Spirit of Christmas!

Cassiti had dealt with a fair few violent spirits before. One of her abilities as Oracle was being able to sense and read a person’s soul, as well as occasionally communicate with the dead, and not a lot of dead people were necessarily at peace with their lot. However, she had to say that this was the first time a spirit had ever actually attempted to attack her. She had been walking through the utterly breathtaking forest of Sakuramori with Cordelia -- a new recruit with Meliora Vitae that had invited her to join her at a Christmas festival that had been set up there -- when all of a sudden she’d found herself frozen in place.

An illusion played in her head, temporarily taking over the visage of the beautiful forest. She watched a younger version of herself breaking her daily meditation training to sneak away to the balcony that overlooked the city of Avalon below. The young Oracle watched wistfully at the people milling about below for several long minutes before one of the priestesses caught her. She’d gotten heavily reprimanded for shirking from her responsibilities, scolded back into her meditation.

But the truth was, Cassiti wasn’t really focused on the image. She was focused on what she sensed: the lingering presence of a malicious spirit. Locating the spirit in her senses, the young woman used that connection to break through the illusion and bring herself back to the real world where she found herself face to face with the ghost of a young girl mere inches from her face, hands out toward her as if about to place Cassiti under another spell. The Oracle reacted immediately in defense of her life, reaching into the spiritual plane with her magic and gripping the ghost tightly, the little girl gasping in shock. With the wave of her wrist, Cassiti sent the girl back in time a few hundred years.

After that, she quickly looked around for her companion, already sensing the presence of other spirits, both living and dead. “We ahr naht alone,” Cassiti told her, looking around with an alert frown to try to locate the others she felt.

Another spirit appeared, this one focusing on Cordelia. The ghost bore down on her, riding upon a reindeer as she attempted to run the islander through with any icy sword. Cordelia threw herself out of the way with a quick comment about how rude the ghost’s action had been. Once the brunette started swinging her purse around at the thing and giving it a run for its money, Cassiti knew that Cordelia would be fine. Which was just as well, because she was sensing another spirit nearby, this one even stronger than the other two. A scream caught her attention and she hurried through the woods toward the sound to find a young man around her age faced off against a spirit that matched the visage of a grim reaper.

He was clearly trapped in an illusion, much like her own ghost had attempted to do to her, and while he was fighting it he clearly hadn’t managed to overcome it on his own just yet. Thankfully, the grisly spirit turned to look at her the moment she approached, sensing the woman’s connection to the spiritual world. Cassiti was rarely a woman drawn to violence or aggression, typically the type of woman to explore every peaceful avenue she could before resorting to such measures. However, when someone’s life was clearly on the line, she would not hesitate to act in their defense. Holding a hand out to the side, a thin emerald line of mist briefly materialized before a wooden quarterstaff took its place in her hand.

“You do naht belong here,” she informed the spirit calmly. “Et eez time to retarn to de world beyond.” The grim spirit quickly pulled its attention away from the young man, abandoning the illusion and freeing him in order to focus on Cassi. The spirit flung a ray of ice at her which she dodged with a careful sidestep. After that, the dark skinned woman continued to meticulously work her way forward toward the spirit, deftly either moving out of the way of incoming attacks or using her staff to knock them aside. The Spirit continued to move away from her, trying to keep distance between them.

Tapping into her magic, Cassiti halted time briefly. All around her, the entire world had come to a complete and utter stand still, even as she walked forward and brought herself within melee range of the spirit. Only then did she resume time, making it look as though she had teleported several feet instantly and catching the reaper completely off guard. The Oracle swung her staff in three quick strikes one after the other until the phantom burst into a cloud of dark ash and disappeared. Cassiti straightened herself out but continued to look around, still alert. “Dere may be moar,” she warned him gently, keeping an eye out and quickly glancing back toward Cordelia to see how she was faring.

It didn’t take long for the ghosts and their summoner to be handled, with Cordelia easily dispatching the rest of the group with her own staff. By the time her guildmate was done, all that remained were three spirits and an old man trapped inside large blocks of ice. The spirits faded away after a moment, leaving just the man by himself. Cassiti calmly walked back over to join the other two, dismissing her staff in a puff of green mist. “I ahm fine, yes,” she said in response to Cordelia’s question. The young man put his weapon away and bowed slightly to them, thanking them for their help. For her part, Cassiti didn’t really seem to notice whether or not he was being weirdly stoic for she herself wasn’t exactly the most outwardly emotional of people. He introduced himself as Tao and voiced his thoughts that he owed them, and that he hadn’t been aware of Fiore having such worthwhile warriors.

The young man’s aura was strange, to say the least. Cassi could sense something darker about him, something that felt almost tained to her spiritual senses, but not enough to cause any kind of alarm. She sensed… quietness. Reservation. Discipline. He seemed a very calculating person, and there was a darkness to him, if a slight one. That being said, he was being exceptionally respectful, and in the end that was all that really mattered to the Oracle. She crossed her arms over her chest and returned his bow graciously. “I ahm Cassiti Calixte. Et eez a pleasure to meet you, Tao.” Letting Cordelia introduce herself, the dark skinned woman straightened out. “We were on our wey to de festivahl. Would you like to cohm weeth us?”

The young man appeared to be by himself, and Cordelia had made it clear to her that Christmas was a holiday that was meant to be spent together with other people. Even if neither of them knew Tao, he was being cordial with them and it was not in Cassiti’s nature to not extend kindness in return. She did turn her gaze toward Cordelia to make sure she was okay with it, but Cassi already knew that the brunette would be all for it. Cordelia loved meeting new people and making new friends.

Once everything was settled, they made their way into the heart of the festival where all the booths had been set up amongst the beautiful trees of the forest. There were breathtaking lights and decorations, and lots of booths set up with games and food and drinks. Luckily, Cassiti had a source of income now thanks to Meliora Vitae and thus actually had some jewel she could spend on little things here and there. They wandered for a little bit just to see what was there, stopping occasionally to try some holiday snacks and some treats, before a game attendant managed to lure them into a game booth that centered around trying to guess what was inside a wrapped present.

Cassiti took the box and gave it a little shake, not entirely sure what to do at first. Since she was unfamiliar with Christmas customs, the game was a little strange to her but not in a disinteresting way. The music that was being played on speakers around the festival grounds changed to a song she barely even paid attention to, something with some high pitched voices singing a song called Christmas don’t be late. At first she barely even noticed the music as she focused on trying to guess what was in the box, shaking it and smelling it, trying to weigh its contents. She wound up guessing incorrectly and didn’t win the prize, but as far as she was concerned the game was still fun and she simply turned to watch and see how the others were doing.

Something wasn’t right. Why was that song playing so much? She frowned and looked around while Tao and Cordelia finished opening their gifts, trying to see if anyone else was noticing the repetition, only to discover that she was actually hearing other music playing through the speakers around the fairgrounds. The annoying song was somehow stuck in her head, playing over and over on a repeated loop. It was a bit frustrating, but she managed to keep herself from being overwhelmed by the feeling, doing her best to ignore it and the song to stay focused on her company and their activities.

Cordelia opened her gift to reveal some toys in the shape of soldiers, while Tao opened his extremely foul smelling gift to find a pile of feces. Even Cassi, with all her poise and discipline, couldn’t stop herself from grimacing at the awful scent and pinching her nose to try and block it out. Tao handed the box back, understandably irritated, even as the game attendant laughed it off and gave him the prize for guessing correctly. The young man then asked them if there would be more excriment involved in future activities, as that would be grounds for him to depart. “I hope naht. Dat woold be a strange custom..” Unfortunately, she was just as in the dark as Tao was, which would leave it up to Cordelia to explain.

Turning to look at her guildmate, something in the air caught her eye. Floating above them was a small pair of green leafs that she’d never seen before. She tilted her head. “What eez dis?” she asked, pointing up at it where it hovered between Cordelia and Tao. “Eez et anothar Christmas t’ing?”

Apparently, the leafy green was called mistletoe, and its purpose, at least as far as Christmas traditions were concerned, was to invite two or more people to share a kiss when caught standing beneath it. All in all, it was a tradition that Cassiti thought was a little… well, invasive. What happened if someone didn’t want to participate? Were they shunned or ridiculed for saying no? It was a good thing the plant had wound up over Cordelia and Tao, as Cassiti would have been duty bound to decline. Still, a small part of her couldn’t help but feel jealous. Not over the fact that Cordelia would get to kiss Tao or vice versa, as she wasn’t the type of woman to think overly much about whether or not she found people attractive. Rather, the jealous stemmed from the touch and intimacy of the act itself, something Cassiti was unused to as she was not allowed to touch other people at all unless absolutely necessary, not even a hug.

Boy, it sure was a heck of a kiss though. Her blush couldn’t be seen through her dark skin, but a wave of second hand embarrassment washed over her as Tao seemed to almost reluctantly and rigidly lean forward to kiss the other woman’s offered lips, only to stop once actually upon them and take the kiss so deep that she was sure she saw his tongue get involved. Emerald eyes wide, Cassiti looked away in an attempt to give them… privacy? They couldn’t really have privacy out here at this festival, she supposed, but given that her reaction was a bit instinctual she couldn’t exactly help it. She knew it was done when he spoke up, asking her about.. Tea? Had he tasted tea on her mouth? Was that why he had gotten so excited? She certainly had sensed a curiosity from him during the act, but not necessarily a lust like most people had when kissing.

Yet he looked so happy about it when she turned to see them again, like the fact that he had tasted tea on her had made his entire day. Did he truly like tea so much? As Cordelia answered his question, Cassiti took a moment to think to herself. So far, the general theme of Christmas seemed to be giving. You were supposed to give things to the people you cared about. While Cassi didn’t necessarily have anyone that she felt especially close to, Cordelia had been very kind to invite her here and Tao was so pleased over tea that she felt moved to at least try to get involved in the spirit of things. Cupping her hands together, a fine green mist built up in her hands, spilling over her palms a bit as she called to her magic. It took only a second or two before the mist evaporated, and in her hands were two small cloth satchels that were tied closed with a delicate twine.

Once there was an appropriate opening in the conversation, she held them out for Cordelia and Tao to each take one. “Chreestmas eez about giving geefts, yes? I ahm new to dis, so I ahm naht shoore if dis is right, but… since you both like tea… deez ahr tea leaves froom my home, Avalon. You cannot find dem in Earthland.”

Once that was done, they moved along to another activity, this one for putting together ugly Christmas sweaters. It was a bizarre tradition, but Cassiti found she actually quite enjoyed the hands on craft. The sweater she made was just awful, though she didn’t know if that was because she’s succeeded in her attempt to make it bad, or because she simply had no experience with such things and thus was fated to make something ugly no matter what she did. There were flashing lights pinned to the green woolen garment, as well as red and gold puffs of cotton and shimmering bits of tinsel, all arranged in such a way as to look like decorations on the silhouette of the Christmas Tree that had been pre-sewn onto the sweater. It was utterly gaudy, and easily the most atrocious thing she’d ever put together, but somehow looking at the ugly thing brought her a weird sense of innocent joy. She even smiled for the first time since even Cordelia had met her, a small and muted expression, but it was there nonetheless. Doing as the others at the booth did, she carefully removed her cloak and dismissed it magically, pulling the horrendous top on over her shirt so she could wear the new sweater instead.