Notes: In which we address Kwanzaa, which is actually a seven-day festival that gets only one day of observance here. I'm really sorry to give so much more play to Christmas than to the other holidays. I guess that, since it's the one I celebrate, it was just easier for me to think of a lot of things to write.
Warnings: This is, sadly, a very talky chapter. Since I am not of African descent, and have never taken part in a Kwanzaa celebration, I'm working solely from research for the Kwanzaa 101 section that makes up most of the chapter. My intentions are respectful but I apologize in advance for whatever I get wrong- I am sincerely trying to avoid Racefail of Ignorance.
Although... well, things do get a bit silly at the end...
Chapter Sixteen
It transpired that breakfast on Boxing Day was very similar to breakfast on the day after Thanksgiving. Loki carefully spread cranberry sauce on his first slice of toast, arranged turkey and dressing on top of it, and then shook salt and pepper over the lot before adding the second slice of toast.
He was chewing his first bite when Tony and Fury walked into the kitchen, Fury looking very grim indeed. The impression was only slightly diminished by his Something Wicked This Way Comes t-shirt and the presence of two kittens and a ghost dog tagging along at his heels.
Before anyone else could speak, Fury nodded shortly at the room in general and greeted them:
"Habari gani."
"Gesundheit," Loki replied politely. He knew perfectly well this must be an inappropriate answer, given that Fury had not sneezed, but he had no idea what a suitable response would be and it seemed as though someone should say something.
Fury glanced at him as though he considered smiling, but then decided not to. Tony hastened to the coffee maker and busied himself with pouring out a mug. After a moment's consideration, he handed the first mug to Fury and filled a second for himself.
Fury moved toward the seat at the head of the long kitchen worktable, which George obligingly vacated. As he sat down, Fury spoke again:
"Joyous Kwanzaa." The greeting was mumbled back at him, more out of uncertainty than actual reluctance. Fury glanced at Loki and his friends, and remarked, "I realize that as far as you all are concerned, this is Boxing Day." After what had happened the first night, none of the housemates was fool enough to agree.
"Do you observe Boxing Day, George?" Agent Hill asked suddenly. "I mean, if you don't celebrate Christmas, ordinarily, I mean- "
George, now seated beside Mitchell, smiled. "I never turn up my nose at a public holiday."
"It's also St. Stephen's Day," Mitchell said unexpectedly. "We celebrated it in Ireland, when I was a kid."
Steve blinked as something came together in his mind. "Is that the same thing as the Feast of Stephen?"
"Yes," Mitchell agreed, and, for the benefit of those who had not yet made the same connection, sang gently, "'Good King Wenceslas looked out/ On the Feast of Stephen...'"
"I used to wonder about that," Steve admitted. "Whether it was a real observance. I just never thought to look it up."
"Yeah," Mitchell confirmed. "I don't think it's as widely observed as it used to be, but when I was a kid it was a sort of mummer's festival." He glanced at Fury, who gave no sign of being furious- yet- and added hastily, "But now we're wandering from the topic. Kwanzaa, yeah?"
"First day of Kwanzaa," Fury corrected. "It's actually a seven-day cultural festival that originated in the African-American community of the United States, back in the mid-1960s. It's spread some, to other communities of people descended from the African diaspora, as a way of honouring our African heritage." He glanced at Loki and his friends. "I believe it's celebrated to some extent in Britain."
"I have seen references to the observance," Loki admitted. "Although, as I do not know anyone of African descent- ouch!" He looked in surprise at Annie, who had pinched him.
"You know me, for one," she told him. "And Carol- " Loki's supervisor at the school where he worked- "and Mrs. Kingston- " who was the head teacher of the school. "And Trevor," she added, referencing one of the children at the school who, along with his friend Patrick, ensured Loki's days were rarely boring. "And probably a ton of other people I don't know because I don't hang around your job all the time."
"Your family is from London," Loki protested. "And Mrs. Kingston's family is from the island of Trinidad- she told me so. I looked in an atlas, and Trinidad is not in Africa. And Carol- I think she once said her mother and father came to Britain from Jamaica, which is an island in the same part of the world. I confess I do not know about Trevor," he admitted. "He has an uncle who lives in Yorkshire."
Looking around, Loki became conscious of everyone else looking amused- except for Thor, who seemed just as confused as Loki. Annie forbore to pinch him again, instead explaining,
"Okay, that's all true. My dad's family also came to Britain from Trinidad. But their ancestors arrived in Trinidad from the western part of the continent of Africa, like Col. Fury and Rhodey's ancestors went to the United States from parts of Africa."
"Oh," said Loki, feeling very stupid. Annie patted his knee, and no one laughed at him.
"We can look some of this up later, if you're interested," she said. "There's no reason you'd have known, since it's never come up in conversation. Anyway, though, there are people all over the world- all over Midgard- who are descended from people who came from somewhere else- not always willingly." She hesitated, and Loki had time to think about people fleeing, for example, from a madman bent on the destruction of their realm and all who lived upon it.
Much to his relief, Director Fury spoke again. "Getting back to Kwanzaa. As I say, it's a cultural festival, rather than a largely religious one like Christmas or Hanukkah. Because people of African descent are in the minority in the United States, the founder of Kwanzaa wanted to create an observance specifically for them- us- as a possible alternative to existing holidays that originated with what would be referred to as the dominant culture."
"It is somewhat the same in Asgard," Thor spoke up suddenly. "There are people from other realms living there, and though they participate in Yule, for example, they also have celebrations of their own, such as they would observe in their homelands." Thor, Loki reflected, almost certainly had many friends in those communities and had probably seen such celebrations at first-hand, by invitation.
"Yeah, exactly," Fury agreed. "In this case, because the people involved might have come from one of a number of different African countries, the focus is on the continent as a whole, and the connection back to it."
Loki, by now afraid of looking the fool again, raised his hand hesitantly, like a schoolchild. Fury nodded acknowledgement like a teacher, and Loki asked,
"If this is an observance intended for people whose ancestry may be traced to Africa, so they may not forget or lose that connection... is it appropriate for us to join in who are not?" He had worded it badly, but Fury seemed to understand what he was trying to say.
"Kwanzaa isn't universally observed by African-Americans- "
"My family never did," Rhodey remarked.
"Or mine," Annie agreed. "My parents used to take us to Caribbean cultural events, but we never really worried much about the connection to Africa behind it. I suppose that felt like a layer too many, or something."
Loki raised his eyebrows. "And yet you pinched me."
Annie patted his leg again. "Yes, sorry about that."
"Right," Fury nodded. "There are also people who, for reasons of their own, observe Kwanzaa despite not being of African descent. Of course, you could make the argument that all human life may have originated in Africa, just based on the archeological site called the Cradle of Humankind, which is in South Africa. That's where the oldest known fossils of creatures who were part of the evolution of humans have been found. So, if you go far enough back- " Fury shrugged. Loki- who was not human at all, and unlike his housemates never had been- opened his mouth, thought better of what he was going to say, and closed it. Director Fury either guessed his intent or had the same thought, because he added, with no change in his usual deadpan expression, "You and Thor can join in just because we like you. All right?"
"All right," Loki agreed, relieved.
Fury did not smile, but once again there was the suggestion he might have briefly considered doing so.
"Okay, then. The short introduction to Kwanzaa.
"As I said, it's a cultural festival that's supposed to be celebrated over seven days, from the twenty-sixth of December to January first. Originally, Kwanzaa wasn't intended to be celebrated in conjunction with other holidays, but in practice a lot of African Americans, at least, celebrate it in addition to the other holidays like Christmas, according to their religious beliefs. I assume that's true in the other places Kwanzaa is observed.
"Each of the seven days of the holiday is devoted to the observance of one of the seven principles, or Nguzo Saba. The principles are: Umoja, or unity; Kujichagulia, or self-determination; Ujima, or collective work and responsibility; Ujamaa, cooperative economics; Nia, or purpose; Kuumba, creativity; and Imani, which is faith."
"I can't believe you remembered all that off the top of your head," Rhodey said, speaking most likely for most of the group.
Brushing off the compliment, Fury went on, "Now, when Tony brought up Kwanzaa, I have to admit I wasn't quite sure how we should approach it, in the context of this whole ball of holidays idea. Festivus is literally a joke, something just for fun. Most of us in the group celebrate Christmas, or did at some time in the past, so I have no problem with the amount of energy that's been dedicated to it. Yule, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa are all important to one or two of us, and it seems to me that Yule, anyway, was partly an observance and partly a way for the rest of us to learn a little about Thor and Loki's culture. Is that fair?" Everyone nodded. "That being the case, I thought maybe the same would be true for Kwanzaa.
"You'll have noticed that most of the principles of Kwanzaa are specifically targeted toward the African-descended community. The one I felt able to single out was Kuumba, creativity. I thought it might be fun- " No one openly reacted to the idea of Director Fury having fun, but Loki was probably not the only one present who found the idea hard to imagine- "if we chose that as our principle for today, and we worked in teams to... to both illustrate it, and also to learn something to share with the rest of us. I have some suggestions, if anybody needs one."
"Sounds good," Natasha said recklessly, and everyone else nodded as they finished their turkey sandwiches.
~oOo~
"I like this character of Anansi," Loki said, turning another page of the book Fury had provided his team.
"There's a shock," Tony smirked. "One good trickster deserves another, and all that."
Loki sniffed and continued scanning the illustrated text. "However, it is a little disappointing to see how frequently his plans are foiled. Anansi himself seems to be killed in nearly all the stories in the Jamaican section of the book."
"I guess that's supposed to be a reminder that crime doesn't pay, or something like that," Steve offered.
"Well, we know that," Loki grumbled, without looking up from the book. "It only seems that, to gain a reputation as a trickster, one should be able to actually trick someone occasionally and get away with it."
"Says the completely unbiased observer," Clint snickered. Loki huffed, and relinquished the book to Rhodey when the latter extended his hand.
"There's one I remember reading in school," Rhodey said, consulting the index. "Here it is- Anansi Brings Stories To the World. Anansi wins in that one. And I even think his intentions are mostly good, too."
"How many characters does it have?" Tony asked, leaning over Rhodey's shoulder to look. "We might need to liberate someone from the cooking party."
"Don't take Annie," Jane pleaded. "When she mentioned jerk chicken I completely forgot that I was never going to be hungry again."
After Director Fury's introductory remarks, the group had split into two teams, one to cook a suitable Kwanzaa feast- Loki, remembering the original invitation to the Ball of Holidays, with its many references to feasting, wondered whether even Tony had foreseen exactly how much food the event would entail- and the other to choose a story to dramatize for the edification and amusement of all.
The feast was meant to feature African foods, and indeed Director Fury had provided a recipe for a delicious-sounding stew originating in southern Africa, which contained tomatoes, chicken, and peanuts. However, in recognition of their earlier conversation concerning the African diaspora and where the affected people had ended up, there had been universal and enthusiastic acceptance of Annie's offer to prepare "jerk chicken," which was a Caribbean specialty she had learned from her grandmother.
Loki liked to cook, but it had to be confessed that he enjoyed dramatizing himself even more. Also, given the lack of available props and backdrops, there was much to be said for including one who could cast glamours in the play group.
Preparation for the meal and the performance occupied much of the day. At one point, Tony seized the book and ran away with it. When he returned, it was to announce that, thanks to the wonders of something called optical character recognition, JARVIS now had the entire story committed to memory and would be pleased to take the role of narrator.
"So all we have to do is act out the parts," Tony explained. Loki found that rather disappointing, but his view was greatly in the minority, judging by the looks on everyone else's faces. And really, given the short time available to them, Loki supposed it would be unfeasible for everyone to attempt to learn lines for their parts.
The matter of casting those parts took little time, being mostly a matter of ensuring there was a body assigned to each role. Loki was by general consensus given the role of Anansi the Spider, and after some discussion Rhodey the Air Force officer took the role of Nyame, the Sky God. Natasha grumbled a little about her assignment as the angry fairy, but gave in with relatively good grace, and after several run-throughs they declared themselves ready to present their play at about the same time dinner preparations reached the stage at which the food could be temporarily left to its own devices.
Everyone gathered in the living room with the tree. Bruce, Steve, and Agent Hill sat on the floor in a circle, chins in hands to represent boredom, staring into the small fire Loki had glamoured into being between them.
They held their pose for a moment, and then JARVIS's smooth voice introduced the performance:
"Anansi Brings Stories To the World. Anansi stretched his eight legs as he sat in the middle of his web- "
This was Loki's cue to make his entrance. Out in the hallway, he assumed the glamour he had chosen to represent his character, and did so.
The reaction was dramatic, but not exactly the one he had anticipated: several members of the party screamed- it was perhaps more accurate to say that George shrieked- and Steve instinctively leaped to his feet to put himself between Loki and the onlookers. Bruce took one look and incontinently fled through the archway into the dining room, and thence to the kitchen.
"What in the Nine- ?" Loki protested, coming to a flustered stop and waving his front four legs in protest. "It is only me!"
Steve took a deep, steadying breath. "God, Loki- do you have any idea how disturbing that is? You look like- "
"A man who is a spider," Loki replied. "Yes- that is what we are told Anansi is. So I have become a spider with the head of a man. You saw the illustrations in the book, and I look exactly like them!"
Tony found his tongue. "Yeah, but the illustrations in the book weren't more than six feet tall and in the room with us. That makes a considerable difference."
Pepper had her hands over her eyes. "I'm sorry, I just can't- "
Thor spoke up now, sounding aggravated and defensive. "Did we not ask Loki to take the role of Anansi the Spider because he could become a spider?"
"Yes, of course," Steve said placatingly, sounding rather out of breath. "We just didn't expect him to turn himself into- "
"An abomination against nature!" Tony yelped.
Loki folded his foremost two legs and scowled at everyone. "I have not turned myself into anything. This is merely a glamour."
"OhthankGod," said several voices, in chorus.
"Obviously," Loki huffed. "There is no such thing as a man who is a spider. Well, except for the superhero I have not met, but that is hardly the same thing."
"Seriously, Loki, can you just turn back into yourself while we talk about this? I'm about to die of the willies over here," Natasha protested.
"Okay, if Natasha has the creeps, that's your hint there's something really wrong with the situation," Mitchell pointed out- to the floor, since apparently he could not make himself look directly at Loki.
"Oh, very well," Loki sulked. There was a flash of green, and where the giant, human-headed spider had been, there stood a skinny figure in jeans and a Super Grover t-shirt. He and Thor, looking equally offended, faced the rest of the group.
"I cannot believe you are making such a fuss about this tiny matter," Thor scolded.
"Are you seriously telling me that you weren't completely creeped out by that?" Tony demanded. To Loki, he added, "Look, man, you know we love you, but seriously- " Words, for once, failed him.
"Have either of you read The Island of Dr. Moreau?" Agent Coulson asked, as unflappable as ever. His mother, equally composed, nodded thoughtfully.
"A drawing in book is one thing," Annie said kindly. "Seeing it actually come to life in front of us? It really is a bit disturbing."
Loki sighed.
"Perhaps I could offer a compromise," he said in resignation.
"Oh, now he's ready to compromise," Clint muttered, and Natasha hit him.
Loki concentrated for a moment. There was a green flash, and once again before them stood a large and hairy gray spider.
This time, however, Loki had carefully cloaked himself in what was clearly the semblance of a Muppet, from its fluffy fabric surface to the rods by which some invisible puppeteer might manipulate his eight limbs. True, he closely resembled the rather unpleasant character in A Muppet Christmas Carol, but it was evident from the expressions on his friends' faces that this form was acceptable to them. Steve went to the kitchen to retrieve Bruce.
"Shall we try again?" Loki asked, and then, without waiting for an answer, he organized his many legs and scuttled into the hall, to await his cue once again.
Steve, Bruce, and Agent Hill sat down on the floor once more, and JARVIS started his narration once again:
"Anansi Brings Stories To the World. Anansi stretched his eight legs as he sat in the middle of his web- "