Thanksmasnewyearskwannzahkah 2019: HALOed Angel Atop The Tree

[Lord Magtok]

Yes, The Absolute Worst!

[The Absolute...Worst?]

The catgirl closes the distance across the room, approaching the cyborg. "Hey, Magtok, I-" wait she forgot how she was going to break the ice what should she do now - oh well, it's too late now. "I...I...you probably don't remember me b-because we never actually met but, well, I just wanted to say, um, hi. A-and thanks." She cringes at how awkward of a first impression this was.

“Thanks?” Magtok raises an eyebrow, as a stream of data begins to rush through his brain, filling in the gaps. What is she thanking him for if they've never met? What could he have possibly done for her if he's never even seen h-Oh no, he has seen this catgirl. Or rather, his surveillance cameras in MagMart did. Before he dated the woman who would become his fiancée, she and another catgirl were stranded in the building, forced to stay hidden behind the boarded up windows, lest the apocalyptic army of catfolk invading Inside convert or terminate them. This was that other catgirl. This one, right here, the one in the turtleneck sweater thanking him for who knows what. The two women had a short-lived tryst during that ugly conflict. Understandable really, given the stressful situation. Trouble was, they curtained in the back room, with all the store’s inventory. With all the back room’s surveillance cameras.

Now, does Magtok hold a grudge? No, of course not! That happened before he even started dating Elly and she’s been gone for years; how could he possibly feel angry and bitter over that? In fact, he’d completely forgotten all about that little incident until just now, which shows how little it really mattered to him. What he does feel, however, is immense, excruciating shame and embarrassment. Marin doesn’t know, doesn’t have a clue. She has no idea what he knows. He’s seen her naked before and she has no idea, oh gods. Our cyborg can feel the color drain right out of his face as his doom approaches. To think, just a moment ago the worst thing he had to worry about at this party was Dipsnig's wolves. How he wishes he could go back to that idyllic time, before this catgirl unknowingly sentenced him to death.

[Morty]

[Tuskfang and Landon]

The little woblin, carrying his crundle, leads Landon towards where his mother is sitting on a bench and looking over a pair of rather odd-looking children. They look like wolves, but their muzzles are short, their ears are long and their eyes resemble the cat-like eyes of goblins (whereas Tuskfang's are wolfish). All in all, they look perhaps more like foxes or bats than wolves. One of the babies has blonde fur like his mom, while the other is grey.

"Mom, mom! This is Landon, he says we've met but I was very little."

The goblin mom looks at Landon and her ears flick. One of her eyes seems to be smoky green while the other is yellow, like her children's.

"I think I remember him. You were just a baby back then, dear. Hello again, Landon."

[Yes, The Absolute Worst! And then there were wolves]

There appears to be one large wolf and one smaller one approaching Magtok and the catgirl. A mother wolf and her cub? Does Magtok pay attention to such details? The pup is enthusiastically trotting through the snow, while his mother is following more slowly. Are they here to spread Thanksmas cheer, or are they obeying Dipsnig's order to pester Magtok? Dipsnig no longer carries a grudge towards the cyborg and in fact has business dealings with him, but getting animals to forget a trained command isn't so easy.

[5a Violista]

[The Absolute Wolfst]

The catgirl has absolutely no connection to these wolves so she doesn't mind them at all. Instead, she just continues stumbling through what she was saying.

"Yeah, for getting me that job at a MagMart so I could get back on my feet, and for hooking me up with NO," which she still is under the impression that he wanted her to spy for him, even though she didn't really get to do much because of what happened afterwards.

She laughs and rubs the back of her head. "Yeah, sorry for cornering you at this party. I didn't know how else to contact you and someone who knows you said you'd be here." She's glad this isn't anywhere near as awkward as she was expecting it to be. Sure, he hasn't really said much yet but that's a good sign, right?

[Halae]

[Arrivals]

Perhaps slightly late to the party is a massive woman covered in green scales and other crocodilian features. She's wearing a poofy fur-lined coat despite her already massive frame, which makes her look slightly topheavy but takes most of the sharp edges off of her appearance. Beneath that is a large red tanktop and jeans, with bare reptilian feet. And in her hands is a massive pot; almost sixteen feet tall, in fact, making it taller than this already enormous woman.

She'll head towards the kitchens, intending to deliver an incredible load of hearty soup to the kitchens so it can be properly distributed. One has to wonder where she even got that thing! But chances are, she'll be in full sight of people as she walks along her way towards the kitchens, so if anybody wants to stop her and talk, they have an opportunity.

[Lord Magtok]

The Absolute Wolfst

"Oh, right. Yes, MagMart and MERC," Magtok nods, even though he has no idea what Marin is talking about. Did he do those things, or did he authorize someone else to make decisions like that for him? It would be easier to know for sure if the memory databanks weren't all up in space, leaving him with just what some stupid idiot clone felt were 'the essentials.' Why that surveillance footage was considered important enough to put in his brain, but not whatever Marin's talking about or even what her name is, Magtok has no idea. Did it get tagged with Elly's name and just thoughtlessly shoved in a folder with all the other Elly memories? Maybe. It sounds like a plausible enough explanation, but Magtok is never one to assume ignorance or carelessness on the part of others. Not when it's so much easier to assume they did this with malicious smiles and sinister cackles, implanting the memory specifically to mess with him should this purple-haired catgirl ever appear. He wonders how many other, more socially appropriate things he ought to know about her. The reason why she's wearing that collar under her turtleneck, perhaps?

"It's fine, really. Elly said something about you two being friends; I wasn't about to let you just starve on the stre-" Magtok's lie withers away in his throat, his voice trailing off as his eyes follow the approaching wolves. His back is up against a wall a moment later, and his grip tightens and shivers around his empty glass of eggnog as he seems to completely forget all about the purple-haired catgirl with nudes saved to his hard drive. Maybe if he just keeps completely still and quiet, the wolves will get bored and walk away. Yes, that's it, he just needs to be totally boring and perfectly still, and they won't bother him any. They'll look at him, sniff once or twice, and then walk right on their merry way. That's exactly what will happen.

[Chaotic Bob]

[People and Sekhmet]

Page seems to mostly give Spike a blank look at all of that explanation, as none of these words have immediate analogues she can work with. Wait, that's not entirely...
There's a thought, a smile, and a very polite "Very interesting!" as she turns her head back towards Sekhmet for her answer. There may have been a wink from Page.
Maybe not.

Geneva successfully spares Sekhmet from a series of additionally probing questions! Mostly!
There's still a distinctly curious look on Page, not presented with two very curious entities, but she decides to let it go. Probing too deeply at this point would just be seen as nosy and rude.
No less because now the expected questions are being leveled back at her.
Perhaps this will make Sekmet feel less awkward about her heritage, as Page levels absolutely no judgement upon her at all.

"Seems like most present here are rather more interesting than this boring old unicorn."
A boring old unicorn who has very obviously gone to very great lengths to make herself look good. She obviously doesn't want to be boring.
That mane-do is definitely not her natural look.
"In lieu of interesting species...hmm. Ah, this will tie in nicely with miss Geneva's question.
A rather long time ago, before my recent and ill-fated career in labor resource management, I worked in literary R&D. Quite a few fascinating developments I was privy to, I think. There's the fun 'who am I', fact. For the question half: I stumbled upon dear little Persimmon while looking for new research opportunities, or possible employment."
Page sure does like to talk, and she only briefly pauses here because Persimmon rather abruptly leaps into the conversation again.
"Hahaha, yeah, I was playing jump-rope with the neighbor kids! I was the rope! Nalita had one leg and her brother Philio had the opposite leg, and they-"
That very gentle little hoof press thing she did early is repeated, silencing the skin-bag once more.
"...yes. He was a rather fascinating individual and after their, ah, play-time, I approached him and we came to a mutually beneficial agreement. Which has led us here!"

She does not seem especially self-conscious that she got far more into this introduction nicety than the others.
Never really answered Geneva's other question either, but maybe Persimmon just didn't get that far.

[Snack Table]

Karaglen has been getting good at noticing her mother's peculiarly appearing and disappearing wounds. As always, she doesn't actually comment on it, but definitely is making note of it.
Kids always notice. They usually remember.

Zee's introduction of more presents offers an opportunity to not think about this for awhile, however!
When does reply to Ilpholin, while she carefully sets her own pile of boxes down on the ground to accept this new one.
"Mister Squiggles? Is he your pet spider?"
Context suggests yes. And very unlike Raril, she seems very interested!

Well. At least up until she finally opens her box.
"Oh yay! These will make those hard, fiddly spots much easier to-"
And then her gaze slides over to Navvy's present and her brother's complaint latches somewhere in her head.

She definitely sees what you did here, you clever Mom you, and she loves it.

"Pssst, Navvy. I have a super awesome project idea for both our presents!"
Is loudly whispering this to her brother strictly necessary? Nope! But it's fun!

[bc56]

Sekhmet and People

Some people might not think of themselves as strange or exotic, but Sekhmet does. Having your race suddenly changed can do that to you. Still, she'll contest the unicorn's claim, trying to be reassuring. "I, uh, don't know about that. I've, uh, never met a unicorn before." Although Page isn't what she would have expected a unicorn to be. She's also slightly comforted, more by Geneva's wing on her shoulder than Page's indifference. This has been a stressful night for her.

[Recaiden]

[Sekhmet and Company]

It's because humanity and angelicness are unrelated to each other, and neither are exclusive with being of a particular flight (or 'strain'), which isn't the most obvious way for things to work.

"What sort of thing is involved in 'literary R&D'?" Spike finds herself asking.
Page's words all, individually, make sense, and seem to form into sentences, but the meanings are slippery.
"And yes, I've never met such a talkative unicorn as yourself."

[Santa's Throne]

Santa Fel continues to wait for additional people to gib presents to.
She looks over to Reginald, in his cute little Santa hat.
Be cute, Reginald.
Reginald complies and looks around adorably at passerby.

Nadas wanders over here. Turns out the snack area was full of scheming dark elves, and he gave it a wide berth. You don't want to get in a sword-fight at every holiday function, you know?
"Merry Thanksmas, Santa Cl- do I know you from somewhere?"

[Zefir]

[Near, but not at, the Snacks]

Zee gives a little eep when someone literally runs into her. Nexus serendipity at work, no doubt.

She gives the bumper a kind smile. "Oh, Merry Thanksmas. Sorry, I didn't see you there." The woman(girl?)'s wordline is really vague. Someone named Mia, female, and an empathetic person considering her concern for a stranger. Checking up stream, all she can find is that Mia is wearing some warm winter attire and is... lonely? Zee tries to focus on Mia's appearance to build a little bit more of a framework for her to react to. "Thank you for the concern. It's... well, its just my step daughter. Our relationship hasn't always been great due to no fault of hers."

[Near, but not at, the Snacks]

Mia is a young woman or more she is a teenager. It is easy to say that she is is under the drinking age, since Zee works in Trogs and should have an eye for that. Mia's long amber her is bound together and she wears a wool cap to keep her head warm. Her face is the only part of her body not covered which showes a pale skin likly due to less time in the sun rather then some illness. A long brown jacket covers her upper body and goes down to the knees, while some tight pants cover her legs. She got some rather normal shoes instead of high heels, which might be strange since she is only a bit over 5 feet tall. Her hands are as well covered in some dark gloves which appear very slim, maybe to grab things better.

"Oh, well then it's the best time to do something now. I mean thanksmas is the best time for getting back together with your family, don't you agree?"

[Hanging around]


By right, he means left? Oh, no, he did mean right.
Luckily for Mr. C, Honeysuckle cannot see color, but can see that he isn't made of Thanksmas Tree needles.
After a bit of confused searching, she reaches up and lifts him off of the branch (and holds him in her hand)
"How did you get up there?"

[Hanging around]

Yeah he isn't made of needels, but those other decorations aren't as well ;-P Mr. C is easily picked up since he barly has a way to avoid it or a reason to do so.

"The usual I guess. I felt asleep while helping. Normaly people can't tell if I am a toy or not when i sleep. For example I miss eyelids, but wonder why I still can close my eyes. Thanks for the help anyways. Is there maybe something I could do for you? You might have saved me a month or year of been trapped in a decoration box."

[Rebonack]

[People and Sekhmet]

"The Nexus attracts a wide selection of peoples and cultures," Geneva interjects. "I've noticed that a majority of residents are humans, though, as you've probably observed already. After a bit of research I've discovered that humans are in fact the most common sapient species in the multiverse. Quite a few even hail from Earth, just like we do. But obviously there are differences. There are rough analogs to Equestria, for example, but the precise shape and location of the continents are different."

That was an interesting point that Geneva had discovered early on in her interaction with Nick.

"Suffice to say what's 'boring' and what's 'exotic' is going to very widely. In a large cross-section of alternate Earth's unicorns are a myth. Or bear very little resemblance to Equestrian unicorns."

That's a lot to ramble about just to say 'you aren't boring, Page'. You know that, right Geneva?

"Persimmon, does Down know you're here?" Geneva asks. "She might be worried."

Not worried about Persimmon so much as other people being subjected to Persimmon.

But it's still nice to ask.


[Near, but not at, the Snacks]

Okay.

So.

This is a nice bit of temporal twisting right here.

From the local perspective there isn't much of a difference. From Zee's it is several days. That's more than enough for her to work with, even if it can be a little precarious.

Anywho!

Yes. Zee's getting a better feel for what she's working with now. She gives a kind smile in reply.

"I do agree. That's why I'm here, actually. To reconnect. What about you? What brings you to this year's Thanksmas shindig?"

[Artemis97]

[Snack Tables]

"Oh, my favorite!" Raril says, when he opens the package containing the bottle of fireamber. He loved the warming sensation you got with the drink.

Then there's the next present. He opens the little box and his heart skips a beat. "Oh Zee..." The drow smiles and runs his fingers over the mithral lettering. Always together. He quickly slips it onto his left wrist, making a mental promise to never take it off. "Thank you. So much. Thank you."

Raril reaches into his bag and fingers a small box there, but decides it can wait a moment. Let Zee finish talking to Ilpholin. In the meantime, Raril pulls out a package for Navvy. He kneels down next to the little wyrmling. "Here, son, something to go with that book." The package is heavy for it's size, though it's only about one foot by six inches long and wide. Inside, Navvy with find a brand new marimba, made of solid wood and with the notes etched onto the metal tabs. "I thought that would be good for playing with your claws."

Then for Karaglen. Raril stands up and pulls a large striped hatbox from his bag. It's round, and actually a but heavier than a simple hat. "Your mother thought you might like this." Inside are felt blanks for hats, needles and thread, feathers, buttons, and glass fruit. The makings of a small haberdashery.

[Landon and Tuskfang]

"Hello, ma'am." Landon says politely, giving a short bow. He stares a bit at her eyes. Was it rude? Probably, but then he blurts out. "You have cool eyes!"

[Felandria]

[Santa's Throne]


Nadas wanders over here. Turns out the snack area was full of scheming dark elves, and he gave it a wide berth. You don't want to get in a sword-fight at every holiday function, you know?
"Merry Thanksmas, Santa Cl- do I know you from somewhere?"

Santa Fel chuckles.

Of course you do, like you said, I’m Santa!

Now, what is your name and how can Santa help you?

Reginald will gently nudge the back of Nadas’s shoe in an attempt to nudge him towards Fel.

[Reinholdt]

[Snack Tables]

"I'm pretty excited," Ilpholin confirms. And nervous. And terrified. And a dozen other emotions all at once. Maybe a little numb too from feeling too much. And hungry. Always hungry.

Ilpholin nods to Karaglen. "He's not a pet. He's a friend. If you think I'm big right now, wait til you meet him. Mister Squiggles is huuuuge." Ilpholin waves her hands around, but fails to properly convey his size.

The pregnant nymph turns to Zee and it's hard to look her step-mom right in the eyes as she confesses to avoiding Ilpholin. "Ah. Umm... Don't worry about it. I haven't put much thought into it." Ilpholin never particularly minded Zee avoiding her because Ilpholin never particularly liked Zee or the Zee spawn. Not for anything they did. Simple jealousy really, that Zee got to spend so much time with her father while Ilpholin always felt like she only barely knew him at all. That's faded over time as she forgave or got over the fact Raril wasn't there when she was growing up, coming to understand it (probably) wasn't his fault and giving him a chance.

Though it's also possible some remnant of her psyche remembers the alt-universe apocalyptic Nexus where Raril gave up his physical form to merge with Zee and left Ilpholin alone with an amulet of Eilistraee. Unlikely. Perhaps. It was probably all normal jealousy. That she may be over? Having not spent time with Zee, she doesn't actually know herself.

Ilpholin does know she's going to open the presents Zee got her now and worry about overly complex emotional parental issues much later.

[By the Shuttles]

Ah hah! There she is! The blonde haired catgirl he'd recognize anywhere. Now that his arms are free of all but one package, temporally advanced Reinholdt waves wildly at her. "Alexis! Hey! Over here!" Rein shouts even though he's walking right towards her. He's wearing a ushanka on his head with a blue star on the front. It's quite the hat.

"Glad you could make it. Merry Thanksmas!" Rein, clearly quite eager, holds out the gift he got for her.

[Morty]

[Landon and Tuskfang]

"Thank you, Landon. My name is Reelshka, by the way, and these two are Balthuk and Maltrika."

"Mom's got special eyes. Spirit eyes," Tuskfang blurts out enthusiastically.

"Yes, it's why one of them is green. I was born with yellow eyes. It lets me see spirit the way my husband does."

[The Absolute Wolfst]

The wolves sit down nearby, offering their head for pets if the two want to. They will, presumably, move on if they're not pet. Or will they? The pup certainly seems restless, craning his neck and sniffing in the direction of the cyborg and the catgirl.

[Rebonack]

[Snack Tables]

"What are you thinking, sis?" Navvy whispers back as he opens up the gift his father gave him.

And now...

You know who else is pretty excited?

Navvy discovering the follow-up gift to the music book.

"Oh... oh golly... this is... this is SO KEEN! It's absolutely aces, dad! Thank you!" Navvy squeals with delight as he aims for a tackle-glomp straight into Raril's arms. The hug doesn't last very long before he goes bounding back to the wood-and-metal instrument and begins tapping at it with his claws. At first he's just testing out the sounds the different notes make, but pretty quickly he's stringing keys together that at least sound nice rather than like random banging one would expect from a toddler. He'll probably remember the book his mom gave him pretty soon and start leafing through that. But the instrument is WAY more exciting than the book.

Raril receives a loving smile from his wife when the bracelet goes on. To Zee, they're picking up where they left off.

"I just want you to know that Raril and I will be here for you. Both for you and your child. I'm sorry you had to grow up in the Underdark. I... I should have done more to make sure that didn't happen. But at least we can make sure it doesn't happen again, right?" Zee says hopefully.

And then gifts!

One of them is a boxasocks!

It contains many, many baby socks of various sizes. Since babies grow out of them so quickly.

And the other?

A pair of black fuzzy slippers with silly googly eyes and eight little legs. They're Slippers of Spider... umm... well, not climbing. They aren't magical. But they are fun!

"Something to keep feet warm," Zee says with a kind smile.

[5a Violista]

]The Absolute Wolfst[

Aww...the puppy's really cute. Marin wants to pick up the puppy, so she carefully steps towards it. She bends down, but then freezes.
Right: The mother? wolf is nearby.
And wolves are still wild animals. If she picks up the animal, there's no saying what would happen. So, she just crouches for a moment to pet the puppy for a second then stands back up. After all, she doesn't want an angry wolf chasing after her, especially at a party like this. She kind-of understands why Magtok is so apprehensive around them: wild animals still look like wild animals, even if other worlds have ended up taming them or whatever. And there's no way to tell if this is a pet or just some random wolf that wandered in...it's possible, right?

Marin nods. "Yeah, that's what she said," she says, proving that Magtok is really good at inferring.

"So, anyway, that woman in the supermarket who I really should have asked her name," - Zee, the one that she met and who said Magtok would probably be here - Marin laughs and blushes because that description is too long for some random person and this whole situation is a little weird and awkward anyway, "she said because of clones or whatever you're not really the same Magtok from back then and that you'd appreciate it if I just acted like you were just some random person I just met" and wow this is a really long sentence the catgirl probably needs to take a breath soon "but," Oh. There, she finally breathed. "it's a little weird to think of it that way, you know? Because I can't help but just see you as the guy who kept me from becoming just another casualty here, but I guess I'll try, right? So, anyway, hi. My name's Marin, nice to meet you."

And, finally, after that huge awkward rambling sentence, she holds out her hand to shake.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Snack Table]

Karaglen was actually pretty happy when she first glanced in the box and just thought it was a hat, or maybe a few hats.
But it doesn't take more than a moment to see the other materials in there, after she shifts some of the cloth aside.

It's here that her eyes light up and she thinks on her good fortune here.
Not downplaying in any way, but it's not super surprising for her mom to get her crafting supplies. She's been present and aware of most of Karaglen's frenzied Thanksmas creating.
Raril has not. Technically he's been semi-forcibly adopted into this situation and while his wife technically pushed it, he still agreed.
There is some difficulty in finding the right words to express her appreciation of this gesture, so instead she carefully closes the box again and quietly walking over to Raril.

He's getting his legs hugged. Super duper hard.

Sorry Navvy, the rest of her plan is going to have to be explained in a bit.

[Sekhmet and Co]

"Huh, you know. I guess Down doesn't know. Whoops!"
Persimmon does not sound exceptionally sorry about this, with the exact same tone of enthusiastic glee he seems to have at literally all times.
He's not quite picking up what Geneva's putting down, it seems.

A mixture of what everyone says in regards to unicorns seems to catch Page in a moment of shock.
"Neither of you have met a unicorn?"
Possibly misinterpreting Spike's comment a little, but Sekhmet's was pretty up front.

She seems a bit flabbergasted by this, even as Geneva sets into a very minor lecture on the commonality of mankind and relatively unusual division of species in the universe.
Her answer to Spike's other question is a very obviously off-handed (and still unhelpful) "studying books and writing, of course", while she figures out how exactly to react to this information that she is the unusual one here.
"Forgive me, I don't understand. There is an entire population of unicorns right here in the city. You've never seen even one? Either of you? I can understand we're not the common majority, as miss Geneva says, but...none?"

Maybe she hasn't grasped the weirdly infinite, twisting, and paradoxically segregated nature of Inside yet.

Page fails to notice her scarf twitching briefly and seeming...less.

[Artemis97]

[Snack Table]

"You're welcome Navvy, oof-" Raril's glomped onto by the little wyrmling who then jumps off and starts playing with his new instrument. Raril smiles broadly at him.

Then Kara opens her gift. She's not saying anything. Briefly, Raril's worried that she didn't like it. Then comes the hug. "Oof!" Raril says as the air is squeezed out of him. He chuckles and pats her head, careful not to disturb the bow in her hair. "You're welcome, too, Kara."

[Landon and Tuskfang]

"Spirits?" Landon wonders. "Like ghosts? Or something else?"

[Reinholdt]

[Snack Tables]

Ilpholin frowns. "I... Menzoberranzan prepared me. Danube prepared me. It was rough, but I'm better for it." Her response sounds a little mechanical compared to her emotionally charged tones up until this point. "My baby will be raised by me up here, but if I deem it too dangerous, I will have him sent to Delmah Phor at the very least."

A gentle smile lightens the mood. "In the meanwhile, I'll more than welcome any help you can offer. I doubt Mister Squiggles wants to play nanny all the time." Plus, a baby raised by a giant mechanical spider nanny has a 50% chance of being traumatizing.

Gifts!

"Ohhh, thank you!" Ilpholin says. She only remotely starts to bend over to compare the slipper with her foot, before deciding nope. She'll just presume it fits. "This'll help a lot." She foresees a lot of nights where she has to wake up in the middle of it and not put her boots on. Spider slippers will save her so much grief. Baby socks help too, but it's the spider slippers that are the real deal. Maybe the googly eyes will entertain the kid down the road too.

[bc56]

Why is Sekhmet being singled out here?..
And co.

Sekhmet looks a bit awkward. "I, uh, don't know? It's a big place, it uh, must be quite easy to miss things." The fact that the streets are rarely the same doesn't help either. "I never, uh, expected to meet a unicorn." Unicorns are incredibly rare where she comes from, and expectations can have an effect on the structure of Inside, after all.

[Lord Magtok]

The Absolute Wolfst

Spoiler

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[The Absolute Wolfst]

The wolves sit down nearby, offering their head for pets if the two want to. They will, presumably, move on if they're not pet. Or will they? The pup certainly seems restless, craning his neck and sniffing in the direction of the cyborg and the catgirl.

The Absolute Wolfst

Aww...the puppy's really cute. Marin wants to pick up the puppy, so she carefully steps towards it. She bends down, but then freezes.
Right: The mother? wolf is nearby.
And wolves are still wild animals. If she picks up the animal, there's no saying what would happen. So, she just crouches for a moment to pet the puppy for a second then stands back up. After all, she doesn't want an angry wolf chasing after her, especially at a party like this. She kind-of understands why Magtok is so apprehensive around them: wild animals still look like wild animals, even if other worlds have ended up taming them or whatever. And there's no way to tell if this is a pet or just some random wolf that wandered in...it's possible, right?

Marin nods. "Yeah, that's what she said," she says, proving that Magtok is really good at inferring.

"So, anyway, that woman in the supermarket who I really should have asked her name," - Zee, the one that she met and who said Magtok would probably be here - Marin laughs and blushes because that description is too long for some random person and this whole situation is a little weird and awkward anyway, "she said because of clones or whatever you're not really the same Magtok from back then and that you'd appreciate it if I just acted like you were just some random person I just met" and wow this is a really long sentence the catgirl probably needs to take a breath soon "but," Oh. There, she finally breathed. "it's a little weird to think of it that way, you know? Because I can't help but just see you as the guy who kept me from becoming just another casualty here, but I guess I'll try, right? So, anyway, hi. My name's Marin, nice to meet you."

And, finally, after that huge awkward rambling sentence, she holds out her hand to shake.

"I mean, I'm more or less your Magtok, just in a newer body and with memories of my own," Magtok answers, sloooooowly extending his hand out to shake hers, watching the wolves carefully for any sign that they might interpret this extremely sluggish gesture as a declaration of war. Also, gods almighty, did he seriously just say your Magtok? The word echoes in his head, mocking him for his idiocy. We just met her, she doesn't have her own Magtok. Hell, even putting that aside, there's not a Magtok in all of time and space who could possibly belong to anyone or anything other their own bloated egos, making the 'your' descriptor even more inaccurate. Honestly, would it have been so hard to just say 'the same Magtok' instead? We could've communicated the exact same message but avoided all of this clumsiness if we just said that instead.

****, I can't believe this, we're screwing up every single part of this basic human interaction every step of the way. Well, not human, since she's a catgirl, but you know what I mean. Picturing her naked with a hundred percent accuracy, lying to her face and acting like we remember anything about her, getting exposed as a gutless coward by that filthy goblin's fleabag animals...honestly, at this point maybe getting mauled by the mother wolf would be the best case scenario. Everyone would immediately forget how nervous and awkward we were, too focused on getting us patched up and safe and away from the murderbeast. Dipsnig would owe us an apology, Marin wouldn't be pitying us for our abject cowardice because she'd realize we were right all along to fear the wolves, and hell, maybe she'd even feel responsible for the accident. She was the one who pet the puppy, after all. Then we could probably talk her into spying on MERC again, or find out what she learned about them last time, or maybe just tell her about the surveillance camera footage so we can call it even and never have to talk to her again.

"Can you...do you know how to convince wolves to go away? I'm sorry, I'm kind of living right next door to a family of panic attacks and the wife just invited them over for dinner," Magtok explains, his voice becoming incredibly faint as he continues to unconsciously hold his breath and wait for the larger wolf's massive jaws to snap down on his femur and shake him about like an exotic chew toy.

[Zefir]

[Near, but not at, the Snacks]

Okay.

So.

This is a nice bit of temporal twisting right here.

From the local perspective there isn't much of a difference. From Zee's it is several days. That's more than enough for her to work with, even if it can be a little precarious.

Anywho!

Yes. Zee's getting a better feel for what she's working with now. She gives a kind smile in reply.

"I do agree. That's why I'm here, actually. To reconnect. What about you? What brings you to this year's Thanksmas shindig?"

[Near, but not at, the Snacks]

((Ask for it and you get it. A training went in my way 3 days of google cloud. Hope it didn't srew things up.)) Thought I don't really know Zee's appereance.

"Actually, the food." she replies. "Not that I eat much, but you don't get this stuff at other times during the year." It is easy to see that Mia isn't a big eater. She appears to be slim, maybe just a bit under the healthiest weight for her size.
"Since you were here, I guess you haven't reconnected yet? What is it that makes you hesitate?" she says. "Other then me." she adds jokingly.

[Rebonack]

[Near, but not at, the Snacks]

This is the problem with really old PCs. Sometimes you forget that people don't know them.

Zee!

She's human, looks in her mid twenties or so. She's fairly tall for a human female and of a fairly athletic build. Her complexion is slightly tan, her hair raven black, and her eyes a steely blue. Her features are, in a word, unremarkable. There isn't anything about her physically that would really make her stand out in a crowd, assuming she isn't being attention-grabbing due to her typical behavior. In all a pretty bog-standard human female that could blend into a crowd of NPCs without too much trouble.

As for her outfit, she's wearing a hideous green Thanksmas sweater sporting a cartoony dragon wearing baubles and a star on its head. Over that is a long brown coat to go with her brown trousers and sturdy boots. She's wearing a nice forest green scarf along with a VERY wide brimmed, earth tone brown hat. A little oak sprig with an acorn is tucked into the hat-band. Seems Zee prefers neutral and earthy colors. That's pretty much always been the case. Her hair is held together in a low pony-tail with a little green scrunchy.

"Just... regrets, mostly," Zee admits. "I wasn't as motherly to her as I should have been."

Which is a shame.


[Snack Tables]

"I'm glad you like the slippers," Zee says with a kind smile. "And any time you need a break from the baby, feel free to ask. Raril and I will be happy to help. Being a single parent isn't easy."

Not even a little bit.

Then, added jokingly. "Are there any arms I can twist to get the father to help?"

Navvy, meanwhile, has remembered that the music book exists. He's quickly figuring out how to read the sheet music.

"Oof... this is like learning to read a whole new language," Navvy mutters.

[Morty]

[The Absolute Wolfst]

Marin's concerns, while valid, appear to be unnecessary in this situation. The puppy eagerly pads over to her and the mother is content to stay where she is. In another situation she might be right to be cautious, but Thanksmas magic makes the wolves more friendly than normal.

[Landon and Tuskfang]

"They're similar, but not quite. Ghosts look like people, spirits look like animals." That's simplifying it a great deal, but Landon wouldn't understand a full explanation. Besides, she doesn't really know a lot about spirits. Despite being married (in practice if not formally) to a shaman and living in a spirit-protected location, their nature has always eluded them. Meanwhile, the blonde-furred baby stirs in the stroller and cranes his neck towards Landon. "What's this, Balthuk? Want a better look?" She takes her out of the stroller and holds him. The baby does intently peer at Landon, his nose twitching.

[Recaiden]

[Spike & Sekhmet, Unicorn-hunters]

"I didn't use to -what's the phrase?- get out much." Spike admits. "There were no unicorns in the office, and no unicorns at home, so..." She makes a shrugging motion with her wings. "People live in little bubbles, I hear. Metaphorically, rather than-"
"Did you say something there, Persimmon?"

[Hanging around]

Yeah he isn't made of needles, but those other decorations aren't as well ;-P Mr. C is easily picked up since he barly has a way to avoid it or a reason to do so.

"The usual I guess. I felt asleep while helping. Normaly people can't tell if I am a toy or not when i sleep. For example I miss eyelids, but wonder why I still can close my eyes. Thanks for the help anyways. Is there maybe something I could do for you? You might have saved me a month or year of been trapped in a decoration box."

But those other ornaments aren't also talking.

"No problem. What are you able to do?" Honeysuckle asks, holding Mr. C on her palm. She isn't sure how a living little toy could help her.
"Are you a member here at HALO?"

Santa Fel chuckles.

Of course you do, like you said, I’m Santa!

Now, what is your name and how can Santa help you?

Reginald will gently nudge the back of Nadas’s shoe in an attempt to nudge him towards Fel.

"Ah, of course."
Nadas is cutely nudged towards Santa, and will go the rest of the way himself (although with a dark look back at Reginald).
"My name is Nadas Ghuand Xabaresh Chaeron. I haven't really been in a position to celebrate Thanksmas for a while now. I'm worried I'll have to do something...pretty naughty in this coming year. One way or another."

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Arrivals - SOUP!]


Electra sees the massive croc-woman carrying the even more massive soup pot, and moves up beside her, looking up at her.

"Would you like some help? That looks rather awkward to carry."

Electra is probably not dressed as one would expect help to be coming from, but she's obviously not about to let that stop her.

[Rebonack]

[Okay, Fine, Geneva and Some Other People]

Some people just avoid Carousel Court.

Other people studiously ignore the fact that Team Nightmære makes up a significant portion of Intersection.

Though to be fair, most of the patrols are fliers and they stay up pretty high. A bird's eye view, so to speak. Helps them to pick out threats that the more traditional patrol cars down on the street level might miss.

"It is a little bit unusual," Geneva admits. "But I believe Sekhmet is a relatively recent arrival to the Nexus."

She doesn't want Page to assume that her new friend might be avoiding unicorns on purpose.

She's SURE that couldn't possibly be the reason.

Sekhmet just doesn't strike her as that sort of person. Especially since she just admitted that unicorns are nearly mythical in her home world.

Also?

She begins paying a little more attention to her augmented reality HUD. Geneva has the uncanny feeling that Persimmon might have decided to be sneaky and she's hoping she can at least track his movements so she can warn prospective victims ahead of time.

[5a Violista]

[The Absolute Wolfst]

Marin watches as Magtok sloooooowly brings out his hand.

She bites her lower lip, watching.

And watching.

She looks back up at Magtok, then back at the hand.

Watching.

And waiting.

Soon, her lip hurts so she has to stop.

Why is he going so slowly, anyway? That's weird. He must not want to touch her, right? Or maybe he's suspicious of something? But...but he's talking fine enough. The way he said it was pretty funny, actually: she can't help but laugh a little, now that she's no longer biting it back. "That's good. I was worried you'd be completely different from how I imagined you, but I'm glad you're not." Her tail goes up, with a curve at the end.

Anyway, he asked for her to get the wolves away? "Sure, I'll try." She turns towards the wolves, crouches and gently turns around and pushes the puppy back towards its mother. To the mother-wolf, she says in a calm, level, and firm voice: "We have no food." She points towards the snack table. Sure, telling the wolves to go eat off the table is fine. "Go." She keeps staring at the wolf for a little longer, to show dominance: out of everyone here, she's the top of the pack and so she has to be listened to.

Once that's done, she turns back to Magtok, while still crouched. "Yeah, I get how that feels."


[Kitchen]

Um...

Holly's in the kitchen. She helped set up, but she's not really feeling a party right now and the party is between the kitchen and HALO's exit.

[Zefir]

[Near, but not at, the Snacks]

This is the problem with really old PCs. Sometimes you forget that people don't know them.

Zee!

She's human, looks in her mid twenties or so. She's fairly tall for a human female and of a fairly athletic build. Her complexion is slightly tan, her hair raven black, and her eyes a steely blue. Her features are, in a word, unremarkable. There isn't anything about her physically that would really make her stand out in a crowd, assuming she isn't being attention-grabbing due to her typical behavior. In all a pretty bog-standard human female that could blend into a crowd of NPCs without too much trouble.

As for her outfit, she's wearing a hideous green Thanksmas sweater sporting a cartoony dragon wearing baubles and a star on its head. Over that is a long brown coat to go with her brown trousers and sturdy boots. She's wearing a nice forest green scarf along with a VERY wide brimmed, earth tone brown hat. A little oak sprig with an acorn is tucked into the hat-band. Seems Zee prefers neutral and earthy colors. That's pretty much always been the case. Her hair is held together in a low pony-tail with a little green scrunchy.

"Just... regrets, mostly," Zee admits. "I wasn't as motherly to her as I should have been."

Which is a shame.

[Near, but not at, the Snacks]

"You can't undo the past." Mia says in a understanding voice. It's like when a priest talks to you in a calm freindly voice.
"If you regret it you are a good mother. You sure got your resons, but that shouldn't keep you stuck. Work on it. I am sure she will understand. And don't worry if it doesn't happen in an instant. Some things need time, but you need to set a beginning."

[Morty]

[The Absolute Wolfst]

The pup seems surprised and dejected that the friendly person wants him to go now. His tail stops moving and his head hangs a little. But after dithering for a moment, the little wolf trots away in search of other people, as his mother follows.