◜ it's beginning to look a lot like christmas : open ◞

[LUCKY LUCIANO]

[glow=#000,1,400]BUT YOU WERE BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN — TAGS[/glow]

Christmas was pretty much a foreign concept to Lucky. Did he at least know of the holiday? Of course, but only vaguely when it was brought up briefly or referenced. He had never celebrated it; in fact, where he grew up, holidays were scarcely celebrated ( if at all ). A clan of lethal hellhounds didn't make time for cheesy shit like that; the sickening aroma of cinnamon, the nonstop cycle of old-fashioned Christmas music, the overload of sweets and the general sappiness and sentiment that surrounded the holiday... it was all too overwhelming for hellsent creatures like him. Lucky had always wondered what was so good about it, and why everyone lost their shit over the holidays in general.

The hellhound had just wandered back into the general area of the Pitt after a walk about the territory, glowing orange eyes fixated onto a particular sight of a youth going around and handing out striped canes. He wasn't quite sure what the point of it was, but it appeared that he would find out eventually, seeing as the youngster was approaching him anyhow. "Happy holidays, mister." They chirped and offered him the candy cane.

With hesitance, he took it into his large paw and examined it with furrowed brows. Finally, he asked, [glow=black,1,400]"What is it?"[/glow] He was genuinely stumped, but the kid quickly supplied an answer to the inquiry, "It's a candy cane.

They had skipped off before he could say anything else, and Lucky was left to examine it more and even give it a strong sniff. It smelled like... what he could only describe as minty. It was candy, apparently, and it even had the sticky texture. He sat upon his haunches and looked around cautiously before he bent down and lapped at the cane. He smacked his lips as he took in the flavor, and all he could do was wrinkle his nose and narrow his eyes. That was... interesting.

[emil]

[align=center][div style="width: 600px; padding: 10px; height: auto; overflow: auto;"][div style="width: 550px; padding: 0px; line-height: 13px; text-align: justify; font-family: arial; font-size: 9pt;"]For a woman of her class and sophistication, Carmen had always had a love for the holidays. Since the day she had found out about Christmas, it had been deemed her favorite, and from then onward it had become a passion. While others grew tired and annoyed with the festivity, especially the overplayed carols, her love only grew. She was glad to find it was celebrated even in a shithole like this; such came as a surprise to her, actually. A clan of bloodthirsty, slaver assholes, celebrating Christmas. Carmen could only laugh at the irony.

She had been fairly pleased to be given a candy cane by the children tumbling about, humming out a purr as she enjoyed the sweet peppermint treat. Her eyes wandered as she gnawed and lapped at it, and eventually deep maroon settled upon the form of Lucky. The first to greet her when she had come here; he seemed baffled by the candy cane, and baffled by the cheer of the children that had handed it to him in the first place. Carmen couldn't help but let out a low, rumbling laugh as she watched him lick at the cane.

As she finished her own, the woman pulled herself gracefully from the earth and strode forward to where Lucky was staring almost suspiciously at the candy cane. An almost smug smile tugged at her lips as she paused a few steps away, brow lifted in amusement. "Have you never had one?" The woman purred out a chuckle. "You seem simply baffled by the concept of a mint-flavored treat."

[LUCKY LUCIANO]

[glow=#000,1,400]BUT YOU WERE BORN UNDER A BAD SIGN — TAGS[/glow]

The sudden voice had surprised the hellhound, making him perk up and quickly turn in direction. He couldn't help but fold his ears back ever so slightly, a sure sign of embarrassment at the thought of someone seeing him tentatively lick the candy cane. Damn, and he had been so sure that nobody had been around to witness that.

Anyways, she had seen him, and it now appeared that she was amused at his reaction to the treat. Even more embarrassing. The hellhound managed to slightly knit his brows and answer, [glow=black,1,400]"Uh.. no."[/glow] Hopefully he wasn't the only one around here that was clueless to holiday traditions, because he was starting to feel like he was the odd one out. He returned his gaze to the candy cane itself and grunted, [glow=black,1,400]"Why's it look like that?"[/glow] All stripey and white and red and curved into that certain shape. It was the weirdest-looking candy he had ever seen.

[guts]

[align=center][div style="width: 51%; text-align: justify; font-size: 10pt; letter-spacing: -1px; font-family: georgia;"]While she had watched others participate in the usual traditions--decorating a tree, wrapping presents, enjoying food--she had simply sat back and watched, wishing. She had done a lot of that when she was younger, wanting, yearning for more than what she had. Under her circumstances, it was only fair, even though her mother always told her to be grateful. What was there to be grateful for? The poor living conditions, the mere scraps of food that were barely meant for rats, the way they were beaten for simply looking at their masters wrong? She had always known there was nothing to appreciate about their situation.

But, at the time, escape had been a frightening idea. She had once asked her about it, only to promptly shut her mouth after a quick swipe to her cheek. Her mother didn't want her entertaining such thoughts, didn't want her to get hurt--or worse. She obeyed, of course. What else was there to do? As a mere child, not much. As a slave, not much, either.

Cosette, too, was puzzled by the candies. She had seen things like it before, but only in the paws of others. Now that she had one of her own, she was studying it closely, quietly licking at it and finding herself actually enjoying the taste. She never had sweets before in general, and this was new to her.

Turning her head at the voices, she tilts her head, slightly relieved to hear she wasn't the only one experiencing this for the first time. "[glow=black,2,300]A candy cane, huh?[/glow]" she says, meant for only herself but said loud enough for someone to hear. She could get used to this whole Christmas thing.

"[glow=black,2,300]speech[/glow]"