Thanksmasnewyearskwanzakkah 2018 - 10 Years of Thanksmas!

[Arkhosia]

Stop Reining on Magtok's Parade

Caelynn turns back to Magtok with a sigh and a smile, withdrawing her hand from the antlered animal. "You really don't like rejection, do you?" she muses, reaching with her other arm to clasp his hand affectionately. Weird, I thought she was a doctor, not a psychologist... though she never did specify what sort of doctor she was. Are therapists considered doctors? "Well, I'm sure we can find something we can both to together, dear." Giving the reindeer one last scritch, Caelynn will step away, tugging on Magtok's hand to lead him back to the hub where everyone else is gathered.

"Hm, you said you knew who was hosting this year, right? Maybe you could introduce me?" She suggests, brainstorming possibilities. A mischievous grin forms with her next idea; "Or maybe you'd like to sit on Santa's lap?" Caelynn jests, prodding Magtok lightly with an elbow. She doesn't seem to notice that the reindeer seems to be following the pair. Maybe it, too, didn't like rejection?

[Lord Magtok]

Butch Cassidy and the Squidfaced Kid

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[Don't Shoot the Sheriff]

Krystal chuckles a bit. Man, you can't go anywhere without annoying people, can you?

Krystal smirks a bit at the squid girl. So, you decided to be his jailer? Make sure he doesn't escape?

"Sorta. A MaliceBot told me to find a Malice, who says he knows-" the squidgirl reaches into a pocket to pull out a small notepad, and flips a few pages until she finds the illiterate chicken-scratch gibberish she was looking for. "-a Magtok, who either is, or knows who is the half-robot man who killed Pa." Her expression sours, contemplating all the stupid useless robot men she'll have to harass for answers. If they're all as dumb and ugly as this one, it could take aaaaaages to avenge the loss of her father.

"Before you accuse me of anything Krystal, I honestly have no idea what she's talking about. I didn't kill any squidmen, ever, but if it was someone who looks like me, it must be a Magtok." Malice seems pretty insistent on that, and not just because the little girl clearly intends to shoot whoever killed her dad with those dirty old revolvers of hers. The same revolvers that some quiet old man accompanying her is keeping out of arm's reach for now.


Angels Falling From On High

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Should All Acquaintance Be Forgot

Fidelia blinks as the ghoul kneels upon the snow, and it takes a brief moment for her to understand Jenette's implied plan. That isn't weird, right? I mean, it's not Fidelia's fault that she's never seen the gesture before, she still hasn't gotten around to playing The Last Of Us. Thankfully though, she can put two and two together well enough. Stepping forward, the smaller woman places her hands on St. Laz's shoulders as she steps onto her clasped hands, before pushing herself up to stand on Lazarus's shoulders. Grabbing hold of the tree to steady her precarious position, Fidelia snags a particularly eyecatching sombrero, sliding the cord around her neck to let it hang draped over her back. She then turns her gaze upwards to the other branches....

Aha, there! A scarf, and even better, a pair of comfy-looking wool gloves! A small stretch is all it takes to snatch the end of the scarf and yank it down, letting it fall to the snowy ground, but the gloves prove somewhat harder, and Fidelia has to let go and really extend her reach to grasp them. But as she manages to take hold of them with a triumphant grin, the squire loses her balance! With a girlish "Eep!" and a momentary pinwheeling of the arms, she falls backwards off of Jenette, hitting the snowy ground with an oof... right at Calm Reed's feet, as it just so happens!

[Clothes Tree]

Calm Reed was wandering and offering the cookies to assorted people, while suddenly someone lands at her feet. She stops suddenly, looking down...

"...oh. Hello, Fidelia. I'd offer you some Thanksmas cheer, but it seems you might need help getting up first."

Was that humour from the monk? It's hard to tell.

"Hey Calm Reed! I see you've met Fi," Saint Laz says in a cheery, conversational tone, trying to act like she totally didn't freak out a little when she saw Fidelia tumbling into the snow. She'll be fine, right? Just needs a hand getting back up, someone to dust off some of the snow that caught on her clothes and hair, and maybe Laz should sniff at the air, find out if there's blood on her scraped up knees No! No to that last thing, no! Bad zombie senses, shut the hell up! Fidelia is a friend, not a meal!


I Saw Maggy Dissing Santa Claus

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Stop Reining on Magtok's Parade

Caelynn turns back to Magtok with a sigh and a smile, withdrawing her hand from the antlered animal. "You really don't like rejection, do you?" she muses, reaching with her other arm to clasp his hand affectionately. Weird, I thought she was a doctor, not a psychologist... though she never did specify what sort of doctor she was. Are therapists considered doctors? "Well, I'm sure we can find something we can both do together, dear." Giving the reindeer one last scritch, Caelynn will step away, tugging on Magtok's hand to lead him back to the hub where everyone else is gathered.

"Hm, you said you knew who was hosting this year, right? Maybe you could introduce me?" She suggests, brainstorming possibilities. A mischievous grin forms with her next idea; "Or maybe you'd like to sit on Santa's lap?" Caelynn jests, prodding Magtok lightly with an elbow. She doesn't seem to notice that the reindeer seems to be following the pair. Maybe it, too, didn't like rejection?

"It's a slightly more exotic deer. If I drove a car down here at night, he'd jump right into the windshield like a big stupid dope. He shouldn't be judging anyone," Magtok grumbles. Caelynn's right, though, so our cyborg gives her hand a squeeze and tries to leave his salt behind as they turn their back on the reindeer. Besides, if he really wants some sense of petty vengeance later, he can go buy reindeer venison in Inside. He probably won't, but the option is there, and that's what really matters. Reindeer are nothing compared to us! Nothing!

"The host is that blonde angel lady, Ithuriel. She's on the police force in Inside. She's dating Wings, the guy over there by the jail cell, who's part of a group of rogue MagClones. They're both completely awful and deserve each other," Magtok explains, munching on a candy cane he must've saved from that plate they were carrying around earlier. It's not entirely clear how much of Magtok's enmity stems from the organizations those two work with, and how much of it is personal disdain, but he's clearly not the bestest of buddies with either, even if he's apparently still willing to attend a party hosted by the angel cop. Hmm, does that mean his dislike is mild enough that he'd still be willing to introduce Caelynn to her?

"When she's not busy, maybe. Maybe I'll introduce you, I mean, not maybe I'll sit on her lap. I got over my tough police girl phase years ago, thank you. Blegh," the cyborg makes a face at the idea. Or is Felandria the one atop the Thanksmas throne right now? Shoot, Magtok can't tell from all the way over here, nor can his player be bothered to scroll back a few pages to see who's playing Santa right now, apparently. What a lazy piece of trash.

[Arkhosia]

Fi is Friend Not Food

Luckily for the both of them, Fidelia appears unharmed, though the same can't be said for the sombrero that helped cushion her fall. The squire is shivering a little bit though, mostly because her stocking-clad legs are in firm contact with the fluffy snow. It's at the same moment she notices this that the page realizes that her skirt got a little bit hitched up in the fall, and she tugs it back into place with a flash of embarrassment, briefly worrying if Jen saw anything. Not that it would be anything she hadn't seen, what with how she bandaged Fidelia up back when they first met, but still!

But Fidelia doesn't fret about such awkwardness for long. The appearance of Calm Reed is plenty to distract her! "O-oh, hello." She greets shyly with a small little smile, before shifting to get to her feet. With or without a helping hand, she's not picky. "Y-yeah, she came by looking for you a couple days ago... I thought I let you know?" Crap, did she forget to tell Jen? Oh god, she did didn't she! How can she serve her faithfully if she can't even inform her about something like that?

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Heard it Through the Grapevine]

Krystal shakes her head a bit. She didn't say you did it, Malice. Just that you might know who did. Or might know someone who might know.

She turns to the girl, casually leaning against the ice cage. Of course, this is all assuming whoever told you all this wasn't lying. Which could be the case. I'm all for helping you find who killed your dad. Gotta make sure it's good info to go on, though. She glances at Malice. Any possibility that a MaliceBot would say this just to get you in trouble?

[Rebonack]

[Approaching Hannah to say 'Hi' since this has all been foretold]

A WILD ZEE APPEARS!

Or more properly, she walks up to the small group of people consisting of folks she knows (yay!) and folks she doesn't know (also yay!) to share treats with!

She's still wearing her absurdly tacky Thanksmas sweater and pulling around a miniature sleigh full of baked goodies.

"Hi Ravanys! Hi Hannah! Hi other people I haven't really met yet!" she calls out, giving them all an exuberant wave. "Merry Thanksmas! I come bearing goodies and season's greetings!"

Indeed she does.

She offers a variety of plates! One loaded down with various chocolates, one packed with fruit pate, and the third decorated with a variety of candy canes.

Everyone gets to pick something! Except maybe the tiny dragon. Eating a full plate of this stuff might send the poor critter into hyperglycemic shock.

Zee gives Hannah a little wink. "See? Here I am! Told yo-."

Umm...

Zee just vanished with an audible pop. Pretty much without warning.

That' really weird?

[Felandria]

[In Line for Santa]

Erelae gets into line for this year's santa, dragging with her, her brother Sornnolu and her half-sister Aly'ithra. The three drow blooded siblings were older than most people in line, since children seem to get the most out of it, but Erelae knew it was a holiday for all ages. "Come on you guys! It's traditional!"

"Who's tradition?" Sornnolu protested weakly.

"Nexus tradition I guess. It's a little like Shieldmeet back home." Aly'ithra says. "Do you guys celebrate Shieldmeet even?" She asks her full blooded drow half-siblings.

Santa Fel will welcome the drow and let them decide which one wants to go first.

[Recaiden]

[Raril and 'Son']

Raril stiffens as Nadas gets close. He'd never been hugged by him before, and for a pair raised in the Underdark it was an odd gesture of affection. The older drow awkwardly pats him on the back.

"Err... Are you sure? You can talk to me you know. I'm horribly tainted by the surface so I actually care what happens to my children and all."

"I know; you gave yourself away when you didn't try to exploit my problems for your own gain immediately."
Nadas jokes, giving the poor awkward drow some space afterwards.
"But I think it will go better if I handle my crises one at a time."
Let's just stay in line to see Santa, a safe distance away from Sszinyon and Landon, and not share too much.
"Do you have any happier news, yourself?"

[Boring Shadow]

Ravanys shows some surprise at the appearance of the shadow.

Huh...well there's something you don't see every day.

Then she notices the differences.

So, uh, why's your shadow look so different?

A WILD ZEE APPEARS!
...
Zee just vanished with an audible pop. Pretty much without warning.

Hanako is busy asking Hannah a bunch of rapid, poorly-formed questions like 'why is she so greasy?', and 'why is she in a human disguise?'. She knows so many shape-shifting dragons at home that she hasn't gotten it through her head that there are other people who are just humans all the time.

"It's a long story, but basically it's because of a mad wizard's experiment."
Anchor turns to look at her shadow, as if to say 'behave yourself!', and the shadow goes back to looking like a proper Anchor. Except for the tail.
"I think it collects- Oh, hi Zee."

Anchor fends off the plates of Thanksmas treats. "Thanks, but I don't really eat sweets, and-"

Hanako jumps from her perch in Hannah's arms, trying to grab a piece of fruit pate off the plate.

And they both look around to see what might have happened to the candy-bearing monstrosity.

[Morty]

[Fi is Friend Not Food]

"I have, yes. When I visited your home but you weren't there," Calm Reed says. "Now I'm getting familiar with the festivities by carrying those treats. And what were you doing, to make you fall off that tree?"

[Deathkeeper]

[Fox and Tiger]

"Um. Sure. Have you done that recently? I haven't done it in years." Mist has never been the biggest fan of snow. Last time he went out in it his coat was enchanted.

[Dragons and Wolves]

Nick watches Cheasadh go in confusion.
"Um. That happened. But uh, I don't see a lot of wolves, no. "
His big sis was a dragon thing for a while and she probably saw some wolves, but now she's not and he doesn't really want to go into that because it's really weird.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Disappearing Dragons]

Hannah chuckles at the questions. I smell like grease because I do mechanical work, like, a lot. Kinda soaks into my hair a bit. And I'm not in a human disguise. I am a human.

Ravanys nods a bit in understanding. Ah, yeah, I've seen that stuff before. Wizards can get weird.

Ravanys blinks a few times at Zee's sudden appearance. Should be used to that by now, really. Oh, hey you. Uh, thanks. She takes a plate a sweets, taking a moment to check out what they were. When she looks back up, Zee is gone.

Ravanys looks confused for a moment, glancing around.

Huh...that was weird.

[Arkhosia]

Hark The Task Force Angels Sing?

"Oh, I see." Caelynn nods astutely as she peers at Wings. Magtok had mentioned another faction before, but she had never seen one of their number. Curious, he didn't look all that different, a lot closer to the Magtok she knew than she expected out of a member of a rogue splinter cell. Well, yes, the wings are a pretty large difference, but have you seen Needs? That guys got, like, so many more deviations from the norm, and he's still part of the main group.

A thought occurs, and the doctor stifles a giggle. "So he's dating a blonde too, huh? Sounds like you have a preference~" She teases with a smirk, even if she knows full well blondes aren't the only people the cyborg ever dated. She met Pat once, after all, and she was... brunette, she wants to say? It's been a while... wait, she was a shapeshifter, wasn't she? Maybe it's not a conflicting point of data.

[Zefir]

Spoiler: [Snowgoblin

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]

[Snowgoblins]

"It'll be fun to see it go all the way down," Tuskfang proclaims.

"And we can always build more later," Oortka adds.

Snowgoblin

The dwarves come out of their huddle to rejoin the conversation. We all oughta push it at once otherwise only one person gets to do it. Olon says, before walking to the side of the sled and getting ready to push. Plus that way I bet it'll go super fast. she adds. Endok sidles up next to her to get ready to push whenever everyone else is prepared.

[Snowgoblin]

"Oooh, that's a great idea Olon!" Khannie declares as she braces herself behind the sled. She's probably the biggest one here, so it makes sense that she's the one who will be pushing from behind. "When everyone's ready we'll all push together! It'll go super fast!"

I mean, it probably won't.

More likely the efforts will just throw it off course a bit.

But who knows!

Maybe a Thanksmas miracle will happen.

[Snowgoblins]

"Okay" Ixen says and watches the others going to the sled.
"I will watch it from here." She goes closer to the sled to look at the snowgoblin on it, but she doesn't got to the back. After all she isn't very strong and due to her past she is more submissive then other kids.

[Recaiden]

[Fox and Tiger]

Leah shakes her head.
"No, not for ages. But how hard can it be?"
She sits down in the snow - she likes it; she can blend in! - and starts rolling a snowball for the base.
It takes her a couple tries, because despite what Leah just said, snow is not that simple!

[No Horrors allowed]

"But why?" Hanaki asks around a mouthful of fruit treats.
If Hannah picked a human to be there must be an explanation!

"Yeah, that was odd." Anchor agrees.
"And now I'm a weird wizard myself."
"Do you think your shadow would like to get up to more?"

Anchor's shadow seems to be picking up some of Zee's lost chocolates, just bending down and vanishing them away into the shadow realm.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Hungry Hungry Shadow]

Hannah shows a bit of confusion for a moment. Why...am I human? I was born human. So I'm human. That's just how things work. You're a dragon because you were born a dragon.

Ravanys stares at the shadow for a moment. That was something she hadn't seen before. Then she looks to Anchor. Huh? Oh, uh...I mean...it's a shadow. Yours might have it's own mind, but I'm pretty sure mine doesn't.

[Recaiden]

[I Want A Shadow For Thanksmas]

"Okay!"
I'm not sure Hanako really gets it, but Hannah sounded quite authoritative laying out how things work.
She bounds over to Anchor again.
"Sis, sis! Can I human?"

"Can you be a human?"
Nod-nod, goes the dragon.
"Maybe when you're older."

Looking to Ravanys, she says "Want to find out?" and her shadow raises a hand, about to snap its fingers.
"I'm not sure there really is such a thing as 'just a shadow', like only an optical phenomena. They're all connected."

[Murkus]

[Amongst the Trees --> By the Fire!]

"Come on, there's gotta be something you want that you haven't got already," Adir says. He has a couple ideas, but more would certainly do. Perhaps they start to amble over to the fire, Adir giving Ithuriel a nod.

"Traditionally we would have brought all the kids too, but we'll be spending all of Thanksmas day with them anyways," says Adir. More like all of Thanksmas week. His boss seemed to take winter festivals pretty seriously. "Some alone time was... in order. Well deserved." Adir leans into Sakura a little.

[Earl of Purple]

Gnome Tree

"No! Not OK! There's a dragon and I don't see any sheep!" Cheasadh will run around the tree to keep Navvy on the opposite side of it to her. If Brinika tries getting in her way, Cheasadh will try to dodge around her. She's not panicking, exactly, she's more... Overreacting.

[Morty]

[Gnome Tree]

"They're not here to eat us! They're giving us treats!" Brinika squeaks. "And have you seen how small and cute they are? Not any bigger than we are!"

[Snowgoblins]

Tuskfang, Blaggut and Oortka all crowd around the sled and push. It's all likely to be a very awkward but no doubt entertaining affair.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Insert Shadowy Christmas Pun Here]

Hannah grins at Hanako's antics.

Ravanys thinks about it for a moment, then shrugs.

Eh, sure. Why not? Let's see what happens.

[Rebonack]

[Gnome Tree]

"Oh jeepers, I'm real sorry!" Navvy says, ceasing to pursue Cheasadh. "I didn't mean to scare you or nothin'. I'll just put a plate of brownies down here and go back over there, okay? Are you keen on caramel, apple, or extra fudge most?"

He feels pretty terrible about making the tiny human afraid.

Making people afraid is one of the LEAST paladin-y things someone can do!

A good paladin should make people feel safe, not afraid.

And paladins of tyranny TOTALLY don't count as real paladins since they're mean.

Should Cheasadh answer Navvy's question, he'll set the plate down in the snow and back off. Otherwise, he'll just leave the apple-cinnamon chocolate brownies since those are mother's super special recipe and totally the best.

[Snowgoblins]

"Okay everyone, PUSH!" Khannie says as she shoves the sled with all her might! She even gives it a nice running push to really get it going!

Unfortunately the hill is kinda steep and she ends up stumbling, face planting in the snow, and then rolling down the embankment behind the sled.

The sled, meanwhile, goes rocketing down the hill and zooming off through the snowy landscape. Faster. Faster! FASTER! Then it hits little mound of snow and launches up into the snow-speckled night sky! Higher. Higher! HIGHER! Until it vanishes into the shimmering aurora, carrying the snowman off to parts unknown.

Khannie lifts her head and spits out a mouthful of snow. "Did it work!?"

[Earl of Purple]

Gnome Tree

"Not any bigger than we are is still big enough!" But then she's offered brownies. She'll stop and think a moment. "Um, extra fudge?" When that's said and Navvy's gone away a short distance, she comes out from behind the tree and takes the brownies. She'll stay back but watch the dragons as they interact with the goblins, but... She's reasonably sure they're friendly, and they look that way, but she can't help being a little bit nervous.

Pookie will wander over and sit next to her, grabbing a bit of brownie and eating it.

[Recaiden]

[We're still on Hippopotamuses, Actually]

Hannah grins at Hanako's antics.

Ravanys thinks about it for a moment, then shrugs.

Eh, sure. Why not? Let's see what happens.

Hanako's next adventure is to notice the conversation and try to catch her own shadow.
That goes about as well as you'd expect.

"Here we go!"
Anchor's shadow snaps her fingers (which, predictably, doesn't make a sound) and Anchor uses her bizarre magic to give Ravanys's shadow the spark of life!
Wake up, sleepy shadow! It's Thanksmas-time, you should be out celebrating!
Who knows what it might get up to? It's not as though Anchor controls it or anything. Probably it acts a lot like Ravanys. Possibly it's like Ravanys's inner dark side, as it were.

If Anchor knew more about Ravanys, she would guess that the tiefling's fire magic is enough to keep the shadow active indefinitely. Flames and shadows naturally go together, after all. Two sides of a coin.

[Morty]

[Gnome Tree]

Brinika keeps hovering over Cheasadh protectively, but she also takes a brownie and bites into it with her surprisingly large teeth.

"They wouldn't let them in here if they were going to eat us. It's Thanksmas. Besides, people say goblins eat kids too, and we don't eat kids."

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Elephant in the Room]

Hannah follows Hanako's lead and takes interest in the shadow shenanigans.

For a moment, it seems like nothing happens. Until the shadow opens its eye.

A clear spot shows up on her shadow. Matching the location of her eyepatch. It even has some small lines around it, matching the scarring under the patch. Moments later, more lines appear, matching the flame-like tattoos on her arms and legs.

Ravanys blinks a few times, an almost blank look on her face. The shadow blinks with her.

Huh. That's...different.

She waves an arm, and the shadow follows. Other than the blank spots, it seems like a normal shadow.

[Zefir]

[Snowgoblin]

The fire elf girl looks after the snowgoblin and his ride. as it disapears she just looks at the point it last was, confused.

"Was it supposed to just disapear?" she asks still looking up.

[Lord Magtok]

Fi is Friend Not Food

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Fi is Friend Not Food

Luckily for the both of them, Fidelia appears unharmed, though the same can't be said for the sombrero that helped cushion her fall. The squire is shivering a little bit though, mostly because her stocking-clad legs are in firm contact with the fluffy snow. It's at the same moment she notices this that the page realizes that her skirt got a little bit hitched up in the fall, and she tugs it back into place with a flash of embarrassment, briefly worrying if Jen saw anything. Not that it would be anything she hadn't seen, what with how she bandaged Fidelia up back when they first met, but still!

But Fidelia doesn't fret about such awkwardness for long. The appearance of Calm Reed is plenty to distract her! "O-oh, hello." She greets shyly with a small little smile, before shifting to get to her feet. With or without a helping hand, she's not picky. "Y-yeah, she came by looking for you a couple days ago... I thought I let you know?" Crap, did she forget to tell Jen? Oh god, she did didn't she! How can she serve her faithfully if she can't even inform her about something like that?

[Fi is Friend Not Food]

"I have, yes. When I visited your home but you weren't there," Calm Reed says. "Now I'm getting familiar with the festivities by carrying those treats. And what were you doing, to make you fall off that tree?"

((Yes, I'm using the same location tag more than once in a scene. What? No, I'm not doing it because out of laziness or a lack of creativity; I'm doing it because that's what you're supposed to do. I care about doing things correctly.[/outrightlies]))

"Crimes," Jenette answers without skipping a beat, as she stoops down to pick up the battered sombrero and place it atop her own head, which was already wearing a beanie before all of this nonsense went down. "Fidelia's snowman over there is looking pretty naked, so we thought we'd rob this tree. I'm not entirely sure why there's a tree covered in clothes, actually. Maybe Santa's magic bag exploded?" As plausible an explanation as any, I suppose.


Thanksmas Prison Blues

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[Heard it Through the Grapevine]

Krystal shakes her head a bit. She didn't say you did it, Malice. Just that you might know who did. Or might know someone who might know.

She turns to the girl, casually leaning against the ice cage. Of course, this is all assuming whoever told you all this wasn't lying. Which could be the case. I'm all for helping you find who killed your dad. Gotta make sure it's good info to go on, though. She glances at Malice. Any possibility that a MaliceBot would say this just to get you in trouble?

"Probably not. A MaliceBot out to get me in trouble would say I did it. Honestly, I'm surprised the MaliceBot didn't say that. The robots and I didn't exactly part the best of friends," Malice frowns, recalling the violent uprising that ended in him being exiled from his own undersea lair, fired out of an airlock, and washing ashore smelling like saltwater, corroded brass, and humiliating failure.

"Magtok is that one, by the way," Malice says, pointing towards a purple-robed cyborg and the blonde catgirl accompanying him. The little squidbrat and the old man accompanying her promptly scurry off, eager to follow this lead to the bitter end, apparently. Good, it's about time they finally left. Now Malice can finally start working on carving himself out of this stupid little cell without any little snitches around to report him. Krystal wouldn't rat him out, right?

"So how's the Skyside stuff been going?" Malice asks, before immediately regretting the question. Thanksmas's place in the timeline is already tenuous enough; let's not complicate matters further by mentioning a Hatter plot that's on life support and might or might not finish. "Actually no let's not talk about that. How about..." It occurs to Malice that he doesn't really know much else to talk about. Krystal's got her hero business, the comic shop he's already involved in, and her home life on Earth 5793 or whichever universe her particular Marvel setting belongs to.


You've Heard of Elf on the Shelf; Now Get Ready For Magtok With a Cat Doc

Spoiler

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Hark The Task Force Angels Sing?

"Oh, I see." Caelynn nods astutely as she peers at Wings. Magtok had mentioned another faction before, but she had never seen one of their number. Curious, he didn't look all that different, a lot closer to the Magtok she knew than she expected out of a member of a rogue splinter cell. Well, yes, the wings are a pretty large difference, but have you seen Needs? That guys got, like, so many more deviations from the norm, and he's still part of the main group.

A thought occurs, and the doctor stifles a giggle. "So he's dating a blonde too, huh? Sounds like you have a preference~" She teases with a smirk, even if she knows full well blondes aren't the only people the cyborg ever dated. She met Pat once, after all, and she was... brunette, she wants to say? It's been a while... wait, she was a shapeshifter, wasn't she? Maybe it's not a conflicting point of data.

"Caelynn, please. He's not me, he's like...like an estranged twin brother or something; his likes and dislikes don't count. Perfect example, you see that stupid elf costume? I still have some semblance of dignity; you could never talk me into wearing that," the cyborg insists, perhaps a tad more emphatically than strictly necessary. Are elves really that bad? Also, be careful, Magtok. That declaration sounds dangerously close to a challenge, and if Caelynn hasn't died or deadtimed this time next year and remembers this conversation, you could be in trouble.

"Besides, if I do have a type, it's not hair color, it's-" Magtok pauses to actually think that over. Is there anything his moderately successful relationships have in common? Elly, Pat, Vespe, Happy...

"Sanity? I don't think I ever had anything ever work out with a girl crazier than I am. Not a very high hurdle to clear, sure, but there's tons of nuts and wackjobs out there. Never a good idea for me to be the sane, sensible one in a relationship." Or maybe it's women who already adore him long before any sort of relationship forms. Libby, Pat, Elly, and Caelynn all fall under that category. Our cyborg has trust and ego issues; it'd make sense that he favors that sort of fawning over him. There's a sort of safety in knowing that the woman you're dating already thinks the world of you, and doesn't need to be awed and amazed with the usual spectacle and zaniness to like you, even if they're probably going to get that silly showman's act anyway because that's all Magtok knows.

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Ring of Ice]

Hm. Weird somebody would drag you into this, then...

And then the squid girl runs off to bug Magtok. Guess she didn't care about Malice anymore.

At the Skyside question, Krystal's face falls quickly, and she looks away from Malice, folding her arms across her chest. Clearly not a pleasant subject. Good job, Malice.

As Malice flounders around for a new subject, Krystal lets out a sigh. Malice...am I doing this stuff right?

Well. That's certainly a light question. Right?

[Morty]

[Snowgoblin]

Tuskfang, Oortka and Blaggut are in awe, looking after the sled with wide eyes.

"Sleds aren't supposed to fly!" Tuskfang squeaks.

"So why did this one?"

[Recaiden]

[An Tiefling Never Forgets]

Hannah follows Hanako's lead and takes interest in the shadow shenanigans.

For a moment, it seems like nothing happens. Until the shadow opens its eye.

A clear spot shows up on her shadow. Matching the location of her eyepatch. It even has some small lines around it, matching the scarring under the patch. Moments later, more lines appear, matching the flame-like tattoos on her arms and legs.

Ravanys blinks a few times, an almost blank look on her face. The shadow blinks with her.

Huh. That's...different.

She waves an arm, and the shadow follows. Other than the blank spots, it seems like a normal shadow.

"That is different. I've never seen that before." Anchor marvels.

"It's neat though. Like it's more closely connected to you than before. So, what is the story with those tattoos? They just look cool, or...?"

Hanako scampers over to Ravanys, trying to look and see if the shadow is like that because Ravanys actually has holes in here. That's how they work most of the time, right?

[KerfuffleMach2]

[Shadow Show]

Hannah will go to pick Hanako up and hold the little dragon in her arms. Partly to give her a better view. But mostly because she was adorable and adorable things must be cuddled.

Ravanys pulls up her right coat sleeve, showing the black tattoos standing out on her red skin. They look like stylized flames. Her shadow matches the movements. Although...Ravanys is looking at her arm. And so is her shadow.

Old tradition from my home village. After warrior training, you go to the shaman. She does this whole ritual to determine what magic you should have, and then you get that tattooed onto you. I got fire. So, I can do fire magic, and the tattoos light up when I do.

She holds her right palm up, and a small flame appears. The tattoos on her forearm start to glow, matching the coloring of the flame. They're bright right where they meet her wrist, and fade out as they go up her arm.

This new light source doesn't change her shadow at all. And now it's staring at the flame itself.