Deck All Halls

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"speeds unseen?" He said, realizing that made sense, not everyone was fast enough to get in front of him without noticing, "I suppose that's correct." He said with a nod.

Father North watched attentively as Andrea searched through her sack for her present for Jeremiah, a toy chariot, which Father North supposed would be a nice addition for the soldier and the doll. Andrea adjusted the doll and he blushed, embarrassed that he had made such a mistake, "thank you." He said sheepishly.

"That seems like a much more direct route than what I do, getting the parents involved, perhaps that is a better system." He muttered to himself and fiddled with his bag.

"Huh, I don't give anything for if they're 'bad' and I don't think I should since it would take me just as much time to make a lump of coal." He said with a laugh.
 
"Yes, we have to be fast, and stealthy in this line of work.. Can't let most see us. In a sense would, kind of defeat the purpose of their belief.. Regardless, we perform this duty one day each year regardless."

Giving the doll a nice bit of wrapping, with a beautiful silk ribbon wrapped around their dress like a small belt. Placing it carefully into her sack, she sucked in a large breath, and slowly began the descent down the chimney, staying only for a few moments in the cozy room, and taking the snacks left, before slowly ascending again..

Out the top of the chimney she popped, letting out a deep breath as she shook off the ash and soot, stepping out into the white snow with a crunch of her boots..

"Right that's, that taken care of.."

She listened to his words about the direct route, and nodded..

"Indeed. It assists in truly knowing what they wish for. Wishes can change during the year, and sometimes they forget but, we find a way somehow."
She said with a small chuckle, stepping back towards the sleigh, listening to his approach on bad children.

"Heh, yeah. We originally did that approach, we didn't give them anything. But it had an effect we didn't expect: They didn't learn their lessons in the end since they just got gifts from their parents. So, since Coal is in such abundance up north, we decided to try THAT stuff and, what do you know it worked!"

Slowly, she sat back on the sleigh's comfortable seats, and slowly looked over her list, looking for the next stop of the night.
 
Father North shrugged, "I haven't thought much about stealth, I simply don't have the time to knock on each door and do a meet and greet." He said.

He smiled at the wrapping that she gave the doll, he never wrapped his presents but the practice fascinated him, he just figured it wasn't worth the work. He waited patiently for her to come back into the roof and he chuckled as she crawled out of the chimney, "A little gravity magic might make that easier for the future." He offered.

Father North tilted his head at the mention of a lesson that the kids were supposed to learn, "That didn't occur to me at all. I just wanted to give away toys to children who deserved it and might not get it because..." He gestured to the frozen wasteland around them, "But I suppose assisting parents to ensure their children are well behaved is a worthy cause..." He thought on this, rubbing his chin and furrowing his brow for quite some time, giving Andrea a chance to get comfortable in the sleigh.

He looked up and noticed that she was ready to go and stopped thinking about what might be most effective to give naughty children, crawling under the sleigh again and lifting it once more.
 
"Heh trust me, stealth is something you think about when your great grandfather got caught on a delivery once and nearly KILLED."

She jested, tilting her head at the gravity magic, chuckling once more and shaking her head gently, getting comfortable and prepped for those speeds again.. It was so fast she was getting dizzy.. Which for her, was quite new..

"No thank you, I prefer climbing up and down the chimneys. Gets in my exercise and it's, just nice to do things hands on more than hands off."

Listening to his words about the parents and it not occuring to him, she paused, thinking as she looked around at his gestures..

"indeed it, would be expected, but, yes assisting in giving their children a Merry Christmas is a noble task indeed, no matter HOW you do it."
She finished with a reassuring smile, before giving the signal, and once again, the sleigh broke off at break neck speeds.

Throughout the rest of the night the two worked well, stopping at every house needed, and each house was a quick, efficient, and skillful stop. Every now and again Andrea had to adjust the presents Father North was giving, but they were few and far in between. Time wore on, and eventually the sun of the planet was catching up to them. Moving away from the sunrise, eventually the last house came into view, and was completed in a flash.

As she confirmed the job was done, she let out a calm breath, setting the list down in the sleigh with a smile on her face and a brush of her hair.

"Well, that's, that's all the stops for the year! Wow that's, in record time. Usually there are more hints of the dawn by now.."
 
Father North thought about what she said and wondered what it would take for him to be killed. He was certain he could fight on an even field with an angel of Vulonus or maybe even a lesser god, but he was not sure. He was certain that most humans wouldn't be able to take him on, but that most in his train of thought bothered him.

Speaking of Vulonalia gave him a much needed distraction from the possibility of his death and he happily moved on from the thoughts, "Well, I wouldn't be out here delivering toys with you if I didn't agree." He chortled.

The rest of the night with her he made sure that both of their deliveries made it to their destinations, Vuldar began to rise in the sky as the two of them made it to their final house and Father North breathed a sigh of relief, they were on time.

Andrea declared that that was all of the stops and Father North checked his bag to make sure that was correct for him as well. He smiled at her as he turned his bag over and shakes it out to demonstrate, "Yup, last one." He said happily.

He climbed into the sleigh with Andrea and laid across the back branch with her sack and he sighed, "I didn't used to celebrate Vulonalia." He gestured up to the fading light of Vulonus, "It never seemed necessary to celebrate being bathed in Vulonus' light when we were in constant contact with him. When I came to this world with the others, we didn't know what to expect, but I'm glad I found someone like you." He said with a grin.
 
She couldn't help but let out a silent chuckle, shaking her head as she sat back, watching him step into the sleigh, slowly letting out a breath as she looked towards the sun, grabbing the reins, and, with the injured members able to fly again, slowly flicked the reins, the sleigh charging off into the night once more, at the speed she was USED to which, to be fair to her, wasn't exactly too far behind Father North's top speed.

"Interesting.. Don't, exactly know what it all MEANS but, I do my best to make sure it's a jolly time of year. Every now and again I've heard passing of another name for it that's, more related to me I guess or, my family's legacy but regardless."

She turned back to the front, carefully guiding the team over a mountain range, watching the snowy peaks glide by below, as the sleigh barely rocked due to turbulence in the high altitudes.. Eventually the grassy landscape became much more snowy, the tundra taking over.
At last, she spoke again..

"Yeah.. Honestly, me too."
 
Father North chuckled as they moved along on the sleigh, they did move at quite a speed. He closed his eyes and just let himself feel the wind over him as they flew along.

"I've only heard Vulonalia, but I may be biased since I do speak to Vulonus. You said what it was called within your family earlier, what was it again?" He asked.

He crawled to the edge of the sleigh and looked out over the landscape as it changed beneath them. It was so different than the rocky core of Vulonus, so much wavier and varied. This was a wonderful new world and he just found someone who he could work with in the coming years, "Are we going back to your workshop?" Father North asked.
 
Andrea's form shifted as she slowly settled into the seat, like she knew the exact perfect spot to rest her weary limbs.
Albeit, it was in a very odd position.. Still, she rested her eyes for a moment, before looking towards Father North as he asked the questions he did.

"Oh, yes we've heard it called many things but, one of the most common is Christmas. Might come from the first of my family being named Kris, and he was always as speedy and silent as the mist when he performed the duties he had to."

She adjusted her grip on the reins, before slowly pulling down a hook on the lip of the sleigh, and carefully hooking the reins onto the hook with a small click, she let her arms relax at her sides, letting out a small sigh of relief..

"Better.. My arms hurt after all the controlling of the sleigh all this past night really.. can't wait for my yearly conk out, going to sleep like a ROCK this year.."

At his next question, she perked up again. Seems you found a topic she likes to speak about.

"Oh, yes we are, technically. Really it's grown from a workshop into an entire community. At one point yes we would call it going back to the workshop but, that was back in the days of Kris' first working days. Now a days it's quite a community. Residences for our hard workers, community gathering areas, plenty of places to eat and get a pint, honestly it's been an amazing home for us all up there.."
 
Vulonus finally faded in the sky to be invisible as the sun finished rising and Father North extended a hand towards it, "I've only ever heard of this holiday in reference to Vulonus, though I suppose I'm biased." He shrugged, "and isolated."

Father North was very interested to hear about the growing community that was working on toys with her, "Oh, I would love to meet all of them." He said with a broad smile.

Community was new to Father North, a third of all his people had travelled to Huyus and it still seems to be a drop in the bucket compared to how many humans there were. The most social thing they did was make children, but even that didn't require a partner. This was new, this was different, this was nice, "Tell me about the people you work with." Father North said
 
"Heh, yeah isolation does that to people. Closes off what we know but, it's always good to make sure that you try and get out and into the world. I do it."

She said, as she stretched her legs out, letting out a little 'Agh-' as her back popped, sending a tingle of both pain and relaxation up her spine..

"That, that felt good.."
She said, turning as she nodded to Father North on meeting the community.
"I'm sure they'd love to meet you. It isn't often we meet someone like this, or, anyone who really does the same thing as WE do."
Andrea jested, cracking her fingers as she flopped her hand around, stretching it out as she cleaned off her glasses.

At the mention of the people she worked with, her head perked up, as she kicked her feet up to a small footrest.

"Well, it's quite a mix to be frank. Humans, Elves of all different origins, it's quite a community. Since we're so far North the snow sticks around until the like, middle of Summer, and even then it only every thins out, never vanishes. It's why Sleighs are so popular, though there ARE third party modifications to give them retractable wheels, which helps in the warmer climates. Still we got our own departments, I'm in Administration, heh, obviously, then there's the Craftsmen and women who manage the Workshop, and craft every toy that we ever give, some of the staff in there have been here since the beginning, which helps with experience. Then we got the Reindeer Tenders, they care for any deer that needs assistance in the North, and even pamper the team ahead of us all the time. I pamper Vixen though she's my baby."

She said with a chuckle, listening to the sleigh bells, before drawing in another long breath, and continuing.

"Then we've got, well, those who work in their own businesses and homes, like the ones who run the places to eat, ones who run their own craft stores, blacksmiths, nurses, doctors, alchemists, etcetera. It's really it's own city up there."
 
Father North nodded, "I travel all around Huyus, but I never feel... A part of it." He said, looking off to the distance.

Father North grinned as she listed off who worked there, "So I'll be the first Vulonian working there, good to know." He lifted out of the sleigh and flew over to the deer as she mentioned pampering them, he pet them gently, glad that they were healing up well.

She commented that the workshop was like a city and he nodded as if she was imparting some grave wisdom, "I guess since it's just a small city, it would make sense that I'm the first Vulonian to arrive here." He thought for a moment, "all the people of various trades means you probably could make anything you imagine." He was absolutely fascinated by her workshop, after all, despite the technological difference between them, she was still performing better. He would have to learn how she did that.
 
She paused at that, tilting her head, but, letting out a breath she nodded.
"I, do get that feeling of not fitting in.. Up there there seems to be a group a few inconsiderate, and excuse my aggression, assholes that labeled people and entities up there that didn't fit in 'Misfits'. Consisted of a lot of now icons of our community. One of which was myself since, well, I didn't start out Female."
She said with a knowing wink.

Pausing, she thought, and quietly nodded to Father North.
"Yeah, yeah I guess you will be. Hey, breaking boundaries is something we do up there often so don't feel intimidated."

As she listened to his talk about their 'city', she couldn't help but nod along. But, her nodding paused at his mention of making anything, shaking her head with a chuckle.
"You would think, but we can't exactly get everything we need up there. Sure we have the power to do quite a lot, but a few things are exclusive items as we refer to them as, and we have to collect them from their natural environment. Food Growth is something we do, but we still do import foodstuffs if we need them."
 
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Father North chuckled at her excusing herself for aggression, he covered his mouth and cleared his throat.

"Your people's way of punishing those who do not conform baffles me, my people consider each new life to be an art piece, a statement about how the next generation should be. Doubly so for body modification... Your wizard did quality work." He imitated her wink, though he didn't truly understand its meaning.

Father North felt odd at a human telling him not to feel intimidated, he would compare the situation to a colony of mole rats telling a human to not be intimidated, but a thousand mole rats could injure a human. He stroked his beard as he tried to think of a fitting metaphor for how unthreatened he was, but stopped when he considered it might be mean.

"Well, with me around, as long as we don't need any items in bulk, I can create literally anything. It will take me a few minutes but I can demonstrate here." He wanted to make something alive to demonstrate the extent of his abilities, he decided to recreate a stray cat recently that was friendly to him, surely the workshop could use a cat.
 
"Heh, thank you. I'm glad to rebel against the leadership by just EXISTING."

Andrea jested, letting out a good laugh as she leaned back as she felt the descent begin towards her home, and a few shimmering lamps appeared over the horizon..

"Theere's home."

She muttered to herself, looking over at Father North as he summoned the cat. You have caught her attention INSTANTLY, she is loving up the cat like it is her CHILD.

"AWWWWWWW LIL BABY GIRL, LIL BABYWABEY BUBUBUBUUBUBUBUBUUBUBUBUB."
 
Father North chortled, "if your modifications make you rebel against the order..." He rolled over and his leg went limp moments before a purple tendril sprouted out of his back. It retracted and he moved his leg again just before getting back up, "I'm with you."


The cat looked confused for a few moments, not a mystery to Father North, they were both in the snow playing when he memorized its mind, but she recognized Father North and let Andrea pick her up.

With the cat finished and Andrea playing with it, Father North looked over the small town, this was his city now, and it looked small enough that the god who ran it wouldn't be a problem. He knew that Average took pains to find an average city and it had a human god with many warriors and wizards that cause him no end of trouble. When he visited Three Cycles, Three Cycles mentioned that he rarely slept.

"The workshop looks lovely." Father North said, sitting back down, "Who runs it?" He asked.
 
Andrea jumped at the tendril, to be fair. Slowly, she comprehended what she was seeing, but eventually, she smiled, and nodded.
"Hell yeah. Glad to hear you're on our side."

She didn't really FINISH playing with the cat, more settled it onto her lap with a smile, and slowly stretched out once more, smiling as she looked over at the town as the sleigh began it's FINAL descent..

"Thank you, it very much is a nice place to live.. Doesn't exactly have a set LEADER, though my family are sort of held up as very much icons of our operation. Different districts have their own heads so.. It's a whole, confusing situation but somehow we make, some sense of it."

She chuckled, as she got herself sitting up.
"right, coming in on the final approach. Going to be one hell of a task explaining why you're here but uh. Yeah."
She shrugged, taking the reins in her hands again, and carefully pulling back, the speed gradually decreasing.
 
Father North quirked an eyebrow at that information, no leader? Perhaps it would be easier to take over the place than he thought. He realized he was getting ahead of himself, "I'm open to... Unique forms of governance."



He looked at all the people who had come out to greet them, this was a yearly occurrence, but perhaps this was it's own sort of holiday, return of the Kringle.



"I could do as the other Vulonians did and simply introduce myself to the god who runs things here, but I'm not sure you have enough people living closely enough together for a god." He began floating in the sleigh, "Would a demonstration of what I am be a problem?" He asked, gesturing to the fact he was flying.
 
To be fair, it very much was. I mean it was a massive risk to fly that fateful night, and yet, here she stood now, being praised by the others, who greeted her with warm smiles, and even warmer hearts. It, really did feel like a big family up there.. And it showed by how much she was laughing, thanking everyone for a great year, and then turning to introduce them to Father North.


As she listened to him speak, she slowly nodded..
"No we, don't have a god here, ain't a cult. More a, collective. But I mean if we're talking technicalities I mean, you met me. And technically I'm held up like a hero sooo."

She paused as he floated, and slowly nodded affirmation.

"Yes it would be a, good idea to demonstrate to the others. You did to me and I don't want them to feel left out."
 
Father North nodded at the explanation, he had to think a bit about it. A small god would be better than a major god, but no god means no central figure to cow. He dreaded the idea of negotiating with the various leaders, befriending the ones he could... He would have to get to that when he got to it.

"Good, it is right that you are held up as a hero, that shows that your people recognize talent." He smiled at her and looked over the crowd that surged forward to greet them. If they had good taste, surely they would appreciate him.

Father North raised a hand, "I am Nicholas Klaus, I am a Vulonian!" His arm fell limp and a tendril came out of his back between his shoulder blades, he waved it and then retracted it back inside him, "I have created this body to better communicate and interact with humans. I hope you will accept me as one of your own."
 
Indeed they did. At first, they were taken a bit aback as the strange man introduced himself, each expressing a small bit of worry as they introduced themselves to the crowd, but, eventually, they slowly nodded, and a few walked up for handshakes..

"heh, seems they like you. And to be fair, it isn't every day you meet someone in the same profession as us."

She said with a small, playful nudge of Father North's shoulder, before she stretched, letting out a loud yawn as she mopped her face.

"mph.. shit i have been out, ALL night.. i am SO ready to get in bed and SLEEP for a good day.."

Andrea muttered, taking a deep breath as she mopped her face, stepping through the dispersing crowd, towards a larger building towards the edge of the settlement, on a small hill..
 
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