December Shenanigans :: Open

[laviny]

CHARACTERS: Yelena Belova & you!
LOCATION: All around the station (particularly the lab, the common room and the sunlight room)
DATE: Throughout December
CONTENT: December catch-all
WARNINGS: None at the moment, but will update as needed



Upgrades and Caroling

[For the first week or so of the month Yelena spends a lot time hanging out in and around the lab while she makes sure Redwing gets repaired and upgraded after its run in with the orb on the last mission. Since Sam is asleep and she was there when Redwing took damage, taking care of the drone seems like a good use of her time.

Plus there are some ideas for upgrades to discuss. Excellent, festive ideas that no one could possibly object to.

She definitely ropes Tony Stark into helping, but if other tech-savvy types take an interest, she'll talk to them, though she'll be particular about who gets to actually work on Redwing. She's basically just babysitting and trying to do what Sam would want for his drone.

Once the work is done, eventually, there will come a day when Yelena can be found sitting in the common room testing out the aforementioned upgrades. Sam has given her limited access to Redwing’s features and she has his goggles and wrist controls which she is currently using to fly Redwing around the common room.

Once she gets the hang of it…well, that’s when the drone starts chirping Christmas carols.

Soon Redwing can be found havoring in various parts of the station chirping such classics as: "Carol of the Bells," "We Wish You A Merry Christmas," "O Christmas Tree," "Filiz Navidad," "Jingle Bells," and "Rudolf The Red Nosed Reindeer," among others.

And in the sunlight room specifically Yelena will make sure to always have Redwing sing snow related songs. Anyone building snowmen or making snow angels can enjoy a drone serenading them with "Winter Wonderland," "White Christmas" and "Let it Snow."

The only place spared Redwing’s holiday cheer is the training room. Yelena will let people train in peace.]

Hard Mode Mistletoe

[In general Yelena is enthusiastic about holiday traditions. Her opportunities to really celebrate the holidays have been pretty limited for most of her life, so she’s ready to embrace a lot of different kinds of festivities.

Except the mistletoe. That one is a little weird. She has nothing against it being used as a decoration, but she has little interest in entertaining the tradition surrounding it. Kissing random people because of a plant seems silly and awkward.

So if anyone happens to catch her under some mistletoe she will look at them and then at the mistletoe and sigh, exasperated.]

You know, it can be translated to "poop on a stick."

[That’s not very festive or sexy, is it?]

Snow Days

[The population of Ximilia doesn’t have to worry too much. Yelena doesn’t spend all her time terrorizing the station with Redwing’s Christmas caroling. She actually spend a good portion of her spare time in the Sunlight Room, enjoying the snow and the chill. Although if you were to ask her she would say it could be a little colder. The room’s climate control might work a little too well for her taste.

Anyway, her favorite activity is probably ice skating. It’s a fun way to exercise on days that she takes a break from training. But she can also be found attempting to make snow angels and snowmen. She might be better at snow angels than snowmen, honestly. The snowmen end up a little lopsided.

She’s also open to snowball fights, but, be warned, she’s willing to use all her skills as a Russian assassin to win, so challenge her at your own risk.]

Wildcard, notes, etc

[All these prompts are open to anyone and everyone, but if you want something specific, feel free to hit me up at etceteras or PM me to plot and I can give you closed prompt in the comments. Or you can just toss a wildcard at me, that's cool too.

For the mistletoe prompt, kissing is not guaranteed, as she is more likely to sass than kiss, but I am open to people trying to convince her. I think it's a fun springboard for meetings and conversation, though, so if you want to, feel free to hit it up whether you (or your character) are interested in smooches or not!

I am also willing to match style if you prefer prose.]

Comments

(Terrible) Ice skating

[spacedisaster]

[ Peter Quill, Guardian of the galaxy, ex space pirate, and self-proclaimed outlaw extraordinaire...is clinging to the ice skating rink wall for dear life, trying to keep himself upright on wobbly legs. ]

This thing is cursed, Yelena.

[ 'This thing' being the ice, probably, who's to tell. Peter is sure glaring at it as if his annoyance alone could melt it. There were not a lot of ice rinks, or snow, to be found in spaceships, and Peter hasn't done this since he was 7 years old. He remembers that it was easier when he was a kid, and less painful too. ]

Ice skating looks way more fun in movies.

mistletoe

[coordination]

[ Yzak is also Not Here For This.

So not here that when Yelena speaks, he does a double take because he barely registers what she's talking about. ]

Wh-

What?

[construing]

[ gwen has run into redwing more than a few times. how do we know? because even in the training room, a safe haven from holiday-themed drones, jingles have taken root—largely in the form of one (1) gwen stacy, sitting on the floor, and tapping "carol of the bells" out on a hanging punching bag. every so often, she lapses into humming or even singing under her breath.

despite never actually punching the leather, the heavy bag swings freely. ]

mistletoe;

[kovach]

[ perhaps, to their benefit, kovacs isn't interesting in enacting whatever the hell everyone's expecting out of this mistletoe obsession. he has no sense of tradition when it comes the little plants, and it isn't as if there's a superstitious curse that'll be laid upon him for ignoring it; he knows because he's ignored every damn one he's come across the whole station.

when yelena catches him under it, he stares at her for a moment, eyes squinted like she's just spoken complete nonsense to him (which she has) before he raises up his gaze to the plant over here. ]

Sounds ... appropriate.

[ cigarette spun in his fingers, he brings it back to his mouth as he looks down at her. ]

Really drills in the fact that the whole plant thing is full of shit.

mistletoe

[peasant]

[ for a poisonous little plant, alina still finds herself fondly eyeing it — that small piece of greenery, real and living. the snow-soaked meadow in the sunlight room might be an illusion, but the bristly sprigs beneath her fingers aren't when she reaches up to tap it above yelena's head.

odd as the tradition is — embarrassing at best and tragically uncomfortable at worst when she considers being trapped beneath it with a stranger — it doesn't sound terrible. not with the right company, and not with the right intentions. it's only another experience to have, another adventure, when she had grown up experiencing such limited excitement. (something almost sweet, too, when it's shared with someone special.)

yelena's commentary makes her own opinion obvious, at least. alina chuffs out a fond laugh, fixing her with a dry look. wryly: ]

You must be a romantic at heart. I can barely control my urge to swoon.

[ no, the real romantic here is alina, but she pointedly fails to mention that as she nudges yelena with her elbow, once she's crossed the room toward the other woman. ]

Do you hate it that much?

Mistletoe

[catchatting]

[ Zari raises an eyebrow. Totally not the translation she would use, but she gets the sentiment. Sort of. ]

I'd call you a Grinch, but I don't even celebrate this stupid holiday. Still, this is like the one fun part of it, especially if you don't drink.

Snow Days

[justlethal]

[The sunlight room has become one of Gamora's favourite places on the ship. Having spent many years aboard various vessels, she has found various planets to be fascinating, even if none of them had been home. Then again, there hadn't been a place that she had called home, but people who had become that feeling.

The cold doesn't seem to overly bother her, dressed as she usually is on her tank tops and jacket, leather pants and boots. It is fascinating, and Gamora does view it all with a curious expression. She knows of many Terran events and especially their music (or perhaps a limited genre of it), enjoying what Peter played on the Benatar.

Watching her breath before her, Gamora finds a familiar woman off to the side rolling up snow. She regards for a moment, before turning towards her. Gamora cannot say that riddles will ever be something that she will be fond of, but it had been an interesting experience.]

What is it?

[Not hostile, but genuinely wondering what it is that Yelena is attempting to do with the large balls of snow.]

mistletoe

[calmness]

[xichen had not heard of the tradition of the mistletoe until he'd talked to the doctor about it, which had been enlightening.

the sort of thing had earned a smile, a soft laugh. though he understands the appeal to some, it's not something he plans to indulge in. that sort of intimacy is saved for a more serious sort of connection.

he's managed to avoid it until he bumps into yelena in the hallway and then, at her words glances up. ah.] A thing that should be avoided, then. [ a glance up and a wry smile. ] Thought I was told it is popular amongst younger people? [says a man who looks in his late twenties.]

( snowball fights )

[scarcastically]

You sure you wanna do this?

[ killmonger vs black widow (2), hard mode. ]

snow daze

[aurable]

[ Drift also found himself frequenting the Sunlight Room when he could find the time. Having never been to Earth when it was at the height of winter where it snowed, this was a delight. Standing near the pond's edge, admiring the water moving just below the ice, he notices the snow starting to pack beneath his treads.

Not wanting anything to freeze, Drift revs the tires attached to the heels of his pedes. Sending snow spraying backward in a wide fan. Looking back his spark stutters when he sees what— or rather who got caught in that. ]

Oh, god! Sorry about that, I didn't think anyone else was nearby.