Christmas is a Family Affair~ [Lab]

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,height:210px;width:549px;border:0 black none;][atrb=style,border:0 black none;border-radius:40px;-moz-border-radius:40px,bTable][atrb=background,http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc64/Heart-of-Thorns/VC/KaliChristmasTable3.png,bTable]
[atrb=style,height:320px;width:549px;border:0 black none;color:b5bdc6;][scrolly:h(300),w(520),sy,as(padding:4px;margin-left:14px;)]Stormy observed the lab with silent indifference. She could not bring herself to enjoy this change, but neither did she feel any particular disdain. All the same, it was definitely... different; that much was obvious even to her. For some half an hour now, ever since stumbling upon her trainer on her way to what was intended as a minimal lunch break, the still-Shadowed Electivire had been trying to decide how she felt about all of the sudden goings-on in the lab, only to decide time and time again she could feel nothing but said curiosity. Well, curiosity, and a feeling she could not place at the realization that this was probably going to greatly increase her workload. Suppressed though it was, it at least would not have been too negative even on the surface, though; Stormy had never been one to hold any aversion to hard work. Everything was bright, yet wasn't. The hallways were lit not by their usual lights, but by long strings tacked into the corners between wall and ceiling, each of which hung down in more strings containing main small off-white lights at regular intervals; had the Pokemon been more familiar with the event, she may have known these were commonly called "icicles". These lined every major hallway that was traveled on a regular basis: leading to the bedrooms, the den, the break room, the generator room (which upon exiting Stormy had first noticed the decor and followed it to her present location), several work rooms, etc. Around the doors to all these locations, save for the bedrooms, strings of less ornate but much more colorful lights were tacked up. Through most of the lab, the normal lights were turned off, allowing these decorative ones to become the main source of illumination. Here and there worked into the lights in either the doors or halls or simply hanging from the ceiling were a wide variety of decor: sparkling snowflakes, red ribbons, gold or silver bells both of a standard variety and resembling the body of a Chingling, fake red and white candy things such as she sometimes saw her master's master eating, and two types of plants she did not recognize. The first had large somewhat frilly leaves and red berries, and was more worked in around red bows and/or bells, while the second was more a small branchlet of small leaves with some white berries, and was typically hung rather more scarcely by a very small red ribbon from either the middle of the ceiling or in doorways. Had she not been repressed by her current state, the Electivire may have remembered from long, long ago during her and her trainer's shared childhood that the first plant was called "holly", but Stormy had never seen mistletoe. More impressive- and... mildly confusing...- than the decor, though, was the accenting snow that had been more or less sprayed on the walls and in the corners between them and the floor. Apparently discontent with the mere appearance, her trainer had actually taken a number of Ice Pokemon- many not her own- and instructed them to dust the lab with thin coats of frost. This part would have made no more sense to Stormy even if she had been the most optimistic and objective Pokemon in existence. Her trainer despised the cold and hated snow, and to this day had never come in any direct contact with the stuff by natural undirected means, which was to say snow that had fallen from the sky and not been created by a Pokemon. Furthermore, the lab was not cold enough to maintain it, though for whatever reason it was much colder than usual at this time of year; to accommodate the snow or as a mere side effect of the Ice-types having recently been in this spot, Stormy didn't know, though it would turn out to be the prior. The most drastic change, however, had been to the den. Here her trainer was still working, more covered by clothing than Stormy had ever seen her: in a thick blue sweater with a fluffy white scarf, darker blue sweatpants with heavy boots, white gloves, and a blue and white hat of sorts with long.. ear.. flaps? with strings.. (Stormy wasn't certain what to think of them), and a frivolous puffball on top. She looked very strange in comparison to her normal attire, and in fact had purchased nearly everything she was wearing and several alternate outfits of similar quality only recently for this very occasion, having only had a few sweaters from the previous winter otherwise, as well as some thick fuzzy socks, though Stormy couldn't have known that. Kali was quite warm as she worked, though, even with the chill to her face and nose. For this purpose, with it being inspected and thematically suited and all, it was even mildly enjoyable in an odd way, just so long as the rest of her remained toasty. She'd started late last night when Leon had thought she was going to bed and worked with scarcely a stop to transform the lab into a winter wonderland. (This, of course, mostly meant that she had directed her Hitmontop and a few other Pokemon while she supervised and decided what went where, but she had done a decent bit of the work herself as well.) She'd been stocking up on decorations for over a month, and even had a few already that she'd bought last year and never ended up using. This year was going to be different. Making huge changes in the lab without Leon noticing until she was done had become one of her absolute favorite hobbies, and the more little renovations they went through the less often she found a chance to do so. As such, she was absolutely ecstatic about this. Even if he'd already seen the halls and just hadn't seen her since, it would be fun, but especially if it all came at once. She just had to finish the den here first. Like the halls, the room was covered in icicle lights and holly and ribbons and bells and loads of other typical commercial-Christmas fare, but there was also much more sparkly fluff and tinsel strewn about, new gold-trimmed red white and green covers thrown over the couch and loveseat, a gold-trimmed-and-dusted white cloth thrown over the cofffee table, candles set and lit on most every hard flat surface, and candy set out everywhere (largely as a means of keeping Leon's attention in case he didn't like the decor). Currently, the last project she was finishing up was decorating a rather large Christmas tree, which she'd sent a few of her dragons out to get when she'd started the project. Colorful lights were strewn all threw the branches, and gold and white tinsel wrapped around. Ornaments hung in the shape of traditional balls, mostly pearlescent with ornate gold or red or green or silver etching, as well as in the shapes of various Pokemon. Barring a few from a single set she'd found, these were actually just figurines that she'd tied to hooks to be able to hang them. It was these that she was in the process of hanging now, and she still had a good two dozen to go. Once that was done, she actually had two stars: a golden one with five spokes of white lights from the center to each corner, and a Staryu with a light-up center. She hadn't been able to decide which she wanted, and still wasn't sure, but she figured she'd decide when it came time. After all, the star had to be the last thing to be placed. That's just the way things were done. All the while, Stormy continued to watch, the subtleties of the event as lost on her as the beauty of the room. Kali didn't mind, though. It was nice to have her right there when she needed help with the higher branches, as she was certain to any minute. Besides, Christmas was for family, and Stormy had been a part of hers for nearly as long as she could remember. Yes, Christmas was only a few days away, and Kali intended to make this one the best one ever for the entire lab, whether any of them liked it or not. [/scrolly]	[atrb=style,border:0 black none;]
[atrb=style,height:199;border:0 black none;]

[Jay]

[atrb=style,background-image:url(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc64/Heart-of-Thorns/VC/yuetable.png);color:#111111;width:492;height:400;line-height:14px;][atrb=style,border:0 black none,bTable][scrolly:h(230),w(271),sy,as(padding:9px;margin-top:130px;margin-left:204px;)]Like most days -and nights for that matter- Yue Leon Alias had been working: interchanging between Shadowing pokemon and doing research over new shadowing techniques. This was life, and it was grand. The master would have been proud to see everything that he was doing, Yue was sure of it, and that was still what mattered the mos-...The second most, yes. A not so new but there object if not something more had replaced itself as the most important, but Master's and his work would always be a close second. Always. Currently, he was now quite literally leering at a mass spectrometer, though not because it was broken or something of that nature but because of the numbers it was giving him. That was just... unexpected didn't even quite suit these numbers. He had assumed a range and had formulated a hypothesis for such accordingly, but this had been what he had refuted as possible earlier. It shouldn't have been possible, and now question of contamination being the source of the air was all that was setting in his mind. That was the only logical explanation. He'd have to repeat the entire experiment from scratch and see if he could limit the contamination even more than before. Wonderful. Mentally sighing, Yue closed his single eye fighting off a surprising amount of fatigue that threatened him at the very edge of his mind. Somewhere in his mind, the excuse that he was getting old came to mind, but this thought was batted away by his usual lie: he was twenty-six. Despite how this had once worked for him, having Kali shred it made had left the lie more hollow in his mind than it had been before, and he simply couldn't seem to convince himself that it was true anymore, heh. Damn. Forcing open his eye again, Yue stood up and back from the machine that he had been contemplating hitting only a few seconds earlier, and rather than leering at it now, he simply smiled lightly at it. It was expensive, and he didn't want to break it... least he would have to either rebuild it or ask Hatter to get another one... Which.. oddly reminded him that, for whatever reason, the few times Yue had seen him, the man had been considerably calmer than he had been before: almost...sullen maybe? Either way, it left the lab more peaceful, and though he wouldn't admit this, he was happy for it. "Well now.....let's start this over again shall we?" he hummed as brightly as he could to himself before walking to a different table and starting to reset the variety of chemicals on his table. [/scrolly]

[Maid Melody]

[atrb=background, i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo48/elronia/VC%20Pics/vengeance.png][atrb=width,500][atrb=height,305][atrb=style,border:0 4f7865 none,b,Table][scrolly:h(215),w(230),sy,as(padding:4px;margin-right:27px;margin-left:2px;margin-top:25px;margin-bottom:3px;color: #334d41;)]Vengeance was busy working doing routine maintenance some of the machines in the lab and would have probably thrown her wrench down in frustration long ago if it hadn't been for Cedric's willingness to help her. With her arm in a sling and pretty much useless until it was removed (which according to the doctor's orders was not for a while), Vengeance was forced to do everything with her left hand and of course it didn't help that she was not left handed. What should have taken a couple of minutes to do typical maintenance was now taking entirely way too long ... but then again, Vengeance never did have much patience to begin with, though of course right now she was more angry at herself for not being able to perform such simple tasks. Nevermind that she was hurt and had almost died in the process or the fact that her shoulder was burning again and probably contributing to her frustration, Vengeance should be able to do something as simple as this ... ."Cedric turn that,"Vengeance said, motioning to the wrench she was now holding in place. The Bisharp nodded and turned the wrench easily. Truly he didn't mind helping Vengeance, if only to assist a damsel in distress but then again there were no battles to fight right now and Cedric was bored so of course helping his trainer had to be the next best thing. Nodding her thanks to Cedric, Vengeance made one last adjustment on the machine and stood,"That's done finally ... ,"Vengeance sighed, "And that was the last one, thank you Cedric." Putting a hand on her shoulder where it hurt the most, Vengeance started to walk to her room, wanting to change out of her now grease covered clothes. I wonder what Jack's doing now ... , sprang to Vengeance's mind but this didn't alarm her or make her stop and wonder where the thought had come from as in times past ... of course Vengeance had left everything and flown to the city just to make sure Jack was all right; it made sense that she would wonder how he was faring now. Vengeance had been so focused on her task that she didn't even wonder where Kali was right then ... but then ever since Vengeance had figured out the truth Kali had been avoiding her so this came as no surprise. Reaching her room, Vengeance paused a moment, only then realizing how cold the room was ... rather odd for this time of the year to be sure but then again, perhaps some of the Ice-type Pokemon had done something. Shedding her clothes, Vengeance changed into a different outfit entirely, namely a pair of jeans, a long-sleeve blue and white snowflake patterned sweater, some extra warm socks before donning her regular boots yet again. Pulling on a blue and white jacket and some blue gloves to complete the ensemble, Vengeance sat on her bed and pulled out the medicine given to her for pain. Taking a couple of the pills, Vengeance replaced the bottle and closed the drawer before heading towards the kitchen area, hoping to find a hot pot of coffee or even better yet, hot chocolate, not even paying attention to the hallway and its decorations, too distracted was Vengeance with her thoughts of Jack and the promise of a hot drink. [/scrolly]

[Admiral Striker General]

[atrb=style,height:210px;width:549px;border:0 black none;][atrb=style,border:0 black none;border-radius:40px;-moz-border-radius:40px,bTable][atrb=background,http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc64/Heart-of-Thorns/VC/KaliChristmasTable3.png,bTable]
[atrb=style,height:320px;width:549px;border:0 black none;color:b5bdc6;][scrolly:h(300),w(520),sy,as(padding:4px;margin-left:14px;)]Just one more touch and.... there~! Her tree was all complete except for the star~ Kali breathed a sigh of relief. It seemed like decorating all this had taken closer to months than mere hours, but it was done now at any rate. And no sound out of anyone? Heh.. Well, time to put an end to that~ Assuming she could find everyone, of course. Well... first thing was first... x3 Heeheehee~ She had to find her Leonlovekinz<3 Practically skipping through the halls, she headed to the most logical place to search first: exactly where she'd left him yesterday. :'3 As horrendously frustrating as that little habit of his was, it did make it incredibly easy to find him most of the time, and she supposed that was something to be grateful for. In the course of things, she managed to pass a hallway Vengeance was walking in without even noticing the other gir-- woman (because Kali was a woman herself now of course). Upon reaching the door, she knocked softly and called at a casual volume, "Leon~?" She knew it wasn't always good to barge in on him while he was working, lest she break his concentration (unintentionally; sometimes it was her goal to do such, but ssshh x3), but if she was too quiet he might be too absorbed to hear her. Thus, she'd wait and try a little louder if he didn't reply, and then just walk in if there was still nothing. After all, he may have left, or even have fallen asleep working. The latter didn't tend to last long when it happened, but he really probably dozed off much more often than he'd admit.. especially more than he'd admit to anyone who wasn't named Kali, hehehe. [/scrolly]	[atrb=style,border:0 black none;]
[atrb=style,height:199;border:0 black none;]

[Jay]

[atrb=style,background-image:url(http://i219.photobucket.com/albums/cc64/Heart-of-Thorns/VC/yuetable.png);color:#111111;width:492;height:400;line-height:14px;][atrb=style,border:0 black none,bTable][scrolly:h(230),w(271),sy,as(padding:9px;margin-top:130px;margin-left:204px;)]The knock on the door caused movement to stop, and Leon Alias looked over towards said door. "Come in~" Yue called back in his usual cheery-tone before looking back at his assortment of chemicals. A sleeve was pushed up and a hand took hold of a red liquid in one test tube and proceeded to pour it into the second where a similar red colored liquid was waiting to be mixed. Upon coming together, the entire concoction began to turn a blue color causing Yue to grin a bit. Yes, that was right~ Stopping again, he looked over once more. "You're just in time to help me with this," he continued. [/scrolly]

[Maid Melody]

[atrb=background, i360.photobucket.com/albums/oo48/elronia/VC%20Pics/vengeance.png][atrb=width,500][atrb=height,305][atrb=style,border:0 4f7865 none,b,Table][scrolly:h(215),w(230),sy,as(padding:4px;margin-right:27px;margin-left:2px;margin-top:25px;margin-bottom:3px;color: #334d41;)]Upon reaching the kitchen, Vengeance opened the cabinet where the mugs were kept only to stare at them for a few moments as she wondered how she would reach them without hurting her arm. Thankfully Cedric had followed her into the kitchen in case Vengeance had needed any other assistance and reached up to get a mug for her. Nodding her thanks, Vengeance took the mug from the Bisharp and set the water on to boil. It seemed that somebody had already set out hot chocolate packets in a basket along with some tea bags and such which was quite interesting but Vengeance gave it little thought. Taking a hot chocolate packet out of said basket, Vengeance poured the mixture into her mug before grabbing two more packets as an after thought. "Cedric could you get two more mugs down,"Vengeance asked after once again staring at the mugs and wishing her right arm hadn't been the one injured. As it was it was rather annoying having to get used to doing everything with her left arm but it was a small price to pay to have her Jack back. The Bisharp all too willingly obeyed and soon placed two more mugs beside the prior one already filled with hot chocolate mixture. Vengeance opened the other two packets and emptied them into the other two mugs before throwing the empty packets away. This done, Vengeance took three spoons out of the drawer and placed one spoon in each mug; now all there was to do was wait for the water to be ready. Leaning against the counter, Vengeance sighed and closed her eye, wondering how she could possibly be tired after only doing routine maintenance on the machines.[/scrolly]