polylogs | Happy Holidays

✖ THE MALL

Ⅰ. THE REASON FOR THE SEASON
Boy, wasn’t November exciting? How about those Black Friday deals, huh? Hope you’ve had fun camping out in furniture stores! You can of course continue to bunk there, but the High Temple is also open to all Travelers again this month if you’d rather sleep there. Don’t forget to stock up on items that could fit inside your Traveler bag - this is the perfect time to get that fancy moisturizer you’ve been missing, some books, or maybe a copy of the hot new video game Bonestorm!

As December rolls in, you’ll notice that there’s even MORE holiday cheer to be found! Pressing in on all sides of you! Suffocating you! Or maybe you’re one of those people who just lives for carols and huge plastic evergreens decked out in tinsel and lights, in which case you’re going to be thrilled!

There are indeed plenty of those aforementioned trees throughout the mall, alongside wire and light reindeer, glowing stars, and oversized novelty gift boxes. If you have keen eyes you’ll notice that hidden throughout the mall are dozens of small, creepy elves with dead vacant eyes. They don’t do anything. They just… watch.

Who on earth could they be reporting to?

Ⅱ. HE SEES YOU WHEN YOU’RE SLEEPING

At the center of the mall concourse there is now a miniature village set up, themed entirely in ice and snow and candy. At the center of this plastic paradise is a lavishly decorated chair, and in front of it a camera. At times marked clearly on a schedule at the village gate you can wait in line behind a red velvet rope for your turn to see him.

Who? Well. That depends.

In many worlds, there is a benevolent figure who appears in December, bearing gifts for all the good children. Santa is the most likely person you’ll find sitting on that big chair, ho-ho-hoing and looking as kind and jolly as any creature possibly could.

Maybe you’re from somewhere without a Santa Claus, but with some other equivalent. In that case, you might see what you’re familiar with instead!

Regardless of his exact form, the figure who beckons you to sit beside him has only one concern: have you been nice?

Niceness is subjective, but if you’ve managed it you will be rewarded. With a twinkle in his eye, the Non-Denominational Mall Figure will reach into his magic bag and pull out a gift, JUST for you! What could it be?!

Oh, and don’t forget to smile for the photo! You may pick it up in half an hour once it is developed.

But if you’ve been naughty, or if you sneak over to that chair during the OFF hours? In that case there will be a cracking noise and the sudden overwhelming scent of rank goat.

“Better luck next year,” the Non-Denominational Mall Figure says sadly, his eyes trained on something over your shoulder. Turn your head and you’ll see that your naughtiness has attracted another holiday staple: Krampus.

Yes, this hairy, horned devil carries chains and bitch rods, the latter of which he uses to whip the everloving shit out of you if he catches you. You’ll have to outrun him long enough that he gets bored, or find some other way to distract him or pay him off. Maybe there’s a German market set up in the mall somewhere where you could get Krampus to do a Smorgasvein with you?

Notes:
1. This month if your character has been nice, they may receive ONE special item! They may only receive this gift once - multiple attempts to see the Non-Denominational Mall Figure will result in Krampus appearing instead.

The special item you may pick for your character can be one of the following:

- one animal companion. This animal can travel with your character from island to island from now on. The only stipulation is that it must be able to fit comfortably on the ferryboat. If your animal is too large, your character can instead get a mini version!

- one carriable item from your character’s homeland. In the case of weapons, this must be something that is not game breaking in terms of power level. (ie: yes, you can get a gun, no you can’t get a gun that explodes the sun.)

- a collection of holiday candies, all of which have magical healing properties.

2. You determine if your character’s actions put them on the Naughty or Nice list

Ⅲ. WINTER WONDERLAND
As you wander through the mall you will notice that amongst all the holiday decorations a large area on the first floor that was closed last month is now lit up and has a welcome sign standing outside. Whatever could it be?

Perhaps a bigger and better Orange Julius?

No silly! It's an indoor ice skating rink. And as if that isn't cool enough - get it? Cool? - it would seem that for the whole month skate rentals are free. So go on, slap on a pair of skates and take a whirl around the ice rink! Show everyone your fancy moves or just try not to fall on your ass.

Don't feel like skating? That's okay, there are dorky performances happening at noon and 5pm where a group of people dressed up as holiday creatures will skate around in formation and do tricks.

If you’re more mature, at 8pm there's a live jazz band that will play music for the skaters.

There’s plenty of beverages and foods to be sampled from the holiday kiosks that have popped up close to the rink.

Notes:
1. This is a public ice rink so you will have to share space with people, so if you plan on throwing out a triple lutz or whatever then you might want to make sure you don't hit or slice into anyone with your skates.

Ⅳ. ALL I WANT IS YOU
Cheerful generic holiday music fills the hall as the Christmas celebration hits full swing with a slightly panicked glee. The same rotation of a dozen different carols cycles through, one after the other, hour after hour. There are only a few refuges from the mind numbing music through the mall - that one New Age import shop that hasn’t changed its world music CD in a decade, and Spicy Subject which only plays pop punk covers of carols. Even the bathrooms aren’t safe from that rise and fall of notes that let you know a certain diva is going to tell you that you’re all she wants for Christmas.

Just as the hundredth iteration of the song is about to drive you mad, there’s a tremendous crash. A twenty foot tall Christmas tree that had once been suspended in the middle of the food court has crushed the Pizza Corner and taken out the power source for half the Mall’s sound system in one go. A caped figure escapes along the rafters that once supported the tree in a cloud of heavy fragrance. He pauses only once to bow as banner unfurls. Crude letters have been painted over a previous black Friday announcement: You have been warned: The Phantom!

The crowd begins to murmur and huddle in groups, and if you get nosy there are plenty of rumors. A teen from one of the ear piercing boutiques mentions a ghost story about a Luxuriate employee who got in a terrible accident while mixing bath bombs on site that rendered him permanently aromatic and with a permanent splitting headache that would have killed a lesser person. An older man from the Hotdog Hut pipes up that he disappeared into the labyrinth of hidden hallways that allow employees to navigate the mall for restocking and avoiding the overly aggressive salespeople. Every year the Phantom emerges in an attempt to banish the sky high notes of that ever popular Christmas carol, and every year the people who run the mall put it back in rotation.

Even after the incident with the choir.

A mother with two small children who are more puffy coat than person hushes the hotdog seller. It’s all nonsense of course. Some kind of interactive theater to drive up sales before the holidays. The looks that pass between the other employees, and the signs that the poor twenty-something postgrad working at Pizza Corner might have been crushed say otherwise.

So does the pungent waft of multifloral scent that starts to stalk you through the mall. Apparently, someone’s formed a crush, or are you giving him a terrible headache? What is it about you that you do better than anyone that might be appreciated by this deeply eccentric murder? Or what makes you the most annoying? Either way, it might be good to keep your hand at the level of your eyes because you’re about to be whisked away to the depths of the Mall into the Phantom’s lair.

Notes:
1. The Phantom is now more archetype than human. Killing him will probably not solve the issue, but it will make you smell like you’ve been eating bath bombs and drinking essential oils until New Year. Which could be fun.

2. Alternatively, if you agree with him about the music, you can always agree to team up to take out the rest of the sound system.

3. The Phantom has an excellent tenor voice. Just, you know, in case you were wondering.

Come on Jessica, come on Tori! Let's go to the mall, you won't be sorry!

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I thought you might enjoy it.

( And it’s totally okay to be so jovial about it when it’s a hypothetical scenario. It’s not like he describes many things as ‘fun.’ Why not roll with it when it’s only talk? )

I do. It's something you ought to embrace more often.

[It's not just talk for him, but even talk can be... well, cathartic. Right?]

Not being quite so weak-willed, you mean?

( Talk can definitely be cathartic. If her going along with his desires for retribution enables some release for him, that’s what she’ll do. They can’t be enacted immediately so she isn’t encouraging, as such. )

That isn't the term I would choose. Perhaps... squeamish.

Do you think one can build their tolerance to such things without becoming, well, hardened?

You're asking the wrong person. I'm not certain I was ever "soft."

I imagine it could be detrimental for a soldier of your calibre? And when someone is trained from an early age to be that soldier… I doubt those types of traits were encouraged.

[He shrugs.]

I don't think they existed.

But not everyone in my profession is like me, and you needn't be a soldier to have some comfort with violence.

I don’t think I’d entirely agree with that.

No, that’s true. It isn’t only soldiers who are comfortable with it. It just… frightens me. Squeamish, as you say. Though being an android, the idea of violence does hit in a certain way. For me, at least.

[Nope, never soft, that's just the facts.]

Because you're afraid it would make you unkind?

Androids who have displayed any tendencies in that vein are regarded as defective. Dangerous. They’ve always been dismantled to determine what error occurred and to keep the public safe. And to keep profits up.

On the other side, violence against androids has a… casualness to it. To injure or destroy an android has only been considered as property damage.

I see.

[That does better explain her reaction to the mantises.]

...it may be easier to commit violence when disregarding the personhood of one's opponent, but it isn't necessary. The only judgment you need make is that your own life is worth more to you than theirs.

That sort of thinking has been dangerous for androids. When deviancy spread and they began to see themselves as people…

( The thought ends with a shake of her head. Grisly details. )

And it’s largely moot when it comes to what a human could do to an android. Generally speaking, we aren’t seen as alive.

But you can, essentially, die, can you not? If you are dismantled and destroyed?

Yes. Theoretically, Elijah could restore a back up into another form. If that failed to happen, I would cease to be. If he selected a back up from a point in time other than the most recent, I would also cease to be as myself. Or what I regard to be as myself, at least.

[Elijah. He'll remember that name.]

Then surely you have as much right as anyone else to act in preservation of that self.

I’ve tried to do that through the showcasing of my humanity.

...you do realize that humans kill each other despite all of them being in full possession of "humanity."

I do. And I could echo the worst thoughts humans have about androids. I could echo the worst of humanity. The worst thoughts Elijah has about humanity. I just refuse to.

I don't propose you instigate anything. But not all conflicts have any peaceful resolution, and I see no evil in fighting for your own survival.

I can’t say for certain but if it came to it and there was no other solution, I think I would fight for myself. Or if not myself, those I care about.

...I suppose that's a start.

We can’t all be warriors. And I don’t think I’d be much of one. ( But she says it with a little smile. )

You do have some decent ideas. Disabling security systems and setting ferris wheels aflame.

Tactical support has its role, doesn’t it?

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