[mp - kirkkomäki residence] praying like a sinner [Marja]

Though the Kirkkomäki home was sparsely decorated for the vast majority of the year, the Finnish family always went all out for the Christmas season. Strings of white lights hung around the perimeter of nearly every room and there were various Christmas themed decorations everywhere. Of course, the biggest and most noticeable decoration was the massive spruce tree that took up the nearly the entire living room area. For once, the house was impeccably clean, and even the store that took up the bottom two thirds of their residence had been deep cleaned and reorganized. After all, it was Christmas Eve and Joulupukki only visited clean houses, at least according to Kyllikki's mother.

Usually Christmas Eve would be a time of joy and happiness, especially for the oldest Kirkkomäki daughter, but this year was not the norm. Kyllikki's normally cheerful and carefree mind and heart had betrayed her, refusing to stay content with her current life and entertaining newfound ideas of rebellion and some possible life changing decisions. The sixth year  hated all the negativity and . . . not happy thoughts, but as much as she tried to push them out of her mind, there were a few thoughts and feelings that just wouldn't leave, and this had put her in an oddly thoughtful and quiet state.

The sixth year felt like a failure. It seemed like no matter how hard she tried, everything she did just blew up in her face and she definitely did not appreciate it. Thus far, she'd kept her feelings and general negativity to herself (though she was fairly certain that at least one of her siblings had noticed that something was up) but she could feel it all building up inside of her and she was finally determined to do something about it. Peeling herself out of a little nook behind a bookshelf, she started looking for the only one who would be able to help her in this situation.

"Marja!" She said when she'd found her most calm and sensible sister, "Are you doing anything right now? Because I need to talk to you for a second, but like alone. In our room. Alone. " Without even pausing to allow her sister to respond, let alone worry about whether Marja would even follow her, Kylli set off towards the room she shared with her four sisters. Miraculously, the room was empty and she didn't have to kick anyone out of it (though Kylli never could understand why anyone would want to do anything other than sleep in the dinky room anyway). Though she hadn't expressly seen Marja follow her, Kylli was positive that her sister had come with her, and only waited a moment before saying what she needed to say. "So, you know how sometimes people have problems?" she asked, though she didn't really expect an answer, "Well I have a really big problem right now, and I need your advice. Can I just rant to you for a moment? Please?"
@Marja Kirkkomäki

Marja was taking the opportunity to relax in the somewhat crowed living room, thanks to the addition of the beautiful Christmas tree the family had acquired. She was stretched out across a armchair, a canvas balancing on her lap, supported by her knees as she sketched out an idea for a later painting. The Finnish girl had been hit with a bout of inspiration by a scene in a book and she wanted to draw it quickly before the vision escaped her. A blanket was draped over her shoulders to keep out the chill, a cup of blåbärssoppa was by her side keeping her insides warm and her hair fell in 2 plaits down over the side of the armrest. It was peaceful, nice and Marja had not felt so content and at tune with herself for a while. Her year seemed to be ending on a good note and she felt like only good things could follow in the upcoming year.

The sound of her name made the Drakonya Krov calmly finish the leaf she was drawing and then she looked up into the face of her sister with a warm smile. The tone of Kyllikki's voice soon changed the smile into a frown as Marja's brow furrowed. Marja was, on one hand, surprised by Kylli's outburst and yet at the same time... she'd half been expecting something like this to happen sooner or later. She shook her head to confirm she was not doing anything important, before gently replying, "Of course..."

Marja barely had time to place down her canvas and her pencils and gather herself before her eldest sister just upped and left. Suddenly feeling rushed, the younger Finn haphazardly left her canvas and pencils on the table beside the chair, swept up her drink  with one hand, using the other to keep her blanket secure around her body before rushing to keep up with the taller girl. As she followed Kylli to their shared room, the self-conscious girl couldn't help but run crazy scenarios through her head, she was slightly scared that she had done something wrong to upset her sister and that she'd be told off... but Marja could not think of anything that she had done that might have hurt Kyllikki's feelings. She was worried about her older sister, something was up with her. Kylli just wasn't the bubbly, obliviously happy witch that Marja had grown to admire. Marja missed that Kylli and she wanted her back.

Shutting the door behind her with her hip, assuming that if the older girl wanted to talk to her alone that she wanted total privacy, the blonde witch moved across the room to plop onto her bed, moving her legs across to create a little nestling place for her cup. Her free hand softly patted the space beside her, gesturing for her sister to sit beside her as Kylli began a somewhat rhetorical question (or, at least, Marja hoped it was rhetorical since she had no answer for it). "Go ahead," Marja said quietly, her eyes eagerly searching her sister's face for answers, "What's up?"