The weather's annoying, isn't it?

[warriorscribe]

Characters: Enoch and anyone!
Setting: Around the tower, forward-dated to the 12th.
Format: Either is fine!
Summary: Enoch made several cloaks last week and is handing them out....even if he's sick.
Warnings: None yet!

He'd been pressing his luck, going around and trying to give comfort or company to the sick. Though, one couldn't blame him, given that the most illness he's had in a century is a bit of an upset stomach. He's built up quite a resistance.

He'd almost forgotten what it was like to be truly sick, to have a headache behind his eyes and for his limbs to feel weighted. But he wasn't letting it stop him. He was going to give out these cloaks he made before it got even worse. So he wandered the tower, handing out a cloak to anyone who seemed as if they could need one, or anyone who asked.

There were ten of them in his arms, varying colors. All of them were hooded, and about medium-length. They would be large on a child and a little short on someone taller like him, but they would do either way. So even with the occasional cough and sniffle, or the stop to sneeze (not into the cloaks, thankfully) every now and then, perhaps it was worth the risk of being sick for a chance to get a little warmer.

Comments

[warriorscribe]

"Something for the congestion would be appreciated." Enoch didn't feel like using more energy just to speak up.

[tohko_amano]

Tohko nodded again, thinking of what sort of medicine he would like best.

"Alright then. Hang on a moment..I'll be right back!" And carefully, Tohko ran down the stairs. She was a little slower than usual, due to a slight fever and her worsening eyesight. She had to be careful not to trip. However, she eventually made it into the clinic and grabbed two large bottles of Advil before running back to Enoch.

"H-here you are! Sorry for the wait.." Tohko caught her breath as she handed the pill bottles to him. "Take two of them with some water every three hours. That should help."

Since he didn't know what a polar bear was, Tohko wasn't quite sure if he knew how to handle modern pills, so she gave him a small explanation, hoping that it might help.

[warriorscribe]

He'd at least seen them before, and Armaros had him take some once in Meridian. So he trusted Tohko with that much, taking the bottles and managing to fold them into the pile of cloaks. He'd dump them into his chest at some point...

"Thank you..."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko smiled and nodded. "Oh, you're welcome! It's no trouble at all. Hopefully your cold will clear up soon..stuffed up noses are pretty terrible."

And with that, Tohko sneezed over her shoulder before thinking over something. If Enoch might not know much about pills, it was doubtful that he knew what Christmas was. Might as well ask and find out.

"By the way..Enoch, do you know what Christmas is? If you don't, I could explain it to you."

[warriorscribe]

"I can't say I've heard of it."

Well, why not? They were both pretty miserable, so storytelling might well help them out at least as far as morale went.

[tohko_amano]

Plus, Christmas was a pretty joyful holiday. Talking about it might make them both feel a little bit better. Tohko smiled and nodded.

"Alright then. Christmas, at least, where I come from, is a holiday that takes place every December 25th. People gather around with their families, friends, and loved ones to give presents, eat food, tell stories, and generally be happy in their company. There are many stories that explain why the holiday is celebrated, but there are two that are the most popular.

The first, my personal favorite, is about a fat, jolly man named Santa Claus who lives in the North Pole with his wife, his worker elves, and his twelve magical reindeer. His elves make toys for him, and every Christmas Eve, Santa gathers a large amount of toys and gets on his sleigh, which is driven by his reindeer. They can make the sleigh fly around, and thanks to this power, Santa delivers toys all around to the world to good children.

..Of course, it's a story mainly for kids, but it tastes pretty sweet. The second story..it's pretty long, even for me to tell, but it's basically about the life of the son of god, Jesus Christ, and how, at the end of his life, he allowed himself to be crucified and killed so that humanity could be washed of it's sins. I'm not sure how much truth is in that tale though. Due to history, records and accounts have been mangled and destroyed, so it's hard to tell what the actual truth of that story is. However, that is the second story and reason surrounding Christmas in my world.

..Does that make any sense?"

[warriorscribe]

The explanation brought a smile to his face. It sounded like another winter solstice festival, and that first story was charming.

The second, though, one phrase jumped out at him. "Son of God...?"

[tohko_amano]

Tohko sighed and nodded. This was going to be difficult to explain, considering Enoch lived in Heaven and probably knew more about the subject than the people who had come up with the story. Assuming that it was just a story.

"Yeah..you see, in the beginning of the story, god impregnated a human female named Mary. It's never explained how in detail how he does this though. Again..this may be just a story. So much of the tale has gotten twisted and lost, due to time and people messing with it that it's hard to tell whether or not the story is actually true."

[warriorscribe]

Enoch fumbled through the haze of his thoughts for memories. Something seemed familiar. Not in that story, but the story of a miraculous or divine birth in conjunction with a man who was fat and jolly...

"Is...Is Christmas also connected to...false evergreens, tiny colored lights, and decorated spheres?"

[tohko_amano]

Tohko smiled a little bit and nodded.

"Yes, now that you mention it. People usually celebrate Christmas by having evergreen trees in their house and decorate them with lights and glass balls. However, people have taken to using false ones to preserve trees. Why do you ask? Did you see them in the world you were at before?"

[warriorscribe]

"I did. ...Would this Santa normally be shown wearing a red hat with fur trim, and would Jesus have been born nearer my time than yours?"

Suddenly, everything was making sense. The contents of the attic were stored away in preparation for the winter...he wondered if that ornate dress hidden away was part of the celebration, too.

[tohko_amano]

And that smile only grows wider..

"Yup! Santa usually wears a red suit and hat with white fur trim, and while I don't know the exact year Jesus was born, he would have been closer to your time than mine."

[warriorscribe]

"Ah...would it involve dressing in expensive gowns as well?"

He'd been going conveniently long without a coughing fit - before he could go on about the box of clothes in there, his body decided to rectify that.

[tohko_amano]

"Sometimes, as people do have Christmas parties..and in the Jesus story, three wise men in expensive robes visited him when he was a newborn. Why do you ask?"

When he started coughing, carefully held onto his arm so that he didn't fall or trip, due to the force of the coughs.

"Hey, are you alright? Want me to grab some cough syrup?"

[warriorscribe]

Enoch shook his head, taking a deep breath after those coughs.

"So that was...what the noblemen were. I'd wondered."

[tohko_amano]

Tohko nodded and let go. If he was fine, then it was alright.

"That they are..did you see some figurine of them or something?"

[warriorscribe]

"In Meridian, I did." Which reminds him, he needed to get on telling Tohko about his time before that. With everything that had happened, he hadn't had the drive to gather his thoughts on such a painful time.

[tohko_amano]

Which was fine. Tohko was patient when it came to this telling stories like this. At his sentence, Tohko smiled and nodded.

"Ah, alright then! So that's what the world you were in before was called..you probably saw a nativity scene then. Small figurines of the wise men with Jesus's parents, a child in a hayloft and some animals surrounding them, right?"

[warriorscribe]

There weren't any animals, no...

*Or was there a lamb somewhere? No, the detail couldn't be fuzzy already! He couldn't be losing those memories! His panic was, thankfully or not, lost in another coughing fit.*

...but everything else was definitely there, with angelic figures above them.

[tohko_amano]

Tohko looked a little worried at Enoch, as it seemed like he was panicking about something before he went into another coughing fit, but she said nothing about it.

"That was probably a nativity scene then. It's common for families to display them during or near Christmas."

[warriorscribe]

Enoch sighed after the fit subsided. He wished the infirmary had something familiar like honey instead of those strange-smelling things.

"Why were they in a barn?"

[tohko_amano]

"Because Jesus's parents, Mary and Joseph, were too poor for the inn that was nearby. So, for a small fee, the convinced the innkeeper to let them spend the night in the barn." Tohko explained.

She had always thought the innkeeper was pretty cruel for doing that, as the nights in that setting were cold, and a barn didn't provide a lot of warmth. At least, that's what she thought.

[warriorscribe]

Hay wasn't a very good insulator, but most livestock or pack animals had much higher body heat than humans, he'd found. It all depended on the situation, of course, but... Children had been born in worse conditions, he was sure.

"So that became immortalized in legend."

How odd, though, that the story should focus on his birth and not his deeds. Enoch thought it was strange, considering how easily a baby could die...though that much wasn't an issue when it was the son of God, was it?

[tohko_amano]

Tohko nodded.

"Yup. So, since, according to the story, Jesus was born on December 25th, some people celebrate it for that reason. Although..again, I'm not sure whether Jesus's story is true in my universe, or, if it is, how much of it is.

Of course, there are quite a few other myths and stories that explain why we celebrate Christmas, but those are the two main ones."

Tohko could pull out all the different stories that explained the holiday, but it would take quite awhile, and she wasn't sure he wanted to hear every single story that explained it.

[warriorscribe]

Tohko clearly underestimated Enoch and his love of new information.

"So, many people celebrate Christmas?"