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“At what point do we think it stops being a nativity?” Mai asked, definitely hypothetically. She definitely wasn’t asking because Koganegawa had asked if they thought it’d be possible to have a balloon animal nativity at work today.
Well, work was a slight stretch. They’d mostly been planning their yearly mischief. One of the offered plans had been to put a bunch of nativities around the ship, once more recruiting other divisions for help locating enough of them. Locating or making, as many aboard the ship had a fair amount of crafty ability, since crafts were an easy way to keep sanity on long voyages. It was hard to lose yourself in days when you had tangible results of progress, tangible things you’d made with your own hands. Mai didn’t often do crafts herself, as she was, in general, not prone to dealing with the sense of barely being able to tell the days apart, mostly because she made it a point to vary her days when she could, a habit shared by several in the crew, including Tendou.
It was direct contrast to the other method to keep a sense of sanity on long trips, which was rigorous scheduling. That was the option used by most of the division leaders and their captain. Excluding Bokuto of course, at least for the most part.
Both worked, but they worked for very different kinds of people. But she supposed variety was the spice of life, so it was good they had both.
“That depends, what are we categorizing as a nativity?” Keiji replied, moving his book down to rest on his chest and tilting his head back to look at her. She wasn’t sure why he was laying on her floor, but it had been his choice, so she was letting him be. It wasn’t like there weren’t available chairs.
“The traditional nativity includes both of his parents and the infant Jesus,” Chikara said immediately, although he didn’t look up from his pad. “Animals such as sheep, donkeys, and additional people like shepherds and the wise men aren’t required, but often show up. I think I saw one really big one with a dragon once.”
“I want one with a dragon!” Koutarou said immediately, like she’d known he would the second ‘dragon’ came out of Chikara’s mouth.
“You’re not Christian of any form, you don’t own any nativities,” Keiji reminded him, tilting his head to look at him.
“But a dragon!”
“Why would there be a dragon in a nativity?” Mai wanted to know now.
Chikara shrugged. “Don’t ask me, ask whoever made that one. I don’t remember who did though, sorry. I didn’t see it on the ship, I saw it when I was a kid. I think it belonged to a family we knew?”
Darn, she probably wouldn’t get the answer out of his parents. Or him, they were all kind of cagey about the time before Chikara entered highschool, and he was making that face that meant he was talking about that time.
One day she’d figure out what happened. But not today! Back to the topic at hand. “At what point does it stop being recognizable as a nativity though. I think I saw one made with tiny terracotta pots and some wooden beads.” And some fabric, to make the pots and beads look like tiny humanoid figures.
“Why are you asking?” Keiji asked, now sounding very suspicious. “What are you planning this year?”
“Oh, nothing yet, but Koganegawa asked if one could make a balloon animal nativity.”
She could see the exact same thought process that had occurred to everyone who’d heard that particular question occurring to them. First, denial, no, a balloon animal nativity would be ridiculous. Second, dawning horror, wait, I’ve seen some weird nativities, maybe it wouldn’t be that out there. Third, realization and acceptance, technically a balloon animal nativity would be able to work, but it would still be ridiculous.
“I think that with a bit of work, it could be pulled off,” Chikara said reluctantly, looking faintly haunted.
Keiji also looked faintly haunted, but Bokuto looked delighted. “I’d love a balloon animal nativity!”
“You’d just like a balloon animal period,” Keiji pointed out, very reasonably.
“Also true, but if I had a whole nativity I could point it out as my holiday decorations! It could go on my desk!”
“I think they’d have to be colored properly, and it’d be difficult to get a balloon animal small enough to be a ‘baby’ without making the parents very large,” Chikara pointed out. It was a very reasonable concern. Surely they could find some really tiny balloons for a tiny balloon animal though. They had all this tech, surely something could be found or made.
Wait, no, they didn’t need a balloon animal nativity. Any of them.
“You could just get a different nativity,” Keiji pointed out, again very reasonably. “We’re stopping by headquarters to pick up a new mission in the next couple of days, although we won’t be staying for the holidays.”
There was apparently some really urgent mission that needed them, so even if Captain Ushijima preferred to let them have the holidays to themselves, he was kind of obligated to take it. For all that their ship was fairly standard when it came to the class of ship they had, somehow they managed to get themselves in and out of more trouble than any other ship and crew in the galaxy. Command had started picking up on that and had started sending them on more suspicious missions with the belief that they’d go in, clean it up, and get home only slightly worse for wear.
Some people minded it more than others. Mai thought it was hilarious, and it meant they had a lot of really wild and fun missions. Many people had a lot of very reasonable concerns that one time they wouldn’t manage to get out of it only slightly worse for wear, but Mai thought that was overly nihilistic, they were a good crew. A fantastic crew. Argumentative sometimes, sure, but stubborn, reliable, and able to get them out of the direst of circumstances.
Maybe Mai was over confident, but it was just because she knew the crew she belonged to was the best around.
Especially when they were coordinating to get up to mischief.
“If Kogane asked about it, he probably had something in mind,” Mai decided. “I’ll ask him if he has access to someone who can make a balloon animal nativity and get it for you.”
Perhaps predictably, that landed her in a slightly tight spot. Namely, Bokuto picking her up and swinging her around in glee.
Well, sometimes sacrifices had to be made.
And it was kind of fun to get swung around like that. No one else dared. It was really funny to watch people’s faces after Bokuto did this, they always looked like they were expecting her to murder him.
Bokuto was the only person allowed to do this though.