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"Alright, alright, alright alright alright~" Jerry slurred, waving his hands for the people who had been drawn to his shouting to settle down, and straightened his glasses pointedly, "I'm gonna' tell you all about THE GREATEST holiday. YES! THE greatest holiday- about HANUKKAH. Now, I know that most of you are all thinkin', this guy is CRAZY, well, I will tell you WHY I'm crazy. Crazy for the FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS." He explained pointedly, pushing his make-shift menorah to the edge of the table for everyone to see.

He stood dramatically, "The year was a hundred and sixty-somethin' B.C. And the Syrian-Greek emperor Antiochus made a decreeeee across the land that ALL JEWS must worship the Greek Gods! Anyone practicing Judaism was punishable by DEATH!" He waited for the appropriate responses of horror before reaching for his glass (despite Candace's attempts to move it away) And taking another long sip of vodka.

"And so!" He continued, "The Greek soldiers went from town to town, forcing the Jewish residence to bow down to an idol and eat the flesh of a pig- which back then was sacrilege on account of there not being any refrigerators and so pork went bad too quick so it was a health regulation more than anything but it was REALLY IMPORTANT ok? Pigs are no-no's. Personally I love bacon but that is beside the point...."

He cleared his throat, glancing around to make sure people were still paying attention. Right. The story. "A Greek officer ordered Mattathias, a High Priest, to acquiesce to their demands, but Mattathias refused, obviously. Because he was filled with MORALS. When another villager stepped forward and offered to cooperate on Mattathias' behalf, the High Priest became outraged. He drew his sword and killed the villager, then turned on the Greek officer and killed him too! His five sons and the other villagers then attacked the remaining soldiers, killing all of them. This er... made a bit of a mess of things, understandably.

"Soooo Matta... Mattath... Mattathias and his family all went on the run, and into hiding in the mountains, where other Jews wishing to fight against the Greeks joined them. Eventually they succeeded in retaking their land from the Greeks. These rebels became known as the Maccabees, or Hasmoneans. By the time the Maccabees had returned to the temple to find more refugees, they discovered it had been defiled by the Greeks, who were using it to worship THEIR Heathen gods, and had even slaughtered PIGS, as I explained this was bad, on the temple steps, absolutely rendering it unkosher.

Jewish troops were determined to purify the Temple by burning ritual oil in the Temple’s menorah for eight days. But to their dismay, they discovered that there was only one day's worth of oil left in the Temple." He looked crestfallen, as though the idea of them being rendered in darkness was the most horrific thing. "Just ooooone little carafe of oil... They lit the menorah anyway and to their surprise the small amount of oil lasted the full eight days. A MIRACLE! And through this.... magical... amazing power of light, they were able to re-purify the temple and save the day!"

He turned to the candles, smiling softly now, "Because light is IMPORTANT. And... and it's the FESTIVAL of LIGHTS and..." He hesitated, "And does anyone have a match?"

There was also a grunt as the Robert collapsed, clearly forgetting that he was holding Petra at the time.

Clarice? She took it back -- not as thoughtful as she'd previously implied.

Climbing to her feet, the moon hunter brushed herself off a little before reaching into her cleavage, producing some matches and offering them to Jerry as if she weren't passing something that had been between her boobs.

Petra looked over at where Candace was staring at her, returning the stare with a genuinely confused look, blinking a little in surprise. Reaching in again, she pulled out a little swirly peppermint candy as well, offering it to the other girl.

"Candy?"

She was going to haaate herself tomorrow. Not because she was particularly drunk, but because she'd be absolutely mortified at what this JOY potion was doing.

Oh. Oh that was clever. Candace got points for that.

Petra's expression smoothed as Candy grinned at her, leaning towards her a little expectantly, the moon hunter shifting a little to do the same. Turning towards her, she smiled a little in return, that same devilish smile she had been wearing earlier, moving to stand a little closer. Lifting the other hand, she pulled the edges of the mint to unwrap it before lifting the red and white sweet a little higher, clearly intending to place it on the other girl's tongue.

"Say 'Ahh'~ <3"

Robert was awake now.

This is important.

Robert's hotness senses were tingling. Won't somebody please get a camera. Please. Somebody. Anybody. Where was his Christmas Miracle?!?

Candace's delight had a direct proportionality to Petra's at the moment, the way the girl giggled at her making the smile playing across her own lips grow wider, a purr of a chuckle bubbling in the back of her throat, giddy and a little odd-sounding, coming out a girl whose face was damn near emotionless 99% of the time. But tonight was the Christmas Gala. Music, dancing, Santa, Robert -- how could she NOT love this holiday? And now, they were getting a lovely lesson about Hanukkah as well! The air was filled with love, and she could feel it in her little grinchy heart which had grown three sizes that day, beating hot and passionately in her chest. And then there was Candace's tongue, which was only making her feel all the more warm inside. It was perfect. Jerry had his matches, Candy had her... well... candy, all was right in the world right now. THE SHOW COULD GO ON.

"Yes, Professor Jerry," Petra answered in the most innocent tone she could muster, trying to keep her expression as serious as possible as he began to light the candles. And beautiful they were, each more than the last -- as they watched the flickers of light that sparked into existence, she couldn't help but smile a little at how happy he looked, and at how they were all surrounded by people who cared about them. (Save the Master-hunters. Caelius, she was certain, did not give a flying ******** about them.) His voice was soft, but it was beautiful, rising to sing the words that none of them could understand, but understood in their hearts, and she reached over to wrap an arm around Candace's waist, standing next to her, shoulder to shoulder and swaying a bit with the same tempo.

At Candy's words, Petra turned her head lazily to look over at her, her eyebrow lifting a little questioningly, the smile not leaving her lips. "I would love some Candy," she replied calmly.

That moment and certain others have been immortalized via dozens of Hunter cellphones, Robert. Thank goodness for runic technology and bored, slightly perverse sociopaths! The Life labs needed some new desktop wallpapers.

"Gale," Clarice's voice was full of disappointment and reproach, "...coaster." She gave the hunter playing barman a big thumbs up, and then was off and away, grabbing something from behind the bar as she left.

"Frosty. Take this," the blonde handed the faux-man a bucket with chilled champagne. "Oh but not this..." she grabbed out the bottle, leaving Harrison with a bucket full of ice. "Don't you worry, I won't let you melt," she leaned in close and whispered excitedly, "I'll ask Santa to take you with us to the North Pole."