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"That backfired, didn't it," Jordan said dryly, but he was smiling.

"Let's hope so, anyway. If it's like that, we can expect the Moon leader to be frighteningly efficient, I'd guess." That wouldn't be a bad thing, unless they were a sadist, which possibility he wasn't discounting, given that two out of three division heads currently in residence were less than reassuring. Comparing Dr. H and Julie ... the thought gave him pause as his mind produced a mental image of some kind of combination of the two.

That's disturbing, Ferros said.

When YOU'RE telling me something is disturbing, I know I don't want to think about it too hard.

"He checked out during a spar, and I had to grab Roar to push him out of the way before I could get his attention." Jordan shook his head. "While his aim improved by a mile, he wasn't in control. He hadn't actually realized what was going on. I asked him to get help - he could've really hurt himself or someone else, and it worried me that he needed to dissociate to deal with fighting. I'm glad he's getting better." He huffed a sigh.

"Pretty sure we've all got problems of one kind or another." Jordan startled slightly at the hand on his back, shooting a quick glance at Candace but not protesting. "As long as the coping mechanisms don't get too weird or self-destructive, I suppose it's all right." He laughed. "Bunnies - well, as long as they're not like the all-teeth ones in the petting zoo, that might be nice."

"Yeah." Jordan sighed. "He's scarily effective while dissociated, but it'll be much better when he can use that ability consciously. Personally, I think he'd be happier in Moon division, but it's not my decision." A faint quirk of a smile. "He just doesn't seem as enthusiastic about fighting as we are." He tapped his thumb against his ring to indicate who he meant by we.

"I'm just not sure I'd trust the cuddly bunnies not to be bloodthirsty vampiric things, given how holidays have gone so far," he said. "Passover ... maybe an adorable little lamb?" He grinned.

"You have a point," Jordan admitted. I wish he'd be more careful - and that was sliding over into dangerous territory again; better to keep it more neutral. "Guess we've all got a bit of everything, even if it's not what we're formally assigned to," he said instead.

"All right," he said, mock-seriously. "I won't make any disparaging comments about bunnies. They're safe. At least, I hope they're safe." He paused, a thought occurring to him. "I wonder if there's a physical manifestation of Easter? Commercialized Easter, at least? Hm - for that matter, why do you think it is that the holidays we've had evidence of are so heavily focused on the generic and iconic secular imagery, rather than the religious? Given that it's human mental and emotional energies that fuel them, you'd think that the collective unconscious would tap more heavily into religious imagery. Or maybe it's just that what we've seen is a more recent iteration. Holidays might have been darker places in the past ... "

Then he shook his head. "Sorry about the tangent. Just thinking out loud. Passover, hm? I'm - I was Catholic. Guess I've got to say I'm lapsed these days. More like agnostic. Keeping faith in the face of all that's been thrown at us must be difficult."

"Nah, that sounds like work," Jordan teased back. He wasn't actually averse to working at things; he liked to be thorough and get things right, and Candace had probably figured that out by now. More seriously, he said, "Yeah, we can do that. I wouldn't feel right if I didn't try."

"That makes sense to me," he said thoughtfully. "Religion itself has gotten considerably more generic in the modern age. We do see demons there, of all different kinds; they must have mythological roots in hellfire and damnation, or other cultural equivalents of Hell." He laced his fingers together as he considered. "Conquest looks to be not just an individual, but a hereditary position as well," he pointed out. "I wonder how many of the iconic figures are like that? Come to think of it, I wonder if it would work that way in the other holidays. Halloween is one of the few that doesn't have a mascot or central figure to revolve around, like, say, Santa or the Easter Bunny." He paused, another point occurring to him. "Given the assumption that a holiday world contains considerably more than we've seen, it might be possible that tangentially related holidays are connected or coexistent. Easter and Passover could be connected, or one could contain the other."

He smiled. "Can you tell I was in academia when Deus Ex contacted me?"

He nodded to her point. "Ritual and familiarity are a good touchstone in a chaotic world. I'd bet something could be arranged, at least."

Jordan laughed. "You never know. It might be. Kind of a scary thought, if you think about it; makes me think of a terrible B-movie. Revenge of the Thanksgiving Turkey or some such. Thanksgiving is a very North American holiday, though. If it's got a physical manifestation, maybe it's a subset of harvest festival icons? Then again, you don't really get the iconic imagery for harvest festivals elsewhere," he mused. "Either that, or I'm doing the iggerant 'merican thing. Also possible. It'd be a subject for further research, if I had the time and leisure. Probably won't happen, though." He sighed. "That's one thing I do regret - not being able to continue my education."

He gave Candace a thoughtful look. "While those worlds are human creations," he said, "they seem to be creations of the subconscious and emotion rather than any organized imaginings. Instinctive reactions that are out of our control, unfortunately. Which would explain why they exist, maybe," he continued, frowning as he considered it. "If we're afraid, somewhere out there, there must be something to be afraid of. Recursive logic, but compelling in its own way. Lizard-brain thoughts. It would be nice if we could conquer with the power of love," he grinned, putting a light sarcastic emphasis on the last phrase.

"Huh. A lawyer?" That explained her way with words, if not her straightforward bluntness; but coming here had changed them all. Mostly for the better, he thought, though he had only second-hand knowledge of his friends' pasts.

"Being able to get off the island sometimes helps with that too. Bringing a bit of normalcy back here to remind us what's out there. I guess that really is part of why everyone went so nuts about Christmas, other than - er - strange chemical influences."

"Oh, probably - hah!" Jordan laughed as Candace dropped into an excellent Southern drawl. Either she'd been Southern or she had a good ear for imitation. He really couldn't tell.

"That's kind of a terrifying concept," he said. "I don't think a short skirt would suit me very well, regardless of how secure I may be in my masculinity." He nodded to her statement. "I can believe it. I was generally in the top ten percent, but I never tried for higher, particularly. Too much attention when you got too good at something, and I didn't want to be noticed."

"I think I would've been all right teaching," he mused. "But being here, having a real purpose and being able to fight back against the things that I hid from ... this is better. It's stressful and dangerous and cuts way down on the life expectancy - but at least I'll have been doing something."

"I guess I can't argue that one," Jordan conceded. "Not my style either way." He chuckled and commented, "You do it with flair."

His smile softened a little at the mention of monsters in the closet and under the bed; the reminder brought up just as many childhood memories for him. There'd been something under Andy's bed, something in his closet. "One of these days, maybe we'll get to go take care of that for some kid," he said. "Let them sleep easier."