Thanksmasnewyearskwannzahkah 2019: HALOed Angel Atop The Tree

[Deathkeeper]

[Faerie Texting]

Gara raises an eyebrow at Rey, but stops to look down-
Remembering of course that she is not nearly shaped like she was supposed to be for this, and melts instantly into Rey’s friend Grant.
If Grant was more of a pretty-boy, and was part fox-dragon. Currently trying to hide his tail and blushing absolutely crimson.
”S-sorry Rey. I forgot to shift again. Y-you’re at Thanksmas. I g-got Santa to bring you here so I could give you your present.” he stammers out.

[Wenomir and Koshal]

Koshal raises an eyebrow as he follows Wenomir’s gaze.
”Oh, is that Mrs. Mithar? We haven’t ever met. Her date seems uh...enthusiastic.” He’s fairly sure that the tailed lady is insinuating something but he can’t tell you what it is.

[Rebonack]

[HAIL SANTA!]

~Thank you! And thanks for the... snacks?~ Geneva replies, accepting the bag in her telekinetic grip. That certainly isn't what she asked for, but who is she to complain? She'll have to closely examine the bag later. Once she's back at her lab. If the bag has an effectively unlimited supply of snacks then that means it might have some interesting teleportation (or at least matter conjuring) properties that would be well worth investigating. With a bit of work she might even be able to create a similar spell matrix...

Geneva hovers away and, on a bit of a whim, reaches a little paw into the bag-

-withdrawing a poffin!

Which she eats.

Of course.

And just to see what happens she sets the bag down on the floor and Transforms-!

-into a hippogriff!

Her outfit is exactly the same, just scaled up. She looks like a cross between a clouded leopard, a harpy eagle, and a gray dappled mare. Quite the combination! Rather notable on her haunches is a purple hurricane symbol superimposed over a white cloud surrounded by five smaller clouds. It doesn't appear to be painted on, both the fur and skin under it are so colored. The hippogriff sits down on her haunches, picks up the bag, and withdraws a cupcake from it. With festive Thanksmas themed frosting!

"Huh..." Geneva hums aloud.

And then eats the cupcake, too.

"I guess it creates appropriate snacks for the person who pulls them out? That's fascinating," Geneva muses, holding out the bag to Sekhmet and Spike.


[Faerie Texting]

A range of emotions flow.

Anger and fear.

Then confusion and shock.

Then concern and MORE anger!

"What the heck HAPPENED to you, Grant? What did you DO to yourself?" the huldra yells, the sound of a furnace crackling inside her throat.

[Artemis97]

[Arriving => Snack Tables]

"Sure let's get some snacks." Always a good stop, Raril thinks.

Spotting Ilpholin he'll give a wave and a smile. "Hey there, Ilpholin. I think I need to introduce you to some people. This is Navanaxinermis, and this is Karaglen." He says indicating the children following him. Well one was a wyrmling. Ok they were both wyrmlings, but one was elf-shaped at the moment. "They're... uh... Zee's kids. I've kind of adopted them. Merry Thanksmas?" He says smiling sheepishly.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Snack Tables]

"Ilpholin?"
Karaglen peers at a small little piece of paper sticking out from underneath one of her boxes, with a list of names scrawled across it. One of which is, of course, Ilpholin's.
The girl pokes her head out from behind her small tower of boxes, long enough to give a big beaming smile at the woman.
"We have a present for you! Hey Navvy, can you grab, um..."

She peers at the list again and uses her chin to nudge it a little further out from under the box, revealing a series of colored smudges next to each other names, matched by small tags attached to each of the boxes.
"The orange one."

The orange one, unfortunately, happens to be in the middle of the stack.
Because of course it is.

[Spiraling Towards Santa]

The unicorn and her talking scarf(?) edge onwards towards the Mythical Felandria Claus.

"This Santa Claus changes every year?"
"I think that might just be a thing they do here. Pretty sure one of my other friends, Bubblegum (she's great by the way, I think you two would get along really well, she knows all about these sorts of things), tried to explain some of it but we got interrupted by a cheese riot."
"A..."
"Cheese riot! Yeah! All the local cheese wheels were protesting unfair pricing policies at the supermarket that day and decided to stage a protest!"
"Discord must be proud."
"Naw, but Fortuna probably definite-oh heeeey! That's Geneva! Heeeeeeey Geneeeeeeeva!"

Long before they actually get close, the very distinct voice of Persimmon the skin-pony is calling out to the hippogriff.

[bc56]

Telepaths and no longer Santa

Sekhmet reaches into the bag and pulls out...
A gingerbread man!
She promptly bites it in half Good thing it's just a cookie. "Thanks, Geneva," she thinks to the hippogriff. She's still partly luxuriating in the warmth of her new coat, and some of that comfort and contentedness should show in her mental communication.

[Reinholdt]

[Hatted NotCat]

Lots of people are getting Thanksmas hugs this year.

"Just taking it off before you change form would do it," Zee says with a firm nod. "I had my daughter Karaglen test out the shape slash size changing part of the hat. Not the alcohol part. She's too young for that."

Obviously. Who would give booze to a little girl? A terrible, irresponsible person like Violet. That's who.

"So if you feel like using it as a cozy cat-bed then feel free! That's a clever way to use a magical hat," Zee laughs. Then looks thoughtful. "I bet if you could turn GIANT sized you could use it as an actual tent. Maybe more of a yurt? You would probably need some kind of central poll to keep the middle from flumphing in on you, though."

These are very important hat-logistics questions.

[Hatted NotCat]

"Oh yeah. Hadn't thought of that." Rein's supposed to think outside the box too! Which is just silly when being inside the box makes so much more sense.

"So if I took it off, turned into a cat, got in the hat, then turned human, would it grow proportionally? Can I infinite loop this hat into a mansion? Or does it just size fit? Cause then I'd need Felandria to wear it to get it that big." Chances are high it just size fits. Cause that would be silly. They surely don't sell hat mansions at the magic hat shop.
...
Not for that cheap right?

[Central Celebratory Area]

Thanksmas is here, and what better time to take the kids out for some holiday cheer? At least, that's what Kitsuki thought before she left the apartment. Managing three infants while also trying to control a willful child is exactly as hard as it sounds. Thankfully for the moment she's found the ultimate solution: Sugar.

She's settled on a chair with Umeko, Su-Jin, and Chaytan arrayed in front of her. Each of them is laser focused on her as she breaks off small pieces of a shortbread cookie and feeds it to them bit by bit. Meanwhile Annie sits on a chair next to her mom and gets a whole cookie to herself. Her right as the eldest!

[Central Celebratory Area]

One time shenanigans plot clone later and Reinholdt's walking by, wearing a blue-gray ushanka on his head with a brighter blue star on the front. He stops just about instantly though.

"Woah-hoh! You made it! Well hello there." Rein turns and heads over to them with a smile. He looks at the triplets. "I'm afraid I haven't been introduced." Annie probably has more interest in the gifts he has in his arms, one of which is labeled with her name on it.

[Snack Tables]

Ilpholin looks up and swallows the latest cracker she was chewing on, drinking some milk to wash it down before replying. "Oh, uh, Hi?" She says, hesitantly as she looks at the children curiously, rubbing her own belly as she does so.

"Merry Thanksmas," Ilpholin adds after a moment, remembering it's a holiday and not just another random Nexus party. "Nice to meet you Karaglen. Navanaminexr-something." She utterly butchered that one and winces apologetically. But it's a rather tricky name to learn in one go!

She is distracted by a present though! "Oh you shouldn't have."

[Deathkeeper]

[Faerie Text]

Grant is pretty confused, but he probably shouldn’t be. Last time Rey saw him he was still pretty heavily enchanted.
”Relax, Rey. My soul is still where you left it. This isn’t any fae stuff, see?” he turns and pulls up a sock, revealing a simple iron nail tucked there. It’s uncomfortable but it makes absolutely sure that faeries can’t enchant him.
”You wouldn’t believe how much trouble it was to get rid of that sprite water in me. A lot of trouble. So I went to HALO and asked about maybe getting some help being less helpless and Nurse kind of uuuuh gave me kick*** dragon powers. Which came with two extra forms. And a tail.” A tail that keeps swishing as Grant sheepishly explains his situation.

[Gullara]

[Central Celebratory Area]

Four faces turn to Rein (Umeko is far too busy with her latest cookie chunk). Kitsuki's a bit taken off guard by seeing a familiar face when she wasn't expecting one.

"Mommy, it's Rein. Hi!" Annie waves. Her eyes settle on the brightly wrapped gifts. Ooh what's that?

"Rein, hi. Funny seeing you here." She says, smiling. "I guess you haven't been introduced yet. Wow. Let's take care of that. This is Chaytan, Umeko, and Su-Jin." She touches the top of each baby's head in turn. At least they're not identical, so maybe he'll remember which is which. Su-Jin has red hair like Kitsuki's and out of the other two Chaytan has normal human ears.

Kitsuki leans in toward the babies. "That's Rein. He's a friend. Can you say hi to Rein? Say hi." She encourages. He's getting a couple stares at best, though, and he still ranks below sugar for Umeko.

"Hi." Chaytan says at last, mustering the courage.

[Rebonack]

[Hatted NotCat]

"You would probably need Felandria's help, it just sizes to fit," Zee agrees with a firm nod. "It looks like Raril just arrived, so I'm going to go raid the snack table with him. Have a merry Thanksmaaaaas," she calls out as she recedes off into the distance. Distance being... like... maybe a dozen yards right over there.

[Faerie Texting]

Well.

Rey seems slightly less worried now. At least about Grant. She still seems to be worried about that nail. And considering the fact that she looks kind of woozy she's either still not one hundred percent from smashing her face on the floor OR being underwater like this is really getting to her. Even if the water she's under is held at bay by an underwater complex.

"Okay that's... better than I would have guessed," Rey admits. "I haven't been answering your texts because I've been..."

She swishes her two tails about as she sits down on her haunches.

"Busy."

Oh yes.

Totally busy.

[Snack Tables]

"I got it, sis!" Navvy declares as he hup!s up onto his hind legs, flaring his wings out for balance.

Have you ever seen a tiny dragon in an ugly sweater (featuring a Thanksmas tree and a cat playing with the ornaments on it) wearing a Santa hat waddling around? He wobbles back and forth a bit when he walks like a garishly colored penguin. Navvy grabs the indicated package with his claws and braces his head against the gifts above it as he caaaaarefully pulls on his target!

The rest of the gifts only shift over a little. Gift extraction successful!

Then he waddles over to Ilpholin and offers both a wide, childish smile and a pretty wrapped box! His claws ripped the paper only a smidgen.

"Merry Thanksmas! It's Navanaxinermis, but you can call me Navvy if you want. I hope you like your gift! Sis and me made it; it's just aces!"

The gift was, in fact, almost wholly made by Karaglen. But Navvy provided helpful suggestions, so that counts.

Meanwhile!

A Wild Zee appears! She's approaching the snack table from an over yonderly direction, though when she spies Ilpholin she briefly pauses. Deep breath. You can do this.

[Deathkeeper]

[Faerie Texting]

Grant covers the nail to hide its effect from Rey. If that is even possible.
”Yes. I can see that. You got another tail.” he says, scowling.
”I did read up on what that means. And it’s kind of what I wanted to talk to you about.” he leans in, talking quieter, ”so I kind of got an in with a goddess. Like legit magic powers and everything. And I work with this lady who’s a vampire but she hasn’t had to drink anyone’s blood since she started working for Civvy and- he shakes his head, trying to stop himself from rambling. -I want to try to help you get your soul back. Like, where it’s supposed to be and not your old one in your stomach. There’s tons of fox creatures in the Nexus. I’m sure she can help make you work more like those and less like the liver-eating kind. I miss you, Rey. Your parents miss you. Please let me try.” Grant whispers, giving a sideways look at Nurse. If all else fails, he can rely on her. He’s not sure what she can’t accomplish with those thirty-eight tails.

[Zefir]

Spoiler

Show

[Hanging around]


"Huh? Talking ornament?"
I think Honeysuckle was on her way to the kitchen to get more cookies to pass out, but this is more fun.
She stops by the tree, examining it closely to see if one of these ornaments is not what they seem. Which one was it that said something?
Now, if Mr. C is magic, she won't be able to notice that.

[Santa's Throne]


"Oh, I have plenty of fun."
Spike says, taking the box with her wings and looking at it curiously.
"Well, thank you Santa."
And she hops down to let Geneva have a turn.

[Hanging around]

"I'm not really talking ornament, more likly something that talks put up as ornament." he replies.
"Right. No the other right. Yes, top......" He will continue to give Honeysuckle instrucktions where to find him. Green on green is not really easy visible after all. Thought his explanaitons are a bit off due to his point of view.

Spoiler

Show

[Hatted NotCat]

"You would probably need Felandria's help, it just sizes to fit," Zee agrees with a firm nod. "It looks like Raril just arrived, so I'm going to go raid the snack table with him. Have a merry Thanksmaaaaas," she calls out as she recedes off into the distance. Distance being... like... maybe a dozen yards right over there.

[Faerie Texting]

Well.

Rey seems slightly less worried now. At least about Grant. She still seems to be worried about that nail. And considering the fact that she looks kind of woozy she's either still not one hundred percent from smashing her face on the floor OR being underwater like this is really getting to her. Even if the water she's under is held at bay by an underwater complex.

"Okay that's... better than I would have guessed," Rey admits. "I haven't been answering your texts because I've been..."

She swishes her two tails about as she sits down on her haunches.

"Busy."

Oh yes.

Totally busy.

[Snack Tables]

"I got it, sis!" Navvy declares as he hup!s up onto his hind legs, flaring his wings out for balance.

Have you ever seen a tiny dragon in an ugly sweater (featuring a Thanksmas tree and a cat playing with the ornaments on it) wearing a Santa hat waddling around? He wobbles back and forth a bit when he walks like a garishly colored penguin. Navvy grabs the indicated package with his claws and braces his head against the gifts above it as he caaaaarefully pulls on his target!

The rest of the gifts only shift over a little. Gift extraction successful!

Then he waddles over to Ilpholin and offers both a wide, childish smile and a pretty wrapped box! His claws ripped the paper only a smidgen.

"Merry Thanksmas! It's Navanaxinermis, but you can call me Navvy if you want. I hope you like your gift! Sis and me made it; it's just aces!"

The gift was, in fact, almost wholly made by Karaglen. But Navvy provided helpful suggestions, so that counts.

Meanwhile!

A Wild Zee appears! She's approaching the snack table from an over yonderly direction, though when she spies Ilpholin she briefly pauses. Deep breath. You can do this.

[Snack Tables]Meanwhile!

When Zee seems to be concentrating , someone will bump into her trying to reach a plate of cookies. It's Mia. "Excuse me." she replies and puts the cookie on an extra plate which already got some kinds of sweets on it. She looks up at Zee with a little concern. "Is everything alright?"
((Not sure if they met befor))

[Artemis97]

[Snack Tables]

Raril did have an advantage with Navvy's name by knowing Draconic, made it easier not to butcher. Though according to Navvy he pronounced things funny.

The drow smiles as the present is given. He has no idea what's in it, but it's probably nice, and they say it's the thought that counts, right?

"These two were insistent on giving out presents to my half of the family, and you were on top of the list. Oh that reminds me." Raril digs in his bag and pulls out a small wooden box with a ribbon on it, and a slightly squashy package wrapped in purple and gold paper.

[Rebonack]

[Faerie Texting]

The huldra's body is suddenly obscured by a curtain of foxfire, revealing a familiar teen girl. One who happens to be glamorously beautiful.

Quite literally.

She crosses her arms over her chest, tails lashing behind her.

"Fine. We'll give it a try," she says, her tone defeated. "But if this doesn't work like every other quack cure I've looked into then I'm going back to Riverside to hunt more ghosts."

Oh.

Huh.

So that's what she's been up to. Being repeatedly disappointed and too ashamed to be around anyone she knows! Swell.


[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."

[Reinholdt]

[Hatted NotCat]

"You too. Say hi to him for me," Reinholdt says before snapping back into the timeline like... sixty seconds from now.

[Central Celebratory Area]

"Not too funny. I live here." More or less. Mostly more. It's hard to continue to pretend you're a transient drifter beholden to no man when you sleep for 21 hours a day in the same building.

"Ohhh, and they can speak already! That felt fast." Reinholdt smiles at them. "Hello Chaytan. Umeko. Su-Jin." It's important to repeat each name slowly and distinctly in order to memorize them. "And hello to you as well Annie. I got something. For. You." Rein playfully attempts to gently poke her forehead before sliding the red wrapped present free and handing it to her.

"And one for the newborns. Sorta new." A second present, this one green, makes its way free from the pile and into the middle of the group, closest primarily to Kitty.

[Deathkeeper]

[Faerie Texting]

Grant grins, though very suddenly his eyes glow with an intense pink fire.
"AND THUS IS THE PACT FORGED" Echoes a voice, as Grant, with a great spectral fox-dragon curling around him, ablaze with the same pink fire as are his eyes, takes a step forwards that shakes the entire Nexus. The primal powers of the core of the Creation of Everything that is, was, and will ever be focus themselves on Rey with the full, unbridled power that causes the Nexus itself shake being used to its fullest for the greatest, best, and only thing it should ever be summoned for.

Making someone absolutely adorable.

Well really, it has to completely reforge all that dream-stuff and charred wood Rey is made of back into normal (if somewhat mystical) flesh and bone, get her soul back and properly installed (she’ll have to relinquish any innocent ones she’s taken as a Huldra). Her exact appearance will be left to her own sense of identity, though the Great Pink Power might leave her extra pink and fluffy for a while. And she might still be more pretty than adorable. That was always more of Gara’s thing.

Grant sinks to the floor with a sigh, leaving Rey to deal with being a suddenly non-awful brand of magical fox-person, complete with a total lack of desire to eat people’s souls and/or livers.

All in all, it’s unlikely anyone really noticed the display, given the fact that they’re surrounded by shimmering pinkness.

[Morty]

[Landon and Tuskfang]

Tuskfang's eyes go wide.

"So you can turn into a wolf! That's really cool. I wish I could turn into something. My friend Natalie can turn into animals, but not a wolf. She can be an otter, a bird, a lizard and something else. I can't remember."

[Wenomir and Koshal]

"That's my co-commander and good friend Cessie Mithar, yes." Wenomir nods. "I forgot you hadn't met her. She wasn't there when we visited Cora. The person with her is Jezebel. She has a flair for the dramatic." He rubs his chin. "I've known her for as long as Cessie, really, only a lot of the time we were enemies. Funny how that worked."

[Recaiden]

[Sekhmet & Friend & Geneva]

~Thank you! And thanks for the... snacks?~ Geneva replies, accepting the bag in her telekinetic grip. That certainly isn't what she asked for, but who is she to complain? She'll have to closely examine the bag later. Once she's back at her lab. If the bag has an effectively unlimited supply of snacks then that means it might have some interesting teleportation (or at least matter conjuring) properties that would be well worth investigating. With a bit of work she might even be able to create a similar spell matrix...
Geneva hovers away and, on a bit of a whim, reaches a little paw into the bag-
-withdrawing a poffin!
Which she eats.
Of course.
And just to see what happens she sets the bag down on the floor and Transforms-!
-into a hippogriff!
Her outfit is exactly the same, just scaled up. She looks like a cross between a clouded leopard, a harpy eagle, and a gray dappled mare. Quite the combination! Rather notable on her haunches is a purple hurricane symbol superimposed over a white cloud surrounded by five smaller clouds. It doesn't appear to be painted on, both the fur and skin under it are so colored. The hippogriff sits down on her haunches, picks up the bag, and withdraws a cupcake from it. With festive Thanksmas themed frosting!
"Huh..." Geneva hums aloud.
And then eats the cupcake, too.
"I guess it creates appropriate snacks for the person who pulls them out? That's fascinating," Geneva muses, holding out the bag to Sekhmet and Spike.

Sekhmet reaches into the bag and pulls out...
A gingerbread man!
She promptly bites it in half Good thing it's just a cookie. "Thanks, Geneva," she thinks to the hippogriff. She's still partly luxuriating in the warmth of her new coat, and some of that comfort and contentedness should show in her mental communication.

Hmm. Didn't Fel Claus say that it would have whatever snack you were thinking of?
Spike reaches a wingtip into the bag and pulls out...
A scoop of vanilla ice cream?

[Hanging around]

"I'm not really talking ornament, more likly something that talks put up as ornament." he replies.
"Right. No the other right. Yes, top......" He will continue to give Honeysuckle instrucktions where to find him. Green on green is not really easy visible after all. Thought his explanations are a bit off due to his point of view.

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?"

[Arrival]
And here we have someone who certainly appears to be Nadas Xar'Cha, arriving at the festivities.
He's added a santa hat to his normal jeans+t-shirt outfit, and has a sackful of presents with him as well as his sword.
His left arm seems to be much more red-skinned, bulky, and clawed than is normal for an elf.

[Rebonack]

[Sekhmet & Friend & Geneva]

The hippogriff smiles back.

And laughs a bit when a scoop of ice cream is extracted.

"You're welcome. That coat looks really comfortable. And I hope the gift that you were given for your family is a pleasant surprise," she adds, referring to Spike.

There's no malice or double talk there.

She's honestly hoping that maybe some Thanksmas Cheer will cause the horrible Hivemind to rethink its unfriendly ways. You never know what a little kindness may result in.

And then?

Yelling.

That immediately gets a reaction out of Geneva. It's one of those strained, stressed out, forced smiles. "Oh, haha... Persimmon. My favorite person."

Her tone suggest that Persimmon is not, in fact, her favorite person. She doesn't see said favorite person, but she suspects that he might be hiding on that unicorn somewhere?


[Faerie Texting]

The blazing light slowly fades!

And when it has, Rey is revealed.

She still looks... pretty much exactly the same.

Except her two fox tails are pink and white now instead of black and blue.

"I..." she mutters, her voice still blue because more pink PCs would be confusing. "I don't feel hollow anymore..."

It sounds like... it worked?

"It worked!" she exclaims, then dives forward to give Grant a hug/glomp.

[Deathkeeper]

[Ex-faerie Texting]

”You’re welcome, Rey. It looks like you got all your muscle left. Could you help me up?” he teases her. His friend Ray was pretty big, and even being a huldra didn’t stop Rey from keeping up with being athletic. Much more so than Grant, except in his true shape.
”Oh and give a little something if you ever pass one of Civvy’s shrines. She gave me permission to use that much juice on you.”

[Wenomir and Koshal]

”I’ve met a lot of your friends’ kids, but not a lot of them.” Koshal jokes with a smile. He remembers meeting some kids last year but he cannot remember whose they were.
”Allegiances are funny sometimes.” he adds with a shrug. If they stopped being enemies that can only mean that she has become a better person. Probably.

[bc56]

Sekhmet and Friends
Seriously guys? Spike, that's just rude, and Geneva, why don't you consider yourself Sekhmet's friend? She considers you her friend.

Sekhmet reaches into the bag again and pulls out another cookie to eat. "It is! It's the best coat I've ever had!" She's had what, two coats, not counting this one? Then the yelling "Are these, uh, friends of yours?" Sekhmet asks. She hasn't had the "pleasure" of meeting Persimmon, but she understands Geneva's tone of voice.

[Rebonack]

[Ex-faerie Texting]

Rey reaches down and gives Grant a hand.

And as she bends over?

A pair of great, big, fluffy pink fox ears *FWUMPH* out of her hair.

She never had those before.

She had normal human ears.

But no longer.

She doesn't appear to have noticed them yet.

"Finally this stupid nightmare is over," she says with a sigh.

[Deathkeeper]

[Ex-Faerie Texting]

Grant is helped up.
"Yeah. Well uhm, now that you're more or less you again, what do you want to do?" And then he notices the ears.
The big, fluffy ears.
The big fluffy ears that are somehow even bigger and sillier than his own.
And he snickers. Maybe a little louder than he should. But he can't help it! Rey's got giant fluffy ears!

[Artemis97]

[Landon and Tuskfang]

"Oh that's cool! I wish I could be a bird sometimes. Then you could fly!" Landon says excitedly. "There's otters in the river near the castle. They look like they have a lot of fun too. I don't know if I'd want to be a lizard."

[Recaiden]

[Sekhmet and not Sekhmet]
Well you see, Sekhmet, the hive offered to be friends, and then Geneva freaked out and cut them with a psychic guillotine. So I think it's safe to say she's not a friend.

Spike licks curiously at the ice cream. She's never had it before. It's pretty much all cleaner cells and nutrient shakes down in Eurus.

"Thank you, Geneva."

Maybe the magic of Thanksmas will help the transforming monster come around and join the hive mind someday. You never know. She might become a real friend one day after all.

"Hello. Persimmon the...unicorn?" Okay, sure. They've seen stranger things than that.

[Felandria]

[Spiraling Towards Santa]

The unicorn and her talking scarf(?) edge onwards towards the Mythical Felandria Claus.

"This Santa Claus changes every year?"
"I think that might just be a thing they do here. Pretty sure one of my other friends, Bubblegum (she's great by the way, I think you two would get along really well, she knows all about these sorts of things), tried to explain some of it but we got interrupted by a cheese riot."
"A..."
"Cheese riot! Yeah! All the local cheese wheels were protesting unfair pricing policies at the supermarket that day and decided to stage a protest!"
"Discord must be proud."
"Naw, but Fortuna probably definite-oh heeeey! That's Geneva! Heeeeeeey Geneeeeeeeva!"

Long before they actually get close, the very distinct voice of Persimmon the skin-pony is calling out to the hippogriff.

Santa Fel waves.

[Gullara]

[Central Celebratory Area]

"Not too funny. I live here." More or less. Mostly more. It's hard to continue to pretend you're a transient drifter beholden to no man when you sleep for 21 hours a day in the same building.

"Ohhh, and they can speak already! That felt fast." Reinholdt smiles at them. "Hello Chaytan. Umeko. Su-Jin." It's important to repeat each name slowly and distinctly in order to memorize them. "And hello to you as well Annie. I got something. For. You." Rein playfully attempts to gently poke her forehead before sliding the red wrapped present free and handing it to her.

"And one for the newborns. Sorta new." A second present, this one green, makes its way free from the pile and into the middle of the group, closest primarily to Kitty.

[Central Celebratory Area]

"Not for me." Kitsuki chuckles a little. Time flies when you're not changing diapers en masse. She watches her kids with a warm smile as they receive their gifts, though.

Annies gasps and grabs at the present as soon as it's in her reach. She wastes no time tearing into the wrapping paper.

The triplets are brought in by the brightly coloured gift. This is even more exciting than sugar! Su-Jin rubs his hands over the paper, but the three are much less practiced at this than Annie. Kitsuki leans over and makes a little tear in the paper. "Like this." She guides Su-Jin to pull where she started the tear. With a little help from their mom the gift will be open in short order.

[Chaotic Bob]

[Snack Tables]

Karaglen makes pretty solid efforts to include Navvy in as much of her efforts as she can. A little bit because she's conscious of things she can do that he hasn't picked up yet (like the whole form-changing thing, or the particulars of her recent hobby-skill) and doesn't want him to feel left out, true. But largely because she is constantly seeking to cultivate their sibling friendship in any way she can, as such things must be nurtured like the beautiful flowers they are.

Which is why she very readily worked with as many of his suggestions as possible during this gift-creation process (the presents are truly from both of them this way!) and, while she won't let him carry them, will be most likely having him distribute all of the gifts as we get to those points.
Teamwork makes the dream work.

So yeah Ilpholin ends up with a little well-wrapped (except for that little bit of claw tearing there on the side) box with an orange label on it.
Considering it's only a bit bigger than a softball, it's pretty heavy for its size!
This would be because it contains a rather large block of glass. Glass is always deceptively heavy.

Looked at from above, it seems to just be a roughly egg-shaped object, filled with iridescent flecks of color. Pretty! Not especially exciting though, in Karaglen's estimation.
That part will come in when the glass is taken out of the box, to be viewed from the side.
As seems to have been a theme in Karaglen's exploration of her craft recently, viewing it at different angles (or in this case, rotations) presents different views.

When first pulled out, Ilpholin can see a somewhat cartoonish image of her own face in there. From another, similarly cartoonish dragon faces that are probably definitely Kara and Navvy.
Lastly and thirdly, an angle that presents the colorful words "A very merry Xar'cha Thanksmas!"

[More People Around Sehkmet]

That unicorn does in fact move towards the group as her scarf(?) begins shouting at Geneva.
She seems somewhat amused and definitely good-naturedly rolled her eyes at some point, but doesn't make any actual measure to stop it as she approaches.

"Why hello there, everyone."
A perfectly polite greeting comes her her mouth upon getting near enough and a rather dignified little head bow.

A much less polite and dignified everything comes from within her scarf.
At some point, the left half of some other pony's boneless face has become visible in the folds. Despite the lack of actual eyes or any muscles at all, it has somehow twisted enough to give the impression of an incredibly gleeful expression. Gleefully nauseating.
"Oh wow, we seem to bump into each other at a lot of parties huh, Geneva? You party animal you! Heya everyone else I don't know! I'm Persimmon!"
"Decorum, my little friend."
"Huh? Oh yeah! Totally forgot!"
And that face shifts a little until the fold in the scarf covers it once more.

[Rebonack]

[Sekhmet and a Gaggle of People Who Are Nearby Since She's Cool]

That strained smile doesn't go away.

"Not sure who the unicorn is. Persimmon... is a friend, yeah. He helped break a curse that was dropped on me by a spirit of chaos. Messed up my memories," Geneva recounts. "There was no way I could forget somepony so unique and the curse just shattered."

Those nearby get a brief view of just how unique Persimmon is.

"Haha, yeah, we do keep running into each other," Geneva replies, scanning her surroundings just in case the draconequus is lurking somewhere, too. "Persimmon, this is my friend Sekhmet and her... um... family member? Spike. Who's this?"

She gestures at the unicorn with a wing.

Has someone managed to teach Persimmon how to be...

Socially acceptable?

This is a pretty major discovery.

[Ex-Faerie Texting]

Grant begins laughing.

Rey looks confused.

"What's so funny?" she asks.

One of her big pink fox ears flicks.

[Deathkeeper]

[Ex-Faerie Texting]

Grant giggles, reaching up to give Rey's ears a gentle tug.
"Civvymagic made you extra fluffy." he snickers. Just for effect, he shifts back into being Gara, just so he can also be a pretty pink foxish girl with large non-human ears.
"We make quite a pair now, don't we?" she teases.

[Morty]

[Landon and Tuskfang]

"Natalie turns into a kind of lizard that can change color," Tuskfang says. "I don't remember the name. It's long." His tail wags. "D'you want to meet my cousins? I'm here with some of them. And my siblings too but they're just babies."

[Wenomir and Koshal]

"Hmm, indeed." Wenomir pauses. This doesn't strike him as right. Maybe now's the time to change it... "I can introduce you, if you like."