BURN THE GOAT

[burnthegoat]

IF YOU'RE COLD, SHE'S COLD

Since the mid-60s, there's been a simple tradition. Set out a giant straw goat to celebrate the holidays. But some people have looked at it and realized the kind thing to do would be to warm up the goat with a bit of fire, to keep her from being too cold on those frozen Swedish nights.

Now it's your turn.

Of course, the folks replying to you might be your allies in arson, your buddies in bodyguarding, or on the opposite side.

1. BURN THE GOAT: You've got a simple mission. Slip past the guards, hide from the cameras, overcome the perimeter fences, and banish the chill.

2. DEFEND THE GOAT: You've got a simple mission. Keep people from burning the goat so that you can have your symbol of celebration until the end of the year!

3. BURNED THE GOAT: You've burned the goat! You're from Oakland, so, uh. Fair warning, that's illegal. Run.

4. CATCH THE ARSONISTS: They tried to burn, or succeeded, in burning the Gavle Goat! Catch them!

5. CAUGHT BY CONSTABULARY: You've been caught! The weed of crime bears bitter fruit. Time to either face your punishment or, if you don't fancy three months in prison and international fame, find a way to escape.

6. STANDARD MISTLETOE OPTION: Goat, no goat, this one's for smooches.

Comments

Sister Imperator, Prime Mover (1969) | Ghost

[sisterimperator]

[ Omg. To the person who wrote this post, you're amazing. 😂 ]



[ To set the scene: Sister Imperator and Ghost are in Gävle, and Papa Nihil is in the midst of performing Kiss the Go-Goat... in front of the Gävle goat.

Whatever happens happens, I suppose... ]

FIRE I SAY, FIRE

[victorum]

[ Barf. This pathetic noise most certainly is the sounds that hail from his slop of a father. Time to make things a little more, how to say, spicy? How could anyone refuse the divine wilds of temptation, after all? Does he set the goat on fire? Abso-fucking-lutely he does. ]

‎️‍🔥‎️‍🔥‎️‍🔥

[sisterimperator]

[ It ain't always what it seems
That glitter wasn't gold
As opposed to what they told you

(Told you - AAAAAHHHHH!)

Sister Imperator saw the goat go up in a blaze just in time to hear the background singers screech and dive off the stage. Papa Nihil threw his arms up as the fire went WOOMPH! behind him, and the Ghouls grabbed him and threw him, and themselves, off the platform. ]

What in the -

Sister Imperator | Ghost

[witchimage]

[ PLEASE DO NOT BURN THE GOAT. By Satan, we have so many human sacrifices we can throw on this pyre instead. ]

lmfao

[victorum]

[ Purely to spite you? Why, he would never. ]

wicked child!!!

[witchimage]

[ Ghouls are the cats she's used to dealing with, but oh my Satan, why is he like this. ] Do not.

[ Honestly, it's his choice. He can take that torch and stuff it somewhere else, or he can properly face her in this instance. ] I know you have other duties today and this is not one of them.

I simply had too.

[lordoflies]

[ Loki wasn't even questioning how he ended up here. Nope, it's best to roll with it. Someone was clearly about to burn the goat, but it sure wasn't the slightly dirty and shoeless deity that walked out of nowhere. Stopping next to the sister. ]

That is rather magnificent, isn't it?

[ He sounded amused, looking at the giant straw goat. While one of his helms horns was broken, it didn't matter, horned creatures were always his favorite.

Is that the smell of smoke?]

I'm glad you did!!

[witchimage]

[ Without paying the (apparent) young man too much immediate mind, Imperator beamed up at the structure. It would come down, for better or worse, no matter what her desire. That was tradition. She hated to see effigies of things she loved go up in flames, but certainly this wouldn't be the first year or instance of that. ]

I've always thought so.

[ She glances over out of the corner of her eye. Oh. Hm. Like her, there's an air of...something - magick, if she had no other way to categorize it - surrounding him. The helm looks familiar enough, even if it hearkens to something adjacent to but a little outside her pantheon.

The curl of smoke hitting her nose does, however, distract her and she cannot help but utter an exhausted sigh. ] I suppose you must be used to this scenario, by now?

<3

[littlesunshine]

[ Burn the wooden goat and sacrifice the humans, yes? Is this not The Way?

Have a half drunk and perplexed Copia in the new form of his glorious becoming, but dressed as drag Mrs. Claus. Quite a sight involving a lot of costume refitting, to be honest.

But wait! He would need a wardrobe change before going about this wicker goat + volunteer sacrifices business. ] Why are you looking at me in that tone of voice? This is my favorite time of year and I am fully prepared to go so far over the top this year it will be immeasurable.

…Please, join me? The fire doesn’t burn as brightly without you beside me.

[ For however much longer that is. ]

♥♥♥

[witchimage]

[ It is the Way, it is the Way.

But how can she not look at her beautifully transformed baby boy - in what does feel like a very solid version of his final form, right down to the Santa drag, to be honest - with any sort of neutral tone? He would feel the same, she always assumed, were they to build a giant rat who makes all of the rules to annually raze to the ground as well.

Not to mention, there's always Nihil in the back of her head (or sometimes literally over her shoulder) to remind her that the origins of the tradition are petty. If it meant saving one more goat from the slaughter, then he would toss the first match without a second thought and spinning around it in revelry. But if it was just for the sake of ruining some good, decorative fun? His attendance would be reluctant and ceremonial.

Mixed feelings, all around. ]

It is your year to do so.

[ And ideally, from now on, would always be, however he wanted to have it. She grasped his hand between both of hers and pressed a kiss to the back of it. ] I suppose you might be able to talk me into helping it grow.

[tobastards]

The question isn't whether the goat will burn. It's who'll be the one to burn it.

[ It's him. He's going to burn it. There's good money in ensuring holiday traditions continue. ]

[witchimage]

[ AH YES because what would an event be without the attendance of local businesses. Shouldn't he be skulking around a beer tent or passing out drink tickets? No, to be fair. Not our Mr. Brekker. He has minions (partners? staff? lovers? Imperator still hasn't quite worked out the dynamic) for that sort of business. ]

And you're just the man for the job, as usual. [ She rolls her eyes, but it's all in good spirits. ] And if I pulled some some money from the treasury [ Like, real money, not just Mummy Dust bills, honest. ] to keep you otherwise occupied, who might I have to look out for then?

Maedhros | the silmarillion | ota

[holdshisown]

[Try to burn the goat at your own peril!]

[ourlittlenordicangel]

I... I am so worried... someone will burn the goat again? [ He cried a whole week last Christmas. ]

[holdshisown]

It wont while I'm here to keep watch. [He reassures his friend.] And since I don't need as much sleep as a human might I can actually stand guard for quite some time.

Papa Emeritus III | Ghost

[victorum]

[ Join him, infernal children. Set it all on fire. ]

/busts down terzo's door "it is time for yuletide shenanigans!"

[littlesunshine]

[ ooc: "hi, welcome to wendy's, may i take your order?" "yes i will have a number one kiss the go-goat burn the goat special and a number six on the side" to blaspheme all over people's holiday cheer but also because as we have discussed, copia is the neopolitan fucked-uppery to terzo's secret vanilla, and probably has a tiny mistletoe he keeps in his suitcoat pocket so that he can annoy the fuck out of everyone being like "AHA! behold, the mistletoe. now you have to kiss me." mostly just to see what will happen? and i imagine he is wasted for most of december because yule and also, baby it's cold outside. actually i am a little disgusted with how much my headcanon is suggesting this is actually his favorite holiday and not because of anything to do with baby jesus. uh, anyways, without further ado... ]

𐕣

[ Depending on your patience level and how entertaining you found (and on who you were in the Ministry) your boss being various degrees of not sober for an entire month, while embodying trickster values with chaos in his heart and pulling pranks, dressing up as everything from Krampus, Saint Nick, a satanic elf, (goth drag) Mrs. Claus, the Winter Warlock from that one stop-motion movie - as well as the Snow Miser (his personal favorite, from that other stop-motion Xmas movie) - and at times, wandering around outside ominously dressed as the Mari Lwyd and asking people to let him inside; and singing (satanic revamped) carols and popping out from around corners waving mistletoe above your head and insisting that you now had to kiss him (or you had to leave the ministry until January), Copia was either the most entertaining part of December or the most insufferable.

In general, all of these festive shenanigans were made more absurd by the changes he had gone through, wings, deeper voice and all that anti-christ business. But no, not even that was going to keep him from fully enjoying "the most wonderful time of the year." Neither was how serious everything had gotten with Terzo's return revealing he was resurrecting dead Papas without full ministry approval (the point) and that it was time for Shit To Go Down (paused for Holiday break), or the fact that these halls had some mere weeks ago been stained with the blood of many stuck in the old ways, though hardly all they would purge in time. Perhaps that made his usual folly and absurdity during Yule a tad more sinister to some.

Today, he absolutely had his pocket mistletoe and was merely tipsy, mostly because they were going to burn the goat and he wanted to actually be present for the experience. In any case, he had been searching for Terzo, because burning goats was fun for the whole family! Or at least, what currently existed of his brothers. Possibly also because he wanted to see how far he could push his studious older brother with his antics, maybe. He would have to read the room.

Where was that little man hiding? ] Terzo!? Dove sei?

[ Additional changes including improved Italian through actual use and while largely obnoxious in December, a much overdue increase in personal boldness for Papa IV. ]

The Swede | Our Flag Means Death | OTA

[ourlittlenordicangel]

[ The worst day of his life... the day the goat friend burned... ]

Louie Duck | Ducktales 2017

[lyingthroughyourbeak]

[ he would definitely love to see that goat go up in flames, but knowing his family, he'll probably get wrapped up in defending it instead. ]

Felix, Princess of Wands | Royal Blood TTRPG

[pageofwands]

[ m/m for shipping but ota for gen, arson is a love language. If he's not burning the goat himself he's directly responsible for someone else doing it and really you should be happy if the whole town doesn't go up too. ]

daryl dixon | twd | ota.

[pigsfeet]

Trinity Blood | Abel Nightroad | ota

[13th_nightroad]

[Just an innocent passerby priest doing some Christmas shopping when this parade crosses his path. He wipes off the sweat on his brow with a handkerchief and makes a sign of the cross as he watches the straw goat burning]

Mother Mary have mercy. Was it hot in here?

[Nervous chuckle] Aha... For research purpose, this is a pagan ritual right? Is this some kind of parade? Well that's certainly one way to warm up for the winter. [As the straw goat is burning up in a sacred fire] Was it even legal???

how can one resist

[victorum]

[ Sacred fire indeed. Hello Cleric. Cute fit, as the kids say. All talky with the hands. ] And they're still wearing this much clothing? Padre, have you no knowledge of these heathens and their blasphemous ways?

(anti-christ!) copia | ghost

[littlesunshine]

[ welcome to what is a actually his favorite time of year. in which he is entirely unhinged and never more than half sober and often found in costumes such as krampus, the mari lwyd, goth drag mrs. claus, the snow miser from that one stop-motion xmas movie (his favorite), and a satanic elf, among other nonsensical shenanigans. let us kiss under the death leaf mistletoe and burn things.

🔥 ]

Patchouli Knowledge | Touhou Project

[heptagram]

[She's basically just watching the show. Modern human traditions are... interesting.]