A Very Trog's Thanksmas

[Rebonack]

It's that most wonderful time of the year again! A time for friends and family, a time for cheer, a time for jolliness, a time for thankfulness, a time for light, a time for reflection, a time for resolutions, a time for GIFTS AND FOOD AND SWEETS! A wonderful, magical, fantastic time of the year!

Trog's Tavern is always open to everyone, but that's doubly true this year since it's overflowing with the Spirit of Thanksmas! Why, Maphtey could probably even show up here and comment on how much weight Zee has gained over the past year without getting a can of condensed soup thrown at him! That's how welcoming and jolly it is.

If you're showing up now, friend, you're just a teeeeensy bit early, but that's fine! The employees of Trog's Tavern (and probably several of Zee's children) are busy putting up the finishing touches on decorations. Zee is stringing up fresh evergreen garlands wrapped in silvery tinsel, filling the tavern with a fresh pine smell. Nina is arranging a collection of festive nutcrackers and fancy Santas keeping watch over the snack table. Paige is putting some finishing touches on this year's Santa Throne set up where the darkest Dark Corner usually is (the darkness has been replaced with holly jolly Thanksmas lights for this party only). And Cosmo is pretending to adjust ornament placement on the Thanksmas tree-candleabra-newyearsball. Wow, Cosmo! You're almost doing something helpful! Truly the Thanksmas spirit is strong this year.

Chestnuts roast over the Tavern's roaring fireplace. Sugar plums and chocolates and candied fruits and honeyed nuts and even some healthy stuff awaits at the snack table. Soft Thanksmas music plays from the jukebox (NOT All I Want For Thanksmas Is You). The stage awaits for anyone who wants to provide live music or read some stories to Nexus children. Gifts are being placed under the Thanksmas tree-candleabra-newyearsbalparty by goers for the anonymous gift exchange later in the evening.

The sights and sounds and scents of festivities permeate the tavern.

It fills you with determination. And probably a little bit of holiday joy, too.

Welcome to a Very Trog's Thanksmas!

[bc56]

A very Foxy Thanksmas

Jade enters the tavern.
She doesn't look at all like she normally does.
She's a fox. A little red fox with a tiny santa hat perched on her head. She trots into the tavern like she owns the place.
Time to find some unsuspecting children...

And get pets! No one will be the wiser!
Oh, and she needs to talk to Zee too.

Every time a Bell Rings

There's also a small angel here. Eao's hanging by her knees from one of the rafters with a sprig of mistletoe in one hand and a hammer and nails in the other. She looks like a white-haired human girl of about nine, wearing a black and white dress. She's trying to get the mistletoe to stick to the rafters. She's not sure what a little plant has to do with missiles or toes, but she's still okay with helping set it up. She just needs to figure out how to get it to stay put long enough to nail it in place. After another failed attempt, the sprig drifts to the floor. Aw man, now she's going to have to pick it up. Again.

A very Fiendish Thanksmas

There's also a devil. Sapphira enters, apparently trying to look nonchalant. Last time she was here, she got in a fight with the barmaid, but come on. It's Thanksmas! She's wearing the archetypal "sexy Santa dress" and carrying a black package with red ribbons under her arm. If she's not stopped, she'll find a booth to lounge in and wait, checking the door repeatedly.

[Recaiden]

Spike arrives, with the hound Spot at heel. This time, they're arriving at Thanksmas on purpose, rather than in response to an emergency.
The disguise has been adjusted for the holiday; instead of a winged human in shining armor, it's a winged human woman in a dress and tacky Thanksmas sweater.
A heap of presents is carried in their arms. Oh, and here, they can give one of them away right now.

The stalker strolls over to the devil and uses a tentacle wing to whisk a flat squarish present out of the stack and hand it over.
"Merry Thanksmas, Sapphira."

[Chaotic Bob]

Determination is one word for the spirit here.
The other might be "rabid mania".

That seems to be what has possessed the half-drow girl springing quite unsafely from one rafter to another, dropping the ends of rather fantastical crystal garlands from the huge tangle grasped in her arms as she goes.

Karaglen looks like she's having way too much fun here.

In her wake, looping tendrils of interlocking, iridescent crystals stretch across the ceiling, much as if she were a spider spinning an especially beautiful web.
That's not actually what she's going for here (wouldn't want to terrify Dad), but someone could uncharitably make the parallel.

She's particularly proud of this little design she's come up with. If you tweak a crystal segment just right, so that it slots into a neighbor, it'll start a little chain reaction slotting the whole strand together creating a neat rainbow light effect when light bounces off of it. Or, when you don't want that anymore, twist one out of line and it'll all loosen up into the regular old wobbly crystal string again!

This may have been obsessive use of her last couple weeks.

[Earl of Purple]

Somebody else arrives to help out! She's a half-elf with skin the colour of polished oak, brown hair and deep green eyes. She's wearing a rather short sleeveless red dress fringed with silver tinsel, a black and white feathered cape and a pair of fake antlers. She's not been to a Thanksmas party this big and important before, and is willing to help however she can.

[bc56]

Spike and Sapphira

Sapphira takes the box from Spike with a raised eyebrow. "Merry Thanksmas, Spike." She slices it open with a claw and takes whatever lies within out. "Is Sekhmet coming?" She pats the gift under her arm. "This is for her." The answer is yes, and Spike can probably check with the Hive to confirm that Sekhmet is on her way.

[Rebonack]

Zee waves at Mishnehel when she comes in and offers her a large basket full of pretty glass baubles. "Hey! Glad you could make it early. If you want to help just hang these up on the evergreen garlands we've got strung all over. Just arrange them however you think looks nice."

An ugly sweater featuring a dopey looking reindeer and a Santa hat is the extent of Zee's Thanksmas outfit. She loves it the thing's nose has a little red LED in it.

Cosmo, meanwhile, has begun sweeping up fallen pine needles on the floor while giving Sapphira the stink-eye. Isn't that the lady that attacked the tavern last year? Oh well. Thanksmas spirit and all.

[Karaglen and Lapis]

"Can I help?" Lapis Lazuli calls up to Karaglen for her position down on the floor. At present the half-drow girl's family resemblance is absolute unmistakable. "Those streamers are really pretty I love them!"

Her outfit isn't very festive, though. She's just got her VIGIL non-combatant uniform on! Kara is going to have to explain the importance of festive outfits to this fellow child since no one seems to have endowed Lapis with an understand of the salient points of Thanksmas finery.

She AT LEAST needs a cute Santa hat!

Why didn't anyone tell her?

Not really one to wait on an answer, she decides to make a point of scrambling up the wall like a hilarious child-shaped gecko to join her sibling up in the rafters.

"You're one of mom's kids too, right? I'm Lapis Lazuli! I mostly stay at VIGIL since mom made me to make sure no gross monsters try to sneak in there. I think all the gross monsters are gone so mostly I just help keep the grounds pretty and chase birds away."

No one has told Lapis yet why chasing birds away is important. She's just been doing so because that's what she was asked to do.


[Eao and Navvy]

"I got it!" says the little bronze dragon wyrmling encased in an absurd turkey-themed Thanksmas sweater. He snatches the fallen mistletoe up in his claws, spreads his wings, and does a great job of getting up into the rafters in the most graceless fashion possible. Apparently the rafters are a fun and wholesome place for small vaguely reptilian children to hang out. "You're Eao right? Mom said that's who you're are that's a swell name! I'm Navanaxinermis but you can call me Navvy if you want!"

He offers the mistletoe back to Eao.

"I helped hang the mistletoe last year if you stick the nail through the stem first then it's just aces! Goes up really easy and you won't drop is 'cuz then you've just got to hold the nail."

It'll be clear enough to Eao that this apparently mortal child has had a kernel of Glory invested in him that's just waiting to bloom. He's a tentative seraph. One that hasn't undergone apotheosis yet. But he will eventually. The mark of Mother's power on him is unmistakable.

[bc56]

Angel Dragon

"Hi! I'm Eao!" Eao replies cheerily. "That's a good idea!" Much easier than trying to pin it in place and then hammer a nail through it." Eao stabs the mistletoe and then bangs it into place among the rafters. She pulls herself back upright from her hanging position so she's sitting in the rafters. "This is my first Thanksmas! I'm so excited to deck halls go stalking and watch ships sail in!" Uh oh. Sounds like Eao's only knowledge of Thanksmas is through carols. Someone had better teach her how it works!

[Recaiden]

Monster and Devil

Sapphira takes the box from Spike with a raised eyebrow. "Merry Thanksmas, Spike." She slices it open with a claw and takes whatever lies within out. "Is Sekhmet coming?" She pats the gift under her arm. "This is for her." The answer is yes, and Spike can probably check with the Hive to confirm that Sekhmet is on her way.

Spike does check. And in fact goes so far as to warn Sekhmet, your mother is at the Thanksmas party, obviously waiting for you. There's a powerful truce here, but...be ready.
"Oh, surely. She loves these holidays." The gift is a leather-bound photo album, with slightly hazy, non-rectangular pictures. The first depicts a lush high-oxygen planet, green with jungles and towering sunwood trees. The others depict the same place much closer in, and in every one of them there is nothing but glass and ash as far as the eye can see. It seems like a devil might appreciate such vistas.

[bc56]

Devil and Monster

"How thoughtful." Sapphira says in a sickly sweet voice. "It really gives me some ideas." She's not sure what place is being shown. Meanwhile, Sekhmet responds. I, uh, understand the Thanksmas Truce. She can't harm us today. Do you, uh, know what she plans to do when I arrive? Sapphira seems to be aware of the conversation (she's not actually, but she knows about the Hive and can guess what's happening) "Tell Sekhmet I have a gift for her. A way of making amends." Whether or not Sapphira actually intends to make amends is another matter, but the gift is real. Or at least the box is real. With real ribbons.

[Recaiden]

Spike provides some context and a fun fact. "That's the site of the swarm's first real battle with our brothers. Used to be millions of people there." And then there were zero.

She will relay the message to Sekhmet, adding There *is* a large box. Of course, she doesn't actually want to make amends. Just put you off your guard in some way.

And then, already tired of listening to Sapphira, Spike walks away to look at the decorations in progress, and set down the other presents somewhere.

[bc56]

Devil and Monster

The gift isn't that big. About the size of a hatbox. Large enough Sapphira can't hold it in one hand. She watches Spike go with some uncertainty. That sort of gift isn't her thing. And it's not death that pleases her. She just sits tight and waits for Sekhmet to show up. She will come, Sapphira is sure of it. And she's lovingly picked out a gift, something she knows Sekhmet's always wanted. This will be the perfect time to try to connect with Sekhmet.

Ugh. Why did she think this was a good idea? The Thanksmas joy here is clouding her thoughts.

[Reinholdt]

The darkest dark corner being displaced and replaced with light sends its occupants scattering. One of which is about the size and shape of a young girl, maybe ten years of age. Though honestly, seeing anything under the cloak of darkness obscuring the monster's shadowy form is a challenge at best. Since the creature can't hide in the darkest corner, they hide in the darker corner instead. It's not as dark, and it's even worse with all the lights and cheer floating around, but it provides some relief at least while the creature examines the proceedings from the shadows.

******

In through the front door walks a catgirl with long flowing black hair juxtaposed with her even longer gothic black and red Thanksmas dress. Her most striking feature beyond her coal-like furred ears and tail must be her left eye - covered by some kind of cybernetic eye patch glowing with three circular dots. Held in her hands is an open umbrella which protects her head from some unknown phenomenon, certainly not the weather.

"Rejoice Peasants!" She declares confidently upon her entry, striding into the tavern. "For I, Raven Ebondark, has seen fit to gift you with my presence this holiday season so that you may personally enjoy knowing the Mistress you will be beholden to by this time next year! Preemptive tributes will be remembered." She accepts presents and/or cookies, even if they are gifted from the unwashed masses.

In the meantime, she'll need some place to sit. Ah-hah! That throne is perfect for her. She'll take her proper place there.

[Purple Eagle]

The darkest dark corner being displaced and replaced with light sends its occupants scattering. One of which is about the size and shape of a young girl, maybe ten years of age. Though honestly, seeing anything under the cloak of darkness obscuring the monster's shadowy form is a challenge at best. Since the creature can't hide in the darkest corner, they hide in the darker corner instead. It's not as dark, and it's even worse with all the lights and cheer floating around, but it provides some relief at least while the creature examines the proceedings from the shadows.

[Zarsha]

Zara arrives at Trog's Tavern, dressed in her standard getup of a long-sleeved black sweater, a long skirt that reaches up to her ankles, wrist beads covered by her long sleeves and simple black shoes. There's a difference in the choice of skirt she wears: it's red and has Thanksmas-inspired patterns on it.

Our perpetually-smiling green-eyed beauty with the wavy hair arrives here, apparently very excited. She skips and dances about the area, wishing everyone she can a happy Thanksmas. Her girlfriend Abi'd probably arrive soon, but until then it's up to her to find something to do! Her trained eyes pick up something in a dark corner! She skips over in that direction to investigate, only to find a shadowy young girl standing around and observing the proceedings.

Ah, this must be the girl residing in one of the dark and abandoned houses in GLoG, where Zara herself works. She's never managed to meet the girl despite working in GLoG for about a year now, but she's heard things about her. Her name is... what'd Karasu call it? Suzy? Shanna? Sasha?

Sasha! That's the one. Though considering she apparently doesn't speak, could she get away with calling her Suzy?

When she arrives within speaking distance, she stands and stares at the girl, her arms folded before her. No one speaks for about a minute, and Sasha might get the sense that she's being studied. Suddenly though, she clasps her hands and greets the shadow-girl. "Hello there, little one! This one is called Zara Ben Haim! You live in GLoG, yes? Zara works there as well. You are Suzy, yes? Would you like to join the celebration, Suzy?"

[Rebonack]

"Uh, hey," Paige says as the catgirl takes the throne. "The party hasn't officially started yet, but you can hang out there for now if you like? Do you mind moving your legs I've still got some ribbons to tie down there."

Obviously this peasant isn't aware of who she's speaking to! Hopefully Raven Ebondark is merciful.

Meanwhile!

Navvy looks confused as best he can. Dragon faces aren't SUPER expressive but he sure tries.

"Mom already decked the halls though, see?" Navvy points out, gesturing at the evergreen garlands and wreaths all over the place. "You're thinking like the song right? ~Deck the halls with bows of holly! ~Fa la la la LA la la la la! It's a real swell song, but that I think it just means hanging stuff. Mom likes hanging pine 'cuz it smells nice and there aren't any berries kids might try to eat. Human kids get sick if they eat holly berries."

Wouldn't want the kids to get sick after all.

"And golly, it isn't stalking. Stockings are big socks you put gifts in 'cuz that's what Nicholas the Thaumaturge did! Do you know about him? He's just aces there's a story and everything!" Navvy says, getting excited! He loves this story his mom has told him about it before.

Also Meanwhile!

A gaiad enters the tavern! It isn't any of the Plum Sisters. Nor is it Pepper. In fact, this gaiad might not immediately be recognized as one by people only familiar with them through the recent Buttercupocolypse. For one, she has normal human ears. For two, she has a pair of odd forward sloping, branching horns that looks like they're made of burnt wood. Her upper body is that of a dark haired nymph while her lower body is some sort of leggy, draconic creature made of black volcanic stone with molten fissures running through it. Here and there she's speckled with lime green crystals in a pleasing pattern. A single deep burgundy rose is tucked into her hair just above her left ear, the interior of the blossom glowing like a live ember.

She's wearing a gown that literally looks like it was woven together out of countless strands of green crystals strung through tiny vines. Which is probably exactly what it is. The dress reaches down to the elbows and knees of her lower body, featuring a train that parts for her tail. The gown is worn over a burgundy corset that does an excellent job of extenuating the nymph's most eye-catching features. There's a pretty good chance that she made the clothing herself. She's hot enough that buying fire-proof clothing on such a short notice is more impractical than just fashioning something with rose petals, peridote, and gossamer.

Rose, the gaiad of Brimstone Park has arrived!

Sapphira is spotted almost immediately and Rose comes very close to losing her nerves. Instead she goes trotting off in the opposite directing to find some random person to talk to.

[bc56]

Angel and Proto-Angel

"What? No! Decking is when you hit someone real hard, and they fall flat on their back, like blam!" Eao punches the air. "Who? What's a thaum-a-turj?" Eao asks.

Demon stuff

Someone pushes open the tavern door nervously. A six-horned head peers in, then Sekhmet walks in. She's got her wings neatly folded behind her and is wearing a warm sweater and a long skirt. Sapphira immediately gets up and begins slowly walking towards her as she lets Prumathe in behind her. Rose will no doubt see the family resemblance. They both have six horns, large batlike wings, barbed tails, pitch-black eyes, and red skin. But the younger devil has none of Sapphira's unrealistic figure, and also has a ball of fire floating between her largest horns and lines of metal beneath her skin. "Sekhmet! Merry Thanksmas!" "Merry Thanksmas, mother." Sapphira tries to hug Sekhmet, but gets pushed away. "Oh, do lighten up. I have a present for you! We got off on the wrong foot last time, so I wanted to make amends." Sekhmet looks to her husband. What does he think of this?

[5a Violista]

Venus also arrives. She's so early! Not everything is set up.

So, Venus has red hair and freckles. A dress on. No shoes. A wool hat that covers all her hair. And she also has deer ears. That's the only deer part of her, though. Definitely very human, she is. Got a bag that has a spooky doll in it, too. Venus kinda looks similar to June, too, if you know her. June can't come by, though, 'cause work.

She walks in the tavern. Wow, it has been a while since she has been here.

Since she's so early, she walks up and asks if she can help set things up.

[Rebonack]

Oh hey look at that!

Zee is being approached by a pair of faeries! Both gaiads, too. Both probably victims of the terrible horrible no good very bad Buttercupocolypse.

She has sympathy for them, she really does. It's too bad she can't do anything to help them... Though maybe they can do something to help her!

"Howdy!" Zee calls down from atop her ladder, waving at Rose and Venus. "Welcome to a Very Trog's Thanksmas! You two are pretty early, so I guess you wanted to help set up?"

Rose glances at Venus, then back at Zee. "I... guess? I don't really know that many people around the Nexus so I just brought some roasted nuts for snacks. I wouldn't know who to get gifts for or what to buy," she says, holding up the bowl of nuts she had roasted over her lava pit. The tinge of hellfire has made them a bit on the spicy side.

"That's fine! You can put them over on the table with the other munchies. And we've got the option of blind gift giveaways, too! You can just put those gifts under the Thanksmas Tree and then everyone can go grab one. If you felt like ducking out and grabbing a blind gift feel free since we've got plenty of time!" Zee says, waving at the table and tree in question. "Y'know actually we've got more stuff in the kitchen that needs to be brought out. Do you two want to grab it for me?"

Rose glances back at Sapphira and... is that Sekhmet? It has to be. "Sure, I can help bring out some more snacks," Rose says as she sets her bowl of nuts down on the snack table.

Meanwhile!

Navvy shakes his head. "No no, you got it all wrong. That's decking a PERSON. Decking the HALLS is something different," the wyrmling explains.

Language is confusing like that sometimes. Why use the same word for two different things when there are TONS of words that aren't used? Like sundleblep.

"They're humans that have got a special sort of magic that only mortals can use," Navvy replies. "And Nicholas used his to be REALLY SWELL! He made gifts for people and made sure that poor kids had food and all kind of really keen things! See, on a special day when it was really dark he would go around and give gifts to ALL THE CHILDREN in the WHOLE TOWN to teach them about generosity and kindness! He was so nice that people kept doing it even after he died and that's why we've got Nicholas' Day!"

[bc56]

Angel and Proto-Angel

Eao seems somewhat uninterested. "What about the fighting? The action?" Then she perks up when Navvy mentions gifts. "Ooh, can I get a gift? Or lots of gifts?" She looks around. "Where can I meet this Nicholas?"

[5a Violista]

What no look at her, Venus is totally a human, see? Look at her legs and you can't even see any flowers in her hair
...
But she does know Zee, having met her before. Venus looks different and isn't really going by June anymore initially because of that weird vampire stuff and that other stuff going on at the same time and then...well, long story. Maybe it's better to just pretend this is their first time meeting.

"Well, I just didn't really have anything else to do so I got here early," she says.
But,
She also can help. "Yeah. I can help take them out, too."

She goes to the kitchen to find some things to take out and turns to ask Zee if these things should go here or over there

While doing this and when she's by Rose, she turns to her and says, "Hi, I'm Venus. Your horns look nice."

[Rebonack]

Oh wow wait that's June? Oh, yeah, yep. June right there and there. Man, poor June. She managed to avoid getting fox masked and then she got Buttercup'd instead.

Anywho!

The kitchen is DEFINITELY full of great looking food. Though most of it is being kept warm in a great big heating table with a little sign on it reading: For the ThanksFeast do not put this out yet! But there are plenty of other things in here, too! Snacks, mostly. Snacks of all kinds. From the very simple to the rather extravagant. Rose picks up a tray of little golden brown pastry puffs covered in brie and cranberry. They smell amazing but Rose has already had the chance to learn her lesson about human food and faeries. It's pretty disappointing, really. She can take human food as offerings (tossed into her lava pit) but she can't just eat it herself.

Lame.

But that's when she notices another sign.

One of the tables of snacks is labeled 'faerie-safe'.

Oh wow. That's... actually pretty great?

She hasn't ever spent much time at Trog's, but this Zee person seems quite thoughtful.

"Thanks," she replies to Venus. "You must be Venus, right?"

There's that weird gaiad thing of always being able to pick out each other's names even when their hair flowers are being hidden. "I'm Rose, but you probably knew that already. Why are you covering up your ears?" a beat. "And what happened to your back legs, did you lose them?"

[5a Violista]

Venus nods.
Yeah, that is weird, especially with the whole 'knowing people's names' thing.

Venus looks around to check to see if anybody's listening.
Then, she leans in close to Rose and whispers: "Well...I heard from a..someone, that people were going around murdering people like us. And that the police were arresting us. Especially people who have more than one name."

She stops leaning close and her voice returns to normal. "So I made a trade, and then found a way to not stand out as obviously." Namely, the hat. She puts something on a table, and makes sure it's in a good place - aesthetically, and also in a good reaching distance, and around other things that you'd want to have with it. "So that's how, and that's what happened," she concludes, finishing off answering the questions.

[Earl of Purple]

Mishnehel

"Sure thing, Zee." The half-elf's feathered cape turns into- or maybe always was- a pair of large black-and-white feathered magpie wings, and she flies up to help apply things to the ceiling.

Zarsha

Abi does arrive! She's a pale-skinned half-elf, about fifteen, with short green hair tied back into a ponytail. Her eyes are currently blue, with some red mixed in. She's wearing white-and-red striped tights, a green skirt and a red Thanksmas jumper with a tree embroidered into the wool, with actual plastic baubles hanging from it. She's got odd earrings, silver or steel; her left ear has a zircon stud next to a silver-coloured bauble dangly, and her right ear has a candy-cane-shaped dangly ornament, a silver hoop near the top of her ear and a square stud near the candy-cane. She's carrying a little box, and looks around for her girlfriend.

Demon Stuff

Prumathe is wearing a pair of thick black trousers and a green jumper, with a pair of floppy fake antlers on his head. He frowns at Sapphira, thinking about the situation. "I don't trust the gift, whatever it may be. However, whatever it is... might provide some way of dealing with her in the future. The gift isn't for me, so... So I don't think I can tell you to accept or not. I think it's bad idea, but I will support you whatever choice you make." He'll put an arm around Sekhmet, and... has an idea for something he could have prepared to give Sapphira, but it's far too late now.

[Rebonack]

[Eao and Navvy]

"Yeah! Mom said that that everyone gets to put a gift under the Thanksmas tree/candelabra/new-years ball. Then later on during the party everyone gets to pick one! It's really keen you don't know what kind of gift you'll get it's a surprise," Navvy says. "I added my gift already."

But he's not going to tell Eao what it is.

That's a secret!

"Umm, I don't think there's any fighting during Thanksmas? Just singing and being friends and opening gifts. It's SUPER swell you'll like it," the bronze wyrmling insists. "Nicholas died a long time ago, but I guess some people call him Santa and so we have a Santa throne! A person sits on the throne and gives people gifts from the Santa bag if they've been good."

Have you been good, Eao?


[Rose and Venus]

Rose looks kind of guilty at the mention of murdering. She knows that what Alexandria was doing to the gaiads wasn't technically murdering people but it sure did kill all the goodness and joy in their hearts. They'll probably never have a merry Thanksmas again! And they won't even care.

"Well... I don't think people are doing that anymore," Rose says. "Intersection isn't arresting any gaiads unless they're doing bad things. And we're citizens of Inside just like everyone else. There were a few vigilantes but Intersection has put a stop to that pretty hard. I think we're safe."

She glances back toward Sapphira again.

Okay, yeah. Safe. It doesn't look like the fiend has recognized her.

"I've only been harassed a little bit but that might be because I've got a salamander bottom-half instead of a deer bottom-half. People might not realize I'm a gaiad."

Rose sets out a collection of condiments for chips to be dipped in. Everyone loves chips, right?

[bc56]

Demon Things

"You're my husband." Sekhmet replies. Sapphira visibly cringes at this news. Her daughter is married? Scandalous! "Anything that affects me, uh, affects you too." She holds out her hands and takes the gift gingerly. Black and red isn't a normal Thanksmas color, but Sapphira's not a normal Thanksmas gift-giver. "Fine, mother. I'll trust you this once." Sekhmet carefully unties the ribbon and opens the box. "What? It's just a piece of paper." She fishes the scrap of paper, no larger than a movie ticket, out of the comically oversized box. "It says, 'Free Makeover.' What?" But as soon as the word "makeover" leaves Sekhmet's mouth, there's a burst of magic from the paper. Sekhmet begins to change. She gets a little taller. Her figure fills out suddenly. Her silky black hair forces its way out of its ponytail and into an elegant, flowing mane framing her face with its high cheekbones, luscious lips, and deep, dark eyes. Her clothes evaporate, leaving her, for one mortifying instant, unclad, before reforming into a sexy santa dress matching the one Sapphira's wearing. Short skirt, low neckline, and all very showy. When all this is done, Sekhmet looks down at herself. An expression of shock on her beautified face, she covers her (significantly enlarged) bosom with both arms and shouts, "Mother!"

NavvEao

"But if everyone chooses at random, how will they get something they can use?" Eao is derailed by the mention of the throne and gifts associated with it. "Oh, oh! I've been good! Can we go get gifts now!?" Eao, the party proper hasn't even started yet. Have some patience.

[Earl of Purple]

Demon Things

Prumathe can't help himself- he smirks at Sapphira's reaction to the news of their wedding. It's petty, but it's good to see that it's upset her plans. Or just disgusted her; either works, honestly.

When the transformation occurs, Prumathe watches before looking at Sekhmet's face, and he doesn't look away even as her body and clothing changes. Well, he briefly does- he takes off his jumper to offer it to Sekhmet; underneath, he's wearing a plain black t-shirt. "Do you want this? Um, it doesn't have space for your wings."

[bc56]

Devil Things

Sekhmet looks like she wants to crawl out of her skin. She's looking around. Who's staring at her, is anyone staring at her? "Mother, you can't just..." "What's the matter? I know you've always wanted it. And you wear it so well." "But..." "I always meant for you to look this way. I just gave you what you were always supposed to have." Sekhmet just looks frustrated. She can't get a word in edgewise. When Prumathe starts talking to her, she focuses on him. He's focused on her face, not her... other things, and that helps her center herself. Although he'll probably notice even her face is affected by the change. She's simply effortlessly beautiful. Focused on Prumathe, Sekhmet manages to calm down a little. "No, I, uh, got it." She creates an illusion, with the hem of her dress lowered and the neckline raised. Now properly covered, she can stop thinking about all the eyes in the room and start thinking about other things. She hugs Prumathe. It feels... different. "You were right. I, uh, shouldn't have opened it. And you, Mother. What were you hoping to do here?" "I just wanted to make you happy." "No. I don't know what you wanted, but it wasn't that. I don't have a gift for you, but you don't deserve one. Prumathe, should we, uh, leave her?"

[Earl of Purple]

Devil Things

"Yes, I think we should." Prumathe smiles at Sekhmet, and puts his jumper back on, before turning to Sapphira. "I'd say it was lovely talking to you, but I'm afraid that would be a lie. Goodbye, please leave us alone." Prumathe is ready to leave now, guiding Sekhmet away. The two can make their own comments, though.

[Recaiden]

[Devil Things]

Looking around, Sekhmet can see that Spike was staring at her. The hiveling's illusion is fraying from distraction, and they are pointedly not focusing on their connection to the hive.
Indeed, when Spike notices Sekhmet noticing them noticing Sekhmet, they sort of hide behind the stack of gifts they're carrying.

[bc56]

Devil Things

"Fine." Sapphira disappears in a puff of smoke and reappears in a booth, an eggnog in her hand. Sekhmet and Prumathe pull aside. Sekhmet keeps glancing down at herself. She's got quite a figure now, and she's not quite comfortable with it. "Let's, uh, just try to have a good time and, uh, ignore it." She smooths out her skirts nervously, quite aware that all the skirt below the thigh is not real. She spies Spike watching her. That's a bit awkward. She's obviously trying to hide how she feels about Sekhmet's transformation. Spike, are you all right?

[5a Violista]

[Rose and Venus]

"I've heard it from several people so far, so...I'm probably going to just stay like this for a while longer," Venus tells Rose.

She returns to the kitchen to grab two more things, and bring them out.
Oh! That's Sekhmet! She's got to go over and thank her, but...
...she can see that Sekhmet's kind-of in a disagreement of some sort. Should probably wait until that's all over.
Venus puts those next few things on the table.

"So why are you a salamander?" she asks when Rose and her are together again. "I didn't know that was a thing that could happen."

[Recaiden]

You appear quite different. It is a ... surprise.
Spike takes a moment to stabilize their disguise and waves an illusory wing to beckon Sekhmet and Prumathe.
But, um...there are gifts for you two. Changing the subject! That'll help.

[Deathkeeper]

People arrive!

One is a very pink dragon with lavender fluff on her underside and pink glasses. She's hoping to find a certain someone again this year. But what are the odds that he'll be here? Not very high. But a dragon has to try sometimes, right? Maybe she'll look around the gifts.

In addition, G'nichi arrives looking for his friends Kara and Navvy. He brought presents for the children. Navvy might as well be his brother at this point. And Kara well, he owes her a lot. A lot. Oh, are they talking to other friends already? He can wait a little bit. Maybe check in with Zee again while he's there.

[Rebonack]

[Eao and Navvy]

"Golly, sis, just wait a little!" Navvy replies, exasperated. "You have to wait until the REAL party starts! We're still just decorating. You'll know once the party starts for REAL because someone will sit in the Santa throne."

Then he glances over at the Santa throne which is currently occupied by a catgirl.

"Umm... someone will sit in the throne while wearing the Santa hat? She hasn't got one."

The hat is very important.


[Rose and Venus]

Rose, likewise, fetches some more snacks! This time around they're two plates of little disks of baked sweet potato with a roasted marshmallow and a pecan perched atop it. They smell sweet, sticky, and absolutely heavenly. One tray goes to each of the tables. Really, it's nice that the hostess is making sure the Nexus' recent influx of faeries can enjoy the ThanksFeast, too.

"If that makes you feel safe, then it makes you feel safe," Rose concludes. And... that's a good question, too. Why DOES she have a salamander for a butt instead of a deer? "I think any gaiad can have an elemental lower half instead of an animal one. Maybe we're mostly the same since we all used to be Buttercup? I rooted in a lava-filled caldera instead of a garden, so I guess my body just changed to match when I manifested? I guess maybe I could try looking into it? I really doesn't know a lot about faerie magic works. I, ah, mostly studied infernal magic."


[Post Devil-Things]

Once she's done moving food to the snack table Rose will duck outside for a few minutes before coming back in with a Thanksmas gift in a box large enough to contain a big candle. She sets the rather heavy package under the Thanksmas tree. She's glad Zee mentioned the white elephant gifts to her. That's a really fun, festive party game.

Oh no time is already getting twisty in here. Zee is going to be annoyed.

Rose is going to be keeping an eye on Sekhmet, waiting for that opportune moment when she's alone and Sapphira's attention is elsewhere. And when that moment comes? Rose will trot over to the rather uncomfortable looking fiendish woman. What's she going to say. How's she going to start this in a way that doesn't sound like a trap Sapphira is setting up? ESPECIALLY since there's a whiff of hellfire on Rose thanks to... well. Everything. She's really hoping Charcoal at least started barfing outside the park grounds instead of into the caldera. There had better not be MORE hellfire pyres when she gets back.

"Hello, you're Sekhmet right?" asks the gaiad as she approaches the demon. "You don't know me, but I know a little about you. And... more about your mother. Unfortunately. She did sometime to me and a friend of mine and someone told me that you might be able to undo it."


[THE FLOOF!]

Hey look here comes a pooka. A woolly, leggy little creature that looks like a cross between a cat, a lamb, and a calf with a great big long tail ending in a little swirly pomph. A literal black sheep. He's wearing a silly looking Thanksmas sweater featuring lots of flying sheep pulling Santa's sleigh. Three guesses where he got the wool for the sweater from. He comes bouncing into the Tavern and heads straight for the Thanksmas tree, depositing a wrapped gift box under it because he's a good Thanksmas guest who remembered to bring the white elephant gift.

Once the box has been treed?

He sits down on his haunches watches the door. Where's Isaac? If Isaac doesn't show up after Lucas lost that bet and had to come to the party woolly he's going to be annoyed. Though, frankly, the real reason he's here is that he's hoping to meet that cute girl with the pink hair again. She was at the last Thanksmas party so maybe she'll be here, too? Sure it's a long shot but maybe worth a try?

[Deathkeeper]

The FLOOF

Oh! That looks like that jerk of a fairy who tried to help Gara last year but did it in the shiftiest way possible and almost made her lose her chance to help Rey!
And Gara remembers that when he poofed he left Lucas behind. Maybe they know each other? Maph looked a little different and was wearing all sorts of shiny things.

Gara slips a little box by the tree behind him.
"Um. Hi. Do you uh. Kind of. Um. Do you know someone named Lucas?" asks Gara with her customary bluntness.

[bc56]

Foxy Christmas

The Santa-hatted fox trots over to the tree and deposits a small gift there. It was attached to her collar with a little clip she could easily remove with her teeth.

Then she trots over to Zee. "Hey Zee. I need to talk to you." Who is that... Jade? Since when is Jade a fox? "It's about faerie things." Uh oh, that's serious. Jade shifts back and forth on her paws nervously. She doesn't feel good about talking to an empyrean about this. What if Zee snaps and kills her?

Later Devil Things

Sekhmet stares at Rose. "Uh, what?" Then she looks closer. "Ugh. You've got a, uh, lot of her essence swirling around in there." She looks at Rose again. "How, uh, do I know I can trust you?" The salamander lady smells very strongly of Sapphira's fiendish power. She could be a warlock. Or some kind of lesser devil created to deceive Sekhmet.
But nothing harmful can be done at the party, right? Presumably, that means one can't lure someone else out of the party to do harm to them, because that would also be harmful. If that would work, why didn't Sapphira just grab Sekhmet as she was coming in?
Rose has some sense for these things, so she can likely sense the corrupt power in Sekhmet, far more than she has. Could someone this corrupt really hold the key to removing corruption from her? Wouldn't she have done it to herself already? Sekhmet's hellfire is a bit different though, not as greasy or smoky, with hints of burning coal and hot steel.

[WindStruck]

And then Solstice is here! Wait, no... was she always here?

Absolutely beautiful, to the point of looking unnaturally so. Solstice appears to be a girl in her young teens with a slight, slender body and fragile, spindly limbs. She has long fiery-red hair similar to the color of carrots, which cascades down to her thighs with some slight curls. She has fair porcelain skin, and emerald-green eyes with feline-like irises. Her face holds a number of appealing features, such as thin eyebrows, a straight and relatively narrow nose, and exquisite lips: not too thin nor too thick. Her fingers are long, dexterous, and delicate.

She's currently wearing some minty green silk robes. They are similar to her other robes, but just better in general: exquisite, sheer, and delicately embroidered with intricate floral designs. It's reminiscent of pleasant Summer mornings and breezes and springtime foliage. The gossamer fabric is extremely light and appears to be more like something you'd lounge around home in, as opposed to wizard robes or adventuring gear. Nevertheless, she's here. At a Thanksmas party in Trogs. Also some dainty sandals with a few small, decorative gems adorn her feet.

It's so strange. Almost like the entire tavern shifted! Wait, there wasn't a party here before, and all this.. you know what? never mind. Don't question it!

Solstice had a box in her arms. It was full of wreaths. And people were already coming! Somehow she was already late decorating for this party, but she began to look for some nice places to hang up the wreathes. It's not like there was much available space to put them up, but regardless, not just any blank space would do! It was all about aesthetics and how all the decorations were distributed.. what seemed most pleasing to the eye?

In any case, there were already people coming in, chatting. A dull murmur of various voices was mixing incoherently with the soft Thanksmas music. Oh, hey. Zee got that problem fixed already? Out of all the people chatting and bustling about, only Raven Ebondark seemed to really catch Solstice's attention for now, though she didn't know what she was on about.

Wow, this was weird. It almost felt like Solstice was working at Trogs! ..almost.

[Recaiden]

[Arrivals]

A bunch of dragons arrive.
Four are quite small, one is sort of medium-sized, and one is disguised as a human in a santa outfit.

Two of the little ones, the pair with black scales and red eyes, they gambol over to Raven Ebondark.
The one in the lead cries out "Are you Santa? You've gotta be since you're on santa's throne, right? I want a present!"

The medium-sized one, Sandstone, flies up into the rafters. To admire the decorations?

And Cleo, the human-looking one, she slides a present in a bag underneath the tree for the gift exchange.

[Rebonack]

[The FLOOF!]

This pooka looks pretty mischievous. All pookas do. But he looks WAY less mischievous than the hedley kow. That isn't saying much, though. Being less of a pest than the King of Pookas is a pretty low bar. Just for example? When he looks at Gara he doesn't have that 'I am absolutely up to something' grin on his little face. Mostly because it is more of a 'oh no' sort of face.

Does he know this person?

Those sort of fox like ears and that absolutely dorky scrub brush tail definitely reminds him of Gara. Gara already knows that he's... unusual. So if this IS Gara then letting her know that he's Lucas would be okay right?

"Depends," the pooka replies. The smart thing to say next would be, 'are you Gara?' because then the question would be answered and that would be that. Problem is, when Lucas is pooka-shaped his mind is also pooka-shaped which means he will more often than not do and say things that are pretty pooka-shaped.

Such as?

"Should I know someone named Lucas?" he asks, now perched atop Gara's head and peering down at her from his superior vantage point. Ugh. Why did he do that? Now everything is going to be all weird if this IS Gara. Stupid pooka-brain having to turn everything into a game.


[Foxy Thanksmas]

Zee blinks.

Wait a sec.

Why is Jade a fox?

Why does she want to talk about faerie... things.

Oh.

Ooooooh no. No way.

Zee's eyes narrow. "You better have a pretty great reason why I shouldn't boot you out of here for eating my friend."

Ugh. Kumiho are terrible. One hundred percent the worst. Any monster that eats people and steals their identity is terrible in Zee's book. She felt about the same way about the skinwalkers. But this IS Thanksmas, so she's gotta give this face-stealing monster the benefit of explaining herself.


[Post Devil Things]

Well... Ananias DID say that Sekhmet was both profane and sanctified. Maybe Rose just can't feel the sanctified part? If it turns out that Sekhmet can't help Rose and Charcoal she'll just have to find someone else that can. The Nexus is a big place, after all. And there are a LOT of really nice people who live here.

"I know I do," Rose admits. "I was caught up in the Buttercupocolypse, but your mother found a way to turn the Buttercups into devils. I agreed to let her do it to me if she promised not to corrupt any more of my friends, but I was so twisted up after 'cured' me that I didn't care what happened to my friends. I actually LIKED it when she tortured them and turned them into devils," Rose says, tears welling up her in her eyes. "She turned all my kindness and joy into cruelness and spite. But... there was still a little Buttercup left. Enough for it to sprout and grow stronger. That's me, Rose. So while Alexandria the tiefling is asleep I'm trying to find a way to remove the stain your mother left on my soul."

Then she takes a deep breath and reaches into her fannypack to pull out a small wrapped jewelry box and holds it out for Sekhmet to take.

"I know that you can help me. And other faeries like me that your mother has corrupted," Rose says. "And the reason I know-"

Should Sekhmet open it she'll find a pendant with a small lime green crystal in a bronze setting, a string of what looks like delicately woven rose vines strung through it. Inside the gem is a small lock of dark brown hair.

"-is because your father told me so."

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

"Because I didn't? Another kumiho ate me and stuck a mask on me to get at one of my friends," Jade explains, "And because I'm trying to get a cure and go back to being just regular Jade, a human." Does Zee believe this ravenous evil monster in the guise of a cute fox that happens to also sort of be her friend?

Post Devil Things

"That's horrible! That sounds, uh, like something she would do." Sekhmet replies. Then Rose gives her the jewelry box. Sekhmet opens it, sees the locket, and stares, dumbfounded. "My father is dead." She's never met her biological father, but she knows he was a high-ranking cultist of her mother. She knows that she can get one of the Hive's weavers to confirm whether the hair actually comes from her father or not later. But on the assumption that it's real, this is an actual thoughtful gift. That means there's no way Sapphira's behind this. Sekhmet fastens the pendant around her neck, right next to her other necklace, the one with the nickel shooting star emblem she always wears. "I can try to help you and your friend, but, uh, I'm not very experienced."

[Deathkeeper]

The Floof

Gara’s ears turn to face the pooka but she doesn’t throw him off. Mostly because throwing around fluffy critters isn’t in the spirit of Thanksmas.
But that might change if he pulls at her fins.
”Well, you look exactly like someone I met last year who knew someone named Lucas. And if you knew him he might have told you not to play games with me. People who do tend to lose.” She says that less threateningly and more proudly because she is very proud of both that joke and her arcade champion status.

[Rebonack]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

See!

Evil!

Right there! And only sort of her friend.

Definitely something fishy going on.

"Even IF I believed you," Zee says, wagging an admonishing finger at the fox. "There's no way to be cured of being a faerie. It eats the victim's body up and replaces it with dream stuff."

Hmm.

Maybe she doesn't know about the Icon thing? That's definitely possible. There are many things that Zee doesn't know.


[Post Devil Things]

"No, he's alive. But I think he wanted to be dead. He begged me to kill him but I... I couldn't do it," Rose admits, her eyes falling to the ground. "He talked about how your mother is using him. He... wasn't very coherent. Practically a lunatic. But he cared about you. He told me to find you. And how special you are. And to protect you, if I can. I'm not really sure how much help I would be, though."

Rose offers her best reassuring smile.

"He seemed to think I could help you. And that you could help me. That we could help each other! He had some uncanny insights if you could pick them out through the gibberish."

There was lots of gibberish.

"I'm rooted over at Brimstone Park. There's a pyread there named Charcoal that your mother corrupted, too," Rose explains without talking about where she found poor Charcoal. "She's becoming more and more like a succubus. I don't know if removing the corruption will reverse the changes or just stop them, but sooner would be better than later."

It sounds like Rose is asking Sekhmet to slip away from the party with her.

This couldn't be a trap, could it?


[The FLOOF!]

The pooka flops over atop Gara's head, his little legs dangling on either side.

"Sorry! Sorry... It's just pooka things. I have to be a nuisance," he admits. Gara may be able to tell this is taking a bit of effort on the pooka's part not to be a cryptic little beasty and turn everything into some sort of prank-filled game. "You're Gara, right? The girl from the party last year? I'm... I'm Lucas. The real Lucas. I'm an awful little black sheep."

She will probably hate him now.

Forever.

Since she hates annoying prankster fae.

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

C'mon, Zee, the narrator was being sarcastic. Can't you tell? Jade's not really evil.

"Huh. I thought you would've known." Jade smiles foxily at Zee. "You're wrong. It's not easy, but it's doable. You wouldn't happen to have any icons of Hyle lying around, would you?"

Post Devil Things

Sekhmet looks back and forth. She shoots a quick telepathic message to the Hive telling them to keep an eye on her and have backup ready in case it is a trap. Then she sends another to Prumathe telling him exactly what she's doing and where she's going, and that she'll be back soon. "I'll, uh, come help you. If I can." Sekhmet follows Rose out of the party towards Brimstone Park.

[Rebonack]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

Zee is really bad at detecting narrator sarcasm.

Okay, so, that reply kind of surprises Zee. They just need an icon? That's all? But she very specifically remembers a few things from her human life before and among those was being told that once someone is consumed by the fae they're gone forever. If they just need a matter-aligned Icon then why wouldn't...

An expression of intense anger briefly flashes across Zee's face. White hot rage. But just as quickly it's gone, replaced by that cheerful smile.

"I think I get it. The Watchers COULD cure people. But they would rather use Icons to make cool magic items instead of saving randos," she summarizes.

...does that mean it might be possible to somehow undo apotheosis?

No way.

Definitely not.

"I don't have any laying around here. That would be irresponsible. They're dangerous. It would be like leaving high level radioactive waste just sitting out in the open," Zee says. "But if you go to the Shrines at any of the places I've fed you could find one at the top. I just feed waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-"

*deep breath*

"-aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay out in the middle of nowhere to make sure I don't hurt anyone. If you've got a map of Outside I could show you the spots."

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

Jade laughs. "Do I look like I have a map on me? I'll stop by later when I'm less quadrupedal." She doesn't look like she has a map on her. She looks like a cute red fox. With a Santa hat.

[Rebonack]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

No map?

NO MAP!?

Well that isn't going to do at all, will it?

Zee raises a single finger in a 'hold on a moment' gesture and hurries off behind the counter to fetch-!

A child's coloring place-mat!

Children who come to Trog's with their families for dinner usually get one. It's got a maze, and a crossword puzzle, and some riddles, and the kid's menu on one side! And its blank on the other.

Zee flips it over and begins drawing on the back with a crayon.

"Okay, so, here's Inside. Here's Riverside. Here's Mount Improbable. Way over here are the neon geysers. So you go due north from there until you get to the big valley surrounded by mountains. I've been chewing that place up for the last few months so there are probably dozens of Shrines there by now."

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

"Okay. North of the neon geysers, surrounded by mountains. Valley full of unnatural alien terrain." Jade's been to a place where Zee had fed before, and it wasn't pleasant. "I'm going to have a group of other faeries who want to turn back with me. We're hoping to collect a whole bunch of icons to help the Buttercup victims."

[5a Violista]

[Rose and Venus]

Venus brings out some spiced watermelon.
Oh, it looks so good. Definitely mouth-watering, she thinks.

"Oh. I don't really know that much about it, either," Venus says.

A lava-filled caldera? That's got to definitely feel weird, she thinks. "When I'm not at work, I've been hanging out in an old run-down church," she says, talking about her own garden. "Looks like it was abandoned long ago, so it's got trees and flowers growing inside. Very overgrown, so nobody goes there. Just me, and this doll." She gestures at the spooky doll sitting in her bag.

[Earl of Purple]

Devil Things

Prumathe will go towards Spike. He doesn't trust the Hive, either, but at least feels they have something resembling Sekhmet's interests at heart. And a gift is more likely to be useful and less likely to be horrific, too.

The White Elephant Tree

At some point, Prumathe breaks away from Sekhmet- possibly whilst she's out with Rose- to put a soft, squishy gift under the tree.

Abi also puts a gift under the tree, a shoebox sized parcel wrapped in metallic blue paper.

Mishnehel also leaves a gift under the tree, a very small box wrapped in brown packing paper.

[Deathkeeper]

The FLOOF

Gara responds to this incredible revelation by tipping her nose down to deposit Lucas onto the floor.
And then curling up like a fox, inflicting upon Lucas the full force of her soft yet bristly tail-fluff.
"And I'm a dragon princess, but you don't see me complaining about it. You have to own these things, Lucas! Especially when you're so soft and fluffy."
Oh no now the dragon is tickling him with her nose. But that's what you get for being the avatar of the Hedley-Kow, Lucas. You quite literally have the dreamiest, fluffiest coat. No one can resist that.

Solstice

Solstice is approached by a very large, very muscular dragon-like fellow in a red flannel and green glasses. His scales are mostly bronze with swirls of silver. He bears a striking resemblance to Zee's son Navvy, if Solstice has met him.
"Hello, Miss. Are you picking up a shift here? You wouldn't happen to have seen Navvy, would you? Small bronze dragon, one of Zee's?" He's pretty sure he saw Kara talking to someone before.

[Rebonack]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

Zee's really conflicted here. On the one hand she knows that trusting a kumiho is dumb. They're dangerous, malicious liars. On the other, she doesn't want to believe that her friend was killed. Even IF Jade was eaten... This kumiho is identifying herself by Jade's name. That means she considers herself Jade. That means if the Icon works and Jade's material body is rebuilt then...

Well.

Regardless of who or what this kumiho was. Whether it really WAS Jade and she got fox-masked or whether it was just a wild-fox who ate Jade and is now being gaslighted by the Dreamheart the outcome would be the same.

She would be Jade once she's got her physical body back.

The totally normal barmaid sighs, closing her eyes. A small smile tugs at the corners of her mouth.

Then she stoops down to scoop Jade up and begin petting her.

This is what you get for being a fox, Jade! You're going to get pet!

"I really hope it works. The fae have upended a lot of lives."


[Rose and Venus]

Rose looks at the indicated doll.

Wow is it ever spooky.

Why is Venus carrying that thing around with her, anyway? Is the soul of her little sister trapped in it or something? Rose decides that maybe it would be best not to ask about it.

"An old church sounds like a really nice place for a garden," Rose decides. "Once I'm feeling better, I think I'll stroll around Inside and see how many gaiad gardens I can find. They'll probably look really pretty and it would be fun to see how many people like us there are. Oh! And I might meet someone who has an elemental bottom half like me, too."

Technically the gaiads all have an elemental bottom half. They've got leaves growing in their fur and hooves made of stone. They just tend to lean more on the animal side of things since that's how Buttercup worked.


[The FLOOF!]

Lucas is flopped onto the floor and then cuddled!

Oh no! The cute girl that he likes it touching him! OH NO he touched HER first!

Now he's not sure what to do!

Quick Lucas! Say something clever and witty! Impress her with your charm!

Lucas manages to make an adorable bleating sound and that's about it.

[bc56]

Devil Things

Sekhmet joins Spike and Prumathe, happy for the distraction from her altered physique. But she's still obviously uncomfortable. She walks very stiffly, obviously trying her hardest to avoid putting anything that could be interpreted as a sexy sway into her movements. Even though she's covered them with illusion, she still has her hands up to ward eyes off her breasts. She's hoping the Hive didn't get her something as weird and unpleasant as Sapphira did, but that's a low bar.

Foxy Thanksmas

Jade is held and petted! She obviously likes that. Her tail is wagging and her mouth is wide open in a fox smile. "I hope so. I have a few friends who were Buttercupped and would like to go back. And there are hundreds more. I'm afraid the demand will be far greater than the supply." She gives a barking laugh. "I never thought I'd ask you this, but could you maybe feed more?"

[Deathkeeper]

The FLOOF

Gara starts giggling madly. Her tail flicks over Lucas again. He was probably pretty well-kempt for Thanksmas but that giant scrub-brush tail isn't just for show. It makes everything squeaky clean. And bubbly. And smelling kind of like strawberry and bubblegum shampoo.
"I hope that wasn't a 'please stop' noise. Because I can stop if you want. Oh, uh, I guess you were expecting small-me, huh?" Gara came full size today because the kids really like the big pink dragon in glasses.

[WindStruck]

Solstice was just finishing hanging a wreath. Three more to go!

She turns to the large burly dragon that speaks to her. "Navvy? I do not know that person, er, dragon, no."

She turns back to fluff out the needles of the wreath and adjust it slightly. "I am just helping decorate. I think to say I have a 'shift' here would not be correct.."

[Rebonack]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

You know what happens next?

More petting. That's what.

Who's a fluffy little fox? Who's a cutie wootie? You are!

The sheer volume of people who have been twisted by the Dreamheart is a topic that weighs heavily on Zee. She hates it when people are changed like that. It happened to her, after all. Just from a different source. It's the reason she's so harsh toward Libra. It's why she's so careful herself to avoid corrupting others.

But most of the faeries that can do that to people?

They just don't care. It's all a game to them.

...okay yeah it is technically a game to Zee as well but it is one that she takes seriously.

"I don't think that's a good idea. I pace myself carefully because I don't want to cause too much harm to the world. The more I take the more the Dreamheart may feel justified in corrupting big chunks of the Nexus like what happened Inside."


[The FLOOF!]

Lucas gets scrubbed before he can object!

Oh no, this is terrible and embarrassing he's such a loser.

By the time Gara is done Lucas bears a humorous resemblance to a black marshmallow with legs. He wobbles a little unsteadily.

"Y-yeah, that's what I was expecting. I don't normally like going out places pooka-shaped but I lost a bet with Isaac."

Wonder what the bet was?

[Recaiden]

[Sekhmet things, no devils]

Spike works on maintaining the (literal) illusion of someone who is just full of holiday cheer, and not someone who has just realized that their friend Sekhmet is very sexy and is upset with how inappropriate that is to even think.
"For Prumathe."
First he gets a little box about the size to hold a fancy watch. It has air holes poked in the top and the label has a little picture that indicates it's from the queen. When opened, it will turn out to be a vox, one of the hive's little living communication devices, along with a note on use and care-and-feeding.
Second he gets a long heavy package, whose labels says it's from Spike. This one turns out to be an antique silver sword. Once weilded by a real paladin, although there's no explanation of that.

"For Sekhmet."
There is a tremendously large and heavy package, square base and relatively tall, with lots of ribbon. Like Prumathe's, it has air holes poked in the side and is from queen Aaiesi. It contains a mysterious cocoon, and the impression that "It's all yours, Sekhmet".
Next there's a flat soft box that's from the other marquesses together. "If you need to, just take that one back to a hive cluster and they'll fix it up." It's a streamlined flight suit like the marquesses have, sized and detailed for Sekhmet's taller, more-on-fire body. But now that she's looking so different, it probably won't fit.
And finally there's a little box that rattles a bit, which is from Spike (although they had help making it). This one is an amulet with a thin crystal rhombus at the center. It can turn someone invisible for a little while, just like the Stalkers do.

"Uh, merry Thanksmas!?"
Although the concept is sound in some circumstances, they have no practice giving gifts. Even Sophia never got up to it much.

[Morty]

As is the case every year, the Thanksmas area is full of wolves. Adult wolves, young wolves and clumsy-pawed pups. They wander around, offering pets and cuddles to all who want them. They all belong to Dipsnig Razortooth, the CEO of MERC, and how or why the cranky goblin agrees to bring them here each year is a mystery of Thanksmas magic.

[5a Violista]

[Rose and Venus]

That would be weird if the soul of her little sister was trapped in it. Luckily, June would be able to see if there actually was, but because she's trapped in a painting plot at the moment she hasn't had the chance to actually look at it yet.

"Yeah! Maybe," she says. "You can't be the only one."
Since most of the food is out, Venus looks around to make sure everything is put in good places. "I haven't really gone around looking at all of them. Or, any of them, really. Mostly, just been doing my own thing, I guess."

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

Jade is a cute fluffy fox! She just soaks up the attention. "Sort of a tit-for-tat thing? That sucks. There's got to be a good way to mass-produce these things." She's definitely Jade, no doubt about it. Always thinking about science and engineering and whatnot."

Sekhmet things.

Sekhmet takes her gifts graciously. She's not sure about the cocoon, and she immediately sends to the Queen about it. Uh, thank you. What's in it? The flight suit gets a much more positive reaction, as Sekhmet holds it up and gets a feel for the material. "Oh, it's wonderful!" Perfect for flying in, much better than the dresses she normally wears. "Tell them I said thank you!" And then she opens Spike's gift. Wow, the amulet is beautiful. And magic too, she can feel it. She hangs it around her neck beside her holy symbol. "Thank you Spike! I love it!" Then she gives Spike a hug, before searching through her own set of gifts. "Here, this is for you." She hands Spike a small box. Inside is a steel necklace with a pendant cast in the shape of a Hound on it. Sekhmet made it herself.

[Deathkeeper]

The FLOOF!

Well whatever the bet was it probably wasn't Isaac's offer to go as an elephant, because he does that all the time anyway.
"That doesn't sound very nice. Well, tell you what. You've seen most of my shapes. I'll use whichever one you want for this party. And I won't tell you friend if you do the same."

[Rebonack]

[Post-Post-Devil Things]

Oh hey look, here comes Rose again! She's looking a bit more devil-y than before with a notable spade tip on her tail and pair of devilsh wings growing from the shoulders of her lower body.

Also?

Sekhmet is draped over her, unconscious.

Should anyone approach looking concerned she'll explain, "I think it's just magical exhaustion. She needs some time to recover."

Rose will be heading for a sufficiently large booth to lay Sekhmet down in. Hopefully Sapphira doesn't come zipping over to start causing trouble. Rose would really avoid some sort of confrontation. Mostly because it might result in Rose being killed later and Rose would really like to remain un-killed for the foreseeable future.

Isn't that how most people feel?

Rose sure thinks so. She'll be fussing over Sekhmet, trying to come up with a good idea for feeding her magic to aid in her recovery.


[Rose and Venus]

That's too bad. June should see about not being trapped in a painting anymore.

"I've mostly been doing my own thing, too," Rose says with a nod without getting into too much detail what her own thing is. "That's what most of the gaiads have been doing, surely. The Buttercupocolypse really up-ended lives for better or for worse."

Mostly better? Mostly worse? That remains to be seen.

"I wouldn't mind seeing your church some times. I could show you my giant boiling lava pit too, if you want."


[A Very Foxy Thanksmas]

"Sorta, yeah. Dunno whether the Dreamheart is actually AWARE like that but it sure feels like it is sometimes," Zee admits. "I guess I could... technically... pull them out of myself. I'm a seraphim so... yeah. They don't grow back, though. It would be like giving away kidneys. Not fun, even if you've got a bunch of spare kidneys. I don't know if I would be able to survive giving up enough to help everyone. It's a little piece of me each time."

Ouch.

That sounds bad.

But Zee is still willing to suggest it, even though it would diminish her.


[The FLOOFbegone]

"Well, the bet didn't TECHNICALLY say how long I had to stay like this. Just that I had to go to the party like this," Lucas admits before FWUFF!ing up hilariously like a giant poofy ball of wool. Then he sort of... pulls his sweater back down over the floof ball and there he is, awkward looking teen.

He rubs the back of his neck lamely.

"I... uh... I think you really really pretty when you're human," he says, blushing like an idiot. "Not, not that I think you're ugly like that! You look... cute?"

[bc56]

Post post devil things

Sekhmet is pretty out of it. The illusion which was making her dress look far more modest than it actually is is gone, and she's just comatose, sprawled in the booth. If Rose wants to recharge her friend's magic, she might have to leverage her new fully-fledged devilish nature. It's probably unlikely that Sekhmet can take fae power.

Foxy Thanksmas

"Maybe don't tear yourself apart on my behalf? Just tell me after you feed so my friends and I can clean up the pieces." Jade isn't sure how all this works. "You do have to feed, right? It's not just something you choose to do?"

[5a Violista]

[Rose and Venus]

It's okay, getting trapped in paintings is just practice for any possible future dungeons that are Mario 64-inspired.

"Yeah, I suppose." Buttercupocolypse? That's a pretty funny name for whatever had happened.

"It's pretty nice!" Venus says about her church. "Still in the process of clearing it up, but it's over towards the docks." She says what street it's on, and how to get there from the Black Dragon's Den which is a pretty recognizable nearby landmark. "I'd love to check out your lava pit," Venus adds. But, with only a bit of concern, she adds, "But I heard lava can get kind-of hot." She's not sure if she wants to catch on fire yet.

[Rebonack]

[Post-Post-Devil Things]

Oh. Right. Both Sekhmet and Rose probably draw power from Lethal Lava Land, don't they? Rose honestly isn't sure what the place is actually called, that's just the name that sprung into her head because it's a fun alteration to cut the existential horror a bit. Usually direct magical transfusions are REALLY tricky, but given that Rose and Sekhmet are both using the same power source?

Honestly this sort of magical exhaustion is nasty. Normally warlocks learn QUITE fast what their own limits are. If you start over-channeling then you're converting your own vitality into the same otherworldly fuel as your power source. That can have a range of side-effects along the spectrum from bad to really bad. Filling that magical void again can help work off the exhaustion. And since both of them have fellfire in their veins?

Well, Rose hasn't been doing any spellwork tonight. Just a little bit of redecoration of her garden. Which means she's got plenty of infernal juice to spare.

She'll start off slow, placing her hands on Sekhmet and trying to channel a bit of infernal power into her. If Sekhmet responds positively she'll increase the flow slightly. She knows better than to fire-hose her new friend. Power needs to be fed slowly so the body can acclimate it.

As Rose uses her magic the blossoms and crystals dotting her hair and body light up with internal fire as her underbelly begins glowing with heat. Thankfully her magic is such that she doesn't just ignite everything around her. That would be really awkward.

"Come on, Sekhmet, wake up. You're missing the party," Rose whispers.


[Venus and Rose]

Hey maybe June and Rose could discuss their Mario 64 themed adventures since Rose visited Lethal Lava Land recently! Or at least that's what she was calling it.

"Oh, your garden is down by the waterfront then?" Rose says, likely imagining a much more romantic local than it actually is. The Den isn't exactly in the nice part of the waterfront. "I've been working on my garden, too. Mostly adding climbing roses since they're my flower and making it a little more hospitable to visitors. Oh! And I'm going to try adding some thermal water features. I'll need to divert a few underground streams but that should be easy. Then the water gets heated up by the magma chamber and vola! Instant hot springs! I'll make sure that most of them are cool enough for visitors to bathe in but I'm definitely going to keep at least one boiling spring for myself."

Boiling springs are objectively the best if you are heat proof and don't have to worry about getting cooked like a lobster in a pot.

"The whole park isn't lava. The lava just features prominently."

Hmm.

It seems like they've gotten all the snacks set out, then?

Rose snatches a faerie-safe fairy-cake and eats it. Hmm... pumpkin flavored with cream cheese dressing.


[Foxy Thanksmas]

"I would rather not tear myself apart," Zee admits. "And will do! I can definitely point you toward feeding grounds. I'm trying to mostly keep things in one area-ish. That big mountain valley has been just great. Not a single person has seen me out there. Just let me know when you're planing on heading out and I can make sure I don't pop in while you and your friends are question."

Zee is a very thoughtful arcane terrorhorror.

"Yeah, I have to eat. So long as I'm here, anyway. Don't really have to when I'm in the Empyrean but I don't grow there, either," Zee explains. "Which makes the Empyrean preeeeeety dull. Nothing there really changes. If you want change you gotta play the game! Even saying that I eat stuff is... I guess it's an okay analogy? It becomes part of my purpose but it's not like, you know-"

She picks up a handful of peanuts out of ones of the bar-bowls and tosses them in her mouth.

"Om nom chewin' things up," she says before swallowing the nuts. "I ate big patches of that forest but they're still there. Just weird and more like me now."

[Lord Magtok]

A Bad Banana With A Greasy Black Peel

Magtok hates this tavern. The hate has softened over the years, and knowing that Zee more or less runs the place these days makes it a lot harder to cling to such distaste and vitriol, but even now, even in the Thanksmas season, he can't help but look around and see all the ugly, awful, unpleasant memories of this place, the hatred and discontent that clung to his back like a cape all those many years ago. He was such an awful person once, and this was such an awful tavern. He shoots a cold glare towards the staircase leading to what was once a completely separate thread, wondering if his many enemies ever felt regret before getting tugged away into the void. Maybe some of them, perhaps. Maybe if he'd been the one to fade out of the Nexus and they stayed, a few of those enemies might've even achieved some measure of peace and contrition over the years, much as we have. It's hard to say, honestly. Most of our enemies have been absolute scum, but when you look back at what we were before, the atrocities we could so easily commit and condone...if we could change, who's to say Idiotarum never would've? Maybe Marciano and Calublufiok could've found peace, if they had an entire century in a stupid stinky cave to reflect on their ways? It's too late to know now, but maybe they all had the same potential to change, and Magtok (and I guess Reinholdt) were the only lucky ones? Maybe this would be a good time of year to reflect on how blessed we truly are?

Food for thought, I guess. Magtok walks in, carrying in an absurdly large gift-wrapped box, struggling to set it down beside a tree it not because of its weight, but simply how huge and unwieldy and dumb it is. You could fit an entire person in there, probably. Heck, given that this is Magtok we're talking about, it's possible he did fit an entire person in there. Or possibly some sort of weird android, maybe. You never know with this guy.

[bc56]

Post post Devil Things

Sekhmet gasps for breath and shudders when the first bit of power hits her. After a few seconds, her eyes slowly open. "Rose? Where am I?" She slowly begins to come to an awareness of her surroundings. She's in Trog's. She still has the ridiculous modifications Sapphira gave her. She's still wearing a lot less than she wants to be. But she's also too tired to move. "What happened? Where's Prumathe?"

Foxy Thanksmas

Jade gets it. "More like a metaphorical 'taking it into yourself'." There's something vaguely concerning about that though. What was it..? "Oh yeah. How hostile is the you-biome, especially to faeries?"

[Deathkeeper]

FLOOFbegone

Gara gives a very toothy grin and glows pink, rapidly shrinking into a familiar short teenagers with purple-ish hair and noticeably mizutsune features.
"That's okay. I know most people don't really know how to comment on giant aquatic dragons. Is this better?" she winks at him. It's amazing that she actually met someone who seemed to be even more easily flustered than her.

[Earl of Purple]

Sekhmet Things, Half A Devil

Prumathe accepts the gifts, a little creeped out by the vox, but appreciative of the thought that now he can get in contact with them easier to potentially discuss saving Sekhmet if it becomes necessary in the future. Hopefully they can't track him with that and plan on using it to keep an eye on when he's alone so they can kidnap, subvert or murder him. The sword is... Also appreciated, though now he needs to learn how to use it. If it was a paladin's sword, it should be able to stand up to the abuse he can throw at it by manipulating his body, right?

"Ah, thank you. They're... very thoughtful. I, um, couldn't think of anything to give you, so... I guess, if you want a small golem or something, to clean up your place maybe? I could make you one." It's a genuine offer, and unlike one he'd give to Sapphira, he wouldn't exactly tell it to sabotage anything. Just give it some instructions to free him if it finds him trapped down there.

Post-Devil Things

As soon as he sees Sekhmet return with Rose, Prumathe rushes over. "What's happened, is she OK? Who are you?" And why do you look like Sapphira goes unsaid, because it's not helpful right now, and Prumathe realises that if Rose was anything to do with Sekhmet's mother with Sekhmet in this state he'd probably never see her again.

[WindStruck]

[A bad banana with a greasy black peel]

Solstice has two wreaths left to hang up now.

She has to move out of the way, back to the wall as a man pushes past the crowd, carrying a ridiculously huge box. Size didn't necessarily mean everything, but.. why would anyone put something tiny in a box like that? That would just be rude. Maybe there was a statue in it?

The sheer volume of the present reminds her of something: gifts! Oh no! Wasn't she supposed to bring something?

"My word. That is.. impressive," she comments, struggling to find the right description.

"Is that for the host of the party?"

Come to think of it, Solstice needed to bring something! ..didn't she? This party seemed to sneak up on her so fast.

[Rebonack]

Zee waves at Magtok with one hundred and eighty percent Thanksmas Cheer. "Howdy Magtok! Glad you could make it! Things are just starting to get rolling we've got snacks and stuff and only ONE person has passed out so far but I think that's unrelated to the drinks."

Oof.

Why is Magtok's worldline always so sad and bitter? Probably something to do with all the sadness and bitterness. But know knows! Maybe some good old fashioned jolliness is just what he could use this year? Maybe even work at making Trog's a place that's worth having happy memories about to offset the bad ones. Even if the bad ones were really bad. The sort of bad things that you never really forget. The sort of bad things that leave scars.

Zee glances back up toward the stairs.

That whole episode was... terrible.

"If there's anything you need Magtok, you just let me know okay?" Zee says.

Meanwhile in other fox related scenes!

"Of course it's concerning. Everything about empyreans is concerning," Zee says with a bit of nervous laughter. "We're dangerous. We..."

She heaves a sigh, rubbing the back of her neck. "Honestly? If I could be just human again? I... I don't know. I never asked for any of this to happen to me."

Fun topics for a jolly holiday.

"Assume everything there wants to eat you in the more literal sense," Zee warns.


[Post Devil Things]

Okay, good. That's working. Rose is pretty glad that the magic infusion didn't make everything worse. The last thing she needs is hurting Sekhmet on accident. She can still spare a little more power, so that's exactly what she does. A little more infernal magic channeled into the fiend. She doesn't want to dump her whole reserve, though. Not if she can help it. Just on the off chance that Sapphira decides to cause trouble.

"I brought you back to Trog's," Rose says, her tone heavy with concern. "After you finished pulling all that corruption off me you passed out from magical exhaustion. I'm giving you a boost."

Prumathe is given what is, possibly, the most awkward and appologetic smile ever. "Sorry! Sekhmet was helping me and a friend of mine. She-"

Rose gives Sapphira a quick glance, assuming the fiend is still there, and drops her voice to barely a whisper.

"-her mother was trying to turn us into devils. Sekhmet was able to halt the process before we turned into evil, nasty slaves of Sapphira. But it took a lot of magic. She's just tired."


[FLOOFbegone]

"Yeah, I think that's better," Lucas replies with a lame smile. "So... uh... do you..."

He glances around the room quickly. Quick! Think of something to talk about!

"...like eggnog?"

Wow.

It's like you're going for one of those cool parry-counter montages and whiffing every single one, Lucas.

[bc56]

Post Devil Things

Sekhmet weakly reaches out to take Prumathe's hand. "Sorry I, uh, scared you. Rose is a friend." She seems quite drained. "She's got a nice place, with, uh, hot springs. We should go sometime." There was also something very important, wasn't there? Oh, right. "She, uh, says she knows my father."


Foxy Thanksmas

Jade finally decides she's had enough and squirms her way out of Zee's arms. "If faerie is curable, empyrean probably is too. If you want, I can have my friends look into it."

[5a Violista]

[Venus and Rose]

Yeah! They totally should. Hopefully Rose managed to get a Power Star out of it, at the very least.

"Not right on the waterfront," Venus says, "but if you climb up then you can see it from there."

'diverting a few underground streams should be easy.'
...
Okay, sure. That totally sounds easy. "Ooh! Yes, hot springs are really fun. It's been forever since I've been in one. You could even have several at different temperatures, too. Maybe the higher-up ones are hotter and slowly, more and more cool water gets added as it goes downstream."

She looks at the fairy-cakes that Rose took from. "So are those good?" Venus asks. She grabs one, and bites it. Pumpkin's...okay. Not as good as other fruit, obviously.

[Recaiden]

[Half a Devil]

The cocoon holds a Worker that is ready to start to metamorphosis into a Mother. It's for Sekhmet's bizarre interest in children and family. She can oversee family happening a proper way, as a sort of honorary queen of her own little hive.

"You can just thank them yourself, right?" It's not like they aren't all connected.
Spike shifts the few remaining presents aside and wraps their tentacles around Sekhmet for a hug. That's an easily understood gesture. Unfortunately distracting, though. Though it manages to be limited to making the illusion blush.
Opening the box gets a smile. "Oh, is this Spot?" That's a weird gift, but...nice? Spike thinks it's nice, and puts the necklace on right away. "Lovely, thank you."

Prumathe can also use it to contact Sekhmet if normal means of communication aren't working. It is going to help track Prumathe. But if they wanted to kill him, they've passed up great opportunities already.
"We have, uh, animals that keep things clean already. But maybe some other golem that would blend in when I'm, ah, in disguise?" Spike suggests.

[Post-Devil Things]

The duke who had been watching the 'cavalry' gives Sekhmet a bit of an answer to what she asked.
You went on a mission to help victims of Sapphira. You exhausted yourself because there was limited time. Mission was successful.
You asked us to be ready. Our help was not necessary.

[bc56]

Half a Devil

Sekhmet thinks the Vox is a great gift. It's much more convenient than a phone when she needs to call Prumathe, or he needs to call her. But most of her focus is on the cocoon. Why, uh, what am I supposed to do with it? What does it do? How does she take care of a little mini-hive? Can she keep it in her cabin? "Yes, uh, it's Spot. I made it myself." She's glad Spike likes it.

[Recaiden]

'Little' was meant in an organizational sense, not a literal one.

Sekhmet receives the beginning of an explanation, images of what could happen.
Keeping it in your cabin would be absurd, Sekhmet. Even a young Mother grows to be a hundred feet tall.
It needs to be planted in a wide-open space (like the hive on the mountaintop) and tended as it grows. And then it needs leadership! It is the center of the hive ecosystem and lifecycle, but it does not have the wisdom to make a way in this crazy world, to decide which children should be workers and which marquesses.

[Lord Magtok]

Bad Banana


[A bad banana with a greasy black peel]

Solstice has two wreaths left to hang up now.

She has to move out of the way, back to the wall as a man pushes past the crowd, carrying a ridiculously huge box. Size didn't necessarily mean everything, but.. why would anyone put something tiny in a box like that? That would just be rude. Maybe there was a statue in it?

The sheer volume of the present reminds her of something: gifts! Oh no! Wasn't she supposed to bring something?

"My word. That is.. impressive," she comments, struggling to find the right description.

"Is that for the host of the party?"

Come to think of it, Solstice needed to bring something! ..didn't she? This party seemed to sneak up on her so fast.


Zee waves at Magtok with one hundred and eighty percent Thanksmas Cheer. "Howdy Magtok! Glad you could make it! Things are just starting to get rolling we've got snacks and stuff and only ONE person has passed out so far but I think that's unrelated to the drinks."

Oof.

Why is Magtok's worldline always so sad and bitter? Probably something to do with all the sadness and bitterness. But who knows! Maybe some good old fashioned jolliness is just what he could use this year? Maybe even work at making Trog's a place that's worth having happy memories about to offset the bad ones. Even if the bad ones were really bad. The sort of bad things that you never really forget. The sort of bad things that leave scars.

Zee glances back up toward the stairs.

That whole episode was... terrible.

"If there's anything you need Magtok, you just let me know okay?" Zee says.

There's something...off about Solstice. Something imperceptibly disquieting about her presence. Maybe that's just Magtok's usual paranoia about strangers and anxiety about talking to new peop-

Wait, no, this is Magtok we're talking about. He's not afraid of talking to new people! It's her who's odd here, not him! It's hard to put our finger on exactly how or why, but something in our circuits just doesn't like her. Maybe one of her parents was a gremlin? Some kind of fae creature, perhaps? Is she another one of that talking cat's progeny? It's not our place to ask or wonder, but the ringing between his ears is incredibly unsettling, and it insists that it has to be because of her somehow.

"Oh, this? It's-" Magtok glances down at the box, as if he'd completely forgotten about it until she mentioned the box a moment ago. Maybe he did. It's not impossible; he's clearly a very absentminded, scatterbrained cyborg. At least we have strange headaches in our neural circuitry and Zee's Thanksmas Cheer to bring him back down to earth, though.

"It's a secret to everybody," he says with a devilish grin, which definitely has nothing to do with him forgetting the actual answer to her question. If Solstice looks closely though, she'll see the tag on the box says NEEDS FOOD BADLY. That...is that a warning for the gift's recipient? Sounds a little scary, doesn't it?

As for Zee, he gives her just a polite nod of affirmation. He doesn't think there'll be any issues. It's been a while since anyone's actively wanted to go after him, and even longer since anyone's been inclined to violate the spirit of the season by taking their personal beefs here. So he's probably not going to be attacked by any assassins, and less than an attempt to murder him isn't really fussing about, is it?

[bc56]

Half a Devil

I, uh, think I understand. I don't know where I'll, uh, put it. Maybe out in the woods near GLoG? There's space there, right? It might be a lot of work to take care of it, so she should start with a brood of Workers, right? Do you, uh, have any recommendations?

[WindStruck]

Bad Banana

A gremlin? Half-gremlin? Really?? There definitely was something off about Solstice, though. Maybe she was a Faerie or something. But she didn't look like a gremlin at all, that's for sure.

She looks at Magtok a bit blankly as he doesn't answer her question and blinks. "Of course," she says. Noting the tag (or was it a warning label?) she adds, "It seems that whomever it is for, they will have their hands full."

She looks down at her nearly empty box of wreaths. "Oh, excuse me. I need to finish putting these decorations up."

She'll find two more nice places that would look good with wreaths. But just then, something warm and fuzzy brushes against her ankle. Solstice looks down to see a wolf pup nuzzling her foot. It was so cute! She can't help but smile, slowly crouching down to pet the tiny creature.

[Deathkeeper]

FLOOFbegone

Gara stops to ponder and shrugs.
"You know, I have no idea. I've only ever seen the alcoholic stuff around and I'm too young for that. Why, do you like it?"
Gara thinks that maybe he could make good eggnog. His sheepy form is fluffy enough that she could see him being good at making holiday concoctions.

[Arkhosia]

Seasick Crocodile?

It's funny that Magtok's mind might wander to the deplorable spawn of that fiendish Amurrun, as he's seemingly forgotten that one is accompanying him! Blanche is here too, dressed up in a comfy looking Thanksmas sweater with her usual combo of dark jeans and boots. Not entirely by choice, but mom insisted that she spend some time with her aggravatingly smug boyfriend.

"...I'm not sure I've ever been here, honestly," Blanche comments, more to remind him of her existence than anything else.

[Rebonack]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

Zee gives a tiny ghost of a smile. "I would appreciate it. I'm not sure how something like that would even work. I mean... I'm not even actually here," Zee says, gesturing at herself. "This is like... somewhere between a video game avatar and getting digitized in TRON. The real me is off hanging out in spooky-town."

The fox is set back down on the floor and Zee adds in a conspiratorial whisper.

"Spooky-town is REALLY spooky, for the record."

Possibly the spookiest.


[Venus and Rose]

"That must be really nice, watching the sunset over the ocean," Rose says wistfully. "It's been too long since I've done that. My apartment is over on Steele Street. The fog gets really bad there."

Since Steele Street is basically the Victorian London themed part of Inside.

"That's a good idea," Rose says, considering the possible layout for her springs. "Obviously the ones closest to the caldera would be the hottest. And as they flow from one pool to the next the water would naturally cool down. And if someone wanted to try out a hotter pool they could just move to the next tier! But... I always was thinking about giving the pools privacy screens of climbing rose bushes. Some people don't like being watched while they bathe."

Like certain spiteful goddesses.

Not Rose, though. She really doesn't care. Probably a nymph thing. Or possibly a succubus thing. Maybe both?

"Tell you what. You visit my garden and try out the hot springs and I'll visit your garden and watch the sun set. Deal?" Rose proposes, holding out her hand to shake.


[FLOOFbegone]

"I've honestly never tried it before?" Lucas replies. He just knows that eggnog is a Thanksmas thing. A quick glance around the room will reveal SEVERAL bowls of eggnog in fact! He heads over to the table for NORMAL NOT FAERIES since his body is actually able to handle mortal food as he is definitely not suspicious in any way. One of the bowls is marked 'Hard Eggnog' and the other is not. Ostensibly the second one has no alcohol in it. He picks up a glass and ladles some out for Gara. "So I guess... maybe we can try it together?"

That would be a fun Thanksmas memory right?

Trying eggnog for the first time together.

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

"Are you sure that's the real you?" Jade asks. "What you've been told might not be how it actually is. Like when I was masked, the Dreamheart tried to convince me I'd been a fox for years. I'm lucky I had friends who could confirm that I hadn't been the day before. Maybe it's a similar sort of thing? After all, humans can get out there through apotheosis. If that's real, and this is a simulation, that doesn't make much sense. How do you turn a game object into a player?" Jade is absolutely sure that the empyreans are lied to about the nature of the universe as much as the fae are. "Hey, could you pass me some of those faerie-safe snacks?"

[Reinholdt]

[Zarsha]

Zara arrives at Trog's Tavern, dressed in her standard getup of a long-sleeved black sweater, a long skirt that reaches up to her ankles, wrist beads covered by her long sleeves and simple black shoes. There's a difference in the choice of skirt she wears: it's red and has Thanksmas-inspired patterns on it.

Our perpetually-smiling green-eyed beauty with the wavy hair arrives here, apparently very excited. She skips and dances about the area, wishing everyone she can a happy Thanksmas. Her girlfriend Abi'd probably arrive soon, but until then it's up to her to find something to do! Her trained eyes pick up something in a dark corner! She skips over in that direction to investigate, only to find a shadowy young girl standing around and observing the proceedings.

Ah, this must be the girl residing in one of the dark and abandoned houses in GLoG, where Zara herself works. She's never managed to meet the girl despite working in GLoG for about a year now, but she's heard things about her. Her name is... what'd Karasu call it? Suzy? Shanna? Sasha?

Sasha! That's the one. Though considering she apparently doesn't speak, could she get away with calling her Suzy?

When she arrives within speaking distance, she stands and stares at the girl, her arms folded before her. No one speaks for about a minute, and Sasha might get the sense that she's being studied. Suddenly though, she clasps her hands and greets the shadow-girl. "Hello there, little one! This one is called Zara Ben Haim! You live in GLoG, yes? Zara works there as well. You are Suzy, yes? Would you like to join the celebration, Suzy?"


"Uh, hey," Paige says as the catgirl takes the throne. "The party hasn't officially started yet, but you can hang out there for now if you like? Do you mind moving your legs I've still got some ribbons to tie down there."

Obviously this peasant isn't aware of who she's speaking to! Hopefully Raven Ebondark is merciful.
[Darker Corner]

The displaced shadow monster stares at the exuberant newcomer, this Zara Ben Haim, with cold, dark eyes devoid of light. There was a chilled silence, as if the mere space around the creature somewhat muffled the sounds of the revelry. While she never broke that silence, the stillness was destroyed by a shaking of her head as tendrils of inky darkness rose up beside her. Those tentacles split and curved in patterns as if alive, each time becoming thinner and more focused, until the nightmare became reality and spelled out SASHA in the air.

She hasn't really mastered much else in terms of reading and writing, finding the concept more difficult than expected, despite a tutor. But with the practice, she has learned her name.

[Throne of Power]

"Pfft. Of course the party's started darling," Raven Ebondark makes a sassy hand gesture. You know the one. "After all, I'm here."

The catgirl tsks, but moves her legs to one side. "I'll forgive you this once, if you bring me cookies, but next time complete the decorations on time!"

[Zefir]

[A small present]

Mia has arrived here. As she enters the event she stops for a moment. These festivals come rather quick. She smiles for a moment thinking about that in her homeworld she never had the time to go on such events. She shakes it off and heads for the tree placing a small present next to the others. After that is done, she heads straight for the snack table, looking for her favorit winter snack. Sadly they are still working on that part so she waits in front of the snack impatient.


[Walking present]

A little bit later apresent arrives at the party. No not like some kind of delivery guy dropps it. This one seems to be walking on it's own. it appears to hover around an inch above ground while heading for the tree. Anyone near that walking present may here something mumbeling. Either it is the box or in the bos or somewhere else.

"Next year I will go with the delivery Service. Sure i saved 4,99$ but that's not worth it anyway."

The present will likly need half the evening to cross from door to tree.

[Deathkeeper]

FLOOFbegone

Gara smiles and takes the cup.
"You ready?" On the count of three, they take a swig!
"It's pretty good. Not really sure why you'd want to spike it, though. It tastes fine. I don't get why people are so obsessed with getting drunk." Gara is a good teenager who has never tried alcohol underage like some partying high schoolers. She doesn't really get the appeal of the idea on paper.

[Recaiden]

[Half a Devil]

Princess Osa takes over the job of answering Sekhmet's questions. Give it space to grow. Not anywhere too hot. Even if Sekhmet is fireproof, the others are not! Avoid cliffsides or lava flows. Provide plenty of sunlight. They can grow in lightless conditions, like Eurus did, but that requires a lot more work and complication. Not recommended.
First you must oversee a safe and healthy metamorphosis. Simple unless disturbed. Then, you are correct; the first things hatched should usually be six Workers.


[Walking Present]

A little dragon hatchling, with scales of many colors, hops over and lowers her head down to get a better look at what's going on here.
"Hello? Are you a talking present?"

[Purple Eagle]

[Darker Corner]

Zara continues to smile widely as she turns to observe the tentacles spell out her name. So it indeed is Sasha, and she can't get away with rechristening the girl as 'Suzy'... too bad.

As she looks back into Sasha's dark eyes, something in her own eyes gives way. The jolly, friendly look has been replaced by the cold, dead eyes of a predator. It doesn't last, but she's already deliberately shown Sasha that there's more to her than meets the eye.

"Sasha it is, then! Nice to meet you, do you want anything? There's food, dancing, stories, santa and jolly fun to be had all round!" She spreads her arms and twirls in place like a ballerina. "Is fun, yes? Zara can read a story to you, if you want? Or we can talk about you... Karasu says you had a scientist father, can you tell me about him?" She'll probably get silence in response, but she still asks.

[Shadowcaller]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Anika gleans the door to trog's open to peek inside.
Once she's sure no one's near the door she slams it open. "I'm here now!" She loudly declares to no one in particular as she steps inside and puts her hands on her hips.

She's dressed in a green sweater (https://www.youlookuglytoday.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/reindeer-and-snowflakes-on-fleek-green-womens-ugly-christmas-sweater.jpg) and brown outdoor pants.

[5a Violista]

[Venus and Rose]

Venus actually hasn't taken the time to just watch the sunset yet. Having your entire life completely upended five times in just a couple months kind-of sucks away your free time.

"You could always just go with privacy screens on half of it and not on the other half," she suggests. "Being able to choose is a huge deal that I'm sure a lot of people would appreciate."

So.
Venus shakes her hand. "Yeah, deal. I'll make sure to go there."

[Earl of Purple]

Post Devil Things

"I'm glad you could help, but... maybe next time ask me to come? I'd be more than happy to help, however I can." Prumathe smiles at Sekhmet, and strokes her head. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Rose. I'm Prumathe. I look forward to visiting you."

"Your dad? Your bio-dad? I... I thought he was dead. I wonder why he isn't." Since Sapphira's plans all seem to hinge on Sekhmet, why keep the dad around once he'd played his part in the conception? Particularly since he'd so totally failed in keeping track of her to raise Sekhmet as a good little cultist.

Half a Devil

"Yes, I should be able to do that. Might not blend in very well, though. I'll need Sekhmet's help for that- I can't make or maintain illusions." But one that looks like just an eccentric pet should be doable, and possibly even good advertising for Pontius. Not many people want pets they can't easily hug, unfortunately.

[bc56]

Half a Devil

Sekhmet gives her husband a squeeze. "You know I, uh, can't project an illusion if I, uh, can't see the target."
She's still working on binding illusions to objects. She's made progress though!
I'll, uh, have to find a good place for it. But I, uh, have somewhere in mind to try first." Those instructions don't seem too difficult yet. She's not sure how much time she'll have to oversee it though.

[Recaiden]

"Oh, just something that matches how I am now. Except the, uh, Thanksmas." Spike waves at their illusionary angelic human appearance.
"I'm not expecting a whole changeling golem."
"Thanks, Prumathe."
And now, to put a gift under the tree!
That's a perfect distraction from Sekhmet's made-over look.

[Rebonack]

[A Foxy Thanksmas]

"I'm pretty sure it's the real me," Zee replies thoughtfully. "Like I'm there right now, being all big and just sort of chilling on the Game's surface. There are some other bronze host empyreans nearby, too. And I think I've got something like twelve putti crawling around on me being annoying."

Probably more.

Just skittering around on her like celestial lice.

"I'm looking at the Game right now. I'm reading it. I don't fit inside of it anymore, like Lapis or Eao or Selekhael. I'm just too big. It's like the scene in the Matrix where the operates are reading the Matrix' raw code. If what I'm experiencing isn't real than I really don't know what could be real," she says with a sigh. "The thing about apotheosis is that the Game itself is kind of an intermediary. It builds a body for you out in the Empyrean. Or I guess inside the Game itself and then you kinda crawl out through the event horizon."

A beat.

"How much do you know about black holes?"


[Throne of Power]

Paige looks vaguely annoyed, but she heads off to fetch some cookies. She is DEFINITELY rolling her eyes while facing away from the cat girl.

Then she pauses half way to the snack table.

"Wait, what sort of cookies did you want?"

They have lots.


[FLOOFbegone]

GLUG!

Tastes like...

Nutmeg.

Really sweet. Like extra thick milk?

"It's okay, I guess?" Lucas concludes, licking his eggnog mustache off. "It must be one of those tradition things. Like fruitcake."

He isn't a fan of fruitcake, either.


[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Anika may notice Lapis perched up in the rafters with her sister helping to string out some glittery garlands. The resemblance between them in their respective smol child shapes is immediately obvious. Lapis hasn't seen Anika yet, she's too busy hanging decorations!


[Venus and Rose]

Rose gives a nod. "Yeah, I think that's probably a good plan. Oh! Someone I needed to talk to isn't busy anymore I'll see you later okay?"

Whoop, off she goes.


[Post Devil Things]

"It's nice to meet you too, Prumathe," Rose replies with a kind, if a little strained, smile. She's channeling just a little more magic into Sekhmet. The last she can spare before she begins lifetapping herself. Really, she would rather not do that if she can avoid it. "When I asked Sapphira about, well, about you? She said that she and your father never had a child. That he was just crazy. I didn't believe her, though. He seemed so certain. And so concerned about you, too. I started thinking... if she can do to other faeries what she did to me and Charcoal... what would stop her from doing it to mortals, too? It would ruin everything and everyone. So I came here hoping you would be at the big party."

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

Jade gives Zee a skeptical expression. She's really drank the coolaid, hasn't she. "Yeah, well until it was proven otherwise, and even a while afterwards, I was convinced I had eaten Jason. It took literal divine intervention for me to see the truth. Just think about it." She says. She shrugs when Zee mentions black holes. "They're big, dense, in space, and nothing gets out of them."

Devil things

"If she could do that to mortals..?" Sekhmet looks alarmed. She strains herself to sit up and look at Sapphira. The Archfiend has a stack of empty glasses in front of her and is currently passionately smooching a young NPC around Prumathe's age. She seems oblivious to her daughter's plight.

[Lord Magtok]

The King of Sinful Sots


Seasick Crocodile?

It's funny that Magtok's mind might wander to the deplorable spawn of that fiendish Amurrun, as he's seemingly forgotten that one is accompanying him! Blanche is here too, dressed up in a comfy looking Thanksmas sweater with her usual combo of dark jeans and boots. Not entirely by choice, but mom insisted that she spend some time with her aggravatingly smug boyfriend.

"...I'm not sure I've ever been here, honestly," Blanche comments, more to remind him of her existence than anything else.

Oh, that's right, clothes! I completely forgot to mention it in the last two post, but Magtok wears clothes too. A festive red hat, pants that aren't part of a three piece suit for once, and festive sweater with 'I'm having a meltdown' printed below an anxious snowman in the midst of his seasonal transformation into anxious puddle. Figures that a weirdo like our cyborg would gravitate towards something so morbid and neurotic.

"That's probably for the best. Really, I feel like Trog's only lasted this long because it used to be the only bar in the entire town, and the town used to be such a tiny, drab little place that the only thing to do on a Saturday night was go get sauced, raid a dungeon, get into a fight, or start a cult," Magtok shrugs, recalling his past escapades with all of the above. Does it really count as a cult if you only ever had one crazed, obsessed follower, though? That's more of a...what do the kids Blanche's age call them? Oh right, a yandere simulator. Yeah, that's definitely what they're called. It's like having a yandere simulator pestering you, but with some religious iconography thrown in.

"By the way, don't look now, but there's another cat on the Santa throne. Dark hair, techy eye patch, black dress. You recognize her? I'm not sure if she's a complete stranger, a clone of your dad trying to mess with me, or another one of your half-sisters. Any idea?" Magtok asks, muttering conspiratorially about his own daughter. Well...not this clone's daughter, but a different Magtok's. A much more heretical, irresponsible Magtok, I presume. Either way, he's never seen Raven Ebondark in his entire life, and he has a bad feeling about that one.

[Reinholdt]

[Darker Corner]

Zara continues to smile widely as she turns to observe the tentacles spell out her name. So it indeed is Sasha, and she can't get away with rechristening the girl as 'Suzy'... too bad.

As she looks back into Sasha's dark eyes, something in her own eyes gives way. The jolly, friendly look has been replaced by the cold, dead eyes of a predator. It doesn't last, but she's already deliberately shown Sasha that there's more to her than meets the eye.

"Sasha it is, then! Nice to meet you, do you want anything? There's food, dancing, stories, santa and jolly fun to be had all round!" She spreads her arms and twirls in place like a ballerina. "Is fun, yes? Zara can read a story to you, if you want? Or we can talk about you... Karasu says you had a scientist father, can you tell me about him?" She'll probably get silence in response, but she still asks.


[Throne of Power]

Nina looks vaguely annoyed, but she heads off to fetch some cookies. She is DEFINITELY rolling her eyes while facing away from the cat girl.

Then she pauses half way to the snack table.

"Wait, what sort of cookies did you want?"

They have lots.
[Darker Corner]

Sasha continues staring at Zara, her lack of emotion to what Zara says and does a stark contrast to Zara herself. Or perhaps Sasha was cowed by Zara's predatory spirit? That would imply a difference in behavior admittedly. Which doesn't much happen when Sasha shakes her head again! Maybe she doesn't find festivities fun? Or doesn't know why they're fun yet. This is her first Thanksmas.

Either way... She sinks into the ground! What? Actually running away? Maybe she was cowed after all.

It takes some time for her to reappear, but she does come back. And this time a tendril rises with her holding a box. This box is poorly wrapped in unfilled pages from a children's coloring book, GLoG now down a coloring book that was cannibalized for wrapping paper. The box peeks out of the questionable wrapping in numerous places and some of the box even seems wet. Nonetheless, if Zara is still here, Sasha's tendril holds out the gift to Zara and points with another at the tree.

Ah. She saw people dropping gifts at the tree and thought to contribute. At least vaguely familiar with the whole process from Khannie's birthday party. There are way too many lights over there for Sasha to deposit the gift herself, so any help Zara could give would be greatly appreciated.

[Throne of Power]

Raven Ebondark waves her hand. "Any cookie is fine as long as it is as black as my soul! Or, at least speckled with darkness." She tells Paige before the catgirl kinda stretches up, craning her neck to get a look. "They, uh, do have chocolate cookies over there right?" It's important she get a chocolate cookie. At the very least chocolate chip.

While the help handles her confectionary demands, Raven's ears twitch as feels eyes upon her. This should be the natural state of things, but it is a festive party and people are drunk with ignorance. All the same, she begins to look around and if Magtok and Blanche don't stay subtle, she might spot them.

[Shadowcaller]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Wow, there sure were a lot of cool people gathered here for Winter Veil, or thankmas as people around here called it. She was honestly confused what the whole winter veil thing was even about (something about dwarves?) but like thankmas it had something to do with presents so did the reasons for celebrating it matter all that much?

Anika had expected someone to greet her but it looked like people were pretty occupied with either talking or thankmas stuff.

Then she spots Blanche and a moment later, Lapis, aha!

Anika turns around and slips outside again only return a few moments later carrying a present so big a full grown human could probably fit inside it. But as Anika is carrying it without much effort it can't be very heavy despite its size. On top of it rests a bunch of smaller presents, each with a big label on them reading RAIN, WENOMIR, CASSANDRA, LAPIS, MITHARS, SISTER, NATHARIA, TINA, ELNA, ANIKA, MOM & DAD, FRESCOTS and ILPHOLIN.

The druid first wanders up to Blanche and simply brushes past Magtok who she assumed must be one of those festive golems the goblins animated every year with their magic. "Happy thankmas, Blanche!" She exclaims as she holds up the largest present on which the others rest as it's apparently meant for the catgirl.
However, as she attempts to thrust it into Blanche's arms the gifts resting on it starts to tumble off the top and if she isn't careful she might get almost buried underneath them.

She better resolve it quickly though as Anika had a lot more presents to deliver and Lapis was right there!

[5a Violista]

[Just Venus Now]

"'kay," she says. "Talk to you later, then!"

Well!
She's alone again. But at least the food's all out.

Venus moves over to one of the nearby stools to sit.





After a while, Venus looks around to see if there's anybody else at all that she knows that she can talk with.
It's likely after Rose and Sekhmet are done talking, probably.

Oh! Hey! It's Sekhmet. She doesn't really look well right now, but...Oh! Is that her husband? She should go over there to congratulate her.

She goes over to Sekhmet and Prumathe. "Hi," she says, "you probably don't remember me and besides I look a little different, but it's me, Mi-" Wait. No, that was before she went by Minerva, so..."June. We met in here, actually, and you saved my life?" she says, trying to jog Sekhmet's memory. And then Sekhmet suggested she go to GLoG but she ended up finding a job and a place to stay elsewhere.
Venus does look kinda similar. Except, instead of androgynous, more actually feminine. Still has freckles, about the same height, the pink-and-bpack wedding band, etc; but she's got deer ears and presumably she still has red hair but a wool hat's covering it all up. Wearing a dress instead of that athleticwear-and-shirt.
Venus glances, checking for a ring, just to double-check. "So it looks like you did get married! Congratulations!"

[bc56]

Venus and Sekhmet

Sekhmet stares at Venus. "You, uh, look different." Of course she's one to talk, because she looks very different too. "I did, thank you! This is my husband, Prumathe." She introduces the man with her.

[Deathkeeper]

FLOOFbegone

Gara stares intently at their cups. But she decides that NO! this isn't good enough for a special Thanksmas activity with a new friend.
She stands up straight, points at the cups and declares, "BY THE POWER OF CIVIRON!" and bends the very threads of reality just a tiny nudge to the left.
The cups are now filled with pink strawberry milkshakes. With sprinkles on top.
"Better? Definitely better."

[WindStruck]

Deck the Halls

Solstice finished putting up the last of the wreaths in her box, mostly keeping to herself..

So many people here.. like before. Or more crowded than usual, even! It was a party, a time for socializing but.. she really didn't know anyone in here, did she? She wasn't sure if she had seen a familiar face at all! It would be rude to just butt into a conversation..

Solstice approaches Zee and says, "I am finished hanging the wreaths. What else do you think I should do?"

Admittedly she hadn't ever celebrated Christmas before, or even Thanksmas! She didn't really know how exactly things should be. All she could really tell was that the decorations were pretty and the place seemed to be coming along nicely.

[Morty]

Apart from the very fuzzy wolves, Trog's is swarmed with yet another Thanksmas mainstay: goblins. Small goblins, from little kids to teenagers. They scatter around the area looking for fun things to do. Among them is very likely a likewise small gnome. As well as three woblins in two degrees of smallness.

Another goblin also enters the scene, unrelated to the swarm of younglings and the adults accompanying them. Olvisin would really do fine without the swarm of kids that reminds her of home a bit too much, but she'll deal with that. The goblin mercenary is wearing an enormous Santa hat and grabs the biggest drink she can find. Then she roams in search of someone to talk to.

Wenomir is also there, likely accompanying Koshal. The two showing up together to Thanksmas and other celebrations is tradition at this point.

[5a Violista]

[Venus and Sekhmet]

Venus starts to get a little self-conscious of her ears, again. Yeah. They look different.
She bites her lip.

Then, upon being introduced, she turns to Prumathe. "Hi! Nice to meet you," she says. "You have a very lovely wife."

Back to Sekhmet, she says, "So you two living in GLoG, then? I ended up finding a job with discounted room and board, so..."

[Earl of Purple]

Venus and Sekhmet

"I do, yes. It's a pleasure to meet you, June." Prumathe smiles and bows slightly in greeting.

Half a Devil

"I think that can probably be done. A bird or something, maybe. If I get Pontius to help, maybe link it to a necklace so you can see through it. Hmm. Maybe not- that's... a cool idea, but way above anything I've done before." It's in his mind now, so he'll probably build something that can do that anyway, if only to keep an eye on their house when they aren't in, make sure Sapphira or her minions don't break in.

Post Devil Things

"That... is a very worrying thought." Prumathe glances over and blushes. Oh, man. That guy doesn't have a clue what he's in for, does he? Although... Did Sapphira pick him specifically to show Sekhmet she can have someone like Prumathe, too? That's a bit creepy if so.

Goblins!- Under the Tree

Cheasadh is in fact here, and she'll leave a present under the tree as well. It's wrapped in pink wrapping paper.

[Rebonack]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

"The Dreamheart makes up weird stories. That's what dreams do, right? Sometimes you dream that you're someone else or something else and when you're dreaming it seems natural," Zee says thoughtfully. "Or... that's what I remember it being like. I haven't dreamed since the whole apotheosis thing. I'm pretty sure you need to have a soul in order to dream."

Yep.

Zee is soulless.

She's pretty okay with that, too. It isn't like souls do anything important anyway.

"So the Game is sort of like a black hole. It has an event horizon like one. And the whole world inside the Game is encoded on that surface. So people like me who are too big to actually go inside the game just sorta fiddle with the surface. That's what I'm doing right now. It's why I have so much trouble 'seeing' things sometimes. There is a TON of code to read and it's kind of overwhelming."

Just a little bit.

Reading a universe is quite a bit of fluff to sort through. No one cares about you, gastrotric living in the beer stains on the counter! I don't need to look at your worldline right now!

"But... I guess it's possible the Empyrean is some kind of crazy trick? I've been through so much weird stuff I really don't think anything would surprise me anymore."


[Throne of Power]

"Sure, I'll get you some double chocolate cookies," Paige replies before doing just that.

A plate of chocolate cookies with chocolate chips in them. They're still gooey and warm. "Here you go! Now if you could move your legs just a little I'll finish up those ribbons on the throne."

Just two more RL days to go before the party REALLY starts crackin'!


[FLOOFbegone]

Lucas gives the milkshake a skeptical look.

He...

Really doesn't like strawberry milkshakes that much?

"I've got to ask, are you only able to do magic things related to pink?" he asks. "Not that there's anything wrong with pink. It just seems like there's a theme."


[Post-Post-Devil Things]

It could be that Sapphira is just enjoying herself.

Or maybe she's doing this because she knows that it makes Sekhmet uncomfortable.

Rose really doesn't care a great deal either way. Mostly she just wants to try her best to fly under Sapphira's radar. She saw first hand what she did to that Buttercup who got devil'd and immediately wanted to be Buttercup again.

"I really hope not," Rose admits. "I really, really hope not. But this is a happy celebration, right? So we should be happy and celebrate instead. Maybe start with the Thanks part? I know I'm thankful for new friends and a clean start."

Maybe not a one hundred percent clean start. Rose has still got some tar clinging to her soul. But it isn't spreading like it was before and it isn't threatening to drag her down to hell forever so she's pretty stoked with how things are going!

She's also thankful for all these tasty looking snacks! Maybe she should grab something?


[Deck the Halls]

"Great job with the wreathes," Zee says, offering a kind smile. "If you like, you could take a box of baubles-"

Reaching under the table, Zee comes up with a box full of absolutely beautiful colored glass balls. Some of them have winter-themed images on them, but others are shiny solid colors or simple geometric shapes. Zee holds it out for Solstice to take. "And hang them from the wreaths and garlands. Mishnehel is already hanging some."

She points at the half-elf woman busy placing ornaments.

"You could help her out if you like?"

Didn't she see Mishnehel at Trog's before? If only briefly?

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

"Less of a crazy trick and more of something you don't understand. You said you can't grow or change if you aren't interacting with this world. Presumably, you can't learn either? So your understanding is millennia out of date. It's like believing the world is flat, or time is a constant." Jade shrugs again. "If I had to guess, I'd say you're in the computer, and what you see as 'the game' is an interface for projecting into the real world. After all, computer programs can't be changed without action from an outside user." She looks up at a table. "So how about those snacks?"

Post-Post-Devil things

Sekhmet looks a little uncomfortable at her mother's behavior. "Oh, right. I had this gift to put under the tree." She pulls a very small box out of her purse. She doesn't want to think about her mother kissing some stranger. Or about her possibly turning people into fiends. "I, uh, guess I'm thankful for not being in my mother's clutches?"

Sekhmet, Venus, Prumathe

"We live at GLoG, yes. We had our wedding reception there by the lake. It was beautiful." Sekhmet hugs Prumathe briefly. "So where are you working?"

[5a Violista]

[Venus and Sekhmet and Prumathe]

"Yeah! Same," she says, smiling back in the greeting.

"So I work at that Black Dragon's Den," Venus says. "It's down by the docks. Gets a little dangerous at night, but I work most afternoons and nights, so if you're ever in the area some afternoon then you need to stop by!" she says. "I'll tell you which drinks are the best if you come." And since Sekhmet already thanked her, that basically makes it a promise, right? She's not entirely sure how it's supposed to work.

[Zefir]

[Half a Devil]

Princess Osa takes over the job of answering Sekhmet's questions. Give it space to grow. Not anywhere too hot. Even if Sekhmet is fireproof, the others are not! Avoid cliffsides or lava flows. Provide plenty of sunlight. They can grow in lightless conditions, like Eurus did, but that requires a lot more work and complication. Not recommended.
First you must oversee a safe and healthy metamorphosis. Simple unless disturbed. Then, you are correct; the first things hatched should usually be six Workers.


[Walking Present]

A little dragon hatchling, with scales of many colors, hops over and lowers her head down to get a better look at what's going on here.
"Hello? Are you a talking present?"

[Walking Present]

The present itself is rather large. Imagine one of those wooden horse swing for small childs, just maybe a bit longer. The presend also seems to hover as the one who carrys it is rather small and at the center of the bottom. So the hatchling might only see the little green creature when it pushes his eyes close to the floor.Either way the present will turn to the hatchling and stop.

"Hello." it says. "No, I'm not a talking present. Even thought you might only see the present. And hear a voice that comes directly from the present... and no I'm not a ghost either. I am sure I didn't die yet. Is that the right way to the tree? I can barly see. And now he starts to speak in rythms?

The present has turned so it isn't facing the tree anymore.


[A small present]

Mia has arrived here. As she enters the event she stops for a moment. These festivals come rather quick. She smiles for a moment thinking about that in her homeworld she never had the time to go on such events. She shakes it off and heads for the tree placing a small present next to the others. After that is done, she heads straight for the snack table, looking for her favorit winter snack. Sadly they are still working on that part so she waits in front of the snack impatient.

[SNACKBAR]

This time Mia is wearing those Chrismas dress. A mostly red dress with white stripes at neck, arms and lower end. The dress only reaches to her knee. Since it is rather cold she does wear simular red knee socks. She has a curly hairstyle mixed with some green bands for a little thanksmas feeling. She waits patiently as the first batches of fresh made cookies get set on the snackbar. The cook warns her that they might be to hot and need to cool down a bit, but as soon as he's back in the kitchen she tries to gab one. With an ouch she drops it right away and shakes her fingers. That was to hot.

[Purple Eagle]

[Darker Corner]

Sasha continues staring at Zara, her lack of emotion to what Zara says and does a stark contrast to Zara herself. Or perhaps Sasha was cowed by Zara's predatory spirit? That would imply a difference in behavior admittedly. Which doesn't much happen when Sasha shakes her head again! Maybe she doesn't find festivities fun? Or doesn't know why they're fun yet. This is her first Thanksmas.

Either way... She sinks into the ground! What? Actually running away? Maybe she was cowed after all.

It takes some time for her to reappear, but she does come back. And this time a tendril rises with her holding a box. This box is poorly wrapped in unfilled pages from a children's coloring book, GLoG now down a coloring book that was cannibalized for wrapping paper. The box peeks out of the questionable wrapping in numerous places and some of the box even seems wet. Nonetheless, if Zara is still here, Sasha's tendril holds out the gift to Zara and points with another at the tree.

Ah. She saw people dropping gifts at the tree and thought to contribute. At least vaguely familiar with the whole process from Khannie's birthday party. There are way too many lights over there for Sasha to deposit the gift herself, so any help Zara could give would be greatly appreciated.

[Darker Corner]

Zara gets a silent stare in response, it's just as Karasu said. An emotionless one, such as herself. Not Zara, but her real self; the side she just showed the littler girl. When she shakes her head, it's taken to mean that she doesn't find it fun. After all, that's the only definite 'yes/no' question she asked... or maybe she doesn't want anything?

Hmm... she decides to go with the former.

"Well, Zara-" She starts to speak when Sasha starts to sink into the ground. Stretching her hand forward, she withdraws it as the girl disappears. Did she scare the girl? She stands there pondering the thought, then shrugs and starts to leave, when the girl reappears again! And with an object, too! It looks like... a poorly-wrapped gift?

Another tendril points at the tree, and Zara nods in understanding. "You wish to add your gift to the pile? Karasu did say you can't stand the light... she told Zara all about you, so Zara will tell you all about her, too!"

First things first, though: address the wrapping paper. "You should have asked for help in wrapping it, you would have been provided wrapping paper and taught how to wrap a box. Zara can teach you how... by re-wrapping this box so it's even prettier! You would like that, yes?" Wouldn't do to drop it in the sorry state it's in, after all!

She's already looking around for someone she can get gift-wrap tools from. One of the NPCs ought to be of help.

[Deathkeeper]

FLOOFbegone

Gara gives Lucas a self-conscious look and starts inconspicuously sipping the drink.
"Civvy really likes pink. And my magic is all about like, making people happy and hopeful and stuff. So a lot of it ends up being pink. Besides, mizutsune and their bubbles are naturally pink anyway."
Oh right, she's an actual sapient Monster Hunter critter.

[Arkhosia]

Mags and Blanche - Enoby Darkness Dementia Thurl Ravenscroft Way

"Er, I don't, but I'm not sure that means anything?" Blanche shrugs after taking a glance over at the catgirl on the throne. "I don't really know my extended family very well. Haven't tried to connect to em or anything, I've been a little busy." Which is only partially true. Sure, working for VIGIL takes up a lot of Blanche's time and focus, but connecting to her half-siblings or even really going out of her way to learn about them has never really held any weight or priority to her.

It only occurs to her after a second to ask what trying to "mess with him" means exactly - but before she can speak up about it, Blanche's attentions are suddenly focused on someone very different. "O-oh! Uh, hey Anika." She smiles with a shy little blush that is probably very uncharacteristic from Magtok's point of view before all those gifts start to tumble down.

"A-oh [shist]." Blanche leans out of the way as things start to fall, raising an arm to shield herself while trying to tilt the stack away so the rest of them stop falling. "Maybe we should er, set this down so you can grab the rest?"

[Earl of Purple]

Post-Post Devil Things

"I already dropped one under the tree whilst you were out." He thinks a moment. "I'm thankful I met Sekhmet, and that Pontius was willing to take her on as an apprentice." If neither of those things had happened, he'd likely not be married now.

Venus, Sekhmet, Prumathe

"Oh, I've heard of that place. I've never been, though. I'll have to change that someday." He's not heard particularly pleasant things about it- apparently there's knife-fights and illegal gambling in the back rooms, but... if Prumathe's heard of those rumours, surely Intersection has too, right? Probably just libel.

[bc56]

Venus, Sekhmet, Prumathe

"I've, uh, heard of it too." Probably at work. But Sekhmet looks more nervous. It's a real rough place, she thought. Isn't that a bad place to work? It can't be safe. Or respectable.

Post-Post-Devil Things

Sekhmet slowly stands up. "Phew. I, uh, think I'm okay now." She's decidedly not, but she'll live. She walks over to the tree, deposits her gift, and walks back. "Today has been, uh, trying." She orders a drink, with little care as to what sort.

[5a Violista]

[Venus, Sekhmet, Prumathe]

"Just make sure you come by in the afternoon and not at night," Venus repeats. "The local area can get dangerous if you leave the main roads."

He says that, predicting what they're thinking about it.
Of course, she doesn't completely guess their thoughts right, but that's fine.
Besides, she just helps out waitressing and also in the kitchen. And people frequently tip well.

[Rebonack]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

"Can't grow and change in the organic ways mortals do. DEFINITELY can't grow and change the way faeries can where they just up and decide to be something else. Learning happens, things can be discovered. What we are is sorta fixed. If someone 'changes' then they're gone. Unless, of course, we've got the resources from the material world to fuel those changes," Zee tries to explain. "I'm probably doing a terrible job trying to explain all this. I've only been at the empyrean thing for nine years and I still don't get most of it. But... I'm trying, I guess."

It probably doesn't matter.

Trying to make a mortal understand this nonsense is hard.

Trying to make a faerie understand it?

Probably impossible.

"Yes! Snacks. I... have some buffalo chicken wings? Is that too spicy for a fox?" Zee offers. She doesn't feed foxes very often these days.


[Post-Post-Devil Things]

"Today HAS been trying, but it's been a good day, too," Rose says, smiling brightly. "It is definitely the best Thanksmas EVER!"

Then she'll prance over to the bar with Sekhmet and-

Hmm...

She frowns at the bar stool.

What's she even supposed to DO with that thing?

Rose settles on just plopping down on her haunches there on the floor. When you've got a salamander for a butt the difference between sitting and standing is often kind of dubious. "I'll have some hot chocolate! With peppermint in it!" the devil requests. Then pauses, looking worried. "Wait, is this going to taste icky? I'm not sure if it will..."

It won't. Not in Rose's case anyway. All that devil in her is over-riding the typical fae aversion to mortal food. She sure is a weird critter.

"Nah, you should be okay!" Zee replies brightly, passing off a cup of festive hot chocolate to Rose. It's got whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and a peppermint stick in it! Extra-Thanksmasy. "Did you want some hot coco too, Sekhmet? Or did you want something hard?" Zee asks.


[FLOOFbegon which is happening at the SNACKBAR]

"Were you always like that?" Lucas asks. "If that's an okay thing to ask. If you've always been a monster-hunter monster that can turn into a girl."

It seems like a pretty unusual thing, all things considered.

Just to make sure she doesn't feel singled out, he adds, "I've basically always been like this. The whole pooka thing, I mean. Or for as long as I can remember, anyway. I guess maybe I wasn't for a little while, but that was back when I was just a baby and wouldn't have noticed the difference."

And then Mia burns herself nearby! Lucas gives a little start at the sound. "Oh wow, hey, are you alright?" he asks.

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

Jade just thinks this is more evidence for her theory. If changing someone replaces them with someone else, that's like converting an object from one class to another. It makes sense to her.

But snacks!

"Not for this fox!" Jade will happily take a plate of wings and begin snarfing them down. She seems to have adapted pretty well to eating without opposable thumbs.

[WindStruck]

Deck the Halls

Solstice smiles softly and warmly back. "Certainly, I can do that." But even beneath the genuine, kindly demeanor, subconsciously the gears (metaphorically speaking) were still whirring in her mind, considering this part of her job for some possibly arbitrarily and undefined number of extra days in her room. Because to be honest, thirty days for hanging up a few decorations would seem ludicrous. She still enjoyed helping Zee, however, and didn't mind the work.

Solstice admires the pretty baubles a bit before getting to work. Hanging them was easy. Finding the perfect place for them, however, was not!

"I am not certain how collaborating may help at this time..?" she says uncertainly. After all, only one person could hang any particular ornament at a given time. Or technically, you could probably have two or three or four hanging the same ornament, but they'd all be getting in each other's way, and.. really, what would be the point? It was just a terrible idea all around.

Regardless, Solstice thought she might at least approach the half-elf, despite the alarming things about mugging faeries she was saying earlier. Solstice remembered this half-elf from before: the one with the dark-oak-colored skin. Perhaps there was a different way to work together though.

"Hello. Do you see any you like?" she said, displaying all her ornaments to Mishnehel.

[Recaiden]

[Walking Present]

The present itself is rather large. Imagine one of those wooden horse swing for small childs, just maybe a bit longer. The presend also seems to hover as the one who carrys it is rather small and at the center of the bottom. So the hatchling might only see the little green creature when it pushes his eyes close to the floor.Either way the present will turn to the hatchling and stop.

"Hello." it says. "No, I'm not a talking present. Even thought you might only see the present. And hear a voice that comes directly from the present... and no I'm not a ghost either. I am sure I didn't die yet. Is that the right way to the tree? I can barly see. And now he starts to speak in rythms?

The present has turned so it isn't facing the tree anymore.

"No, tree's over there." The hatchling points her claw, somehow expecting that the walking present will be able to see it After all, the hatchling can see it!

Finally, leaning down all the way she sees the legs carrying it.
"Ohh wow you're so small!"

[Earl of Purple]

Post-Post-Devil Things

"Um, probably not something too hard. Sekhmet, you're already tired. Alcohol won't help." Although as bc's American and I think Sekhmet's nineteen, she might not be aware she can drink something alcoholic.

Venus, Sekhmet, Prumathe

"Afternoon, right. We'll, uh, see you there." Or possibly not. Prumathe's going to ask around, find out if the stories he's heard are exaggerated or not.

Deck the Halls

"I like those. Or you could maybe help me with the tinsel. It's hard to put up on your own, no matter how many hands you have." Since it goes from one place to another, two people need to hang it to ensure all the droopy bits are the same.

[bc56]

Post post Devil Things

BC maybe be American, but Sekhmet isn't. Where she's from, there is no legal drinking age. "I'll, uh, have a glass of mulled wine then."

Venus, Sekhmet, Prumathe

Sekhmet nods in agreement with Prumathe. "Uh, see you soon, hopefully." She has the same reservations that he does. She doesn't want to be seen in a wretched hive of scum and villainy.

[Deathkeeper]

FLOOFbegone

Gara begins fidgeting immediately.
"No, I was pretty normal human for a while. Then my school got eaten by faeries and my friend got turned into a kumiho and I almost got turned into a naiad or something. I made it out but weird stuff kept happening to I went to this nice lady in HALO so I could maybe get some powers to keep that at bay and she hooked me up with the whole dragon princess thing and introduced me to Civvy. Which I guess was also pretty weird but I still have my soul and everything."
Losing that is never terribly pleasant.

[Rebonack]

OH BOY THANKSMAS START!

Zee pats Jade on the head, then hops up atop the bar and shouts for all to hear!

"Hello everyone! Thank you for attending this years Very Trog's Thanksmas! We've got some fun and festivities in store for you all, but for now it's time for the feast of Thanks to officially begin!"

At that announcement, Nina pushes a cart into the room, piled high with the main course. Turkey, ham, beef, lamb, all sorts of succulency prepared meats fill the tavern with a pleasant aroma.

"And since we have now officially begun that means-!"

Zee makes a dramatic gesture toward the Santa throne where Raven is currently seated. She may suddenly find a Santa Hat plopping onto her head.

"-the Santa throne is ready to go! Merry Thanksmas everyone!"


[Post-Post Devil Things]

Zee passes a glass of mulled wine to Sekhmet. It smells of orange, cloves, nutmet, and cinnamon. A classic Thanksmas treat! "Did you want anything, Prumathe?"

Rose, meanwhile, takes a sip from her mug of coco, whipped cream clinging to her lip. Her eyes widen as she smiles. "Oh! It's really good!"

Why hadn't she ever come here before again? Did it have something to do with Alexander not wanting to get roped into some sort of great big adventure? That was probably it. Alex was a retired adventurer in his late forties. He just wanted to work on his craft and hopefully find a way to free his soul from infernal debt. But Rose? She feels like she's just BURSTING with energy! She should definitely come here more often and get roped into adventures. They could be fun!

"So do you two have any plans for after Thanksmas?" Rose inquires of the new couple.

[WindStruck]

Deck the Halls

"Oh, certainly," Solstice said. She wasn't familiar with tinsel, but it was easy enough to figure out how it was supposed to "look", and with her extra pair of hands, she helped Mishnehel string it up. The little tiny frills were even straightened out just so, making them look very nice.

Zee made the announcement, and although Solstice looked and listened, she didn't appear all that interested in the food. Then she looks over somewhat confused at the "throne".

"I am afraid I do not know much about this celebration. This would be my first time, I am quite certain," she admits.

[5a Violista]

Venus, Sekhmet, Prumathe

"Yeah!" Venus smiles. "Just if you ever find yourself in the area."

She waves again. "It was good to see you again!"
Venus turns to leave the couple alone and together;
she goes back over to one of the food tables that she helped set up to see if there's anything else good over there.




Fashionably on time, June enters the tavern. He's got short red hair, jeans and a hoodie, looks pretty androgynous, and speaks in #66cc66. (Wait, didn't Venus say she was June? Huh. Weird. Guess that's a mystery that will probably go unsolved.)

He...
doesn't have bones. Also his skin feels spongy if you press down on it. And a few other things. But he's getting used to it, so it's okay. Don't worry about it.
He has, of course, heard about Thanksmas and this party even over in Riverside, and decided to come over to Inside to check it out. He brings a white elephant gift over to the tree, and sets it there.
He also, of course, looked up how these things normally go. There's a Santa on a throne, normally...? It's weird, but.
.
.
Okay, it's weird. But it's tradition, apparently.
Spotting the only Throne of Power around with a Santa hat-clad Raven Ebondark on it, he makes the perfectly-reasonable assumption that he needs to go there.
And, as there's nobody else in line, he goes in front. "Hi," he says. "You're in the one in charge, right?" he asks.
Since it's tradition and that's how it works, he sits on her lap. (He weighs about half as much as you'd expect.)

[Reinholdt]

[Darker Corner]

Sasha hovers there on shadows, staring at Zara. Did Zara mean tell Sasha all about Karasu or all about Zara? It was a little tricky because Zara spoke like no one else she's met before. It made things confusing.

The little shadow girl just tilts her head to one side. The box... Wasn't up to Thanksmas standards? Did that qualify for punishment? No, clearly not if they were going to fix it. That's good at least. It was just so hard to delicately wrap things without hands. Sasha cannot deny it took longer than anticipated to get even that much done. Wrapping things is super tricky.

Fortunately for Zara, one thing Thanksmas is never lacking in it's festive wrapping materials. Where does this abundance of colorful paper come from?

[Throne of Power]

"Thank you Peasant, your work shall be remembered." Raven Ebondark is momentarily distracted from spotting Magtok and Blanche by the offering of delectables. She moves her legs and takes the cookie, holding it with both hands and very demurely nibbling on it. It is a slow and proper nibble, never truly biting into the cookie as her upper fang makes a prominent appearance in this cookie's execution.


A small time later, the cookie is missing and crumbs remain on her lips that she licks away. More importantly however is the hat that suddenly shows up on her head. Ebony Ravendark looks mortified. Not for the meaning behind the hat, but in how terrible it looks! "How gauche!" This clashes with her outfit 1000%!

She's reaching up to take it off when she's approached by June. In charge? Oh right, this must be some kind of Thanksmas crown. Of course. Raven settles back, trying to brush off any hint that she was about to take off that hat and toss in a Yuletide fire. "Yes! Yes, I most definitely am in char-char-char-!!" Raven stammers as the handsome/beautiful woman/man creature sits in her lap, going a bit red. "Umm... Err... What tribute have you brought to me today, brazen commoner?!" She asks, her voice an octave higher than usual to match the stiffness in her words.

[Zefir]

[Walking Present]


"No, tree's over there." The hatchling points her claw, somehow expecting that the walking present will be able to see it After all, the hatchling can see it!

Finally, leaning down all the way she sees the legs carrying it.
"Ohh wow you're so small!"

[Walking Present]

The present nods or more it shakes slightly as it turns into a random direction, sadly not the tree's direction. After all he doesn't see anything so assuming 'over there' can be anywhere.

"Yeah, I hear that a lot. Actually every day." he is small after all. "And who are you? I cna see your scaled feet but not more."



[FLOOFbegon which is happening at the SNACKBAR]

"Were you always like that?" Lucas asks. "If that's an okay thing to ask. If you've always been a monster-hunter monster that can turn into a girl."

It seems like a pretty unusual thing, all things considered.

Just to make sure she doesn't feel singled out, he adds, "I've basically always been like this. The whole pooka thing, I mean. Or for as long as I can remember, anyway. I guess maybe I wasn't for a little while, but that was back when I was just a baby and wouldn't have noticed the difference."

And then Mia burns herself nearby! Lucas gives a little start at the sound. "Oh wow, hey, are you alright?" he asks.

[FLOOFbegon which is happening at the SNACKBAR]

Mia shakes her hand, nasty burn. She should have seen that coming. After all she works with hot metalls most of the time.

"Oh, " she says a bit suprised that she got someones attention. "It's fine. I just didn't imagine the cookies to be that hot."

Then Mia is silent for a moment looking at Lucas and Gara. She remains silent for a while which creeps her out a litte. "Do you like the decorations here?" she says while her mind immediatly facepalms

[Shadowcaller]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Anika may notice Lapis perched up in the rafters with her sister helping to string out some glittery garlands. The resemblance between them in their respective smol child shapes is immediately obvious. Lapis hasn't seen Anika yet, she's too busy hanging decorations!

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Once Anika have handed over the largest gift to Blanche she will have to carry the rest of them in her arms which doesn't look too practical. She should really have brought a bag for all this but for she had forgotten it in the sleight.

Oh well.

"Lapis! I got a thankmas gift for you!" She exclaims behind the presents she's carrying. Normally she'd wave but that would cause her to drop all the gifts on the floor again.

[Recaiden]

[Walking Present]

The present nods or more it shakes slightly as it turns into a random direction, sadly not the tree's direction. After all he doesn't see anything so assuming 'over there' can be anywhere.

"Yeah, I hear that a lot. Actually every day." he is small after all. "And who are you? I cna see your scaled feet but not more."

"I'm Kronoa! I'm a dragon! Who are you?" The little dragon tries to nudge the present into the correct direction with a claw. "No, not that way, that way!"

[5a Violista]

Food Table

Venus tries out some more food.
She is, of course, at the fairy-safe foods but that's probably because it looks fresher and less processed. Also, more fruit and stuff, and less junky food.

She's trying that spiced watermelon that she had brought out.


[Throne of Power]

Oh!
Is that what he was supposed to do?
He wasn't supposed to put the gift under the tree and instead bring it here to the throne? He must've completely misunderstood how this works. Probably should have waited for someone else to go first and
And at this point, it would be incredibly awkward to get back up and go bring it over here.

And, jeez.
Her blushing is now making June self-conscious. "O-oh. Um. Good," he says, looking away.

June has a ring (pink and black) but it's definitely not a tribute.
What does he still have, though?
"W-well, I have a cursed nail, but..." but, wait. Cursed nails are awful tributes or gifts or whatever.
Oh!
"Actually."
Sure, he had intended this for a coworker after going back to Riverside, but he could always just get something else on the way there.

June reaches into his hoodie pocket, and pulls out an...object. It's a chocolate orange that's wrapped in a really soft and fuzzy purple scarf, and tied with some ribbon.
"I also have this, too. Here."

[Morty]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

Jade might see some very small figures headed her way. Bundled up in warm clothes, they appear to be goblin children. Though the area is full of fluffy wolves, goblin kids find a fox more interesting, since they see wolves at home, albeit from a distance. Insofar as Jade can tell, two of the little goblins are girls while the third one is a boy, but they look pretty similar - grey skin, bright red eyes. Another, older goblin (https://i.imgur.com/8Ns4yar.png) seems to be scurrying after them. The three kids stare at Jade for a moment before one of the girls steps forward with hand outstretched.

[Earl of Purple]

Post-Post-Devil Things

"Um, can I have mulled wine too, please? Thank you, Zee." He's had mulled wine before, and it is seasonal. So that's a good choice.

Deck the Halls

"That's OK, I've not been to a party this big for it before. We can maybe learn together? Most important things though are gifts and thanks, I think. Do you have something to go under the tree, over there? Later, everyone who put something under will get something else from under the tree." Mishnehel put something under there!

Foxy Thanksmas

Also accompanying the goblins is a gnome. She's no taller than the oldest goblin, with blonde hair, blue eyes and a large nose. She's wearing a pink hoody and a pair of jeans, and a pink and white Santa hat. Cheasadh stops to catch her breath after running- she's not as quick as they are, and can't scurry as effectively- but keeps an eye out, just in case the fox doesn't like being stroked.

[bc56]

Post-Post-Devil Things

Sekhmet takes a long sip of her wine. "That's very good, uh, thank you." She tries to answer Rose's question. "I'm, uh, not sure. Did you have anything planned, Prumathe?"

Foxy Thanksmas

The red fox with the Santa hat looks up at the approaching goblin kids. She gives a foxy smile and walks a little closer, so it's easy to pet her. She likes it! She makes a pleased fox sound and lies down for easier petting.

[Rebonack]

[Floofbegon]

Lucas frowns slightly at Gara's tail of fluffy tails. "I don't think faeries really steal souls?" he replies. "Some of the nasty ones will steal your Name, though. Which I guess is just about as bad as getting your soul stolen, depending on your point of view."

What would a soul getting stolen even look like? A soul is just... you. Your ability to be a person. Would you become some creepy eldritch robot like the empyreans? He gives Zee a leery look and is met with a friendly wave because of course it is. "But if you're happy with it that's what matters, right?"

"The chocolate chips are really hot when they're straight out of the oven," Lucas says. Hadn't there been warnings about how warm the cookies were when they were brought out? He could have sworn that there were.

Ah well.

Can't do much about the past and burnt tongues.

"The decorations?" Lucas replies, glancing around at them. "They seem pretty nice. The falling snow effect they got with those... wind chime looking things? Is definitely nice. I'm noticing a lot more silver, green, and red in the decorations than last year's party."

That makes quite a bit of sense.

Last year the decorations were all extremely pink.

It felt more like a Valentines Day celebration.


[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Okay that gets Lapis attention.

"You DID?" the little half drow girl squeals with delight. "I got one for you too I bet you'll love it! Hand on."

Then she just sort of.... jumps down from the rafter sand lands with a thump. Hero landing! The one with the fist on the floor!

Yeah.

That looks cool!

"I've got it in my inventory hang on," Lapis says as she reaches...

Somewhere?

And retrieves a box wrapped in colorful red and green paper! The box is pretty small. Way smaller than the gift Anika had given Blanche, that's for sure.

"Here it's for you!"


[Post-Post-Devil Things]

Zee will likewise provide Prumathe with a cup of spiced wine. Like Sekhmet's, it smells really great! Spicy and citrusy. A great holiday treat if you want just a little kick.

Rose doesn't seem interested in a little kick. She's busy licking whipped cream off her upper lip. This hot chocolate is sooooo good.

"I think I'm going to try to enjoy some Thanksmas treats again. Part of the deal I had with Ashmedai made it so everything I ate tasted like ashes. Then I got turned into a Buttercup for a little while. Then Sapphira made me into Alexandria and when I was like that I just... all the things I used to love just didn't mean anything to me anymore," she says a little sadly. But then she breaks into a huge grin! "But now I can enjoy things again! Like this hot chocolate! It's really rich and creamy. I don't think I've ever had a mug that's so good."

She drains the rest.

Glug glug!

"Aaah... that's heavenly..." says the devil.

[Purple Eagle]

[Darker Corner]

Sensing her confusion, Zara repeats the question. "Tell Zara about Sasha! Or, since you cannot - or will not - speak, Zara will say what she's heard about you, and you can nod or shake your head? After the gift, of course!"

Zara quickly finds some festive wrapping paper with cute drawings of Santa on it, as well as some tape. She pulls out a white crystal knife from her inventory once she returns with the tools, and sets them beside the box.

"So! Zara'll teach you how to wrap a gift! If you have any problems next time, you can just ask Zara and she'll help you, okaaaay?" And then she begins! She places the box in the middle of some wrapping paper and begins to wrap the paper around the box, making sure she guides Sasha through every step. After taping it, she cuts off any extra paper and tape, ties a cute little bow around it and it's done!

"See?" She displays the finished product for Sasha to gawk at, then skips over to the tree to place it there. She also adds her own gift, a small rectangular box with green and gold gift wrapping and a white bow on it.

Upon returning, she pulls a chair along and sits on it. "So, Sasha. You and Zara should exchange stories, but first... do you eat? What do you eat?"

[Zara and Abi]

Sometime after her encounter with Sasha, Zara spots her girlfriend heading for the Thanksmas tree to drop some gifts. With a happy sigh, she skips over to her girlfriend, just as the half-elf is dropping her gift. "Hi, Abi!" She announces her presence, wrapping her rubber arms around the other girl.

[Lord Magtok]

Mags and Blanche and Anika - Enoby Darkness Dementia Thurl Ravenscroft Way


[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Wow, there sure were a lot of cool people gathered here for Winter Veil, or thankmas as people around here called it. She was honestly confused what the whole winter veil thing was even about (something about dwarves?) but like thankmas it had something to do with presents so did the reasons for celebrating it matter all that much?

Anika had expected someone to greet her but it looked like people were pretty occupied with either talking or thankmas stuff.

Then she spots Blanche and a moment later, Lapis, aha!

Anika turns around and slips outside again only return a few moments later carrying a present so big a full grown human could probably fit inside it. But as Anika is carrying it without much effort it can't be very heavy despite its size. On top of it rests a bunch of smaller presents, each with a big label on them reading RAIN, WENOMIR, CASSANDRA, LAPIS, MITHARS, SISTER, NATHARIA, TINA, ELNA, ANIKA, MOM & DAD, FRESCOTS and ILPHOLIN.

The druid first wanders up to Blanche and simply brushes past Magtok who she assumed must be one of those festive golems the goblins animated every year with their magic. "Happy thankmas, Blanche!" She exclaims as she holds up the largest present on which the others rest as it's apparently meant for the catgirl.
However, as she attempts to thrust it into Blanche's arms the gifts resting on it starts to tumble off the top and if she isn't careful she might get almost buried underneath them.

She better resolve it quickly though as Anika had a lot more presents to deliver and Lapis was right there!


Mags and Blanche - Enoby Darkness Dementia Thurl Ravenscroft Way

"Er, I don't, but I'm not sure that means anything?" Blanche shrugs after taking a glance over at the catgirl on the throne. "I don't really know my extended family very well. Haven't tried to connect to em or anything, I've been a little busy." Which is only partially true. Sure, working for VIGIL takes up a lot of Blanche's time and focus, but connecting to her half-siblings or even really going out of her way to learn about them has never really held any weight or priority to her.

It only occurs to her after a second to ask what trying to "mess with him" means exactly - but before she can speak up about it, Blanche's attentions are suddenly focused on someone very different. "O-oh! Uh, hey Anika." She smiles with a shy little blush that is probably very uncharacteristic from Magtok's point of view before all those gifts start to tumble down.

"A-oh [shist]." Blanche leans out of the way as things start to fall, raising an arm to shield herself while trying to tilt the stack away so the rest of them stop falling. "Maybe we should er, set this down so you can grab the rest?"

Magtok looks more than a little irritated. A filthy elf just brushed right past him and replaced his location tag with her own! How dare she! As for burying Blanche in tumbling presents and cutting him off mid-conversation, he could care less about those two things. Any excuse to slip away from Caelynn's daughter is a welcome one, and while the two of them are distracted, he hurriedly steps aside and hopes they completely forget all about him as he tries to find somewhere else to be. He did everything he was obligated to do, after all. Blanche is here now and talking to her disgusting elven friend; that means we have a completely valid excuse to disappear to the other side of the tavern instead of socializing with them. Besides, there's a second catgirl to avoid, and if we stand around that clueless pointy-eared purple creature long enough, that one's bound to notice us and start asking us the same sort of probing questions we'd directed to Blanche.

[Morty]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

The three little goblins don't need any more encouragement and eagerly pet and scratch the fox with a look of wide-eyed wonder.

"What is this?" the boy asks.

"It's a fox," Brinika explains. "They live on the surface. They look kind of like wolves but really small and with big fluffy tails. I wonder what it's doing here. Normally they run away from people. Maybe it's domesticated. Or it's Thanksmas magic."

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

"Definitely Thanksmas magic," says the fox. That might surprise some people, but she doesn't seem to mind the petting, even if she is a talking fox. "Could you maybe scratch a little further up by my shoulders?"

[Earl of Purple]

Post-Post Devil Things

"Um, no, not really any plans." Well, not beyond 'go home, go to sleep'. And then quite soon 'go to work'.

Zaabi

Abi grins as she feels Zara behind her. She'll turn around to hug the ex-assassin back, and grins. "Hi! I've got a gift for you." The one she's put down is one for the white elephant gift exchange. She's going to reach into a pocket and pull out a small box, about ten centimetres long and five wide and tall.

Foxy Thanksmas

"Oh, hello fox. I'm Cheasadh, that's my sister Brinika, and these are my cousins... Um, I have a lot of cousins now." Cheasadh gestures at Brinika with the first, but doesn't name the cousins because she's lost track of which cousins they are. She'll reach out and scratch the requested area. "You're wonderfully soft."

[Morty]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

The three little goblins gasp when the fox speaks. Brinika doesn't, because she's used to talking animals by now.

"I'm Alruk."

"I'm Zeerva."

"And I'm Haruka!"

Brinika grins widely and toothily as her cousins introduce themselves. The family sort of tacitly overlook Cheasadh's trouble with keeping track of them. There are quite a lot of them, after all.

"You do have a lot of cousins now, sis. And what's your name, talking Thanksmas fox?"

[WindStruck]

Deck the Halls

Solstice peers over at the tree. "You mean.. some kind of exchange of gifts, but nobody knows who is receiving their gift, and the recipient does not know either?" That sounded so weird. She sighed and shook her head.

"I suppose we could learn more together..."

For some reason, Solstice didn't seem comfortable about all of this.

[Earl of Purple]

Deck the Halls

"And you don't know whose gift you're getting, either. It could be anything, and that's great, isn't it?" Mishnehel grins. And maybe they do get a chance to find out who put the present under the tree, but... Earl isn't sure about that.

[Deathkeeper]

FLOOFbegone

"Yeah, I'm doing fine. I like being able to be a few things. And one of them being a dragon."
It also made Gara really good at swimming. Grant wasn't great at it before. But as Gara or Grant, they're both good at swimming now!

"Uh, yeah. The decorations are fine. Not as pink this year without Nurse." Nurse has a theme all right.

[Shadowcaller]

Mags and Blanche and Anika - Enoby Darkness Dementia Thurl Ravenscroft Way

"Whoops, sorry!" Anika remarks with an awkward smile as she quickly puts down the present. "Didn't hurt you did I?" She chuckles. "Might have brought along a bit too many gifts at once." She pauses and looks around. "I mean, so far only you and Lapis even seem to be here-" That's when she notices Magtok, again.

And that's also when she realizes he isn't a golem.

He's like... half-golem?

Weird.

"Oh crap, you were talking to that dude! I didn't realize!" She gestures at the cyborg and waves. "Sorry, dude!" Then she leans closer to Blanche and whispers. "So, uh, what is he? No offense, but he kinda looks like a demon (https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/wowpedia/images/d/dc/Mo%27arg_Artificer.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/450?cb=20200322172007)."

- - - Updated - - -


[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Okay that gets Lapis attention.

"You DID?" the little half drow girl squeals with delight. "I got one for you too I bet you'll love it! Hand on."

Then she just sort of.... jumps down from the rafter sand lands with a thump. Hero landing! The one with the fist on the floor!

Yeah.

That looks cool!

"I've got it in my inventory hang on," Lapis says as she reaches...

Somewhere?

And retrieves a box wrapped in colorful red and green paper! The box is pretty small. Way smaller than the gift Anika had given Blanche, that's for sure.

"Here it's for you!"

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Anika also had an inventory, but it didn't made her able to pull things out of nowhere though.
She has to put down all the gifts on the floor so she can clap her hands. "Wow, thanks so much, Lapis!" She exclaims as she holds out her own present for the exchange.

It's remarkably simple, brown paper wrapped in red string without any adornments. "Just remember that you can't open it before Winter Vei- uh, thankmas!"

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

The fox sighs as Cheasadh scratches her. "Ahh, yeah, that's the spot." She nods to the assembled goblins and gnome. "I'm Jade. Nice to meet you."

[Rebonack]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Lapis frowns a bit as she takes the box.

"But it's already Thanksmas?" she replies, confused as she gives the box a little shake. "Do you mean I can't open it until Nicholas' Day? Mom told me all about it! It's the 'mas' part of Thanksmas but I dunno why they call it that."

It is truly mysterious!

Where could such a name have come from!

The world may never know.

Clearly the holiday Lapis knows about is similar, but not identical too, Winterveil and Hearthswarming and all those other winter holidays.

"Are you suuuuuuure I can't just open it now?" Lapis asks. "I guess I can put it upstairs. Since this one is for me I don't want to put it under the tree or someone might thing it's for the gift exchange and that would be the worst."

Just terrible.

[Arkhosia]

Mags and Blanche and Anika - Magtok the Cyberdemon?

"Nah, I think I'm fine." Blanche briefly pretends to check herself for bruises or cuts before smiling. She blinks as she realizes Magtok has scampered off, glancing over at him with a queer look. "I mean I don't think he's that bad? But er, seriously, that's Magtok. He's a cyborg, I have to hang out with him because he's, erm... kinda dating my mom?"

[Earl of Purple]

Foxy Thanksmas

Cheasadh does quite well when she's dealing with at most five cousins. But... they're all here today, so she's having a lot of difficulty. "I do, but... it's been a year. I remember the names, but... when they're all together, I forget the faces that go with the names. Sorry you three. I'll get there, though." Cheasadh grins, not quite as toothily as Brinika does.

Cheasadh turns to the youngsters. "There's more fox than I've got hands. Come on, join in. She won't bite." Cheasadh's confident of that because she's talking, so she's covered by the Thanksmas Cheer.

[Morty]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

"Don't worry, Cheasadh. You're getting there. Besides, I think some of the grownups have trouble telling us all apart sometimes and they just put on a brave face." The three little goblins crowd around Jade to administer pets elsewhere while Brinika talks. Two pet her neck and back, while Zeerva brushes her tail. "Are you a Thanksmas fox, Jade? Or just a regular talking fox who happens to have come to Thanksmas?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

"Uh, is it?" Anika struggles with the concept of a holiday that lasts more than two days. All these different terms didn't exactly help either. "Isn't thankmas a weekend that you prepare for like you were doing right now?" She gestures at the ornaments that Lapis helped put up.

"But yeah, you probably should open it when your mom says you c- wait, gift exchange? What's that?" Exchanging presents? What a crazy idea.

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

"I'm a normal talking fox. Well, for certain values of normal." Jade is quite happy to be petted a bunch. "But for tonight, I'm a Thanksmas fox. I might even take a turn on the throne if it comes open." She looks at the domineering catgirl on the chair right now. "But I think I'd have to relax the tradition of sitting in Santa's lap, since I'm smaller than almost everyone here." Jade gives a little laugh.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Elfmas!]

Some more people arrive! They're all elves. The trio are led by a tall, regal looking high-elf woman with long platinum-blonde hair worn half-up in an elaborate floral, with the rest spilling out down her back. She's dressed as if for a ball, in a dark blue fur-trimmed gown, with a fur-edged mantle draped over her shoulders. Despite the richness of her attire, the elven noblewoman is curiously lacking in jewelry or adornment, wearing only an intricate set of ear jewelry, and a diadem of silver vines, inset with a pale green stone to match her silvery-green eyes.

She's scarcely several steps into the tavern when the child accompanying her spots a certain pack of fuzzy Thanksmas wolves, gasping in wonder and running ahead of her.

"Puppies!"

He rushes towards the wolves to pet them, a boy appearing around seven or eight, with pale blue-grey skin, silvery-green eyes, and long platinum-blonde hair to match his mother's, though he's dressed far more simply, in a large, puffy sweater and soft trousers and boots. The third elf, a young woman also with pale blue-grey skin, grins at the spectacle, laughing as Geneviève rolls her eyes slightly. Cass is dressed rather androgynously today - in a powder blue shirt, dark trousers, and a blue and grey argyle sweater vest, cut to present a slightly more masculine frame, and hair tied back into a ponytail, though she's accentuated her style with the final addition of a delicate lace choker around her neck.

"I'll get us some drinks, Geneviève. Be right back," says Cass, still smiling as she heads straight for the bar.

"Thank you, dear," comes the off-hand reply, as Geneviève glides serenely after her ever energetic son.

-----

[Thanksmas Vigilants]

Separately, three more people arrive as a group, having shared transportation from Vigil. The first, a tall and sturdily built woman with dark skin and a long braid, is dressed rather more colorfully than her customary sober black jacket and trousers, radiant and cheerful with her hair adorned with tinsel and sprigs of holly, matching the laurel wreath of her buxom, red-headed half elf companion. Kalya and Rain are accompanied by none other than a certain devilishly handsome red-headed tiefling, who's wearing a comically garish Thanksmas sweater and somehow still managing to look dashing, despite the eyewatering nature of his attire. Now, what kind of trouble could this unlikely trio get up to?

[Reinholdt]

[Throne of Power]

Oh!
Is that what he was supposed to do?
He wasn't supposed to put the gift under the tree and instead bring it here to the throne? He must've completely misunderstood how this works. Probably should have waited for someone else to go first and
And at this point, it would be incredibly awkward to get back up and go bring it over here.

And, jeez.
Her blushing is now making June self-conscious. "O-oh. Um. Good," he says, looking away.

June has a ring (pink and black) but it's definitely not a tribute.
What does he still have, though?
"W-well, I have a cursed nail, but..." but, wait. Cursed nails are awful tributes or gifts or whatever.
Oh!
"Actually."
Sure, he had intended this for a coworker after going back to Riverside, but he could always just get something else on the way there.

June reaches into his hoodie pocket, and pulls out an...object. It's a chocolate orange that's wrapped in a really soft and fuzzy purple scarf, and tied with some ribbon.
"I also have this, too. Here."


[Darker Corner]

Sensing her confusion, Zara repeats the question. "Tell Zara about Sasha! Or, since you cannot - or will not - speak, Zara will say what she's heard about you, and you can nod or shake your head? After the gift, of course!"

Zara quickly finds some festive wrapping paper with cute drawings of Santa on it, as well as some tape. She pulls out a white crystal knife from her inventory once she returns with the tools, and sets them beside the box.

"So! Zara'll teach you how to wrap a gift! If you have any problems next time, you can just ask Zara and she'll help you, okaaaay?" And then she begins! She places the box in the middle of some wrapping paper and begins to wrap the paper around the box, making sure she guides Sasha through every step. After taping it, she cuts off any extra paper and tape, ties a cute little bow around it and it's done!

"See?" She displays the finished product for Sasha to gawk at, then skips over to the tree to place it there. She also adds her own gift, a small rectangular box with green and gold gift wrapping and a white bow on it.

Upon returning, she pulls a chair along and sits on it. "So, Sasha. You and Zara should exchange stories, but first... do you eat? What do you eat?"
[Darker Corner]

As Zara manipulates the box and wraps it, a small amount of some kind of cold, wet pinkish ooze will seep out from the corner. It's probably normal and nothing to worry about. The box does indeed look very fancy once properly wrapped though, by most standards. Sasha must have some very high standards or something. She doesn't even crack a smile!

But she can answer the question about if she eats. Of course Sasha eats. A tendril will rise from the darkness holding a rusted, poorly fastened cage of some very alive, somewhat malnourished and diseased looking rats. These rats are in something of a torpor, at least at first. Wherever the darkness below the world of light goes, it seems to induce a bit of lethargy upon those held there for an extended period of time. The rats will start to come to in time with all the festive melodies and sounds, squeaking with joy. Or perhaps a desire to escape. Sasha doesn't speak rat, only eats rat.

[Throne of Power]

Raven's ears perk up, but since both Santa Ebondark and June are abashedly looking away from each other, it's unlikely to be noticed. "A... cursed nail you say?" Why on earth would anyone have one of those?

Besides, you know,

It being incredibly cool.

Raven looks back at June pulling out a chocolate orange? An admittedly cute one at that. "Oh, uh, sure. I just ate though." Raven takes it and sets it aside on a nearby table, ignoring it almost instantly. "Tell me more about this nail. Will it smite my enemies if I use it against them? What's it do? Can I see it?"

June has caught her interest.

[5a Violista]

[Throne of Power]

Looking away is pretty unfortunate.

"Yes, um...I actually have two of them," June says.
He reaches into his pocket again, trying to reach for something. "But don't touch it, okay?"
He pulls out a rusty crucifix nail, but (safely) holds it in a way that Raven can't just happen to touch it. "It's got two curses, I found," he explains. "First is that the first time you touch it, a new copy of itself starts growing in your wrist from your blood, I think." Growing from your own blood would make sense, he thinks. It's why he has two. "Really itchy and very painful until you pull it out." And gets more and more painful the longer it's in there or the harder you pull.

And, that brings to the second part: "Also, as long as you're touching it, it amplifies all your senses and sensations and feelings." And he's currently holding it right now. "So, um...I guess that might count as smiting? I actually want to eventually turn one of them into an earring, because it actually seems kinda useful if I ever get used to it."

And...that's it, he supposes. Brief description.


[Food Table?]

Venus decides that just standing by the food tables is...not fun.

She wants to talk with more people, but...doesn't really know almost anyone, really. And pushing herself into groups of people who already know each other is...

She pulls her hat down again, and moves away from the food table so that she can sit down on a stool.

[WindStruck]

Deck the Halls

"I, uh, I..." Solstice stammered, struggling to find the right words. "I really do not think this whole idea of a.. communal, anonymous gift exchange is a good idea..."

She looked down rather sheepishly and focused on the decorations. What was it that bothered Solstice? She couldn't quite put her finger on it. You'd think that in theory, everything works out. In the end, one person gives a gift, and that same person receives a gift. But it seemed that any good will associated with giving a gift was lost. And so what of the exchange values themselves? What if you put something very valuable under the tree and got something of little value? What if someone decided to steal some gifts from under the tree without putting any there themselves? Then there would be fewer givers than takers.

But for whatever reason, Solstice still felt quite uncomfortable with it. She would opt to neither put anything under the tree, nor take anything.

"So this is what the Thanksmas celebration is all about? Exchanging gifts? And.. 'thanks'?" But then again, to Solstice, merely thanking someone was an acknowledgement that one was given something, one way or another, and likely now in another's debt. "Giving thanks for what?"

[Zefir]

[Walking Present]


"I'm Kronoa! I'm a dragon! Who are you?" The little dragon tries to nudge the present into the correct direction with a claw. "No, not that way, that way!"

[Walking Present]

"I am the great Mr. C" not so great in size it seems. "I'm a librarian, owner of the 'ANY-SIZE-HOTEL', currently active Halo member and, as obviouse as it is, present delivery service .....creature."

As he says all that the present will get certifates that read exactly what he said or a business card in case of the hotel. I should remember the presend is si big a dog, not a small more those wolf size, can fit into it standing. As the present is pushed into another direction it turns. It is close to the direction but still a bit off.

"You do recognize that I am mostly blind with only like 1 meter of floor i can see in front of me? I can't see 'That'"


[Floofbegon]

Lucas frowns slightly at Gara's tail of fluffy tails. "I don't think faeries really steal souls?" he replies. "Some of the nasty ones will steal your Name, though. Which I guess is just about as bad as getting your soul stolen, depending on your point of view."

What would a soul getting stolen even look like? A soul is just... you. Your ability to be a person. Would you become some creepy eldritch robot like the empyreans? He gives Zee a leery look and is met with a friendly wave because of course it is. "But if you're happy with it that's what matters, right?"

"The chocolate chips are really hot when they're straight out of the oven," Lucas says. Hadn't there been warnings about how warm the cookies were when they were brought out? He could have sworn that there were.

Ah well.

Can't do much about the past and burnt tongues.

"The decorations?" Lucas replies, glancing around at them. "They seem pretty nice. The falling snow effect they got with those... wind chime looking things? Is definitely nice. I'm noticing a lot more silver, green, and red in the decorations than last year's party."

That makes quite a bit of sense.

Last year the decorations were all extremely pink.

It felt more like a Valentines Day celebration.



FLOOFbegone

"Yeah, I'm doing fine. I like being able to be a few things. And one of them being a dragon."
It also made Gara really good at swimming. Grant wasn't great at it before. But as Gara or Grant, they're both good at swimming now!

"Uh, yeah. The decorations are fine. Not as pink this year without Nurse." Nurse has a theme all right.


[Floofbegon]

"It is different every year depending on where it is." Mia says, still not so certain this was a good beginning. "I liked it when Thanksmas is more outside. If feels more like winter when you are out in the snow and got your hot cup to warm you up. Maybe you need more snow for that. It's still a bit to warm right now."


[Food Table?]

Venus decides that just standing by the food tables is...not fun.

She wants to talk with more people, but...doesn't really know almost anyone, really. And pushing herself into groups of people who already know each other is...

She pulls her hat down again, and moves away from the food table so that she can sit down on a stool.

Food Table?

Right when Venus goes to a chair with her hat pulled down, a man will bumb into her and her hat should get knocked down by accident. The man has just arrived, holding a present in his hand which gives a ticking noise from it. He's a bit late.
The man wears some fancy futuristic outfits his pants and jacket appear like armor of black metal with blie lines at the edges. only after a second look you notice it's just a design pattern. Sunglasses in a V form with the same color sheme appear like a mask.

As he notice the hat is droped down he stops and takes it up offering it to Venus. "Sorry" he says. "I was to fokused on the tree."

[Shadowcaller]

Mags and Blanche and Anika - Magtok the Cyberdemon?

"Nah, I think I'm fine." Blanche briefly pretends to check herself for bruises or cuts before smiling. She blinks as she realizes Magtok has scampered off, glancing over at him with a queer look. "I mean I don't think he's that bad? But er, seriously, that's Magtok. He's a cyborg, I have to hang out with him because he's, erm... kinda dating my mom?"

Mags and Blanche and Anika - Magtok the Cyberdemon?

"Magtok." Anika repeats the name to herself. "Sounds familiar, I must have heard it at some point." She remarks as she taps her chin. "But what's a cyborg then? He honestly looks kinda human to me. Minus the metal parts of course." A pause. "But if he's dating your mom, we probably shouldn't be speaking behind his back. He's almost like your dad!"

[Recaiden]

If it weren't such a big present, Kronoa could carry it herself. But even being much bigger than a little chameleon, she's not even as big as a wolf yet.
"Oh. Well what if you put the present down? Then you could see it?"

So instead, she looks at the certificates "What's a halo member?"

[Rebonack]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

"It is!" Lapis happily confirms. "Thanksmas is a whole SEASON that's full of holidays and I love them all!"

Every single one of them is wonderful and great and fun.

"The gift exchange is where you put a gift under the Thanksmas tree candelabra new-years ball and then when Nicholas' day comes everyone gets to pick a gift! But no one knows who's going to get their gift so its all a big surprise since the gifts aren't addressed to anyone," Lapis explains excitedly. "Like I made a gift that's just for you, but I put a gift under the tree, too, and that one could be for ANYONE so I was super extra careful to pick something that everyone would like!"

It's probably a sword, isn't it?

Lapis is convinced that everyone likes (or should like) swords.


[Floofbegon]

"I don't think I've been to one of the Thanksmas parties that was outside," Lucas admits thoughtfully. "Though I had heard rumors that Plum Mountain Park was considered as a locations for this year's party. It would have had literal sugar plum faeries."

That is a terrible joke Lucas you should feel ashamed.

"It isn't quite as cold inside, though. And Trog's is pretty big I think this is a fine spot for a party."


[Wandering Salamander]

Rose excuses herself from the bar after finishing her mug of hot chocolate. She's going to give Prumathe and Sekhmet some time alone given that Sekhmet went through something of a traumatic experience and her husband probably wants to dote on her. The infernal gaiad makes her way over to the snack table, collects a few of those tasty looking cranberry and cheese pastries, and turns to admire all the happy, thankful people. The costumes at these parties are always really nice and Rose is definitely enjoying herself so far.

Hmm... what else? She had come here for a pretty specific reason, but now she's finding that the party itself is reason enough all on its own to stay. Finally being able to enjoy things again probably helps.

[Morty]

[Elfmas!]

Puppies indeed. Lucien will find himself approaching a young female wolf with a bright silvery coat resembling that of the pack's stately matron, Viima. With her are two young cubs, whose fur hasn't really grown into its proper color yet and is brownish grey for now. The two pups enthusiastically trot over to the boy, reaching up with their heads to sniff him and receive pets.

Meanwhile, Wenomir looks up from where he's talking with Koshal.

"Oh, there's Cassandra. With Geneviève and... I think the youngster's name is Lucien. He'll be busy with the wolves for a while, so let's just introduce you to Cassandra."

[5a Violista]

[Food Table?] Well, near it.

Venus's wool hat falls off.

It reveals two notable things: first, she has deer ears instead of human ears. Second, in her red hair (that she had stuffed under the hat) she has two separate flowers: it has chains of yellow fluffy ball-shaped groups of flowers, and white 5-petaled flowers (and...a couple of those venus flytrap leaves).

"O-oh. Um." Embarrassed about it, Venus raises one of her hands to cover some of it (while pretending she's just brushing her hair back) and holds her other hand out to grab the hat. "It's okay. Thanks."

She tries to quickly put the hat back on to cover it all up, but it's pretty hard considering the flowers and her ears; it was really hard to smoosh her ears under there in a way that was comfortable.

"So...um...hi," Venus says as she still works with putting the hat on and stuffing hair up in it. "Nice to meet you. You come here often?"

Realizing that might be a dumb question, she quickly adds - "I-I mean, um, Happy Thanksmas."

[Deathkeeper]

FLOOFbegone

Gara shakes her head.
"I haven't been to the other ones, either." she twiddles her thumbs a bit and takes another swig of her conjured milkshake.
"But sugar-plums aren't really regular plums, even if those would be from faeries."
Gosh Lucas, don't you know things like what sugar-plums are?
Because Gara doesn't actually she just knows that they're not regular plums with sugar on them.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Elfmas!]

Lucien pets the wolves with much enthusiasm, laughing when the wolves sniff him. Geneviève hovers nearby, watching cautiously.

Meanwhile, at the bar, as Cass waits for their drinks, she takes a quick glance around the tavern and, spotting Wenomir, waves at him cheerfully.
"Hi."

[Lord Magtok]

Mags and Blanche and Anika - Magtok the Cyberdemon?

"Magtok." Anika repeats the name to herself. "Sounds familiar, I must have heard it at some point." She remarks as she taps her chin. "But what's a cyborg then? He honestly looks kinda human to me. Minus the metal parts of course." A pause. "But if he's dating your mom, we probably shouldn't be speaking behind his back. He's almost like your dad!"

Magtok was willing to put up with overhearing a lot of nonsense and trash, so long as he successfully got away from Anika and Blanche. It's that last line that has him turning around and marching back up to the loathsome elf, though. Scowling and steaming, he narrows his eyes as he strides back over and glares right at her stupid elfy face.

"I am nothing like Blanche's dad," he insists. If looks could kill, that nasty scowl sent Anika's way would probably be roughly equivalent to an orbital bombardment.

"And I'm also not a demon," he insists after a brief pause, without half as much venom. The demon bit isn't the important part, after all; it's the not-Reinholdt thing we need to stress above all else. Demons are people too, probably, I guess? I don't know, Magtok doesn't mess around with them. I don't think he's even spoken to one since he left AMEN, and that was aaaaaaages ago.

[Reinholdt]

[Throne of Power]

Looking away is pretty unfortunate.

"Yes, um...I actually have two of them," June says.
He reaches into his pocket again, trying to reach for something. "But don't touch it, okay?"
He pulls out a rusty crucifix nail, but (safely) holds it in a way that Raven can't just happen to touch it. "It's got two curses, I found," he explains. "First is that the first time you touch it, a new copy of itself starts growing in your wrist from your blood, I think." Growing from your own blood would make sense, he thinks. It's why he has two. "Really itchy and very painful until you pull it out." And gets more and more painful the longer it's in there or the harder you pull.

And, that brings to the second part: "Also, as long as you're touching it, it amplifies all your senses and sensations and feelings." And he's currently holding it right now. "So, um...I guess that might count as smiting? I actually want to eventually turn one of them into an earring, because it actually seems kinda useful if I ever get used to it."

And...that's it, he supposes. Brief description.
[Throne of Power]

"Oof, sounds terrible!" Raven exclaims, not sounding horrified at all. "I want that instead. You can have the chocolate scarf thing back." She's already thinking of all the different people she could send this to! Like... her boss Malice! Or GLoG just to start that whole adversary thing going. Beating up on innocent children is the best way to prove she has evil cred. Oh! Or maybe she should just send this back home to her mom and dad.

Wouldn't be the first time she sent her parents a gift.

"Because your tribute will be remembered well in my golden age. What is your name child of Raven Ebondark?" Metaphorical child. Of her empire.

[5a Violista]

[Throne of Power]

June is starting to get the feeling that maybe this isn't how the Thanksmas Throne is supposed to go, but...then again, it is his first time here, and who is he to question local tradition?

"Yeah, it is pretty awful." He laughs. Well, he didn't really mind it when it was cursing him. Actually, it saved his life. "Okay, sure." Giving a cursed nail that he has two of is a lot easier than giving a present that was meant for someone else.
He'll take the scarf back when he gets up.

June opens his palm so that Raven can take the nail in whichever way she wants, if she wants to actually touch it or find some other way to grab it without touching it. And if she grabs it and touches it, then she'd have two.

"My name's June," he replies. There is, actually, a smile on his face because this conversation was pretty fun.

[Morty]

[Elfmas!]

The two wolves hop around and rub their heads into Lucien's hands, then prance away as if inviting him to chase them. Their mother walks up to Geneviève and looks at her with bright eyes. There's definitely some seasonal magic on those wolves to make them so friendly, but even so they're acting very tame. They must be trained in some special way.

Wenomir approaches Cass with long strides. He seems in an unusually cheerful mood.

"Cassandra! Good to see you here. I wanted to introduce you to my student, Koshal." He puts his hand on the minotaur's shoulder. It's a long way up.

[Shadowcaller]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

"It is!" Lapis happily confirms. "Thanksmas is a whole SEASON that's full of holidays and I love them all!"

Every single one of them is wonderful and great and fun.

"The gift exchange is where you put a gift under the Thanksmas tree candelabra new-years ball and then when Nicholas' day comes everyone gets to pick a gift! But no one knows who's going to get their gift so its all a big surprise since the gifts aren't addressed to anyone," Lapis explains excitedly. "Like I made a gift that's just for you, but I put a gift under the tree, too, and that one could be for ANYONE so I was super extra careful to pick something that everyone would like!"

It's probably a sword, isn't it?

Lapis is convinced that everyone likes (or should like) swords.

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Nicholas, eh? So that's the guy at the center of all this.
"Huh, I guess I could put one of my presents under that..." Anika declares thoughtfully as she looks in the thankmas... thing.
That was one weird tree. In fact, she's pretty sure whoever made it would be arrested for tree-torture back home. The ancients were pretty sensitive about that sort of stuff.

Then a thought occurs to her. "...that tree isn't one of your siblings trying to sneak a peek at the presents, is it?" She inquires while gesturing at the thankmas mass of stitched together holiday ornaments.

[Earl of Purple]

Foxy Thanksmas

"At least we're quite easy to tell apart for them, I guess." Cheasadh's the one that isn't biologically a goblin, Brinika's the one closest to the one who isn't biologically a goblin.

Then back to stroking the fluffy mammal. "Maybe you can sit in their lap instead, and get stroked by them. Better strokers get better presents." That seems like a good idea, right?

Deck the Halls

"I'm sure the organisers know who gives what, so leaving something really unpleasant as a gift would get back to you. It's not as risky as it might seem, honest!" And then Solstice asks about the thanks. "I... don't know. I think it's thanks for not dying and having enough food and water to survive another year. I'm not sure who they're thanking, either. Santa, maybe?" He's associated with Thanksmas, right? And giving things. Maybe it's thanking him for the presents?

[Zefir]

If it weren't such a big present, Kronoa could carry it herself. But even being much bigger than a little chameleon, she's not even as big as a wolf yet.
"Oh. Well what if you put the present down? Then you could see it?"

So instead, she looks at the certificates "What's a halo member?"

"If I do, I don't think i get it back on." He says.
"HALO is an organisation that does good stuff by beating up the bad guys. I'm not the beating up type but I help them know how to beat them up."


[Floofbegon]

"I don't think I've been to one of the Thanksmas parties that was outside," Lucas admits thoughtfully. "Though I had heard rumors that Plum Mountain Park was considered as a locations for this year's party. It would have had literal sugar plum faeries."

That is a terrible joke Lucas you should feel ashamed.

"It isn't quite as cold inside, though. And Trog's is pretty big I think this is a fine spot for a party."



FLOOFbegone

Gara shakes her head.
"I haven't been to the other ones, either." she twiddles her thumbs a bit and takes another swig of her conjured milkshake.
"But sugar-plums aren't really regular plums, even if those would be from faeries."
Gosh Lucas, don't you know things like what sugar-plums are?
Because Gara doesn't actually she just knows that they're not regular plums with sugar on them.

Mia just looks a bit confused. She has no ide what the Plum Mountain Park is and so doesn't her player.
"It's strange but I liked the outside one. It's a different feeling if you are in the cold and warm your body with a hot drink while the cookies cool down faster."

Oh yeah the cookies. She only started the talk because one was to hot. she sure keeps an eye on them. There are so many people with black holes instead of a stormatch. So she eyes the cookies especially when some movement happens there.


[Food Table?] Well, near it.

Venus's wool hat falls off.

It reveals two notable things: first, she has deer ears instead of human ears. Second, in her red hair (that she had stuffed under the hat) she has two separate flowers: it has chains of yellow fluffy ball-shaped groups of flowers, and white 5-petaled flowers (and...a couple of those venus flytrap leaves).

"O-oh. Um." Embarrassed about it, Venus raises one of her hands to cover some of it (while pretending she's just brushing her hair back) and holds her other hand out to grab the hat. "It's okay. Thanks."

She tries to quickly put the hat back on to cover it all up, but it's pretty hard considering the flowers and her ears; it was really hard to smoosh her ears under there in a way that was comfortable.

"So...um...hi," Venus says as she still works with putting the hat on and stuffing hair up in it. "Nice to meet you. You come here often?"

Realizing that might be a dumb question, she quickly adds - "I-I mean, um, Happy Thanksmas."


The man appears less bothered by all that, thought he rais an eyebrow when he notice the Venus flytrap leaves. Not really something he knows people put into thie hair. But either way he shrugs it off.

"Happy Thanksmas. I used to be a regular, but some circumstances prevent me from getting here. I'm not even sure how long I can stay. How about you? here for the festival by yourself or just waiting for someone?"

[Reinholdt]

[Throne of Power]

"Oh. Ummm..." Normally Raven would have one of her servants take it from June but she didn't bring any with her today in order to 'blend in'. Yes, yes, slumming it was beneath her, but the lights were very shiny! She had to check the place out.

With a brief look around, she snatches up the closest boxed present, opens it and discards the TurboMan action figure inside. Ah-hah! A perfectly serviceable box, which honestly is better than whatever was inside anyways. She holds the box for June to put the nail in before closing the lid. Perfect.

"My name is Raven Ebondark! You may call me Raven Ebondark!" She'd pose dramatically, but June was still embarrassingly on her lap. It made reaching for that box actually pretty awkward. "I also accept Dark Mistress or Empress of the Night or Black Heart Queen or Scourge of the Nine- no, uh Ten- no- Remaining Realms!"

She swings her legs back and forth. "But June's a nice name," Raven says with a smile.

[Deathkeeper]

[Elfmas!]

Koshal is still in his teens so he's only starting to push past the height of an adult human. He's definitely broken that, though.
"Oh, hello again, Miss. I didn't know you knew Master Wenomir. How's the tower?" he says cheerily with a smile to Cass. Last he saw her was years ago. He got that cool magic sheathe for his sword and she asked to keep the tower. Seemed pretty fine to him. Gotta let magic people have towers. That's what they're made for. He wonders if the guy who trained his uncle has a tower. Krayger said he had a vow of secrecy, which makes sense but spoils the fun.

[WindStruck]

Deck the Halls

Solstice merely shrugs at the explanation. Mishnehel didn't seem to know much about Thanksmas either!

"Well, perhaps an introduction is in order. I have met you before and I believe I know your name. As for me, you may call me Solstice."

How much more tinsel was there?

[Chaotic Bob]

People arrive!
[...]
In addition, G'nichi arrives looking for his friends Kara and Navvy. He brought presents for the children. Navvy might as well be his brother at this point. And Kara well, he owes her a lot. A lot. Oh, are they talking to other friends already? He can wait a little bit. Maybe check in with Zee again while he's there.

Time got a little fuzzy for Karaglen up in the rafter.
One minute she's draping her newest design all over the place, then she hears someone calling out to her and...things skip forward a bit? Probably just dead time.
Looks like Lapis wisely moved on anyway.

If G'nichi is paying attention, he'll see Kara drop down to the floor in the back, in her half-drow girl form. Her intention here is to sneak to another box of supplies she left near the bar, but she is easily intercepted if he would like.

[5a Violista]

[Throne of Power]

June puts it in the box. Yeah, if you don't want to touch it then that's for the best. "There!" Good.

He laughs. "Okay. Dark Mistress." He tries that out. Then, he adds, "Raven's pretty good, too."

So.
Um...
Now that a gift exchange has happened, he's not sure if he's supposed to sit here still. So he just sits on her lap awkwardly, shifting a little.
"So...um...is that it? Is there anything else? Sorry, this is actually the first time that I've celebrated Thanksmas. Don't really know all the traditions."



[Food Table?] But actually near-ish to it

Venus is now tucking her ears into the hat. It's pretty hard to get it right.
"Personally, this is only my second time in Trog's," she says. "Usually over in that Black Dragon's Den more, actually."

Almost got it...
nearly there..
There! Her hat's on pretty perfectly again. So, she answers the question: "No, I'm just here by myself."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Elfmas!]

Cass and Wenomir might note a familiar face seated at one end of the bar, though it might take them a moment. Electra stares pointedly into her drink, seemingly oblivious to the goings on around her. Her head is nodded forwards slightly, her bangs somewhat covering her eyes, and she's wearing her long hair down, where it mostly covers her auditory sensors. She's wearing a blue oriental-style dress that seems to shimmer when the light hits it; along the edges of some of the seams, it's trimmed in gold, though it's probably hard to see from the back, given how long her golden mane has gotten. She doesn't seem to have picked up on either the Elves' entrance, nor Wenomir's greeting to Cass just yet, but then, she's not exactly facing the door, either. Being seemingly lost in her own head isn't doing much for her situational awareness, either.

[Reinholdt]

[Throne of Power]

Raven sets aside the box for now, keeping it close.

Before shrugging at June, a light blush on her cheeks at the compliment. "Sure, I guess. I mean, I received your tribute and you got the gift of pleasing me. Sounds like joyousness has been achieved! Tradition accomplished." Nothing else to it really.

Except perhaps for that sack next to Raven's chair. She's been ignoring it, but if June were to ask for some kind of gift, she would have no choice but to go into it and give June a Thanksmas present. Those are the holiday rules.

[5a Violista]

[Throne of Power]

"Okay. Well..."
Since that's it, there's no more reason to sit, then, right?
"Um. Thanks," June says.

He then stands so someone else can have their turn. "Nice talking to you." And he remembers to pick back up the scarf-and-chocolate, too.

[Rebonack]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

That sure is the guy at the center of all of this!

But there doesn't seem to be anyone here named Nicholas right now.

Not even someone named Nick!

Maybe he just likes showing up fashionably late?

Lapis, meanwhile, looks over at the Thanksmas tree followed by a funny look at Anika.

"No that's just the Thanksmas tree Anika, that would be weird," she says. "I'm the best at being a tree but you could tell if I was being a tree."

The child understands that her tree impression is passable at best.

Only dumb birds mistake her for a normal tree.


[Floofbegon]

"I can understand that. A warm drink is better when it's cold," Lucas agrees. Then looks quizzically at Gara. "Wait, they aren't? I thought they were just like... sugar covered plums or something?"

"NOPE!" announces Zee, who's just sort of there all of a sudden holding a bowl. "Here you go! Sugar plums! I might not be a faerie but I male them myself each year! The white ones are plum, the red ones are strawberry, and the green ones are apricot! They're dried, spiced fruit with a candy shell. Sort of like M&Ms, just with fruit instead of chocolate!"

She jiggles the bowl at the various people milling about, offering them some candies.

[Shadowcaller]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

"It just looks pretty weird that's all." Anika remarks as she gives the tree a last glance before turning back to Lapis. "But if your siblings aren't a tree, why don't you tell me a bit about them? I don't even know their names yet."

[Rebonack]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

"Okay! Umm..." Lapis quickly looks around the room and points at the the half drow girl and the wyrmling up in the rafters. "That's Eao and Navanaxinermis." Then over at the half-drow girl heading up the stairs for more ornaments. "That's Karaglen."

Hmm. Who else?

Oh!

She points at two half drow boys currently scurrying in from outside for more spiced logs to put on the fireplace. That really helps give the tavern that wonderful Thanksmas smell!

"That's Sardus and that's Peridot! They had jobs a lot like mine but mom made them here Inside instead of up at VIGIL."

The boys set the logs down near the fireplace and toss one of them in.

"Hey Sardus mom made you to help keep gross pod people away Inside, right?" Lapis calls out to her sibling. "What do you do instead since they all got blown up?"

Sardus perks up at the question. "Oh, um... Mostly I just help Peridot hunt down mean faeries that hurt people. There a LOTS of them though, they're awful."

"Oh I did that before! It was at this scary forest that used to be a place people lived but a REALLY bad faerie turned it into a creepy bad forest," Lapis recounts from her first and as yet only official VIGIL mission.

[Recaiden]

"If I do, I don't think i get it back on." He says.
"HALO is an organisation that does good stuff by beating up the bad guys. I'm not the beating up type but I help them know how to beat them up."

"Oh, oh, oh, okay. So, you walk forward, and then turn when you get to me!" Having made this suggestion, the little dragon races off to where Mr. C's current path would put him closest to the Christmas tree.

"Why do they need to know how? Can't they just bite the bad guys and then it's done?"

[Morty]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

"Yeah, no one said Santa can't do the lap-sitting." Brinika nods solemnly.

"Is a fox like a wolf?" Zeerva suddenly asks. "There's always lots of wolves here. There's wolves at home too but we're not allowed to get near."

[Earl of Purple]

Deck the Halls

"Hello, Solstice, I'm Mishnehel. Also known as Brianelle, that was the name my mother gave me. Mishnehel's something that came up quite recently." She's not sure where it came from; she should really ask Zee about that, see if she knows.

Mishnehel starts to climb down now, all the tinsel up. A bit late, since the party's started, but... Well, something should always be late, that's only good luck.

[Arkhosia]

Mags and Blanche and Anika - Magtok is NOT a Doom Boss

”Er, a cyborg is someone who’s replaced parts of their body with machinery, either-“ Blanche trails off as Magtok stalks back over to the two. Her gaze turns steely and she steps protectively in front of Anika. ”You know what she meant.”

[Reinholdt]

[Throne of Power]

"Okay. Well..."
Since that's it, there's no more reason to sit, then, right?
"Um. Thanks," June says.

He then stands so someone else can have their turn. "Nice talking to you." And he remembers to pick back up the scarf-and-chocolate, too.
[Throne of Power -> Elsewhere]

"You're welcome," Raven says with more than a little self-appreciation.

After he's gone though, no one comes up immediately so Raven bails from the throne. She expected tribute not... lap sitting! It was dangerously close to embarrassing! One tribute is good enough for a holiday so she grabs her box and move to another section of the party.

[WindStruck]

Deck the Halls

Solstice smiles softly and says, "Well, I am pleased to meet you Mishnehel. I do understand what it can be like to go by different names. Though.. I suppose how you came about them is none of my business." With that, she shrugs. Seemed like yet more confusing stuff she probably shouldn't be delving into, even if she was welcome to.

The smile persists as she realizes the tinsel must have all been taken care of now. "Ah, very good. I think all that is left is the rest of these baubles?" Solstice picks one of the glass ornaments up, admiring it, and places it on a garland near the tinsel they just strung up.

[Shadowcaller]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Anika looks quite impressed as Lapis explains what her family has been doing though she can't help but to wonder how old everyone was. With Lapis family, you could never know despite everyone looking pretty young. Then there was that super-complex name in all the other one's which Anika knew she'd forget in a few seconds. Long names were the worst, which exactly why her sister was called Shanti and not Shantariel.

Once Lapis gets Sardus (whose name was mercifully easy to remember) attention, the druid cheerfully waves at him. It was really too bad she hadn't brought any gifts to them. Hadn't thought of that at all. "Wow, you and your sliblings are all really badass. But how old are you guys though? I mean, my mom wouldn't even let me cross the road alone when I looked like you guys." She remarks with a chuckle.

[Mithar Thankmas]

Cessie is from a rather cold country so it's no surprise that she wears thick outdoors clothing as is benefiting the winter season.
However, she have also dressed up all her three children in the same amount of wool garments and considering how small they all still are it looks like they can hardly move as she leads them all inside trog's.
The mage is giving the establishment a skeptical look as she was afraid that a party in a establishment that served alcohol would be far from child friendly. Not to mention of all the rumors she had heard of what supposedly happened on the second floor of trog's, not to mention what was supposed to lurk underneath it.
She can't spot any immediate child-unfriendly violations however and turns to help her children off with all their clothes. Thankfully Garn came along so he can take them all instead of having to trust a public cloth hanger.
"Alright kids, we're here. I want you to have fun but you remember the rules, keep yourself to the public room. Don't go through any doors unless it leads to the bathrooms, alright?"

[Rebonack]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Noting Anika's consternation at one of the names, Lapis adds. "We just mostly called him Navvy, he doesn't mind."

Then she lowers her tone a little and whispers.

"Mom adopted him. His real mom was killed by really mean faeries and he was hurt really bad, but mom fixed him up so now he lives here at Trog's with her. He's still a really great brother though, I love him lots," Lapis explains.

And then a very important question!

"Umm, well, Sardus is a few months older than I am," Lapis replies thoughtfully. "He's TWO whole years old. I'll be two in January! That's next month."

What.

She's only two years old? How is she even able to walk around and talk and use swords if she's so young? Then again, did Anika ever fight any evil dragons when she was adventuring? They always had all those whelps all over the place and they still fought even if they weren't nearly as dangerous as a full grown dragon.

And then the Mithars arrive! Lapis smiles a huge smile as soon as she spots a certain fire-haired girl all bundled up in a completely silly looking mass of clothing. "Cora's here!" she informs Anika.

[Recaiden]

[Throne of Power]

"Okay. Well..."
Since that's it, there's no more reason to sit, then, right?
"Um. Thanks," June says.

He then stands so someone else can have their turn. "Nice talking to you." And he remembers to pick back up the scarf-and-chocolate, too.

A winged1 woman2 in a tacky Thanksmas sweater3 looks over to June while passing by, and pauses to offer a critique.
"I don't think you did that correctly. I'm told that one is supposed to get a gift."

1 - Actually tentacles, but their whole appearance is draped in concealing illusion
2 - More of a semi-feminine but largely genderless bug monster
3 - Which, if you look extremely closely is more of am ominous hooded robe

[5a Violista]

[A winged1 woman2 in a tacky Thanksmas sweater3]

June, meanwhile, is a pretty androgynous redhead with a hoodie and currently no piercings although that may change soon.

He looks at the Thanksmas-sweater woman speaking to him. "Are you sure?" he asks. He twists and glances back at the now-vacant throne. (The twisting is a little unnatural based on how far and what parts twisted, but that's just because he's not quite used to his limits yet. Nothing to worry about, he'll get the kinks out sooner or later)

"Raven seemed to see nothing wrong with what I did, so..."
He shrugs.

[Recaiden]

[A pretty1 redhead2 in a hoodie3]

"Somewhat sure. I have been to a Thanksmas before," To help a family member who caught fire, and not for any gift-giving purposes. "-and that wasn't normal."
Spike notices June's unusual flexibility, but doesn't comment on it.
"Is the holiday new to you? Here, you can take a gift if you want."
They get out a tray of what seem to be small bottles wrapped in cheery thanksmas paper.

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

"Right! I can do it." Jade looks over at the throne and sees the catgirl abdicating. "Ooh, she left, I'm going to go over there soon." She stops when the one goblin child asks if foxes are like wolves. "We're related to wolves. We're both canines and we live in a lot of the same places." But obviously foxes are smaller and cuter and more colorful! Clearly the better option.

[Shadowcaller]

Magtok was willing to put up with overhearing a lot of nonsense and trash, so long as he successfully got away from Anika and Blanche. It's that last line that has him turning around and marching back up to the loathsome elf, though. Scowling and steaming, he narrows his eyes as he strides back over and glares right at her stupid elfy face.

"I am nothing like Blanche's dad," he insists. If looks could kill, that nasty scowl sent Anika's way would probably be roughly equivalent to an orbital bombardment.

"And I'm also not a demon," he insists after a brief pause, without half as much venom. The demon bit isn't the important part, after all; it's the not-Reinholdt thing we need to stress above all else. Demons are people too, probably, I guess? I don't know, Magtok doesn't mess around with them. I don't think he's even spoken to one since he left AMEN, and that was aaaaaaages ago.


Mags and Blanche and Anika - Magtok is NOT a Doom Boss

”Er, a cyborg is someone who’s replaced parts of their body with machinery, either-“ Blanche trails off as Magtok stalks back over to the two. Her gaze turns steely and she steps protectively in front of Anika. ”You know what she meant.”

Mags and Blanche and Anika - Magtok is NOT a Doom Boss

Anika don't even manage to hear Blanche's explanation as her attention is immediately grabbed by Magtok. She blinks, not having expecting the guy to either having overheard or coming marching in like this. His one metal-eye looked so weird this close-up. Though this situations one of those times when Anika actually remembered the manners her parents had drilled into her skull so long ago. "Er, sorry, sir. I didn't mean any offense. It's just... uh." The druid gestures at Blanche. "What she said."

[Purple Eagle]

[Darker Corner]

As Zara manipulates the box and wraps it, a small amount of some kind of cold, wet pinkish ooze will seep out from the corner. It's probably normal and nothing to worry about. The box does indeed look very fancy once properly wrapped though, by most standards. Sasha must have some very high standards or something. She doesn't even crack a smile!

But she can answer the question about if she eats. Of course Sasha eats. A tendril will rise from the darkness holding a rusted, poorly fastened cage of some very alive, somewhat malnourished and diseased looking rats. These rats are in something of a torpor, at least at first. Wherever the darkness below the world of light goes, it seems to induce a bit of lethargy upon those held there for an extended period of time. The rats will start to come to in time with all the festive melodies and sounds, squeaking with joy. Or perhaps a desire to escape. Sasha doesn't speak rat, only eats rat.

[Darker Corner]

Zara notices the ooze and inwardly wonders what it could be. The only things she can think of are organic in nature, but she puts it out of her mind for the time being, in favour of finishing the wrapping. With this being the case, she'd be more reluctant to place the box under the tree. Thus, she places it in a position that makes it easy to retrieve, should her suspicions be proven correct. She's unfazed by Sasha's lack of a smile, however. Perhaps, it simply is that she can't smile!

When the tendril rises up, Zara focuses her attention on the cage. Looking blankly at it with that perpetual smile of hers, she seems to have a delayed reaction. "Oh my!" She gasps, covering her mouth with one hand. "That cage is poorly locked! Good thing that where you keep it weakens the rats. Wouldn't want your food to run away now, right?" She winks at Sasha. "If you eat rat, then perhaps you eat meat too. Maybe cookies too, they're sweet and yummy!" She seems unfazed by the revelation, after all.

"Oo, how about letting Zara get you a cage for Thanksmas, so your food will be more securely kept? You'd like that, right Sasha?" There's something that has beenon Zara's mind, however, so she stretches her hand like rubber, alllll the way over to the tree, and grabs Sasha's gift. Once she's returned her hand to normal length, she holds it up for Sasha to see. "Zara'll say some words, and she wants you to nod when she correctly guesses what's in the box, okaaay? Okay!"

She takes in a deep breath, then begins! "Is it... food? Meat? ... rat?"a


Zaabi

Abi grins as she feels Zara behind her. She'll turn around to hug the ex-assassin back, and grins. "Hi! I've got a gift for you." The one she's put down is one for the white elephant gift exchange. She's going to reach into a pocket and pull out a small box, about ten centimetres long and five wide and tall.

[Zaabi]

Zara kisses Abi's cheek just as the hug ends, and squees when presented with a gift. She bounces up and down on the spot, all giddy like a little girl... but then, she does act quite like a little girl in general. "Yaaay, you got Zara a gift! What is it?" Her eyes study the box as she collects it, wondering if it's a knife or something. She'd love a knife, one she can lick all threateningly at foes who dare hurt those she's chosen.

Before she opens her gift, however, she presents one to Abi. "Zara got a gift for Abi, too!" She presents a rectangular box that's slightly longer than it is wide. "Happy thanksmas, Abi!"

The exchange done, she quickly tears open the box to see what's inside.

[Shadowcaller]

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Noting Anika's consternation at one of the names, Lapis adds. "We just mostly called him Navvy, he doesn't mind."

Then she lowers her tone a little and whispers.

"Mom adopted him. His real mom was killed by really mean faeries and he was hurt really bad, but mom fixed him up so now he lives here at Trog's with her. He's still a really great brother though, I love him lots," Lapis explains.

And then a very important question!

"Umm, well, Sardus is a few months older than I am," Lapis replies thoughtfully. "He's TWO whole years old. I'll be two in January! That's next month."

What.

She's only two years old? How is she even able to walk around and talk and use swords if she's so young? Then again, did Anika ever fight any evil dragons when she was adventuring? They always had all those whelps all over the place and they still fought even if they weren't nearly as dangerous as a full grown dragon.

And then the Mithars arrive! Lapis smiles a huge smile as soon as she spots a certain fire-haired girl all bundled up in a completely silly looking mass of clothing. "Cora's here!" she informs Anika.

[Location tags, in MY trog's?!]

Anika mouths a "oh" at Lapis whisper, how awful! What a poor little guy.
But before she can put any further thought into 'Navvy', Lapis answers her question which makes her raise an eyebrow. She knew Lapis and her siblings were different from others but she would never have guessed they were that young. Most spirits and stuff were a lot older but she couldn't recall anyone that were younger. How weird.

"...so where did you learn..." Anika thoughtfully starts to formulate a follow-up question when Cessie's brood enters trog's. "Oh sweet." She turns to look at the door and can't help but to snicker a bit. "Boy, that takes me back. My mom used to dress me up like that too. They're all doing the little golem-walk." She remarks with a laugh.

[5a Violista]

[A winged1 woman2 in a sweater3]

"It's my first time," June confirms, "but I've celebrated a functionally similar holiday that spans late spring and early summer." So not, like, brand-new celebrating this holiday.

He looks at the wrapped bottles on a tray. "Um. Sure," he says. He reaches to grab one, and with his other hand gets the purple-scarf-wrapped-around-a-chocolate-orange from his jacket pocket. "If you'd like a present, too, you can have this one."

June looks at the wrapped bottle and gives it a gentle squeeze and a finger-tap. "So, it feels fragile," he says. "Is it something I should open soon?"

[Deathkeeper]

FLOOFbegone

Gara shrugs to Lucas and- oh hey candy!
"Thanks, Miss." she says as she plucks some from the bowl to pass around and pops one into her mouth.
"Hmmmm. Not bad. Definitely better than the drink." This probably makes sense. It is candy, after all.

Time got a little fuzzy for Karaglen up in the rafter.
One minute she's draping her newest design all over the place, then she hears someone calling out to her and...things skip forward a bit? Probably just dead time.
Looks like Lapis wisely moved on anyway.

If G'nichi is paying attention, he'll see Kara drop down to the floor in the back, in her half-drow girl form. Her intention here is to sneak to another box of supplies she left near the bar, but she is easily intercepted if he would like.

G'nichi spots Kara and hurries over, the boxes still in his oversized arms.
"Hi Kara! Merry thanksmas!" he calls as he goes over.
Oh no Kara, your cover has been blown!

[Zefir]

]
[Floofbegon]

"I can understand that. A warm drink is better when it's cold," Lucas agrees. Then looks quizzically at Gara. "Wait, they aren't? I thought they were just like... sugar covered plums or something?"

"NOPE!" announces Zee, who's just sort of there all of a sudden holding a bowl. "Here you go! Sugar plums! I might not be a faerie but I male them myself each year! The white ones are plum, the red ones are strawberry, and the green ones are apricot! They're dried, spiced fruit with a candy shell. Sort of like M&Ms, just with fruit instead of chocolate!"

She jiggles the bowl at the various people milling about, offering them some candies.


FLOOFbegone

Gara shrugs to Lucas and- oh hey candy!
"Thanks, Miss." she says as she plucks some from the bowl to pass around and pops one into her mouth.
"Hmmmm. Not bad. Definitely better than the drink." This probably makes sense. It is candy, after all.


[Floofbegon]

Mia will also take one of the offered candy and nods thankfully at Zee. As she eats it, the others might notice that it seem to be to sweet for her or at least she doesn't seem to be used to such a sweetness.

"It's still something new how differetn this festival is every year. Only the throne is the one thing that never changes."


[Food Table?] But actually near-ish to it

Venus is now tucking her ears into the hat. It's pretty hard to get it right.
"Personally, this is only my second time in Trog's," she says. "Usually over in that Black Dragon's Den more, actually."

Almost got it...
nearly there..
There! Her hat's on pretty perfectly again. So, she answers the question: "No, I'm just here by myself."

[Food Table?]

The man was just laying the present away to help her, but she already managed to do that by herself so he looks kinda lost with the present away and his hands ready to offer help. A moment of silence so he can catch himself.

"Black Dragons Den?" he says and turns back to grab his presents slowly as he speaks. "I have been there a lot, but i never saw you. Is that your first Thanksmas?"



"Oh, oh, oh, okay. So, you walk forward, and then turn when you get to me!" Having made this suggestion, the little dragon races off to where Mr. C's current path would put him closest to the Christmas tree.

"Why do they need to know how? Can't they just bite the bad guys and then it's done?"

[Present Walking]

Well the prestent is after all slow so it takes a lot of time to reach that point anyways.

"No." C answers straight. "Most of the people can't bite in a way like you. They have other tools, but some enemies can't just be torn apart. After all they would like to not get bitten don't you think?

[Gullara]

[Mithar Thankmas]

Cessie is from a rather cold country so it's no surprise that she wears thick outdoors clothing as is benefiting the winter season.
However, she have also dressed up all her three children in the same amount of wool garments and considering how small they all still are it looks like they can hardly move as she leads them all inside trog's.
The mage is giving the establishment a skeptical look as she was afraid that a party in a establishment that served alcohol would be far from child friendly. Not to mention of all the rumors she had heard of what supposedly happened on the second floor of trog's, not to mention what was supposed to lurk underneath it.
She can't spot any immediate child-unfriendly violations however and turns to help her children off with all their clothes. Thankfully Garn came along so he can take them all instead of having to trust a public cloth hanger.
"Alright kids, we're here. I want you to have fun but you remember the rules, keep yourself to the public room. Don't go through any doors unless it leads to the bathrooms, alright?"

[Mithar Thankmas]

The three kids are ushered into the tavern ahead of their mother. All bundled up at their mother's insistence. Some handle that better than other. For instance, Cora immediately tugs her scarf and mittens off and thrusts them upon Garn. "Okay mommy." She says automatically as she scours the place. The Frescots are supposed to be here too, but she doesn't find them. Instead, though, she finds another familiar face. She runs off without a warning to her mom.

"Hi Lapis!" She greats the other girl. She pulls off her toque as she approaches and her fiery head flares.

Bastion and Jillian stay close ton their mom for now.

[5a Violista]

[Food Table?]

Well,
looks like you'll have to knock her hat off again if you want to help her.

Or maybe they'll get lucky and someone else will knock it off as they walk by.

Venus nods: "Yeah! I only started working there a couple months ago," she says. And, on a related note, "And, yeah, it's my first time. I mean, I've celebrated similar holidays but it's usually warmer out."
She glances out towards the windows and doors of the place. "Honestly, not really used to it getting so cold out." And yet, she's not wearing any shoes. "Snow's really cool, though. Fun to make snowmen."

[Rebonack]

[FLOOFbegone]

It is definitely candy.

Not only is it candy, it is HOME MADE candy filled with affection and care.

Zee might not be a pony or a keebler elf, she might not have any literal magic to add to her snacks and treats and entrees, but what she DOES have?

Is genuine love for everyone she serves at Trog's tavern.

And that's something that can't be replaced by any amount of magic.

Lucas likewise tries a candy out, his expression brightening. "Wow these are actually really good."

Now he's got to sample all three flavors.

It is worth noting that the sugar plums really aren't that sweet compared to most candies. They're just spiced, dried fruit in a thing shell of hard candy. If someone REALLY wanted sweet there's also that tray of chocolate covered fruit pate nearby busy looking delicious.

"So! Are you kids having fun this year?" Zee asks, smiling wide at our heroes. It's pretty clear she's enjoying herself at least.


[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

"Hi Cora you came to the party I'm so glad! Do you like the decorations I helped put them up and I love them!" Lapis replies gleefully, bouncing on her heels. "I was just telling Anika about how Thanksmas works since she's got something else where she comes from."

Something about a jolly dwarf that gives out weapons? Lapis could really get behind a cool sword for Thanksmas.

"Hey! When I was playing with the Frescots the other day Laela was saying how you can melt snowballs with your breath and that we should have a snowball melting contest," Lapis reports before glancing back toward Cessie and Bastion. "I heard your brother can't breath fire only sand so I guess maybe he could just watch?"

From Lapis' tone it is clear that she has great sympathy for Bastion's misfortune at getting a really lame breath weapon.

[Shadowcaller]

[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

Cessie let's out a small sigh as Cora just runs off but doesn't attempt to stop her. She was here to have fun after all so she wouldn't interfere too much today.

Anika raises her hand to greet the Mithar as she runs over. "Yo, Cora. I got a present for your family that you can take with you later." The druid remarks as she gestures with her thumb at the pile of presents that she left on the floor when she handed over Lapis's gift.
She'd remark that Wenomir was also here but she knew that the warrior was quite preoccupied at the moment.

[Earl of Purple]

Deck the Halls

"Yep, just baubles. Although it looks like the party's started, so we might not have much time to put them up." The apparently-a-half-elf hangs another bauble, this one painted wood rather than glass, on a hook on the rafters.

Foxy Thanksmas

"Wolves are generally more social, foxes prefer to live on their own. They're also pretty adaptable, able to live in all kinds of places as wild animals, not domesticated like the wolves in Underside. Cities, forests, plains, and so on." The chair is free, so Cheasadh will let Jade go if she wants. There's no real need for Cheasadh to sit on Santa's lap this year- the best present ever she received last year, and it wasn't even from Santa!

Zaabi

"Aww, thank you Zara!" Abi takes the gift and waits for Zara to open her own present before following suit.

Inside, it's not a knife. The package is far too small to be a knife. It's two things- a loyalty card worth three free ice-creams at the parlour Abi works. A charm bracelet with four small charms on it- a silver skull that gives a slight boost to the wearer's healing and ability to fight off disease and poison, a black enamel bat that sharpens the wearer's hearing slightly, a gold heart that doesn't do anything, and an aluminium dice that prevents the whole bracelet from showing up on mundane security devices, such as metal detectors. "I hope you like the bracelet. Some of the charms are magic, quite weak I'm afraid but I couldn't afford something really expensive."

[Morty]

[Foxy Thanksmas]

"If goblins managed to domesticate wolves, I'm sure they could do it with foxes. But foxes are too small even for goblins to ride." Brinika and the three smaller goblins also follow Jade to the throne. "The wolves back home aren't really pets, though. They're not safe for anyone except their riders and handlers to come near."

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

"Let's not talk about domesticating. I'm a wild fox, and I mostly prefer to stay that way. Except petting. Petting is good. And snacks." Jade clambers up onto the throne. It's a tricky climb for a small fox, but she manages. Then she stretches out and lies down. "Ah, that's good."

Santa Throne

Someone else has ascended the Santa Throne. She's a little red fox, wearing a Santa hat. She's all happily curled up on the seat of the throne and either half asleep, or ready to give presents in exchange for pets. Hard to say which.

[Recaiden]

[Present Walking]


Well the prestent is after all slow so it takes a lot of time to reach that point anyways.

"No." C answers straight. "Most of the people can't bite in a way like you. They have other tools, but some enemies can't just be torn apart. After all they would like to not get bitten don't you think?

As long as the present arrives in time for the gift exchange, it'll be fine.
"Well, if they didn't want to get bitten they shouldn't have been bad!"
Unassailable logic, the little dragon thinks.

[Reinholdt]

[Darker Corner]

Zara notices the ooze and inwardly wonders what it could be. The only things she can think of are organic in nature, but she puts it out of her mind for the time being, in favour of finishing the wrapping. With this being the case, she'd be more reluctant to place the box under the tree. Thus, she places it in a position that makes it easy to retrieve, should her suspicions be proven correct. She's unfazed by Sasha's lack of a smile, however. Perhaps, it simply is that she can't smile!

When the tendril rises up, Zara focuses her attention on the cage. Looking blankly at it with that perpetual smile of hers, she seems to have a delayed reaction. "Oh my!" She gasps, covering her mouth with one hand. "That cage is poorly locked! Good thing that where you keep it weakens the rats. Wouldn't want your food to run away now, right?" She winks at Sasha. "If you eat rat, then perhaps you eat meat too. Maybe cookies too, they're sweet and yummy!" She seems unfazed by the revelation, after all.

"Oo, how about letting Zara get you a cage for Thanksmas, so your food will be more securely kept? You'd like that, right Sasha?" There's something that has beenon Zara's mind, however, so she stretches her hand like rubber, alllll the way over to the tree, and grabs Sasha's gift. Once she's returned her hand to normal length, she holds it up for Sasha to see. "Zara'll say some words, and she wants you to nod when she correctly guesses what's in the box, okaaay? Okay!"

She takes in a deep breath, then begins! "Is it... food? Meat? ... rat?"
[Darker Corner]

Sasha tilts her head ever so slightly. Poorly locked? She fails to see how. This cage was supremely secure! Roughly the same as the cages dad uses. And those test subjects never run away! They also sometimes stop living, but a lot of things do that.

Besides, if they get away, she'd just catch them again. Test subjects or rats. It was exceptionally easy.

Oh. Zara wants to guess what's in the box? That does seem to be a part of the ritual. Well sometimes. Other times whomever it is insists they don't guess! These are very conflicting ideals and Sasha has yet to grasp which occasion calls for which gift giving procedural standard. Thanksmas must be the former. So Zara is receiving Sasha's gift? Is that how Thanksmas tree gift exchanges work?

Well... Sasha hopes Zara likes it.

Regardless the shadow monster will hesitate, then shake her head no.

[5a Violista]

[A winged1 woman2 in a sweater3]

"It's my first time," June confirms, "but I've celebrated a functionally similar holiday that spans late spring and early summer." So not, like, brand-new celebrating this holiday.

He looks at the wrapped bottles on a tray. "Um. Sure," he says. He reaches to grab one, and with his other hand gets the purple-scarf-wrapped-around-a-chocolate-orange from his jacket pocket. "If you'd like a present, too, you can have this one."

June looks at the wrapped bottle and gives it a gentle squeeze and a finger-tap. "So, it feels fragile," he says. "Is it something I should open soon?"


[A pretty1 redhead2 in a hoodie3]

"Somewhat sure. I have been to a Thanksmas before," To help a family member who caught fire, and not for any gift-giving purposes. "-and that wasn't normal."
Spike notices June's unusual flexibility, but doesn't comment on it.
"Is the holiday new to you? Here, you can take a gift if you want."
They get out a tray of what seem to be small bottles wrapped in cheery thanksmas paper.


Concerned about its potential fragility,
June decides it is probably best to just open it now.

He unwraps the bottle, assuming it's some kind of drink. But...drinks usually come in larger bottles, don't they?

[Recaiden]

((Was this easier than a reminder? :smallconfused:))

Concerned about its potential fragility,
June decides it is probably best to just open it now.

He unwraps the bottle, assuming it's some kind of drink. But...drinks usually come in larger bottles, don't they?

"There should be no hurry to opening it." Spike starts to say. But it's already being unwrapped!?
Which is also fine.
It's smaller than a drink bottle, and also has a pointier many-faceted shape. Inside is a fizzy red liquid, and outside is a tag saying that it's a healing elixir.

Meanwhile Spike reaches over and picks up the purpler scarf bundle with a wing, then passing it to their hand to unwrap.
Look the orange over curiously for a moment, and then announces "This is poison." in a slightly disappointed tone of voice.

[Morty]

[Santa Throne]

Brinika giggles.

"You should be careful. Promises of pets and snacks is how we get you. But you're a talking fox, so I guess it wouldn't work." She peers at the little Santa-fox. "Do you want some help with handing out gifts? Since it might be a bit difficult with paws."

[Earl of Purple]

Santa Throne

"Yeah, we can be your little elf helpers. Elves are traditional." The latter is addressed at Brinika and the cousins, in case they protest they aren't elves. She doesn't expect Brinika to, but the little ones might. "My elf name is... Uh, Twinkleberry." Cheasadh's not going to regret that at all, with random cousins calling her Twinkleberry when she least expects it.

[5a Violista]

((Was this easier than a reminder? :smallconfused:))
((Yeah, was on my phone on the move, so had pretty spotty connection and was worried that I hadn't included enough info for you to respond to))


Oh! A healing elixer! That's...
...
Well, useful if he ever runs into someone else who needs healing, since after a little experimentation, June has discovered that he can heal himself so long as he eats enough.
Healing other people is pretty important, though.

"Oh! Um. You can't have chocolate?" he asks, with a little alarm in his voice. He reaches out to take back the chocolate orange if that's okay with Spike. "Sorry, I'm still not really used to picking out others' dietary requirements yet. Still keep the scarf, though."

He thinks: besides the other cursed nail, he doesn't really have much else to give and he kinda wants to keep that and that. He rubs his hand along the back of his head. "Is there anything I could do to make up for that? I'm pretty handy at a bunch of things."

[bc56]

Foxy Thanksmas

"Thanks, that's very nice of you. It's hard to get things with paws. I appreciate the help." Jade looks down at the sack of presents. "While you're here, do any of you want something for Thanksmas?"

[Gullara]

[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

"Hi Cora you came to the party I'm so glad! Do you like the decorations I helped put them up and I love them!" Lapis replies gleefully, bouncing on her heels. "I was just telling Anika about how Thanksmas works since she's got something else where she comes from."

Something about a jolly dwarf that gives out weapons? Lapis could really get behind a cool sword for Thanksmas.

"Hey! When I was playing with the Frescots the other day Laela was saying how you can melt snowballs with your breath and that we should have a snowball melting contest," Lapis reports before glancing back toward Cessie and Bastion. "I heard your brother can't breath fire only sand so I guess maybe he could just watch?"

From Lapis' tone it is clear that she has great sympathy for Bastion's misfortune at getting a really lame breath weapon.


[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

Cessie let's out a small sigh as Cora just runs off but doesn't attempt to stop her. She was here to have fun after all so she wouldn't interfere too much today.

Anika raises her hand to greet the Mithar as she runs over. "Yo, Cora. I got a present for your family that you can take with you later." The druid remarks as she gestures with her thumb at the pile of presents that she left on the floor when she handed over Lapis's gift.
She'd remark that Wenomir was also here but she knew that the warrior was quite preoccupied at the moment.

[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

"Hi Anika!" The girl greets as well. Everyone's at this party, huh? "Yeah the decorations are nice." Cora's not one to appreciate the fine details, but it's definitely very Thanksmas-y. "Really, you breathe fire too? Mommy says I can't do it without permission, though." She frowns. Some nonsense about 'danger'.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Elfmas!]

The two wolves hop around and rub their heads into Lucien's hands, then prance away as if inviting him to chase them. Their mother walks up to Geneviève and looks at her with bright eyes. There's definitely some seasonal magic on those wolves to make them so friendly, but even so they're acting very tame. They must be trained in some special way.

Wenomir approaches Cass with long strides. He seems in an unusually cheerful mood.

"Cassandra! Good to see you here. I wanted to introduce you to my student, Koshal." He puts his hand on the minotaur's shoulder. It's a long way up.


[Elfmas!]

Koshal is still in his teens so he's only starting to push past the height of an adult human. He's definitely broken that, though.
"Oh, hello again, Miss. I didn't know you knew Master Wenomir. How's the tower?" he says cheerily with a smile to Cass. Last he saw her was years ago. He got that cool magic sheathe for his sword and she asked to keep the tower. Seemed pretty fine to him. Gotta let magic people have towers. That's what they're made for. He wonders if the guy who trained his uncle has a tower. Krayger said he had a vow of secrecy, which makes sense but spoils the fun.

[Elfmas!]

"Tower's fine," says Cass, giving Koshal a wry smile. "You can barely tell that it used to be full of creepy bug experiments."

She does notice Electra, and almost waves her over, before noticing that she seems to be in her own little world at the moment. Oh. Well, Cass will just have to go pester her later, when she's not talking with these two and not supposed to be bringing wine and a cocoa to Geneviève and Lucien.

"Yeah, we know each other. Unfortunately." She says, giving Wenomir a cheeky wink. Seems like she's also in a good mood.

[Zefir]

[Present Walking]



As long as the present arrives in time for the gift exchange, it'll be fine.
"Well, if they didn't want to get bitten they shouldn't have been bad!"
Unassailable logic, the little dragon thinks.

[Present Walking]

Mr C would shake his head if that wouldn't change his direction.
"Biting is not the ultimate answer against bad guys. It's...... complicated. Let's just say the world has more then bad and good and many things depend on the viewpoint. You are a young one, right? Are your parents here as well? Who are they?"
The present continues walking. It's so slow a young dragon might not be able to wait much longer.


[Food Table?]

Well,
looks like you'll have to knock her hat off again if you want to help her.

Or maybe they'll get lucky and someone else will knock it off as they walk by.

Venus nods: "Yeah! I only started working there a couple months ago," she says. And, on a related note, "And, yeah, it's my first time. I mean, I've celebrated similar holidays but it's usually warmer out."
She glances out towards the windows and doors of the place. "Honestly, not really used to it getting so cold out." And yet, she's not wearing any shoes. "Snow's really cool, though. Fun to make snowmen."

[Food Table?]

That would be a bad idea, to knock it down himself. At the end the Venus traps start biting him.

"That sounds like you come from seom kind of tropical Area." he comments with a hint of confusion. "Were I am from things were kinda simular. Near the end of the year it get's colder and darker while we wait for 'Chrismas'. Snow was a regular thing back there. It even stayed for a few months. I'm more the
ice-skating guy. I don't like it when my fingers got numb when i build a snowmen.
He is aware that there are gloves to protect the fingers, but most of them aren't winterproof or like the usual ones he wears they don't cover the fingers.

[Rebonack]

[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

Everyone COOL is at this party. Probably a few not as cool people, too, but they can be forgiven since this party is great.

Lapis is doing her best not to vibrate with excitement here since she's really glad her friends have come! She really doesn't come to Trog's often so getting to be around her mom is a double-treat and she loves it.

"Yeah! I think so? It's something kind of like fire it's hot and bright," Lapis replies before looking over at Zee. "Mom I breath fire, right?"

"You breath plasma, Lapis. It lights up because it's ionized. Fire glows because of blackbody radiation. They're different things," Zee replies with some words.

"It's basically fire," Lapis concludes. "I thought we could roll up some snowballs out on the deck-"

She points toward the open door that leads to Trog's outdoor dining area. Currently it's covered in completely undisturbed snow and looks like a winter wonderland.

"-and then see who can melt them the fastest! It would be really fun and I guess you just have to ask your mom if it's okay?"

Surely Cessie would allow her daughter to have some completely harmless fun melting snowballs with fire breath. Nothing dangerous there at all.

[5a Violista]

[Food Table?]

"Well, I've lived in the tropics," Venus says, and adds, "but I don't really see what that has to do with anything."

And, don't worry. So long as he's not an insect the flytraps probably won't hurt him.

But!
"Ice skating! I love ice skating. I once went on a date ice skating. It was really fun, but sadly I kept on leaving my date behind."

[Morty]

[Foxy Thanksmas Throne]

The three smaller goblins pipe up immediately.

"Yeah! I want a book!"

"And I want blocks, to build stuff with."

"I want a big, cute plush animal."

Brinika's ears twitch.

"I guess we can get something once we're done helping. And my elf name will be... Jollyhop. Elves are supposed to be jolly, I think. If Natharia was here, we could have a real elf. Though I'm not sure if she is one."

[Elfmas!]

Wenomir looks between Cassandra and Koshal slowly, blinking. He did not expect that and he's not someone who recovers quickly from surprise.

"Wait a moment... you were the nice wizard lady who helped him with that alchemist in the tower," he says, slowly, then erupts into laughter. "By the Riddle. I had no idea. I was just proud of Koshal for handling himself so well. And I didn't make any connection when I saw your tower. I just thought... sorcerers live in towers, don't they?"

[Earl of Purple]

Foxy Thanksmas Throne

"I'm not sure I want one. I'll think about it as we go. Nothing can beat last year's." Pretty sure Cheasadh didn't get a specific present from Santa last year, either.

[Deathkeeper]

FLOOFbegone

Gara nods to Zee. "Yeah, we are. Thanks a bunch."
What a nice host.
"So uh, is there anything you came here to do?" she asks her company.

Elfmas

"Oh, that's good. I bet you redecorated it real nice." Koshal says. Cass seems like a classy person with good taste in home decor.
Maybe.
I mean a tower isn't as nice as a castle. But you make due.
"Huh, I guess I never told you anything specific. Sorry 'bout that, Master." Koshal says, though with a grin of his own. Faye materializes out of his shadow again, as she has been left unpet for a whole thirty minutes at this point.

[Ashen Lilies]

[Elfmas]

"Nice wizard lady?" Cass asks, clearly amused. "Never been described like that before. Sure, I'll accept it."

She's not feeling very ladylike right now, but that little detail can be omitted for the sake of convenience. Unfortunately, what's not convenient is that the drinks Cass ordered have arrived, and have been sitting there long enough that she's starting to feel vaguely guilty for not bringing them over as asked.

"Well, I have some drinks to deliver, to my baby brother and... Geneviève, so I'll have to be right back. Unless you want to come along and introduce yourselves?"

[Lord Magtok]

Mags and Blanche and Anika - Magtok is NOT a Doom Boss...But He Could Pass For A Metal Gear One


Mags and Blanche and Anika - Magtok is NOT a Doom Boss

”Er, a cyborg is someone who’s replaced parts of their body with machinery, either-“ Blanche trails off as Magtok stalks back over to the two. Her gaze turns steely and she steps protectively in front of Anika. ”You know what she meant.”


Mags and Blanche and Anika - Magtok is NOT a Doom Boss

Anika don't even manage to hear Blanche's explanation as her attention is immediately grabbed by Magtok. She blinks, not having expecting the guy to either having overheard or coming marching in like this. His one metal-eye looked so weird this close-up. Though this situations one of those times when Anika actually remembered the manners her parents had drilled into her skull so long ago. "Er, sorry, sir. I didn't mean any offense. It's just... uh." The druid gestures at Blanche. "What she said."

"Fine," Magtok relents, backing off without much fuss. "You two have fun, I'm going to go disappear and do...something." He hasn't decided what he's going to do, exactly, but it's probably not going to be anywhere near this cat and her repulsive elf girlfriend. Blugh, an elf and the spawn of Reinholdt together, what a match made in hell. All of the worst things in one pairing.

[Shadowcaller]

[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN==> Rain at Thankmas?]

"Yeah, you should probably be outside for all that snow melting." Anika agrees as it seemed a lot more practical. Besides, mages were always thrown out when they summoned fire in the taverns were she was form so she assumed it was the same here.

"Buuuut, I gotta hand out some more gifts so I'll just have to check in on the contest later, 'kay? I'm sure your siblings would love to act audience though." She gestures as the zeeblings and then at Bastion and Jillian.

"So catch you later, kids!" The druid exclaims before she snatches up one of the gifts from her pile and makes her way towards Rain, smiling widely.

Her present pile is left unattended though so if either of the kids wants to sneak a peek they could do so. But they're probably more interested in the contest.

[Morty]

[Elfmas]

Wenomir reaches down to pet Faye without thinking about it for too long. She's a good dog that deserves pets, after all.

"You had no way of knowing you met someone so important to me, Koshal," he says. "The Nexus likes such coincidences, I suppose. I think we'll wait here... no use making a crowd. But I would like to meet your brother eventually."

[Purple Eagle]

Zaabi

"Aww, thank you Zara!" Abi takes the gift and waits for Zara to open her own present before following suit.

Inside, it's not a knife. The package is far too small to be a knife. It's two things- a loyalty card worth three free ice-creams at the parlour Abi works. A charm bracelet with four small charms on it- a silver skull that gives a slight boost to the wearer's healing and ability to fight off disease and poison, a black enamel bat that sharpens the wearer's hearing slightly, a gold heart that doesn't do anything, and an aluminium dice that prevents the whole bracelet from showing up on mundane security devices, such as metal detectors. "I hope you like the bracelet. Some of the charms are magic, quite weak I'm afraid but I couldn't afford something really expensive."

[Zaabi]

Zara opens the package hurriedly and grins when she sees the contents. Abi could've gotten her some coal, and she'd react much the same way, though her eyes wouldn't shine so bright with gratefulness. She stores the loyalty card in her inventory, and quickly wears the bracelet on her other arm, holding it up to the light so she can see the charms glisten in the light. "Thank you so much, Abi!" She squeals, hugging Abi tightly. "Zara'll treasure it always. She can even sense the power these hold, however small... thank you."

"It's Abi's turn!" She gestures for her to open her box, watching with expectant glee. Inside contains two things: a wallet and a hand-made embroidered handkerchief. There's a third thing, which Zara thrusts at her: a ziploc bag containing homemade cookies in the shape of hearts. "You like?"


[Darker Corner]

Sasha tilts her head ever so slightly. Poorly locked? She fails to see how. This cage was supremely secure! Roughly the same as the cages dad uses. And those test subjects never run away! They also sometimes stop living, but a lot of things do that.

Besides, if they get away, she'd just catch them again. Test subjects or rats. It was exceptionally easy.

Oh. Zara wants to guess what's in the box? That does seem to be a part of the ritual. Well sometimes. Other times whomever it is insists they don't guess! These are very conflicting ideals and Sasha has yet to grasp which occasion calls for which gift giving procedural standard. Thanksmas must be the former. So Zara is receiving Sasha's gift? Is that how Thanksmas tree gift exchanges work?

Well... Sasha hopes Zara likes it.

Regardless the shadow monster will hesitate, then shake her head no.

[Darker Corner]

Zara notices the head-tilt and nods, still smiling ever so widely. "Zara'll get you a better cage for you to keep them, then, so that they'll never escape." There's a way she says the word 'never', such that one would be fully justified to expect an evil cackle afterwards! "The cage Zara wishes to get you will hold even more rats, too! What's not to like?"

Regarding the box, however: the lanky teen girl hums at the box as she examines it. It's not meat, rat or anything of the sort, so what could it be? She decides to just come out straight and state why she's doing this. "Hmm... Zara saw something leak out of the box, it was pink and gooey, so Zara thought she'd ask just what was in the box. Zara wants to make sure the gift is good, and in good condition for whosoever recieves it later." She studies the box a little longer. "Sooo... Zara will open it now, okay? We can always rewrap it later!" It's also an opportunity for Sasha to again watch someone wrap a gift!

Then? She unwraps the box slowly, trying to ensure that at least parts of it are reusable, then opens the box. She'll go through with it unless Sasha stops her.

[Recaiden]

[Present Walking]

Mr C would shake his head if that wouldn't change his direction.
"Biting is not the ultimate answer against bad guys. It's...... complicated. Let's just say the world has more then bad and good and many things depend on the viewpoint. You are a young one, right? Are your parents here as well? Who are they?"
The present continues walking. It's so slow a young dragon might not be able to wait much longer.

"Well, okay. Yeah, I'm gonna be four. I'm here with-"
Cleo, the woman in the santa outfit with another little dragon on her shoulder, walks over from by the tree. Although perhaps all one can see from under the present would be the high-heeled shoes. And the fact that poinsettia flowers are blooming all around her.
"Kronoa dear, are you bothering Mr. C?"
"No, I'm helping!" The little dragon insists.

[Earl of Purple]

Zaabi

Abi grins and hugs Zara back, squeezing a little as she's squeezed in turn.

Abi opens her present and gasps, taking the handkerchief out and admiring it. It's put in her pocket, and the wallet will join it. "They're awesome, I love it. Thankyou, Zara. I'll transfer my stuff across to the purse when I get home. Ooh, biscuits. Did you bake them yourself?" Abi's going to open the bag and eat one of the biscuits.

[Reinholdt]

[Darker Corner]

Sasha likes her cage just fine, it being one of the four things she owns. But you never turn down a gift! She thinks that's the etiquette. She's not really sure. She doesn't much understand gifts, even if she is imitating them with one of her own.

Zara is opening her gift! But not... because it's hers? But to make sure it's good? Sasha knows it's good, so this seems wholly unnecessary. She wouldn't give a bad gift! That'd be mean. Oh wait, unless it's supposed to be? Apparently bad gifts are good, but you have to call them gag gifts?

This is all very confusing, and now getting a little frustrating. She might just skip the whole tradition next year. It seemed arbitrary to begin with.

Inside the box, Zara will find strawberry ice cream! It's partially melted and well on its way to becoming fully melted and definitely not in the original container designed to actually hold said ice cream. Ice cream is great so makes a perfect gift, even if it is cold and cold food is kinda awful, but ice cream is still good despite that. Or so Sasha thinks anyways. Once you learn not to eat the spoon (a tricky concept!).

[Zefir]

[Food Table?]

"Well, I've lived in the tropics," Venus says, and adds, "but I don't really see what that has to do with anything."

And, don't worry. So long as he's not an insect the flytraps probably won't hurt him.

But!
"Ice skating! I love ice skating. I once went on a date ice skating. It was really fun, but sadly I kept on leaving my date behind."

[Food Table?]

"Tropical regions have less or no snow. It's just to warm." he says.
Then he looks at her judging. she doesn't look like the Ice skating person. It must be hard with those feet. Then again he learned the hard way that looks don't matter. Especially if you can't proove it. Maybe she got normal skating at her childhood or other things so simular it's easy to adapt to ice.

"I don't think you would have that problem with me." he says. "I'm a regular on ice. Only the professional can run away from me."

[FLOOFbegone]

It is definitely candy.

Not only is it candy, it is HOME MADE candy filled with affection and care.

Zee might not be a pony or a keebler elf, she might not have any literal magic to add to her snacks and treats and entrees, but what she DOES have?

Is genuine love for everyone she serves at Trog's tavern.

And that's something that can't be replaced by any amount of magic.

Lucas likewise tries a candy out, his expression brightening. "Wow these are actually really good."

Now he's got to sample all three flavors.

It is worth noting that the sugar plums really aren't that sweet compared to most candies. They're just spiced, dried fruit in a thing shell of hard candy. If someone REALLY wanted sweet there's also that tray of chocolate covered fruit pate nearby busy looking delicious.

"So! Are you kids having fun this year?" Zee asks, smiling wide at our heroes. It's pretty clear she's enjoying herself at least.



FLOOFbegone

Gara nods to Zee. "Yeah, we are. Thanks a bunch."
What a nice host.
"So uh, is there anything you came here to do?" she asks her company.


[FLOOFbegone]

"I'm fine." Mia just says. She doesn't seem to be bothered by adressed to as a kid. After all she isn't looking much like a typical adults and nowhere near most of the other woman around.

"There was a kid named Lapis from Vigil. She said she would come here and sing with other children and I wanted to listen to that. I didn't saw her yet."


"Well, okay. Yeah, I'm gonna be four. I'm here with-"
Cleo, the woman in the santa outfit with another little dragon on her shoulder, walks over from by the tree. Although perhaps all one can see from under the present would be the high-heeled shoes. And the fact that poinsettia flowers are blooming all around her.
"Kronoa dear, are you bothering Mr. C?"
"No, I'm helping!" The little dragon insists.

[Present STILL walking]

I think i heared the name Cleo somewhere, but I don't know if I met her anytime before. And not sure how much Mr. C knows about her. It's a bit odd that she knows who is under the box, but after al she could just have been close to hear them. Also with the flowers it should be hard to see anything behind it. But C is a professional.

"He's right, he is helping." Mr. C replies. " My vision is blocked by this present and he helped me find the way. I just hope i will reach things in time."

[Arkhosia]

Mags and Blanche and Anika - NanoMagchines, Son

Blanche seems a little surprised to see Magtok deescalate so quickly, and it takes her a second to respond, her tension relaxing. "Fine, just... I'd appreciate it if you showed my friends the same respect I'd show yours."

[Gullara]

[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

Everyone COOL is at this party. Probably a few not as cool people, too, but they can be forgiven since this party is great.

Lapis is doing her best not to vibrate with excitement here since she's really glad her friends have come! She really doesn't come to Trog's often so getting to be around her mom is a double-treat and she loves it.

"Yeah! I think so? It's something kind of like fire it's hot and bright," Lapis replies before looking over at Zee. "Mom I breath fire, right?"

"You breath plasma, Lapis. It lights up because it's ionized. Fire glows because of blackbody radiation. They're different things," Zee replies with some words.

"It's basically fire," Lapis concludes. "I thought we could roll up some snowballs out on the deck-"

She points toward the open door that leads to Trog's outdoor dining area. Currently it's covered in completely undisturbed snow and looks like a winter wonderland.

"-and then see who can melt them the fastest! It would be really fun and I guess you just have to ask your mom if it's okay?"

Surely Cessie would allow her daughter to have some completely harmless fun melting snowballs with fire breath. Nothing dangerous there at all.


[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN==> Rain at Thankmas?]

"Yeah, you should probably be outside for all that snow melting." Anika agrees as it seemed a lot more practical. Besides, mages were always thrown out when they summoned fire in the taverns were she was form so she assumed it was the same here.

"Buuuut, I gotta hand out some more gifts so I'll just have to check in on the contest later, 'kay? I'm sure your siblings would love to act audience though." She gestures as the zeeblings and then at Bastion and Jillian.

"So catch you later, kids!" The druid exclaims before she snatches up one of the gifts from her pile and makes her way towards Rain, smiling widely.

Her present pile is left unattended though so if either of the kids wants to sneak a peek they could do so. But they're probably more interested in the contest.

[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

"Thanks, Anika!" Cora calls after the elf. Before anything she goes over the the present pile and retrieves the one with her name on it. Present in hand she replies to Lapis. "Um, yeah that's a good idea! Mommy said I should stay in here, so we better ask." Surely Cessie will be okay with it. It's totally reasonable.

The girl leads the way over to the rest of her family. "Can me and Lapis go outside to play in the snow?" She asks, looking up at her mom with pleading eyes.

[Rebonack]

[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

Lapis watches the gift pile curiously for a few moments. Anika sure did bring a lot of them!

Should she have gotten gifts for more people?

The only problem is she wasn't sure who was coming to the party and it would be terrible if a gift was wasted because no one showed up!

Hmm... maybe she could at least figure out some kind of gift for Cora?

...but what?

For now she's just going to make do with smiling up at Commander Cessie and going, "Pleeeeease?"

Hopefully that's enough to sway her.


[Floofbegon]

Zee doesn't answer Gara's question.

Because that would be kind of silly, you know? She's hosting the party she didn't come here for any specific purpose. Not like she has some sort of ulterior motive to hosting the party at Trog's.

"Oh, uh, actually I was just hoping to meet someone here," Lucas replies, flushing slightly. He doesn't mention who he was hoping to meet. That might be kind of embarrassing. "Wait, they're going to have a choir? That sounds pretty cute."

He glances over at Zee for confirmation, who flashes a mischievous smile. "It's a suuuuuurprise."

[Recaiden]

[Santa's Throne]

That first little dragon, with the black scales and red eyes, pops up, putting her claws on the edge of the throne.
"Hey, hey Santa, is it my turn for a present? Is it?"

[Present STILL walking]

I think i heared the name Cleo somewhere, but I don't know if I met her anytime before. And not sure how much Mr. C knows about her. It's a bit odd that she knows who is under the box, but after al she could just have been close to hear them. Also with the flowers it should be hard to see anything behind it. But C is a professional.

"He's right, he is helping." Mr. C replies. " My vision is blocked by this present and he helped me find the way. I just hope i will reach things in time."

Cleo is these little dragon's parent, a powerful magic-user in disguise as her old human self. She's done some work to cure people of demon corruption, but these days is mostly offscreen looking after the family and inscrutable wizardly concerns.
"Oh, very good Kronoa." The little dragon chirps happily; she did it!
"But if you don't mind, I could deliver that present for you much faster." If Mr. C agrees, she'll just reach down, pick up the present, and set it under the tree, humming a little tune all the while.

[Shadowcaller]

[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

Cessie turns as her daughter and Lapis approaches.
Play in the snow? She gives them a suspicious look. Well, she could hardly decline that request but she couldn't leave the girls without supervision either. "Alright, but you will have to stay near the entrance and Garn will keep an eye on you, understood?"

Garn is already pre-staring at the two girls so it looks like he's ready to go at least.

- - - Updated - - -


Mags and Blanche and Anika - Magtok is NOT a Doom Boss...But He Could Pass For A Metal Gear One

"Fine," Magtok relents, backing off without much fuss. "You two have fun, I'm going to go disappear and do...something." He hasn't decided what he's going to do, exactly, but it's probably not going to be anywhere near this cat and her repulsive elf girlfriend. Blugh, an elf and the spawn of Reinholdt together, what a match made in hell. All of the worst things in one pairing.


Mags and Blanche and Anika - NanoMagchines, Son

Blanche seems a little surprised to see Magtok deescalate so quickly, and it takes her a second to respond, her tension relaxing. "Fine, just... I'd appreciate it if you showed my friends the same respect I'd show yours."

Mags and Blanche and Anika - NanoMagchines, Son

Anika is left scratching her head as Magtok backs off so quickly. He sounded really angry before just... deflating.
"Uh, so what was that about?" Anika whispers even more quietly than before once Magtok has left. She wanted to make sure he didn't hear her this time.

[5a Violista]

[Food Table?]

"Yes, I know they don't have snow," Venus says. "I like it better warm, though. Not really a fan of the cold."
And just because she's barefoot doesn't mean she doesn't know how to ice skate. She makes sure to put on figure skates when she goes ice skating.

Although,
if she's not really a fan of the cold, why is she barefoot?
Maybe she's just weird.

"Well, if you leave me behind then it's still practically the same thing, right?" Venus asks. "You wouldn't leave me behind, would you?"

[bc56]

Santa Throne

First the young goblins are given their gifts, hopefully with efficiency. A book about different types of canines for the one, a bunch of colorful blocks for another, and a fuzzy stuffed fox for the third. These gifts seem to have a decidedly foxlike bent to them, don't they?

Then, a new challenger approaches!

The fox seated on the throne pops her head over at the little dragon. "Of course it is! Hop on up and tell me what you want for Thanksmas!" She looks to her two "elves" to make sure they're ready to pull whatever is requested out of the magic sack with their handy opposable thumbs.

[Purple Eagle]

Zaabi

Abi grins and hugs Zara back, squeezing a little as she's squeezed in turn.

Abi opens her present and gasps, taking the handkerchief out and admiring it. It's put in her pocket, and the wallet will join it. "They're awesome, I love it. Thankyou, Zara. I'll transfer my stuff across to the purse when I get home. Ooh, biscuits. Did you bake them yourself?" Abi's going to open the bag and eat one of the biscuits.


[Darker Corner]

Sasha likes her cage just fine, it being one of the four things she owns. But you never turn down a gift! She thinks that's the etiquette. She's not really sure. She doesn't much understand gifts, even if she is imitating them with one of her own.

Zara is opening her gift! But not... because it's hers? But to make sure it's good? Sasha knows it's good, so this seems wholly unnecessary. She wouldn't give a bad gift! That'd be mean. Oh wait, unless it's supposed to be? Apparently bad gifts are good, but you have to call them gag gifts?

This is all very confusing, and now getting a little frustrating. She might just skip the whole tradition next year. It seemed arbitrary to begin with.

Inside the box, Zara will find strawberry ice cream! It's partially melted and well on its way to becoming fully melted and definitely not in the original container designed to actually hold said ice cream. Ice cream is great so makes a perfect gift, even if it is cold and cold food is kinda awful, but ice cream is still good despite that. Or so Sasha thinks anyways. Once you learn not to eat the spoon (a tricky concept!).

[Zaabi]

"Zara's glad you like it!" She squees, and hugs her girlfriend again, letting go soon but still holding her hand. "The cookies, Zara helped! She was going to get you some ice cream made in the orphanage, but Zara had to give it out." She glances towards where she met Sasha, and takes one of the cookies. "Zara brought cookies so we could share. She was out giving it to people, she didn't have time to taste one for herself!" Which explains why there's enough for two people inside the pack.

"How's Isobel, and Bryan, and the twins? Zara misses them!" She starts walking around, hand-in-hand with Abi, while they share the cookies. "We told Mrs Langley about you, about how you know about us... Zara and me..." She changes in personality as she says 'and me', but is back to good ol' Zara almost immediately after. "... you know what she said? 'You have a special one willing to overlook that in favour of your best parts, treasure her.' And Zara said we will, so! We're happy you're with us! Up to Thanksmas, too! A milestone! Zara hopes she can introduce you to her home soon!"

[Darker Corner]

Irrespective of Sasha's decision, Zara's decided she'd get a new one for Sasha already!

She opens the gift calmly and peers inside to see what's in it. Just melted ice cream? Phew! Better than she was expecting, for sure! "Ice cream? That's good, Sasha! Zara thought it was brains, raw meat or rat. Neither of those would have been good gifts, but strawberry ice cream is a step in the right direction! However... you have to keep ice cream in a suitable container before you wrap it, such as the one it came in!"

Luckily, Zara came prepared! She produces a container of tri-flavour ice cream: vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, the classics! "A container like this will do! Zara can give you this, to give as a gift! Just take it as Zara giving you, and you giving it out on Zara's behalf!" If Sasha approves, then she'll begin the process of wrapping the newly-presented ice-cream as a gift, using the same technique she displayed earlier, but much faster.

"Zara heard about your fathar, and your reaction when people mention him as being bad. She understands, it's sad when people insist that those who cared for you are bad somehow because of how you turned out, right Sasha?" She says it in a way that indicates that she's heard such things from those in GLoG, regarding her herself.

Cheasadh especially. Very annoying, going on and on about how her father was bad for making her the way she is. How sad, the girl didn't realize they were from different worlds. Of course, she acted like she was giving those words some thought, rather than throwing them in the trash where they belong.

[Earl of Purple]

Santa Throne

Cheasadh looks slightly nervous at the dragon, but isn't worried for long. The last dragon she met was fluffy, and pink, and introduced her to the Goddess of Hope, so... Maybe dragons aren't as scary as she used to think. She makes a mental note to apologise to Zebes, next time she sees him. And maybe see if he likes getting stroked like a fox.

Zaabi

"That's fine, these are better than ice cream. I work with ice cream at the weekend, so... This is better." Not something she has to spend time around at work. "They're good, thank you. Looking forward to the holiday, but not able to come here. The twins have a school party, and Mum and Bryan have a date of their own. I didn't ask for details, I'd... rather not think too much about it." Abi smiles and swoops in to another hug. "I'd love to come visit. How long do you stay in Inside for, when you're here? So I know how long I should stay with you." Maybe they can swap, so Zara comes to Inside and then Abi goes to Raptor Island for the same length of time and then back to Inside again.

[Recaiden]

Santa Throne

First the young goblins are given their gifts, hopefully with efficiency. A book about different types of canines for the one, a bunch of colorful blocks for another, and a fuzzy stuffed fox for the third. These gifts seem to have a decidedly foxlike bent to them, don't they?

Then, a new challenger approaches!

The fox seated on the throne pops her head over at the little dragon. "Of course it is! Hop on up and tell me what you want for Thanksmas!" She looks to her two "elves" to make sure they're ready to pull whatever is requested out of the magic sack with their handy opposable thumbs.

Oh, is it a challenge? Does the winner get to be Santa?
Ayako can definitely out-santa this fox! At least, she'd think so if anyone asked her. As it is, she just hops up onto the throne
"Um...umm...I want a magic wand!"

[Morty]

[Santa Throne]

Brinika peers into the bag. As in, she puts her whole head inside. Which might not be a good idea, given its extra-dimensional nature, but Brinika seems to be doing fine.

"There are many magic wands in here." Whether or not she can see any is unclear. "What would you like your wand to do?"

[Electra & Olvisin]

Electra will hear a familiar voice coming from down below. It turns out to be Olvisin, the boisterous gunslinging machine-cultist from MERC.

"Hi Electra! How are you doing? Thanksmas is no time to just sit around like that, you know?"

When she turns around, she'll see Olvisin wearing a very large Santa hat that only doesn't fall over her eyes due to her very large ears and carrying a large mug of... something. It's blue and foamy.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Electra & Olvisin]

Electra blinks as her head snaps around to Olvisin. She looks startled for a few seconds, then gives her fellow gunslinger a weak smile.

"Oh! Sorry, Olvisin, I didn't see you there. Feeling a little out of place, to be honest." She pats the seat of the stool next to her. "Stay and chat for a bit? Please?"

[Reinholdt]

[Darker Corner]

Sasha is thoroughly confused as to why Zara thought it would be any of those things. Brains? Isn't the point of wrapping a gift to make sure they don't have any idea what's inside? And now she was giving Zara's gift to Sasha but she didn't open it so is it really a gift??? And one to be wrapped and given away?

To the shadow girl, the end result of all this seems to be that Sasha's 'gift' under the tree is actually now Zara's gift, doesn't have any of Sasha's wrapping, or box, and even ice cream and is just something different entirely. That doesn't seem right. Like making this gift perfect took all the heart out of it. Ah well, Zara still ended up with Sasha's actual gift and seems to sorta like it. Maybe. Zara hasn't eaten any yet, which is a shame because Sasha thinks ice cream is delicious.

But for the moment, Sasha looks around, backing into the corner a little, the first real reaction to anything thus far. This person heard Master was her father? That's supposed to be a secret! Or, Master insisted it should be a secret! Sasha hasn't been very good at keeping it a secret, admittedly. She doesn't do deception well. Still, it's distressing this stranger knows about it! Master is going to have a lot of very terrible things to say about that when he finds out. It will be unpleasant.

[Recaiden]

[Santa's Throne]

"Umm, oh, it should make flowers, and shoot fireworks!" Ayako declares. That would be the best!

At the same time, a second little black dragon toddles up to the throne. Ayako's twin sister looks curiously at the holiday proceedings.

[Morty]

[Electra & Olvisin]

On closer inspection, Olvisin certainly looks as if the liquid in the mug has got to her already.

"Sure. Happy to." She plops down on the stool. "I'd recommend what I'm drinking to start things off, but I think it's not very good for... then again, you're an android. Still. You don't celebrate Thanksmas often?"

[Santa's Throne]

Brinika dives deeper into the bag and re-emerges, holding a very bright orange wand, with a grip that a little dragon should find comfortable. She waves it and it produces an illusory bundle of flowers, then fires off some flashy fireworks.

"Here you go! One wand from Santa's bag."

[Earl of Purple]

Santa's Throne

As Brinika disappears into the bag, Cheasadh reaches out to grab the back of her outfit, ideally a belt or something. Just to make sure if Brinika falls in, Cheasadh can pull her out again. It'd be quite a poor Thanksmas if someone fell into Santa's Sack and never came back... Although Cheasadh could always try asking Santa for Brinika. That might work.

[5a Violista]

Now that he has been to the throne and given a present, put a white elephant under the tree, and also traded gifts with someone else, June decides that the next clear place to go is, of course, the [Food Table].

The androgynous redhead guy goes to the food table. He finds it, of course, a little strange that there are two separate tables. Apparently fairies have special dietary requirements.

Then again, all the food on the fairysafe table does look like it tastes better.
He grabs a plate, fills it with things from one table, and grabs a couple things from the other. Starts eating it.

And!
Guess what!
He miraculously does not have to lick his fingers off after grabbing something. He has figured out how to eat off the dust and juices without actually moving his fingers. It just dissolves away.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Electra & Olvisin]

Electra's smile gets a bit stronger as Olvisin takes the seat, but shakes her head in response to the question.

"Winter holidays were actively discouraged where I'm originally from. If I was lucky this time of year, I was on 'diplomatic assignment'." She takes a long pull off of her drink, something golden with bubbles in it, though it doesn't seem to be beer or champagne. "A fancy way of saying I was doing espionage work. If I was unlucky, me and my squad were patrolling the northern Polar regions, hunting Mavericks. So, I'm a little out of place. Mostly I came because Cass made it sound really fun."

She eyes what's in Olvisin's mug with a bit of curiosity. She's encountered a lot of different things since she's come to the Nexus, but she's not sure she's familiar with this particular drink.

"What are you drinking?"

[bc56]

Santa Throne

Jade smiles at the proceedings, and then at the second little dragon that appeared. "And what would you like for Thanksmas?" The fox grins and wags her tail happily.

[Gullara]

[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

Lapis watches the gift pile curiously for a few moments. Anika sure did bring a lot of them!

Should she have gotten gifts for more people?

The only problem is she wasn't sure who was coming to the party and it would be terrible if a gift was wasted because no one showed up!

Hmm... maybe she could at least figure out some kind of gift for Cora?

...but what?

For now she's just going to make do with smiling up at Commander Cessie and going, "Pleeeeease?"

Hopefully that's enough to sway her.


[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

Cessie turns as her daughter and Lapis approaches.
Play in the snow? She gives them a suspicious look. Well, she could hardly decline that request but she couldn't leave the girls without supervision either. "Alright, but you will have to stay near the entrance and Garn will keep an eye on you, understood?"

Garn is already pre-staring at the two girls so it looks like he's ready to go at least.

[SWORDGIRL ULTIMATE THANKSMAS SHOWDOWN]

"Okay, thanks mommy!" Cora grins. She holds up her gift to Cessie. "Can you hold my present? I'm gonna open it after." She kinda wants to open it now, but she's been given a golden opportunity. Provided Cessie takes the present, and presumably after her warm clothes are forced back upon her, the girls turns and leads the way to the door. "Come on, Garn."