Brockton Bay, December 19th, 2010, Sunday

Two men sat in the snow outside the Brockton Bay theater discussing the play as the holiday shoppers and such walk past in the lightly falling snow. One of them, a paler man in a trench coat seems untouched by the flurries as they fall around him but not on him. The other in a massive hoodie that hides his features seems unbothered by the cold.

"Honestly Jenna didn't play the part that well. Most of her lines were flat."

" Sadly I have to agree this time. I had such hopes for her, but she clearly phoned the lines in this show. Even the effects team adding reverb to her voice as she played the spirit didn't work to hide it."

"Might have been because she's Jewish and this was a mostly Christmas play. No interest in it. I mean she did great in Hamilton last year. It was probably motivation, or that she didn't get a bigger part.""

"She's Jewish?"

"Yeah it's been... no, no ones going after her and you should know by now I don't care about that shit as much as the rest." the pale man grumbled." No politics remember."

"All I asked was if she was Jewish, nothing else." The hooded man smirked tapping on his arm bracer."You brought up religion."

"... Fuck you."

"You're not my type." The hooded man smirked as the pale man shook his head." So about Tiny Tim."

"Yeah, damn... that kid was amazing, and he's only six? Got to be a prodigy."

(Brockton Bay, December 21th, 2010, Tuesday)

"Hey you going to be alright?"

Spitfire glanced up from the paperwork spread all over the table in the Wards room. She was going to be sent to Arcadia come January and all of this was involving that and some other basic medical checks."Well my hand feels like it's going to fall off , but otherwise..." Spitfire offered. Her costume wasn't ready yet but she was getting into the habit of wearing her mask and thinking of others as their costume if they were wearing it rather than who they were introduced as.

She was still a little upset at Dennis and Amy for their reveal after the tour she had been given when they claimed to be employee's kids. Though really only Amy had said that, and she wasn't lying, still it was annoying.

"Nah not that, Druid will help you grow it back if it does fall off though. "Clockblocker offered."No I mean for Christmas. We go off duty until the twenty eighth tomorrow. I wanted to know if you were gonna be alright, you did just move into that apartment after all."

"Oh that." Spitfire frowned."Yeah it's fine, though it'll be a little odd."

"Mmm, well I have a plan for that!" Clockblocker proclaimed."My dads out of the hospital and feels well enough to try and cook this year. The turkey he makes is amazing, or it might be horrid this time, it's been a while. Either way you should come by to get something to eat. After all everyone's already seen you hanging out with me without a mask, so no one would ask questions, and it has to beat whatever they are serving in the cafeteria here."

"I what.. no, seriously, I umm." Spitfire stammered.

"What? Come on? I mean you can only watch It's a Wonderful Life so many times by yourself before you go crazy."

"I prefer Muppet Christmas Carol." Spitfire muttered as she tried to think up an excuse to not impose on him despite the invite.

"Woman after my own heart. I've got that on DVD."Clockblocker grinned." Now then unless you have any other excuses I can shoot down, lets talk time and transportation."

Brockton Bay, December 23th, 2010, Thursday

Director Emily Piggot stared at the reports darting over her computer screen and frowned. She reached out picking up the phone tapping in a number.

After one ring it picked up and a an annoyed sounding Armsmaster answered.

"Director I was in the middle of a calibration and I am not supposed to be on patrol for another forty three minutes and twenty two seconds."

"I know that, but I need you in now there's something weird going on with the Merchants. The console has blown up with reports and the only people left on duty are you, Mouse Protector, and Miss Militia,both of them are at the Boardwalk, everyone else is off for the holiday. The druggies knocked over a Toys R Us at the edge of town..."

"Oh. He's actually early this year." Armsmaster hummed.

"What?"Emily demanded."What do you mean he's early?"

"Skidmark is a deplorable human being and in general the Merchants are a blight on the city that needs to be cleansed. Save one day a year.

I am unsure what sort of drugs they take this time of year, but at some point they all start thinking they are elves and Skidmark is Santa. Squealer rigs up some crime against nature and tinker tech that looks like a sleigh.

They all knock over a toy store or two and ride around the city giving out the toys to any kid they see.

They don't sell drugs, they don't promote themselves, Skidmark just acts like a foul mouthed Santa. We tried to stop him the first year and the PR hit we took had Glenn Chambers suffer a heart attack and the Mayor threaten to evict the PRT from the city due to the property damage and the sheer volume of complaints." Armsmaster explained.

"Last year the toy stores all started just leaving the doors unlocked to prevent damage and letting the insurance companies reimburse them for the losses. The BBPD has even started escorting them to make sure no one gets hurt on accident. They will be back to normal around the first of the year.

Uber and L33t do something similar to a smaller area in mid town and the Empire Eighty Eight attempted to copy Skidmark minus the stealing toys, though their event was stopped as they also attempted to use it as a recruitment drive and no one was willing to put up with them bullying minority children even for free gifts."

Emily stared at the phone a moment as Armsmaster finished.

"What the fuck is this town even?"

Brockton Bay, December 25th, 2010, Saturday

"MERRY FUCKING CHRISTMAS YOU FUCKING BRATS!" Skidmark bellowed from the top of the red and green painted tank as it rumbled past playing a rap version of silent night at window rattling volume.

Emily stared out the window at the snow covered street as the professionally wrapped presents were handed out to a number of children gathered along the streets, including one she was sure was Alucard.

The massive metal monster had a gaudily decorated tree jammed into a pipe on top and what looked like a series of carousel horses painted up like reindeer were all welded to long metal spikes that stuck out at the front of the tank. The one that was supposed to be Rudolf had a fire trucks emergency light spinning on the front of it's face.

Emily sighed, took a sip of her coco and glanced back back at Amy who was fiddling with her new tablet and Pocky who was blitzing out in the pile of wrapping paper that took up a corner of the room. They had a nightmare of a time keeping the massive cat out of the tree, as even Amy couldn't completely curb that desire.

The front door was thrown open and girly-card stormed in waving a large box over her head." WOOO SCORE, someone read my Christmas list!!"

Amy and Emily look up raising an eyebrow at the, My little Pony Canterlot Play set, that Alucard was waving around.

"We both read the damn thing, that's why you got the box set and the Princess Luna figures."Emily sighed.

"Yeah, but no Blackbird, no A-10, and no date with Simmy." Alucard whined.

"How much money do you think is in the damn budget?"Emily growled as Amy laughed.

"Hey I know it's enough, Texas got a Blackbird." Alucard offered.

"That's because Tagg is an ass." Emily countered.

Any further arguing was stopped by a loud ding from the kitchen.

"OOOH, the turkey's done." Alucard chimed and skipped off into the kitchen.

"THE ONLY PEOPLE WHO CAN SIT IN SANTA SKIDMARK'S LAP ARE OVER EIGHTEEN AND WEARING MINI SKIRTS!!"Skidmark bellowed as his procession moved a few more blocks away.

"This is my life." Emily sighed as Amy giggled. "Merry fucking Christmas indeed."