View source for 2021-07-14 - These... Are The Crystal Lights!

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! style="background:#CC6699; border: 2px #CC0033 solid; font-size: 110%;" align="center" colspan="2" | '''Title: These... Are The Crystal Lights!'''
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|'''Summary''':<br>
''Rei and Steven decorate the beach house for Christmas.''
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| '''Who:'''<br>
[[Steven Universe]], [[Rei Hino]]
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| '''Where:'''<br>
Tokyo Bay
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| '''OOC - IC Date:'''<br>
2021-07-14 - 2015-12-08
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|}
[[Category:Logs]]


 <Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Oh boy, its Christmas!

THe holiday near the end of the year is one of the very few that appears to be the exact same as in Beach City, Delmarva, and beyond! Well, except for a family tradition involving KFC. Wonder why that is? Not that Steven will complain! He likes the mac and cheese.

But that can wait, there is a MUCH more important task at hand! Boxes and boxes of Christmas decor has been hauled out of the ancient, mouldering ttroves of eclectic treasures known as Amethyst's room. The boxes in various conditions, from good, solid square, to some sort of vague beanbag chair shape. Either getting wet, or crushed by heavy weights, or just used in combat for unknown reasons.

Most of the good stuff has withstood the test of Gem, with a few porcelain santa gnomes having cracks or pieces fallen off.

One unfortunate soul has lost a nose. ''The horror''. But even with the gristly Christmas gnome scene, the home is in high spirits! Jingle Bell Rock currently plays on an old FM radio and cassette player. Hooked up to a small set of speakers in strategic spots in the house, the sound fills the two-story bungalow with cheer. Small trays of fresh gingerbread cookies are splayed out for anyone. (This is a Universe tradition in the holidays; just have good food out to snatch each time you pass by the counter!)

But this isnt the only person that will be present though soon, as Steven needs help from nice, tall friends who can reach high shelves! Also cool people to hang out with too.

Lion is also about too, though when dozens of boxes appeared out of a room, he disappeared. The boy assumes he is in a box, but is unsure which.


 <Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

	Rei, as it turns out, is ''reasonably sized.'' Not quite model-tall, the way Nori is, but her five-foot-three is perfectly respectable for reaching up onto shelves. This is not to mention the extra height she gets from her shoes, which she is quite expert at utilising.

	Christmas is a surprisingly secular holiday, in Japan; the viewing of Christmas lights is a well-loved tradition, amongst the youth of Tokyo. And so, when it comes to setting up these structures--!!

	"Hiii~!" Rei waves over her head as she approaches from the sands, in a tartan-striped skirt and green leggings, a deeply fashionable red cardigan, ''a headband with a Christmas tree emblazoned on one side.'' "Sorry I'm late!" Rei might not, in fact, be ''that'' late; there was just a little happening at the shrine. It's fine!

	She comes up to the bungalow, beholding those various sets of boxes. "Looks like you've already made a good start!" She encourages him, just the way she'd encouraged him to decorate when she first heard of this idea. Rei is, it turns out, surprisingly supportive to the younger denizens of the city, even if she yells at certain ''other'' figures in her life. Eyes falling on the cookies -- "Wow! Is that gingerbread?" Rei, much like a friend who shall not be named... has priorities..?


 <Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

A voice rings from outside the screen door! "Ooooh, comiiing!" he says. What greens Rei however is not Steven, but rather a ball of tangled christmas light cords vaguely shaped like Steven. "Hiii! I'm helping!" a small boy's voice comes from the cord. Either this is a sudden and disturbing turn of Steven's powers, or he might be in a bit of a pickle.

"Yes it is!" the boy says, waddling back inside the house, a rainbow of colored lights trailing behind him. "Feel free to have some! It just came out of the oven like, thirty minutes ago!"

Hands attempt to part the lights tangled around Steven's head so he can see. "Where do you wanna start?" The tree is up in the living room, back lacks msot decorations. There are spots made in the house to support stringed lights, as well as plenty of area to make the outside of the home light up.

Lastly, looks like there are recipes and ingredients to make mint cocoa bombs to give to people with gift mugs! Some sort of small gift handout!

So many activities...


 <Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

	"Ah-- hello, Christmas lights!" Rei corrects herself, quickly. "Need a hand?" She'll pick up a conspicuous pile near the top; it's a ''little'' tangled, but Rei, who has dealt with her share of cords despite the lack of technology in her house, is quick to untangle it. Perhaps it will help Steven see a little better!

	And when they come to THE COOKIES, and Steven so kindly offers, well, ''obviously'' Rei has to grab one and pop it in her mouth. Munch, munch, swallow... "Hey! These are ''good!''" Rei is something of a cookie conniseur; evidently, Steven's meet her very high standards.

	(Okay, they're not that high. Still good gingerbread, though.)

	"You've got a lot ahead of you, huh?" Rei asks, looking out over the tree and the living room. She looks down at the lights in her arm, and taps a finger to her chin with her other hand. "Hmm... let's decorate outside first! If we leave it for later, it will get chilly!" That's Rei's foresight forecast.

	She does notice the recipe, though. "Oh, are you going to cook something else up?" She asks, pointing out the mugs.


 <Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Some of the cords get lifted off of Steven, and suddenly he can see the light! The Christmas kind, not the other kind. "Oof, thanks! I was becoming a cyborg, I think. I heard the humming of the lights kinda!"

"Thaaanks! I made them with the family when the yehard you and others might stop by! Some are also for friends dad knows, but there is a ton left over." Mostly to keep Amethyst from eating all of them in one go so they reach their intended targets.

"Yeeeaaahhh," he says, flopping on the ground by a box as he reaches for more cords to untangle. A pink snoot pokes out of a nearby cardboard 'bed'. "Yeah! Good idea! We got stepladders and plenty of extension cords!" Rei may have seen hooks already installed in the wood beams to hold the lights. Plenty of spots to plug them in are provided.

Steven heads for the door, still trailing more cords than a computer server room. "We gonna light everything up!"


 <Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

	"Just be sure not to become a ghost in the shell," Rei reminds him, cheerfully. "Otherwise, I'd have to exorcise you!" She laughs at her own joke, even though ''that's not what that phrase means, Rei.''

	She smiles, as Steven mentions why he made those gifts. "I'm sure everyone will love it!" She says; despite apologising for being ''late,'' Rei may, in fact, be quite ''early.'' Is this the power of a perfectionist..?

	Rei smiles, to the pink snoot. Seems Steven's cat is having fun.

	"Good thinking! Extension cords are very important," Rei agrees, as she trails Steven out. (She reaches down to pick up a trailing cord before it can catch on the door on the way out.) Once she gets out to the glorious front of the bungalow, she looks up, with a deeply contemplative expression.

	"This house... is a canvas!" Rei decides, and tries to slap a fist into her opposite hand, only to get a bit tangled up in cords. "A--ahem," she plays it off, as she shakes the trail out to begin untangling it. "I mean -- it is a unique opportunity to be creative," she says, as she carefully uncouples two lights. "It almost makes me wonder whether I should take advantage of it... you know! Get everyone designing light shows!"


 <Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

"I won't be a ghost, promise! I don't like exercise anyway." He... might have gotten the word wrong. But he will still endeavor to not become the shell ghost!

No one is late at the Universe household, everyone shows up right when they are needed... or whatever that cool line is Greg says sometimes when he is ''actually'' late. "We got uh, the power strip things to plug them in together with. It is made for workshop environments and can take a lot of stuff!" A small hand points down to a bright yellow and gray 12-slot strip. It looks heavy, and has metal framework.

"I didnt think of a design! We can do those?!" Steven exclaims toward Rei. "Augh, I didnt even think of setting one up! Uh, quick! Where do I find those? What are we gonna do?!"

The small pile of poofy hair, wires, and what looks like a thick christmas sweater is starting to have a better shape as the lines are pulled from him.


 <Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

	"Ex-''or''-cise!" Rei enunciates, clearly. "It means to force ghosts to leave a place." Or a person, but Steven is, like, twelve. There's no need to scare him with the idea that there is a skeleton inside of him right now. Halloween was ''so'' last week.

	She looks down, to find the power board. "Oh! Good!" Rei decides, as she continues disentangling cords. She listens to his excitement, and can't help but giggle, which is absolutely an expression Rei ''can'' wear, when she's not fronting in front of everyone.

	"There are all sorts of things you can do with lights! Some people choose to light up signs or cut-outs, and other people make choices about what colours to put where... sometimes you can even program the lights to flash on and off in patterns by twisting the bulbs!" Rei is creating nice, neat little coils of light-strings; they're not quite ''Pearl'' neat, but it's better than the discordant pile poor Steven's been hefting about.

	"... what colours do you think would look best here at night?" Rei prompts him, after a moment.


 <Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

"OHHHHHH," Steven replies with. "Okay, yeah that makes more sense with you! I was gonna ask whe nyou started to do lots of exercise and stuff when you said that!" Another braid of lights gets pulled out from the pile coiled around him. These ones are light blue!

The extender looks like it is high grade. Surely it won't cause any issue! Looks brand new too. Possibly the only thing new here at least to soem degree. If the lights go out that is fine. If the house burns down, well, no more lights!

"Wait wait wait, people can program these lights to do stuff? Like what? Do you plug it into a computer? ...Flashing might not be good by the beach, I don't know if it would look good. Hrm..."

A look toward Rei as he pries out a set of standard lights, no special colors. "I uh, well maybe christmas colors? Or like, rainbow colors? Dad bought strings of lights colored after the others, could do that too. They are here somewhere!"

But where exactly?


 <Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

	"I-- I get plenty of exercise!!" Rei can't help but insist, with a huff. "I'm a shining star of the Archery Club, you know!" Let's not mention Rei's terrifying skills with a bicycle. That way surely leads only to pain.

	Rei happens to come from a fire shrine, so she surely knows all about fire safety. It's fiiine.

	"I mean... I suppose you could use a computer? Perhaps Fuu-chan would know..." Rei is caught up in wondering for a moment, before she crouches down with a light to demonstrate. "But if you twist the light around a little -- in the types where you can -- it changes how the light displays. Just don't twist it too much, or you'll remove the bulb!"

	She looks out, over the ocean, as she straightens up. "But okay -- no flashing." She doesn't ''think'' Steven's house will be misinterpreted as a lighthouse, but stranger things have happened around this particular boy. "Oh, coloured after the others? Let's have a look!"

	Rei proceeds to studiously check all the piles of lights she has disentangled for the Correct Colours.


 <Pose Tracker> Steven Universe [Juuban Public School (6)] has posed.

Did he accidentally confuse her with Usagi? Oh, he might have!

''He can never let Rei know.''

"RIght! I know that," Steven says, sounding a little timid suddenly, but still holding to his task! Where did the gang get so many lights? Did they string up the entire statue one time or something? ...It sure feels like it. "Oooooh, she does know a lot about programming! Maybe I can get her to come over! See if she can hook up stuff to the lights."

He wonders if Fuu is busy. He hasn't seen her in a while now..

Among the piles there are myriad colors and patterns, some are multicolor, some change colors or seem to. There is also a set that look like fish for some reason.

But out of the colors, besides classic white, there are light blues, pinks, magentas and purples. Multiple lines of them! Whatever these were used for, they were the main colors. "Yeah, those!"


 <Pose Tracker> Rei Hino [Ohtori Academy (10)] has posed.

	Rei and Usagi are nothing alike!! Just ignore the way she zeroed in on those cookies first thing!!

	Luckily, Rei is a future-reader, not a mind-reader, so she can't complain. "I'm sure she'd love to!" Rei encourages Steven about Fuu, instead.

	Amidst her piles, she eventually finds the 'other's' colours; of course, she's familiar with the colour scheme of the CRYSTAL GEMS, though the full extent of why is a carefully-kept secret. (But surely Rei knows about Steven's many moms, even as a shrine maiden. After all, she visits sometimes!)

	"All right!" Rei declares, in triumph, as she holds aloft a string of magneta lights. "It's time to give this house the colours which suit it!"

	One might get the impression that Rei is raring to help Steven with this ''all on her lonesome,'' but if other people show up to help them later, well, it's probably for the best. Rei can't actually do everything herself! No matter what Rei says.