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

[Keeper]

Vallarm Family Thanksmas

"Well, if you're sure..."
Jace absolutely would have glared at that cat.
And then Arthfael falls flat on his face.
He really needs more social stamina.
"All right, none of that. Come on." As the adult here Jace attempts to reach down and pick up Arthfael to safely deposit him in a nearby chair.

[Rebonack]

[Vallarm and Friends]

Oh geeze oh beans oh what the heck what?

WHAT.

Did Arthfael just faint? Did Khannie just do like... one of those weird kiss moves by mistake? She doesn't even know how to do any of those! But wait no one else is freaking out just calm down everything is cool.

It's cool.

Just chill out.

Khannie takes a deep breath and does a half way competent job of not looking like she's freaking out.

"He's okay, right?" Khannie asks, more than a little hesitancy in her tone.

This was just supposed to be a fun kiss! Not a giant drama bomb.

[Ironsmith]

[Vallarm and Friends]

At Khannie's question about his well-being, Arthfael's thumb shoots up, along with a good portion of his arm. Yep, he's fine. Were he in the talking sort of mood, he might point out that he's pretty much immortal and even if he fell hard and in the worst possible way, he's not going to hurt himself.

Still got that big, doofy smile on his face, though.

He doesn't protest in any way when Jace gets him up and on the chair, either. In fact, after being pulled up to his feet, he needs only a minimal lead-up to the chair before sitting down.

That smile disappears really quickly when he sees how distressed Khannie is. Oh, geez. That... was not intended at all.

[Morty]

[Vallarm and Friends]

"Yeah, getting stepped on is our thing," Brinika quips. She's still holding up Khannie's present. "But it looks like he's fine."

[Magtok]

"Hemk yeah you got it." Sally grins back, somehow already knowing the type of milk magtok would want?! What?! Do they know each other?!
Sally lets out a gasp though, "Doggy doggy doggy doggy"

The wolf sniffs at Magtok's hand, then pokes it with her nose and tries to nuzzle into it, clearly expecting more thorough headpats than the cyborg is currently willing to give.

It's taken almost two weeks all of his willpower to not flinch back in fear, but Magtok slowly, warily tries to scratch under the wolf's chin with his hand. That seems to be what the beast wants, right? And acquiescing to its simple demand is a good way to make ourselves appear non-threatening and friendly, isn't it? After that, we just need to figure out a good time to stop, to identify our best opportunity to withdraw from the wolf and go grab our drink, without it following us around and demanding more pets. I uhh...I don't really know how we're going to do that, but eventually the wolf should lose interest or get distracted by another cafe-goer. I'm sure it won't take that long.

[Earl of Purple]

Brignole Family Thanksmas

"Right. Uh, you know I love you as you are, right?" Prumathe is reminded of Sekhmet a long time ago, and his first thought is she's done some demonic magic thing to spit off a part of her previous life to be Sekhmet-at-Home whilst she's busy ruling Hell, and... he's not a fan of the idea.

Vallarm Family Christmas

"Only because bigjobs don't look where they're going. We don't want to be stepped on." At this point, they can probably give Khannie the present they've got her, before they can give each other the ones they got.

[bc56]

Brignole Family Thanksmas
"Thanks honey, I know," Sekhmet smiles. Selekhael winces. "This is, uh, a really long story. For now, you can think of her," she motions to the half-drow, "As my sister. Your sister-in-law." That ends that concern. "I have another aunt?" Mary asks. "Uh, yes! Hi. You must be Mary, your mum told me about you."

[Morty]

[Wolves, Dragons and Cyborgs]

Magtok's deliverance seems to come from Sally. When hearing her exuberant reaction, the wolf's head snaps towards her and it pads over closer to her. Meanwhile, Magtok will hear a short laugh behind him. The voice that speaks is unmistakably Dipsnig's.

"Magtok. I'm glad to see you're getting along with young Munle."

[Earl of Purple]

Brignole Family Thanksmas

"So you've not split part of yourself off to be a home-Sekhmet whilst the rest of you sits in the Scorching Depths? That was my initial thought. Sorry about that, Selekhael. I didn't mean to make things awkward for you." It seems things are a bit more complex than he'd initially thought, and he's genuinely apologetic if he has upset Selekhael somehow.

[bc56]

Brignole Family Thanksmas
"Uh, no. I didn't split any part of myself off," Sekhmet confirms. Suspiciously specifically. "Someone else did. A, uh, long time ago. Uh, just over a week after our first date." That revelation might have been a bombshell if Prumathe hadn't guessed that Sele was a copy of Sekhmet. She's still not willing to meet his eyes.

[Murkus]

[Frescot Escapades]

Lucy looks around wildly, all flushed and embarrassed now. She feels a bit sick. She slowly scuttles down off of Anika's back to stand in front of Calanthe. "I figured... um... figured it'd be fine if I was with Lapis..." She also sort of didn't expect Lapis to get them here quite this quick.

The big white stag snorts out a cloud of white vapor at Lapis, then trots off to one side of the cafe and around the corner, out of sight. He looks like he's carrying something hung around his neck.

Footsteps can be heard a moment later, and there's Adir himself, clothed only in a loose leather vest and a pair of jeans. He crosses his arms and frowns at the funny little tableau, though he doesn't want to intercede too much yet. Let Calanthe handle this for the moment. He does, however, give Anika a mildly reproachful look. "Taking orders from little girls now, are we, Anika?"

[Shadowcaller]

[Frescot Escapades]

Oh hey!
It was... that dude!

She remembers his name.

It was Adeer, right? Something like that. Lucy's dad.

The saber looks between them and once both girls have gotten off her back she turns back into her humanoid form in a cloud of emerald green.
"Well, yeah." Anika addresses Adir. "Don't you? Isn't that like a dad's job?" Her own dad had certainly done all sort of silly stuff on her behest.

[Rebonack]

[Frescot Escapades]

Getting there quick was definitely a way to describe what Lapis had done. She sort of... leaped. And the world blurred around them. There was a sensation of great speed and the wind whistling past and then they were standing in front of the cafe.

But!

We'll focus more on Lapis' response to the bunwitch first.

She looks troubled. "She didn't?" Lapis says, looking puzzled. "But Lucy said-"

What HAD Lucy said?

Specifically, what had she said?

Lapis asked if it was okay and Lucy said they didn't say it WASN'T okay. That was a true thing she spoke and so Lapis thought everything would be fine! But now here they are and it isn't fine. It takes a few moments to put things together and when Lapis does she looks...

Hurt.

"...Lucy you tricked me," the little half-drow girl says with a pathetic sniffle.

[Arkhosia]

[Frescot Escapades]

Calanthe's eyes widen as the saber suddenly turns into a very tall woman - and then fill with a portrait of confused irritation. "You mean to tell me you were sapient and could understand me the whole time, but simply chose not to stop?" Her voice is low, even - the kind of still quiet that portends a harsh and frightful storm.

Fortunately for Anika, there are more pressing subjects at the moment. The storm is held back and Calanthe turns back towards Lucy. "I'm afraid there are going to have to be serious consequences for this. If I were in charge, I would ban any and all playdates for at least a week. Fortunately for you, it is not my place to decide, and we will see if your parents are more lenient."

The stern, hard expression seems to break when Lapis finally processes things though, and she watches things unfold with a genuine flicker of concern and worry. It seems too early for her to step in, though - she can't solve Lucy's problems for her, only be there to soothe things if things go poorly.

[Keeper]

Vallarm Family Thanksmas

Jace smiles and settles back into his seat since Arthfael seems fine.
”Well, everything seems to be in order again. How about the rest of folks go through the presents that are left?” he suggests.

[Rebonack]

[Vallarm Family Thanksmas]

"That's a good idea," Khannie quickly agrees, her face flushing a little.

Maybe her dumb idea was a dumb idea after all.

She turns her attention to Brinika and Cheasadh, hopefully they like the Thanksmas scarfs she picked out for them. They both have a fun snowflakes and trees pattern, though the snowflakes on Cheasadh's are bright pink. Considering the pink snowfall a few minutes ago that was probably a solid choice on Khannie's part.

[Earl of Purple]

Brignoles

"Oh." Is all Prumathe can really think of to reply. "I'm sorry about that. Uh. Not really sure what to say about that. It... took guts to approach us like this, and I appreciate it." And Prumathe really has no idea how to react to this news. Like, it's not what he feared it was, which is good, but it's... still somehow worse. Because Selekhael might still love him, but she's not Sekhmet even though she also kind-of is. This is complicated.

[bc56]

Brignoles
Selekhael seems to notice Prumathe's discomfort. "I, uh, never wanted to hurt you. I, uh, spent so long longing for you and knowing I couldn't have you. I just, uh, need to end it. Properly." That sounds slightly ominous. She steps forward with arms outstretched... To pull him into a hug. "Bye Prumathe. I'm sorry it couldn't work out between us, I hope you and Sekhmet and your children are happy and..." She can't say any more, she's busy crying.

[Ironsmith]

[Vallarm and Friends]

It seems that Khannie
Thinks much the same way I do
Hee hee hee hee hee

Cheasadh will get a vague jitter of amusement from her staff, but it otherwise doesn't seem to feel the need to weigh in.


Arthfael, meanwhile, sits up and rubs at a sore spot on the back of his head, watching the gifts being unwrapped with some amount of intrigue. While his little pratfall hadn't hurt him too badly, it was still a touch painful. That, and it seems to have genuinely worried Khannie. He should probably avoid doing that in front of her again. Or at least, giving her a crash course on strigoi humor before another attempt at it is made.

[Earl of Purple]

Brignole Family

Prumathe will hug back, too. "I'm sorry too, and I wish you every happiness." It's nearly a pity he didn't find out sooner. If they'd found each other shortly after the split, perhaps something could have been done, though Prumathe's happy with the Sekhmet he's got now and doesn't want to share her. Even with another her.

[Mee]

Talah nods: she totally agrees.

Anyway, she goes off to wash her hands. "Just flour's fine, I don't have any allergies," Talah says. She also decides on sauce, and other things, and vegetables, and other things, and occasionally asks for recommendations from Ber'ri.

"Sure sure!" Ber'ri replies excitedly, helping point out where things were stored. She definitely let Talah do all / most of the work on actually making her own food, but definitely guided her to like, 'where things are', 'about how much should be added to make it tasty', and so on! It always tastes better when you make it yourself.
"I'm . . . the one thing I'm not super sure on is the cheeses. I. Uh. Try to avoid milk in general. But you can never go wrong with a good mozzarella, I think?"

It's taken almost two weeks all of his willpower to not flinch back in fear, but Magtok slowly, warily tries to scratch under the wolf's chin with his hand. That seems to be what the beast wants, right? And acquiescing to its simple demand is a good way to make ourselves appear non-threatening and friendly, isn't it? After that, we just need to figure out a good time to stop, to identify our best opportunity to withdraw from the wolf and go grab our drink, without it following us around and demanding more pets. I uhh...I don't really know how we're going to do that, but eventually the wolf should lose interest or get distracted by another cafe-goer. I'm sure it won't take that long.

[Wolves, Dragons and Cyborgs]

Magtok's deliverance seems to come from Sally. When hearing her exuberant reaction, the wolf's head snaps towards her and it pads over closer to her. Meanwhile, Magtok will hear a short laugh behind him. The voice that speaks is unmistakably Dipsnig's.

"Magtok. I'm glad to see you're getting along with young Munle."

Sally finishes getting Magtok his drink, with an "Enjoooooooy~!", before dropping down onto her knees to excitedly reach one hand out to the doggy doggy doggy. She makes sure that the wolf can have a few seconds to sniff her hand before she does anything else, knowing to be polite with doggos!
But if, after a few probably sniff snoffs, the wolf doesn't object, she'll reach up -- still, kind of slowly! -- and deliver a collection of pat pat pats to the doggy doggy!

[bc56]

Brignoles
Neither Sekhmet has any interest in the other, so in reality it would be Prumathe who would be shared. But neither Sekhmet wants to share him either. "I, uh, need to get back to the Thanksmas festivities at my temple," Sele manages to stop crying. "Thank you for letting me say goodbye." As quickly as she came, she vanishes into thin air again.

[Earl of Purple]

Brignoles

"That was... odd. I feel a bit sorry for her. Do we know how she split from you?" If they can figure out how it happened, or perhaps who did it and why, they can perhaps work to prevent them from doing something like that again.

[Morty]

[Vallarm Family Thanksmas]

"That's a really pretty scarf! Thanks, Khannie!" Brinika does like to wear clothes that match with Cheasadh. Given that they look nothing alike (what with being different species) it helps to make it clear they're sisters.

When Khannie opens her gift, she will find a belt and a bandoleer for potions, wands and other things an adventurer might need. It can be conveniently adjusted to fit her fox-form.

[bc56]

Brignoles
"Uh, I don't really understand it myself," Sekhmet responds. She doesn't. It makes no sense to her. "It's something about time travel and Fate? She's explained it to me, but I don't understand any of it." She sighs. "At least she has a life of her own now," It would have been unfortunate if she'd tried to barge back into Sekhmet and Prumathe's lives.

[Thursday Violist]

"Sure sure!" Ber'ri replies excitedly, helping point out where things were stored. She definitely let Talah do all / most of the work on actually making her own food, but definitely guided her to like, 'where things are', 'about how much should be added to make it tasty', and so on! It always tastes better when you make it yourself.
"I'm . . . the one thing I'm not super sure on is the cheeses. I. Uh. Try to avoid milk in general. But you can never go wrong with a good mozzarella, I think?"

Talah is perfectly fine doing all / most of the work on making the food, since it's her food anyway...and, well, it's not her first time cooking. Treats recipes as more like guidelines, though.

Talah almost asks Ber'ri if she's lactose intolerant or something, before realizing it has the potential to becoming a really awkward question..
...
Probably just lactose intolerant, to be honest.

"Mozzarella's not my favorite, but it's good enough," she says instead. She ends up going with that one.

and! It's fun!

During the periods of waiting, she ends up talking about things like "Mostly, I came here to this party looking for networking and other business stuff like that, but this was pretty fun."

[Murkus]

[Frescot Escapades]

"Sure it is. A dad's job," Adir says to Anika with emphasis, forking a thumb at himself. "As in, mine." He won't add more to Calanthe's outrage, but he doesn't see any reason to try to curb it either.

"I-I didn't mean to!" Lucy says, quick to try to staunch Lapis's tears. She holds up her hands helplessly. "I thought it was... I dunno. It sounded right at the time. And seemed fine! I figured we'd be perfectly safe! You wouldn't have let anything happen to me!" Lucy says this more with a rock-steady certainty than any kind of attempt to butter Lapis up. Lapis is sort of Weird but in a Cool way, and she goes on quests n' fights things. Surely she had been a sufficient chaperone.

"That's why--" Lucy looks up at Calanthe. "That's why I thought it was okay. And then you showed up and it kinda... it kinda..." Lucy blanches. She feels a little sick. "Freaked me out..." She grabs at her tummy. "I don't feel right."

Lucy is barely worried about her punishment right at this second, but surely there will be pouting later. At minimum.

[Shadowcaller]

[Frescot Escapades]

Anika raises an eyebrow at the outrage. "Hey now, you came in here through a swarm of bugs while shouting up a storm and then Lucy told me to run." She looks to Adir. "And I always take children on their word when they're afraid. Always." The druid nods dutifully, since if there was anything Anika had that could resemble a 'code' it was that.

Then she sees Lapis starting to cry. Oh dear.

This required desperate measures.
She looks between the two girls.
"Lapis, Lucy, I think you need to hug each other until you're no longer sorry." The druid remarks as she places her hand on Lapis shoulder to provide some comfort. She wasn't going to approach Lucy as that was more the domain of the other two.

[Rebonack]

[Frescot Escapades]

There's a hint of earnestness there.

Lucy didn't mean to trick Lapis.

Not exactly. It wasn't a lie. But it wasn't the whole truth, either. It was a truth presented so as to misdirect.

It was deception. Mendacity.

Not good things!

Lapis still looks a little put out by this revelation. Though she'll give her friend a hug none the less. "Friends shouldn't trick each other. Even by mistake. Even if you thought it would be safe. But I forgive you, okay? We'll still be friends."

She sounds resolutely certain about that point!

Then she'll turn to the grownups.

"I'm sorry I ran ahead with Lucy. I thought it would be okay, too."

[Arkhosia]

[Frescot Escapades]

Calanthe narrow her eyes at Anika - and yet, there's a moment where her posture seems to falter as she looks between Lucy and the night elf, an imperceptible wince at how she almost seems to double over. Oh dear, she'd really frightened the girl hadn't she? "I can see about brewing something to help with that," she offers, her voice softer this time.