Thanksmasnewyearskwannzahkah 2019: HALOed Angel Atop The Tree

[Lord Magtok]

The Absolute Wolfst

Oh no, now Magtok's replaced all of his fear and terror with guilt. This is awful, we need to go get ourselves another eggnog and drink the whole thing all at once like we did last time. We need to find a druid who can speak dog and ask them to translate a five minute apology speech. We need to convince Marin here that we're not the foulest, most awful, dog-hating monster in the universe, lest she realize all that help she'd gotten all those years ago was just a fluke and Magtok's actually just a dumpster fire of a human being who doesn't care about anything but himself and his own self-inflicted problems.

"I'm sorry, I know they probably weren't going to do anything, I just have this ridiculous phobia that keeps insisting what if, and-" Yes Magtok, we all know how phobias work. We've all seen you shake like a leaf in the wind at every single party Dipsnig gets invited to, you don't need to explain further. Just try not to look too content when you relax your shoulders, let go of that breath you'd been holding this whole time, and realize you're probably not dying for at least another day or so.

"So uh, how's life outside of MagMart been?" Hopefully she's left that dreadful place behind; Magtok styled his retail juggernaut on all of the worst retail outlets of Earth, and compensated for the objectively awful working conditions by giving all the unpleasant work to the Magbots slaves. He's not sure how the franchise owner in Riverside runs things, but if it's anything like how Magtok himself did, Marin couldn't possibly be making enough money to afford her own mansion. Not even one of those ugly little Riverside ones that don't come with their own panic room, apocalypse shelter, or fully-equipped armory. He knows most people in the Nexus couldn't possibly afford their own massive subterranean fortress, but a mansion isn't acting for much, is it? Normal people live in those, right?

[Gullara]

[Central Celebratory Area]

Reinholdt can't help but laugh a little at Annie and the triplets. "You're welcome." He's just glad Annie likes it.

The owl hops around a bit and pecks once at the floor before fluffing open one of his wings and 'grooming' there.

Rein moves and sits down next to Kitty in order to better watch the triplets and to get a small break from the Thanksmas bustle. "So how have you been? Is... What's her name? Obranne here too?" He asks, looking around. He hasn't gotten to meet her yet.

[Central Celebratory Area]

Annies lies down on the floor and props her chin in her hand as she watches her new toy move about. Every so often she pokes and nudges it to point it in a different direction or just to see what it will do.

The babies continue paw at the music box, though Chaytan ends up grabbing a chunk of the wrapping paper and busies himself crunching that.

"Obriane. And no, she's not here yet. She's supposed to be meeting us, though." Kitsuki explains. "She had some work to do earlier, but hopefully she won't be too long. If you stick around you could finally meet her."

[Earl of Purple]

Pink!

"She's adorable, and a princess too." Cheasadh nods and clambers onto the mound of floof to keep decorating the tree. I'd say she was using pink tinsel, but as Nurse supplied the decorations I'm not sure there's any other choice.

Near Santa

Jack joins the queue. She's apparently human, with grey eyes and short black hair. The exception to her humanity is the large pair of black-feathered wings emerging from her back, bearing an eye in the middle joint that look around curiously and giving her a whole host of information that she's still figuring out. She's wearing a backless black dress to give the wings plenty of room, and walks softly since she's traded her usually ubiquitous hiking boots for a pair of clean white trainers. She's slung a leather satchel with a stylised bird branded into the flap over her shoulder, and done so in a way that won't hamper her wings. She looks young; twenty or so, possibly a few years either way.

[Chaotic Bob]

Spoiler: Snack Table & Unicorn-Discussion

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[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?"

[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.

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.

[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.

[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]

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?"



"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."

[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.

[Snack Table]

Oh no, the possibility of not liking her present never entered Kara's mind. Not even a ghost of the thought of the possibility.
She loves it. Almost as much as she adores the parental meaning behind it. Maybe she's adding in a little more than is actually there; she can't read Raril's mind. But in her heart, she feels otherwise and that makes her happy.

Raril's given an extra, final squeeze in his hug and a beaming grin.
"You're getting my first hat!"
Naturally.
This is followed up by a quick whirl-around to hug Zee in a similar way.
"Second hat!
And Navvy gets the third hat, after we figure out the music!"

And before she can imperiously declare the victim of her subsequent attempts at hat-making, she remembers that people had said things to her earlier.
This puts a bit of sheepishness back in her, enough to look to Ilpholin and finally get back to the topic of Mister Squiggles.
"Um, sorry. Mister Squiggles though! So he's a super giant spider? Big-cuddly-wolf giant, or dinosaur giant?"

[Sekhmet Gets Singled Out Because Why Not?]

So the gist here is that Sekhmet and Spike either live under rocks, the town has conspired to keep unicorns away from them, or they're just terribly unfortunate.
Well!
"It would appear a good thing that I came to this party then, so I could expand your horizons just a little bit further! I am perhaps a little biased, but I think our magic has a rather unique flavor to offer the world, for those who are interested in it."
Which she is tempted to demonstrate for the group! Until Spike tries to address Persimmon, leading to Page finally noticing that her neck feels a bit...light.
It's shocking, really. There shouldn't be any feasible way she noticed neither the movement, nor the loss of pounds, and yet here we are.

A rather flat look, reminiscent of an annoyed teacher with an unruly student comes over her.
"Persimmon! We talked about this!"
One gets the impression, that were she bipedal and possessing of hands, they would be planted firmly and unhappily on her hips.

There's a cheerful cackle from the missing member of the group, from...somewhere. How did he manage to blend his voice into all of the background noise like that? Weird ventriloquism trick, maybe?
With everyone at the party being more or less friendly, Geneva's HUD is probably a confusing mash of pips in every single direction, moving hither and yon. There does seem to be a particularly quick one somewhere off to the left of the snack table.
Vaguely near where a plate full of candy canes used to be, but are now missing.

[5a Violista]

[The Absolute Worst]

It's okay. She's already over it.
Or...maybe she's only pretending to be over it and will take her revenge on Magtok later for making her tell some wolves to go away.
"It's okay, you're not a dog person," she says. "Lots of people aren't."

Now that the wolves are gone, she stands up again.

"Actually," Marin says, "I'm working there again, because you know how hard it is to find unskilled blue-collar jobs especially because, well, some people still don't trust catgirls after, you know, that army thing and everything else." Wait, would he know? she wonders. He's not a catgirl so maybe he wouldn't know?

She opens her mouth, trying to decide if she should add 'but it's not that bad' or 'it's actually getting better' or something else because people tend to feel bad after hearing that and start to try to fix it on her behalf..."B-but, you know, I guess it's still fine for people who have expertise, you know? And eyecandy jobs, too, there's plenty of those available. So it's not that bad."

"S-so anyway, the Magbot in charge let me get a job there again because all of them wanted to do their own things and funnily enough none of them cared to learn how to repair things..." But why did she stop working in the first place if it's so hard to find a different job? That's...something she doesn't want to go into because it involves magic-enforced servitude and after the 'job discrimination' line she's already afraid Magtok's pitying her. "I can't join the union, though, because of-" Marin gestures at her own body "-my status as a meatbag, but I -" but she keeps on talking and realizes that she's completely dominating this whole conversation and not letting him get a word in. "Yeah. Um, so how's your life been?"

[bc56]

Sekhmet... And More!

Sekhmet doesn't feel like meeting a unicorn is all that special now. Page just seems like another person, one who's a bit stuck up about herself. The talk about magic interests her. "What kind of magic?"

Then the creepy skin creature vanishes. Sekhmet looks around wildly. Where did he go? He's not sneaking up on her, is he?

[Lord Magtok]

The Absolute Worst

Spoiler: Don't Skip Me! I'm Not A Bunch of Quoted Posts!

Show

Imagine, if you would, a little metaphorical angel on Magtok's right shoulder, representing his conscience. On his left, let's place an equally tiny, equally metaphorical devil, who will represent his id, his vices, his impulses and selfishness. Don't ask why the devil isn't way bigger than the angel, that doesn't matter right now. Anyway, the metaphorical angel is bedecked in white robes and has resplendent white wings and a golden harp, whereas the devil has a fancy red suit, a cuban cigar, and a pair of pointy horns almost as big as his head. For convenience's sake, we'll call the imaginary devil Mini-Malice, and the completely figurative angel can be Itty-Bitty Ambriel. Are you with me so far? Mini-Malice on the left, Itty-Bitty Ambriel on the right. Neither of them are real; this is all just a silly way to personify conflicting aspects of Magtok's psyche. Got it? Okay good, now we can move right along.

"W-wow, are you hearing this right now Magtok?" Mini-Malice asks excitedly, elbowing our cyborg's neck.

"That poor girl, working retail for all of these years. Gods only know what kind of pain she's been through," Itty-Bitty Ambriel shakes his head in pity, his gentle heart moved by the depth of her struggles.

"Yeah yeah, whatever. Boo hoo hoo, so sad. Should've pulled herself up by her bootstraps," Mini-Malice scoffs, puffing away at his ridiculous cartoon cigar. "Really though, this is great. This is fantastic, even! Think of the opportunity this presents us with, birdbrain!"

"I'm...sorry, opportunity?" Itty-Bitty Ambriel questions, reluctant to hear what kind of awful depravity and wickedness lies in his opposite's heart, but contractually obligated to let the other guy plead his case.

"Opportunity, yeah! We've been going with your plan for most of the last year and a half, right? Trying to redeem, to be a good and moral and boring person? Well then get this hot piece of ass a new job, stupid! She's obviously miserable with the life she has now! We might not be rich like we used to be, but we've got options! Use your connections to get her a job answering phones at Caelynn's clinic! Pay for her to take some classes at a university and get a real career! Reopen the Mallside MagMart and promote her to manager! Hell, if you really want to help her, make her your new personal bodyguard! You have so many options here! Just pick one and let your money and power be a force for good!"

"...and?"

"And...what?"

"Oh don't pretend we can't see the horns, you iniquitous imp! That sounds like one of my ideas, not yours! What's your angle, what's the catch?! You don't honestly expect Magtok to believe the story ends there, that your intentions are as pure as fresh Thanksmas snow, do you?"

"Oh. I thought it was obvious. Then retail girl feels indebted to us, we exploit those feelings to seduce her, and she becomes harem catgirl number three. See, we saved Caelynn from her own crippling loneliness, we're saving Libby from the end of the world in Srs Plots, and we'd be saving Marin from eternal wage slavery! We're just an incredible, superheroic, catgirl-saving machine!"

"And if the end result of all these heroics is a bunch of women throwing their naked bodies at us in gratitude, I'm supposed to just stand back and let it happen?" Itty-Bitty Ambriel scowls, unconsciously pulling on the strings of his miniature harp with such ferocity that his fingers tear right through one, then another, and then a third.

"Oh man, you would? Thanks, buddy, you're doing me a big favor. Well, you heard him, Magtok! He's down with the plan, let's do it! Meeting adjourned!" Mini-Malice calls out, before vanishing in a puff of sulfur and brimstone.

"What?! No, that's not what I-wait no don't end the scene that's not what I sai-"

"Marin, I have failed you," Magtok answers, even though that doesn't really have anything to do with her question at all. "It's plain to me that I did the bare minimum to help you in your time of need, and that choice has had repercussions to this very day. Unskilled blue collar work, I'm so very sorry." Hey! Don't say that like it's some kind of hellish nightmare realm of eternal suffering! Just because she's not some lazy cyborg born to infinite wealth doesn't mean her life is an ocean of drudgery and woe! Plus she can repair things, so her work isn't really that unskilled, is it?

"In the spirit of the season, and for saving my life from that ravenous, bloodthirsty puppy that surely would've killed me if not your intervention, I'd like to take you out for dinner. We'll talk about your ideal dream job, your future, your destiny. I'm rebuilding my old empire, see, and I need every reliable and trustworthy set of hands I can get," the cyborg insists, literally reaching out for Marin's hand to write a phone number on it, with a purple marker I'd swear he didn't have a minute ago.

[Artemis97]

[Snack Table]

Raril was about to protest. He already had a fine hat that had served him well for years. And Lillith made him this new hat with the wolf ears. But not wanting to crush Kara's spirit he decides "I guess I need another hat?" He grins sheepishly at Zee and Ilpholin.

[Reinholdt]

[Snack Table]

Ilpholin smiles and shakes her head. "I suspect the father will have a vested interest to help in his own obscure ways. He's done all I need of him though." The baby's in her belly! Maybe at another time she never would have considered having a child without the father vowing to be in its life. That was before barely surviving the demon invasion though. Now she simply understands waiting is a fool's errand.

The nymph laughs at Raril. "I wouldn't be surprised. How many hats have you lost or repaired because of a bar fight in your tavern?" Thus, always the need for more. Unless he doesn't wear his hats during bar fights, but then why have them at all?

Looking back at Kara, Ilpholin thinks pretty hard for a moment. "Ummm... maybe three to four horses big?" Was that right? Close enough. "Definitely still cuddly though."

[5a Violista]

[The Absolute Worst]

"No, it's alright, I -" Marin says, before cutting herself off so that he can keep on talking. He looks like he's going to keep on talking, it would be awful if she just suddenly interrupted him and took back over the conversation. She was going to say that working at the MagMart has actually been the best job she's ever had and while, sure, it's a dead-end job, she's learned a lot and has been able to learn some of the things she's always wanted to, but he seems like he's on a roll and there's not really a good place to interrupt him anyway without sounding rude and ungrateful and besides she wants to hear where he's going with this.

And then, she gets the impression that he's exaggerating how bad things were, especially when he gets to that part about how ravenous that wolf pup was. And then he starts praising her. And then he reaches out for her hand.

As he's writing, her tail swishes and then moves up-ish, sticking in a curve. She adjusts her weight onto one leg and puts her free hand on her hip, but while she does this her ears realign themselves so they stay pointing at Magtok. It might slightly mess up his handwriting, but that's fine: writing on somebody's hand is expected to have slight misalignments and so that's generally already taken into account.

Once he's done writing, Marin giggles and decides to play along, saluting with the hand that was just written on. "Yessir, only doing my job. No bloodthirsty dogs will survive contact with your empire while I'm around."

[Zefir]

[Hanging around]

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?"

((Sorry missed it))
[Hanging around]

Mr. C can be quiet for years.

"Yes I am." he says. "Not for long, but if I can i try t help. I am also a master of languages so if you have anything to translate then i should be able to solve it."

[Lord Magtok]

The Absolute Worst

"So you're already on board, then?" Magtok smiles smugly, as if there was ever any doubt. Which...actually, there was. I mean, wow, that was way easier than expected. Mini-Malice had this whole sinister plot brewing, wherein over dinner, Magtok would tear down each and every doubt Marin had, pierce through every reason not to go along with his diabolical intentions. If she's not even half as hesitant and doubtful as we were expecting, what are we even going to say to her? How is this going to work, what are we going to do? Wait, what if turning to us for help again was her plan from the very beginning, and if we hadn't volunteered to turn her entire life around the second we heard her sob story, she was going to work it into the conversation on her own eventually? What if we're playing right into her evil plot, and this is all part of some scheme to kill, rob, and/or humiliate us? I mean, if someone with very little imagination was going to use a double-agent to take us down, isn't a purple-haired catgirl exactly who they would send after us? It's pretty on the nose, right? Purple hair, cat ears, and a backstory excuse for why she'd know how to open up and hack a Magbot or two. What if Reinholdt sent her our way, just to see if we'd be stupid enough to take the bait? Hell, what if she never left NO, and is actually Dipsnig's spy, sent to get us back on track to holding our end of the bargain with MERC? It wouldn't be the first time we sent someone to an organization, only for them to betray us and go native immediately.

With the power of catgirls, mech pilots, funerary goddesses and more at his disposal, Magtok intends to expand MagCorp beyond the retail juggernaut it once was, and reclaim the political and economic influence that had previously entitled him to a seat at the table of Inside's governing body. However, this beautiful dream will be smothered in the cradle if we let spies and saboteurs into our ranks. If scum like Reinholdt have their way, the MagCave will forever remain a shadow of what it once was. We'll need to find a way to prove she's not working against us before this goes any further.

"Great. That's..." our cyborg flounders for a moment, pausing uncertainly before clearing his throat and shaking his head. Lost his train of thought for a second there, but he seems to have made his way back to the station. "Wow, okay. I'm going to be honest here, I didn't plan this very well at all. This is supposed to be the end of our meeting, where I vanish away and skedaddle into a conversation with someone else at this party, right? That way, this entire encounter is both terribly brief and full of mystery and suspense for later. But it's too early to go home, I don't like any of those people, and if I do walk away now, the wolves are probably going to stroll past me again and I'm going to look like a cowardly idiot." You're absolutely right, Magtok. Funny how that only ever seems to happen when you're calling out your own mistakes.

"So...you said you can repair things, right? What kind of experience do you have with that?" Magtok asks, his attempt to extend this conversation beyond its natural conclusion as awkward as it is transparent.

[5a Violista]

[The Absolute Worst]

"If you want me to get distracted by something, I could do that," Marin helpfully adds. "I actually have met a couple people here, like...like that crocodile lady over there."

tbh, Marin only recently renewed her membership with MERC. So...I don't know whether that makes her more or less suspicious.

Instead of getting distracted, Marin is asked a question: and about something she likes, too! Her voice definitely gives this away. "Actually, I didn't have any experience with it until the MagMart, but thanks to all the destruction and the demons and so on, I've learned to fix damaged walls and so on. Pipes and shopping carts and counters and doors and cars I've gotten pretty decent at, too. Eventually, some of the Magbots would start coming to me to fix up or replace some of their parts," she adds, proving that she's a spy-plant that will hack all the Magtech, "but I still know nothing about programming, they wouldn't let me touch it and I wouldn't trust myself with it either. Mostly, like, joints and their structure and the other parts like that."

"Oh! And recently, I've randomly fixed up some things. Somebody at MERC had broken his shield belt, so I figured out what was wrong with it and fixed it. Turns out it had burnt out some of its wiring with a short. And then after that, there was this pretty android lady who had a critical power line cut by some monster that was nearby, and I was able to make it work again!"

...
Then, feeling a little embarrassed, she looks down and laughs at the memory of the repair she did. "It was actually pretty awful, to be honest. Can you believe it? I used random wire and melted plastic and band-aids to hold them together. And somehow she started working again." Sure, that's all she had on her at the time, but Marin's sure the person who cleaned it and made a permanent fix later was a little frustrated with it.

[Rebonack]

[Near, but not at, the Snacks]

"You're totally right," Zee replies with a firm nod. "If not now, then when? Hey, thanks for the pep talk!"

And then off she goes to-

-oh wait.

She's there already.

Hmm... just some minor temporal shinanagins, right? She can take advantage of this. She just needs to find someone else who isn't-

Ah!

Over there! Zee heads over toward-

[The Kitchen]

"Hey!" Zee calls out to the ginormous crocodile woman. "I don't think I've met you OR your giant pot of soup before, so I thought I would slide on over and say hello."

A few seconds of silence follows.

"Hello! I'm Zee! Do you live here at HALO? Or maybe you were hired to deliver ostentatiously large soup pots? Or maybe you just like cooking and felt like sharing some Thanksmas cheer!?"

Zee is hoping that it's the last one.

[The Snack Table]

Zee gets hugged! Gotta watch out for those wild children and their hugging. "That sounds great, Kara, I love hats."

Probably not quite as much as Kara does, but getting into the festive spirit is always part of the fun.

"I guess sometimes you just have to take what you can get," she muses. "I've got some more gifts to give out. Enjoy the snacks! And don't forget that we can help you with the baby whenever you would like."

Then she's off!

Navvy, meanwhile, glances up from his careful examination of a music book to stare quizzically at this sister. "What kind of music project were you thinking of, sis?"


[The Absolute Worster]

You know what would make this whole thing even more awkward and terrible?

"Thanksmas gifts!" Zee proclaims as she pops up between the catgirl and the cyborg! "Merry Thanksmas Magtok! Merry Thanksmas Marin! I knew not running into you was meant to happen."

Magtok will have a fish-tank with a little bow wrapped around it thrust into his arms. Inside the fish-tank is the most ridiculously flamboyant fish ever! All frilly and billowing and red and blue and purple. It puffs out its gills, flares its fins and wriggles at Magtok threateningly. "Aaaw, look! He hates you already, Magtok!"

Marin gets something that's actually wrapped, since gift-wrapping a full fish tank is really pretty stupid. It's a small, rectangular box. Kind of hard? Feels like a carrying case. When Marin opens it she'll find a weird looking cylindrical contraption that's pretty darn hi-tech in appearance.

"It's a sonic screwdriver!" Zee explains. "Since you said that you repair stuff a whole bunch. It can tighten or loosen any sort of screw or bolt! Cool, right? The guy who sold it to me said something about how it can also reverse the polarity of a neutron flow but I think he was just making that up since neutrons are electrically neutral."

[Halae]

[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.

[The Kitchen]

"Hey!" Zee calls out to the ginormous crocodile woman. "I don't think I've met you OR your giant pot of soup before, so I thought I would slide on over and say hello."

A few seconds of silence follows.

"Hello! I'm Zee! Do you live here at HALO? Or maybe you were hired to deliver ostentatiously large soup pots? Or maybe you just like cooking and felt like sharing some Thanksmas cheer!?"

Zee is hoping that it's the last one.

[Arrivals -> The Kitchens]

"Should be good for the last leg of this," Emily says with a strained voice, her plodding footsteps causing a bit of shaking in the floor as she carries the immense weight, "Probably shouldn't have gone for the jumbo deal, but it seemed like a good idea at the time."

Emily plants her absurdly sized pot down in the corner of the kitchen after a moment, which releases a rumble that will rattle much of the kitchen nearby as if a seismic event was occuring. Well, say one thing for her; Emily doesn't do anything by half measures. That pot of soup must weigh two tons based on the weight of the water alone, nevermind the actual food inside. Letting out a groan of relief and panting lightly as she stands up to full height, Emily will choose to lean against the pot as she catches her breath. She'll even crack her back a moment. That pot isn't going to be moving any time soon, it seems.

"The last one, actually," though her lack of lips makes it hard to read her expression, one can hear the cheer in her voice, "I bought way too much fish, and decided to make a to-scale amount of food with it. Figured I'd set it up for a feast since it's not like even I can eat all that before it goes bad, and what better way to celebrate the holidays, eh?"

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Arrivals -> The Kitchens]

Electra looks skeptical, but nods, and at least gets ahead of Emily to hold the kitchen's door open for her. She stands looking for a moment, then chuckles.

"Better than letting it go to waste by a long shot. Is fish traditional for these sorts of holidays?" She asks curiously. Her home dimension actively discouraged celebrating these sorts of holidays, so this is really the first time she's let herself do so, despite having been in the Nexus for several Thanksmases to have passed.

[Rebonack]

[Kitchens]

Zee scrunches up her nose a bit. "Did you get a gross of fish by mistake instead of a dozen?"

Really.

She's having trouble imagining what sort of situation could have lead to a result like this one. Does Emily buy whole catches of tuna?

It must be SOMETHING like that. The woman is pretty gigantic after all.

But oh hey someone else, too! Zee waves at Electra.

"I'm mostly just making my rounds and saying hello to everyone I haven't met before. And passing out-"

She whips out a pair of paper plates covered in clear wrap and tied with little bows.

"-Thanksmas treats! Here you two go!"

Little plates piled with festive brownies, bonbons, fruit patte, and sugarplums.

As the plates are handed off Zee suddenly gasps in absolute horror!

"What do you MEAN your home dimension discourages celebrating holidays? That's horrible! Holidays are the BEST!"

Wait. Electra didn't say that. She didn't even think that. So how did Zee pick up on that particular bit of information?

[Halae]

[Kitchen]

"Traditional? Nah, it's usually more birds than fish. But I've never been one much for tradition, and a good seafood and sausage stew is pretty much my favorite food in the world. The best part of living in a coastal city, I say. But yeah, I went to go buy a fisherman's catch and he gave me a lot more than I asked for - the season of giving and all that, so I had to figure out a way to use it all before it went bad."

Emily will take the plate of Thanksmas treats, but then she looks at Zee curiously, "Uh... she didn't say that?" this sets Emily's mind to whirling. Is the woman in front of her a psychic? Some kind of psychometrist? Maybe a seer?

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Kitchens]

"Thanks, I-" Electra says, a little startled that Zee has treats for them, then even more startled that she somehow knew they didn't celebrate back home. She looks confused for a brief instant, then shrugs it off. Stranger things have happened to her in the Nexus, after all.

"W-well....it was considered bad luck. There were several wars, at least one of them nuclear, that were started near the holidays that used to be celebrated around this time. Once my kind were created, there were a number of us who were meant to help celebrate these holidays in the early days, before they were outlawed...and they all went Maverick. It took several of the best Hunters years to track them down and before I came to the Nexus, they still weren't sure they'd gotten all of them. This all happened before I was even....well, born, for lack of a better word."

[Lord Magtok]

The Absolute Worcester

Oh, it must've been Zee who told Marin to find us here. That means she's almost certainly not a spy, right? A spy wouldn't have needed Zee's help, and Zee isn't the sort of person who would ever arrange for a spy to go after us. There are people who go for that kind of covert action and clandestine operations stuff, and Zee is absolutely not one of them. We're fine then, nothing to worry about. If Marin does have some secret agenda, it's unlikely any big important organization or talking cat boy is involved. Those people would've told her where to find the MagCave and how to ask for a job, rather than wait until Thanksmas and hope Magtok's feeling extraordinarily charitable at a party. No, if she's out to get us, it's because it was her idea to do it, not someone else's.

"Merry Thanksmas, Zee," Magtok repeats, as a big fish tank is suddenly thrust into his arms. That's, uh...wow. A fish, what a neat present! This does mean both of his hands are occupied now, though. If the situation calls for it, he's not going to be able to be as wacky and vibrant and eccentric as he normally would. An unfortunate side effect of suddenly becoming a brand new pet owner, but I'm sure our cyborg will find a way to survive.

Speaking of survival, a tool that can tighten or loosen any sort of screw or bolt? That could really **** us up, couldn't it? I mean, we make jokes about Magtok having a screw loose all the time, but if someone literally used a weird space screwdriver to loosen our screws, we'd be...well, screwed. Better not give Marin any crazy ideas, then.

"So you're the mystery friend who told Marin to find me here?" Magtok asks, mostly as a formality. He's pretty much got this all figured out now, but it doesn't hurt to ask and validate his theories. He also couldn't think of anything more interesting to say after having a betta fish tank suddenly thrust into his arms. The fish is very distracting, you see.

[Rebonack]

[Kitchen]

"She didn't?" Zee replies, looking really puzzled all of a sudden. While looking really puzzled she holds out a plate of Thanksmas Treats to Holly as well. "I could have sworn she did..."

Nope.

Sorry Zee.

That wasn't speech at all. Just narration. You shouldn't be so quick to jump on things that surprise you. If you blurt that stuff out people will think you're weird.

Er.

Weirder.

Zee listens to Electra, nodding along with the story. Something... sorta clicks in her head. Maverick. Or going maverick, rather. Given the context about her people being created Zee is rapidly assembling pieces of the puzzle. She isn't totally sure just yet, but she suspects.

Is there anything unusual about Electra's appearance? Anything that would set her apart from a normal human? Zee tries to focus on those details a little better.

"That sounds terrible. I know you said it all happened before you were born, but I'm really sorry to hear about that. And about festive holidays being associated with outlaws, too. That's just awful. Thanksmas is so important during the dark winter days. A time to remind everyone that there's so much to be thankful for and a new year to look forward to. And... um... sorry if I startled you. I get kinda mixed up sometimes."

[Halae]

[Kitchen]

Emily can detect the small differences in Electra's physiology - the little domes where her ears would be, and the very slight chemical smell emanating from her. But she doesn't comment on that - Emily isn't the sort of person that'd be so hypocritical that she'd make a point of bringing up someone's inhuman qualities.

Instead, she says, "Then it sounds like you might like to hear how the holiday started in my world. If I'm right, our histories should be similar, just with a few notable differences," such as a berserk robot uprising, for instance. And if she's right on more, Electra may not know a whole lot about humans from before her time, "But if we're going to do that, we should probably leave the kitchens and get out of the way of the cooks."

Assuming the others agree, she'll leave the kitchens with them to go elsewhere. where, I'm not sure, as Emily will mostly just follow Electra or Zee if they have a place in mind.

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Kitchen]

Zee will probably note the domes on the sides of Electra's head where her ears would be. They're a bit harder to spot because of the hat she's wearing, but they're easy enough for Emily to pick out, and for Zee once she knows to look for them. It's probably good that Emily didn't let her help carry the pot, as her true strength most likely would have been a dead giveaway.

She nods at Zee, and then at Emily.

"It's alright, you didn't know. I've learned since I came to the Nexus that there were even multiple versions of my home universe...and in some of them, the holidays weren't outlawed." The revelation that in some universes, her home dimension was a video game, was about as much of a shock. She starts to follow Emily out of the kitchens. "That's sort of why I decided to try it this year, but I would love to hear how it started on your home world. I'm Electra, by the way."

[5a Violista]

[The Absolute Worcester]

That's not really true: Thanksmas gifts didn't make this more awkward.

"Hi! Merry Thanksmas, too!" the catgirl says to Zee. "Earlier, I was telling Magtok about running into you, but I realized I didn't know - or maybe forgot - your name. Sorry!" she says, pleading for forgiveness while at the same time answering Magtok's formality question. "It's Zee, right?" Since she heard Magtok say it.

Anyway, she opens up her gift: "This is really cool!" she exclaims. She shakes it a bit, then looks along the side of it, then, pointing it down, pushes a button. It works, a bolt starts to loosen. She quickly pushes it to tighten it, so that water doesn't get in. "What kind of batteries does it use?" she wonders, before deciding she can play with it and figure out how exactly it works later. "Well, thanks. Sorry, I didn't think to bring any presents for anyone..."

Marin puts it in her pocket...oops she doesn't have a pocket. She pulls out her turtleneck collar to slip it in her bra instead, because she's unlikely to lose it there. Wait, didn't she have a purse earlier or did she forget to bring it...? She'll have to look around to see if she set it down earlier, so she can put the screwdriver and save the phone number. Maybe she checked it at the entrance?

She turns to Magtok. "It's a cute fish," she tells him.


[Kitchens => Party => and back]

Oh!
There's two people here Holly has met before! And they came in the kitchen.
There's that crocodile-woman...Emily, right? And that barmaid from Trog's Tavern, what's-her-name.
Holly's about to say 'hi' but then she has a thought - has she met both of these in this from before? She knows Zee's name, but has she learned her name in this disguise yet? Normally, she's fine keeping all of this straight, but she has been a little stressed recently and has gotten these things mixed up before which almost lead to an awkward situation...so where did she run into these two? With Zee, Trog's Tavern seems like an obvious guess - lots of people go in there, so it's safe to say Holly has met Zee. And Emily...right, that was at the Spooktober party. Holly was dressed as female-elf-Magtok, so it's fine.

The Half-Elf^TM waves at both Zee and Emily when they come into the kitchen, and give them a "Hi" and "Hello."

She immediately finds a way to start scooping the soup into smaller-but-still-pretty-large heated bowls, so they can be brought out to the party. And...oh. It's fish.
Holly turns off her olfactory senses while she scoops the soup.

...
Once a couple of the bowls are filled, she starts bringing them out to the party and clears a place on one of the tables for them. And then returns, to bring out the rest, and restock anything else that's grown low from the snack and food tables.

[Rebonack]

[Not the Kitchens]

"Hi Holly! Merry Thanksmas!" Zee calls back to the evil shape-shifter. She isn't totally sure if she's met this particular version of 'Holly' either, but it would probably be rude to out her, so Zee doesn't.

Then introductions!

"I'm Yezekiel. Most people around the Nexus call me Zee, though. I run Trog's Tavern over in Inside," Zee introduces herself with a little wave. "Many newcomers get pretty shocked by the whole multiverse thing. I suppose in some worlds lots of people believe it already, even if it can't strictly be proven. But then the Nexus plucks someone up and seeing first hand is pretty different from academic acknowledgment that a thing might be."

She doesn't comment on the video game part.

Nope!

If Electra is already kind of shaken by it having it blurted out probably wouldn't help encourage Thanksmas spirit even a LITTLE bit.

But you know what WOULD encourage Thanksmas spirit?

Talking about how the holiday started in various worlds!

"Ooh, that could be really neat to hear about. We had a couple different winter holiday traditions back home, too," Zee says enthusiastically. At least she's pretty SURE she had such traditions back home. She still isn't totally sure whether or not the 'original Avatar' wasn't a construct to being with. Honestly the name is kind of a give-away.


[The Absolute Worcester]

Why would...

Why would Marin be a spy?

Zee glances over at Marin quizzically. She doesn't have a giant triangle shaped face. OR a really pointy hat and trench-coat. Nor a cartoony bomb. It is VERY clear that Marin isn't a spy of any kind. It must just be Magtok getting hung up on weird things. He does that sometimes. Especially when it seems like things are going pleasantly for him. Leave it to Magtok to hunt for some nefarious ulterior motive.

BUT!

The fact that it was Zee who pointed Marin his way clears that all up. Zee wouldn't be deceptive or underhanded or nefarious like that and Magtok knows it.

She will definitely, never ever, under any circumstances, give Magtok a reason to regret that trust.

Ever.

"Yeah! I narrowly avoided running into her at Fluxmart. Did know know that buying groceries at Fluxmart and then trying to talk home carries a high likelihood of attracting violent random encounters? I sure didn't! But now I'm educated," Zee replies with a firm nod.

She still hasn't gotten those groceries home.

Maybe the third time will be the charm?

"Technically Yezekiel but pretty much everyone calls me Zee. Except a few people I haven't seen in forever that called me Zeeky," Zee muses. "Maybe they'll come back some day..."

Pour out a glass of wine to those lost to the ravages of deadtime.

"It doesn't use batteries. It has some kinda power cell? There's a plug on the carrying case, just plug it in somewhere and set it inside the case to charge it," Zee explains, pointing to the little fold-out power plug on the back of the case. "Don't worry about lacking gifts. This is a season to be thankful! And you can be thankful for friends you might not have expected to see."

[Halae]

[Not the Kitchens]

Emily will give Holly a friendly little wave when she's said 'Hello' to. She's in a conversation with two other people, but recognition shines in her eyes when she sees and smells the Half-elf, so you've gotta at the very least wave to her.

"Well, in my world at least, this holiday season dates back to the ancient roman empire, about two thousand years ago, with the Pagan holiday of Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the god of excess. It was a five-day celebration of feasting, games, and other entertainments. One of the best parts of it was apparently that everybody reversed roles - high lords would spend some time doing what their slaves did, the slaves got the chance to order people around, children would be treated with authority, things like that. There was caroling, which mostly happened while nude, sex in the streets, and so on. Really, a massive debauched mess, but they enjoyed the hell out of it. One of the classic parts of this was also offerings to the gods, such as yule, with the burning of a phallic symbol - the Yule Log - for five days," Emily chuckles, "Humans are kind of obsessed with sex."

"At around two-hundred-eighteen AD, the Roman emperor Elagabalus tried to convert the entire empire to the worship of Sol Invictus, the Unconquered Sun, as the prime deity. That didn't stick, as Elagabalus died after only four years of his reign, but one of the most important parts of the religion, the Feast of the Unconquered Sun, stuck around, as it was well placed to be at the same time as Saturnalia. You see, both were placed at the Winter Solstice, the point at which the deepest darkness of the year occurred, but that marked the beginning of the days getting longer. For basically anybody that enjoys having light, that's a great thing to celebrate."

"Since the Roman empire was pretty much the source of civilization in thw entire western hemisphere, it ended up being ingrained into the populace as time went on, though when Christianity and all it's brother religions took over, it got warped into being declared the birth of Christ. I don't buy much into the whole religious angle of it; to me, it's an opportunity to spread cheer, help people, and give gifts."

[Felandria]

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."

Santa Fel considers this statement.

I see.

Well, hopefully it won’t come to that, but you haven’t done the naughty thing yet, so you still get a present.

What can I get you?

- - - Updated - - -

Near Santa

Jack joins the queue. She's apparently human, with grey eyes and short black hair. The exception to her humanity is the large pair of black-feathered wings emerging from her back, bearing an eye in the middle joint that look around curiously and giving her a whole host of information that she's still figuring out. She's wearing a backless black dress to give the wings plenty of room, and walks softly since she's traded her usually ubiquitous hiking boots for a pair of clean white trainers. She's slung a leather satchel with a stylised bird branded into the flap over her shoulder, and done so in a way that won't hamper her wings. She looks young; twenty or so, possibly a few years either way.

Santa Fel will greet the new guest.

Merry Thanksmas!

What can Santa get for you?

[Nova_Eclipse]

[Not the Kitchens]

Electra nods as Emily finishes her story. She's probably seen Zee a number of times at Trog's and never really registered her face before. She's a little embarrassed about that, but hey, new friends now!

"That's my understanding of the history in my universe of how the holidays they outlawed started. We're missing some of the details that you have, but enough lines up that I think they're largely the same." She looks to Zee. "How about you, Zee?"

[Rebonack]

[Not the Kitchens]

To be absolutely honest Zee really doesn't have a terribly remarkable appearance.

She's not a sapient robot OR a giant crocodile lady!

No tail, no wings, no horns, no glowing eyes. She doesn't produce strange auras or odd magical effects. Her attire is earth tone and unremarkable.

Really, more people remember her by her personality rather than her unremarkable, totally human looks.

Anywho!

"Wow that doesn't sound like back home at all," Zee hums, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. "Thanksmas is a celebration that starts with a feast near the middle of autumn and ends with the beginning of the new year. Technically it isn't just one mass, it's a whole bunch of them! The feast that kicks it off is Thanksgiving, a time for family to get together in thankfulness for all the blessings they've received over the year. Technically it's a shindig to celebrate the end of a successful harvest, but agricultural technology has improved to the point where worrying about starving over winter wasn't really a thing anymore."

Which is good.

No one likes starving over winter.

"After the feast, people start decorating their homes and buying gifts in anticipation of Saint Nicholas' day. That's on the winter solstice. Nicholas was a legendary thaumaturge. Not legendary like he wasn't real, legendary like he was arguably the greatest thaumaturge who even lived. He was a regular wonder-worker. And he used all that power to make people's lives a little brighter during winter mostly by giving gifts! Everyone tries to be a little bit like Nick. Y'know, spread that magic of kindness and generosity around. After Saint Nicholas' day people would spend the rest of the year contemplating how they could do better for the next year by making resolutions! And then with the beginning of the new year the Thanksmas season is over."

[Lord Magtok]

The Absolute Worcester

"It is a cute fish, isn't it." Magtok agrees, more out of an obligation to be friendly and cheery right now than out of any genuine regard for the betta. Maybe once he's had time to put the fish tank down and think about what he's going to do with it, his appreciation for his new fishy friend will grow, but for now he's still a little rattled by-

...Oh, that's right, Zee is part of this conversation now, isn't she? I probably shouldn't mention that, then. You know, that thing with the cameras which is entirely not our fault. Speaking of which, we still need to figure out when and how we're going to explain that to Marin (we are going to tell her eventually, right?) and also what we're going to tell Caelynn. That's going to take some careful planning, for sure. I mean, there's probably a few ways to approach this which won't make her mad, since she didn't sound especially sour about Libitina, but I highly doubt anything quite as blunt as 'Hey I accidentally saw some other catgirl's boobies today and then hired her on the spot. Are you okay with that?' will work. There's definitely a version of these events that make us look like less than complete garbage without omitting any of the important details, though.

"What is Fluxmart, anyway? Is that just a grocery store, or-?" Magtok looks cheery enough when he says that, but his eyes betray a deeper, sinister darkness. If it's anything like MagMart, it's a target now. Competition to be aggressively priced out of the market, perhaps? A rival store to be conquered later, bought out and reshaped in his likeness? These are things to consider once we get back in the capitalism game, but for now we have no choice but to politely tolerate their existence, their muscling in on our former stranglehold of the market. Again, assuming that it's anything more than a grocery store, since we don't really deal with that sort of thing. Then again, if its shoppers keep getting jumped by random encounters, maybe we don't need to worry too much about its market share. I'm sure most consumers would love an alternative option that doesn't involve any fights to the death.