Holiday Bash 2021!

Naskital hurried. He rushed back to his sleigh, gently shushing his frightened deer, and started throwing empty boxes and smashed wrapping aside. "Oh, oh, I should've known--he had one of the cookies-... I'm so sorry, friends. Here, here-... We have cookies," he called. He spun back triumphantly, a tray in his arms.

He brushed some snow off of the tray. "Err, they're--magic, of course. I wouldn't eat more than one." Naskital hurried back over, unwrapping the big platter of cookies held in his arms. The cookies, strangely, seemed... themed: their icing came in all sorts of colors, like blue and orange and green. They glowed softly, humming with magic, and some might seem to call to those of a similar element.



"THESE ONES GOOD," the hulking beast declared, reaching out and snatching another of his favorites from the pile. It was iced a light, powdery blue, and looked kind of like a cone, sparkling like snow!

"Yes," Naskital agreed, with a smile. He offered the cookies out to those Gembounds present. "Thank you, for, erm. Protecting me and--not hurting the big guy. You aren't so bad, are you?" he asked the big beast. "Like... a big, furry peppermint!" He patted the creature's arm.

"MINCE."

"-Hm?" Naskital smiled and blinked.

"PEPPERMINCE!" the big brute answered, plonking on his butt in the snow, and stuffed another cookie in his mouth. He seemed happy now, at least.

_________

Each Gembound already present in this thread may choose any one cookie and eat it, magically learning a spell or ability of their choice (themed to the cookie, of course!). While there aren't any specialty spell cookies, or cookies for the more expensive spells (like Familiar Forge) in here, all of the low, medium and high-intensity elemental spells, techniques and tactics and the low and medium-intensity non-elemental spells are available! They must be spells that your character can learn, in terms of Corruption and so forth. Eating additional cookies will provide only a sugar rush. A pretty high number of cookies are shaped like Peppermince's frost breath! Post in Update Me to claim your character's chosen cookie spell.

Additional characters may no longer join this thread.

New Spell Unlocked:
Rimefrost
High Intensity Offensive. The user exhales a blast of supercooled vapor, coating an area or target up to three meters away in rapidly-forming ice.

NPC Unlocked:
Peppermince is a massive, red-striped white beast with tusks and wings who wanders Ursa. He can be found at any time and GM-tagged for, and will protect or socialize with Gembound (if awkwardly) in exchange for food or shiny gifts.

@Astéri @Catawampus @Pollen (Pallas, Cerilaine) @Kerberos @Astoria @Karambit @Eurydome @Niveus @Asimona @Svartis (Menkheperre, Moonsetter) @Bone @Ampelio

Asimona had felt herself slam into the beast, but her clumsy impact sent her sprawling into the snow. She scrambled to her feet, quickly shaking off the worst of the snow, looking up to find where the beast had gone now, but she paused at a familiar voice. Head turned just a bit and she saw Bone and Svartis here as well, helping each other, attacking as one. A small smile curved at her mouth as her sentimental hesitation lasted a moment too long and suddenly her legs were cold. That wasn't right, she was never cold. Asimona looked down and widened her eyes with shock. It was like her own powers of ice, but even more powerful, ice slowly creeping up her body. She struggled, opening her mouth to attack back....only to realize that her jaws had been clamped shut by the ice as well!

She couldn't do anything but fight it, quickly wearing out, but eventually fighting herself free, jaws springing free at the same time and she started forward, ready to attack, only to realize that it was...over. The monster was eating cookies. Naskital was safe and offering them to everyone else. Asimona blinked and looked around before meekly stepping forward, more then a little confused, but grateful it had ended peacefully nonetheless. "Uh, thank you." She took one of the icy looking ones (appropriate for her, after all!) and popped it into her mouth. Eyes widened at the flavor and the rush of magic that came with it as she swallowed. She took a moment to shiver, feeling ice building comfortably in her chest before she nodded to Naskital. "Thank you. It's good to see you again, and I'm happy you're safe."

She glanced over to Bone and Svartis, wandering over to wherever they were standing, head raised high as she approached her children. "It's good to see you two. Have you been well?"

@Bone @Svartis (for visibility)

A cookie?

"Um, no," he didn't know what a cookie was. Some kind of meat? Svartis wondered as he managed to tear concerned eyes away from his fallen sister and stare in confusion at the array put forth. Fiery oranges and earthy browns, shimmering pink wisps and glittering powder-blue droplets. His mother, shrugging off ice from around her mouth, took one of the strange objects and popped it right into her mouth.

... was it meat?

Waddling over on his wings, he nosed through until he found a blue, cone-looking specimen.

It sure didn't smell like meat, but if others were enjoying them... especially the big, actually-very-reasonable monster was...

Glacial look tossed his mother's way, he nodded. "I've been all right! I haven't had... any more freak accidents." A short laugh and a gesture to the rest of him, striped and with extra fins. "Do you... know this guy? Either of them?"

Down the hatch the cookie went, and—oough, what was that flavor? It was overwhelming, an entire opposite to that of the charred deer and fish that his dad always offered to the family. Svartis half-recoiled, but the peculiar cocktail of magic had already taken hold in his chest, imposing a minty sort of chill all the way down his throat. "Eyuck, he muttered, facing away from Naskital so as to not be... rude or anything.

How woefully anticlimactic it was that the source of this conflict was a sugary confection...

... is what Menkheperre would say if he weren't beyond psyched by the potential for a sweet finish to it all. A wonderful children's story this would make, yes, yes! The moral taught in it would be wintry, festive cheer (though he was as-yet unaware of any late-year holidays, or the passage of time at all) and the gift of giving.

And to not just fight blindly!

Having stood idly by while others froze (he was a narrator, not a participant, and Pollen seemed to have herself pretty handled—) the dragon tottered through the snow, kicking out his feet every once in a while. Crimson eyes fluttered over to the curious sight of dragons, now that he was on the ground, but they wandered over to the muta, surely back to earth by now.

"Did you hear that?" he chirped, not even trying to mask his glee, "you heard them, right? I heard that they have cookies! Cookies like Nedies!" Oh, but could they compare?

Menkheperre bolted for the trays, staring down them as a king would his subjects moments before their court execution, and swiped a circular cookie iced with violet ellipses and arrows. It'd seemed like an interesting look, but the taste more resembled sugary anise. Overwhelmingly strange. The young librarian made to spit it out, but the thing seemed to melt in his mouth by the time he'd crunched down.

"I like Nedies's better..." he muttered in a quiet aside to the enormous blue ball of fuzz crowding in next to him.

Unlike the other dragons present, Moonsetter was not going to look a gift horse in the mouth; in fact, it was going to put said equine into its mouth. The immediate danger had passed, and despite its wariness of strangers, the dragon hauled away from Eurydome and toward the delicious cookie reward to be had.

It cared not for manners as it shoved past, forcing its way to the trays with its sleek, but large frame. Pupil dilated to fill the whole of its one eye—coloring it an ominous black—it lunged for a tray, taking the whole thing into its mouth with a tooth-rattling clang!

Startled by the noise (and the smaller little... dragonbeast speaking to it), it spat out the offending sheet of metal, swallowed what cookies had failed to escape its fully unhinged jaw, and hissed at the tray. "BAD. EVIL. DON'T EAT." it snarled, heart jackhammering in its chest and vision beginning to sway into a dizzying spiral.

Uh oh.

Sugar rush. Too many cookies, and only one—shaped like a brick with yellow stripes—had taken to its magic.

Straightening like a cat who'd seen a spirit, Moonsetter glanced around. Hackles rising—actually, all of its fur rising—it catapulted itself in the opposite direction of the crowd with a mighty spring. It landed face-first, like a fox pouncing on a mouse a few feet of snow down. All that remained was its legs, outstretched to their full bird-like extent, and its tail swaying in the breeze.

exit Moonsetter, unless further interacted with

Oh! Um. Well. That was an interesting fight. And an interesting change of events, too—Astéri's glad the big guy didn't mean to hurt anyone! Especially since he was trapped in ice for most of the fight, and now he's all freezing and cold and a little wet with melted ice and he kinda just wants to go home.

But, ooh, treats! He doesn't know what a cookie is, really—the leopard being a stranger to the wonders of baked goods—but it must be something good if the nice people are offering some to them, right?

He almost picks a neat fiery looking one, but at the last moment decides to snap up a cookie shaped like a bolt of lightning, just to mix things up.

The flavor is… interesting. A little too crumbly and sweet for Astéri's liking—despite his cheerful, sugar-sweet nature he is still a big cat which eats meat and not cookies—but he likes the jolt of electricity it gives to his mouth. Sparky!

He gives one last look at those gathered and a nod to the nice creatures who gave him these 'cookies' before bounding off. As nice as the gifts were, Ursa's way too cold for him. He's outta here!

- exit Astéri

Fracture my spine

Silence was not Karambit's default setting. It screeched and screamed and declared thoughts in an unruly fashion that might be construed as aggressive if not for their heartfelt and earnest content. At this very instant, buzzes should have stirred the air, disgruntled at the ceased combat, confused by but open to the prospect of these "cookies" that the fluffy beast craved so. Instead it might as well have been dead for how much verve the gargantuan stick-legged creature slumped in the snow lacked. Ice water moved more than it, trickling through every nook and cranny of its being.

When sound did come at last, the announcement started off quieter than usual: a soft squelch of soaked and slowly stirring flesh. Like a sleeper rousing from a dream, the monster's grotesque form turned over onto its side. Limbs stretched out until they cracked in a resounding chorus across the cold landscape. Then, layers of meat squishing and squeaking as they rolled against each other, Karambit lurched out of the deep trench it'd made out of its unceremonious fall. A yawn parted its main toothy maw. The tentacles at its tail tip reached back to rub the tire from numerous eyes blinking out from its relaxed abdominal plates.

"Krrrrmmm?"

At first it hesitated to approach the offered food, barely hovering above ground due to wet, weighed down wings. The entire situation made no sense—what was all this about protecting? The blue one must have been mistaken; everyone had been saying hello, surely. Why else would there have been so much shouting, jumping, and all the other noise and wild movement?

However, not prone to deep thought and strained by any attempt at it, the monster relented to the whims of its stomach. The frost breath's taming touch lingered so that light hops in the air replaced what would have been a zoom over to the trays laden with a colorful assortment of meals. Many to choose from, many to devour, Karambit didn't know the first place to start.

Naturally, that place ended up being everywhere at once.

Claws, curved to the point that dexterity was unheard of, smashed more than a few cookies into beautifully iced shards while struggling to grab them. Tentacles proved more successful, picking them up with a grip that caused more than a few crumbs to fall off and lifting what remained up to greedy mouths. Karambit's main mouth was slightly more discerning in what it chose to consume, forward-facing eyes taking the time to decide which cookie looked the prettiest. It settled on one shaped like an eye, multiple colors of icing bleeding into each other to create a rather pleasing image like the ribbons overhead that it'd been trying to grasp.

No sooner had it chomped down and swallowed all these cookies than a complaint was issued: "Drrrrryyy!"

Where was the pop of liquid in its mouth that it'd expected? The warm gush of blood? These were sweet, yes, but so much less than it'd desired.

"Whyyy coookieees so borrring? Too flattt and drrryy!"

Rather ungrateful and quite annoying, especially since there was no likelihood it'd ever shut up soon. Not when it'd stuffed large handfuls of the treat into so many hungry jaws. Already Karambit was sounding more like itself, the buzz that rocked its body rising to an obnoxious whine.

And swear that you're mine

Bone looked at Asimona, and blinked, and-... suddenly, everything was overwhelming.

One one side, she had Naskital, cookies and the great bleeding beast demanding them. A crowd of strangers, and she feared that one might see.

On the other... her mother. Her mother! Excitement tore through her and she--the massive, bulky white dragon--very nearly charged over in an attempt to give some sort of... dragon hug?

Then... a third side. MOTHER in her mind, lingering, and guilt threaded through Bone. Was it... betrayal? To have two mothers?

There were too many others around. Someone might see. There were cookies. Here was Mother--and should she tell her about Charon? Was there--time, here? What about Svartis, was he okay--he was talking, so-...

She hesitated, for that moment winding near to panic as she struggled to find a thread to follow, but abruptly calm pressed over her. A knowledge that all was well. A quiet murmur to, yes, greet her family; keep those ties strong. A promise that all would be just fine as long as she interacted, and then left without dwelling among the group too long. There was only one directive given, along with this peace:

Bring Pallas a cookie.

Bone blinked. Relaxed. Her eyes squinted to Asimona in a smile, and she moved deliberately to take a cookie to match her mother's. And, apparently (noted as she glanced his way), her brother's.

"I don't know them--it's so good to see you, mom!" she called, even as she trudged over through the drifts of snow.

The cookie was picked up, the dragon rocking back to take it in one forelimb, examining it. She ate it, blinking at the cool minty rush of sweet magicka. Mother guided her to pick one for Pallas--something his magic would work with, though she didn't quite understand the concept. She tucked this one away, murmuring that it was for a friend--but she could already feel that its magic was fading.

She'd have to be quick with it, that was all.

"You know, if--you don't know, Dad and Blight are living in the next cave over? The wet one. And Charon was here, living with me, for awhile. He's--shaped different now, same as Svartis is!" she said, and faint joy trickled through at the idea of family.

Even as she stared at the piled plate of cookies, some twitching part of her wanting to order them by color and row. Why were they just... jumbled up like that? Idly, she reached out a claw, moving a few around to make them better fit. Then Naskital was moving on, and she was left staring wistfully after the tray. "Thank you!" she called after him, and then looked back to her family.

"Hey, we should--get together, some time. Catch up. If you want? Have you been well?" she asked.

She awaited a response, then offered a brief hesitation: "Be right back."

It would only take a moment to deliver the weakening cookie to Pallas--then to return to speak with family.

@Asimona and @Pallas (if you wanna say Bone brought him like. whatever cookie!! probably a non-elemental or tactic/technique I'd think, if there's anything you'd want for him)

Asimona snorted softly at Svartis, glancing over the relatively new pieces that hadn't been there when he'd first hatched. She couldn't bring herself to hate them, however much she wanted to. After all, they were the manifestations of a physical trauma that she herself, thankfully, had never had to experience herself. Yet they worked for him, made him look more powerful then before. And she could never hate any part of any of her children.

At his question, she looked over at Naskital and the striped beast. "I know the smaller one. His name is Naskital - he appears around the caves when the snow falls and the temperature drops. He's always accompanied by strangeness and odd occurrences, but also with gifts. The other...no I don't know him. I've never seen him before." And she didn't trust him, all of a sudden going from intimidating and aggressive to...munching on cookies. Well, it had all been diffused but she hoped he didn't stir up more trouble in the future.

"It's good to see you too, Bone!" She hadn't been next to both her children for some time now - they only really passed by for brief words and chance meetings. "Yes, I visit from time to time. But it's a little warm in that cave for me." Her eyes lit up at the mention of Charon. "I haven't seen him for a while - how is he doing? Is he getting into fights?" She'd worried, for a time, that Charon would be too aggressive for his own good. And if he'd mutated....hm, that probably meant he had.

"I've been alright. Nothing threatening my health, at least. And there's a new one on the way." She pointed up the mountain. "I left it up there. It should hatch soon, if nothing goes wrong." She nodded as Bone left, turning back to Svartis, noticing his shiver. He must have had the same cookie. The weird cold, ice-like flavor was still sticking to the inside of her throat. "...Did the cookie taste weird to you too?" She coughed, a small puff of icy air leaving her jaws. She sure hoped Naskital hadn't poisoned them or something.

@Bone @Svartis

She returned a few moments later, settling into conversation.

"Oooh. You should visit; none of us knew where to find you," Bone explained. "I mean--we figured Pisces but, you know." Caves big, and all that.

This came into play particularly for Charon, and she took a hesitant breath before continuing.

"Charon... missed you, I think. We talked a lot about finding you but couldn't, so-... He was a little sad, about that. But otherwise, he was doing good! He's sleeping now but he'd gone into his chrysalis and grown wings. I mean--bigger wings! He'd learned to fly and he loved it," Bone exclaimed.

"I think he was pretty happy! At least when he returned to his stone. When I found him he was sick, initially. He lived with me here in Ursa, and I got him food while he got better. Ah..." She hesitated, feeling the weird sensation Asimona mentioned right as her mom described it: a feeling that the icing had been... more than just icing.

Was that... mint?

She turned her head to one side, and coughed. There was a weird promise of cold down her throat, but nothing came out of her mouth except a couple snowflakes. Even those, she blinked at.

"That's--a weird cookie," she agreed.

For @Asimona (for visibility) and also svartis but he's already tagged-