[hider=Eli and Deni][url=https://i.imgur.com/sy0PpIT.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/sy0PpITl.jpg[/img][/url][/hider] [color=55B7AA]‘It’s finally time!’[/color] Deni expressed, skipping excitedly. The girl had made herself a brunette for once, but still looked very similar to her younger twin in her face. [color=DC9495]‘Yes! Christmas! A real, proper Christmas!’[/color] Eli replied, hands together as they looked around so excitedly as well. [color=55B7AA]‘It’s not gonna be like Christmases of old, like with our family and such… but it’s much better than it could have been!’[/color] Deni grinned so happily. [color=DC9495]‘Yes! I’m so happy you’re here with me…!’[/color] Eli said, almost starting to cry… Deni saw this, smiled happily and hugged around her sister. [color=55B7AA]‘C’mon! Let’s go see our friends and eat candy!’[/color] Deni suggested. [color=DC9495]‘Yes!’[/color] Eli replied, and the two girls turned and happily giggled as they sprinted through the halls. [hr] [hider=Asengav’s Champions][hider=Victoria and Tullia][url=https://i.imgur.com/LDgjppL.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/LDgjppLl.jpg[/img][/url] [url=https://i.imgur.com/8YzvY8o.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/8YzvY8ol.jpg[/img][/url][/hider] [color=9c87c9]‘Aaaaah… this is life…’[/color] Victoria said, sighing as she sat back in a beach chair in the middle of the winter wonderland, a cup of hot cocoa in her hands. [color=6cbad4]‘I feel so… relaxed…’[/color] Tullia mumbled, lying down on a similar chair next to her. [color=6cbad4]‘Just because we’re ice-spec girls, I guess…?’[/color] [color=9c87c9]‘Also not a battlefield, and no chance of being attacked…’[/color] Victoria chuckled a bit. [color=9c87c9]‘Thank you… for looking out for me, Tullia. I really appreciate it…’[/color] Tullia was a bit shocked, it wasn’t common hearing something like that from Victoria. She smiled back, and replied. [color=6cbad4]‘It’s no problem. Thank you, for remaining by my side.’[/color] The two smiled at one another, before sighing, and submitting to calmly enjoying their natural element. [hider=Ronja, Suzette][url=https://i.imgur.com/JU1iDXS.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/JU1iDXSl.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://i.imgur.com/bC6uRx7.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/bC6uRx7l.jpg[/img][/url][/hider] Somewhere completely out of sight, Ronja and Suzette stood with a confused young girl. Suzette looked hesitant, but Ronja insisted. They were going to have this Christmas, as mother and daughter. That was her gift. Suzette kept looking around so that nobody else was around to see what was happening, but eventually she looked back at the confused young girl, and then embraced her. The girl was understandably scared, from her perspective she’d just been kidnapped by a spider-monster and was surrounded by strangers, but then Suzette told who she was, and her eyes widened in shock. It’d take a while to explain, but at the end of it, they would have newfound closure on the whole matter of Suzette’s sudden disappearance from her family’s life… Ronja stood, satisfied. Beside her, stood a momentarily brainwashed young man. He was just her entertainment. He’d be released after Christmas. He wouldn’t remember a thing. Well, maybe a dream or two. [hider=Taihei, Josefin][url=https://i.imgur.com/gx5uQjl.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/gx5uQjll.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://i.imgur.com/0jXtfAR.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/0jXtfARl.jpg[/img][/url][/hider] [color=4e5478]‘Christmas…’[/color] Taihei sighed, sitting in the middle of snow somewhere. [color=4e5478]‘We don’t celebrate this event where I come from. Sounds like it could be lovely… but the only ones I’d celebrate it with would be partners in interdimensional conquest. Not exactly close family…’[/color] [color=fcedae]‘How about with friends?’[/color] Josefin asked, giggling as she put a present next to Taihei. Taihei looked the mildest confused. [color=fcedae]‘Present for you!’[/color] [color=4e5478]‘Present…’[/color] Taihei looked at it, and sighed. Still, from behind her, drifted something too. [color=4e5478]‘I have a present, too. Here you go,’[/color] she said, and a small rock drifted to Josefin, who looked a bit surprised at it. It didn’t look very special, but… [color=4e5478]‘It’s a protective artifact that automatically activates if it senses lethal force. It’ll completely protect you, once. Keep it on you, and I’ll protect you… once,’[/color] Taihei explained, as she opened her own present. She looked slightly confused at the sticker of a bunny inside. [color=fcedae]‘Aw, we’re exchanging protective artifacts? Thank you…!’[/color] Josefin smiled so happily. [color=fcedae]‘I had to scour the Overcity for that one. It’s a protective artifact, which boosts the wearer’s luck. I was hoping it would counteract your bad luck a bit!’[/color] Josefin said, hopeful. [color=4e5478]‘Ah…’[/color] Taihei made a noise, then smiled. [color=4e5478]‘… Thank you. I already feel lucky, to have you for a frie-’[/color] And then a large snowball flew straight across the field they were in and hit Taihei in the face, making her instinctively flinch backwards into a tree, that somehow broke and toppled on top of Taihei while Josefin cried a bit in alarm. [i]A few seconds earlier~[/i] [hider=Mayra, Jelena][url=https://i.imgur.com/zUuFlVe.png][img]https://i.imgur.com/zUuFlVel.png[/img][/url][url=https://i.imgur.com/inzUfLO.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/inzUfLOl.jpg[/img][/url][/hider] [color=a699ad]‘Um, Mayra?’[/color] Jelena asked, looking a bit awkward. [color=fc6828]‘Hueh?’[/color] Mayra tilted her head backwards and away from her “dragon snowman” that was failing to keep stable because of gravity. [color=a699ad]‘I wanted to say… thank you, for indulging in my pastimes. Out of all the girls, you’re the one that excitedly embraced playing games with me, and… I wanted to thank you for it, so…’[/color] Jelena said, holding out a present to Mayra, in a comically oversized mechanical hand. [color=fc6828]‘Ooooh, no problem! Video games are fun, too, when I don’t accidentally break the controllers! A present? Lemme see!’[/color] Mayra excitedly let her dragon snowman collapse as she turned and gripped the present, delving into to find… a hand-held video-game console. [color=fc6828]‘Ooooh! My own games!’[/color] [color=a699ad]‘Yes…’[/color] Jelena said and smiled. [color=a699ad]‘I’ve had it cracked and expanded the memory on it so it fit all the games I thought you’d like on it, so they’re all installed. I thought you’d like it…’[/color] [color=fc6828]‘Awww, thank you!’[/color] Mayra threw her hands around the girl with metal limbs and squeezed hard. [color=fc6828]‘I’ll do my best to not break it! Aw, I should have done presents, too, but I didn’t know to bring any… Oh, wait, I know!’[/color] Mayra’s eyes suddenly glowed excitedly. [hider=Freya][url=https://i.imgur.com/nXY3otX.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/nXY3otXl.jpg[/img][/url][/hider] [color=C5DBE7]‘I… look ridiculous. Why don’t I ever remain snake-like on these trips?’[/color] Freya asked, not understanding that pictures of Christmas lamias are way hard to find, especially to make look even remotely like her. She looked over at several of their group being happy, and she instinctively thought they were ridiculous… But no, wait. That which Aurelio told her. [i]She[/i] was the one being ridiculous. She needed companionship, didn’t she? She should engage with the rest of them… but that was so hard. There was some sort of mental block that prevented her. It was so much easier to stay at a distance. But no, she had to make an effort. If only she could- Freya recoiled as she was suddenly hit by a snowball. Mayra looked excitedly at her, while Jelena next to her suddenly looked terrified. [color=fc6828]‘Freya! Snowball fight us! Let that be your gift to us!’[/color] Mayra said, excitedly. [color=a699ad]‘That- that won’t work, right? Freya never spars with us! Even in commanded test-fights, she just completely runs us over, she’d never engage in something so frivolous. All that did was make her mad…!’[/color] Jelena said. It was strange. Freya really had got that kind of reputation, huh. Still, it was all so much easier now. Thanks, Mayra. Freya grunted as a hand went into the snow, and picked up a snowball. [color=C5DBE7]‘… Don’t say you didn’t ask for it,’[/color] Freya told a shocked Jelena and an overly excited Mayra. [color=fc6828]‘OH, YES! IT’S ON!’[/color] Mayra said, and immediately threw a snowball in the face of Jelena. It was every girl for herself here! A ferocious snow-ball fight took place, of girls having fun. A stray snowball eventually obviously hit Taihei in the face, toppled that tree on her, and everything stopped as they wondered if she’d gotten hurt. However, concern turned to excited fear as Taihei rose into the air with an array of Gravity-carried snowballs around her, and she started raining them down on her aggressors. Josefin excitedly picked snowballs too, and the fight continued! Taihei looked completely like a snowman soon enough, as even snowballs not aimed at her hit her all the time… [hider=Olivia, Lea, Esther][url=https://i.imgur.com/qWpHlj4.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/qWpHlj4l.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://i.imgur.com/LnC7NSt.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/LnC7NStl.jpg[/img][/url][url=https://i.imgur.com/tFGluoI.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/tFGluoIl.jpg[/img][/url][/hider] [color=D6AD7F]‘Aaaaaaaaah…’[/color] Olivia made an amazed sound as she walked through the winter wonderland. [color=D6AD7F]‘I really thought… my days of leisure and beautiful sights were over… That I’d just be working in that workshop forever…’[/color] [color=c1eb9b]‘Pfth. Did you ever think about making [i]requests[/i] from time to time?’[/color] Lea asked, arms crossed. [color=c1eb9b]‘We’re perfectly happy to have you work forever in the workshop, that benefits us, but if you just tell us what you want, then we’ll take it into advice. Happy workers work better, after all,’[/color] Lea said, not exactly telling the truth but it wouldn’t do to make the girl unhappy. [color=c1eb9b]‘Look at Esther. She’s mute and emotionless, but she still requests time in her garden.’[/color] Olivia, completely fooled, nodded in amazement. [color=D6AD7F]‘You all… are nicer than I thought. I’ll do so! Thank you!’[/color] Olivia said. She looked over at Esther, who looked… really human. [color=D6AD7F]‘Wow, did the Christmas magic make you human again…?’[/color] [color=c1eb9b]‘Don’t be fooled. She’s still made out of wood. Coloured wood, but wood all the same,’[/color] Lea said. [color=D6AD7F]‘R-really?’[/color] Olivia asked in amazement. Esther didn’t answer, just stared out in the distance, standing in moderately skimpy clothing and fishnets on her legs, for whatever reason. [color=c1eb9b]‘In any case. Nothing’s going to happen here, so let’s take our time and rela-’[/color] Lea said, before a snowball flew half-way across the field from Mayra’s hand and hit Lea in the face. [color=fc6828]‘COME JOIN US, IF YOU DARE!’[/color] Mayra shouted from way over there. Olivia looked terrified. Did Mayra just make such an attack on the representative of Asengav!? The snowball fell away, and Lea looked pretty darn irked. Olivia prepared for them all to be dragged into portal purgatory… [color=c1eb9b]‘How… dare you…’[/color] Lea grunted… when her wind-magic picked up an array of snowballs, like Taihei had with gravity. [color=c1eb9b]‘I will not be made fun of! Come, Esther, Olivia! We’ll take the fight to them!’[/color] Lea said, as she flew forth and Mayra and co had to scatter. Esther followed orders and picked up snow with vines and roots to throw, and Olivia looked a bit shocked but summoned five spirits to grab snow and throw for her while she could take cover behind them…! Taihei was hit by most of the snowballs. Then she threw two of her own, and it accidentally got trapped in a wind Lea was generating and flew over to hit Tullia and Victoria. All stood in awe and horror as an icy palace suddenly sprouted from Tullia’s feet and an army of snow-wielding Victorias grinned from the walls. They had involved the ice-specced girls into a snowball fight. The result was not going to be pretty. And so, the battle went on…[/hider] [hr] On the roof of the building stood a white-haired girl, gathering courage. She had a gigantic sack lying on a portal behind her, because she’d be unable to move it on her own. She was in a little Santa dress, complete with a cap. Her eyes were focused with intense determination. [hider=Mariette][url=https://i.imgur.com/YuzlPlL.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/YuzlPlLl.jpg[/img][/url][/hider] [color=077ae6]‘Like before, I expect you to stay out of sight. They shouldn’t know you exist,’[/color] Mariette said to the shadow behind her. [color=A2DFF6]‘And here I got myself dressed up and everything,’[/color] the person behind her said. [hider=I totally look like this][url=https://i.imgur.com/e0aJ9iQ.jpg][img]https://i.imgur.com/e0aJ9iQl.jpg[/img][/url][/hider] [color=077ae6]‘… Regardless, remember that we’re liable to let information slip here, which we can’t. We’re also here for a mission. A mission I have resolved myself to clear…’[/color] Mariette said. [color=A2DFF6]‘I could have bugged the whole building,’[/color] the person suggested. [color=077ae6]‘No. That’d be disingenuous. Dan still has the mirror. We must make sure that this is the most peaceful party ever, with no ulterior motives,’[/color] Mariette said. [color=A2DFF6]‘That’s an ulterior motive,’[/color] the person commented. [color=077ae6]‘… Off with you, I need to focus,’[/color] Mariette retorted. [color=A2DFF6]‘As you wish, ma’am,’[/color] the person said, turning around and walking. Mariette took a deep breath. Dan had told her to prove that she was sorry for what had happened by working on the Christmas party. She had no idea how working on the party could possibly prove that she had changed her ways, primarily because she hadn’t, but she’d do her absolute best to put effort into this. She eventually figured she’d waited enough. She took a deep breath, opened a portal, and skipped through. First, she went up to Lily, because she’d been the first to appear. Ignoring everyone else, Mariette walked up to her, eyes gleaming with determination, as she put a hand in her bag, pulled out an item, and offered it forward for Lily to take. [hider=I rolled a 12, but you can change it if you like]It was a small plushie depicting a very happy cow.[/hider] [color=077ae6]‘Merry Christmas, Lily. I hope you’ll have a great time, here,’[/color] Mariette said, making herself smile, and then turned to the next person, in order to give them a plushie, too. Taihei had been very confused when Mariette requested a copious amount of stuffed animals without any enhancements on them. Because, as Mariette figured, everyone should think stuffed animals are cute. It also ensured the gift would be equal for every person, and she didn’t need to take into account people that she didn’t know. This way, there’d be a gift for everyone, and Mariette had enough of them to account for over a hundred extra guests she hadn’t kept in mind. Mariette was going to hand out plushies to every single person in the party. Everyone was equal. She’d smile to friends, forced smile to strangers, and even more forced smile to those who’d tried to kill her in the past. This includes to anyone in Beacon, and to Justine. She’d look exceedingly worried trying to hand something to the members of Ascendancy and Alicia, but it was all in the spirit of Christmas. She’d hesitate in front of Justine, but still hand one over and then turn as quickly as possible to the next person. Couldn’t be held back by anyone. And of course, one for Dan, too. [color=077ae6]‘Merry Christmas! I hope you’ll have a great time here,’[/color] she’d say to everyone, because that’s the line she practiced, with the addition to their names if they’re her friend/ally. You may all pick yourself what kind of plushie you get, or you can roll on this handy table if you can’t decide. [hider=table]1 - Bear or Panda 2 - Lion or Tiger 3 - Dragon or 4 - Cat 5 - Dog or Wolf 6 - Fox or Racoon 7 - Elephant or Giraffe 8 - Mouse or Squirrel or other rodent 9 - Turtle or Seal or Frog or other surface water animal 10 - Bunny or Pig 11 - Bird or Owl 12 - Cow or Bull 13 - Sheep or Goat 14 - Fish, Shark or other underwater 15 - Human (could be styled after someone), or Ghost 16 - Crocodile or Kangaroo 17 - Bat or Snake 18 - Horse or Moose 19 - Dinosaur 20 - Spider, Bee or other insect[/hider]