#and she'd be like Today is hannukah

[mashkaroom]

we didn’t celebrate hannukah growing up in the same way that we didn’t celebrate any jewish holidays BUT my great grandmother did know roughly when it happened and the first year she lived with us, when it was coming up, she said to me “there’s a jewish holiday coming soon in which you make pancakes and give children money”, and I was sold.

[gnattyplayssims]

1951 Pt2 - Don's Girl

Sofia absolutely loved being a mom and Ava was a perfect infant. Don wasn't the domestic type so he gave her her own trailer in Bedrock Strait. He never bothered her as long as he got her evenings at the club. He even provided a top-notch nanny.

Ava was a very wiggly baby so she had a hard time sleeping on her own. She often would only fall asleep to the sound of her mother's voice so Sofia would tell her fantastical stories about magic and princesses and worlds where all their dreams could come true.

Maybe it was because she was wiggly but Ava even liked tummy time. She liked working out her little arms and that it got her closer to those toys that were just out of her reach.

"There you go baby girl! Look at you, so big already! You'll be crawling in no time!"

Frequent sneezes and tummy time did not go well together. A violent sneeze shook little Ava's body and she bumped her face on the floor.

"Oh no Little Bird! Don't cry. You're okay. I guess we're done with tummy time for today." Sofia rolled Ava over, trying to soothe her.

The biggest thing Sofia struggled with was cooking. She had never had the opportunity to learn before. The orphanage had a cook and while her mother was a master at cooking, Anabelle had only taught her daughter a few things. Thankfully Ava didn't require fancy cooking to survive.

"Okay Little Bird, mommy has to go to work. Be good for Mrs Picket. Sleep all night so mommy doesn't miss a thing, I'll be home in a few hours."

Ava looked at her with those brown eyes that sometimes made her want to cry. She kissed her daughter and slipped into the darkness.

Ava always woke up with the sun so she was usually ready to start her day about the time Sofia was crawling home after a long night at Don's. She would try to sleep and shower before coming home but she didn't always have that option.

"You're worth it Little Bird."

One afternoon Sofia was resting with a book when a pleasant surprise showed up at her door. Nikolas had put together the pieces in Sofia's letters to track her down in Oasis Springs. He wasn't impressed. Her rich new boyfriend should be able to do better than a trailer.

"Nikolas, what are you doing here? How did you find me?"

"You didn't honestly think you could hide from me did you. You know I'm a Clever Sim."

"Well I'm happy to see you. I love Ava, but she's not the best company when it comes to talking about my day."

"You...could come home. It's almost Hannukah. I'm sure they'd love to see you"

"You wouldn't say that if you knew what dad said. I can take care of Ava on my own."

"With your pimps help"

"I wish you wouldn't call him that. It's not like that. I only woohoo him not just anyone"

"Gross! So do I get to meet Ava or keep standing on your porch."

Sofia brightened and led him in the trailer. "Hey Little Bird, this is Nikolas, my bestest friend in all the worlds."

"Hey Ava, wow...she...those eyes."

"I know, sometimes she makes this face and...it's hard."

Ava looked up at Nikolas with concern while Sofia tried to assure her. "Don't worry, Ava, I got you" Nikolas cooed craddling her close.

Suddenly Ava started to cry. Big wails that filled the trailer. "Oh no! Hey Ava, It's okay. Nik is a friend!"

"You better take her back."

A few days later Hannukah came and Sofia had managed to get the night off. As the first stars lit the sky she settled in with a grilled cheese and thought of home. Her father loved Hannukah and had been excited for their first Winter Season as a family.

Then he'd ruined it.

She was just preparing to go to bed in her own bed for once when she heard a key in the lock. "Don what are you doing here. I thought you said I could have the night off?"

"A night off from the club. Doesn't mean you get a night off from me. Celia is already on her way for Ava."

By the time she'd woken up Ava and handed her over to the nanny, Don had already dimmed the lights and lit the candles. "Thought I'd get into the festive mood. You like it?"

"I love it. Why are you being so romantic?"

"I can be romantic."

"Usually you like to get right to it."

"That will come, tonight I just want to savor you." He pulled her into another slow kiss. "Mmm, you're learning. That wasn't half bad."

"Really?"

"A little more practice and you might be a pro. Let's try again."

He pulled her close again, his hands moving over her.

"I heard a man was here a few days ago."

"What? You mean Nikolas?"

"Who is he?"

"My best friend from childhood. You don't have to worry about him"

"Worry? A man like that doesn't stand a chance against me...A man like that won't consume your dreams...or your body like I will"

He seized her wrist and pulled her closer, her moans getting louder as he moved. He looked at her hand. "You know I don't like this ring."

"I know...I didn't get a chance to take it off since you showed up unexpectedly."

He slipped it off her finger letting it fall to the carpet.

Don always knew how to completely satisfy her but for the first time she heard him say something she never thought she would, "That was incredible, My Dove."

"Really?"

"Really. You know I wouldn't lie to you about that. Next time maybe I'll even let you take the lead."

1952 Pt1 - Stefan's Dream

[gay-otlc]

(I'm the anon who sent the previous ask about if I could send the fic through asks)

Oh okay, thanks! So uh, here's the fic, for day 7: Angst. It gets fluffy around the end though, so I'm not sure if it fits exactly for the prompt lmao

Summary: This is the first Hanukkah Sophie has after coming to the lost cities.

Word count: almost 2k

Also I'm not totally sure when this is set. I tried to find the exact date of when Sophie came to the lost cities but no results? So it's probably not totally accurate/canon compliant

"Human holidays are so interesting," Dex mumbles, fiddling with a small silver device xe held in xyr hands.

"What do you mean?" Sophie asks, raising her head from the stray wires she'd been twisting into a braid. Dex's room is always filled with stray parts from xyr projects and she loves toying with them and watching xem design new brilliant devices. "Like yeah, they are, but where'd that come from?"

Dex raises xyr hand in response, and Sophie sees the object xe's holding is a flat disk. Bright white figures are scrolling up and down the screen in a dizzying array of data, too small and too fast for Sophie to read.

"It's a catalog, kind of," xe explains. "Just a fraction of information, but it's all data about humans. About their holidays. I'm working on making it easier to read, and it's all super cool to learn about, you know?"

"Huh." Sophie starts fiddling with the wires again.

Dex continues, "It turns out, today is the first day of a holiday named Hanukkah. It's eight days long, and it's a Jewish holiday. And apparently--"

"Wait, what?" Sophie's blood runs cold as she shoots to her feet. "Hanukkah?"

Dex's eyes widen slightly at Sophie's reaction. "Uh, did I pronounce it wrong?" Xe squints at the screen. "There are a lot of different ways to spell it, so I wasn't exactly sure, but--"

"No, no," Sophie interrupts. "No. You're fine. Just--Hanukkah's today? It starts today?"

"Yeah. It does. Sophie--are you okay?" Xyr forehead furrows in concern.

Sophie sinks back down on the bedspread, suddenly feeling hollow. "It's just. Hanukkah. I loved Hanukkah."

Dex's eyebrows raise and xe takes a small step forward. "In... When you were living in the Forbidden Cities?"

"Yeah." Sophie bites her lip. "My old family... we loved celebrating it. We'd go all out, with so much food we could hardly eat it all, so we'd invite friends and family over--and okay, well, I didn't have any friends, but it was so amazing and happy and everything that I never felt alone anyway. We were all there, lighting the candles and playing dreidel and having fun. And--"

Her voice breaks away and Sophie presses her lips together, throat suddenly tight. She'd loved Hanukkah, she'd loved being Jewish. But here, in the Lost Cities, human religion and culture were for humans. Sophie was the only Jewish elf she knew.

Elves didn't keep much track of dates either, so she didn't know when any of the holidays were. She'd asked once, when she'd thought Yom Kippur was near, but remembered being told by a probably-well-meaning Alden that "it didn't matter anymore". Humiliated and confused, she hadn't asked again. She still tried to practice Shabbat whenever she could, but stayed closed off about it.

She'd started to keep her Jewishness a personal thing. She wouldn't abandon it, but... she hated feeling so lonely about it. Being Jewish meant being part of a community, meant belonging back in the Forbidden Cities. And now, it was another way she felt like an outsider. And she hated it, but she didn't yet know what she could do about it.

Her family was probably getting ready for the first night of Hannukah right now. Laughing in the kitchen with grated potato and flour all over them as Amy insisted on making the latkes all by herself, and ending up burning a good amount of them. Like always.

Except last year, Sophie had been right next to Amy, giggling as she flipped the latkes too late and they became way crispier than they should. This year, she was in a glamorous, glittering world, not a potato pancake in sight and feeling so lonely her whole body ached.

It was Sophie's family's first Hanukkah without her, and they didn't even know it.

Sophie's heart squeezes, and out of nowhere, a gaspy sob escapes her mouth. Cheeks flaming hot, she stands up. "I-I'm sorry. I'm gonna... um, go."

She starts to leave, but Dex's hand shoots out, clasping her wrist. "Sophie," xe says, softly. "It's okay. I'm here for you. Best friends, right?"

Slowly, Sophie falls back on the bed. She sits there, staring at the wires twined between her fingers that she'd been clutching tighter and tighter this entire time. Eventually, she whispers, "I just... I hate this, you know? It's like, I'm glad I came to the Lost Cities and met you and everyone else. I'm glad. But why did I have to give up so much? I... I just wish I... I don't even know."

Sophie trails off, not sure how to explain how much it hurts, that she'll never be able to celebrate Hanukkah with her family again. Saying chag urim sameach to all her relatives over the phone. Listening attentively as her parents tell the story of Hanukkah. Fighting with Amy over sufganiyot and getting powdered sugar everywhere. The smallest things, gone, forever. Mere memories to hurt over for the rest of time. How does she put it into words? She can't, so she stays quiet. Silence falls between them like a heavy snowfall.

"Sophie..." Dex says slowly, after a while. "Do you... do you want to see them?"

"In the Forbidden Cities? Dex, that's not possible."

Sophie'd asked, several times. Every time she'd gotten the same answers: It's a risk. It's not safe. It's not worth it.

"Sophie, do you?" Dex repeats. "I can get you there, but... it might hurt. Seeing them like that."

A wobbly inhale.

Maybe some closure would be good. Maybe Sophie had to see them one last time, even if they were without her. Or maybe it would all go horribly wrong and she would regret her decision in the end.

A wobbly exhale.

Sophie blinks hard, and whispers, "I do."

✡✡✡

They're in there.

Bathed in golden light, laughing but Sophie can't hear it. She's staring from the backyard window, squinting through the frosted glass and her own crystallized breath. She has only a thin jacket wrapped around her but doesn't feel any cold, just keeps looking into her old family's living room numbly.

They're gathered in the living room, Amy leaning comfortably back on her chair as if full from eating too many latkes, her parents sitting comfortably by each other, mom smiling as her dad talks. Sophie aches to know what he's saying. She aches to be there sitting next to Amy, about to burst from the amount of fried food she'd had.

The sun is already setting quickly. Twilight is sinking in, tendrils of night making their way across the sky. It's almost time to light the first candle on the menorah, which is placed in front of the window Sophie's looking past, wrought silver metal tinted with blue, nine empty holders waiting to be filled one by one with lit navy candles. Sophie thinks of last Hanukkah when she and Amy had lit all the candles together, day by day. How had so much changed since?

She sees her dad move to get up, and realizes dark has fallen. It's time for her family to light the menorah, all together--but without her.

"Sophie, we should probably move away."

Sophie spins around, suddenly remembering Dex was watching too, right behind her. She shakes her head a little, embarrassed. "Right. Right, just..."

"We don't have to leave," Dex offers, already reading her mind. "We should just, you know, move a bit so they can't see us if they come over."

She gives xem a grateful smile and nods. By the time her family's come up to the window, about to light the menorah from the other side, Sophie and Dex are hidden away in the trees by the front porch.

Sophie can glimpse flashes of what's happening through the leaves. She sees her mom light the shamash. She sees their mouths moving as they recite the Hanukkah blessing, and finds her own mouth moving along, though silently. She sees Amy then reach for the shamash, and with a smile, light a single candle on the far right.

So there it is, the menorah, lit, one end glowing with orange light. Her family, inside, arms wrapped around each other in a warm embrace. And Sophie standing outside, ankle-deep in snow, shivering in the dark.

Her family sings Haneirot Hallalu, leaves, but Sophie stays. Staring at the flickering candles, frozen as if shifting a centimeter would break something inside her. She only moves when Dex tentatively reaches out, wrapping an arm around her, and she can't stop herself from bursting into sobs, shuddering and crying as xe holds her tightly.

"I can't believe this is it," she gasps out eventually, through trembling breathes. "I'm--I'm never gonna be able to celebrate Hanukkah again. Not with my family. I just--they're all together and happy, they don't miss me, they can't, but I miss them. I miss celebrating Hanukkah with them. I miss playing dreidel and eating so much I could burst and singing hymns after lighting the menorah. It was one of my favorite holidays and I-I don't have anyone to celebrate with now that I'm in the Lost Cities, and--"

She breaks off and shakes her head, another wave of tears rolling over her. Cold wind stings her wet cheeks, fingers and toes already numb from the snow, but even when her sobs eventually quiet, she can't help looking at the window. Orange light is still glowing through the frost, and she can see the faint shadows of her family behind, and oh, she's never wanted to be with them more. The longing is a stabbing pain in her heart.

Dex has been holding her the whole time, xyr arms the only warm thing in the freezing snow. Xe clears xyr throat and she turns around a little to face xem.

Xe says softly, "Sophie... maybe you cant celebrate Hanukkah with them anymore. And I wish I could help more because that sucks. A lot. It's horrible."

"It really is."

"Yep. But... if it helps, even a little, just know that because you live in the Lost Cities doesn't mean you can't celebrate anymore."

Sophie's so surprised she almost laughs. "All alone?"

It wasn't as if Hanukkah couldn't be celebrated alone, because it could. Many people celebrated it alone and it wasn't as if it were any less valid. But Sophie wasn't even sure where to start if she did it by herself.

How would she explain it to Grady and Edaline, whom she'd hardly talked to about being Jewish? Where would she get the menorah, the dreidels, the ingredients and supplies for Hanukkah food? Who would she tell the stories of Hanukkah to, who would she sing with, who would she laugh and celebrate with for eight days? Would she have to do it all alone--truly alone, because she was probably the only elf in the Lost Cities who celebrated.

To her, family, friends, support, they were all a huge part of Hanukkah. Without them, something would always feel missing.

Dex hesitates. "Look... I don't know much about Hanukkah. But I'd be happy to learn. And I'd love to be with you, if you do it after all. And maybe our other friends would like to join too. So you won't be alone, not if you don't want to be."

Sophie shakes her head, disbelievingly. "Really?"

"Yeah. Of course," Dex says, and in the shadows, Sophie can glimpse xyr dimpled smile.

Maybe she couldn't celebrate Hanukkah with her old family again. Maybe things would never be the same again. But she would figure things out. She would celebrate with Dex and maybe even Grady and Edaline and her other friends if they wanted. She would be okay, and she wouldn't be alone.

Sophie squeezes her arms around Dex tighter and feels her eyes fill up with tears again. "I'd love that."

Sophie grieving her human life my absolutely beloved

Anyway, anon, this was really good! Thank you!