ORIGIN

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Magic in the air? She wondered how that would feel. "Interesting." Arquia had to admit, it did sound like a good place to build a home. Not that she would ever move there herself, Eridanus would forever be where she was most comfortable. It did sound fitting for someone like Tourmaline though.
"Good idea, I can carry the statue." The dragon picked up the gift she was given by Naskital and placed it on her back, balancing it between her wings so that it would not fall off. The statue was then picked up carefully within her jaws, and she ensured not to bite it too hard and chip it. Arquia dipped her head, signalling she would follow Tourmaline. She had no idea where this Polaris was.

@Tourmaline

Callum had come bearing prey. Not meadow deer of course, as he had learned his lesson about messing with them. The scars gained from the ordeal were littered across his body, which should've been good reminders of not dive bombing a very dangerous herd. That was in theory. In truth, he thought the scars were very cool and it only solidified his motivation to teach those meadow deer a lesson one day when he was stronger.
The dragon flew into Orion with two rabbits grasped in his paws. They were the remnants of his earlier hunt, when he had killed a few more than he needed to. He figured that he should do something with the excess prey. Oh? What was this? The snow felt cold on his scales, and as he dipped down, he landed amidst the gathered gembound, curious. They were all giving each other gifts.
"I'VE BROUGHT PREY." Callum announced to no one in particular. He looked around to see if anyone was interested in an exchange.

"Thank you, Arquia," she nods when Arquia picks up the statue. "I'll lead the way." Tourmaline grabs her present's box, and starts dragging it through the snow in the direction to the tunnel to Polaris.

She does stop briefly to look behind. "Thank you, everyone!" she calls out, before continuing on her march, Arquia in tow.

@Arquia
(Exit Tourmaline)
(if you want we could do another thread in Polaris!)

She blinked in response, unable to really talk with the statue in her mouth. Arquia follows behind Tourmaline, slowing her usual pace to match hers. It took much more concentration to walk and balance the present on her back. Hopefully there wouldn't be snow in Polaris. It was so cold and uncomfortable. As she followed thoughts swirled in her mind about what they may encounter there.

Exit Arquia

Seems the beast has missed a party or two. Well, perhaps that is for the best considering that these parties were in the theme and spirit of giving, and what the catawampus is best at really is the taking part of that exchange. The unfortunate thing for everyone still present, at this point, is that the beast has still managed to show up. It barrels toward the holiday spectacle in mostly quadrupedal style, using its wings for extra lift, clutching a locked suitcase haphazardly in one hefty paw.

The catawampus makes a beeline for what seems, to it, the main event — a perfectly unguarded cornucopia of various things to shove in its mouth and swallow. Delightful. It makes short work of shoveling in more than its fair piece of candy canes, meat, fish, hot chocolate, swiveling chaotically to reach every offering, either blissfully unaware or deliberately ignorant of the havoc wreaked by its size and extremities knocking into innocent, inanimate bystanders. A terrible, arrhythmic symphony of munching and crunching and glugging floats about the source, backed by the unstable metronome of soft thuds, wobbling dishes, and the occasional clatter-shatter combo. Any witness could probably contract gout just from watching this feasting performance. Alas, the only known witness for now is Sam the Suitcase who idles close by, and who does not have the biological capacity to contract any disease; it's part of what makes him so special.

Despite all the catawampus's focus seeming solely upon the jumbled conducting of this hellish sensory orchestra, Callum's call of prey does not seem to go unheard, because even after the crescendo, the denouement, and the final halting of all destructive sound effects, the beast, apparently unsatisfied, still turns its head toward the draconic entity and stares. And what it thinks as it stares I wish with all my heart I could tell you, but that pair of gazes is so often unreadable entirely because it is so often opaque and devoid of all evidence of intelligent life. I could make my guesses, and in this moment I would guess that it is trying to formulate some kind of melodic and superfluous way of saying "Give me your food", but I would be wrong because once it finally seems to be done feigning elevated cognition, it trudges over to the fellow monstrous hybrid and says nothing. Not with its body, nor its expression, nor its slovenly, food-addled maw. Like a mob from a video game stuck in the loading process. You would not believe how much of a curse it is sometimes to be stuck as the narrator for this thing.

Eventually, it narrows it eyes — all four — and produces some semblance of intellectually manipulated sound. I wonder just how long this is going to—"I TAKE." Oh. Okay. It takes all of two seconds, and then it takes — or attempts to take — a rabbit. Just one. Wow... a stunning display of generosity— wait no it's reaching for both. Okay, that's more what I expected. Well, you know, every Christmas story needs a scrooge. Sometimes, occasionally, every once in a blue moon that scrooge is like 11 feet tall when standing bipedally and has enough air and vacant space in its skull to allow for the existence of a small, localized weather system. Anything can happen in these caves, really.

Whether it is allowed one, two, or zero dead rabbits, the catawampus will turn away from the other beast, appearing to be unwilling to part with any more words. It will wander towards its lingering suitcase and, with surprising deftness, unlock it. From that suitcase it will produce something small and shiny, the exact shape concealed by the dense fur of its paws. It locks up the suitcase and approaches the gathering with this little unidentified object. Its steps are slow and deliberate... hesitant, almost? It seems to have saved all its generosity for this one moment. With timid trepidation, the beast releases the pretty object from its own grasp...

Aha! It appears to be... a cool rock! Attached to some part of a creature's skeleton; if anyone could identify it, a snake's skeleton to be exact. Inherited from a past parental unit — if you could even call her that — the catawampus appears to be leaving it here, perhaps as junk, or a penny to be found on the sidewalk. Although that feels highly unlikely; hoarders don't usually think of anything as trash. Based on its hesitance, I could potentially theorize that this was, for anyone willing to accept it, an attempt at a gift. Although I also highly doubt that considering the fact that no ghosts of past, present, or future had come to teach the catawampus about not being such a scrooge. Perhaps it was more similar to a concept the catawampus had learned some time ago... trade. It had not enjoyed this concept because the rules presented by the lesson had made no sense to it, but perhaps... Well, I'm in no place to postulate at this point, I have other things to do today. So! I leave you with this, and the catawampus leaves you with a cool rock from its personal collection. Might even have some magic left in it; I'd hope so, considering the effort it took to get that thing out.

Catawampus attempted to take both of @Callum 's rabbits and leave an old gemstone from a lesser gembound (Basilisk) as a gift for anyone!

THE GIFTENING

Naskital watched as Catawampus... arrived. "Arrived" was maybe a mild way of phrasing the chaotic display of massive hybrid monster cascading into the food tables, consuming just about everything there was and knocking the rest flying, but that was okay. Naskital's time here was almost over, anyway; he had to move on, and honestly, it was just good someone would get some enjoyment out of the remaining food and drink.

Naskital wasn't sure why the creature seemed to get said enjoyment in part out of bowling candy canes into hot chocolate. Maybe it hadn't really noticed. That was okay, too. Although Naskital wasn't really sure that fish went with peppermint tea. Maybe it did..? He made a mental note to try that, some day, preferably when his stomach was feeling particularly strong.

At length, though, the creature got to gift-giving-... Well, gift-taking, first, but an exchange was an exchange. He assumed, though it was truthfully a little hard to read its intentions, that the gemstone had been meant for Callum. They had to give gifts to another, but this... seemed... to fit the bill?

His froglike eyes fell upon the stone, and he considered, then took a few steps over and knelt down. He could sense what lay within--the weakest fragment of life remaining--and he gave it a gentle prod. A spark of magic--holiday magic, of course, the really magic kind of magic--infused it, so that it wouldn't disappoint anyone who tried to grant it life. That... would be a pretty tragic holiday gift, so! With the power of Giving, Naskital ensured that it would not be so.

Then he went back behind his (admittedly ravaged) table, and rummaged through what remained of his gifts.

Callum was easy enough to hand a gift: a little green-and-red box with big white polka dots and a shiny white bow. It smelled minty and sweet. Catawampus--well, Naskital wasn't sure if he'd have to chase it down, or just chuck the box in its path, but--it was a slightly larger box, flatly rectangular, gold and white and also shiny. This one had a mysterious light flashing and blinking through the wrapping paper sometimes.

Callum will find an enchanted box of candy canes--simple cardboard, red and white, marked with unknown brands and marketing. Inside, though, the candy canes--delightfully minty and magically tasty--replenish at a rate of one per day, unless someone happens to be looking at them all day. There are twelve in total. The Basilisk stone is now a guaranteed revive should Callum (or anyone else) choose to give it life.

Catawampus will, should it choose to open its box, find a string of enchanted fairy lights. It's a fifteen-foot-long string, and the lights glow a soft gold-white. They alternate every now and then from a solid glow to slow blinking.

After today, this Holiday event will have come to a conclusion! If anyone else posts on the 15th, please GM tag so that I see it! Thanks!

@Callum @Catawampus

Callum watched on in amazement and horror as Catawampus proceeded to wipe out the refreshments leaving a huge mess behind. It was a level of destruction he could only hope to achieve. All that food... just gone. He had wanted to try a bit despite his full stomach, and now there was no longer an opportunity to do so. The dragon tenses as the beast turns its gaze onto him. He stares back. There is fear in Callum's eyes for a moment as he tries to maintain an unfazed look. He wasn't scared! Not at all! But his body tenses as Catawampus nears, prepared to defend himself if need be.
But it just grabbed the rabbits he had brought, leaving behind a stone. Was that... for him? He watched Naskital touch it for a brief second, changing it somehow, before coming back with a gift. But why? What had he done to earn a gift? Callum wasn't sure. But a gift was a gift. "Thanks." he says, inspecting it. It smelled good. Oh how he hoped it was food! He ripped it open, finding candy canes inside. Ah, so he could try the treats after all! Bending down, the dragon took out a candy cane and swallowed it whole. He burped. His breath smelled weird now. Callum wasn't sure what to think of this, not sure why there would be a time that he would want his breath to smell like that. He takes out another, this time biting it, crushing it between his teeth. The minty taste flooded through his mouth, and though it was strange, he found he rather liked it. He would want to bring this home for sure!
Now the stone. Since Naskital seemed to have no intention to take it, Callum interpreted it as a gift from Catawampus to him. He had given rabbits, and now he had a pretty stone in exchange. He attempted to fit it into the box of candy canes so he could carry everything at once, but it was unable to fit. He frowned, then gulped down the rest of the candy canes all at once before replacing them with the stone. Great, now he could carry it home. Although sadly there seemed to be no more candy canes left (though he did not know it was replenishable just yet). Callum takes off with the box securely in his jaws, charting a course for home.

Exit Callum

Such a grand event was sure to catch his attention, even if he didn't normally frequent Orion. Wooden claws click along the stone floor, two massive gaping holes for eyes peering out of a carved wolf's head. Some kind of wooden beast with six legs and a lumpy, segmented body. Appearances were important, and Huntsman found he liked this one well- sleek, intimidating, anonymous but memorable.

He intended to do a little business here- not all just fun and presents. As others exchanged gifts, he clutched a bundle of fragrant herbs. Large, dark green ruffled leaves with duller brown stem and neon luminescent edge. The flower had been even more eyecatching- a glowing white bloom like a fallen polaris star. He had left that be for now, though- best to test one thing at a time, after all.

"I've brought something here, for anyone who wants it. A snack, or maybe a spice for your meat." He'd tell Naskital, voice muffled by the organic wooden mask but loud enough for curious onlookers to hear. "Exceedingly kind of you to do this. Seems like you've made many others happy." He'd hum thoughtfully, abruptly cracking the lower half of his mask and grabbing a cup of hot chocolate and a piece of dried jerky. The dried meat was unpalatable, barely meat at all, really. It tasted marginally better after rehydrated in the hot chocolate, but he still had no desire for a second piece. The hot chocolate itself, however, was wonderful, and he slowly sipped it as he waited for someone to try his 'gift.'
---
Huntsman is leaving out bundle of strange herbs as a gift for anyone to claim. These are funny alien plants which can have any effect you desire- Huntsman himself is curious whatever will happen to the ~~victim~~ recipient.

THE GIFTENING

Well, this one's motivations were... questionable, maybe. Naskital wasn't sure. It was rather hard to read them, but regardless, the cave was nearly empty, now. The damage wrought by Catawampus had been intense, and he was just cleaning the last of it away when Huntsman slipped in--eleventh hour, and all that. The reindeer, even, were harnessed back to the sled and ready to go back to... wherever Naskital spent the rest of the year.

He smiled, nonetheless--he wouldn't let someone go without a gift if he could help it--and paced over. "Thank you," he said, and picked up the herbs. He'd not use them now--maybe later--but he went back behind the table, picking through the gifts.

He did have one more large one left--about Huntsman-sized, if his sizing up of this stranger was any indication. Well, then! It'd be nice not to have to force his creatures to haul this one, and Huntsman would--he hoped--enjoy its use.

He carried the huge, metallic-gold-wrapped box over, patting the diagonal white ribbons that crossed it (culminating in a ridiculously large fluffy bow at the top), and set it before Huntsman in turn. "A gift in turn, for the holidays," he murmured, and turned to finish his preparations for departure.

He spared one last look back--and a wink, and a smile. "See you next year!"

Huntsman will find a large wooden sled, painted red with metallic gold runners. Like the only other sled given out this year, it has a long rope tied to the sides of its front through holes in the wood, forming a long loop with which to pull it.

Rex, at some point, is given a white-wrapped package swathed in red and green ribbon. Within is a small glass ball that, when touched, grants him knowledge of the spell Glow.

This thread is now closed to new entrants!

@Huntsman

Today had been a good day. Qflugr had been born, found his voice, and made two? Three new friends! Reverend who found him just shortly after his explosive entrance into The Nest, and the two made it here where he then got to meet the gift giver an eventually made his way over to Rex.

"Ooh for me? Thank You!"

Qflugr smiled, his tiny little tail wiggling like mad behind him. He had so many friends now and presents, he didnt know what he would use a skull for but he would eventually figure something out. They were his first gifts ever since being born, which mean they were more special than anything else. He watched the large foot push a skull about the same size, maybe bigger than himself towards him.

"What kind of skull is it? Q cocked his head "What do you do with a skull? I might have problems getting somewhere with it though... im not even sure where im going either. Hey Reve--"

Q dragged himself around just enough to see where Reverend had been, only to find that he had gone. Sadness, the Saber kittens ears turned down sadly for a second an his little tail waggle had slowed. But it was fine, maybe the two would see each other again soon! He turned his attentions back to the large guy who had yet to give his name.

"The names Qflugr! And sure, i would like that. I just came from the really big pretty shiny cave, thats where i was born. Oh! I almost forgot, i came over to give you this!"

He smiled, and slipped a shiny pebble of green glass from his bag at his feet. Its big enough for a piece of jewelry. Awkwardly pushing it with his nose first an then straining to push it with his paw out towards the big guy. Q nods, wondering if this guy would really carry him around or maybe try to eat him instead. He didnt think the latter too much cause after all he was here giving an receiving gifts like everyone else.

@Rex

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Arquia

Callum

Tourmaline

Arquia

Catawampus

Game Master Dark

Callum

Huntsman

Game Master Dark

Qflugr