A Tropical Thanksmas (Thanksmas 2023)

[bc56]

By the Seashore
"Yeah." What else can Mary say to that?
"You did?" Sekhmet meets a lot of people, but she doesn't talk a lot about them, so Mary hasn't heard of Reina.

Host and Hostess and Snack Thief
"Thanks Honey," Sekhmet smiles at the compliment. She always does. "It is quite the turnout. But I think we'll be all right. We have plenty of refreshments. Speaking of which..." Sekhmet spies the faerie dragon prying at the door. She'll try to grab Maridia with her free hand (her other hand is holding a delicious candy cane). "I'm guessing you're after the sweets? We should probably return you to Khannie."

Elsewhere
As if on cue...
"Hey Skye!" Mary approaches, seated on her puma golem and wearing her snowflake-patterned outfit. "I saw you coming in. I'm glad you could make it!" The demon princess has a small stack of boxes on the back of her mount with her, and she searches through them. "Your gift is in here somewhere..."

Stealthy Gifting
"At midwinter we honor the dead who fell to protect us. It's a silent vigil. It's very important, but not joyful like Thanksmas." That's a sufficient explanation right? Nope there's more. "The festival part sort of leads up to it. Gathering with family to eat food and prepare." Kothar's expression while Achuak speaks indicates that there's much deeper meaning behind the holiday, but he doesn't mention it aloud.

[Rebonack]

[Stealthy Gifting]

"That first part sounds kinda like Thanksmas," Khannie says. The second part sounds more like a remembrance day or a memorial day or something. "But remembering past heroes is really important, too."

It sounds like there might be more to it but it seems like Kothar might not wanna talk about it? She's not a... lizard person after all.

"Hey you two have fun with the party okay? I've still got a lotta people to give gifts to," Khannie says, waving to the pair before setting off!

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

This time she heads straight for the Santa throne since she spotted Asami and Darko over there. And that catgirl from a couple years ago? She seemed kinda weird. Still does.

"Hey Darko! Hey Asami! I didn't see you guys on the boat coming over how did you get here?" she asks curiously.

MEANWHILE!

Maridia gets captured and has a candy cane brandished at her! She waves her little paws at the treat.

"Yes I want it please!"

Sadly her little squirrely limbs aren't long enough to grab at the candy cane effectively.

She's otherwise well captured and any hypothetical fondue fountains are rescued!

[Meowmai]

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.

Zebes sure does rhyme with Thebes, though she's not all too sure what to do with that information, nor why it was spoken at all. Regardless, she waves at the little dragon. So you are from Golarion, how wonderful! Been a while since I've met another."

Then a pause, and she scratches at her mane in thought. No major deity by that name, she was certain of that. "No, no, never heard of such a Goddess. Is she a minor deity of some kind?" Her mentor had done a lot of work to teach Ginger of the various religions and deities of Golarion, but it's hard to keep track of them all.

[Keeper]

Zebes sure does rhyme with Thebes, though she's not all too sure what to do with that information, nor why it was spoken at all. Regardless, she waves at the little dragon. So you are from Golarion, how wonderful! Been a while since I've met another."

Then a pause, and she scratches at her mane in thought. No major deity by that name, she was certain of that. "No, no, never heard of such a Goddess. Is she a minor deity of some kind?" Her mentor had done a lot of work to teach Ginger of the various religions and deities of Golarion, but it's hard to keep track of them all.

Zebes would assure her that it was for the people who needed to know that.
She is a Lady of Elysium, a patroness of doors and the Riddle of Life. She came to power some time after I left, it seems. I believe there are a few different parallel versions of our world connected to the Nexus. You may come from one of the ones that resemble mine but aren't quite the same if you haven't heard of either of us. Back in the day, Vallarm would have been quite the name.
Zebes nods sagely.
"We and like, six other people beat up a demon lord. It was no big deal, really."
It was kind of a big deal.
Elsewhere

Koshal bows a little to the host and takes a step back, allowing the girls to catch up.
"Hiya. I'm Koshal. Khannie invited me." he explains simply.

[quillpleasant]

[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.

Before the Thanksmas Throne

"Oh! Well. I just meant because its less sunny and colder in the winter," clarifies Darko, a little chagrined at his lack of knowledge. It's simply not his area of expertise! But he's swiftly distracted by his own gift, which brings a wide smile to his face.

"Oh this is awesome! Rabbits are my favorite, how did you know? And I've been meaning to write more stuff down. Thank you!" He leafs through it happily before looking up at Khannie's greeting.

"Oh hey you! Um..." He looks at the water, the boat that he definitely wasn't on, then back to Khannie. "A... good magician never reveals his secrets?" Nailed it.

"Oh hey, gift for you too!" From out of the bag he pulls a bulky cardboard box about the size of a basketball. "It's a bit big so I didn't have enough wrapping paper," he says apologetically.

[Halae]

[Elsewhere]

Skye freezes at the word gift, and a worried expression crosses her face, "... I didn't realize I had to bring a gift."

[Reinholdt]

[By the Seashore]

Mary could always gush or vent about her parents if she's in need of an opportunity. "Yeah, just once at GLoG. I was there on MERC business and she was all about some prophecy between her and her mom and extremely about forgiveness no matter what. I guess it all worked out if she's doing Thanksmas now." Reina glances back up towards the house.

"So do you live here? Get to see the beach every day?"

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

A parasol! This is the best!

But wait, it's from her father! This is the worst!

But wait wait. Her father's trapped in a book! This is confusing!

Raven's face runs through a gamut of emotions very quickly. Now she needs to check and make sure her father and mother are secure. Mom always did boast there was no prison she couldn't break out of. Uggh... "Sorry peasants, Thanksmas with Me is canceled. I know, I know, you're absolutely heartbroken." Raven looks specifically at Khannie at this point. "Alas, I have important world controlling business to attend to and it really can't wait." Raven hops down from the throne and starts to leave.

About ten steps down she turns around and comes back to grab the parasol gift she was just given. She'll have to dissect it back at the shop to make sure it's up to her quality standards before using it, so it gets handed off to a mecha-zombie reindeer for now, but also mostly cause dual wielding parasols is just plain silly and she already brought one. She'll take her time climbing back into her sled, refusing to do it with anything less than total dignity and grace.

[Earl of Purple]

Host and Hostess and Snack Thief

"You're right, we've got plenty, for now at least. Hopefully there's more people early than late and this isn't a harbinger of great crowds." Even if it is, there's plenty of refreshments on offer. Prumathe's just getting a little worried and stressed because it's the first time he's hosted a thing like this and he's not sure what to expect.

[[brackets lover]]

[Before The Thanksmas Throne]

"Gods move in mysterious ways," Asami flatly answers Khannie, compounding on Darko's vagueness.

[Rebonack]

[Before The Thanksmas Throne]

"Uh... bye?" Khannie says a bit hesitantly as Raven departs. That's just the Nexus for you. Fulla weirdos like always. Asami and Darko's explanation for how they got to the party just serves to reinforce Khannie's assessment of weirdness.

Anyway.

"Oh sweet, thanks Darko," Khannie says as she accepts the gift before setting it down in the sand. "Don't worry about it too much I didn't wrap all my gifts, either. Here, I got something for you guys, too."

And she pulls out-!

Boxes! Not very fancy boxes. Just small ones. The boxes for both fellow PREP students are pretty small, just little cube shaped containers. Once the boxes have been handed off Khannie will unwrap her gift! Because she's curious what sorta cool thing Darko got for her.

The surprise is part of the fun, right?

Asami's box contains a white, roughly round crystal with flat surfaces on the top and bottom. If it's laid down over something the image of whatever it's sitting on will be projected onto the surface like natural fiber-optics! Lines have been edged around the not-polished rim of the stone and filled in with shadow and little beads of gold. Definitely a cool rock. "I enchanted that thing to help you with reading," Khannie reports. "If you drag it over words on a page it'll read 'em off if you use one end and it'll sound the words out if you use it the other."

Khannie thinks this is a very thoughtful gift since she can't imagine how terrible it would be to have trouble with reading.

Darko's box contains a white marble pendant on a leather cord. Delicate lines of enchanting crisscross over it similar to Asami's rock, though the patterns are quite a bit different. "That's one's a protection charm. I set it up to draw on the magic of the person wearing it but I dunno if it'll work with yours for sure. I might have to tweak it a little? If something tries to smack you or grab you or bite you or whatever it'll do this shield thingy."

As in the Shield spells.

Or something like it.

A tool to help protect Darko on his ACTION! Archeology adventures.

[Morty]

[Before The Thanksmas Throne]

As Raven departs, another Santa arrives. This one definitely looks the part and then some. A long, white beard, powerful statue and voluminous red vestments - although, accounting for the weather, lighter and breezier ones than you'd usually expect. In his hands is a long, crooked staff and he carries a sack with him.

[A Fated Meeting]

Wenomir is also here, staying away from the crowds. He's likely here to see Koshal or Cassandra, but for now he simply sits on a bench and watches his pet raptor Coco scurry around in a flurry of excitement. The raptor is easily fascinated by just about anything and this place is very interesting.

[quillpleasant]

Before the Thanksmas Throne

Khannie opens the cardboard box, and inside can be seen... nothing!

But this nothing is heavier than a cardboard box on its own, and feeling around inside reveals that there is in fact, an invisible object within the box. It's roundish, smooth, with a strap on it. Feels like-

"It's an invisible hard hat. For your head," says Darko helpfully. "All the protection, but it won't ruin your look." Just in case she has more problems with weird brain melding wax machines.

It seems that safety is a common theme this Thanksmas, judging by Darko's gift, which he immediately ties around his neck. "Wow, thanks! This is super cool. So it should protect me from harm?" He thinks for a second. "Let's test it! Asami, can you punch me?"

This is a good idea that will definitely have no consequences.

[[brackets lover]]

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

After Khannie explains the purpose of the rock, Asami awkwardly smiles. "Ah... thanks." She puts her gifts away in her backpack, humming along as Darko and Khannie explain their gifts to each other.

"'Kay!" exclaims Asami cheerfully as she's tasked with an act of violence. In an instant, Asami flashes forward, delivering a warp speed punch to Darko's chest that if connected would send him flying several kilometers back and landing in a crater in the ground with a few scuff marks and minor tears in his clothes. Accompanied by the punch, however, was a sonic boom rippling throughout the island and potentially shattering any glass objects nearby.

[bc56]

By the Seashore
Mary loves her parents, she's not going to vent. "That sounds like her," she responds. Forgiveness is a big deal to Sekhmet.
"I go to PREP and stay in the dorms there. I come back here for weekends and holidays," Mary explains.

Meanwhile
"Don't worry about it. I have plenty of gifts and you didn't know." Mary retrieves a small box. "Here it is! Merry Thanksmas!" She passes the box over to Skye.

Inside is a small bundle of incense sticks and a steel knife inscribed with demonic runes.
"I thought you might be able to use them for your rituals."

Host and Hostess and Snack Thief
"I don't think Khannie wants you gorging yourself on candy," Sekhmet replies, keeping the candy cane well away from Maridia, "What do you think, Honey? Should we return her to Khannie?" she's over there by the throne, so it won't be hard.

[Halae]

[Meanwhile]

Skye takes them from the box to look them over with an expression of wonder on her face. High quality incense sticks - such as the type made with modern technology - are something she isn't quite used to yet. A proper ritual knife inscribed with runes is also quite entrancing, though she does end up asking, "What do the runes on the blade mean?"

[Rebonack]

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

For her head!

That's usually where hard hats go, right?

"Huh," Khannie grunts. She immediately curious about how the invisible part works. Is it invisible or transparent? Cuz if it were the first thing wouldn't that make her head disappear? She pulls off her cap, shacking her ponytail free, and then tries the hat on!

Important question.

Does it have a slot or a hole for her horn?

Because that horn requires Khannie to be really selective with her headwear.

"Okay this is really cool. Did your wizard friends make it? Or did you? Or maybe from an invisible hat store? I'm just kinda curious about how the invisible part works," Khannie says.

But then there's talk of punching!

"Sure? I haven't tested it against really big hits so maybe don't go-"
Asami warp punches Darko.
"-overboard."

Suddenly there's a shadow of Darko standing in front of the lad getting punched and rocketing off over the horizon. The charm tanked the attack for Darko, but now the shadow is going to need to get BACK to him before it'll be ready again.

Who knows how long that will take.

As for the incredibly harmful concussive blast?

This is Thanksmas and Thanksmas magic happens. The mass/energy of the sonic boom is converted into a single tiny snowflake that drifts into the sand and starts melting.

"Holy heck Asami you can't just deck people like that," Khannie chides.

Khannie is pretty distracted by Asami's antics at the moment so she hasn't really noticed the new Santa yet.

[Meowmai]

Zebes would assure her that it was for the people who needed to know that.
She is a Lady of Elysium, a patroness of doors and the Riddle of Life. She came to power some time after I left, it seems. I believe there are a few different parallel versions of our world connected to the Nexus. You may come from one of the ones that resemble mine but aren't quite the same if you haven't heard of either of us. Back in the day, Vallarm would have been quite the name.
Zebes nods sagely.
"We and like, six other people beat up a demon lord. It was no big deal, really."
It was kind of a big deal.

There's a moment where Ginger processes that all. Alternate versions of her home, huh. With new gods? And-wait, beat up a Demon Lord? Her brown eyes widened a little in disbelief. "You mean, like, an actual ruler of the Abyssal Rifts demon lord!? You, and only 6 other people!? You've got to be fucking with me." The look on her face shows she wasn't exactly convinced. That was a feat well beyond the kinds of people she could ever imagine meeting. But unicorns weren't exactly known for going around lying to people either.

[bc56]

Meanwhile
"It says something about the strength of your convictions and the quality of the sacrifice. It's... Good for contacting demons. Sorry, I couldn't really get other kinds of implements." Of course a demon princess would be able to get materials for demonic rituals. That's probably not a surprise.

[Keeper]

There's a moment where Ginger processes that all. Alternate versions of her home, huh. With new gods? And-wait, beat up a Demon Lord? Her brown eyes widened a little in disbelief. "You mean, like, an actual ruler of the Abyssal Rifts demon lord!? You, and only 6 other people!? You've got to be fucking with me." The look on her face shows she wasn't exactly convinced. That was a feat well beyond the kinds of people she could ever imagine meeting. But unicorns weren't exactly known for going around lying to people either.

I mean, from what I understand Eudaemonia beat up several, plural, which is one reason she became a goddess and I just got hooves.
Jace lifts a foot, looking it over.
"I mean we had an army too but that was like, dealing with all the other demons? Jace mostly threw rocks at him over and over. Besides, all the important events in history are usually accomplished by groups of four to six." which, if you think about the history of Golarion, is actually kind of true.

Elsewhere

Koshal nods approvingly at the gift. He is definitely one to give people sharp instruments for Thanksmas. And naturally since he's never met Mary before he's not expecting anything himself.

Before the Thanksmas Throne

Accompanying the white-bearded Santa is another Santa, dressed very similarly though his robes are sleeveless to help with the heat. And he's a minotaur. That's kind of important. He's grown out his beard a little bit himself, though it's as brown as the rest of his coat.
"You don't suppose that they'll mind us bending tradition a little, do they?" Krayger asks Askeladd. Probably not. There's no way this is the first time someone has had dual Santas.

[Gullara]

The girl that accompanies Eliseo is dressed much the same, decked out in bright blue board shorts and a bikini top to match that complements her warm skin well. An oversized floral-print shirt hangs open to cut a blocky silhouette and a pair of chunky sunglasses complete the look, perched up on the top of a head of orange hair pulled into a simple ponytail.

"Dunno, I mean - I remember how it all worked back home, I guess?" Scarlet looks about at all the sand and tinsel, feeling mildly out of her element. "Eat good food, cozy up by the fire, unwrap a ton of presents you totally didn't sneakily watch your father wrap the night before. Never got to actually go to one of these parties myself." She favors Eliseo with a fanged smile. "Think I remember Nadia telling Ana some pretty cute stuff about you going to them though."

"Ah, hey what?" Eliseo looks surprised. "What is mom telling Ana?" When is she getting the chance to convey embarrassing stories? A small eye roll follows this. "I guess that's probably better than how the winter solstice was celebrated where mom comes from. Apparently it was pretty solemn and quiet. Sounds lame honestly."

[Halae]

[Meanwhile/Elsewhere]

Skye regards the knife with interest for a long moment, turning it over in her hands with the deftness of long experience with weapons of various sorts, before she places it back in the box with the incense. Then, she bows respectfully to Mary, "I believe I can find a good use for this. Thank you. I'll have to return the favor sometime."

[Reinholdt]

[By the Seashore]

"Ah, I see," Reina says. She thinks she could live by the beach every day. "Er, well, except for the fact that I've never heard of PREP. What is that?" Sounds like some kind of military academy.

[Arkhosia]

"Oh, y'know," Scarlet shrugs playfully. "Mostly just stuff about you running about and getting covered in snow before they could even catch up to you. I'm sure we could ask for even more if we really wanted to. She likes talking about you."

"Really? Doesn't that like, kinda miss the point?" She quirks an eyebrow. "I thought these kindsa holidays were supposed to be big ol' feasts of merriment to make sure everyone stayed happy and fed in the awful winter, that way no one kills themselves." Seasonal depression is a very serious thing, after all.

[Morty]

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

"As long as everyone gets their fair share of gifts, I see no reason to protest," Askeladd declares. He does seem to be more jovial than usual today; the spirit of the holiday changing his usual phlegmatic demeanor. "And we look the part, if what I've heard of this 'Santa' figure is correct."

[quillpleasant]

Before the Thanksmas Throne

A better description of the helmet is that it's completely transparent and undetectable to any sense other than touch. Also, being magical, it'll resize to fit the wearer, making a hole for Khannie's horn to fit in.

"This one isn't from the Wizards, I bought it from this lady who makes magic hats whoaaaa!" He yelps as Asami's punch connects, flinching back. But then it actually doesn't? He opens his eyes, looking after the disappear shadow before grinning widely.

"That was sick! This necklace is awesome. And you're like, really good at punching." He waves off Khannie's concern. "I did ask her, if there's consequences then I'll deal." Plus, that was just way too cool to worry about silly things like safety.

Then his attention is caught by the new Santas. "Ooh hey! Do you guys also want gifts?" He may have gotten the wrong idea about what Santas are generally supposed to do.

[[brackets lover]]

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

Asami tilts her head at Khannie, frowning disagreeably. "He did ask me," Asami reiterates.

Now Darko is addressing the new santas, leaving Asami to turn to Khannie so as to prevent crowding and confusing conversations where a lot of people are talking between each other all at once. With Khannie, however, Asami can't talk as naturally as she does with Darko. After a few seconds of puffing her cheeks out and blowing air to the side, Asami finally says, "Sooooo... Did you know that Game Freak president Satoshi Tajiri came up for the idea for trading in the Pokemon games while playing Dragon Quest II? He wanted to get a magic hat, a rare item in the game, and Ken Sugimori, the art director, was also playing at the time and got two. Well, anyways, Tariji wanted to know if there was a way to trade items between games. The famicom didn't have the capability to send data between different consoles, so he specifically chose to make Pokemon Red & Green on the game boy to make use of its link cable functionality. Thought that was interesting." Asami puts her hands in her pockets and looks directly at the sun for no reason in particular.

[Rebonack]

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

If the helmet can make a horn hole then crisis averted!

The crisis of Darko getting almost warp punched also seems to be averted! Khannie huffs out a breath as her heart rate calms down. "I just... I didn't know if it could take a hit that big. Most people aren't as tough as you, Asami, you've gotta be careful."

Khannie grew up knowing that if she punched a human full force she would probably kill them. That's likely the source of her caution and protective attitude.

"The hat's really cool, thanks Darko. And, uh, the necklace won't block another hit until the shadow gets back. It's got limits." A beat. "Usually you get a gift from Santa but I don't think there's any rules against giving em stuff?"

But now it's time to chat with Asami!

Being reminded that the world she grew up in is a fiction is always a whole lotta fun. But thankfully she was aware of that fact already. Just not the fact Asami just brought up.

"I thought it was because he liked collecting beetles and imagined them crawling across the cable?" Khannie replies. Because of COURSE she looked up information on the game's development. Obviously it's different than the creation stories with Arceus but given how the Nexus is both are probably true somehow.

[[brackets lover]]

[Before the Thanksmas Throne]

Asami scratches the back of her head. "I knew he was into bugs, but I never heard that last part specifically. What's it from?"

[Keeper]

Before the Thanksmas Throne

Krayger's attention is pulled away from Askeladd to the prospective magician. He raises an eyebrow with a smile.
"Santa's role is to give out gifts, lad. We're supposed to be asking you that." he says in good humor.

[bc56]

By the Seashore
"It stands for Perfectly Respectable Education for Protagonists, or something like that" Mary explains. "It's a special school for kids who're special somehow. Destined heroes, mad scientists, demon princesses. It's great!"

Meanwhile
"I'm glad you like it! You should join the party, have some fun. There's snacks inside. I have more gifts to hand out so if you see Khannie, send her my way." Mary waves farewell to Skye and rides off.