and he latched his metal tail to the chandelier. It swung forward as he unfurled himself, just in time for Garland and Jax to grab one another's arms. Garland swung further, and faster, until he reached the perfect point in time to finish his entrance. They released one another and Garland pushed his body backwards and into a single back flip as he hung in the air for a moment. Point straight down, he dived soundlessly into the dive, disturbing almost none of the ornaments. Those that did protest his entry only shook slightly.

Giggling came within the tree and shuffling. Garland was obviously okay, physically. Oh how he loved the holidays.

[Naelona Ezel]

It was certainly winter. A chill tended to permeate the halls and sift into bones. It was most notable in the South Wing were children in some of the poorer rooms were found dead by morning - but the seriously chilled weather wasn't here yet. There existed yet a few more weeks to ensure they would survive the early new year chill.

And then some persisted in making it cold inside as well. Such as hauling in overgrown plants - and trying to make them look 'pretty'. Naelona failed to see the reason for any. They leaked sap and dropped needles all across the floor - that tracked absolutely everywhere and got into the rugs, and the carpets. Good luck getting those out. At least the majority of the floors were stone or hardwood, but it still caused quite the mess and required quite the tending.

Coming into the hall Naelona frowned lightly as she was sure she had heard some noise, some disturbance. There had been some crashing, yelling noise not moments before but now all she could see was only her father, brother, and that horrible colored abomination with it's waving branches - recently disturbed. "I thought I heard something." Approaching the two, Naelona came over to her brother, stealing a spot upon his lap sitting sideways, leaning against him most comfortably.

Looking up at the tall tree the younger twin made a face of disgust. "Who insisted on bringing this in this year?" It brought a nice smell into the halls, but that was about it's only merit. Perhaps a better question, was who was going to haul it back out?

[Anolean Ezel]

The Ezel boy blinked a few times, his urge to smoke was increasing by the moment as he sat there comfortably, staring at the horrible lights! His father came up soon after and he tilted his head to the side but did not look at the older boogie. "They have legends about...trees?" He asked in confusion, "Or towards the fat man in red, that seems to have hellish fashion sense. Clearly, he has never went shopping with a gay man before...or he has with one of those real----out there types." He left it at that.

"God." He said after a long pause, he gave Garland hardly the time of day other then to correct his name. "Anolean, learn it well." because one day, he might just become an Elder and then he would own the man's ass. Once again, more humans where coming in with more strange balls of colors and popcorn.

When his sister took residence in his lap, his arms instantly encased her with warmth and strength of any good twin. His head tilted and rested against the top of hers, but his eyes where still stuck to the tree.

"Good. God. It's so horribly I can't take my eyes from it. It's like an odd form of torture." admitted the older twin by a few seconds with an in take of breath.

"I take it...that the smaller humans found it in their heart to chop a tree carelessly and then decorate its decaying body. How....interesting yet mortifying at the same time...god the colors."

The colors, Duke, the colors.

[Kazn Ezel]

Maintaining his composure was something that Kazn had practiced for years, but even so there were some things which still managed to noticeably grate on his nerves. Bubbly music playing in the background while antics ensued was one of them. "Heeeeeeeeeeeeeey, Little K!" Kazn's shoulders visibly shifted upwards. He forced himself to wear a smile as he turned his head to watch the ensuing descent.

Here was a man who knew absolutely no bounds and whose only visible merit was that he was rich. According to No One, Garland had once been a much different man. He had been friend's with Kazn's father--hence the childish nickname for someone who was clearly a grown Boogie. Being called a Scrooge by a Boogie was just demeaning. Surely Garland von Clossen had more class than to resort to human celebrations?

He issued a sigh as Garland's descent came to a sudden stop in the tree. Kazn would have offered his son's name in correction of Garland's horrid pronunciation, but Anolean saw fit enough to make his own point. It saved Kazn the trouble more words than he would have to manage. He did see fit to whisper a reminder to his son that echoed one given to him a long time ago. "Just mind what you say about him. There was a time when he was deserving of every respect." Well, maybe not every respect, but most of them at the very least.

"You know, it's delightfully morbid when you put it that way," Kazn commented to Anolean's analysis of the tree. He mentally braced himself for the eventuality of finding a slave's body strung up in the same sickening decorum placed upon the tree--minus one Garland moving around inside of it. Kazn did not find the colors on the tree nearly so repelling as his son did, but that was mostly because he was fixated upon the reds.

"Greetings, Naelona," he finally managed an acknowledgment to his daughter. "You missed one of von Clossen's antics a moment ago. As for the tree, I still remain convinced that it's a mob mentality which overtakes them whenever the snow starts to fall outside." In other words, no single human decided to go out and chop a tree and bring it inside to string up with gaudy decorations. That was something decided by a group mentality as a sort of wave of sickening holiday spirit washed over them.

"Do you know that some of them celebrate it as the birthday of a man that they would nail to another tree some thirty years later?" Sick.

[Garland Von Clossen]

Jax hung motionless, only swinging by the doing of the light fixture. As soon as it hung still the puppet snapped back to life, releasing itself from the it's hold and falling. The snake-like puppet hit the ground with a roll, ending neatly upright with a coiled tail as it's base. The wide, lifeless false eyes staring at the Ezels with not intent. The clockwork from within ticked and whirred. There it stood on guard duty.

The tree shook as movement began to pick up within the foliage. The thousands of needles prevented a clear sight of what was going on within the tree. The ornaments rattled together and the popcorn silently protested to the disturbance of peace. "How can the Ezels so easily disregard such happy times? And they do so with half-baked stories and themes!" Garland laughed, still moving fiercely within his green home. "Do you not know the true story of Christmas?" He called, moments before his second great entrance.

Two sudden whirls of movement occurred simultaneously. Jax wrapped itself around the tree, head at the top and tail rigid, able to keep such a delicate spiral staircase with help of his arms grabbing the trunk. The second was Garland popping out of the top of the tree.

Now, it was not the same Garland that the Ezel men had seen a moment before. This boogie was dressed in heavy black boots, a shining buckle to secure them to his normally bare feet. A similar belt wrapped around his thin waist. His pants had become bright red and cuffed with fur. His torso was covered in a jacket that resembled the pants, red and fluffy, with golden buttons going all the way up to his neck, a white fluffy collar keeping the chilly winds off his neck. His regular earrings had been replaced with small ornaments, one shining red and the other glistening green. Upon his head sat a night cap, red to match his outfit with the same fur lining it. And, of course, sat the white fluffy ball on the tip, a bell hidden inside, jingling with each step he took.

"MERRY CHRISTMAS, WONDERLAND~! HO~HO~HO~!" Garland cried, attracting as much attention as he could with his cheer. Placing his hands on his hips, he lend forward, almost looking smug. "Does Old Santa Von Claus-son need to tell the tale of magic, wonder, and holiday cheer to revitalize the hope and joy within you grouchy Grinches?" He asked, eyes scanning each one individually. It was then he realized that all of them looked so... dull. Naelona especially! So dark, and one such a bright, happy month! Perhaps he could switch her outfits out with something more... festive later. Like when she wasn't in her room. That was an idea that was noted, stored, and forgotten in a matter of three seconds.

[Naelona Ezel]

"I can blind you for a time, if it would make you feel any better, Anolean." Naelona offered to her brother. One still had to muse how they even acquired the tree in the first place. Wonderland trees weren't the most hospitable, after all. Many of them tended to have a malicious streak to them, if not a bloodthirsty one. How many slaves did they lose to this one? Was it truly dead? At second thought maybe sitting in such close proximity wasn't very wise, save.. it appeared dead enough.. by reason of lack of movement, at least.

"Greetings Father." Returning the remark, the younger twin raised one thin eyebrow towards Kazn. "Von Clossen? Are we speaking of Garland or the younger, Lucien?" Either was equally off their respective rockers. In either case Garland's was broken, and Lucien's was warped, likely from Garland having broke his a long long time ago. The boogie had always been nuts as far back as Naelona was aware. From her father's remark Naelona got the distinct image of some poor slave impaled with spikes upon such a plant. A few certain garden plants would undoubtedly appreciate it.. to an extent. It was a thought worth considering.

"Mob mentality it may be, but then why only do this once? They never do this in the spring or fall if there is an unseasonal snowfall." At that moment something plumeted from the above to the floor It stared at them. But that wasn't the most distracting thing happening now as something burst from the tree. What was that... that thing..? That red abomination? "Feel free to remove us from here at leisure, Brother." Naelona whispered in Anolean's ear as that.. red.. noisy.. obnoxious.. 'ho ho ho' thing drew closer. On that note - what in the Trap was a Grinch?

"No, that will not be necessary. I believe we are all quite well as it is, without your.. enlightenment." When he got to her, he would only find a solid glare being directed at him from the relative comfort of her brother's arms. "Magic is merely a set of illusions, wonder is for small children prepared for dinner, and 'cheer' to revitalize anything is for the feeble and ill." Pressing back against her twin, and away from this.. insanity, Naelona resisted a disgusted 'tsk', glancing the eyesore over. "I do believe you truly are mad."

[Anolean Ezel]

Anolean regarded his father carefully, "Nailed to a tree? How very odd and yet interesting. I bet the humans would make lovely wall decor if we did that..." He let his sentence end there as he thought about such an idea for a moment.

Of course, Garland destroyed whatever thoughts came to the young Ezel. The Ho-ho-ho-ing was very distracting. So distracting that Anolean moaned and stared at the crazy boogie. "Ho. Ho. Ho? Are you trying to offer yourself to my father by claiming you are a hoe? And Merry Christmas? Sounds like some sort of bondage thing, my father does like whips and chains, porvided they are made from flowers." Ah, the cruel jokes come from his lips. "As for your cheer, I am quite well without it, I am the most cheerful out of this family that you an get."

His eyes turned back to the tree and then away with a small shudder. To him, black and white lights would of looked just fine. But so many colors, it was like a gay man was throwing up rainbows, was Jou involved in this? He must be, this was his kind of decorations!

Turning towards his twin, he raised a brow at her, "Ah, blinding is a wonderful gift but I am afraid I am used to these...lights now, as horrible as that is...

He chuckled lightly and ran a hand through his twins hair, but he did not move. Not yet, for one he was far to comfortable and secondly, he was curious about what else might happen in this lovely area.

"I believe my sister speaks the truth and I must agree with her. You are quite mad."

[Kazn Ezel]

Kazn gave his children a sidelong look, partly amazed that they had not retreated as per Naelona's suggestion. Leaving Kazn to deal with the maddened Garland would have been painfully appropriate, given their track record. Then again, Garland was an annoyance, but he was mostly harmless. In fact, Kazn was most certain that it was the simple fact that the man was mostly harmless that bothered him most. New slaves would be put off by the man's insanity, but those who were here for any measure of time quickly adjusted to the special brand of madness he exuded.

Anolean was often hit or miss with his wit, and Kazn truly wished that certain implications had not been made with his most recent tongue lash. It almost made it sound like Kazn produced garlands of flowers and flower-themed slave and master equipment. The image was... horrifying. There was no other words to describe it. A man in a red suit with the most pretentious laugh he had ever heard could not even compare to that imagery.

"Garland, I know the true meaning of Christmas and it is a bunch of codswallop fed to children to encourage kindness and good cheer in a world that would otherwise be entirely wholesome and full of work." Just another one of those conflicting lessons that parents tried to deliver to their children. Kazn never had made any such illusions in raising his own children. Any conflict of directions came from a source other than Kazn.

"However, I'll give you thirty mijn if it's a story I haven't heard before." Small change to Garland, but it at least implied some degree of seriousness to Kazn's statement. An Ezel's word was as good as a written agreement.

[Garland Von Clossen]

Garland's cheerful face beamed down on the Ezels as he decended his staircase, nearing the point where he would be hidden for a moment by the tree. "Illusions, Naelona? Is not your own powers locked within the dreadfully monotonous body of yours an illusions?" Garland mused, his eyes slowly turning on Anolean as the commentary of being a hoe came about. In that instant the azure eyes lost all of the aloofness from the evening, taking on an ancient wisdom, lost to may boogies that still lived. "Speak not of free love, Anolean," Garland said in a low voice, the Ancient language rolling perfectly off his tongue.

The next moment Garland was lost behind the tree, reappearing less than a second later, the same cheer and child-like play returned to his atmosphere. Another odd note was that Garland had some how produce a large tan sack, lumpy and full of... something. "Oh, what you have heard is incorrect, my dear friend!" Garland chuckled, sliding the rest of Jax's metal tail, landing neatly on the floor, his boots thunking lightly as he moved. He paused long enough to heave the sack forward and open it to allow it's contents to fall before him. The figure was dressed up in a ridiculous elf outfit, yet Naelona would be quick to recognize this man.

"Now, to be clear, this is the TRUE story of Christmas," Garland started, Jax slithering up to his master and coiling under him as he sat, making a seat in perfect time. Garland crossed on leg over the other as he folded his hands together, lips on his fingers as he spoke. "Whatever stories you have heard are what we told the humans long ago, so they would quit investigating further into our lives, as it was intimately linked." A cheeryful smile over took his face as he leaned forward. "Why, you ask? It's simple! Santa Claus is a boogie man!" Letting the news sink in, Garland sat back, looking over each Ezel for a set amount of time.

"We have told them that a man fought oppression in a cold climate and used the help of magical animals and adept short people to finish this task. His powers grew with the resounding joy and cheer he brought, which is true, might I add, and soon was able to cover the entire earth, at least most of it. Claus is working on that." Garland grinned, looking for reactions so far. Three Ezel-like stares? Awesome start! "This is what truly happened..."

A long time ago in this very palace was a man named Saint Claws. This man was known to be skilled in using his talons to rend apart foolish humans who dared to disagree with anything he said. Seriously, a guy once tried to tell him which fork was for salads and BAM! Dead. Anyways, this boogie drew his power from joy and happiness, like I said before. This is his talent. The happier the people are on the world he is on, the more powerful and quick he becomes! This is how he can cover the planet so easily, with it varying when people are less happy on earth AND in Wonderland, as he can take that power with him no matter where he is! But why, is the real question, isn't it? Why would Claws go and give gifts to the world, you may ask? Wouldn't that be counter productive to just snatching them and taking what he can for his own slaves? Wrong! He has no need to feast on them or slaves, really. He has recruited the help of natural creatures from Wonderland, not inhabitants near the Boogie Palace at all! You see, they are from across the sea, or so it is told. I may venture there some day and make my own ruling on this, but there is also rumor that these small 'elves', as humans have called them, are bloodthirsty buggers. Heard they can eat as many as ten times their weight per meal. These creatures are dexterous enough to craft any toy quickly and perfectly. Humans don't come close to that sort of productivity! And if they were sad under his labor, how could he draw power from them? That's right, folks, Claws grows in power each year by delivering toys to children in the human world! Hell, he even gets stronger when the humans here get gifts, which is why they sometimes get gifts from him as well. Ah, the joy on their faces when they get those simple clothes or objects or irrelevance... I even hear that he watches all of them, with help of another boogie. With that talent, he can tell who is naughty and nice and who loves who. He's been known to give people gifts for the other person in their name, thus increasing his power! One of these days he will rule over us, a true King of Wonderland. The Elders are aware of this story, but they think it's a bunch of hogwash and fumplegock. But I know better. Saint Claws will be contorling us all one day, with the help of his cannibalistic short army.

Garland's face twisted in an odd form, looking much like his eyes had turned into two 'n's and his smile wide as ever. "Now, don't you all feel like you learned something today?" A hand was raised and waved off Kazn, with or without his own movement. "And I do not need your petty cash, Kazn! Spend it on your children and help Claws gain his power and rule over us all with a cold iron fist!"

[Shaehern Azhrarn]

Shae had been offered the opportunity to climb into Gar's sack, and it seemed really like the sort of thing that you didn't pass up. Of course, once he discovered what was actually intended in this offer it meant that Shae would not allow this opportunity to pass without getting dressed up. He had chosen a deep green elf outfit with a pointy had to match Garland's Santa attire.

Of course, waiting in the sack for as long as he did made Shaehern a little sleepy and he dozed off. Getting dumped out of the sack was a rude awakening, but he started right up and delivered a childish grin. He pantomimed along with Gar's tale of the true origins of Christmas. His favorite part was about the cannibalistic elves where he got to make munching motions with his teeth. Other wonderful highlights included the toymaking, where Shaehern somehow procured a toy train and hung it up on the tree, and the raising of a red flag with some suggestive imagery and letters in black reading: Saint Claws is Watching You.

Once the tale was over he waited for a moment before pulling out a small sack of sparkly powder and tossing it over the Ezels. "And so a merry Christmas to you! I'm off to spread goodwill and cheer!" The flamboyant man skipped away from the grumpy Ezels and his companion Gar, but not before reaching into the sack and pulling out a fishing pole with some mistletoe attached to it. There were antics to perform, after all.

Skipping down the hall he looked for unsuspecting children to snare in his holiday mischief.

[Naelona Ezel]

Oh of all the things her brother had to say, certain attempts of being amusing should never have left his lips and should well have remained in his brain - silent and unknown. She loved her brother, but he still knew how to open his mouth and chew on his own toes sometimes. She'd really wished he'd outgrown such practices by now, and that particular image of Kazn just.. it was... no.. Naelona shuddered. She'd heard a saying from some slaves of 'what has been seen cannot be unseen', it also applied to thoughts as well.

Garlands sudden reprimand to her brother.. the sudden serious tone so unexpected from such a figure sent a chill down the spine.. spoken so well too. It was.. surprising. Perhaps there was hope for the insane old boogie yet. Even if what the old boogie had said didn't make sense to Naelona's ears.. for a moment she wanted to hear those words again. The pristine enunciation... pity he was already moving onto something else.

Safely nestled in her brother's arms Naelona watched absently, if not without a bit a curiosity. Garland was a peculiar, befuddling curiosity, but a mostly harmless one. His explanation ought to be an interesting one, and the sudden appearance of the 'elf' Shaehern only confirmed it. Devious old man. He was up to something.

Listening to Garland's.. preposterous tale.. complete with Shae-elf's 'assistance' .. a little red flag went up in the back of her mind. Garland was known for being insane, yet he was very old, and the very old knew very strange things. What made it worse - was his story was entirely plausible. The ability was very peculiar, but odd abilities weren't entirely unheard of and were known to run in some family lines. No-one really knew what lay across the Sea from Quill's Beach - no-one ever traveled there, if there even was another side at all. A number of boogies swore to the believe Wonderland simply 'ended' somewhere out in that blue abyss. But a plot to feed off of joy.. to utilize one's own ability to gain copious amounts of power to take over not only one world.. but two.. was a pipe dream. A very boogie, very alluring pipe dream...

Towards the end of the story Naelona found that the edge of her mouth had curled up ever so slightly, and she had pressed her lips together to keep it from curling more. With a cough it was immediately gone. The tale made sense for every trouble, mishap, and blasted female and their illness-ridden species she ever had to deal with. Someone was trying to usurp what proper order she was doing here. It was difficult to swallow, that just.. it was too good an explanation. Too convincing a reason. She knew someone had been against her all along!!!

With a gasp and a flinch Nae tried to cover herself from something Shaehern threw at them. Blinking she stared at the air confusedly as.. little sparkles settled all over them. Staring, nothing happened right away. She didn't feel any different, it wasn't some sort of poison or some other witchery. "What is this..?" Naelona asked, staring at her glitter-covered sleeve, before trying to brush it off her arms, hair, dress. It didn't brush off too well at all! "It doesn't come off.. Shae, what did you do-.." The boogie-now-elf was making even less sense now.

"What are you doing..!?" Seeing him take out a fishing pole.. and a piece of plant attached..? and scamper off, a red flag went off in her mind. Both of these two were in cahoots with this scheme, and she had to stop them. Leave the menfolk to take care of Garland. "Excuse me brother, I have some impending chaos to divert." Getting up from Anolean's lap Naelona set off at a brief clicking pace after Shaehern. Heard they can eat as many as ten times their weight per meal.. It took the Ezel her best effort to keep back a snort, before solidifying her resolve. He would win if she cracked now. Even if it could be, slightly, possibly a little bit tad amusing.