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.

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[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."

[holidaygirl1225]

"You think so? I'm glad!" It seemed like she really liked it, though that may have just been out of hunger.

Noelle steps away for a minute. When she returns, she's just brought some water in a bowl-- easier for Pokemon like them without hands, even though it makes her feel like a pet dog every time.

"Here, maybe cleanse your palette. I'd like you to try another one or two after."

[pyrodulia]

Agnes has less issue with drinking like a pet dog, though there's a wry look at Noelle, like she realizes this isn't just about a palette cleanser. But she doesn't call it out immediately, instead lapping up a good amount of water.

"Are you looking in on everyone, like this?"

[holidaygirl1225]

"... um. No."

Caught. Noelle guiltily places a sugar cookie shaped like a star in front of Agnes. "I haven't seen you around, and... I know the holidays aren't always a great time for everyone, y'know? And you were there for me when I was just getting up from my coma, so... yeah."

[pyrodulia]

"Well, it's not like I have any tragic backstory related to the winter holidays. I just...they're not something I've ever had anything to do with, before. The people whom raised me were religious, but not that religion."

Cultish, but she isn't going out of her way to underline the details of what that made her childhood like, today.

"I'm staying out of everyone's way, that's all."

[holidaygirl1225]

No tragic backstory related to the winter holidays-- just many other serious things. So it goes.

It's hard to imagine having no relationship to the holidays, though. They've been a big part of her entire life. Even though these past few years haven't been the same since... it happened. And this year will be incredibly different now that she's away from home.

"I'll stay out of everyone's way with you for now, then." She proceeds to make herself comfortable. "... sometimes, the expectation that you should be all jolly and cheery just makes you feel worse for not feeling that way, I guess."

[pyrodulia]

Agnes lets out a soft huff and scoots her way closer to Noelle, because she's actually gotten quite good with being close to others rather quickly. It's like she's been touch-starved or something!

"You guess? I think you're speaking from experience."

[holidaygirl1225]

It's warm and fluffy, Noelle thinks. This... feels nostalgic, even though it wasn't long ago Agnes was warming her up in the Clinic. She leans in, inadvertently releasing more of a sweet and soothing smell from the flower on her head.

"... The holidays weren't the same after my sister... well. Disappeared." Even though usually she would just pick a fight with their mom at the holiday party... even then. Weirdly, she looks back even on unpleasant memories like that with some fondness. "I don't know. Isn't it weird how the world just... keeps going? After something terrible happens?"

[pyrodulia]

Agnes pauses for a moment before she speaks, and when she does, there's a stiltedness to it, like she's not sure she should be saying this aloud.

"That's how it is for people every single day, in any world you think of. Someone's lost a child. Someone's lost a parent. Someone's lost a job, or a limb. And they have to figure it out. What it means to keep going, when the life they had is no longer there. What normal looks like, in the face of desolation. When the whole world as they knew it isn't there, anymore. And most people don't like looking at that fact. Don't like thinking about that sort of thing, and that it could happen to them. It's not comfortable to consider, is it? So...the polite thing is to keep going, even when you feel empty inside, like some spark of light that kept you going has been snuffed."

[holidaygirl1225]

She nestles a little more into Agnes's fur at that, as if trying to hide her face. Like some spark of light that kept you going has been snuffed echoes in her head like a ringing bell.

"... you, um. Sound like you know a lot about that."

[pyrodulia]

"Mm." She tucks closer around Noelle. "So I do. Is it so surprising?"

[holidaygirl1225]

"... after what you told me last time, no." Regarding her cult, and being killed, and everything related to it. The promise Agnes made to stop Noelle if she ever starts hurting others. "Do you feel like that spark... stays gone?"

[pyrodulia]

Agnes doesn't answer immediately. But after a moment, she lets out a sound that might actually be a laugh.

"If you had asked me in my own world, I'd have said yes, absolutely it does. But here, I'm not entirely certain that's the case."