Gift Exchange and Gettogether 08!

[Admin]

Someone had gone through a great deal of effort.

Decorations hung about the entire room, proclaiming the holiday season for all to see and hear. Tinsel streamed from the rafters. Great reams of multicolored paper. Lights glistened. Someone had even frosted the ceiling, and drawn intricate winter designs on the ice. Everything about it screamed "Christmas."

Or whatever holiday.

Someone had set up a table of drinks and appetizers. This time, there was no alcohol to be found. This was a school function, after all. Those that ran the Academy were not fond of inebriation, not even in their honored guests.

Tonight would be the Gift exchange. Someone had set up a giant platform which would spell out the name of the recipient. Also, a handful of the Agents and two tutors had been singled out to read off names and get people's attention. There were dozens of names to be read and gifts to be handed out.

As people arrived, they would find the name register currently blank, and eager anticipation hanging upon the air.

OoC: alright, here's how we're going to try and do this. We've got 30+ names to get through, which means that the faster, the better. A couple of people have been/will be assigned to be "announcers" who are to say the names of the people receiving gifts. The person who is to give the gift must then post, then the receiver must respond. At our usual rate, this will probably be over with by the end of January...

so let's try and make this snappy, alright? The first name will be posted later, when there's actually people on.

[ken]

The Cavan siblings looked festive, that was for certain. Someone in the family had decided to send Kennedy and Morgan "Christmas clothes," along with a note informing the siblings that they were obligated to wear said clothes at any and all holiday festivities.

Kennedy got the short end of the stick: a holiday sweater, Christmas green with big fuzzy red ornaments embroidered on it. At least they'd had the decency not to send holiday pants, so Kennedy got to wear dark dress pants and at least look decent from the waist down.

His sister had gotten off easy. Doubtless Holly had done Morgan's shopping: the brunette was wearing a sleeveless red blouse made out of semi-shiny material, silk or some imitation. Unfortunately, she'd also gotten a green skirt to go with it, and she kept tugging at it self-consciously.

Both siblings paled in comparison to the guest. Rae wore a shimmering green dress, and her hair had been teased into curls. Every once in a while the rock star dressed to stun, as if to prove that she could, in fact, bring it. Right now she made her two friends look like Christmas ornaments.

You see, this should be the first event that Rae and Eve attended publicly as a couple, and Rae wanted to actually look sexy for it. Partly to make Eve look good, and partly to make every other girl (and boys too, why not?) jealous.

"Holidays suck," muttered Morgan, shifting. she had a massive box in her arms. She gave up and set it next to her, looking at the list.

"It's not so bad," argued Kennedy. Unlike his sister, he held only a small box, and smiled. The sweater didn't itch, and Angela was supposed to be here. That was enough for Kennedy.

"Lass be righ', these thin's f**kin' suck," drawled Rae. She also had a box, slightly larger then Kennedy's, and it was tucked under an arm. "Lass better f**kin' show or I'm goin' ta kill her."

"She'll show, and be thrilled to see that her girlfriend's the hottest here," argued Kennedy.

"F**kin' flatterer."

"Both of you shut up, I think they're announcing the first person..."[/color]

[Kaylen Valieth]

"Hey Morgan,"

Kaylen Valieth greeted the attractive young woman as he walked towards them, amazed that for once he wasn't late. Or at least, if he was late, then everyone else was even later. He gave a wave of greeting to the other two with one hand, his own slim, square gift, which was wrapped in shimmering gold paper in the other.

Taking in the outfits of Kennedy, Morgan and Rae, then glancing down at his own navy blue hoodie and dark denim jeans, the Almasian added with an amused smirk,
"I feel like I should have dressed up."

[Garion DeLuse]

Garion was already in the room, as some telekenetics, fliers and Faeries were asked to help decorate the enormous room. Garion was quite happy to exercise his gift, and to take his mind off the hours that would follow. His gift was safley wedged in between needles of a particularily large Christmas tree.

A Christmas tree he was attempting to place ornaments on, one by one.

He had tried being lazy earlier, and that proved to be nothing short of a disaster. He had attempted to place all the ornaments on at once, and they had almost fell crashing to the floor, if he had not managed to slow thier fall, just in time.

Garion was clad in festive colours, his hair streaked with red and green costume hairspray in a spur of holiday spirit.

Garion was attempting to affix an angel to the top of the tree (harder than it sounds), and had his back turned to the first trickle of people coming in.

[Admin]

"Alright, thank you to everyone who could manage to be here," the words came from a lean, beautiful dark skinned Faerie. She didn't bother to smile, just scanned the crowd with appraising eyes. Certainly not the bearer of the holiday spirit.

"We'll begin the gift exchange now," announced the woman, who happened to the Agent leader, Nia. She waved a hand, and a card appeared. Nia glanced at the name, nodded, then addressed the crowd.

"The first gift is to be given to Raelena St. John!"

The screen suddenly lit up, displaying a name in large, bold letters:

Raelena St. John

"Would Miss St. John and her secret santa please come forward at this time?" asked Nia, tossing the card away and motioning for another Agent to come forward. No way was she reading all the names tonight.

[Eiji Almasy.]

Solely because it was the festive season and the time for joyful giving, Eiji had taken time out of his usually busy but highly frivolous schedule, to be involved in the Academy hosted Secret Santa ceremony. It was something like wicked humor that had him stuck with Raelena St. John, though stuck wasn't exactly the correct term. They were tentative friends with much in common, if he, or she, cared to even think about it. The crazy lesbian werewolf was a fond topic for him though, and he took great pleasure in choosing her gift.

Unlike the other occupants of the room, he wasn't wearing anything remotely festive; except for his deep forest green shirt, but that had more to do with his eyes than the holiday spirit. He bumped into Kaylen along the way, intentionally stumbling and somehow catching his oldest, most loved friend in a headlock before continuing to the stage; pseudo-gay expressions of manly affection and all that. There was a subtle grin on his face, directed at anybody he knew and everybody else he didn't; Christmas was his second most favorite holiday, first by default though, since his birthday had yet to be decreed public and international.

In his hand was a gift bag, in hues of green and red on the side with the nativity scene on each front. Inside it was a game of strip poker and a rather risque BDSM kit that had him in stitches for a straight ten minutes; the tenders in the adult store staring at him in bewilderment until he had wiped his eyes and tipped them heavily. He looked out expectantly at everyone that was gathered, finally spotting Rae and holding out his arms for a hug; his grin turning wide and impish.

[Raelena St. John]

When Rae's name had been called, she'd winked at her friends and strut forward. After all, hardly anyone else had bothered to dress up, which made her look all the more stunning. Rae didn't mind the attention, not in the least.

When Eiji stepped forward in response, Rae's face broke into a large smile. So, the sex god himself had granted her presents? She spread her arms wide, walking toward her quasi-friend.

"This better be good," she told him, winking. She plucked the bags from Eiji, chuckling at the bags. Clearly Eiji knew her fairly well.

Upon digging in the bag, she burst out laughing, and showed the poker set to the Cavan siblings and any other friends in sight. At the other set, she raised her brows, and looked up to Eiji, expression serious.

"Beginners?" she smirked. "Ye underestimate me, lad."

Still, she nodded at Eiji. "Love 'em, lad, really. Goin' ta be fun tryin' oot th' poker. Ken jus' th' people ta play wit' too."

Without dropping further hint, she nodded again, then got out of the way, so the next person could step forward and receive their gift.

[Admin]

"Well, wasn't that in the holiday spirit?" drawled Nia. She rolled her eyes, glad that this one had at least gone relatively painlessly. Unfortunately, another agent had not yet arrived to take her place. Sighing, she drew out another name.

"Valieth," she muttered, then unfolded the paper all the way. "Kaylen Valieth! Kaylen Valieth is the next to receive his gift!"

Nia tossed the paper aside, and went looking for someone to start reading the gifts. Someone who's name wasn't Nia.

Meanwhile, the board changed its lettering yet again:

Kaylen Valieth!!

[Duke Bell.]

It was hard to imagine that someone as surly and un-festive appearing as Duke, would have Christmas be his most favorite holiday. Unknown to most, Christmas was the only time of the year when all his brothers and sisters were under the same roof as Judas and he; it meant a lot to him, and so he revered the whole period as well as that one day of the month.

For the ceremony, he wore a casual outfit and a look that was entirely too self-aware. He held only an envelope, expression customarily bland and unashamed as he made his way to the stage in his usual slow and untroubled gait.

He knew the Kaylen boy, had known him for the past few years. He knew that the other was something of a gaming freak, that he was lighthearted and easy-going, but that was it; Duke wasn't much of a people person and actually liked not knowing much about anybody. Inside the white envelope was a card though; a very expensive Hallmark card that Duke had painstakingly filled out.

Dear Kaylen,

wishing you a most joyful Christmas.
Every festive cheer and joy, and your new year better than the last.

Duke.

Aside from the card, there was two passes to the 2009 E3 convention; he just hoped that the other boy didn't end up taking his best friend, and instead chose that girl of his. Also attached was an unlimited gift card for Saks, with a shelf life of three years, in case Kaylen didn't end up liking his first gift.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

It was just then that a new form was present on the stage. You couldn't say he walked on, because he didn't. You could however say he dropped off of one of the chandeliers with a pair of red and black wings out of his back, because that he did do.

Karmine touched down gracefully on the stage, and snatched up a name without a word to his 'boss' or however they were ranked. Really he didn't much care, he just did the job cause he was bored.

"Al' rig then! Lesse who we got next eh?" He glanced down at what he held with a grin on his lips. "Uh oh, wild night ahead folks! Eve Stone, yer up next! Who has the courage to gift for this season? Step right up and try your luck!"

[red]EVE STONE[/red]

[Ϛ Neilen Darkshire]

Neilen decided he was getting sloppy.

Somehow he had managed to have only just found out Eve Stone was Raelena St. John's steady gal the night before the gift exchange, and that was just plain unacceptable. He should probably have known the minute it happened, if not long after. Knowing was something Neilen liked to do; it kept him from doing anything stupid.

Or, in the case of Eve Stone, helped him do something stupid on purpose.

He had been pretty stumped, up until the night previous, on the subject of what exactly he should get this 'Eve Stone'. When he'd signed up for the Secret Santa on a whim using a pseudonym, he mainly just had a laugh about someone trying to buy for a kid no one had ever heard of. A kid that didn't even exist, actually, but so long as no one went digging real deep they'd find the name Ian DelAgente in the registry and be satisfied.

Point being, he'd been caught quite off guard and had no idea what to get the girl until he chanced upon this tidbit of information and had a brain-blast of sorts.

So it was that Ian walked up to the stage with a shiny green gift bag containing a home spa kit (including luffas and lotions, scrubs and soaps, and the like) and a gift card good for dinner for two at St. Louis' finest restaurant. Along with this, there was a note that simply read, "For you and your better half. Enjoy. എ"

Whatever humour he took out of the situation was his own, but deep down there was a part of him that wanted Rae and her girlfriend to really enjoy the gift. They were, after all, friends of sorts.

_{Is crep, but is late. Felt like getting it out of the way is all.}

[Eve Stone]

She grabbed her only clothes that resembled girlie, and dressed up at the same time. The shirt thing reminded her of a blanket with a giant hole in it but supposedly it was something girls wore. After a quick run with her brush and a clip to keep the hair out of her face she ran off for the gift exchange.

As Eve entered the academy's "lunch room" her name was called. How utterly convenient, now she could grab it give her gift and jet. She continued running up to the person who had just called her name.

"Okay, where's my gift. And who's..." She dug out the small piece of paper to read it off. "Ian DelAgente? I wanna give him his gift already."

In hand was an oddly shaped wrapped package that to anyone with a brain could see was a rather large sword. It was a guy what guy didn't like weapons? Or so she guessed it was a guy with the name Ian. After trying to find out about this Ian dude she found nothing so just picked a random weapon in her room wrapped it in the cheapest paper. The paper reminded her of cat vomit but who cared? It was just going to be thrown away anyways.

[Karmine de Arcadia]

Karmine smiled at Eve.

"Now now, gotta wait ya turn, calm down and sit down, ya might enjoy it if ya try." Karmine said with a smirk, noting that she hadn't even opened her gift yet. "Ain't ya gonna open it an see whatcha got? Ah well, moving on!"

He announced with a flourish plucking yet another slip of paper from his sleeve, as if a magic trick.

"The next gift goes ta..." He said, opening the paper. And a huge grin split his face.

"Fire n' brimstone herself! Kirien!"

[red]Kirien Melantha[/red]

[Leogare Lasteulf]

Leo did not really believe in fate, he did however believe in funny coincidences. This was such a time. And the moment he had drawn Kirien's name, he knew what he had to do. So it was with a big grin he sped up to her seat with a small box. Wrapped in pink paper with a bright red bow on top of it. He held the box out to her.

"A peace offering, if you will. Merry Christmas." He said with a smile.

When she opened it she would find two things. The first being a small card, and the second being the gift

The card simply said.

Heya, try wearing this the next time we get into a fight, it's even sexier.

[Kirien Melantha]

Kirien wasn't exactly a people person. She had one, maybe two friends to date, and she preferred studying and fighting to social interaction. She disliked large gatherings greatly; she couldn't dance, and despised small talk. So why would she bother entering herself in a huge event like the winter gift exchange?
The answer was simple: presents. It would be easy enough to find some cheap, cop-out gift for people she didn't know or care about, and she had a reasonable excuse to give people she disliked something that would make them utterly miserable. But more importantly, if she was involved in this...function, she would receive gifts. Candy, money, or if she was really lucky, something more to her taste.

I love holidays! She thought as she skipped up to the stage, curtsying in front of the crowd at Karmine's introduction.

I wonder what I'll get?

She shoved something at Karmine in passing, something that was shaped suspiciously like a wrapped-up bottle of spirits. When unwrapped, it claimed to be "Sparkling Cider," but the actual contents were far from that. It had a little card attached to the side: "Come see me after this. - Kirien"

Her demeanor was cheery as she made her way to Leo, and she flashed him an enthusiastic 'I will tear your eyes out with my bare hands' smile as she accepted his gift. She didn't open it, instead shoving it under her arm and sauntering off the stage. She pondered how she would destroy the present as she searched for whomever she was gifting. And Cylo.