Holiday Cheer [Open]

    The smell of pine needles against cinnamon and chocolate. The cool air wrapping against the warmth of a hearth in a room lit only by a single festive tree and the low volume of some sickeningly sweet holiday movie teaching a moral of sharing and good cheer. It was something stepped so deep in capitalism that one would think Marie could only hate it but she had a shameful little secret, not that she kept it a secret, and that was a deep and ever-abiding love for the holidays.

    It was a stab in the heart she would feel whenever the weather became a bit chilly and was drawn to hot cocoa with whipped creamy and the teeny tiny mushrooms that made her feel a bit too much like of those movies where some high-powered vigilante (Lawyer or something) had a meet-cute with a man and both of them were way too attractive to be in this random small town and-

I’m losing it.

    Marie was in Jingle Village. Had this been a normal tourist then there would be nothing more of note to that except she was who she was and had a habit of violently repelling anything that met her vague definition of ‘corporate’ or ‘capitalist’ or some variation therein. Not that she was very picky, she had yet to really admit to herself she was working out years of frustration and anger onto an acceptable target.

    Marie was in Jingle Village and nothing had been broken, destroyed, maimed, or in need of an insurance claim. Instead she was sitting inside of a small cafe enjoying hot cocoa and bundled up in one of those white knit caps with a fuzzy little ball atop and a scarf matching the color of her hair, both stolen from Central City before she came out here, and enjoyed the neverending festive cheer the town held onto.

“Marie Log One: I am in Jingle Village to investigate the correlation between the holiday spirit and corporate greed. Per preliminary studies I have discovered that the claim of higher rates of self-harm around the holiday season is, in fact, false. Rather it is the springtime that sees a spike most likely due to a higher chance for isolation with a recurring ‘Family season’ which offers insulation from depressive thoughts.”

    She clicked off the recording app on the cracked smartphone and pondered on the use of a log. Marie had thought it might seem like a fun thing to keep a digital diary like this but speaking to herself in public felt more awkward than anything.

“Ech. Jingle Village is a ‘Beacon of Civilization in the North’ according to all of the travel pamphlets and they are correct. Igloos and snowmen dot the town and the buildings are domed concrete with heavy insulation and just the right hue to invoke the holiday spirit. This place may be paradise and I died during that last raid on the Tacker’s Office Depot.”

    Bruises still lingered just beneath the skin like ghosts from where she had run into an all too overpowered bounty hunter that had nearly put her lights out for good. It was a combination of fast talking, clever trapping, and the ability to play dead in police custody that had allowed her to get away and continue her fight against the corporations another day.

Time to get busy.

“There is only one flaw in this paradise. A single little blemish on its pristine shine that I, as a hero of justice and revolutionary of the worker’s rights, cannot abide. The abyssal forces of greed that I ever strive against have created something sure to draw in crowds never-ending. Yes I speak of the ever dreaded and over-valued ‘Ski Lodge’. A type of resort which would not be so devastating were it not for the entrepreneur of this building wishing to expand it into a whole new kind of hellish abomination.”

    Marie took a moment to clear her throat for the amount of bravado needed.

“A multi-purpose indoor arena.”

    Her voice took on a deep tenor as she spoke into the recorder, one free hand moving out to emphasize the enormity of the structure except this was a voice recording and not video so even in her own mind she seemed particularly silly.

“I have it on good authority that there is intent to make this arena some sort of economic forum and to bring with it all sorts of noblesse and CEOs from across Earth or beyond! Normally perhaps I would let this be with glee as it puts so much evil to strike down in one place but to let it mar the face of this holiday town? This paradise? My heart cries for justice!”

    With that grand announcement Marie would drop the case from her back and pull from it a carmine blade as she marched into the snow. Realizing after a moment she had horribly mis-timed when to make such a massive statement as she was hardly out of the cafe and floating up to fly towards the burgeoning ski resort which was nearly finished construction.

    Marie hung in the air to stare down at the abomination with a scowl marring her lips. From the ‘natural’ scheme of wood paneling just over the steel superstructure to the sloped roof giving the lodge a very ‘folksy’ atmosphere to even how it was pitched into the side of a mountain like something from a movie! There was even a chimney spitting out white smoke!

    Her blade raised into the air and began to charge with ki, her energy charging as she assumed she would have all the time she could want to blow this resort away. Here in the middle of the Northern Tundra? Who could possibly show up to ruin her dastardly deeds.