[Technically, with the way Hans and the Balladeer travel, time doesn't mean a lot. You can easily exit one world in summer and walk into the dead of winter in the next. That kind of thing was one big reason they decided to find a home base of sorts sooner rather than later - interdimensional jet lag can be killer.
The Balladeer deliberately keeps the setting vague, trying to avoid getting caught up in anyone else's story. In the end, the house ends up being a little liminal. They don't exactly have neighbors, just lost travelers who occasionally find themselves walking up through the forest in the back, or wandering along the otherwise empty road. He worries it's too weird for Hans, the lack of normal living...but they can reach a small town just by walking down the hill, and the people there get to recognize them fairly quickly, even if they're a little weirded out by the two men who always stroll into town out of nowhere. It's not too bad, he guesses, and freedom's still new enough to both of them that they spend more time out of the house than in.
But winter's come now, both to the house and the little town. It's December. And that means it's Christmas.
The Balladeer's never experienced a Christmas himself, but the holiday's so thick with story that it's impossible to be ignorant of it. He's excited! And once the displays come up, he's quick to take Hans down into town for some shopping. They need a tree. They need lights. Proper ones, too, not just something he magicked up.]
We could get two. [He's looking up at one of the larger pines, which probably wouldn't fit in their house.] One for inside and one for out. Not like anything much happens in the front yard anyway.
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The Balladeer deliberately keeps the setting vague, trying to avoid getting caught up in anyone else's story. In the end, the house ends up being a little liminal. They don't exactly have neighbors, just lost travelers who occasionally find themselves walking up through the forest in the back, or wandering along the otherwise empty road. He worries it's too weird for Hans, the lack of normal living...but they can reach a small town just by walking down the hill, and the people there get to recognize them fairly quickly, even if they're a little weirded out by the two men who always stroll into town out of nowhere. It's not too bad, he guesses, and freedom's still new enough to both of them that they spend more time out of the house than in.
But winter's come now, both to the house and the little town. It's December. And that means it's Christmas.
The Balladeer's never experienced a Christmas himself, but the holiday's so thick with story that it's impossible to be ignorant of it. He's excited! And once the displays come up, he's quick to take Hans down into town for some shopping. They need a tree. They need lights. Proper ones, too, not just something he magicked up.]
We could get two. [He's looking up at one of the larger pines, which probably wouldn't fit in their house.] One for inside and one for out. Not like anything much happens in the front yard anyway.