Noelle's December Catch-All

[holidaygirl1225]

WHO: Noelle & Mayaka, Bigby, Kris, Agnes
WHAT: Questing, decorating for the holidays
WHEN: Throughout December
WHERE: Bottlecap Bay, the Spire
WARNINGS: Any Deltarune spoilers will be marked by thread.

Comments

Happy Pawlidays (Mayaka)

[holidaygirl1225]

[It's Noelle's favorite time of the year! Unfortunately, creating decorations can be difficult for her without opposable thumbs... but she can at least help set them up! She meets with Mayaka in the low-tier housing.]

Hi again! How are you settling in? Are you ready for a quest?

[sharpjustice]

[After some trekking, the little Sneasel finally arrives at the Spire. This is her first time here, and her first time leaving the heart of town since she arrived! She'd heard that they might need some help, and wants to put in some effort to pitch in instead of spending all day in the Archives.

As she enters the low-tier housing level, she's surprised by how the accommodations here are so different from the Lum Berry housing. This look of surprise is quickly replaced with a big smile as a familiar Deerling walks up to her.]

L-chan! [Mayaka would normally reach out to shake a good friend's hand when she's excited to see them, but she's still wary about her exposed claws. Also, Noelle has hooves instead of hands. So, she makes do with hopping up and down on the spot to express her joy.]

I'm still settling and figuring stuff out, [she says, not bothering to sugarcoat her words even though she's in a good mood now.] But today, I'm here to help. What're we doing, anyway?

[holidaygirl1225]

Maya-chan! [She hops up and down as well. Mayaka's excitement is infectious.] Decorating for the holidays! I thought we could try making some-- um, you know, if you want. I might have hooves, but I've figured out some ways to be a little creative!

[She leads Mayaka towards where she's set up some papers, quills, and various paints. She suddenly seems bashful-- Mayaka seemed so apprehensive about her drawings in the snow last time. Will this seem like too much?] I gathered everything I think we need, but if you have any other ideas, um... we can always do something else!

[sharpjustice]

Woah! Thanks for preparing all this. Must've been a ton of work.

[Mayaka marvels at the various art materials laid out in front of her. While she's still too shy to show off her drawings, she's been craving for a way to express herself creatively. It would be rude to brush off the invitation after Noelle made all the effort to prepare this.

The Sneasel kneels down and tucks her legs neatly underneath herself before reaching out to sort through the paints and papers. It's all a blank canvas and, for once, it's not something she feels pressured to draw perfectly for a prize submission.]

Let's do this! [Mayaka says decisively, wanting to assure the Deerling that she's onboard with her idea.] What's the holidays like from where you're from? I mainly think of KFC, fancy Christmas lights and trees.

[As she says this, she glances around the hallways, wondering what would be a painting they could make to add to the festive cheer.]

[holidaygirl1225]

Oh, it was nothing! [It was a bit of work, but Mayaka doesn't need to know that. Noelle takes the non-brush end of a paintbrush in her mouth and begins to paint.

... Unfortunately for her, she realizes her mistake as soon as Mayaka asks her a question. This worked better when she was alone. Noelle does her best to prop up the paintbrush before replying.]

Hmm... are you from a part of the world where Christmas is a more personal and, uh, romantic holiday? [She's heard about this!] Where I'm from, it was more about spending time with family. And we really went all out! Decorating the house, my mom throwing a big Christmas party, making cookies and sending cards, caroling...

[For a moment, her face falls. Maybe she's missing all that right now.]

... um, a lot of stuff. It was probably our favorite time of the year, fahaha.

[sharpjustice]

That's true. Where I'm from, there's lots of stuff targeted at couples during this time of year. Fancy light displays to visit on a date, special dining promotions for two, that sort of thing. My family doesn't really have any Christmas traditions apart from eating KFC.

[Mayaka doesn't have any strong feelings towards the holiday because of this, though she takes joy in preparing gifts for friends. Noelle, on the other hand, sounds like she has lots of precious memories associated with the season.] It sounds fun, the way you describe it.

[The Sneasel leans over with curiosity, to see what Noelle had started to paint.]

What were to going to draw?

Happy Pawlidays (Bigby)

[holidaygirl1225]

[Lately, Noelle has a little extra spring in her step. It's certainly a positive upswing from her depressive episode of the last few months... and it doesn't seem forced, either. This is right after Noelle and Shoka spoke, too. How curious.

She also brings along one of his misshapen gingerbread cookies to the baking lesson. It's old and ready to be thrown out. Noelle insists it's there to compare 'before and after'.]

Hey, Bigby! I'm glad you could make it!!

[wolfcut]

Hey, Noelle.

[ He greets her with a smile, ears perking at the excitement in her voice. Like Noelle, he seems to be far more content than he has been for quite a while. Maybe it's something about the holiday season. Maybe he finally slept on the right side of the bed. Whatever the reason might be, things finally feel at ease for once.

It helps too, getting to tag along on something that he knows means a lot to her. While it might not be like back home, Bigby can at least try to make it a little special. ]

Can't miss a lesson from the expert herself. Promise I won't make that big of a mess.

[ Briefly, he glances at that stale cookie, the suddenly overwhelming feeling of fondness making his smile go just a little lopsided. Funny that. ]

[holidaygirl1225]

[It makes her relieved to see Bigby happy, too.] We could always post a quest to clean up if we do...! Fahahaha! [Would that work? She feels guilty even posting what she thinks is an important quest... and yet, she's in such a good mood, the thought only makes her smile waver for a moment.]

I've got all the ingredients already! How about we start with mixing the butter and brown sugar?

[wolfcut]

Well, now we've got to destroy this place. Make that quest worth their while.

[ Definitely more his style, even if much of his time lately has been spent doing exactly not that. Turns out making and finding gifts requires some careful handling. He nods at her instruction, looking over the ingredients all laid out. Certainly easier than scrambling around for everything like he did the last time he was here. ]

Watch my technique, alright? I can handle some feedback.

[ Butter and sugar in the bowl, he goes for one of the wooden spatula looking instruments to start mashing it all together. ]

[holidaygirl1225]

... It's tough when you're like this, right? [At least he has hands of a sort, but they're small.] Um, maybe try a little more gently. And try to get those lumps on the bottom.

[While he's mixing more ingredients together, she brings out the cookie cutters he so nicely- albeit sacrilegiously- gave to her early. She smiles at all of them, but the Pikachu one especially.]

Thank you for these! Gosh, I'm really happy to have fun shapes. You remembered the werewolf thing, too...

[wolfcut]

[ Gently, she says, which he translates as slower in his mind. Bigby adjusts with a careful nod. As hard as it is to deal with a new body, he can't say he hasn't been through this before.

Regardless, he's focused on doing this right, so much so he doesn't even notice her pull out the cookie cutters. ]

... Thought they'd be nice to have. Even if they're a little different from home. [ He sighs lightly to himself, relieved to hear the early gift wasn't a miss. ] And that one was the hardest to get. No one knew what the hell I was talking about, but I guess that Pokémon is the closest thing they got to a werewolf here.

[ He pauses from the mixing, giving her a little grin. ]

I think my favorite was the Voltorb though.

Holiday Baking Special (with Kris)

[holidaygirl1225]

[ooc: very likely Deltarune spoilers throughout this thread.]

[Noelle has spent more of her time in the kitchen than out of it lately. It makes her happy to work on something productive that other people can enjoy... and she offered cookies as a quest reward for information regarding Dess, so she owes plenty of cookies. She invited Kris over because apparently someone needs to order them to eat now, so after making sure they had some food, she kinda-sorta forced them to stay and help her gather ingredients and watch the cookies in the oven.

At least when they're like this, they probably won't eat all her cookies before they cool like they used to? Still, it's weird, thinking there's someone else in their head. Especially someone who...

... she doesn't need to finish that thought.]

So, Kris, um...

[How does she talk to them now? It's not like they've really worked out the rift between them-- the many years they spent avoiding her, or the fact they 'don't remember' doing all of that awful stuff to her, or the million questions she has. But if she doesn't handle this delicately, they'll just go back to avoiding her.]

... do you still like gingerbread cookies?

cw kris is dissociating and that means lavvy gets to write ten billion words of introspection

[heartonachain]

[Kris stands in front of the oven, face pressed up against the glass, staring diligently at cookies both of them know they can't see. The lack of sight only makes their body feel further away, something strange and foreign that moves about on its own with only minimal feedback that reaches all the way back to Kris. They focus on the heat against their face, the comparative chill of the tile under their feet. It's not enough to completely ground them, but it's... it's something. It's real, probably. Something has to be.

There's a part of them that still wants to believe last month didn't happen. Maybe they've just... hallucinated all of this. Maybe their soul found a way to make Noelle forgive them without telling the truth. They've seen it manage the impossible before—why not this, too? Isn't this an outcome worth perfecting? Doesn't it have its own secrets to keep?

But the more time passes, the more they realize... they never really know what it's thinking. They don't know what it wants, what it thinks of people like Noelle, what it thinks of them... so maybe this was always doomed to happen eventually. The guitar, the Knight, they should've known it would find more ways to make life difficult for Kris.

... and yet, this scenario isn't playing out at all like the ways they'd imagined it. The Noelle in their mind was more disgusted with them. The Noelle next to them is just... acting like things are normal, kind of. There's an awkward atmosphere that feels different from before, but she still sought them out intentionally. She still talks and laughs and brings up old stories like they're not a husk of their former self. She even made sure they got to eat something. They don't know what they're supposed to do with this information yet.]

Yes.

[They speak, only realizing she'd asked a question after the answer comes. They... haven't really been all that present so far. They stiffly force their legs to move, stepping back from the oven with minimal resistance, half-turning towards her.

Kris nods. They sure fucking do still like gingerbread.]

... don't make it that much anymore.

[holidaygirl1225]

[Did they mean that they haven't made it since they got here? Or are they talking about all the years they spent ignoring her? Noelle isn't sure how to ask, and then the moment is gone, and she doesn't say anything at all.]

... Your mom was way better at making them than me, actually, fahaha. Just, like, an amazing baker in general. Especially her pies. Remember how you stuck your face in one like it was a pie eating contest, and I started bawling my eyes out 'cause I wanted some, and Dess, she...

[... didn't chase them around with a wiffle bat that time because Toriel was there. Instead, Dess 'encouraged' them on to eat the entire thing, which Toriel saw as an important lesson for them about sharing. They had an upset stomach all afternoon and all night.

Does Kris remember that...? Did they even see the quest she posted? Did they care?]

[heartonachain]

[They stand there in silence as she recounts the memory, trailing off into an expectant pause. They know what happened next. They were there, obviously. The learned an important lesson that day about how they could eat an entire pie in one sitting if they put their mind to it. They only regretted it later when they were too sick to have any of the second pie, and Noelle got to have their slice...

... but they can feel it pulling at the strings, and they clamp their mouth tightly shut before it can answer. The last thing they need right now is to let it ask about Dess.

They clear the thought from their mind. Focus on something, anything else. Any part but that one.]

Sorry for being mean
	Worth it		♥︎	We could make a pie
Are we still friends?

Could make a pie. I know the recipe.

[... it's still a little too stilted, but that can't be helped. They shuffle their feet, mumbling a more genuine addition at the floor before she can consider telling off the Soul.] Promise not to stick my face in it.

they call me 007. 0 timely replies 0 lines of dialogue 7 million words introspection

[holidaygirl1225]

[Almost like they were going to say something, but then they shut their mouth. Was that them, not wanting to talk? Was that it, silencing them? Did Kris actually want to see her during those years they were apart? Would they have ever spoken again without it?

Did Kris enjoy what happened to them in the Dark World? Is that why they didn't fight back? Did they miss her, too? Why don't they remember? Are they pretending? Or is this just their version of ignoring her for multiple years?

'Could make a pie.' And meanwhile, Berdly might be dead. What are they playing at? She's sick to her stomach and also so happy to be spending time with them again.

... For a moment, as she stares at Kris, Noelle imagines her choices lined up before her. Like Dragon Blazers or something.

* Attack
* Make them talk
* Proceed
* "But then how would you eat it?"

She lingers, expecting someone else to choose. It then strikes her that nobody does. The thought that she could attack them, force them give answers, force them to say Dess's name, take vengeance, rip it out of their chest, is right there in front of her.

She should be repulsed with herself. She isn't. Images spring to her mind unbidden. Her trying out her powerful new attacks on Kris. Or maybe she would nix the faux-magic and just spring forward and stomp and kick and stomp and kick-- a way that's more natural. Would they fight back? Would it?

Or maybe she could close the distance between them and kiss them; weren't they 'something else'? Why didn't it care anymore?

(... Shoka. Her friends at the Guild. Mightyena. She's not in the Dark World anymore. It has no control over her.)

So maybe she's a coward for not doing any of that. Maybe it means there's still hope for her. She doesn't know.]

... But then how would you eat it?

[It's not like they have hands to use utensils with.]

... okay, sure, yeah. Pie would be nice.

[She begins to gather the ingredients.]

1/2, death note kira/L levels of overthinking in here

[heartonachain]

[It feels like it takes way too long for her to answer.

... did they say something wrong? It wasn't fully their choice, but... they still meant it. They can have a fun, normal time together doing the things they used to enjoy. Isn't that what she wants from them? To go back to how things were? To be friends again?

... but the Kris she remembers wasn't nice. They would push every boundary until they made her cry. They never figured out how to make friends the "normal" way. And when they went too far, Azzy or Dess would always have to step in. "That" Kris wouldn't pass up a chance to one-up themselves, even to everyone else's detriment.

Trying to be nice, to smooth things over with empty kindness... isn't that what it would do?

The realization makes them feel sick.

It's impossible to know. Have they grown in this small way, or is that just the thing in their chest telling them what to do? They were never meant to host it for this long. What if every day they're losing more of themselves, becoming more like it? What if one day there's nothing left of Kris at all?

And yet, if they keep on acting like their stubborn, childish self... won't she get tired of them eventually? No matter how much she says she misses the old Kris, won't she realize she's outgrown them? Or, when she finally uncovers the truth—

... But then how would you eat it?

Her voice jolts them out of the spiral, fur sticking up at the base of their neck. Uh!

... huh.

Hmm.]

... Fair. [None of this matters since they legally have to shove their face in the pie anyway. It'd be funny if they weren't still thinking about all that other stuff.]

2/2

[heartonachain]

Cut it in half

♥︎

We'll both stick our faces in it

We'll both stick our faces in it. [haha wow did they have to say that so brazenly loud? Okay. Cool. They're being so normal about this.]

Humbug (with Agnes)

[holidaygirl1225]

Noelle has been around ovens so much with her baking that she hasn't felt quite as cold as before-- or maybe it's the surprising amount of support she's received. Or even both. Regardless, she hasn't seen Agnes around lately.

A sudden fear that she may have just disappeared drives Noelle to check on her. She gingerly climbs up the Canopy and taps on Agnes's door with a hoof. "Hi, um, is anyone home? It's Noelle."

[pyrodulia]

Agnes comes to answer the door after a moment, giving Noelle a quiet look.

"You smell like pastries." Because she can't figure out what else to say. Her home is dark, definitely not decorated for the holidays, and she herself looks...well, a little scruffier than usual.

[holidaygirl1225]

"That's probably because of all the pastries I made, fahaha. I'm still trying to get the recipes right with no hands..."

Is there a polite way to say 'you look awful'? Their first conversation was incredibly emotional; it feels weird to be so unsure. She's always torn, now, between her awkwardly polite self and her other self.

"... want to try some?"

[pyrodulia]

There's a pause that lasts longer than it probably should before Agnes nods.

"Sure. I haven't had very many pastries. Bigby introduced me to pumpkin pie, at least."

It probably shouldn't be a surprise to her that Noelle Holiday has a thing about Christmas. No, that's not surprising at all. It's that she's here to share it with Agnes that's the disconnect.

[holidaygirl1225]

Noelle reaches into a satchel and retrieves a peppermint cookie and a gingerbread cookie-- unfrosted. Lacking hands, she has to do it with her mouth. She only leaves minor teeth marks in them.

"I've been testing things out, so they might be like, totally weird or whatever. It's fine if you spit them out. Actually, maybe I should get you some water or tea or something, just in case...?"

She looks at Agnes, trying to judge if she's had anything to drink in a while.

[pyrodulia]

Agnes is a Ninetales, surely that means she doesn't need to drink water. Right? Right. Clearly. Bullshit.

Also lacking hands, Agnes takes the cookies with her mouth, setting both down on the floor and tearing into the gingerbread cookie like she might have skipped breakfast. "It's good. Lots of flavor."