open rp } { mistletoe shenanigans!

[iluvroadrunner6]

1. Comment with your character, to this post.
2. Specify which of MINE you want, or I will surprise you.
3. We will have a thread of holiday kiss shenanigans. Mistletoe may or may not be actually involved.

Comments

Some Freya up in here maybe?

[acrescentwolf]

[deathlessness]

[Holidays at the Mikaelsons were always a fairly simple affair. Bonfire, large family meal, etc. etc. Freya is very much in favor of them, basking in the feel of family, if nothing else. Eventually she wanders over to sit next to Jackson, watching Hope with Rebekah and Hayley from a distance, and holds out a refill of his beer to him.]

Enjoying the party?

[acrescentwolf]

More or less. [His gaze shifted to Freya as he took the refill before shrugging a shoulder.]

Can't really complain if they're happy.

[trigeminalheadache]

Snowbarry

[supertardiness]

[Iris West dies, and everything falls apart.

In a lot of ways, Iris' death is a climax, rather than a starting point, the confluence of events that Barry hadn't seen coming, forever blinded to the deceptions of the people closest to him. He keeps on running, away from the truth, away from his problems, and thinks that Cisco and Caitlin are right there beside him, but what he doesn't see is the way that Cisco falters and falls behind.

He doesn't see the hunger to make things right, things that Barry had gotten wrong, so very wrong. He doesn't see the betrayal until it's too late, Savitar is back, and Iris is lying dead in his arms, the love of his life, still and broken, and there's nothing he could do to fix it. He can't break the timeline again, not unless he wants to bring the Dominators back again, and he doesn't know what the consequences will be.

As desperate as he is to save Iris, he has to prove he learned his lesson. But time travel is apparently the issue he can never win on - if he does go back to fix the errors of the past, unthinking of the future, then he gets blamed for the consequences that come with it. If he lets the chips fall where they may, its snide remarks about how it's only okay when it's Barry's loss. It's only okay when it's Barry's life that needs to be fixed. He lost his girlfriend but Joe lost a daughter and Wally lost a sister, and when they find out that Barry knew, he knew that Iris was going to die, that was the moment when he lost them for good. Joe made it clear that he never wanted to see him again, and Wally believed he could do what Barry couldn't. He hasn't seen Wally since. But in a way, that doesn't really matter.

When Iris died, so did Barry Allen.

He doesn't know the details of the last time anyone saw Cisco, he was too consumed by his grief and loss to confront his best friend beyond a single obsessive thought (are we even now, Cisco? is it finally fair?). Caitlin was the one who stopped Cisco, unleashed everything she had to keep him from making things worse with Savitar, and in the end she lost herself just as much as Barry did.

(Who would have though that the fight Cisco vibed wasn't Killer Frost vs. Vibe? No one could have seen that it was Caitlin Snow vs. Reverb.)

It's been a while since Barry has seen Caitlin - seen anyone, really - but he does his best to try and work through it. He spends some time on the Waverider, bonding with Amaya over their mutual losses, and tries to accept her advice with how to work through it. He lingers in the Arrowcave for a bit, just needing to be the junior hero for a little while, the wisecracking sidekick, and the comfort of being around Oliver, who wouldn't press him to talk, but would be there if he wanted to. He even visited Kara for a little while, where she absolutely made him talk but by the time he made it to Earth-38, he was ready to grieve, truly grieve, and take steps away from Iris. He'd always love her, and he knew that, but when he makes his way back to Central City, he's ready to move on.

It's almost a year and a half after Iris' death when Barry finally returns, and Christmas cheer has spread through the city, almost as though nothing ever happened. He avoids the police station if he can help it, respecting Joe's wishes as best he can, and simply moving back into the apartment he had given Iris for Christmas two years earlier. It's hard, being there without her, but the ghosts aren't lingering quite so much. Rain is hitting the windows in big, wet blotches, and it's all too clear a reminder of a time where he had been his happiest.

A few minutes later, he notices how the fat, wet raindrops are turning into fat, fluffy snowflakes and he frowns. It's certainly not cold enough for snow, and while it seems to stick to his window, it doesn't seem to be snowing anywhere else. Two seconds later, it clicks, and he blows back through the door, up to the roof of his apartment building, and when he sees her standing near the edge, wafts of cold air meeting with the wet rain and forming flakes that float down towards the ground.

It makes him smile, for the first time in what feels like a long time.]

I thought it was only supposed to rain this year.

[girlfromabrokenworld]

ALEC!

[im_apimp]

[Alec is incredibly appreciative of some of the winter holiday traditions. He doesn't particularly care about the religious aspects of it all, but the gifts, the booze and the mistletoe? That he definitely enjoys. It's why when he lands at Crash during their annual holiday party, he grabs a sprig of mistletoe and slips it between his teeth, before beginning to make his way around the rest of the room.

He probably shouldn't engage when he sees a familiar face, but Alec rarely ever does what he should do.]

Hey there, Max.

[girlfromabrokenworld]

[Max enjoyed a lot of the different holidays that the world had to offer. Though, just like Alec, she didn't really care about the religious aspect of things. Didn't mean that the booze and the gifts weren't good. Especially when you knew the right people. Those that doted on you.

So hearing her name she turns slightly and smiles a bit. It had taken her a while to get used to Alec. To the fact that he looked like Ben. Looks was the only thing the same about them.]

Hey, Alec. What're you up to?

[nature_wins_out]

Derek

i haven't watched bitten in a long time, so i'm winging it

[epistemic]

[Point One: Derek's sister is a brat.

It isn't that he doesn't understand why Cora would do what she did, running away to hang out with another pack when she felt she was being ignored by her brother, but he doesn't understand why she had to pick on clear across the country. That being said, the pack she wound up with doesn't seem that bad.

And, well, it's the holidays. It certainly won't hurt if the Hales stuck around for a little while.

He's currently walking around, taking in the art of the house, when he hears a set of footsteps coming up behind him.]

Do you need me for something?

[stefanged]

[Hey Freya. ♥]

[deathlessness]

[Spending Christmas in Mystic Falls is not part of her intended plans for the holidays, but when you're trying to lay low, beggars can't be choosers. Mystic Falls is a place where she knows she has at least one ally, possibly two if you count Matt Donovan, though she isn't sure she can.

That being said, she knows better than to arrive anywhere empty handed, so when Stefan opens the door he will find one (1) Mikaelson witch carrying one (1) bottle of very expensive bourbon, and a slow smile on her face.]

I come bearing gifts.

i wanted to

[braveandstupid]

[And with this, we time travel back to S2, in that weird gap where Katherine is in the tomb and Klaus and Elijah haven't fully arrived yet, and Elena is going to be perched on her boyfriend's dead pushing up onto her knees with a grin when she sees him.]

I have a proposition for you.

surprise me

[easily]

i missed them

[alias_savant]

[They find a way to fix Rebekah first.

It's simply a matter of digging, finding the right witch and exacting the right price, but in the end, Neal and Hayley manage to properly persuade her. And ... Hope probably helped too. That being said, it takes a little finagling to free her from Freya's spell, but once they do, Rebekah is whole again, mind and spirit, and just in time for her favorite holiday.

A little bittersweet, given that they still have her brothers and sister to free, but Neal tries to convince her to compensate by teaching Hope the family traditions. Hayley tried, but she doesn't know all of them, so the Mikaelson Family Bonfire burns again as Rebekah takes her through them, step by step.

Once that is done, and Hope returns to her toys, Rebekah finds Neal in the kitchen, and he glances over with a small smile.]

All wishes granted?

give me jessica

[signalized]

[neverthehero]

[Unfortunately for Jessica, she is not the only one with the ability to hold someone over a barrel. In fact, she probably should have known that eventually, after all of the public events and interviews she'd wrangled out of Bruce on Trish's behalf, it was going to blow back against her in a considerable way. She would argue, however, that this is worse than being interviewed by Trish.

Bruce made her wear a dress.

That being said, this party isn't a total bore. He knows her strengths well enough to not expect her to make small talk. She's supposed to get some information off of one of his targets while Bruce plays the socialite role upstairs. It doesn't take her long to get the job done, and when she makes her way back upstairs, she grabs a drink off one of the trays as she makes her way closer.]

This is a damn disappointing excuse for a party.

laurel

[valuedstrength]

[prosecutorial]

[There ain't no party like a Queen Family Christmas party.

Unfortunately for everyone, however, Moira hasn't been up to her usual holiday flare since she lost her husband and son, and to be fair, no one has begrudged her for it. Tommy Merlyn, on the other hand, simply sees it as an opportunity to pick up the Queen Family's slack, just until Moira is feeling up to it again, and he throws a Christmas bash to end all Christmas bashes.

Laurel attends because Tommy is a friend and she very politely begs Steve to come with her so she has an excuse to bail more than anything else. It only takes a few hours for it all to become too much, and she's tugging on Steve's hand, pulling him out to one of the balconies attached to the Merlyn estate for some fresh air.]

Tommy never changes, that's for sure.

surprise me

[killofthenight]

[supertardiness]

[It had taken some of Barry's considerable persuasion and sad puppy faces to get Helena to come to the West family holiday party, and while Joe's food should have really been persuasion enough, he knows all about trying to be stubborn about the holidays. Still, when she finally does show up, he can't help the grin that crosses his face as he waves her inside.]

You made it! Let me get you some of Grandma Esther's egg nog.

Sweets! (also prose please? cannot with smalltext these days)

[talesuntold]

no problem!

[likeababyduck]

The thing about a zombie apocalypse is that no one ever tells you how isolating it will be. The world becomes a paranoid, paranoid place, and to an extent, Sweets understands that, but there's something about the holidays that makes you not want to be alone and willing to brave the risks of driving to get to someone who he hopes will be happy to see him.

He and Maggie haven't had the chance to meet in person, yet, but he's hoping that her open door policy is just as she says it is.

Once he safely makes his way to the Garcia house, present in hand, as it is that time of year, he takes a deep breath before knocking and waiting for Maggie to answer.

i wonder who this could be for

[demonstrate]

also you know i'm good with pain...

i'm sorry, ella, i can't fulfill iris' oliver queen fantasies

[supertardiness]

[There comes a certain point where Barry ceases to care.

He ceases to care about the timeline, he ceases to care about who gets hurt or what gets changed, he just misses her in a way that he can't express to anyone else. Iris West had been part of his life for so long that having her not be there, be absent from anything, feels wrong and sends him running back to a time where that isn't the case. Where Iris is there, and she's safe and whole, and that's the only thing that matters.

Most of the time he can make due with the memories, with old family videos and pictures and text messages. He can make due with the a message on his voicemail that he plays over and over again just to hear the sound of her voice. But it isn't the same as having her there living and breathing and when he hits that breaking point, he slips into the speed force and literally runs back to find what he needs.

Eventually he's going to get caught. Eventually the revenants are going to come for him and drag him away again, but for right now, he doesn't really care. It's Christmas, and he can't do it without her.

He times it perfectly, slipping out of the speed force just as current timeline him is stepping out, going to spend a few days in Star City with Oliver and Felicity(wasting time, time he should have spent with her), and as past!Barry steps onto the elevator, he slips through the door again, making sure he's wearing exactly what he was that day, not wanting to arouse a single iota of suspicion.

(All he needs is an hour. A meal, a moment, a kiss, and he can step away again, go back to the future, keep doing what he needs to do and being the Flash, but he's not really the Flash anymore, is he?

Who is the Flash without Iris West?)

He slips inside, making his way to their bedroom and smiling softly, at the picture of her sleeping peacefully, breathing, heart beating, and he swallows for a moment, before making his way closer and pressing a kiss to her cheek gently.]

Wake up, sleepyhead.