Thanksmas 2022: I Can't Believe That Tiny Dragon Is Actually A Very Tall Cafe Proprietress Dragon And Is Running Thanks-

[Rebonack]

Hah!

Got her!

Khannie straightens up a little in her assertive sort of way, looking victorious at her perfectly aimed snowball pitch! But it's at about this moment that she starts putting pieces together. The stifled laugh. The scrape in the pink snow on the counter next to Cheasadh, the rather notable LACK of snowball harvesting marks around Brinika.

Whoops.

She was a little too hasty, wasn't she?

Khannie's ears droop a bit.

"Uh, you didn't throw that snowball at me at all, did you Brinika?" she asks, putting a little bit of sheepishness into her ghostly voice. She's already yanking at nearby shadows, working at re-weaving her human teen girl disguise.

[Murkus]

Lucy can't help but to giggle a little at Lapis before she scurries off to get some coco. She was so cute. She was more like one of Lucy's younger siblings than an older girl.

Lucy sips noisily from her espresso cup.

She just takes in what Anika says, a couple questions rising to mind, but in the end she decides to ask, "What's a saber?" Honestly the rest of Anika's experience with coffee didn't sound all that bad...

Lucy sliiides Lapis's espresso over and starts to sip that as well.

[Rebonack]

"Cow milk is good thank you Miss Sally you do a really nice job and the decorations are so nice I love them!" Lapis replies with her typical breathless love for literally everything. She'll take the hot chocolate before heading back over to the table to join the conversation with Anika and Lucy, catching only Lucy's question along with zero percent of the context.

"A sabre is a sort of sword!" Lapis helpfully supplies.

She's correct.

That IS a sort of sword.

But it isn't what Anika is talking about.

And honestly, if we're being fair here, Lapis IS the age of Lucy's younger siblings. She isn't that old in spite of being created with built-in knowledge to get her going.

[Morty]

Brinika puts her cocoa aside with great deliberation and cleans the snow off her face with equal care, before remembering that it's an illusion. All in all, she's not particularly upset about the situation. She might be if she'd spilled her drink.

"I didn't. I was holding cocoa. Cheasadh tricked you. She's sneaky with this new staff."

[bc56]

"You're kidding." Sekhmet shakes her head. "You're essentially giving us permission to destroy your entire power structure. I could ask for something like 'no mulching' or your abdication. So either you think I'm a fool who'd make a selfish request, you don't intend to keep your word, or it's a trap, somehow." Mary has her hand up and mouth open like she wants to say something. "Don't ask for anything. Not yet." "Mum, it's not that. I'm just curious." she turns to Libidine, "You said humanity was misusing the gift you gave them. What gift?"

[Ironsmith]

"You could, yes. I had a feeling you wouldn't, but you could." Libidine gives Sekhmet a wicked-looking smile. "Especially since you know it wouldn't actually solve anything. As you said, any edict you hand me would rely on me keeping my word... and even if I do, there are six other Devils in the Abyss who aren't bound to it. Between the lot of them, I'm sure you wouldn't manage to save any souls, so much as find a new and interesting way to damn them." She shrugs. "Knowing I'm bound by the same system, I was hoping you could give me some idea of what, exactly, I'm supposed to be doing, if not exactly what I already do."

That said, she turns her gaze to Mary, a spark of warmth in her otherwise unabashedly cold gaze. "I thought you might be interested in that. You see, each of us Devils... we weren't always what we are now. We built our world to be a paradise for the souls we gathered, and to make it so, we imbued them with various gifts to help facilitate that effect. Humility. Justice. Honesty. Generosity. Valor. Honor. And..." She places a hand over her sternum. "Love." She lets that sink in for a moment, looking up at Sekhmet to see just how much skepticism that claim garnered. "...Of course, we didn't quite account for how those traits would intermingle to produce some terrible results. The love I gifted to our creations... became the basis for destructive passions. My gift, intended to bring humans beings together in harmony, gave rise to some of the worst tyrants history has ever seen." Libidine shakes her head and picks something out of her teeth with her pinky claw. "...If you ever get the chance, Mary, I'd advise you to remember this one thing; creation's a stitch."

She does not, of course, mean to say stitch. But having already committed to not swearing in front of her, she can't break the theme now.

[Earl of Purple]

"Sorry, Khannie. I wasn't expecting it to pop your disguise." Cheasadh is sorry about that, but not about throwing the ball or getting her sister pelted. "If I knew it would do that, I'd have waited until you were looking before throwing it."

Cheasadh has her own cocoa, with an extra candy-cane. So she'll offer the extra to Khannie as a peace offering... unless Maridia gets there first.

[Shadowcaller]

Lucy can't help but to giggle a little at Lapis before she scurries off to get some coco. She was so cute. She was more like one of Lucy's younger siblings than an older girl.

Lucy sips noisily from her espresso cup.

She just takes in what Anika says, a couple questions rising to mind, but in the end she decides to ask, "What's a saber?" Honestly the rest of Anika's experience with coffee didn't sound all that bad...

Lucy sliiides Lapis's espresso over and starts to sip that as well.

"Cow milk is good thank you Miss Sally you do a really nice job and the decorations are so nice I love them!" Lapis replies with her typical breathless love for literally everything. She'll take the hot chocolate before heading back over to the table to join the conversation with Anika and Lucy, catching only Lucy's question along with zero percent of the context.

"A sabre is a sort of sword!" Lapis helpfully supplies.

She's correct.

That IS a sort of sword.

But it isn't what Anika is talking about.

And honestly, if we're being fair here, Lapis IS the age of Lucy's younger siblings. She isn't that old in spite of being created with built-in knowledge to get her going.

"Cow milk?-" It looks like Anika is about to make a face and stick out her tongue in disgust but seems to stop herself at the last second considering the presence of Sally.
"-I prefer cat milk." She finishes, looking like she was just clearing her throat.
The druid then looks to Lucy. "Since that's what sabers are, cats. But not tiny ones like you have. They're normal-sized as in, uh, big." Anika nods. "In fact, let me show you what they look like."

In a instant she's enveloped in a quickly disappearing green cloud and out comes a teal furred saber-toothed cat the size of a horse. It grins widely at Lucy.

[Keeper]

Jace and Zebes grin, though they manage to hold back snickering at Khannie's flustered state. She really doesn't like when people laugh at her fuzzy self.
"Do you need me to cover you?" he whispers to Khannie. Jace can only cast basic, unmoving, silent illusions (unless he casts more spells to add sounds but it's inefficient) but that would be enough to cover Khannie for a few rounds seconds while she recovers her disguise.

[Thursday Violist]

[...]

"Oh no no not at all! I was just watching the crowd, and was noticing that . . . are you . . . waiting for anybody? I don't mean to pry, just saw you seated alone and wanted to check, just because if you aren't waiting for anybody, I- Uh-" Sally only now begins to actually think through what she's saying. And feels she may have put her foot in her mouth a bit. She shouldn't be assuming folks may be lonely! Or shy! They probably have friends and are just waiting! "I-. . ." She sighs slightly. "Sorry. I just have . . . A friend of my daughter's working with me in the back, trying to just stay away from the noise out here, and is very very very shy. If you just wanted someone to talk to, maybe a bit away from the noise.
But I'm definitely making assumptions I shouldn't be." She genuinely means well though!She's trying so so hard!

Since Talah only has two arms, even though she does try each the coconut milk cocoa and the cow milk cocoa separately, she ends up mixing them together 50-50 just because it's easier.

Though, she does appreciate that. It's basically like trying out three separate drinks with the calories of only one drink.


Talah pretty much immediately gets what Sally's getting at.
....!

Well, it's okay. Sally is entirely correct so there's no point in getting embarrassed about it. Talah glances around, double-checking something: "To be honest, there's actually zero people here that I know. I was hoping I could find people to get to know but I forgot how hard that was." Talah tries to laugh at herself, essentially giving permission to Sally to laugh at her as well.
More importantly, though, Talah looks at the door back, to find which 'in the back' said daughter's friend is. She points. "Back that way?" she asks. After a pause, she adds, "What's her name?" Since it would definitely be easier to talk to someone whose name she already knows.

After that, Talah makes sure to grab her stuff, and head back there to talk to this very very very shy person. "Hi?" she says as she enters.

[Rebonack]

"Nah I'm okay," comes Khannie's false voice as she gets herself covered up again. "I... need to stop making such a big deal out of it, you know? I shouldn't let it get to me. But... thanks."

Khannie doesn't take the candy cane right away, she's busy building the rest of her disguise. It doesn't take too terribly long, weaving shadows into a simulation of human form. As soon as she's totally shrouded herself in the thing it snaps into a semblance of reality.

THEN she takes the candy cane while doing her best to look CROSS.

It is, of course, all an act. She thought it was funny. Mostly.

"You know I'm gunna have to get you back when you least expect it now, yeah?" she threatens not very threateningly. "I'll have to make sure it's something good." Maybe Zebes can help her come up with some solid pranking ideas for later in the evening.

Because she sure as HECK isn't going to ask her mom.

Then she laughs at the apology. "Don't sweat it too much. If my disguise is getting blown THAT easy then obviously I need more practice. I can usually keep it up if I know something was coming but I let my guard down 'cuz this is a Thanksmas cafe."

She sticks her tongue out at Cheasadh. "Wasn't that dumb of me?"

[bc56]

"Um, but if you love them, why torture them? Or let others torture them?" Mary isn't sure about the situation in the Abyss, but she knows that hells aren't nice places. "That's a good question. If you love your people, why render them down the way you do? Why have mulchmen and hounds? Why try to drag other souls into your misery?"

[Ironsmith]

Libidine frowns. "I never said I loved them. Quite the opposite. I despise them. They take something pure, something beautiful, and they... they ruin it. Consistently. Instinctually, even." Libidine holds her head in her hands, massaging her temples. "I'm the reason they're even capable of love, but for the most part, they just... don't. The most they do with the love I gave them is use it as an excuse to ffffffff-" She bites her lip, stopping short of saying what she very clearly meant and letting out an awkward hiss instead. She then just groans and buries her face in the table.

"How in the world am I supposed to love them? They don't even love each other." She mumbles cynically. "I've given up trying to reason with them. The stupid things don't live long enough for reason to be much good anyway. So now I just..." She swirls her finger around the table, taking note of an ant that's managed to come much too close to her to have much of a life expectancy. "...Do what one does with pests infesting their space."

squish!

[bc56]

"If you don't act in a way that reflects the gift you gave them, why the Hell would you expect them to use it properly? Let alone when you design a system specifically to bring out the worst in them." Sekhmet is fuming now. "You don't know love. Maybe you never did. Maybe that's why you failed." Sekhmet steels herself. What comes next is a challenge to say. She wants to leave this washed-up excuse for a queen wallowing in sorrow and frustration, but that wouldn't be productive. And it's Thanksmas. She puts a hand gently on Libidine's shoulder. "True love is unconditional. No matter how many times you fall, it's there to help you back up. It doesn't believe in lost causes. It doesn't need to prove itself, and it doesn't ask anything in return."

[Ironsmith]

Libidine is silent for a moment. Not for lack of anything to say, surely; Sekhmet will watch her expression go through a full range of emotions. From irked to thoughtful to furious to forced calm to... is that shame, maybe? Disgust, definitely, but... not at Sekhmet.

Finally, the Deviless folds her hands together and looks back to the demon queen, resting her chin on her thumbs. "...And is that what you believe in, Sekhmet?" She asks quietly. "No lost causes? No need to prove oneself? Nothing asked in return? Endless patience with failure and mistakes?" There's a sort of pointedness in her gaze as she watches the demon queen, making it quite clear, if it wasn't already, exactly how applicable that was to their situation.

[Morty]

"You can't let your guard down even for a second around Cheasadh," Brinika says with a mock grim tone as she picks her coca up again. "That's just what she's waiting for. You lose concentration for a moment and bam." She pumps her fist in the air. "Hi Mr. Jace. Merry Thanksmas."

[Earl of Purple]

"Yep, I know. Gotta make things fair." The gnome nods vigorously in response to Khannie's declaration of revenge, and she waves at Jace as well.

"I'd protest that, but I'm biased." Is Cheasadh's response to Brinika.

[bc56]

Sekhmet knows where this is going. "There's no point in forgiving someone for something they don't truly repent. That's just an abuse of mercy." In other words, Libidine would have to actually try to do better after being forgiven. Not because it's necessary for the forgiveness, but because it shows you really wanted it.

[Ironsmith]

For a brief moment, there's a flicker of disappointment in Libidine's gaze; hearing that was disheartening to her, for some reason. But the Deviless is able to promptly disguise it with a dismissive wave and a roll of her eyes. "So what you're saying is that I'm doing the right thing after all." She says flatly, clacking her nails together. "'No point in forgiving the unrepentant', right? How many souls do you think I've claimed that match that description? Or, better yet, how many do you think didn't match that description?" She scoffs. "Especially over the past few hundred years or so. Ever since the upstarts in Elysium managed to take the entrance to the Abyss, we've been explicitly given the unrepentant. Or are you saying now that I should extend a courtesy not even you would consider?"

[bc56]

"No. Because death isn't the end. We both know that for a fact. Even after death, there can still be repentance. And as long as there is that chance, I can hold out hope. I will not give up on my people." Libidine ought to know about that. Didn't those Elysium people she was just complaining about take one of her succubi away because they found that she had repented after death?

[Mee]

This new year is going to be different, Magtok tells himself. This clone is going to be different. We are not going to be beholden to our past limitations anymore. Old weaknesses, past insecurities, they won't be allowed to hold us back. We will be strong, brave, incredible, invincible. Yes, the name Magtok is going to mean something on this godsforsaken world, just like it did in days of old.

And it all starts with Magtok's cynophobia. Right now any halfwit with a Doberman could terrify our cyborg, intimidate him into helplessness with a German Shepherd, or spook us into a mute, panic-stricken stupor with a pit bull. It's a serious problem. Dipsnig and his wolfpack have too much power over Magtok's psyche, and he casually flaunts it every year with his big spooky wolf monsters every Thanksmas.

That all changes today. Magtok strides into the cafe with his head held high and all the false bravado he can muster. All he has to do is find a wolf and pet it. Conquer his fear through direct confrontation with the thing. That should be easy, right? Just walk forward, pick one of the smaller wolves, and give it a few pats. Simple. Children manage to do the same thing every year without issue, why not us?

"Oh hello-" Sally starts to say with extreme familiarity, but then blinks. "Oh I'm sorry I think I mistook you. Welcome! Happy Thanksmas! Can I get you anything to eat? Drink? Something warm to help combat the chilly day today's been?"

"Cow milk is good thank you Miss Sally you do a really nice job and the decorations are so nice I love them!" Lapis replies with her typical breathless love for literally everything. She'll take the hot chocolate before heading back over to the table to join the conversation with Anika and Lucy, catching only Lucy's question along with zero percent of the context.

"You're adorable. Thank you~" Sally beams again, before sending Lapis off back to her friends.
What a cute kiddo.

Since Talah only has two arms, even though she does try each the coconut milk cocoa and the cow milk cocoa separately, she ends up mixing them together 50-50 just because it's easier.

Though, she does appreciate that. It's basically like trying out three separate drinks with the calories of only one drink.


Talah pretty much immediately gets what Sally's getting at.
....!

Well, it's okay. Sally is entirely correct so there's no point in getting embarrassed about it. Talah glances around, double-checking something: "To be honest, there's actually zero people here that I know. I was hoping I could find people to get to know but I forgot how hard that was." Talah tries to laugh at herself, essentially giving permission to Sally to laugh at her as well.
More importantly, though, Talah looks at the door back, to find which 'in the back' said daughter's friend is. She points. "Back that way?" she asks. After a pause, she adds, "What's her name?" Since it would definitely be easier to talk to someone whose name she already knows.

After that, Talah makes sure to grab her stuff, and head back there to talk to this very very very shy person. "Hi?" she says as she enters.

"It can definitely be real hard!" Sally agrees, nodding a few times as she leans on the countertop. "But that's why I wanted to offer to help!" She smiles so happily, proud that she had been right! She could try to help! "I'll take the hard part out!

But yeah," Sally follows the gaze and direct that, part of the 'behind the counters' is a thin door that leads off into the back rooms where the coffee roasting gets done. "Yup yup, through that door, there'll be a small office immediately on the left. She'll either be in there or literally just on the other side of the door, at the little countertop back there for food prep.

And her name is Ber'ri!" More of a Beh-RE, than a Berry pronunciation though! "She is . . . incredibly shy and is hiding away from most people. But I think she could use somebody to talk to, if you're willing." But then she nods a few times, and lets Talah behind the counter, so she can go through the door!

And at the other side of the door, using the food-prep zone as Sally had kind of expected, is Ber'ri! She is a cowgirl -- in the 'girl with cow features' sort of sense, not yee-haw -- and has a fairly messy head of mint green hair, darkening to darker green at the tips, around her shoulders. Her eyes are wide and looking at the unexpectedly opening door to accompany the 'eep' that slips out of her. She clearly wasn't expecting company.
She's also just super hemkin' cute. A bit on the short side, wearing an oversized dark purple hoodie that obfuscates a lot, and with the sleeves pulled back above her hands -- and gloves on those hands! -- while she's making . . . some kind of small flat bread pizza. It has no cheese on it though.
But the sleeves are just as oversized, and would definitely cover most if not all of her hands.
Her tail -- again, cutely cow-themed -- swishes lightly behind her and she makes a little 'aaaa' as her cheeks redden a bit.
"H-h-h--h-h-hi" she stammers after a few moments of doing her best to get the words out! "Hi hello. Um. Um. W-welcome!"

[Ironsmith]

"No, they took her away because she got famous." Libidine snaps, her hand slamming into the table. "It was politics, all politics! She hasn't changed one bit from when she was alive, but they saw a chance to gain some popularity with my crowd by 'saving' a celebrity and they took it! Do you think I don't know what that looks like? Devilless of Lust and all of that? Huh?!" She rages, staring wild-eyed at Sekhmet.

...Who she just now realizes wasn't even thinking that.

"...Bugger." She mumbles, collapsing back into the booth's chair. "...Why don't we just forget I said anything."

[Keeper]

Jace waves to Khannie's friends.
"I think it would be Mr. Vallarm properly, but you don't have to be so formal."
He isn't sure Khannie would feel weird about her friends calling him by his first name but he's never cared himself.

[bc56]

Sekhmet frowns considering what was just said. She's not sure what that was about, but she doesn't think it should be dropped. "Really." She sounds skeptical. "I didn't think envy was your thing." The seven sins division seems silly to her. A bunch of them are interconnected. "I think we both know there are plenty of famous people in Hell."

[Ironsmith]

"Of course there are. They tend to be in my l-... in my domain." Libidine grumbles, catching herself and amending her statement before something incriminating came out. "Since as defined amongst ourselves, Lust is the obsessive desire for people, in some form... their affections, their reverence, their admiration, their submission, and so on. Fame, and the pursuit of fame, goes hand-in-hand with all of those." She waves her hand dismissively. "Marianne Van Braun was clearly mine, even before she became famous through DEATHKISS. And when she died the first time, their judge agreed, and so gave her over to us. To me, specifically. But then she died again, and that miserable goat brought her up for a retrial, and what do they do? They go back on their word! And in doing so, advertise to every soul in the Abyss that, yes, if they are so lucky as to come back to the Peccatorium, Elysium will welcome them with open arms!" Her fist slams into the table in fury. "And oh, no, of course that wouldn't work if they had chosen a nobody, would it have? They had to pick someone high-profile to do it with. They knew exactly what they were doing and what sort of nonsense they were opening us up to."

The Deviless of Lust slowly withdraws her hand and brushes hair out of her face, letting out a little sigh. "...Thankfully, this is as far as that... 'incident' goes." She continues, a little more calmly. "I've been over her profile. Marianne Van Braun is set to cause a disaster within a few months of her inclusion into Elysium, at most. After which the judges are going to think twice before accepting any more retrials." She taps her fingers against the table irritably, before fixing Sekhmet with a not-quite-sincere smile. "And besides, it's Thanksmas. Why choose now to get all hung up on business, am I right?"

[bc56]

Sekhmet might have to meet this "goat." They sound potentially useful. (She already has, but she has no inkling that it's the same person).

"But if famous people can go to Hell," Mary blurts out, "That means Heaven doesn't care about fame." She's been learning. And part of that is learning about governance and diplomacy. "And if they wanted to spite you, why would they bother with a trial? They're in a position to just take anyone they want, aren't they? You already said they control who goes to you."
Sekhmet nods approvingly. That was well reasoned.

[Ironsmith]

"Why, indeed?" Libidine rests her chin on her hands, considerably calmer now that the subject is slowly drifting away from the specifics of her robbery. "I'll tell you why, dear. The good people of Elysium can't take just anyone. Their little rebellion only works if their community is somewhat like-minded. Any deviation weakens them... such as if, say, they were to welcome what they consider to be a rightful demon into their ranks." She gives Mary a devious little smirk. "A costly mistake, on their part. Such an inclusion undermines Elysium's dogmas, and by doing so, sets them up to lose the advantage they have in their position over the entrance to the Abyss. And when Elysium falls back into the sea, where it belongs... the angels will have hell to pay."

"...Which, of course, is worth having one soul go wayward for a few months." Libidine admits, scratching at a spot on her nose. "But no less frustrating for it. Truth be told, I thought what they were doing up there was quite admirable, until they got all hypocritical with it."

[bc56]

"That's a lot of bravado from someone who's got nothing to fall back on," Mary taunts. Sekhmet nods again. "Powerful, eternal organizations are not in the habit of making suicidal mistakes. If you're wrong, this spells the end for your so-called kingdom." Sekhmet slowly slides her empty teacup towards the edge of the table. "If you don't find something solid to stand on..." she pushes it off, catching it before it can break against the ground... "You get the picture."

[Ironsmith]

"Powerful? Eternal?" Libidine lets out a giddy cackle. "You have no idea. Elysium is far from eternal, no matter how they'd like to pretend otherwise. They've only had any lands at all for the past couple hundred years... a mere blink of the eye, to beings like us." She starts to gesture to Sekhmet, but then remembers who she's dealing with. "...Well, beings like me, at any rate. You see, I am eternal. I've always existed in the Abyss and I always will. It's a part of me, I'm a part of it. Even if I were to lose every last one of my bodies-" She gives her hair a little flick back behind her head. "-I could always make or trade for new ones. There exists no way to unmake me, and believe me, so many have tried." She smirks and gestures to the teacup. "...I'd worry less about me and more about these so-called angels, if I were you."

[bc56]

Sekhmet laughs. "If anything, that should make you more scared." Mary catches on. "If they could take control of your entrance in so little time, imagine what they could do with more."
"Besides, don't give me that 'I always existed and always will' nonsense. The Abyss had to come from somewhere."
Sekhmet moves. She's starting to stand up, tired of this conversation. "One way or the other, you're a hypocrite talking out of both sides of your mouth. You say you wanted to save Beatrice, and then in the next breath declare your intent to exterminate all humanity, for their emphasis of lust over love, a trait, it seems, they learned from you, or at least you did nothing to show them a proper example. You are a lonely, loveless woman with nothing but spite in heart for the people who despise you because you've given them nothing but reasons to hate you for at least thousands of years. No one would miss you if you were gone. In fact, they would rejoice at your death or disappearance. Is that really an eternity worth living?"