Decking the Halls and All That Jazz

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kip_/]

The Justice League Watchtower has a highly sophisticated comm system that can send messages to individuals, to separate rooms, to separate floors or to the whole place. Right now, the entire system is activated. An emergency? Not quite. There is holiday music being played, from Vince Guaraldi to Nat King Cole to Ella Fitzgerald, classics all. And in the dining hall, a towering spruce tree has been erected. Atop a ladder, a young man sings along with the music as he carefully feels his way along the tree to hang lights. His usual attire of slacks and a neatly pressed shirt has been exchanged for jeans and a sweater with a red-nosed reindeer knitted into the fabric. Looks handmade, too.

Across a table near the front are at least eight pies of different sorts: fruit, chocolate, pumpkin, chess. Homemade, from the looks of it. A basket nearby seems to be brimming with cookies, too, and beside that basket are a few hot beverage dispensers labeled cocoa and mulled cider.

Someone is bringing the holiday spirit to the Watchtower.

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[http://users.livejournal.com/_kip_/]

He may be blind, his eyes scarred irrevocably by the lunacy of the Joker's acid assault, but he knows the sound, the scent of that approach. She is his princess; he knows. Still grinning but in a softer way, Kip holds a hand in her direction and murmurs, "Merry Christmas, Princess."

[spirit-of-truth.livejournal.com]

His hand is taken and then he is pulled into a hug, Diana holding him close.

"Merry Christmas, dear friend. This is all so lovely."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kip_/]

The hug is returned warmly, and then Kip kisses the side of her head. He treats everyone on the Watchtower well, but something about Wonder Woman... "Wasn't anything...and I had lots of help. You okay?"

[guy-lantern.livejournal.com]

, loiters a little bit away. It has a package in it's little hands as it waits for a moment of the Princess' time.

[spirit-of-truth.livejournal.com]

She is about to answer when the green creature catches her attention, and Diana crouches down to get a closer look at it.

[guy-lantern.livejournal.com]

Holding the package over it's head, it hops up to meet her offering it's cargo for her perusal.

Inside the wrappings are two framed pictures. The gold frame has a picture from the very first press release photo of Hippolyta's arrival as Wonder Woman in World War II, the second frame is made of Silver and contains a copy of the very first press picture taken of Diana when she first arrived in the modern era. The poses of mother and daughter are strikingly similar. Both Guy and Tora's signatures are on the card.

[spirit-of-truth.livejournal.com]

Brushing her fingers across the picture of her mother, Diana cannot help but smile, eyes suspiciously bright. It takes a moment, but then she clasps the pictures close and pats the chimp on the head.

"Please let Guy know that his gift is appreciate more than he knows. Kip, if you could see this -- it is my mother, when she first arrived here." Her voice is warm, with barely a hint of the tears that threaten.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kip_/]

Barely a hint is loud and clear to the blind man, who puts his arm around Diana's shoulders and stays in that position, as if he were capable of and fully intending to protect one of the most powerful beings on Earth.

[spirit-of-truth.livejournal.com]

And it is appreciated, as Diana briefly rests her head on his shoulder, drawing some strength from him.

"Thank you, dear friend. There are times where the loss of my mother stings a bit more than usual."

[http://users.livejournal.com/_kip_/]

"Can't even imagine, Princess," says Kip quietly, bestowing another kiss to her forehead. "But you're surrounded by people who love you; maybe that can help with the sting a bit."