Snowlight Bash | Luto's Day Out

Luto was a lot of things, but one of the few things she wasn't was a person for the cold.

It might be shocking, given her preferred matter of pranks, but she'd never want to make somebody cold. Being cold is a nightmare! Regardless of the form your body takes, being cold sucks- freezing you solid or making your hair stick straight up or even (bleurgh) making you start shivering so badly you can't think straight. How is a woman expected to flirt when it's five degrees outside?!

Still, it wasn't exactly up to her what season it was during this half of the year. At least she had her mane to be thankful for. (Thankful, which reminds her of Autumn, which is still so much better than this. The winds are bracing then, not requiring her to dress like a hypothermic hamster just to walk outside.) And the general trauma of how she arrived here wasn't doing the weather any favors. (A story for another time, but suffice to say she never wants to go sledding again.)

Even still, though, she was committed to enjoying this Snowlight Bash.

People and crowds and a festive, holiday spirit around, wreathes and at least a bit of appreciation for the trees, even if they were cut in pieces for it. A season of giving. Oh, she was going to be giving people something, alright! The weather might have her a bit down, but nothing could best the prankster of her hometown and she was going to prove it!

Now if only she didn't have to look like a gigantic idiot while doing it.

Pawing through a collection of winter coats for Vexyns, she grumbled. Puffy and ridiculous. Her fur, save for her mane, was sleek and somewhat suited for water- which meant any jackets that didn't look stupid were out of the picture, because they weren't warm enough to keep her from becoming the world's worst-tasting popsicle. And the jackets that DID look stupid were still out of the picture, because she was not wearing something that made her look like a dog in an itchy sweater.

Her friend back home might be able to cast a warming spell on her? -But then again, her magic was in and out at the best of times. Neither of them ever exactly got the chance to practice. And the last time she used it it was agonizing pain for two minutes, so maybe not. Maybe if she was lucky one of the less stupid looking coats would have a fire enchantment on it. (Not that she exactly trusted the unrivaled heat of fire itself to be gentle on her skin, but whatever needed to happen she guessed.) Pulling aside a horizontal trenchcoat covered in runes she figured it was the best she was going to get. Slipping it on she padded to the counter and paid. At least it had pockets because xynfolk didn't subscribe to ridiculous gender garbage like 'only one gender gets pockets'. (She wasn't even still in that dimension and she was still mad about it.)

She stepped outside in a pair of fuzzy boots her friend had lent her and in the trenchcoat that matched her color so well. There, now it was time. She was going to enjoy this winter no matter how badly the winter didn't enjoy her!

Slipping into her personal den in the forest she dug around for her supplies. Opening the latch to her basement trapdoor and slinking down, only forgetting she had bones right now and getting stuck for a few seconds this time. Here it was- her very own evil laboratory! If you could call a basement with assorted buckets of dirt and slime mix an "evil laboratory". But today, unfortunately, (and she promised NOT to be bitter about it,) there was to be absolutely no pranks of the lastingly messy kind. Because that involved liquid, and wouldn't you know, liquid gets cold fast. And she is not making anyone get hypothermic in the middle of Snowlight! She was annoying, not a monster!

Well, she was a monster. Just not right now.

Snickering to herself at her own barely-comprehensible joke she sifted through her supplies. Dust doesn't stick to anything for long, no water, no water again, spiderwebs were strictly for the spooky month, where did she even get that much mulch in this dimension?... Aha! A comically large bag of flour tucked away in the back. Jackpot. Dragging it forwards and getting only briefly surprised at the weight, she humphed. Now how am I s'posed to get this anywhere? Carry around a massive bag over my shoulder like a dunce?

Wait, actually...

---

She'd have to be very lucky for this dimension to have an equivalent to the man in red exactly, but it was a tradition nearly everywhere for there to be some gift-giving ceremony, and she'd bet her front teeth this one had one as well. If there was no local Saint Nick (or the concept of saints or anyone named Nicholas) she'd just have to pass it off as a tradition from her own homeland- a few fellow Xyn were born among other stars after all, it would probably be handwaved rather easily.

She usually didn't prank kids, because it was no fun to prank people who didn't suck and kids usually weren't done enough in the oven to be assuredly sucky yet. So maybe the tradition could be modified a bit. Why couldn't adults sit on Santa Claus' lap anyway? It's not like anyone from this dimension knew the first thing about him so he might as well be real. (And he probably was real anyway. I mean, how else would every child in the world get gifts in the same night?) Drafting up her plan as she pulled a costume from a few years back out of her shared wardrobe. Wait until someone became a little too rude and demanding and refusing to participate in the shared joke, and then... make them a brand new joke right before their very eyes!

There was practically nothing wrong with this plan, which tickled her. Dressing up in bright red in public in the whitest season of the year. What could go wrong?!

Hefting the bag over her shoulder- and being briefly thankful that she had what amounted to a small table for a back, carrying all that just on one muscle was torturous- she made her way to town, sitting amongst a conveniently-placed bundle of fake present boxes around a evergreen tree. (And very briefly giving thanks to the local city council for actually planting an evergreen there instead of cutting one down or god forbid putting an entire tree in a POT. Bleurgh.)

Sure, she looked a bit stupid. And a great deal of effort had been put into making her look not stupid this winter. But hey- that was the good thing about pranks. In the end, you're never the dumbest-looking one in the room!

---

After seeing a good five xyns or so Luto was getting into the rhythm of the tradition. Thankfully either there was a local analog to Saint Nick, or her fellow Xyn were happy and quick to embrace new traditions, because she was getting curious offers to participate left and right. Sitting down and wishing for gifts from the magic man- a young Moxyn wishing for a big plushie, a handful of faefolk wishing for mittens and gloves that actually fit, older individuals cheekily wishing for a break this holiday season. (Maybe next year she could go as another holiday folklore? Maybe Krampus... stop getting distracted!) Altogether everyone was behaving. Which was an issue. The point of this wasn't to spread holiday cheer! It was to cause trouble!

...Although she had to admit, there was a little something nice about making people laugh this way.

But then it happened. Tail swishing and stalking forwards like a mountain lion, a... formerly corrupted Xyn? No, actually, probing at what magic she could sense, they were perfectly fine. Just a grouch then. A hint of malice in their tone. "And what exactly are you doing here?!"

"Entertaining the kids, cap'n." She slunk back into position, hefting her bag that she might have put down (hey, give her a break, it weighed a lot!) back over her shoulder. "And anyone who's willin' to participate. Starborn, figured I'd see if y'all'd find it entertainin'. It's a public space after all." Smiling knowingly. "Don't worry, I double-checked."

"And did you get a permit to host an event in public? You know, if anyone could just do whatever they wanted-"

"They in fact can."

"Oh, you think you're smart, don't you?"

"I do." Luto snickered, shifting on her paws. "Ma'am, if ya needed a permit to entertain people in public for free, you'd need to file papers every time ya left the house."

The woman gasped. "That is- offensive! You know, if I told my faefolk friends about this-" Going on about something. The moment the completely focused look in her eyes went out, Luto stopped paying attention to her words, though. Eyes dilating a bit and looking her up and down. People were gathering by now, looking at the scene the woman was causing. Front paw very carefully fiddling with the bag. Silently shifting it forward to the horror of any onlookers who had figured out what was going on, probably worried she meant to use it as a blunt force weapon.

Thankfully for the holiday spirit, Luto much preferred her own style of punishment.

Being as careful as she possibly could she threw her weight back onto her back legs, arms throwing the bag forward in tandem to balance her weight- the bag opening with the weight of a powerful force, turning from weighted mass to a cloud of mess in moments to the absolute horror of her victim- Oh this was her favorite part!-

Blinking in the middle of a busy park was a grumpy Moxyn who once had dark fur. And who now, unfortunately for them, had flour instead.

Standing in silence the two faced each other. The crowd staring with wide open eyes and absolute perplexion on their faces. The wind blowing a gentle puff of the offending ingredient away into the snow.

"Y'know, it's just flour. Ya don't have to stand frozen like yer caught in the snow!"

A giggle from the crowd. Then a slightly louder chuckle. Then, an uproarious laughter sweeping over the gathered town! Moxyns stamping their feet and faefolk hovering out of the way to avoid getting trampled, their pixie laughter floating on the breeze in the air. Pixyns flying with them and tears streaming down their fur. The people were soundly entertained.

And Luto, watching her victim turn an equally bright red as her own coat- found that she'd much rather be somewhere else at the moment than at the mercy of a woman scorned.

"You know, I've never seen a lady's face turn that color!" Bounding off on her almost scarily-balanced forelegs- and taking off into the winter sky.

"YOU GET BACK HERE-!!!"