[Indigo]

They went back to looking up at the tree for a bit, watching the occasional rustle of branches as something or other moved around in there. Birds, probably. Or squirrels. Dean was struck by that odd foresty sensation again, and he still couldn't place it. He wished it would go away.

Amp gave a start. "Oh, hey," she said, "this isn't bothering you, is it? The whole religious symbol thing. I didn't really think through what you said until just now."

"No," he said. "It really is my roommate's problem and not mine. He's been a vampire for...oh, I don't even know. A lot longer than I have, and I think it affects him differently. I don't even have all that much trouble with daylight most of the time. On a really sunny day I need an umbrella but otherwise..." He shrugged.

"Interesting," she said. "That probably says something or other about the way vampirism conforms to social norms, but I don't actually know much about that, so I'm not going to speculate. Sounds a lot more convenient than the traditional kind, though."

"You seem to know a lot more than I do," Dean said. "I've pretty much had to figure it out as I go." With occasional help from Piotr, of course, but sometimes Piotr's help took uncomfortable forms. Maybe it was because he'd been a vampire for so long. In the back of his mind there was a creeping worry that he'd end up like that one day.

"I know a lot about magic," Amp said. "And weather systems, but that's not important right now, it's just another thing I'm good at. I learned a few things about vampires as a sort of sidebar to the magic."

[6 - Christmas Tree]

[Indigo]

"Why do you know so much about magic, then?"

"I'm Lamenolai's weather mage," she said. "It's also not that hard to find information about, if you have an interest, but I'm guessing you didn't until you got turned into a magic thing. I'd recommend you some books but I haven't done a lot of reading about the undead. Not my area of interest."

He nodded slowly. "I don't have any idea what you mean by 'Lamenolai's weather mage'," he said, "but I'm not sure I'd understand it even if you told me, so I think I'll just continue in ignorance."

"Sure," she said. "It's not actually that complicated, but also not that interesting to the layman. Hey, speaking of not interesting, you're nice and all and this standing next to a giant tree talking about nothing is absolutely riveting, let me tell you, but maybe it'd be nice to look around more of this place. I don't know about you, but I've never been to one of these before."

"No, neither have I. Where did you want to go?" He hadn't had much of a plan when he'd arrived here, and most of the stuff going on looked equally good to him. Particularly if accompanied by a decent conversational partner, if one who was bizarrely blase about all kinds of weird things. Though it did occur to him that this might just be normal. He hadn't been meeting a lot of people recently, and this wasn't the kind of thing that usually came up at work.

Amp hummed to herself for a moment and then started away from the tree without actually answering his question, leaving him no choice but to follow. Well, he couldn't really say he had no choice at all, but he didn't especially want to go back to standing around by himself.

[7 - Moving from Christmas Tree to Bakery]

[Isalynne]

The sound of hurried footsteps behind her took Trixie by surprise, and she turned as quickly as she could, holding her hands close to her chest. A boy was before her - disheveled, dark blue hair sticking in multiple random directions, but in one piece nonetheless. Was this him? Was this who she had been waiting for this whole time, right in front of her, looking adorably stressed with a lopsided grin on his face?

"Hi, there," He was out of breath, but still sounded jovial. "Sorry about being late. The stars are so pretty tonight, I wanted to get a look before I left -- you are Bellatrix, right? I'm not just holding up a random lady?"

"Trixie," The girl managed to breathe out with a tentative smile. He instantly beamed right back at her, holding out his hand, and she took it shyly to shake. "Callisto?"

"Cal works. Let's get comfy with one another." The suggestive wiggling of his eyebrows was completely lost on her, as a joke or otherwise, and she simply watched as he started towards the bonfire. "Woah! This is huge! Is this a tradition here? We don't do this where I'm from."

(4: Bonfire)

[Isalynne]

"No, I - I don't really know anything about it," Trixie confessed as she too turned back to the fire, sticking close to her newfound friend. There, she wasn't alone! Now it was okay to be around other folks, because she wasn't skulking around looking suspicious. She was with someone! A boy. With a boy. "We don't do this in my home town. We.. don't do much for the holidays at all, really."

"No way! That sucks," Callisto jutted his bottom lip out in a pout that was adorably endearing. In fact, Trixie looked away to avoid staring and grinning mindlessly at the sweetness of it. "I always get my folks to put up lots of lights, y'know? I love those. When you turn off all the main lights and just have those twinkling."

"That does sound beautiful."

"Do you want to sit down for a bit?" He meandered over to a free log and patted it, before plopping down himself. "We can chat, get to know each other a little better! Talking online is fine, but it's nicer in person, right?"

(5: Bonfire)

[Isalynne]

"O-okay, sure."

Trixie was tentative as she took a seat, maintaining a respectful distance in case Callisto objected to being so close. To her surprise, he immediately sidled up until their legs were pressed together, barely batting an eyelid at his own shamelessness. It looked like that was a reflex of his, to be close to people. He hadn't registered his actions, nor did he respond to her bewildered expression.

"So, you're named after a star, right?" Callisto asked jovially, and she might've known that he would've been most interested in commenting on that. The guy came across as slightly obsessed when they'd been chatting - it wasn't a bad thing, not in the least. His passion was cute. "Bellatrix. It's pretty. Third brightest star in its constellation."

"Thank you.. Callisto's a planet?" It was hard to pretend she knew anything at all about astronomy.

"A moon, but close enough! My actual name's Calum, but that's a bit boring. Callisto sounded like a good screen name for me. I think it works!"

(Bonfire: 6)

[Isalynne]

"It works," Trixie agreed quietly with a nod, and Callisto beamed at her. The full force of his smile was almost overwhelming. It was lopsided, displaying rows of pretty white teeth, particularly canines that looked slightly too long to be normal - but the cheeky element it gave to his look was suitable. His pictures did not do him justice, not in the least. A camera can't pick up a person who dazzles in a way that truly flatters them.

"Where do you wanna go?" He asked, pulling her from her thoughts, and she shook her head.

"I'm not sure what's here.. I should have looked it up before I came, but I forgot," Her confession was sheepish and soft, but he just laughed, in a way that was undoubtedly understanding rather than mean. "Do you know about it..?"

"Just a little! They have a bakery here, which is always awesome. Everyone loves cakes. Do you love cakes?"

"I'm not a massive sweet tooth--"

"Ah, that's okay! I'll eat enough for both of us."

(7: Bonfire)

[Sarah]

"This was a bad idea," Arc said.

"No it isn't," Sevastion soothed.

"We stick out," Arc said, and poked Sevastion's giant arm.

Sure, they did stick out compared to the townspeople, Sevastion couldn't disagree with that. They were both mountainous men, not only tall but well muscled, and they surveyed the festivities with too sharp eyes. Arc was wearing all black, as was his usual, but it was quite casual. A black hoodie and jeans. Sevastion had gone with a little more color, a brown jacket and blue jeans. It seemed they were out of their element, but that was all the more reason for them to stick around.

(3 | Bonfire)

[Sarah]

"Come and sit," Sevastion instructed. He sat down on one of the logs near the bonfire. This festival was the perfect excuse to get a lay of this town.

Arc followed him reluctantly and took a seat. "What do we gain from this?" he asked.

"These are my people now. I thought you'd be more than thrilled about exploring our new territory," Sevastion said. "It'll give us insight into the best strategies for when the war comes," he added.

"Very well," Arc said with a sigh. What his master said wasn't wrong... Maybe it was just his own disdain for humans that made him want to leave.

(4 | Bonfire)

[Sarah]

They sat in silence for a long couple of minutes. Their eyes wandered over to the different shops that were teeming with people. Their ears caught parts of conversation, one in particular piqued Arc's interest. "Are there any in Hell who celebrate Christmas?" he asked.

Sevastion laughed. "Gods no. None who lived fully in Hell," he said. "Their may be some who celebrate it here in Evelon, but they have assimilated to this new world. The royal family may have as well, but I was never a part of that world either," he added.

"A shame. I think you'd like Christmas," Arc said. It made more than enough sense that Hell would not celebrate the coming of a god's child. Although Sevasiton's Hell was a little more accepting of the gods than others.

(5 | Bonfire)

[Sarah]

"I... I know what Christmas is," Sevastion said. He wasn't quite sure what was going on now.

"I wasn't saying you didn't" Arc clarified. "I merely think we should adopt the holiday at the manor," he said.

"It's a little late for this year. Don't you think?" Sevastion asked.

"Perhaps, but you don't disagree?" Arc wondered.

"I don't see why we couldn't. Perhaps we could adopt more of Evelon's holiday's now that we will be living in Evelon," Sevastion said.

Arc considered his master for a moment and then nodded. He was pleased with how things had turned out.

(6 | Bonfire)

[Sarah]

"Never a dull moment. Huh boys?" A woman asked walking up to them.

"And to whom do we owe the pleasure?" Arc asked looking at the woman cautiously.

"Sarai," the woman answered and gave a small curtsy.

"And your friends?" Sevastion asked raising an eyebrow at the four cloaked figures that shadowed her. The woman looked vaguely familiar, but Sevastion couldn't even guess as to where he had seen her before. Her wraiths were unsettling...

(7 | Bonfire)

[Isalynne]

Trixie sat in silence and simply observed Callisto while he gazed into the fire. There was an almost dreamlike quality to the boy, like he wasn't completely on the same level as her; as if his mind was constantly somewhere else, even if only slightly. The idealism would be a welcome change to her brutal realism, but it jarred her. How did one respond to someone so happy and optimistic?

"We'll work our way around. There must be signs here somewhere, or something to point us where to go! It.. kinda looks like it's set up so you take one route," He observed, nodding towards where people were drifting off towards the next attraction. "That makes sense. If everyone was running to wherever they wanted in whatever direction, it'd be chaos.."

"It's kinda chaos anyway," Trixie countered, and he laughed.

"You're right. Not as bad as I thought, though! Lots of kids, which I don't know how to feel about." His gaze lingered on a young family nearby as he spoke. "Do you like kids?"

(8: Bonfire)

[Isalynne]

"I like babies.. they're not as hard to handle as older ones," Trixie supplied. It was true - there was only so much a young baby could do other than cry and poop. They couldn't answer you back or be rude in any feasible way. They didn't know that yet. On the flipside, they were forced to trust you completely, and if you had no idea what you were doing, that was a terrifying prospect.

"Yeah, I guess," Callisto shrugged a shoulder. "They, uh, they make me nervous, actually. You can't tell what they're thinking."

"They won't be thinking much," She teased. "I don't think babies have much in the way of complex thought."

"I know, but they're scary, you know? They do that horrible screamy face when they're crying.. it's sad, but it's terrifying! There's no teeth in there!"

"Yeah, I think that's normal."

"Okay, you don't have to mock me," He answered with a grin. "I know I'm being silly."

(9: Bonfire)

[Isalynne]

A comfortable quiet fell over the pair of them as they watched the fire. Trixie was intrigued by the guy who was occasionally packing an extra log onto it - was that the extent of his duties? Was it his job to stand there all night and replenish the supply whenever the situation required it? At least it was warm. Even so, it couldn't have been a very thrilling occupation.

Callisto had decided to turn his attention from the fire up to the sky, and Trixie followed his gaze after a minute. It was a clear night, no clouds in sight, so the stars glimmering in the far distance were beautifully visible, along with a glowing crescent moon. What a beautiful sight it was.

"People don't take enough time to look around them," Cal's voice was soft as he spoke, so much so that she had to lean a little closer to him to hear his words. "We all rush around and we miss all the beauty, you know? We miss the simple things that make everything a bit brighter."

"Yeah." Trixie sighed out on an exhale. "Yeah, you're right."

(10: Bonfire)

[Isalynne]

“Anyway!” Callisto was on his feet suddenly, and Trixie jumped up to follow him, almost tangling herself in her scarf in the process. “We should go check out some stuff, make the most of all of this while it’s here, yeah?”

“Yeah.”

The throng of people had thinned somewhat by the time they approached the route, as most of the initial crowd had moved on to other attractions, which was good. Trixie was not a fan of being amidst high quantities of strangers. One boy was enough to make her nerves go haywire, and she was just about keeping up with that.

As the crackling of the wood in the fire faded, she could see a glow in the near distance growing bigger. It was… an enormous glow. Was that a Christmas tree? Surely not, it couldn’t be that big, could it?

(11: Moving to Christmas Tree)