With Christmas having passed, Sparrow found zemself a bit less prone to Scrooge-ing up the whole thing, but no less prone to occasional bits of proper scorn and frustration; even with the holiday gone, the magic this whole season brought with it was still here, and ze'd had quite enough of it by this point. What more was there going to be? There'd been the messages in the lights, morse code blinking intermittent on and off like it meant something (ze knew enough morse code to knew it hadn't been that, whatever it actually had been, but it could've been a stress-induced hallucination); there'd been the enormous ******** bird ze'd spotted mobbing a guy, some sort of bizarrely huge owl that'd lashed out, buffeted him with its wings, and soared off in a snit; flocks of little snow white rabbits; another, completely different, guy getting attacked by a "reindeer"... suffice to say, there was more than enough mischief to go around without ze actively taking part in it beyond normal Negaverse activity levels. Life and limb were important to Sparrow, and ze wasn't planning to be caught dead trying to fight some kind of godforsaken Christmas monster reindeer, ze wasn't insane.

The revelry made draining easier, and it meant people were gathering in groups with all the time off. There was that, at least, little as it was worth. Being Captain Larimar still felt awkward, not quite settled back into being zyr normal second skin; nowadays ze kept glancing down and expecting the weight of a rapier to balance out the dagger, but there was nothing there except the blade, chilly as it'd always been. Reliable, magical... steel? Probably steel. Ze wasn't a metalworker and had no plans to be, and this was ******** up Negaverse magically summoned metal anyways, so who knew if it actually translated into modern metallurgy. It was an interesting side thought, if it was worth anything at all, but it wasn't worth much.

Mostly it was still time for Sparrow to walk the city, and take in the things that had changed while ze'd been away, and maybe check out the cute little pop-up shops that always showed up this time of year no matter what. This one was all in blue and white and gold and red, translucent plastic snowflakes attached to the walls, glittery lights dazzling the ceiling; there was a cold wind sweeping through, so it made sense to get a hot chocolate, toasted marshmallow, peppermint whip topping.

Okay. It was a little extravagant, given ze hadn't been planning to spend that much money on a drink today, but the drink was... fine, frankly. It tasted good, it warmed zem up the way ze'd been looking for, no complaints -- or at least no complaints until, right as ze was finishing it off, Sparrow felt a tickle in the back of zyr throat. And then zyr nose. And then when ze sneezed, it was snowflakes all over their hands, chilly, rapidly melting from the heat of skin - and it was snowflakes on the table, too - and at that point Sparrow laid zyr face down on the table, despondent, and turned it to the side so ze didn't sneeze snowflakes right into zyr ******** winter, actually. Scrooge time it was.

Prompt 3 (Drink Yourself Silly): Pop up shops are a dime a dozen in Destiny City this time of year, and for as much weirdness as they cause, there’s still something alluring about them. Walking through the city, you happen to come across one that seems particularly cozy and is decorated in such a way that you just know they’re trustworthy. The menu only has a few items but there’s something for everyone.

Maybe it’s hot chocolate, maybe it’s coffee, maybe it’s some chilly winter sweet--whatever it is, it’s delicious. And magic, but you didn’t know that when you ordered it. It started with an itch at the back of your throat, but what happened after that was anyone’s game. Some of the drinks turn into a tickle in your nose, and now you’re suddenly sneezing snowflakes for the next hour. Maybe you finish your drink and you suddenly feel warm--like you’re in the middle of summer. (Do you even need your coat? It’s so hot! --Or is that a fever?) Or, the itch turns into something else--and suddenly you feel the urge to sing. It’s compulsive, you can’t help yourself, you must sing. It’s like you’ve forgotten how to communicate in any other way. It fades an hour after you finish the drink, but still...