Star Trek: Starbase 777 - reindeer-road

Upon reaching the town centre (as Santa had described it was easily identifiable by the town hall, some picturesque little old-timey designed shops, and a frozen water fountain which some birds were ice skating inside of), street signs directed them to Reindeer Road. It was a short street with two houses on either side, but it was evident that more were set to be built due to the plots of land at either end. The first house looked to be an average size - three bedrooms, perhaps? - and looked very festive. The roof was covered in snow, twinkling Christmas lights surrounded each window, and there was a hand-made Christmas wreath upon the door. All of the lights were off. Hopefully, everyone was asleep.

6

As tempting as it was to go into the shops - wait, wait- "Are those birds... ice skating? Oh my fucking God," he stopped walking and kneeled down very carefully and quietly to look at them. "Oh my God, they have itty-bitty ice skates..." he whispered, looking back to the group as he slowlllly stood back up from that distraction, but... he'd probably try and come back here to see if he could take some neat photos for his Spacegram page!!

3

"More magic?" Hanneth shrugged and looked around, scanning the street and buildings with his eyes. "It certainly is gorgeous here."

While the shops seemed pleasant and the fountain... Wait, were those...? Okay what in the the actual fuck. Stopping in their tracks, they couldn't help but stare at the birds, feeling beyond perplexed by what they were seeing. "Okay, that's it, we're clearly in a holiday holomovie." They commented to no one in particular.

"Honestly, it might be," he laughed, looking up at the house, "and honestly, if we are? I'm not complaining. This is fun as hell. Question is, uh, how are we supposed to go in? Like, are we actually doing the whole chimney thing? Fuck, should we go back and ask Santa...? I didn't really think about the fact that there's probably, like... some sort of rules, or something, strategy, maybe..."

Perhaps the birds had noticed the officers staring. Before everyone moved on, they started doing tricks. One did a backflip on the ice. At Reindeer Road itself, however, and while contemplating how they were supposed to get in... All the houses did have chimneys.

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Essen was walking along for the most part, doing more silent observing than anything, but the moment she noticed the houses have chimneys, she stopped. "Whooaaaa, there's our answer," Essen said, pointing to the chimneys. "That's how we get in. I volunteer to get in and out of the chimney with the gifts, albeit probably covered in soot but that comes with the job. If Santa does it every year I can do it once in my life."

"It's only right, isn't it?" Rubi said, finally catching up with everyone after saying goodbye to the beautiful reindeer, and admiring the ice skating birdies. "We must become Santa to properly deliver these gifts."

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Yeah, okay, he was absolutely coming back to take pictures and videos of these super cool birds later, openly gasping in amusement as he saw the one do the backflip. Okay, yeah, maybe this was a holomovie - or, or! It could have just been some cool alien birds! Maybe even Saren knew about them! About the cool ice-skating birds! "You can't be the only one who goes in," he looked up at the chimney too, "how do we get up there though? We just... climb? Parkour, maybe?" he looked around for the nearest smaller structure they could even attempt to do parkour on.

There was a fence that surrounded the front garden, and to the back a garden shed was just visible. If anyone wanted to try hardcore parkour, maybe that was the place to start?

"Actually, yeah, that much soot might not be the best for my lungs," Essen said. "Anyone's lungs, for that matter. So you're right, I can't be the only one." As she looked up at the chimneys. "As for how we get up there, that I don't know--" Before she noticed the fence and looked up and down it. "Maybe parkour is a solution. I didn't think I'd ever say those words but here we are."

"Well...anyone particularly handy at parkour?" Rubi said, having a look around herself to see something to parkour off of. She would try her best, if asked.

Raises a hand "I do gymnastics."

"Did they just... Yep, okay, I think I'm gonna stop questioning everything. I need to skip the other four stages of grief and go straight to acceptance." Quinn said with a brief sigh, before focusing properly on the mission at hand. The birds were too dang distracting. While they honestly wouldn't be surprised if the group had magically gained some flying powers of some sort, they weren't willing to test that theory and instead opted to let the others speak. "I'm a doctor, not a gymnast."

7

"Uhhh, I did it as a teenager, but like, it's been a while..." he said as he looked at the shed, trying to determine how that would even work out. "And again, we'd all need to get up in there, so... I feel like that'd be pretty loud, if we were jumping onto the roof? How does Santa land an entire fucking troop of reindeer on the roof quietly?"

Hanneth had to chuckle at the timing of the doctor and his own declaration of his favorite sport "We can maybe lift someone up?"

1

Rubi shrugged. "Magic, probably. But I'm sure most of us can be quiet...ish.." Rubi heard Emta's suggestion. Now, lifting someone was probably where she was better suited. She wasn't particularly agile, but she was fairly strong. "Oh, I could lift someone. Emta, if you'd like to try?"

"Well, you'd have to be... mm, it's probably still too tall for that..." he bit his lip as he considered the options here and tried to think of more options. "Wait, is beaming ourselves in an option? Or onto the roof, at least?"

"Ooooh, yeah, that could work, we wouldn't be beaming far, less than twenty feet or something like that from where we are now, if the transporter needed to beam us inside, it would use nearly the exavt same coordinates," Essen remarked. "Makes sense to me."

"I suppose that might be quieter, and more safe..." 'but far less festive...' she muttered to herself. But alas, it was probably be the best option. "That would probably work the best, if we can use the transporters."

Hanneth nodded "And it would be easier to get this in there that way." He hefted the gift sack over his shoulder.

"If we're not careful we could beam into a wall, or a Christmas tree, or an active fireplace." Quinn commented simply. "Actually, speaking of chimneys and fires, how would we be expected to go down one when A, the average person wouldn't fit down one, but B, there could be an active fire at the bottom of said chimney? It makes little to no sense. Perhaps I'm just overthinking how Christmas I supposed to work, but I see several flaws in the delivery method."

Who was to say that anyone wouldn't fit through the chimney, and who was to say that there was a fire at the bottom? If big boy Santa could get down the chimney then surely anyone else could. Besides... This place was magic. There was likely more to it than Quinn realised.

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"I mean, there'd be smoke if there was a fire," Allan said, looking up at said chimney to confirm that there was no smoke coming out of said chimney. "So... that's one of those things out of the way. And I mean, Santa does it, so... and like, he trusted us to do it, so somehow..." Somehow, they were meant to do it! It was just getting there in the first place...

"Right, we'd be able to see if there was a fire," Essen said. "So it's just on a case by case basis, if there's smoke, we don't use the chimney. If there isn't, we look down inside to see if it's safe, and then use the chimney. We probably all can fit down the chimney since Santa can do it." Essen looked at the side of the bungalow, and lunged down to try and LEAP---! Nope. She landed square on the ground. She didn't make it. "Obviously everybody is not kung fu fighting. I thought I could jump higher than that. I dunno. But we can't just jump, I can confirm that." (edited)

1

"I can try heaving the bag up to the roof first? Though if it gets stuck then we just have a bag on the roof we still can't get up to." Hanneth mulled over the ideas he heard. He wasn't sure what the rules of this place were, and was lost how to operate within them. So, they'd have to figure out the rules by working together. (edited)

3

"Smokeless fuels exist, but based on how cold it is out here and how hot a fire is, you would hope there would be some visual sign of there being a fire." Quinn commented idly. Nothing in this place made sense so they thought it best to just go with it at this point. "So we somehow have to figure out how to get on the roof and get down the chimney. Based on the logic of Christmas, I am going to presume going in through the back door would qualify as cheating." Time to be useful, perhaps. The doctor began looking around for anything that could be used to help them get on the roof. Perhaps someone had left a shed unlocked with a ladder in it or something, who knows.

"Maybe? I'm still a little worried about that thudding noise being a bit too loud, but..." He started considering the (probably as equally loud) option of the hardcore parkour again, looking over at that little shed... "I mean, maybe it's worth checking out the backyard anyways? Could be like... a handy box or something to get up onto-" and he followed Quinn, because yeah! The shed was right there, so maybe it would have something inside that could help.

Round the back of the house was the shed. It was unlocked (thank you Federation colony with your no crimes,) and inside there was not a ladder. However, there was something more interesting. There was a circular panel made out of metal, although the centre of which seemed to be covered in some sort of reinforced plastic or glass; it looked almost like a small transporter pad with enough space for one person. It was sitting on the floor of the shed, right in the middle; and when anyone got close enough, the glass centre lit up.

Entering the shed (and hoping this still legally didn't count as breaking and entering despite a distinct lack of breaking happening), Quinn soon laid eyes on the ladder, only to be entirely distracted by the other thing in the small building. "Uhhh... Lieutenant?" They called to Allan, whom they figured was following to help in the search.

"Hm?" The engineer, despite all of the group being 'Lieutenants', turned to look at Quinn, and looked at whatever they were looking at- "Oh! Well, there's our transporter pad if I've ever seen one, um- guys, hey-" he called to the rest of the group, and then stepped a little closer to the pad, watching it light up. "Oh, yeah. This is definitely a trans-pad, yup. I could always scan it just to make sure...?" Just to make sure that this wasn't, like, some secret evil machine or whatever.

Perhaps it was not a transporter pad. A lone spider had been sitting on top of this pad quite contentedly, but when it lit up, the spider began to float.

6

Rubi came running over, ever curious in the strange place. Her eyes fell on the supposed transporter pad as the little spider had begun to float. "Oh, that is interesting... what is it?"

As Essen looked at the pad alongside everyone else, and notied the spider begin to float-- "Hooooly shhhhhh---" As she kept herself from swearing! "Er, I mean! Holy moly... it's a magic lifter. If it's lifting that spider... that's how we get up to the chimneys... we can fly!"

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"Or the spider could be on its little web string thing? Sometimes they look like they're floating when they do that, right?" He looked back at Hanneth, and then the bag - "we probably need to get out the gifts that go to this house out of the bag in advance, right? Could always test this thing by putting one of them on it. And then, then we -" he laughed at what Essen had said, "pull this thing out of here and fly, yeah. Naturally, really."

Essen looked to Allan. "Aw, come on, Allan! This is the Christmas spirit!" Essen pleaded. "If Santa genuinely thought we couldn't do it, he would have given us much more information to get us on our way. This had to have been here before. Plus, look at that spider! It doesn't seem hurt or anything. I'm willing to test this out before everyone else does. If we can use this to lift oursleves up to the roof and then into the chimneys, we'll be able to deliver gifts -- and faster. Come on, Allan! Believe! I believe."

The spider was twirling and having what looked like a wonderful time in mid-air. Or maybe it was confused and was flailing about. It was hard to tell.

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"Should I try putting the bag onto this?" Hanneth asked "Test it with something inanimate?" He felt bad for the poor spider and looked for something to rescue it

20:23

He grabbed a tool or long item to try and rescue the spider before setting the bag onto the pad.

"I - hey, hey, hey, I'm not denying the Christmas spirit! I love the Christmas spirit! You've seen my cookies! And my hot chocolate, and my lovely little Christmas tree that the cats love to knock down every week! We need to sort the gifts anyways, still- I already believe, trust me, I saw birds ice-skating with tiny little skates!" He said as he watched the bag on the pad, seeing what it'd do. Hopefully float.

"I haven't, therefore I personally can't vouch for your spiritfulness." Quinn commented simply. "Do the gifts have tags? And do the tags have names or addresses? Because if they have names, we're going to have to figure out who lives where."

The spider wrapped its leggies around the handle of a brush and was set aside. The bag, meanwhile, did float. At a medium pace, it started floating higher and higher - presumably it would stop just short of the shed's roof.

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"There you go, friend." Hanneth smiled at the spider as he set it aside carefully. Once the arachnid was secure, he carefully set the bag on the pad, and watched as it began to float. "Huh. That's useful"

"So this... thing makes other things float. I'm admittedly weary of testing it on a person, but I will admit I'm morbidly curious about how useful this thing could be." Quinn stated quite honestly. They were the Medical officer here, they had to think of everyone's wellbeing, but surely this device was here for a reason, right? Why else would an anti-gravity device be sat in the middle of a random shed in the middle of a Christmas themed town but to use it?

"I was talking to Essen, but you're welcome to see any of those when we get back to the station." Allan said to Quinn, before watching the bag float, and float... perfect. "Well, let's drag it on out of here, yeah? To the side of the house?" he took the bag off and handed it back to Hanneth, "Doctor has a good point about the tags and stuff. What do they have-" he took a random gift out of the bag just to see what it had on it as far as tags, if anything.

Within the bag there was something stirring. The gift that had been removed didn't do anything, but a multitude of other things inside the sack started vibrating faintly as if sensing they were about to be delivered. Around them, the wrapping paper shimmered and even glowed.

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Hanneth held the bag out away from him with mild alarm as it vibrated.

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Allan's eyes widened a little as that all happened, but he still checked the gift over for any nametags or such before he quickly put it back in the bag. "Huh. Maybe it'll just know once we're inside? #MagicBagThings?"

Eyes widening a fraction at the bag suddenly doing... Whatever the hell the bag was doing, Quinn was suddenly quite concerned that they were actually delivering live animals or something for a smuggler disguised as Santa. "I can't tell if this is magic or we're all on hallucinogens, but considering the fact I'm asking that question I'm going to assume it isn't the latter." (edited)

5

No animals in the bag, no smuggling... Just magic, plain and simple. Now it was time to go delivering the presents.

Once Hanneth had calmed the part of his brain frantically pulling up files from his explosives training classes, he realized it was harmless. "It seems it knows which gifts go here." Hanneth surmised, peering into the bag and seeing the excited gifts.

"Probably. Like I said, #MagicBagThings, I guess. Lemme uh, just drag this thing out of here, then..." he looked at the little lifty pad thing and attempted to pick it up, and if he was successful, he'd take it out of the shed with the goal of setting it next to the house, near the chimney!

Feeling the urge to both be helpful and not see the ACEO pull his back out, Quinn bent down to help drag the device out of the shed as well. "I will admit that spider was quite amusing to watch. I did feel bad for it though."

The floaty pad thing wasn't heavy, thankfully. Soon enough they had it set up ready to go.

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Hanneth closed the bag back up, wanting to ensure no gifts fell out when they used the anti-gravity pad. He wasn't keen on having to chase any down that fell out, accidentally breaking something, or losing a gift. He still had no idea what in phekk was happening, but, if this was what the away mission was going to be, he was going to do it right. As Quinn and Allan set up the device, an idle thought of "Is this trespassing?" entered his mind before being swiped away. They...had a job to do: Saving a holiday of Christmas.

"Eh, spider'll be fine. I dunno, if I was in its situation, I'd be like, a little freaked out, but still have fun with it. Who knows, it might try to get back on when we put this back." Once they had the floaty paddy thingy all set up, he looked at it and then at everyone else, "soooo... who's going first? Not that I mind, just figured I'd offer."

Essen shrugged. "I can give it a go first," Essen responded to Allan's offer. "Seems harmless enough. Also seems like it's going to be a blast." Essen looked at the pad with reverence - if this wasn't Santa's magic -- or at least, magic that was associated with this colony -- Essen didn't know what was.

"Bet," he gestured to the pad, looking at Essen, "go ahead, then, we'll follow." Which was true, if she made it up just fine, he'd follow - or, if she didn't, they'd probably end up catching her. Whichever, but he had some faith in the devices from a town that had ice skating birds.

Taking a breath, Essen prepared herself mentally and physically to fly for the first time. Or not. She didn't know for sure. But what she did know is that Santa Claus had faith in Starfleet. And she was part of the whole big team. So she had a duty just as everyone else had. I believe, Essen said. I believe. And with that, Essen stepped one foot at a time onto the pad until she firmly stood on the pad...

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Hanneth moved to stand where could hopefully catch anyome if the pad went awry. He set the bag down. "We can send this up when we're ready." He smiled, finding his curiosity in where this was going growing.

Whether the machine was powered by technology, magic, or Essen's belief in Christmas - it did work. Soon she was floating up the edge of the house like an angel. Reindeer. Fairy? She could take her pick.

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Admittedly, Quinn was rather gobsmacked by the fact Essen just... Started floating upward. It was actually working? Taking a leaf out of Hanneth's book, they put their med kit down and positioned themself in such a position as to try and catch her in case she fell.

Essen didn't fall, and this magic-infused lift machine had been set up close enough to the building that you could simply step right onto the roof. Before long, everyone (and the gifts plus any kit people had taken along) were all safely on the roof. Well, as safe as you could be up there. At least it wasn't a long way down.

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Rubi couldn't quite believe what she was seeing, and then experiencing herself. She took a moment to steady herself when she finally made her way up to the roof as well. She couldn't remember the last time she was on a roof... She looked to the rest, waiting for the rest of the plan to be carried out and excited to play her part.

Whoa. Well, that was an experience. Not that he ever hadn't floated before, but... still, it was cool! "So," he walked carefully in the snow still, still very much not used to it, to look at (and down) the chimney. "I think we just go down this, right?" Given that what he saw wasn't anything sus, that was.

Nothing sus, actually. There was no fire in the fireplace either. They were safe to proceed!

Alrighty then! He looked down the chimney again, then to the group, then back to the chimney as he carefully hoisted himself up onto it so he was sitting with his legs hanging over the edge down into it. "Soooo... if I die, just like, I need you guys to know that like - well - actually, no, I won't die. I'mma go down this thing and uhhh, the magic of Christmas be with me, and... all that. Yup." And then he just, you know, dropped himself down into the chimney! And hopefully the magic of Christmas and whatnot would have his back!

Hanneth sent the bag up to the roof before following the rest of the team to the roof, hoping it could hold all their weight. "Well, let me know when you want the bag!" He shouted down the the chimney after Allen

Well, this unlocked a new fear for Quinn: Standing on a snowy roof after magically floating your way onto said roof. "You better not die. I don't want the paperwork." The doctor deadpanned before Allan yeeted himself down the chimney.

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Allan did not, in fact, die. Despite the bottom of the chimney housing coals for the fire, it felt like landing on a stack of fluffy cushions. Surely, it had to be magic!

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Whoa! Well, that was crazy. Definitely magic. "Nah, you - you gotta come down here," he called up to Hanneth, still trying to be quiet though and hoping his voice would mostly carry by the effect of the chimney being a big long tube, basically. "This is, like - totally not a one-guy thing. Like, I know Santa's one guy, but he's Santa, right?" And after saying that, he looked out at whatever room he was in, trying to get a measure of the surroundings here.

"Aww come on Quinn! You can do it! If Santa can do it, so can Allan! And if Allan can do it..." Before Essen gracefully stepped into the chimney! It wasn't a yeeting or a yoinkums - but it certainly was a light step.

Hanneth stepped over to the chimney. "Bajoran with a bag inbound!" He warned before stepping into the chimney.

Congratulations: no one at all died going down the chimney! The fireplace was very tall, only taking a little bit of ducking under to get into the living room. A Christmas tree shimmered in the corner, lights wrapped around it still switched on. A plate of milk and cookies had been set upon the coffee table.

Despite how much they really didn't want to, Quinn had eventually joined the others at the bottom of the chimney. Not a fan of tight spaces, they had quickly made their way out into the living room and very simply took a second to breathe.

The chimney could fit Santa. It wasn't a tight space, don't worry Quinn.

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"Alriiight, see, that's what I'm talking about. So, we just have to figure out what the vibrating bag'll do, uh, put it next to the tree and open it up, maybe?" He asked as he took a cookie and ate it. "Anyone want dibs on the milk?"

Essen looked at the milk and cookies - and while she was tempted, she passed. "Eh, not for me but thank you. Not sure if the chocolate in those cookies is Vulcan safe or not. Can Vulcans even have milk? I dunno. Maybe. But I'll err on the safe side."

Hanneth opened the bag and began sorting the vibrating, glowing gifts from the not as excited ones.

As soon as the sack was opened the vibrating, glowing gifts started to float -- just like Santa Team One had been doing on their floaty pad outside! Trailing magical golden sparkles behind them, the presents went about distributing themselves into stockings and under the Christmas tree. Easy peasy.

Essen went over to Hanneth -- oh! Never mind. The presents sorted themselves! Essen's jaw dropped. She believed it, but it was still mind-bending to see. "What the fff---ruitcake! I said fruitcake!" Essen stopped herself from swearing.

Hanneth had to resist the urge to push away any presents that floated by his face, they weren't bees after all, even if they did sound like them earlier.

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"You.... don't know if Vulcans can have milk...?" Allan looked at Essen, very confused for a moment. "Unless you're like - lactose intolerant or something, yeah, you can have - have you never had milk?" He asked as he watched the gifts... float. "Whoa, okay, that's - nice, okay, so... does the chimney take us back up, do you think, or..." he looked back up the chimney. Just to check.

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When Allan poked his head back into the fireplace to look up the chimney, there was the distinct tug of anti-grav technology? Magic? Trying to take him upwards. It appeared that the chimney worked both ways.

"Oh! Well in that case." Essen picked up the milk and took a sip - mmm! Seemed just fine to her! "Oh wow. It's good! Yeah, I've never had milk before. Not like this. Huh! I like it."

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Alright, then. Nothing to do but accept the pull of Christmas magic! "Okay, so it does, but - someone take the rest of the cookies. Can't leave 'em here." And he just leaned into the chimney and let it take him back up!!!

Hanneth closed the bag once the presents had dispersed and followed Allen to the chimney. He mimed pressing his comm badge "Chimney, one to vacuum up." Then stepped into the chimney (edited)

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Quickly enough the chimney had everyone back onto the roof! See, that house wasn't too difficult, was it? The next one was just across the fence. If anyone wanted to hardcore parkour it, they could probably go from this roof, to the fence, to the shed roof, to the next house's roof. Only if they really wanted to try, though.

"Well, I mean, that was simple enough!" Essen remarked. "Chimney inhales us, presents sort themselves, I inhale the milk, then chimney exhales us and we're on our way. Christmas magic at its finest!" As she looked at the next roof. "Do we just float over to the next? Or do we gotta run and jump?"

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"I could do it without the bag, just fine." He shrugged. "But the bag is the point. I could try it."

"I am sooooo tempted to just try and make that, but... well, the lifty pad is kinda helpful..." would his impulsive thoughts win here? His impulsive thoughts that his roleplayer gave to him? Yes. Yes they would. "Okay, actually, fuck it. I'mma do this shit. If I flop, no I didn't." And then he backed up a little and ran and jumped for it! And if he fell flat on his face in the snow, well, that would be embarrassing, but hey, snow was soft, at least.

The universe (or the magic of Christmas) had decided that Allan was simply too cool to faceplant the snow. It felt like being boosted in mid-air; he even hit the fence with both feet and could immediately spring off it again to the shed.

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"Well, if you can do it, so can I! And I'm even going to do a front flip too!" As Essen reared herself up, and prepared to run and jump, while tucking her body in to do a front flip onto the next roof--!

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Hanneth was impressed. He hefted the bag to evenly distribute his center of gravity, called on his gymnastics training, and followed suit

Sign this lot up for the next Olympic gymnastics event, because they were nailing it. Essen went flying from the roof of the house, over the fence, and onto the roof of the shed. In the air there were little golden sparkles which trailed behind everyone when they jumped. Christmas magic, baby!

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Having safely reached the next roof, he looked at his colleagues. "At least we have a medical officer on our team if we did fail that." He chuckled "No spotters with a thick pad here in case we fall."

Let's fuckin GOOOOOOO!!! Essen NAILED the front flip and landed squarely on the roof! Dude Perfect who??? "Don't worry, I'll spot from over here!"

"Holy fucking shit, guys, I think- nah, we're not gonna fall, we've literally got - fuckin'... sparkles-" he gestured to the air, where there probably a few sparkles as he decided to jump from the shed to the roof of the next house, although he also attempted to do a flip now that he knew gravity was actually working with him and not against him! "Oh, yeah. This is great." Once he was there, he offered Essen (and anyone else there) a fist bump, naturally.

Hanneth's fist bump is hearty and given with an approving nod

Hell yeah the fist bump! Essen obliged and did le bump back to Allan! "777 Olympics Team. Legit, we're all on it, we gotta be," Essen remarked. "This is some skill."

"And said Medical officer is terrified of jumping." Quinn called across from the first roof, really not fancying their chances right about now. "I am underqualified and underprepared for this."

Said medical officer could get left behind if they didn't want to jump, but that wasn't very Christmas spirited of them.

"Didn't you hear me? We have sparkles! Do you think we all just had like, glitter in our back pockets or something? Think about it, even if this isn't magic and is... what'd you say earlier? A holomovie? You'd still be able to do this just fine because you'd be programmed to succeed, c'mon, now." He gestured for Quinn to come on over! They had gifts to deliver after all!

Essen nodded in agreement and looked to Quinn. "Come on, Quinn! You can do it! Santa believes in us! Believe in yourself too! You've got this!"

"I can stand by to catch you if you fall, if that makes you feel better! Though I don't think it's needed." He shouted assuredly. He gave a confident lopsided grin to the doc.

Glancing between the ground below and the roof their colleagues were on, Quinn couldn't help but be a bit aprehensive. But not wanting to hold things up, they figured the worst that could happen is they landed face-first in the snow. Actually, no, significantly worse injuries could in fact occur, but considering the fact the others somehow all managed to make it, it did suggest something was stopping them from getting hurt. Plus they didn't break anything going down the chimney, either. "So jump, push off the fence, and then land on the roof? And just... hope it works? Nothing in this place makes sense so fine, why not." And with that, the doctor jumped off the roof, aiming for the fence in the hopes of then pushing off that and getting to the other roof.

Just like for everyone else, Quinn sailed through the air perfectly fine. Like a cat they landed with their feet on the fence, ready to push off of that again. Soon they were on the shed roof, and then, with another leap, everyone was on the roof of the second house.

5

"See? Perfectly fine. With sparkles and everything." Allan said with a grin, offering Quinn a fistbump as well before walking over to the chimney and looking down it to see if there was anything sus. "House number two... out of four? He said there were four, right?"

"He did say four streets, I know that for sure, but I dunno if there are four houses," Essen said. "Lemme take a look real quick to confirm." As she peered over the side of the house to double check! (edited)

"That... Actually worked. Huh." Maybe Christmas magic was real. Or maybe this was a holomovie like they originally thought. Either way, despite hesitating briefly Quinn accepted the fist bump from Allan and made their way over to the chimney as well. "I'll be honest, the levitation has made me lose track of how many houses we've got to do."

4

Even from the chimney, this time something could be heard inside. ...Many things. Meow. Meow. MEOW. MEOW. MEOW. MEOWMEOWMEOW.

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"CATS" And he leapt down into the chimney.

2

"Oh, hey. Cats." He also, almost immediately after Hanneth, hopped down into the chimney. Why the fuck not???

Without any hesitation Essen followed everyone else down the chimney, eager to see the cats inside!

"Oh, no, cats." Came Quinn's significantly less enthusiastic reply. But down the chimney they went. As long as they didn't become a cat tree they'd be fine. Probably.

3

Cats indeed. There were many. Like the first house, the chimney opened out into the fireplace which opened out into the living room... Which was filled with cats. There had to be at least thirty of them: all different types from different planets. There was cat fur and cat treats everywhere. The Christmas tree had been decimated (presumably the cats using it as a scratching post). Right now, it appeared that the cats had been having a cheeky night-time meowing concert when the away team dropped in.

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"This is an alarming number of cats. I am glad fur does not stick to our uniforms. Unless the rules for that have changed here as well." He let the cats closest to him sniff him if they wanted and gave any scratches that asked.

"Whoa." He laughed when he saw the cats, just - holy shit, there were soooo many of them? And they were all doing their little meows... yeah, he bent down and gave them lots of scratches and pets as they desired. "Just uh, carefully open the bag, make sure they don't get into it, though. Because they will try. If they're normal cats, they'll definitely try." He looked in his own bag to see if he had any of those pet-safe treats leftover that he'd been feeding the Bandit+itos and Pork earlier in the day. (edited)

3

Upon seeing just how many cats there were Quinn froze on the spot. They were not good with animals. Why? They were scared of hurting them, and with this many they were scared of standing on them, or tripping over them for that matter. "Surely this isn't normal, right?" (edited)

1

"For some people, it is, actually. Some. I don't think I could ever do it, but... well, some people are... stronger than others." Because good Lord, thirty cats? No way. "I should actually... you keep doing the gifts, I'm gonna try and..." he found the treats from his bag, but... there were definitely not enough for the whole bunch of cats, so he instead took out his camera and took a few pictures of the cats. Mo would certainly want to see these. And be a little jealous, maybe, but still.

1

The cats were very intrigued by the new people who had arrived. One or two brustled up their fur and hissed, but the majority were completely friendly. Within moments there were cats pawing at the officers' boots, trying to jump up onto people's shoulders - and like Allan had mentioned, trying to get into the sack of presents too.

1

After being sufficiently distracted by the cats, with one climbing his shoulder and peering into the bag, he did his best to release the excited gifts without letting any cats into the bag. "I may need assistance forming a perimeter to keep the cats out of-" He gently pushed one away, then winced as once climbed up his leg "the bag." (edited)

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"I got you, I got you," he laughed at the joke, and started (very gently) ushering the cats away from the bag, trying to locate - wait, there were cat treats elsewhere around the room? Okay, bet, he went and got some of those and distributed them a good bit away from the bag, in the hopes that the cats would be drawn to said treats! Was there any milk around, even?

2

There had been milk. You could tell because there was a glass and a plate of cookies on the floor, both of which had presumably been knocked off the table and immediately consumed by some naughty cats. They were happily distracted by cat treats and pets, though! ...However, there was about to be a new problem. From outside the living room - audible through the open door - came a voice. "Ooooh, my dear kitties! You've stopped your singing! Whatever could be wrong?"

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Hanneth looked toward the source of the voice, then to the rest of the away team, his eyes wide. "Phe-" He closed his mouth before swearing in Bajoran, taking a page out of Essen's book, so to speak.

Next came the sound of someone walking down the stairs. They were slow, but the footsteps were getting closer...

6

Having already frozen in place from the cats surrounding them, Quinn's eyes widened when they heard the voice, turning cartoonishly slowly in the direction from which the sound came, their eyes then quickly snapped back to the group, and then the gifts, and then the chimney.

"My kittiiiiiies," the voice called down the stairs. "I can hear some of you hissing! Is that seagull at the window annoying you again..?"

Hanneth grabbed the bag and did his best to usher the rest of the team up the chimney to evacuate, checking to ensure no cats clung to them or followed them up.

Aw, shit. Petting the cat one last time and then tossing the rest of the treats in a throw (hopefully, it'd make that look like the cats had gotten to the treats themselves - or, like Santa brought them!), he went right behind Hanneth to go back up to the chimney for it to zoop him back up.

Practically wading through the cats surrounding them, Quinn tried to make their way back to the chimney to get the heck out of dodge asap.

The chimney was wide (it was used to Santa Claus), but it was not used to multiple people trying to leg it out at once. It stuttered a bit, leaving everyone suspended in mid-air, one on top of the other. From below, the sound of footsteps moving down the stairs became muffled: instead, it turned into the sound of feet shuffling on the soft carpet. "Oh kitties, you've finished your milk! Let me get you some more..." So far, they seemed none-the-wiser about the people hanging out in the chimney.

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"This isn't what I imagined when an academy instructor told me away teams were a great way to get to know your colleagues." He ignored the elbow that was pushed into his side for a moment

7

"You should like, totally go up," he whispered to Hanneth, sort of just.. putting his hands and feet on the sides of the chimney so, if need be and the floaty magic completely failed, he could just scale up the chimney like that. "Like... try and crawl up...?" Maybe that'd work and get the magic to ease up a little?

Below, the owner of at least thirty cats milled around getting them more milk and cookies. With any luck they would be finished soon. The away team just had to stay quiet for now... If they could do that in their smooshed-together state.

6

Hanneth did his best to shimmy up, both quietly and without stepping on anyone. He breached the top of the chimney after a few moments. "So. Many. Cats." (edited)

Rubi was waiting just at the opening to the chimney, and offered a hand to Emta to help them out of the chimney. "Sooooo, how was it?" She asked innocently, as if she didn't just spend the entire time standing around doing nothing

Hanneth took the offered hand and hefted himself and the bag out. "I think we go out undetected." He swept a few rogue straps of his wavy hair back into place. He sighed, mildly annoyed to see cat hair indeed did stick to his uniform. Because cat hair? Cat hair never changes.

"That's good. We wouldn't want to ruin the magic!" She said with a warm smile. But it faded a little as she glanced at the chimney. "Er-...where are the others?"

Trying to shimmy up the chimney as silently as possible, and nearly slipping and falling on top of Allan in the process, the doctor eventually managed to get out, their white uniform looking rather desheveled in comparison to how it did previously. Mainly because of the sheer amount of black cat fur stuck to the legs.

5

While everyone scrambled about the chimney, the cats below went back to their regularly scheduled broadcasting of meowing their heads off. Had the owner left the room?

4

Allan bit his lip, but did not say a single word when Quinn (nearly) slipped and fell on top of him, and climbed up relatively easy - only because he was used to doing it in the tubes, really. He looked back down and laughed a little, hearing the cacophony of meows returning. "I think we're... good?"

MEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWMEOWMEOW.

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"Thats one cacophonous choir of colorful Christmas cats." Hanneth said seriously, a quirk of his lip and a sparkle in his eye betraying the fact that he thought his alliteration was amusing.

5

"Hell yeah it is. And, that's-" he thought for a moment. A good moment. That word, that word- "Alliteration! Some amazing-ass alliteration right there," hey he actually remembered the word on his own this time! Look at that. "On to the next?" He looked in the direction of the next house, seeing what hardcore parkour needed doing this time.

The next house was directly opposite the current one, i.e. across the street. Did the away team trust their magic-fuelled hardcore parkouring enough to try to get over there..?

5

Hmm. Well... "Okay, guys, do we think, like..." He kinda stepped to the edge of the roof and jumped just a little bit. Just to see what'd happen. Might just faceplant about seven feet below, but that would be okay.

Hanneth checks the distance between buildings. "I think we could with the power of whatever this magic is?" He used the word magic because phekk it, what other way to describe literally any of what was going on? Could be a holo, could be tech used creatively, but at least they were safe so far and having fun.

Allan didn't immediately plummet or anything. Maybe, if they believed in the power of Christmas hard enough, it might work...

"Yeah? Been pretty damn powerful so far, yeah. To the magic, then," he said, stepping back to the other side of the roof and - despite slipping just a little bit because again, he was super not used to this snow - he ran and jumped off the side of the roof! With the goal of not dying and preferably, getting to the roof of the next house.

The away team may well have started imagining the lyrics to 'Walking in the Air', because that's practically what was happening -- except that no one was holding hands with a snowman. Golden sparkles danced around his whole body as he jumped, floated, and successfully made it all the way across the street to the other house.

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2

His brain hardly registered it happening, really - or, rather, had stopped trying to make sense of why it was happening. Yeah, it could have been a holomovie or some elaborate terrasphere scheme or whatever, but... honestly, at this point? His brain was gone and he was laughing, just letting himself be pulled along by magic fucking sparkles across a whole damn street. "No way," he said immediately as his feet set down on the roof of the other house, still laughing a little as he went over to the chimney, looked down at it, and then back to the other house, "alright, last down the chimney, um... gets no cookies!" That was an assumption that there would be cookies in this house, but... if the chimney was good, he went straight down!

Hanneth followed Allen with the sack of gifts. He ignored the part of his brain that flared while walking on nothing between the houses "This keeps getting more interesting." He laughed as well when he got to the next roof. They weren't in danger, so why not have fun?

1

At the bottom of the chimney there appeared to be a fire going, but as soon as the away team got close it snuffed out and immediately went cold. It was almost as if the houses on Noel Beta III were Christmas-fuelled to make sure that no one could get in the way of the festive period. ...However, it was at the bottom of the chimeny and in the living room that there was a problem. Sat in front of the fireplace in a reclining chair, head back, mouth open and snoring, was a little old lady.

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"Oh, thank goodness she's snoring. Was worried she'd need the doc for a second." Hanneth whispered. He quietly opened the bag near the tree to let the gifts do their thing.

"I-" Allan started to whisper but instead looked at Hanneth in a sort of 'don't say that' way, sort of quietly walking just outside of the fireplace so the others could get down, but as to not cause too much noise and wake the woman.

The living room was quite small: only a two-seater sofa and the reclining chair surrounding the coffee table. There was a large bookcase against one wall, although it seemed to be filled with pictureframes more than books. A small Christmas tree was nestled in the corner, the golden lights upon it twinkling faintly. Allan and Hanneth managed to sneak past successfully, interrupted by only the nightie-and-dressing-gown-clad woman's snores.

Allan silently followed Hanneth, looking quietly at the bookcases and pictureframes while the other officer opened the bag. The Christmas tree was awfully cute, and he really wanted to take a little picture of it, but... he'd save the pictures for the ice-skating birds on the way back. Wouldn't want to wake the lady with a picture somehow. Despite the lack of a snapping sound from a modern day camera.

As it had done, the sack of presents rumbled and the gifts came flying out. However, as they settled under the Christmas tree, one knocked a bauble... A bauble which had chimes hanging from the bottom of it. They struck together melodically, and the old lady's snoring abruptly stopped.

2

Hanneth froze, wide eyes glancing up to Allen. He had only felt this much adrenaline the last time he had been in a shootout on his last ship. He closed the bag and attempted to quietly move toward the chimney.

2

He wasn't even looking at Hanneth, but instead at the little bauble. What if the bauble wasn't replaced? Her tree was done up so nicely, and ... This woman didn't look like she had any cats or anything, did she? Because how else would the bauble - "Hold on," he whispered, and in perhaps what was a risky move, he took the little bauble by wrapping his very fluffy glove around the chimes first, so they didn't make any noise as he very, very carefully attempted putting it back onto the tree.

1

It didn't chime any further and Allan managed to adjust the bauble and put it back to its original position. However, while Hanneth was trying to sneak away, the old woman smacked her lips a couple of times before blearily opening her eyes. It looked like it took a second for her to register that there was a person right in front of her, rapidly approaching the fireplace. You might have expected someone to panic, to scream -- but she only smiled. "Oh, hello dearie. I'm sorry. I must have dozed off."

2

Hanneth froze, but quickly gathered himself. He stood up straight and smiled at the woman. "Hello, ma'am, sorry to wake you. We're just, uh, assisting with the Christmas cheer." He gave her his best charming smile, and lifted the bag a bit to provide context.

2

Welp. Okay, sure. Yeah, they could be soooo cool right now. "Mhmm. Yeah, that. What he said." He smiled as he stood next to Hanneth, also gesturing to his hat. "Uhh, Santa's helpers and all that. Technically Santa, really." Right? Santa's substitutes for the night were still called Santa, surely.

The woman blinked and looked to Allan, not having realised that there was another person there. She merely smiled as the two officers stood side by side. "Don't you both look like dashing young folks. Santa sent two helpers to deliver things to me this year, hm? He's such a good boy..." She set both hands upon the armrests and began (slowly) pushing herself upright. "It's not often I get visitors. Let me get you your cookies..."

5

Hanneth smiled. "Cookies sound lovely!" Hanneth was not going to be rude and turn down hospitality.

Allan nodded, suddenly quite bashful at the woman's compliments and offer of cookies. "Thaaanks, yeah, cookies are - those sound lovely, yeah, thank you," huge smile on his face for emphasis, really. First he was flying in the air and now he was getting more cookies? Wow, Santa's job was kinda lit. Might have to retire from Starfleet and look for Santa jobs on Noel Beta IV or something.

The woman went shuffling off in the direction of the kitchen. Around the two, the Christmas lights on the tree continued to sparkle. The fire - aware that no one was trying to get in through the chimney any more - crackled pleasantly. The light reflected off the photo frames set upon the shelves of the woman's bookcase. They were all pictures, some of which were old and faded, of family and friends. Judging by how this house was small enough to only fit one bedroom, and by the fact that the woman had fallen asleep by herself in front of the fire, it seemed that none of those friends and family were here with her today. It wasn't long before she returned, carrying a tray upon which was set a plate of cookies - and two mugs of hot chocolate, topped with cream, marshmallows, and extra chocolate dust. "Santa always preferred this at the end of a night. I've always thought a nice hot drink is better than plain, cold milk."

4

He watched as the fire came on again, quite amazed at how it did - some sort of auto-sensing or the magic again, he didn't know, but he didn't care, because it still felt like magic. And as this woman handed him a mug of hot chocolate that looked absolutely amazing, it felt even moreso. "Wow, I - this looks beautiful," he said softly as he took the mug into his cold hands, "way better than the hot chocolate I was making people a few nights ago, though Santa..." he just now caught on to that last bit she'd said, "you've met him before, then?"

Hanneth politely looked at the pictures on the shelf while waiting for the woman to return. When she came back he happily took a mug and a cookie. "Thank you! If you don't mind me saying, these pictures are lovely." He smiled and took a bite of the cookie. "Prophets, these are good."

Once the two had taken their mugs, she set the tray down on the coffee table so the cookies were easily available. She gestured towards the sofa in case the two wanted to take a seat (although, she would understand it if they were too busy to stop for long). "I knew him when he was just a little boy: many, many years ago now, when the colony was first founded." Even if Hanneth hadn't prompted, she would have looked to the photos anyway. While they were all varied, a few featured the same people: the old lady, albeit far younger and livelier, a man of around her age, and a young boy. "Those are from many, many years ago too." There were photos of the boy at different stages of his life: and then in one, a picture of him donning a familiar red hat with a fur-lined base. "Time goes by so quickly."

5

Hanneth looked between the phot and the lady. "He looks like the Santa we've been helping." He sipped the mug of got chocolate. "I bet you have so many stories about these kinds of things." He grinned, even if they finished their mission, keeping her company for a bit if she wanted it wouldn't be bad.

"He does, yeah.." Allan agreed with his fellow officer, looking at the photos and back at the woman as well and then sat down on the couch and eating one of the cookies. "How long ago was it founded...?" Just curious, really, but 'many, many years' coming from an old woman could mean literally anything in his experience. "I'd love to hear, like, literally anything you'd wanna share, honestly, if you have the time. The cookies taste amazing, by the way, thank you again."

1

She settled back into her reclining chair, smiling at the praise for the cookies. "Oh, it must have been... Over one-hundred years now. The colony had just been founded when we moved here. It was never as big as this with all these new streets! It was also a perfectly normal place to begin with. Nicky there was only seven at the time. We had brought him up believing in Christmas and Santa for fun, but that year, he found out that it wasn't real. He made a wish on a shooting star that Santa, the reindeer, and all of the magic of Christmas was real. His wish came true."

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Hanneth nearly choked on his hot chocolate but recovered. "That sounds wonderful. This really is quite lovely. I certainly have had fun helping with the gifts once I got over the initial shock of it all." He munched more on the cookie, satiating his sweet tooth for a rare change.

2

Allan's eyes widened at that information, trying not to laugh too much and spit out his hot chocolate just at watching Hanneth almost choke on his. Still, after successfully drinking it he still laughed, not at anyone, but in a sort of happy 'no way this is happening right now' way. "Holy fucking shit, that's - I'm sorry, that's - that's literally amazing, actually. This has been... wonderful, yeah, like - crazy, especially when we were flying in the air and sparkling, but like - absolutely wonderful, he's a great man, really." A bit of a slow sip before he piped up again- "Actually, weird question, maybe, but what did you feed him? He's like, super strong, or like - is that the magic, too?"

3

Frowning in concern at the near choking (although reassured by the way the red-headed officer laughed, the old lady once again hauled herself to her feet. This time, she returned with some tissues. She offered them to Hanneth. "I'm glad you've had a good time, and I'm glad to know that there are people out there who Nicky can ask for help. It used to be me, but I'm a little bit too old for that." She helped herself to one of the cookies, but paused before it reached her lips. "Why, we fed him these, of course! It's probably just the magic: but cookies help everything, don't you think?"

4

He laughed again at her explanation that it was the cookies, taking another one just in case she was right. "Oh, of course. No protein in the diet, yeah? Just these?" he said with a playful tone and a bright smile, "no, but really, these are great, and you did great. Do great, even. I'm thinking after this, I might become Santa on some other colony. I feel we're pretty qualified now, right?" He looked back at Hanneth for confirmation of this fact before looking to the woman again. "Do you have a name I could use for reference? Usually they make you have two, so I figure if my references are Santa, and then you, like - I'd be pretty set."

Hanneth nodded and agreed with Allen. They were qualified more than most people, he'd guessed. "I am so sorry. I didn't give a name. I'm Hanneth." He introduced himself.

"Oh! Yeah, and I'm - I'm Allan. Allen. Mhmm, sorry." He quickly followed right after.

"I think you'd need to be blessed by a Q first, but never say never!" She said with a laugh. "I'm Carol. You can use my name on whatever references you'd like." With that she stifled a yawn, giving an apologetic smile as she did so. It was evidently long past her old lady bed time.

5

"Well, thank you for your hospitality and grace. We should probably get out of your hair, and let you get back to your rest." He smiled warmly. (edited)

2

"I mean, I feel like that's pretty doable. We're both hot enough to get Q's attention, right? Or do we have to like, go bald first?" He laughed a little as he looked at Hanneth again, and sipped the rest of his hot chocolate, which holy shit... "Well, Carol, thank you, do you happen to have the recipe- or, actually, yeah, we should probably let you rest, huh? If that's what you want, of course. We're done with our deliveries for the night according to Santa, so - we're yours, as far as I'm concerned, for as long as you want." He shrugged. He truly didn't mind, he was having a great time, really. (edited)

2

Hanneth blushed at being called hot and hid behind his mug, but he didnt mind it.

2

"Oh, it's long past my bed time: and I should be letting you nice Starfleet people get back to your jobs! But thank you for stopping by. It was nice to see someone - even if it is the middle of the night! - and I'm glad my boy can still help bring some Christmas cheer to all." Following that, the away team were in fact provided with the family recipe (for both the hot chocolate and cookies,) were bundled up nicely in some extra scarves (because Old Lady Carol wouldn't let them go out into the cold without making sure they wouldn't freeze), and then they were sent on their way. A night of saving Christmas had successfully been concluded.

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