Mele Kalikimaka (Part 1)
- A/N: These two chapters take place one year after chapter 5. Meiru and Enzan are 12, Kalinka is 14, and the merkids are still the equivalent of 11-12 year olds. (Aside from the introductory flashback, where Meiru is 9.)
- Surprise! This "chapter" ended up so long I had to split it in two! Posting them together before ̶S̶a̶t̶u̶r̶n̶a̶l̶i̶a̶ Christmahanukkwanzikah.
"What's 'Christmas'? What's 'Christmas'!?"
She was nine years old and had been friends with Roll for nearly a year when the topic first came up. Poor Meiru was caught completely flat-footed. Sure, she'd had a few classmates that didn't celebrate— Mick did something called Hanukkah instead; Lauren was one of those Jehovah's and didn't do birthdays or anything. But they still knew what Christmas was about. They understood the presents and reindeer and Christmas trees, even if they didn't believe in those things.
Roll hadn't the slightest clue.
Stunned silent, Meiru opened and closed her mouth a few times, trying and failing to find the words to explain. They'd had some culture clashes, mostly on Meiru's part… but nothing this big.
"You… you… at least you know who Santa Claus is, right?"
With a grin, Roll shrugged sheepishly, something she'd learned from her human friend.
Meiru slapped her hand on her forehead.
"Jeez Louise!"
They were hanging out on the pier, having been chased off by a surly dock worker a few hours before, only to reconvene later in the same spot.
"I can't wait for Christmas," Meiru said absently. Hard to believe it'd been three whole years since she'd had to give Roll a crash course on the biggest, most important holiday in the world (as far as Meiru was concerned).
"Yeah, I guess." Kalinka seemed oddly unenthusiastic about it. "I wish I could stay down here for a change. I mean, Mom and my step dad really go nuts with the decorations and stuff, which is a lot of fun. But… it's just not the same."
Enzan shrugged. "My family doesn't celebrate."
"Oh! Right, because you're… uh…" Some part of Kalinka's brain screamed 'Abort mission! Abort mission!' but she was already in too deep. "…Buddhist, yeah?"
He raised one eyebrow ever so slightly.
"Shinto, sort of. Agnostic really."
"Those are different kinds of human religions?" Netto asked.
"Yeah," said Rock, "we heard about the one before, remember? Miroku was a Buddhist monk."
"That anime is not even a little realistic." Enzan pinched the bridge of his nose, exhaling slowly. They'd been over this before. They'd go over it again. The young mernavi knew cartoons and movies were not an accurate depiction of 'surface life', but the fact of the matter was that entertainment had inadvertently shaped their ideas and opinions. The Hikari boys still not-so-secretly believed that enough helium balloons tied to a house could make it fly. Not in the mood to retread this topic, he pushed onward. "'Agnostic' isn't a religion, it's the opposite. It means I know there's no way to prove or disprove the existence of god."
"That's sad," said Kalinka.
"It's not sad."
Netto looked uncomfortable. "I can't imagine— don't you—" He picked at a peeling splinter on the wooden dock. "I wouldn't know what to do without the Seven Sisters watching over me and Rock—"
All three of their human friends stared, none willing to ask.
"They're the— the 'spirits'? 'Souls'? Um… you know." Netto was hesitant, because he realized the words he used weren't the most accurate translation. "The spirits of the seawater. The ingredients for— uh, the source of all life."
"Aqua," Rock started rattling them off out of pure habit, "Chloride, Sodium, Sulfate, Magnesium, Calcium, Potassium." There was a lilting quality to the way he said the names, almost like it was a hymn.
"Water maybe, but the ocean isn't the source of life—" Enzan started.
"Yeah it is," said Kalinka, interrupting. "From like, an evolutionary point."
"…Okay. In that case, yes."
"Anyway!" Netto continued. "They're not the biggest or most powerful, but for those of us who live in the ocean? The Sisters are the most important."
"Speak for yourself," Forte scoffed, finally joining in the conversation.
The other four navis stared, none willing to ask.
Finally Blues caved. "I knew it. I knew it. You are in one of those weird death cults, aren't you?"
"Ugh." He made a rude gesture. "Don't be stupid. I'm not a—" Then he used a word in their mernavi language, one that had no English equivalent (or even a 'close enough' approximation), the name of one of said doomsday groups.
Blues studied him with intense scrutiny, clearly not buying it. "You've mentioned Double-Comet before." He hesitated. "…That's not right. Don't you have a name for him?" He shot Enzan a questioning look, but his friend just shrugged, unsure what they were talking about.
"What, I can't bring it up? He's real, that doesn't mean I think he's going to burn up the ocean, or blow up the planet, or whatever." Then Forte smirked. "And it's 'Duo'."
"Who's Duo?" asked Kalinka.
"He's—" Rock started.
Forte cut him off. "He's like your space Jesus, and now humans are technologically advanced enough, the next time he returns you'll be judged too. If you don't pass? He'll destroy you."
There was a long pause as Kalinka stared, brows furrowed.
"I told you, Forte. Jesus is in heaven, not space."
"Whatever. Same difference."
"Is he real?" Enzan asked Blues.
"Of course. It—" He made a sound, the sort of mild exasperation that came from accidentally broaching a topic that was deep and complicated, one that couldn't be easily explained.
Rock jumped in to help. "Since the ocean is the source of life, and the land is deadly to our kind— if we were trapped up here— most mernavi are… most of our religions… aren't very fond of the sky, outer space and beyond…"
"Since the ocean is the source of life, and the land is deadly to our kind— if we were trapped up here, I mean— most mernavi are… sorry, I'm not explaining this right. Most of our religions are centered on the ocean, so they aren't very fond of the sky, outer space and beyond…"
"It's where death lives," said Netto, matter-of-factly. He gave a sage nod.
"That's just ignorance and superstition," Blues replied, a slight scowl on his face.
Rock held out his hands. "Duo is a cybernetic being like us, but from the beyond. It looks like a strange star or comet, but it's not, it's him. He comes into orbit every couple hundred years to pass judgment."
"Sounds more like the devil than Jesus," said Kalinka. Which wasn't accurate either, 'passing judgment from on high' was definitely God's domain, but she'd only ever been to church for weddings and funerals hadn't had much exposure to the subject. (Unlike biology and evolution, for which she'd heard so many, many long, in-depth speeches from her father that she generally tuned them out.)
"He's not evil," Forte said. There was a wicked gleam in his eyes. "I hope he tries to destroy us next time he comes, so I can fight him."
"Space is not evil," Blues said, pointedly ignoring Forte.
Roll, Netto, and Rock exchanged glances.
"If you say so." With a playful grin, Rock patted Blues on the head.
He sagged, knowing all too well this was just going to lead to weeks of teasing.
After that incident with Netto and the navigation system, Enzan no longer allowed their entire group of friends on the yacht. But when it was just the two of them, he'd sneak onto the empty ship, toss down a ladder and let his best friend Blues on board.
Blues was pretty easy going, so a lot of times they did what Enzan wanted, which was okay. He enjoyed helping him practice English, and teaching Enzan sword-fighting techniques actually improved Blues' skills as well. Most of the time, however, they'd work on coding and building custom high-end gaming terminals and playing computer games. Enzan played competitively and his set-ups were tailored to giving him every possible edge.
They were switching out the CPU on his terminal (the one on the yacht— he had another one at home, of course, and at the Ijuuin's residence in Tokyo, and their residence in San Francisco, and…)
"What's this whole situation about you and outer space?"
"Huh?" Blues nearly dropped the board he was holding. "I, umm…"
He should've seen this coming. Neither of them were— well— Blues was introverted and a little shy, sometimes (often) awkward; Enzan was quiet and reserved, and struggled with overcoming a cultural gap. It was something that had drawn them closer.
Still. Enzan was sharp, astute. He could read people pretty well. It was only a matter of time before he'd picked up on how much Blues' interests diverted from his friends.
It took a minute for Blues to sort out his thoughts, carefully selecting the words he wanted, playing them over in his mind. Thankfully, Enzan was also patient, and he didn't push.
"I suppose it wouldn't make sense—" Even after thinking it over first, he still struggled. Why couldn't he express himself easily, effortlessly like Roll, Rock, and Netto could? Or seven seas, even the introverted-but-not-shy Forte? "The thing about it is… for us, for mernavi, we…" He gestured vaguely. "A lot of our beliefs stem from the idea that life began in the ocean, but more specifically, that we came from the deepest part of the abyss or even from the cracks in the Earth itself. Many— I guess you'd call them 'creation myths'— say that the blood of the planet spilled out into the ocean and became our ancestors."
Enzan nodded wordlessly.
"If we came from the deep, then we have a special connection with it. The darkest corners of the world. The source of cybernetic life. The surface, the sky, is the polar opposite. It's air, it's light, it's—"
"'Where death lives'," he repeated Netto's earlier statement.
"…right. The anti-ocean." He paused. "You know, when you guys speak of the 'surface of the water', you're really talking about where air ends. But we have different terms for it— where water ends and then what's on the other side of that dividing line. Do you follow?"
Looking up from his work, Enzan put down the small screwdriver and regarded Blues for a moment. "Not really, but I think that I understand the spirit of it."
"Even navi who love the surface, that spend a lot of time out of the water, like Roll and the Hikaris… they still have this… deep-seated wariness about the sky and space. The idea of— of being in a plane, of flying like a bird, of exploring the galaxy is terrifying to them." Blues chuckled dryly. "I've never felt that way. I've never been afraid of the sky. I think…"
He paused again, taking another minute to process his thoughts.
"It doesn't matter where you swim, north or south, how far you go. Even the deepest, darkest ravines where water meets magma. The ocean stops at the Earth's mantle. It ends, it's finite. There's a sort of comfort in that. It feels vast and endless, but it's not. And… I think that's what scares other navi about the sky. It truly is infinite. The openness of it, the vastness of the universe, how infinitesimally small we are compared to it all."
"You are speaking of…" he paused, not sure how to say it in English, "…an existential crisis?"
Blues laughed. "Not exactly, but close. That feeling of insignificance."
"We humans don't like that feeling, either. In Japan at least there's an appreciation for… hmm… the fact that life is short makes it all the more precious, there's a sort of beauty in transience. Westerners, not so much."
"Interesting." After another brief pause, he made a gesture of uncertainty. "I find the idea of the infinite, the sky and the galaxy and everything beyond to be exciting. It makes my circulation pump accelerate."
Enzan looked quietly amused. "I think that it's good not having a fear of the unknown. That is an admirable quality, even if— especially if your peers don't understand." Then he gave Blues a slight smile. "When I'm older," when his trust money kicked in and he got an obligatory place on the company executive board, "I promise to help you achieve that dream. A ride in a plane or helicopter is not impossible to arrange."
Thrilled by the prospect but self-conscious in face of his friend's generous offer, Blues laughed nervously. "Thanks."
There were few things that had ever made such a small but dramatic improvement in Dr. Cossack's quality of life. It was meant for pets, but the water-proof couch cover worked just as well for dripping wet mernavi children who decided to come into the house instead of hanging out in the pool he'd had specifically built for them.
Chairs were do-able but awkward, and Forte had no qualms about sitting or lying on the floor but clearly preferred the couch. He was draped halfway over the armrest, playing a game on his personal terminal.
"Isn't that something you can do in the pool?" Dr. Cossack asked. "I'll be back out in a minute."
"It's too cold," Forte muttered in response. Which was a little preposterous, really. The fact that it was in-ground and nearly thirty-thousand gallons and in a mild climate meant that the water temperature didn't fluctuate all that much.
"Too cold? Weren't you from the Arctic circle?"
"Mmph."
Sighing, Dr. Cossack glanced at the timer and pressed the plunger on his French press— another one of those 'small but dramatic quality of life improvements'— and poured his coffee. Without looking up from the game Forte curled his tail to make enough room for Dr. Cossack, who winced as he sat down on a damp seat, shrugged in resignation, and took a sip from his mug.
"You don't do that Christmas stuff, do you?"
Dr. Cossack choked slightly on his coffee. Sometimes it was impossible to predict what his kids would bring up. "What? Er, no, not really…"
"Kalinka and those other guys were talking about it."
"Ah. Well, in theory it's a celebration of the birth of—"
"Yeah, yeah, I already know about that part."
Dr. Cossack was afraid to ask. Then he remembered that one of the techs in the marine center hospital was a gung-ho evangelist and had made a perhaps ill-advised attempt to show the young navi some bible teachings. (The buggy translation devices had made trying to explain complex theological ideas especially awkward.) Needless to say, Forte was not impressed. "At any rate. It's all very commercialized now, basically just a nice thing to do for kids. It's a bit of a hassle, really, with the tree and everything."
Forte glanced over his shoulder. "What thing with the tree?"
"Oh… well, there's a tradition where you put up a pine tree— that's, er, one of the cone-shaped trees, the kind with needles. They're decorated with little lights and colorful glass globes and tinsel— er, silver strands that look like bristle-worms."
"What's a tree got to do with Jesus and Santa?"
"Santa?" Dr. Cossack echoed. Oh boy. This was one of those things where Forte had heard assorted bits and pieces of something and it was hard to say what he knew, what he didn't, and what he'd come up with on his own to fill in the gaps. "Nothing, really. Many traditions were added over time, some borrowed from other cultures." He scratched the back of his neck. "In places where it gets cold in winter and snows, most trees lose their leaves, but not pines. The use of evergreens ties back to ancient Roman and pagan tree-worship. 'Santa Claus' is a more recent legend. He delivers presents to children and puts them under the tree."
Shifting around to sit up, Forte gave him a look of consternation. "That sounds pretty stupid. You don't do this stuff because Kalinka's not around?"
"…Right." Then Dr. Cossack smiled. "It's not stupid— it's about spending time with family, giving gifts to each other, peace and unity." In theory, at least. These days it was more about buying crap that no one needed out of a sense of obligation. Instead of going there, however, he changed the course of the conversation. "How about you? Are there any mernavi holidays that you celebrate?"
"Yeah." He grinned, although it was an alarmingly mischievous look. "It's not really noticeable here, so close to the equator, but the winter and summer solstice are a big deal— depending on if you're in the north or the south part of the planet."
"Oh?"
"It's very old beliefs… like you were saying, pagan stuff and…" Forte drifted off for a moment, flipping through his vocabulary list for the word that came closest. "…'voodoo'?"
Dr. Cossack laughed. "Okay, sounds interesting."
He began giving a quick run-down of the basic creation myth, the foundation of many mernavi religions, almost dropping his P.E.T. as he gestured. "Since the sky is— you know what, never mind all that. The idea is that sunlight is the opposite of the darkness from the depths, so… the shortest day of the year is sort of a balance between sea and air, dark and light."
"I see. And how is this celebrated?"
"The same way everyone celebrates anything— with feasting and blood sacrifice."