bigapplesauce | silver bells [open]

Lately, the Balladeer feels as though he's lost more time. December came faster than he thought it would. Perhaps that's natural with the way November ended. Life goes on, and the world has not waited for him to catch his footing again. It almost seems strange that they're still going deeper into winter; that blizzard felt so climactic that the narrator in him had half-expected a warm spring to follow on its heels. It would have made a lovely picture. But no - time here flows without regard to narrative convention. And with the winter season comes the holiday season.

It caught him off guard at first. He'd done nothing at all for Halloween, but that didn't matter given the lack of trick-or-treaters in his building. Thanksgiving...he'd meant to observe Thanksgiving. Things happened. But goddamn it, he is going to do Christmas. It's normal, it's traditional, and it's something that people seem to really love. It's supposed to make you happy.

He hasn't got any of the family traditions that're so important to others, but isn't that for the best? If he had a family, he only would have lost them coming here. There's still a few obvious steps he can take without one.

First off: gifts.

He isn't nervous, exactly. Even if all the advertisements seem to imply that he's doing this very late in the season, he's not too worried about it. If he got nervous over every new experience, he'd be a quivering wreck; this is exciting! He just wants to make sure he gets good things! It doesn't seem as though it should take very long. Doesn't he know what his friends like? This is going to be easy!

The Balladeer spends much of the day flitting about between shops in the less-expensive districts, bundled up in his winter coat and with most of his face buried in his new American flag scarf (which is cool, thank you very much). He hasn't accumulated a whole lot of shopping bags. Frankly, he's beginning to wish he'd brought Steven along after all. It might have been easier to bounce ideas off of someone. But then when would he buy gifts for Steven...?

He may be here for a while.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[hope some gabe is ok!]

Gabriel is wrapped up in his coat, gloves on and scarf wrapped loosely around his neck. It's snowing a little, but it doesn't bother him too much. He's done most of the shopping that he'd wanted to do already, but he likes seeing all the decorations and the people bustling around looking more stressed than he feels.

He pauses outside of a corner bodega to smile at the rainbow lights under the awning and the little dancing Santa dolls in the window. It's not long before he notices a familiar mind wandering closer to him, and he blocks off his mind a little, as a courtesy. He hasn't seen the Balladeer lately-- hadn't felt like seeking him out after what his more violent personality had done to Johnny, but he doesn't feel slighted by him either. Whatever had happened that day, it was clear that it was out of the Balladeer's control.

When the Balladeer gets close enough to see, he gives him a little wave to invite him over. "Hey, music man. How's it hangin?"

Cushioned or not, the Balladeer can still tell when Gabriel's nearby. He tilts his head a little, heedless of the sharp chill on his cheek as it leaves the shelter of his scarf. It's not too late to flee. If he just started walking the other way, would the angel really come after him? Probably not.

But the city's small in a way, when you're a riftie. They're going to have to talk again sometime. The longer he puts it off, the more awkward it's probably going to be when it happens. Besides, the little lights along the awnings and the bright-wrapped packages in peoples' arms as they crowd past make the street seem more peaceful, despite the press. Some of them sound like Christmas carols. Now is a good time.

The Balladeer remains where he is, examining a table of little knick-knacks, until he hears his name. Or, well, close enough. "Gabriel." He turns and smiles, not certain if he should bring It up. "I'm good! Just doing some shopping - how are you?"

Gabriel goes to meet the Balladeer and claps him on the shoulder. "I'd think the better question would be how are you. I doubt Johnny told me everything about what happened." He chuckles a little bit. "It's like he thinks I'd kill you or something." Johnny has good reason to think Gabriel might react protectively against anyone who has hurt him, He's seen it in action. But in this case, the person he wants to punish for Johnny's sake isn't here.

He glances down at the Balladeer's conspicuously absent purchases, then back up at the Balladeer. "Do you need some help shopping? I am excellent at shopping." He could probably use the distraction himself, and he'd like to get a little more information about just how this whole alternate personality thing works. He'd already bought a couple gifts himself, but it probably wouldn't hurt to take another look around.

Okay, so they're doing this!

The Balladeer doesn't flinch under the shoulder clap, but his smile certainly takes on a much more sickly tenor. Was that a threat, or is he just paranoid? "Oh! Ha, yeah, he seemed...I wasn't sure what he was going to tell you." No one ever really said as much, but he'd figured Gabe must be pretty protective over Johnny. It was there in the background whenever anyone talked about them. That's only natural, he guesses; Gabriel is powerful, and Manhattan can be dangerous. Why wouldn't you want to protect the ones you loved?

He follows the angel's glance down to his empty hands, and reflexively tucks them into his pockets. Right, yeah. That. "Um - yeah, okay?" The tentative note in his own voice bothers him. Things are fine. He doesn't really think Gabriel is upset; if he were, he probably wouldn't beat around the bush. This whole conversation has just caught him off guard. "I've never really had to go Christmas shopping much before," he explains, trying to calm his own nerves. "Probably just need to get the hang of it."

"Me neither, which is probably not what you'd expect from a guy who was there for the first one." He smiles, but it's a little guarded. He really hasn't had much of anyone to buy Christmas gifts for until now. The last time he had any sort of family, Christmas wasn't about all of this song and dance.

"But I do know the first step in gift-giving is knowing who you have in mind. So who's on your list?" Steven, he assumes, maybe Iman and Greta, but he's not sure who else could be important to the Balladeer.

The Balladeer shrugs, trying to look casual. "Oh, I don't know." Not much point in celebrating Christmas when you're in heaven or wherever. What can you get somebody who already lives in paradise? Where would you even buy presents, Celestial Walmart?

But home and the past are two subjects he really doesn't want to open up for conversation, in general and with Gabriel in particular. "Well - Greta, Steven, Iman, some of the other park buskers..." Who else is he friends with? "I should probably get something for Sunshine. And, uh." Oh god, should he get Johnny something? He suspects they might both prefer not to suddenly start exchanging gifts, but you can't say he doesn't owe the guy.

"Oh, you don't have to get me anything." That's what he was wondering about, right? It doesn't occur to him that he would be considering Johnny, especially after what happened between them. "Let's start little and work our way up. I assume you don't want to give your fellow buskers anything too extravagant. Something that shows you care, but not in a way that makes them think you've been secretly stalking them on Facebook." He smiles and tilts his head across the street.

"Follow me, I have an idea." Gabriel weaves around a few annoyed drivers caught in traffic and waits for The Balladeer to follow before the ducks into another shop. This one seems geared towards tech, but also novelty items.

Gabriel walks past the RC helicopters and a massage lounge chair to paint The Balladeer to a shelf filled with little colorful items. "So. hand warmers! What do you think? Good for keeping in your pockets and keeping your musical fingers from snapping off." He points to a line of boxes with different colored metal inside. "The classic Zippo. They use fuel and stay warm a long time." he moves down the shelf and picks up a different box to read the back. "These charge off your computer, that's cool."

He sets that down and grabs up a box with stars and hearts on it. "These ones work by Exothermic Crystallization." He opens up the package and pulls out a soft star-shaped plastic container filled with yellow gel and pokes at the little metal disc floating inside of it. "Which is a fancy phrase for 'the stuff inside hardens and heats up'. You flip a little thing inside and then it changes completely." He smiles and tosses the hand-warmer towards The Balladeer. "Sound familiar?"

silver bells [open]

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