Acheron felt a little guilty. Lorelei was giving her this lovely seashell--something one couldn't find just anywhere in the caves!--and she was giving back... a rock.

Impulsively, she spoke again, before picking the shell up and carefully tucking it into the corner of her mouth for safekeeping. "You could come visit Dad now, if you want-? We live here," she explained, tossing her antlers out at Orion in general. "He could probably make you something better than that." A nod (again, a little guilty) toward the one-sided shiny quartz indicated it. "He can make whole gemstones, even little statues! He could probably make a little 'you' out of stone! Plus, we always have food. Uhhh. Not fish, though," she added, pausing with a hoof midair as her mind shot back to that memory. She remembered standing in the surf after being half-drowned, chowing down on little shrimp and such, figuring out what she did and didn't like the taste of.

There wasn't much water in Orion, so they didn't have all that, but... maybe they could find something? "There's not a lot of fish here but we can find stuff, maybe?"

Then she was at her gift. She nodded and murmured thanks to Naskital before using antlers to rather clumsily knock her box to the ground; then she shifted it aside to make room for Lorelei. A few moments of ripping and stomping with antlers and hooves, and she had it half-destroyed but mostly open, the fluffy santa hat within showing clearly.

She got this out carefully, and managed with paws of her feet to shift it awkwardly onto the first of her forward-facing antler tines. It wasn't perfect; it wasn't even remotely on her head right, but it was brightly-colored, and Acheron grinned dog-like. "Shit!" she exclaimed (because she liked her apparently 'bad' words). "Look at this! Cool, huh?"

doberman photo credit: pato garza on flicker

@Lorelei

Life in Eridanus with Oliver and Venari had been lovely. It truely had, and Reverend couldn't complain. But as time went on, he found itself wandering farther and farther away, exploring more and more. Before long, it had ended up frolicking in Orion's snow, throwing it through the air with large wings.

But the sound of voices lured it further, deeper into the cave. The bright lights and warm fire were enticing, and before long Reverend was watching Naskital, listening to him with pricked ears. Gifts... it thinks. There has to be something it could get...

Wait! It digs in the snow, searching for something, anything. There's a small pebble, purple-grey and smooth, but nothing particularly remarkable. Holding it in his claws, Reverend focuses on it, some little instinct telling it he could make it special.

It immediately flares to life, glimmering as a tiny purple beacon, shining out between his claws. A grin spreads across Reverends face.

He looks around, for someone to give it to. Someone's talking to Naskital. There's two others talking. And there's a little black fuzzball dragging something closer. That'll do.

Carefully stepping towards Qflugr, and crouching down to get to his face, Reverend offers the baubled stone with one hand. "Would you like a gift? I just... saw you down here all alone... and thought you'd like something."

@Qflugr

Lorelei again grins. "I'd love to meet your dad! Though if he's going to also give me a gift, maybe he should come here so he can get something from Naskital, don't you think?" is her reply. She doesn't want someone as nice as Acheron's dad to miss out on the festivities.

"I'm sure we can find something tasty! It's not that hard," she confidently declares, sliding up alongside Acheron to take her gift. She uses both heads to tear into the wrapping and knock the lid off, revealing the delicious goodie inside. The scent is intoxicating.

One head looks to Acheron, and laughs at the hat balanced precariously across antler tines. "Nice! I uh... want to share mine?" she asks, gesturing to the large cake. "It's so big, I'd feel bad taking all of it for myself."

@Acheron

There were so many scents and sights here, so many different beings of sizes an shapes much greater then Qflugr. Small enough he could avoid most every tail that swayed, an ones he couldnt well... didnt really hit hard enough to cause anything more than an annoyance if anything. Some beings had horns, others has wings and even still others had wings AND horns even crystals growing on their skin. His tummy grumbled as he was indeed hungry, but he would worry about that later.

This truly is a spectacular site to behold.

The tiny kitten took note of the frog deer being who was talking to the dog deer being and something sparked within him. He put his left paw forward to take a struggle step, however, before that could happen a shadow appeared over him and a soft voice spoke while a shiny something was offered. He put down the abalone shell with the glass inside it,

"Mew.. mew mew?"

He asked softly, reaching out with his paw to take the shiny round thing. He quickly, yet carefully set that down and turned to reach for something. A piece of red sea glass. It wasnt much, but perhaps it could be turned into a piece of jewelry at some point. Scooping it carefully from the abalone shell, he in turned offered it in return to the kind male who had gifted him something.

The small kitten still could not speak in words that anyone could understand. But he did what any thankful feline would do, he began to purr as loudly as he could and then dragged himself closer to Reverend as to gently rub himself against his leg. His teeny tiny bob-tail wiggled behind him at the speed of light.

@Reverend

It’d been a whimsical start to Spark’s day, seeing snowfall in Orion. The hot weather of cycles past had left them feeling like a pot left to boil, and so the change was very welcome. But they had not expected to wake to their home-cave sparkling with frost. It had increased Orion’s beauty tenfold in their eyes.

They slinked towards chatter and chocolate wafting from the crowd, still in awe. Held gently in their muzzle was their prized knife, brought for protection. The last time they’d been to a gathering like this was when they were barely a cycle old. And, fittingly, where they had been given the weapon. They didn’t intend to use the thing, but the way the hilt felt on their teeth was comforting.

Oh, that’s a lot more people than they were expecting. Spark saw no familiar faces (their fault for not going out more probably) and an old shyness began its resurgence. There was plenty of food though, which was good. Swapping their knife from mouth to talon, they took a candy cane. They began to gnaw at it, but stopped when they tasted the peppermint, prying the candy from their mouth and examining it for a second. A curious treat! They resumed, but seemed to gnaw on it more thoughtfully than before.

Arquia had changed quite a lot in terms of mood since her encounter with Tourmaline. She learned how to relax, how to enjoy life, how to *have fun*. She found that a rather enjoyable pastime of hers was finding rocks and sculpting them. After that, she would drape them with the plants she found around the forest. With that said, most of the beauty lay in the plants. Without them, the statues did look a bit horrendous as she did not have the most precision using her claws. But it's okay, she was improving.
Despite these improvements, it was still hard to shake off her older habits. Not that she was trying to. She still jumped when there were any sudden movements, and remained cautious. In a way, skills like these were helpful for survival. Even with her artistic pursuits, she never lost sight of her primary goal. It just meant she had a hobby to invest her time into instead of just training.
On this particular occasion, she had come to Orion to find some more rocks to sculpt. But as she entered the cave, what she saw was... snow? The dragon walked with great care as she made her way towards where a large crowd of gembound had gathered, trying to limit her contact with the white substance as much as possible. It was cold, and she didn't like the feeling of it one bit. Arquia wouldn't have wanted to have anything to do with the whole scene. It meant possible socialization, and a few of them were also a bit intimidating. But she had seen a familiar face. She tried to steer clear of everyone else as much as possible, making a beeline for Tourmaline.
But oh! Everyone was giving gifts! On her way here, she had encountered a few rocks that seemed like they would be made into good statues. Perhaps she could carve one for her friend. She chose a gray rock with white streaks through it, and used her claws and teeth to wear it down, shaping it into a fairly accurate representation of Tourmaline. It wasn’t perfect, there were some inaccuracies, but it was decent.
The dragon walked up to the pallas’s cat with the carved trinket for her friend. “Tourmaline, nice to see you here. How have you been?” Arquia placed down the life-sized statue. “I carved it for you, though it is a bit rough.” One of the ears was a bit lopsided, the expression was sort of scrunched, and the fur was hard to get right, but it was clear what it was. Despite the happy atmosphere of the place, the dragon still remained on her guard, especially with the weird blue thing- Naskital, who seemed a bit suspicious to her.

@Tourmaline

THE GIFTENING

Ahh, now this was better! Gembound were truly gathering now, the gift exchange really flowing. Naskital smiled.

He hoped, of course, that they'd remember this warm feeling--the feeling of giving--and continue those little acts of generosity throughout the year! And--oh?

Sprig was approaching, offering a little sweet-smelling treat, asking of the food atop the table. "Much of it... yes," he answered pleasantly, and as if to offer it all, gently pushed a few more treats up alongside Sprig's hot chocolate. He took the fruit roll, and tasted it, studying Sprig with curiosity. "Would you like to... trade a recipe for a recipe?" he suggested, friendly. "Oh, and--thank you for your gift... here." He turned, bending down. It took a moment of rustling, but after a moment he pulled up a rather large wrapped gift, swathed in uneven shapes of red wrapping and gold ribbon. It seemed oddly Sprig-sized?

Ahh--others needed their gifts, too! "Just a moment," he murmured, and went about passing them out.

To Reverend (and what a pretty purple rock he'd given the child!) he offered a smaller red box smoothly wrapped with silver and gold ribbons. He had a lot of these, admittedly, but they really were a keepsake! And to Qflugr, he gave a little wrapped gift bag in green and gold.

Then there was Arquia--who'd now spent some time carving a whole statue! He watched with interest before bringing her a gift, too: a large box with orange-splashed red, gold metallic bow atop it.

Then he went back to Sprig. "Sorry," he said; "and thank you. This is very good!" He took another bite of fruit roll, and smiled.

---

Sprig will find, in his rather large box, a sled of painted red wood--with brown runners and a holly sprig! painted at the front--perfectly sized to him! A sturdy loop of rope at the front is firmly tied to hooks at either side of the sled's front. The front is curved upward; the back is flat!

Reverend will find another of the keepsake Santa hats in his box: this one bright green, though the fluffy rim and ball atop it are white. It will fit neatly over his curved horns to sit perfectly on his head, or can be positioned between them, where it will miraculously seem to stay put.

Qflugr's gift is a pretty gift bag full of variously-flavored iced cookies. They're utterly delicious, and flavored with things like light herbs and meat, suitable for a carnivore's palate. There's a couple dozen of them at least--long enough to last him a little while--and they do not seem to go stale or bad.

Arquia's present smells strong and pleasant: a strange medley of odors. Upon opening it, she will find a collection of scented holiday candles in hues of white, red, green, silver and gold. Some have metallic speckles; one is colored with red and white stripes. All have different holiday-themed smells: mint and cinnamon, ginger and eggnog, and so on.

@Sprig @Reverend @Qflugr @Arquia

"Nice," she said, nodding to the food. Then she stretched a little, waiting. When Lorelei suggested bringing Pride here, Acheron considered, then shrugged. "I can go get him, if you want to wait?" she suggested. "But he doesn't need stuff. I think." Pride had... lots of 'stuff' already, really. But then again, hadn't he mentioned Naskital before-? Maybe he'd like to meet an old friend?

The offer for Acheron to go get him, though, was mostly because Lorelei probably wouldn't appreciate the long over-land slog to the Throne and back, whereas Pride and herself could move to and fro fairly easily. As for the fruit cake-?

Never one to put politeness over food, she plodded over and stuck her face toward the 'fruit' cake. She tried to take a bite, nose working. "What is this-?" she asked, after a moment, curious.

She'd never tasted anything like it, but maybe it was an ocean-thing? (Somehow, she was picturing cakes swimming around under Fornax's sea.) Probably Lorelei knew more than she did about such things.

doberman photo credit: pato garza on flicker

@Lorelei

Sitting with Naskital and watching Gembound gather was nice. No wonder he set himself to make a gathering like this. She licks at one of the candy canes, making a face at the sharp taste. Maybe I'll pass on those.

Arquia's voice causes her to look up. "Oh, there you are! It's good to see you again. I actually, got you something," Tourmaline tells her, standing back up and grabbing the quartz crystal off the table she had set in on. She places it on the ground between the two of them, the crystal gleaming in the light.

It is, of course, tiny compared to the statue. Tourmaline walks around the statue, inspecting the representation of herself. "Oh, this is... lovely. Just, where am I going to put it? You're going to have to help me carry it home," she laughs, pawing at it.

Then she thinks. There's a little protrusion on the statue where her stone was. Maybe she could add a little something? "Hey, do you mind if I add something to it myself? Since you made it, I don't want to 'ruin the image' or something."

@Arquia

Little Qflugr's mewling melts Reverend's heart. Is this how Oliver felt when I hatched, he muses to himself, smiling as the kitten takes the baubled stone. "That should glow for a long time. Maybe you find someone to make it into a necklace or something to light your way."

It didn't know if the little kitten could completely understand him, but he decided it was best to try anyway. He takes the little piece of sea glass in his hand, holding it up to the light to inspect it. It's got a nice shine. He'll have to stash it back home while he thinks on what to do with it.

He startles a little when Qflugr starts to rub against him, and laughs as he starts to purr. "Glad you like the gift, little guy," it smiles down at him, and pats a hand against the kitten's side.

@Qflugr