A Tropical Thanksmas (Thanksmas 2023)

[Rebonack]

"Oh," Khannie replies, heaving a sigh of relief. Her face still feels flushed because that whole exchange was really embarrassing. "Um... I've gotta buncha other gifts I've still gotta hand out."

Khannie points over her shoulder with her thumb back towards the shore-
-only to notice a conspicuous lack of Maridia.

"Oh beans my familiar snuck off. I've gotta go find her before she goes swimming in a fondue fountain or something," Khannie says hurriedly, definitely not using this as an excuse to escape an embarrassing situation.

[quillpleasant]

Before the Thanksmas Throne

As Raven tears open the present, she'll find a fine box of black wood. What could lie within? Perhaps an elegant time piece or some gaudy jewelry?

Well, that wouldn't be too far off, as it is a necklace. A thin silver chain displays what appears to be a finely polished finger bone. Judging from the size, it's human, or at least human adjacent. Perhaps a bit macabre, but somewhat fitting for someone named Ebondark.

"I have stuff for everyone," reaffirms Darko, pointing at Hiep, "Including you, cool lady I've never seen before!" A quick rummage in the bag and he pulls out a rather lumpy looking brown package about the size of a baseball. "To you from the Burrower," he says, tossing it over.

"Oh, and I actually have something for you," he says, stepping over to Asami, "Actually from me, not the Wizards." He holds out a small package of brown paper, tied with twine.

[Meowmai]

Meanwhile!

Ginger will find a strange sight as she progresses into the party. A Golarion unicorn! Kinda. A slender equine the size of a riding pony with cloven hooves and a long tail and a gently curved horn. He certainly fits the description aside from the fact that he’s very blue with a blue-silver mane and a series of arcane symbols in his coat. And the fact that he’s wearing a Santa hat.

”Hello, champion of Sarenrae.” comes a man’s voice as the unicorn waves his horn as she passes. She can probably recognize a basic Ghost Sound spell. Horses can’t talk after all. He sounds deeply amused. From the snickering of the tiny metallic dragon on his back, they both are.

"Holy shit." For a moment, she was genuinely slack-jawed in astonishment. 'Ain't no way. "You're..." Ginger realized that she was about to state the obvious, "a unicorn," or perhaps, "blue", both of which would make her sound immensely stupid. Which, to be fair, she sort of was in this moment. The dumbfounded Kholo blinked, before finally finding her words again. "It's amazing to meet you, I've- well, I never ran into your kind back home, let alone expected to run into a unicorn all the way out here!" Ginger almost felt compelled to take a short bow, except that those kind of theatrics had never been her thing. And with the amusement of both the unicorn before her and the dragon she only just now noticed both being quite clear, she got a hunch she'd only be making a fool of herself if she did.

[Earl of Purple]

Agate shrugs and puts the scarf on, now she's got it. It is the right size, which is handy. She's pretty sure it's from Asami, but so long as the stargirl doesn't want to interfere with her, that's fine by her. And it's quite nice besides.

[Keeper]

"Oh. Um. Okay." Koshal says, letting Khannie extricate herself from the conversation since she seems to want out of it. That's okay sometimes conversations don't go the way you hope and you have to come back to that person later.

Meanwhile!

Jace would probably look as amused as he feels but his face is sadly not very expressive. It DOES mean he looks composed and mystical at all times, though.
My name is Jace; do you mind if I speak to you like this? It's how my species normally communicates so it's a little more comfortable than using that spell to talk every time. echoes the same voice in Ginger's head. He sounds rather apologetic. But Nexus people do seem to be understanding of telepathy and it just feels so much more comfortable to him.
And there's no need for formality, really.

[Rebonack]

Khannie fears no foe.

But you know what she DOES fear?

Embarrassing situations.

And in spite of things getting cleared up (sort of) what just happened with Koshal was very embarrassing. Which is why she goes, "Okay later! Thanks for the horn-ring thingy!"

That isn't a be my girlfriend ring he was very clear about that.

UUUGH.

She feels like such an idiot! Of course he wasn't into her. Everything is fine calm down you doof.

In spite of everything being fine (you doof) she decides to go stand by those bushes over there where no one else is standing around until her dumb face stops blushing. And it is here that she hears whisper in the bushes in some familiar voices.

"Umm... Achuak? How come you're in the bushes with your dad?"

An excellent question.

Meanwhile!

Maridia has taken advantage of the fact that Khannie is distracted to fly over to the door of the manor house and begin pushing on it! With all her might! Because she can smell snacks in there!

"NNNNNNEGH!"

Sadly she is a very small little fairy dragon and she is unable to budge the door.

She'll just have to convince one of the giants walking all over the party to do it for her! Maybe if she makes cute sad eyes at them that'll help?

[bc56]

Stealthy Gifting
"Dad's..." Achuak begins,
"There demons here!" Kothar half-whispers, "Seven. Two strongest I ever seen."
"He got a little... Excited... When he noticed them," Achuak tries to explain.
"Dad, it's Thanksmas, there's a truce..."
"Don't let them see you!"

[Rebonack]

[Stealthy Gifting]

Two?

Kothar must mean Mary and Sekhmet, right? Khannie isn't sure if that true or not, but then again she doesn't have a ton of reference here. Like, she knows their potential is really high since she can compare herself as Bella but she's pretty sure there's a knowledge gap that prevents the power from being that useful.

Of course, the fox had picked up Bella's mask last night. Mary isn't a huge fan but honestly Khannie doesn't mind. It isn't that Bella stops existing she's just... Khannie. 'cuz that's who she is anyway, right? A dream of the fox, who's Khannie's dream. Dream self? Whatever. It's confusing.

"You mean Mary and her mom? They're nice. This is a Thanksmas party people aren't allowed to harm anyone here," Khannie insists. "Kothar, right? I met you in that neon bunker place with the robot that didn't know a big war was over."

Aside from the unicorn horn, Khannie's human disguise is definitely recognizable.

"I managed to purify away all that deathfox stuff. Though I guess it was mostly because of my dad accepting a unicorn's job," Khannie admits. "It was cool doing the adventure with you and a made some Thanksmas gifts for you and Achuak. If you wanna climb outta that bush I can give 'em to you?"

Clearly this is just an elaborate ploy to give away their position to the demons!

...but then again, Khannie DOES radiate a presence of purification. Maybe she's telling the truth?

[bc56]

Stealthy Gifting
"She's telling the truth. The younger demon goes to my school. The school for good guys?" Achuak reasons.
"If this trick, rain fury of heaven on you," Kothar grumbles and emerges from the bush.
"You! Ghost fox! You unicorn now?" In Kothar's estimation, that's strange but not the strangest thing he's ever seen. "What is... Thanksmas?"
"It's a holy day, Dad. Like the Festival of Silence back home, but more cheerful."

[Rebonack]

[Stealthy Gifting]

"Yeah! Pretty happy about it, too. Being ghost-type sucks. I hate feeling so... still inside. It's creepy," Khannie confirms. "It's definitely way better. Being a unicorn means I've got responsibilities, too! I'm supposed to purify stuff. I've been working on this big cemetary place fulla undead with another hero. We're making 'em regular dead so they can go where they're supposed to. The creep that used to be king there trapped everyone's spirits when he died."

She had mentioned this to Achuak but she's hoping if she mentions her credentials maybe this'll make her more trustworthy in Kothar's eyes.

Khannie looks a little uncertain about the festival of silence thing. That absolutely does NOT sound very festive.

"A big parta Thanksmas is being thankful for what you've got and blessing other people with gifts to be thankful for," Khannie says as she slings off her backpack and digs around in it. After a few moments she comes up with two gifts. One of them's a small box for Kothar and a slightly less small box for Achuak. "Merry Thanksmas! Go ahead and open 'em up."

Kothar's gift is a palm-sized flattened bit of marble that looks like it would be good for skipping at a river. Lines have been etched into it and filled with shadow to create a delicate spellwork. At each intersection of the lines a tiny bead of gold has been fixed.

Achuak's gift also consists of rocks! Four marble sticks about the size of a pencil with even narrower middles. Similar spellwork has been carved into them.

Khannie has been practicing quite a bit on her enchantments.

"That one's a translator. If you say a word in draconic into it then it'll say it common. I tried making it so it could translate whole sentances and stuff but that wasn't something I could really finish before Thanksmas. But that'll help with harder words?" Khannie says. "And those sticks are single use things, sorta like a scroll that anyone can use. You break one and it casts that exploding-double spell of mine. Since you like staying away from the bad guys I thought having a pocket fulla decoys could be handy!"

[bc56]

Stealthy Gifting
Kothar scowls when Khannie mentions the cursed necropolis. Not at her, just in general. That kind of stuff is bad news.
Then gifts are handed out. Achuak carefully slides the sticks into a pocket. He doesn't want to break one on accident. Kothar, meanwhile, much less gently takes the translator and breathes a few words into it. "I give my thanks to you." it warbles.
"I've got something for you too," Achuak responds and reaches into another pocket (he has lots of pockets) to retrieve a small bag full of glass balls that glow faintly. "They're full of holy water. I figured you could use some when you're out purging zombies. Careful, they're fragile." Achuak is a crafty fighter who knows the value of having a lot of tricks up your sleeve; the sort of person who would genuinely appreciate one of those bags that let you conjure small woodland creatures.

[Rebonack]

[Stealthy Gifting]

Kothar just isn't a big fan of cursed necropolises.

Honestly, that's fair.

The only sorts of people who actually liked desiccated cities of the dead are weirdos and necromancers. But Khannie is being redundant in her thoughts, here.

Anywho!

Breaking one of the sticks would actually be difficult. Easy enough to do without too much trouble, but hard to do by just touching them the wrong way. Khannie had broken several non-magical versions trying to get the thickness in the middle just right. As for the word-translator, it can't do full sentences. Just single words. Mostly it's handy in situations where Kothar is having trouble remembering a particular word in common. Or maybe just one he doesn't know. This was actually really lucky. Khannie knows Common and Draconic, just like her dad. She knows a few ancient languages but that's only in bits and mostly just their writing. But since she's fluent in both Common and Draconic that means building a translator stone for those languages was actually possible!

Handy.

And then a gift for Khannie!

"Ooh, they're like holy-water paintballs," Khannie notes. "Just glass? I guess that's probably easier to use if you haven't got an air-gun to shoot 'em with. Thanks! I can't exactly do holy magic myself. I mean, I don't think I can anyway? I'm still trying to figure out how the unicorn magic works. I know there are some nasties where holy water is basically the only thing that stops 'em from regenerating."

Like rot trolls.

Nobody likes rot trolls.

"So what's the Festival of Silence?" Khannie asks, narrowly avoiding the indiscretion of commenting that silence usually isn't very festive.

[[brackets lover]]

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

Asami accepts the gift, bowing in response. "Aww, thank you! I actually got something for you, too!" Asami says gratefully before pulling out and giving to Darko a book-shaped present with snowflake-patterned wrapping paper. Though, it's a little smaller than the books Darko is used to.

Asami then notices Maridia out of the corner of her eye. Asami light-warps besides the fairy and points at them, chuckling condscendingly. "Hey, guys, I think this fly's trying to get in," she jests, bearing a shit-eating grin before quickly warping back to Darko, whom she smiles at like nothing happened. "Alright, lets see what I got here." She tries to open the gift without damaging the wrapping paper, namely, slowly pulling away the tape if there is any.

[quillpleasant]

Before the Thanksmas Throne

"Oh, cool!" Darko accepts the gift, holding it almost reverently. He stares down at it for a moment.

"You know, this is the first gift I've gotten since my parents- hm." The thought just sprang into his mind, but he doesn't want to focus on that right now. "What I mean is thank you, this is really nice." It doesn't even matter what it is, just the act of getting a present is good enough. But of course he's interested in what it is, so he opens the paper, a little more clumsily than Asami.

Speaking of, the gift for Asami is revealed to be a pair of sky blue gloves. They each have a red button on the back of the hand. "Hand warming gloves," explains Darko helpfully, "Press the button and they heat up. Figured you could use them during winter, since the sun is further away." Of course, it's not exactly helpful on this tropical island, but elsewhere in the Nexus the weather is getting pretty frigid.

[Reinholdt]

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

Her Majesty Raven Ebondark, the Superior Santa, is visited by three wise drones bearing another gift, inadvertently and unknowingly supporting her claim that to hold the throne is to have presents rained upon you by your inferiors. These drones look suspiciously like something her father would build, dopey-looking disembodied robot heads hovering around with some sort of antigravity device, each bearing a third of the weight of the gift-wrapped present. It hangs down from thin golden strings, suspended by the drones working in tandem to keep the package aloft. I don't see her father anywhere, though, and he hates beaches, so it's surely not his handiwork.

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

"Oooh." A pretty necklace made from the bone of her enemies! She would have to promote Darko to chief executioner. He clearly understood the value of the remains.

Raven slides the necklace on before turning her attention to the three wise drones paying homage and reverence to the Empress of Everything.
... Suspicious. Very suspicious.
The nekomancer hesitates, glancing around, her mechanical red eye gleaming as it scans the crowds. But there clearly isn't any other cyborgs around.
Hmmmmm...

She lets her curiosity and greed win out and accepts the package, opening it up slowly as if expecting it to explode in a shower of 'you're grounded' messages written on confetti.

By the Seashore
"Thanks. My da made it for me," Mary replies, "He made all the golems for the party, he's really good at it." Mary is unsurprised that Reina likes cats. She likes cats too, just not enough to be one. "I'm Mary."

[By the Seashore]

"Is that right?" Reina ponders. "Would that make him... one of the hosts then?" Reina inquires after a moment.

"I believe I may have met your mother once, a long while ago." Before Sekhment became a queen of hell or Mary existed.

[Magtok]

Before the Thanksmas Throne

Has Raven ever wanted or needed an extra umbrella? Yes? No, she's fine with the one she has? Well that's too bad, because these drones came all this way to deliver a shiny new parasol for her! Also a note, which was stuck to the very same parasol! The note is written in purple, which is certainly an interesting choice. Not a terrible one, but also not very Thankmassy, is it?

Hope you're doing well, kiddo. I would've delivered this in person, but I didn't want to cause a ruckus in front of your subjects. I've been told a Dread Empress is above such petty familial sentiment, and for them to hear you be called my daughter, to think of you as just an extension of me and my legacy, rather than recognize you as the independent, self-made Black Abyss CEO that you are...well, it would be treason, of course. You are already so much more than that, and only growing more powerful every passing day.

Love, Dad

P.S. The present's bonus features don't activate until a cyborg's linked up with it, so it can't betray you. The armorweave fabric can harden to deflect bullets, the holospray coating shifts to any color or pattern you'd like so it always matches your outfit, the hidden blade in the tip is sharp enough to threateningly hold under the chins of your enemies, and there's plenty of space left over to customize and refine it further, to make it truly worthy of Raven Ebondark.

With their job done, the three wise drones sail off into the sunny sky, humming a fragment of Jingle Bells as they hurriedly rush off home.

[Earl of Purple]

Host & Hostess

"It looks amazing. So do you. We're more popular than I was expecting; I hope we have enough drinks." Really should have expected this many people, Prumathe- it's a tropical island, and it's the winter holiday. If this was a summer party nobody would really want to show up.

[Halae]

Fashionably (but likely unintentionally) late, Skye is going to arrive here at the Thanksmas party, having been invited by Mary to the celebration.

And as she wanders the party, she looks so terribly, terrifically lost.

It's clearly a festival, something similar to the Calibration festival often celebrated in her homeland, but she's not used to actually taking part in celebrations like that - her tribe's business was always about guarding against ghosts and spirits that would attack during the five days of darkness, through a mixture of ritual and armed defense. That... is not a problem here, it seems.

Skye doesn't really know how to celebrate, and didn't even bring gifts along because she didn't realize she was supposed to. She's simply dressed in a comfortable pair of shorts and a light gray button-down shirt, though she's brought along a large Bo staff to at least nod towards her theoretical role at a Calibration festival.

So she's just watching the festivities. Awkwardly. Waiting for something to disrupt the growing tension within her as she just doesn't know what the hell to do.

Perhaps someone should go and rescue her from her ridiculous internal predicament.

[Keeper]

Luckily there is something to distract Skye from all the terrible anxiety of being alone at the party.

A doggy!

The savior of all people alone at parties. This dog is entirely black save for two little red-brown spots on her cheeks and bright eyes. She looks up at Skye expectantly. Hopefully Skye can notice her.

[Halae]

Skye looks down at the dog curiously. After a hesitant moment, she'll reach down a hand to offer it a sniff; everybody knows that's how you introduce yourself to dogs, right?

[Keeper]

Faye the dog leans forward politely to sniff Skye's hand and then sits back down again on her haunches.
She continues to look up at Skye expectantly.
Where are the pets? She expects pets.

[Halae]

Skye lets out an amused sound before reaching down to scratch the dog behind the ear.

[Keeper]

Faye accepts the pets gratefully, exhaling through her nose and then opening her mouth to let her tongue stick out.

Presently, her minotaur arrives! He's a little older than Skye and Khannie but that's a little hard to tell. Dressed for the beach, his muscular build is obvious even under his reddish-brown coat and the amount of bulking up he's in the middle of to keep himself safe from his own growth spurt.
"There you are, Faye. I see you made a friend." Perhaps a rare experience for Skye, Koshal's eyes do not linger at all after the first glance and he extends a hand.
"I'm Koshal. Looks like you've met Faye."

[Halae]

Skye extends her hand to shake. Socializing! That she can do. Especially when the man involved isn't focused somewhere he shouldn't be, "Hello. My name is Skye; Mary invited me here, but I don't... ah... know what I'm doing. This isn't like any celebration I've attended before."

[[brackets lover]]

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

Asami's face lights up upon hearing Darko explain, rainbows surrounding her. "Oh, I love them! But, the sun is the same distance away all the time. The planet travels around the sun in a circle and the seasons are based on what position its in in this path," she says quickly before going silent to admire her gift.

Darko's own gift is a Journal with a plush cover resembling a rabbit, the removal tag mentioning that its also glow in the dark, the veracity of this statement yet to be seen. Likely, it had a very dim effect.

Regardless! Asami scratches the back of her head as Darko sees what it is, shooting him a semi-nervous expectant look.

[Keeper]

"Oh, I think Khannie might have mentioned Mary at some point. It's okay, it's just a regular party at this point. Thanksmas gets hosted by someone new every year, so the only constant really is that there's a Santa around somewhere. My uncle used to do it but he's probably busy with his boyfriend today." He snickers, just a little. His uncle is so funny, being all awkward about being in a couple.

[Meowmai]

Meanwhile!

Jace would probably look as amused as he feels but his face is sadly not very expressive. It DOES mean he looks composed and mystical at all times, though.
My name is Jace; do you mind if I speak to you like this? It's how my species normally communicates so it's a little more comfortable than using that spell to talk every time. echoes the same voice in Ginger's head. He sounds rather apologetic. But Nexus people do seem to be understanding of telepathy and it just feels so much more comfortable to him.
And there's no need for formality, really.

Ginger blinked. Voices in her head was going to take some getting used to. But she wasn't going to go around telling a unicorn that. That would be rude, even by her standards. "Sure, yeah." She rubbed her temple, though her whole posture seemed to relax when Jace dismisses the need to be formal. Ginger certainly does not seem to carry the same noble attitude and posture with her that you'd expect from the typical Champion- though she still rather felt like she had to be on her best behaviour around a unicorn of all things. "Nice to meet you, then?" she said, still a little shocked that this encounter was even happening, before remembering she had yet to introduce herself. "I'm Ginger."

[Halae]

"Oh, I think Khannie might have mentioned Mary at some point. It's okay, it's just a regular party at this point. Thanksmas gets hosted by someone new every year, so the only constant really is that there's a Santa around somewhere. My uncle used to do it but he's probably busy with his boyfriend today." He snickers, just a little. His uncle is so funny, being all awkward about being in a couple.

Skye still looks a little lost, and she goes on to explain, "I... haven't attended a 'party' like this before. Usually I'm standing watch against anything that'd disrupt the festivities."

That'd explain the staff she's carrying.

[Keeper]

Skye still looks a little lost, and she goes on to explain, "I... haven't attended a 'party' like this before. Usually I'm standing watch against anything that'd disrupt the festivities."

That'd explain the staff she's carrying.

Koshal seems a little confused.
"Okay. Well. You talk to people, maybe enjoy the water a little? And then at some point you can visit Santa to get your present. Assuming they're doing that."
It seems like they are, but the current Santa seems a little confused about the whole thing? Someone will probably either get that sorted out or replace her anyway.

Ginger blinked. Voices in her head was going to take some getting used to. But she wasn't going to go around telling a unicorn that. That would be rude, even by her standards. "Sure, yeah." She rubbed her temple, though her whole posture seemed to relax when Jace dismisses the need to be formal. Ginger certainly does not seem to carry the same noble attitude and posture with her that you'd expect from the typical Champion- though she still rather felt like she had to be on her best behaviour around a unicorn of all things. "Nice to meet you, then?" she said, still a little shocked that this encounter was even happening, before remembering she had yet to introduce herself. "I'm Ginger."

Well, it's nice to meet you Ginger. And my familiar here is Zebes. "Hello! It rhymes with Thebes!" Zebes pipes up.
It seems you are from my homeland. Or at least one version of it. Ah. I suppose I should ask: do you know the goddess Eudaemonia? It's a bit of a strange question to ask, but it's someone who appears to be in Jace's version of Golarion but not necessarily others.

[Halae]

Skye considers what Koshal said for a moment, before frowning, "... I know Mary is here. I suppose I should go talk to her then, see how she's enjoying the party herself."