If they wanted a White Christmas, they sure as heck got one. A sprinkle of snow danced in the tender breeze, but with almost a half meter already stacked on the ground, it wasn’t too welcome a sight in the sub zero temperatures. The gladiatorial drop point wasn’t far from the wooden cabin however, and while the weather outside was frightful, the fire was so delightful. The bright light it cast illuminated the entire building, and it’s warmth greeted all who entered with the assurance that they wouldn’t need a jacket to keep warm. In fairness, heaters were blasting from all sides of the cabin, but that was beside the point. Magic was in the air, and with it was the tantalizing aroma of freshly baked cookies. There were almost a hundred spread out on the table beside the door, with what looked to be at least a dozen different flavors, with cups and coolers at the far end for milk.

Mistletoe hung in the center of the room, but a few feet from that rested a round table, four chairs placed around it with a standard deck of cards in the center. It was made of a fine oak, matching the hardwood floors, but a simple white tablecloth covered it. At the opposite end of the room a jukebox played Christmas carols as jingle bells rang in the wind outside, but the crown jewel of the cabin was the tree. It was a miracle that it even fit inside, reaching ten feet up to the very top of the cabin, with each of the hundred branches having some sort of ornament, spanning from pop culture references to icicles to Santas, and even a few gladiators. Lights illuminated the plant like a rainbow, countless numbers of them twirling along the branches with a brightness that could almost match the fireplace.

There was no denying it, the spirit was in the air.

Gathering of the Santas


seasoned with a beautiful red bow. The little note: "Bah Humbug : P" threw him off a tad for there was no one surrounding him that he could think could possibly have sent such a teasing message. Once The Gentleman tried to remove the bow the conventional way, he found it to be simply stuck to the outside of the box. A smile crossed his mustached face as he gently removed the bow.

With slight precision he unwrapped the gift without tearing the paper. A plain box could be seen and after opening a gorgeous silver glint is seen. Reaching in he grabbed hold of the piece of jewellery and it is revealed to be a pocket watch. Etched on the inside was the words "George Prince". After giving his mustache a quick stroke, he adjusted the time on the watch to be the current time and placing it neatly in his top pocket.

He liked it. For one thing it suited him and even though it was rather basic, he could always find a way to make it last he was sure. [/spoiler]
[/spoiler]


ants around the tree and at his gift. It appeared that after everything that ha happened, everyone had somehow managed to get settled down in time for gifts. That was in of itself, a Christmas miracle.

He picked up his gift with mild curiosity. Of all things, he got a six sided die. And apart from the weight and golden hue around the thing, it looked to be a normal dice. It wasn’t a bad gift for some random exchange but it wasn’t something he expected. After examining it for a few seconds, a thought came to him.

Perhaps it’s heavier than usual because it does something when I throw it.

He debated the possible risk of doing so for the next few seconds, but in the end he decided to try his luck. He shook the dice for a few seconds in his and threw it onto the floor. It ultimately landed on a three. But as soon as it touched the floor, everything disappeared.

Dozer instantly saw the cabin, the gladiators, and the north pole all get replaced by the middle of some body of water. The waves went back and forth as he floated on top of the water with the sun baking on top. He could not find land in sight, so he looked for any vessel or land mass he could get to.

He looked and looked for what felt like forever. The waves themselves were fairly calm and easy to tread but it would be only a matter of time before he tired and he knew it. He felt the current of the warm water as it soaked through his clothes and the now baking solar heat. With each passing minute, the situation got worse. He strained his eyes harder as time went by to find land all in vain.

He waited for hours until finally he saw a plane. He tried desperately to get it’s attention, but all he was able to do was observe as something was dropped. Though it was difficult to see, there was only one thing a plane ever dropped in the middle of nowhere. The plane had been a bomber and from the looks of the object, it appeared to be a bomb.

Derrick’s pulse picked up as he tried to hold his breath and dive underwater. But there was nothing he could do. As soon as the bomb detonated, he saw the burst of light. The searing heat however, was too quick for him to feel. He was disintegrated within a matter of milliseconds.

But instead of dying, Dozer felt a falling sensation. He saw the cabin return to him as he fell onto the floor breaking the chair he sat on into splinters with a loud crack. He felt a dull pain and his now soaking wet clothes as he started to get up. He looked around at the others before gently placing the dice back where he found it. To his relief, it did not trigger another trip. For all intents and purposes he intended to leave that dice where it was and never use it again. Little did he no that the dice would henceforth always find its way back to him.

“Lets not try rolling that again.” He said managing a weak smile.[/spoiler]
ing its weight. Her ears were pricked, but it didn’t sound like there was anything alive in the box. It was wrapped in golden wrapping paper, and tied with a purple ribbon. Still slightly suspicious, the assassin traced a thin slash all around the box with her claw and peeled the paper off. Opening the box, she pulled out her gift, staring at it with mild surprise.

It was a porcelain doll. The doll wore a lacey white dress that went to its knees, snow white socks, and black ballet shoes. Its hair was a breathtakingly beautiful blonde, almost gold, that fell straight to the center of her back. Its bangs were swept to the side, keeping the doll’s bright hazel eyes exposed to the world. She has an innocent smile on her face, and positioned in a kneeling way, with bloodstained hands cupped together, as though offering something. Vamprina stared at the offering, her ears flattening. Holding the doll with one claw, she used the other to pull at the dress’s neckline. What she saw confirmed her suspicions.

The doll was offering its heart.

Vamprina continued to stare, not really sure what to think. This wasn’t a gift she’d expected. Though nice, it almost seemed to have an underlying meaning…and that bothered her. Being a killer for most of her life had caused her to close doors on people around her. Why? She was dangerous. Being dangerous meant she was likely going around with a target on her back…a target that spared no difference between innocent or guilty. The doll seemed to say she should open up, and not be so cold. Ridiculous. She’d only completely opened up to Volt and Slinx. No way was she going to do that for anyone else. The thought made her wonder about her husband and children back home. How were they doing?

Shaking her head, she seated herself in the Christmas tree’s shadow, the doll in her lap. Vamprina remained there, staring at the gift. Her eyes narrowed. Aside from the brown eyes, the doll reminded her of Sasha…the angelic gladiator that had initially been a threat to her life. She didn’t know where Sasha had gone, but at least she’d cured that angel. No bad blood there.

Vamprina looked into the doll’s eyes, and then down at the heart, silently marveling at its realistic appearance. She resisted the urge to lick at the blood. It was paint, obviously. However, the doll also had a queer scent to it. It smelled like roses and chocolate. It was…nauseating. If she decided to take this back home with her, she’d make sure to wash it to see if that smell came off.

It was about that time that she looked up to the the reactions of the other two gladiators. Almost immediately, Dozer was the first to respond and his reactions were quite mixed about the gift. He struggled to find something to say, but he was caught off guard by the gift more so than he was willing to admit.

“I-um-congratulations Vamprina?”

He scratched the back of his head and looked back the Ethernu looking for support.

Ethernu glanced at Vamprina's present, he didn't say anything. He just nodded, like he understood what was going on. In his mind, he debated weather or not to say anything. Finally he made up his mind and decided to choose two words to say.

"How Nice..."

It was clear that Dozer was having trouble expressing his thoughts on the subject and quite frankly, he hoped she would understand. They were friends once after all.

“Quite an unorthodox gift isn’t it? Well I certainly do hope you enjoy it.”[/spoiler][/spoiler]

one for a walk out i

Yo, I have three questions.
Is it illegal to post on this thread? *jumps out the window in a futile and pointless attempt to escape the mods
Two notes fall to the ground.
They read:
Am I allowed to make comments on the gifts? Because I have an overall one (ha lel) but I have one for each prezzie.

And (the most important) am I allowed to guess where these things came from?

Yes to all three! And I'm going to post who gave what on New Year's

wait its illegal say what

*turns around to see giant banhammer behind them

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww...

Shoot, wait what? Nah, you can post, comment, guess, all that. I just won't confirm

Hey Crank. Are you going to post the stories of how the gifts were acquired or who gave them?

SHOOT

As tradition, you have to guess and check who gave you your thing.

Good luck.

n the Chaos-Void, impatience made absolutely no difference. The being would come when it came.

The space around him was shaped something like a sideways fishbowl – a tiny one-room white marble cottage sat in the middle of a grassy yard with a coi pond. Above him the “sky” was blue and dotted with white clouds. Directly across from the door to the house was a gaping hole…a hole that led into the rest of the Chaos-Void. Because the Void itself was absolutely dimensionless, lightless, soundless, and under normal circumstanes worthless, he had created this tiny little pocket dimension from which he could run affairs in this realm.

The being for which he had been waiting slipped through the portal silently. Altaer rose from his massive gold and black throne that seemed alive with Chaos itself to meet the being at the door.

“Well, Grin…how do our affairs stand?”

The being gave a short laugh. “Oh, wonderfully, master. As always. I think Death is trying to do something suspicious, though.”

Altaer considered Grin for a moment thoughtfully. The being was an anomaly from the section of the Chaos-Void known as the Abyss. When The Great One had defeated the Lords of Chaos, Grin had been the leader of the opposition. He was, therefore, given the punishment of being the first occupant of the newly created Abyss – a place used to imprison souls in an environment so torturous it defied description.

After conquering The Messenger and going from the relatively unimportant “Lord of the Abyss” to a Chaos Deity, Altaer had needed allies. Thus, he recruited the most powerful being in the Abyss…Grin. Unfortunately, so much time there had changed the poor fellow from a fearsome warlord into…well, The Grin.

He was about twice the size of a normal human, but that mattered little because there was nothing “human” about Grin. His entire body was a shapeless flowing black mass that seemed to be composed purely of shredding shadowy fabric. From within the folds of this fabric he could produce any number of items or appendages as he saw fit. The only part that retained a consistent shape was his head. It was shaped much like a giant motocross helmet, except it was a smooth pitch black. His “eyes” were a pair of slanted crimson slits that nearly met in the middle of his “face” and were long enough to stretch all the way to just past the sides of his head.

His only feature otherwise was the source of the name Altaer had given him – his grin. Perfectly white triangular teeth formed a broad grin so massive that the corners of it literally touched in the back of his head. Because he didn’t have “lips” this grin was never hidden, either.

Overall, Grin was a nice being to have as a companion – always incredibly happy and cheerful. Then again, Grin would have been happy and cheerful doing anything nowadays – eons in the Abyss have that kind of effect.

Death, on the other hand, was a resident of his domain that he watched a bit more carefully. She was never troublesome, but her position gave her access to dangerous areas and even more dangerous beings. This information was a bit concerning…for her to be doing something unusual meant more was at play here.

“Grin…”

Grin looked at him and smiled, of course. “Yesssssss?”

“Keep an eye on her. And any beings that she interacts with. Just in case.”

The being bowed, and drifted back through the portal silently. Altaer heaved a sigh. That got his business for the day out of the way. He rarely returned to the Chaos-Void. Despite being a Pure Chaos being, he was still human and had started out that way. Earth would always hold more attraction for him.

Just as he was prepared to severe his connection with the Chaos Realm to return to his inert body on earth, a thought struck him. Christmas was almost here, and he was going to a party sponsored by the wRHG.

Instead of shopping around and wasting his time buying some trinket, he would create his gift himself while he was still able to exercise his powers as a deity. While in the Physical Realm his powers were extremely limited except in certain conditions. For now, though, he was limitless. He walked over to the portal and chuckled. Being a god – at least of Chaos – was slightly less interesting than watching paint dry. Still, it came with certain perks.

The world he entered as he stepped through the portal was a dimensionless monotone of greyish-purple…about the same shade as an old bruise. Though there was no true light, a sort of amorphous glow emanated from everywhere, providing visibility. Behind him his little throne-room dimension floated through this space, humorously created to look like an actual fishbowl when viewed from the outside.

He had to amuse himself somehow.

Now that he intended to do some of his “god-ish stuff,” he did away with the replication of his human body he typically maintained. His body melted into a massive cloud of swirling black and yellow. Purple lighting-like bolts of concentrated Chaos arced around and through his “body.” After a moment it condensed into the body of an enormous human, though the swirling, shifting, power-filled nature of his body still remained dominant in the appearance of this human.

The Void flexed around him in a swirling fury of Chaotic Storm as he hovered there, thinking. Gift given had always been hard for him, because he never knew what precisely to give someone. He vaguely recalled being told who would be receiving his gift at the Secret Santa event, but decided to make something that would be fun to give anyone.

A bit of Chaos.

Altaer smiled mischievously.

After all, what good is life without a dose of Chaos to shake things up?

The storm drew away from him, forming a spherical wall of Chaos around a space of pure stillness surrounding him. He rubbed his hands excitedly as an infinite assortment of clocks, hour-glasses, sundials, and calendars suddenly appeared around him in the stillness. He swept them all off to one side, and summoned an assortment of maps – ancient maps, modern maps, celestial maps…maps even that no human had ever known enough to create.

With a grandiose sweep of his arms the two collections of items collided, the each time-telling devices combining itself with one map, on and on until the infinite assortment was entirely mixed. There was an explosion of Chaos as a single door appeared in front of him.

Though the Chaos-Void housed an unknown number of doors – each one leading to its own pocket dimension – this one was different from all the rest.

It’s surface bulged and flexed and warped and rippled through every color and texture in existence as if it was alive. Altaer chuckled…most likely it was alive…Chaos did strange things. As if in answer to his thoughts, a single eye appeared in place of a knocker. Beneath the eye numbers appeared and shifted as it searching for an address. Finally they settled upon a single word.

Nowhere.

Altaer smiled as the key to the door appeared in his hand. He closed his fist around it and squeezed. When he opened his hand, in its place was a single die – mostly gold, with black dots for each of the six numbers.

This would be his gift.

The Key to Nowhere.[/spoiler]

er on a post-it note for Bridget to know exactly what to gift to the Gentleman. Whilst she happened to visit home one weekend, she recalled a watchmakers in the nearest city owned by friends of her father, and decided to pay a visit. She took her time browsing the store, partly to simply catch up with the shopkeep and goings on in the local scene, but mainly because she was looking for the perfect watch to gift.

Unfortunately, with her budget, 'perfect' was out of her price range. 'Ideal' was a more applicable term. If 'ideal' was used as another word for 'cheap without looking cheap'. Yeah, when you're buying presents for all your friends and a family as large as stereotypes would have you believe, you end up ripping your bank account to shreds. Bridget was sure she could be forgiven if some guy she didn't know didn't get a pound top-of-the-range solid gold watch when her own dad was getting a freaking jumper that lit up and made an ungodly noise that was supposed to be Jingle Bells.

Luckily, the shopkeep was willing to make a deal. After a suitable watch was chosen, he would engrave any message Bridget wanted into the inside of the cover, free of charge. All he asked for in return was a special favour from her. After the initial misunderstanding was cleared up, Bridget apologised for slapping the elderly man and agreed to a photo of the two together by the shop sign, and even signed it afterwards. Turns out her time in the RHG had made her quite the local celebrity. [/spoiler]

hat Christmas was on it's way towards him. What with Liz's training, he had been pretty occupied the last few months. Nonetheless, when he finally noticed the Christmas decorations being put up in the lobby of his building, he did jump for joy a little. Only on the inside of course, he'd never do that in front of people.

Percy was seated in Liz's apartment, his costume draped over his lap and the TV on, showing re-runs of old Christmas movies like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer and Charlie Brown. He heard the door open and shut then steps making their way toward him. After a moment, Liz poked her head around the corner with a stack of mail in her hand.

"Hey Percy, enjoying the cartoons I see?" She said as she walked in, plopping down on the couch to the left of the one Wilder was on. She had just finished her shift and was still half-dressed in her uniform; a black business skirt, a white shirt unbuttoned to show a simple white t-shirt, and a black jacket. She had since kicked off her shoes, where Percy couldn't see them, and her legs were clad in long black leggings. Her hair was wound back in a sort of Chinese bun with two long bangs in the front on the sides of her head.

Percy grunted in response, his eyes glued to his costume. There were a couple nicks and scratches here and there, but what irritated him was this big hole around the hip area, a hole the size of a coffee mug. He had no idea where it'd came from, but it was bugging him. He could fix it, of course, but he used special thread that he'd ran out of. Of course he had ordered more, but there was a Christmas delay.

"This hole is aggravating," He said. Liz rolled her eyes and began flipping through the mail in her hands. Percy glanced up and raised an eyebrow. "What did you get today?"

Liz halted on and looked back up to him. "Bills, magazine subscriptions, that new emblem thing that you wanted, and...a letter for you, actually." She leaned forward to hand it to him. It was in a pale cherry red envelope with a rose gold lining. Other than the lining, there was nothing of immediate significance on the envelope. Percy pushed his costume to the side and set it up over the back of the couch before leaning forward to take the envelope. He spun it around in his hand a bit, trying to find anything that stood out but it was pretty damn simple.

"That's...strange, I shouldn't be getting anything at your apartment," Percy stood up and stretched. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt and a pair of blue jeans with no socks. His hair had taken on a particularly strange shade of gray, as he hadn't seen much sun in a while.

Finally, after more inspecting, he pulled at the edge of the envelope which snapped open with a satisfying pop. Inside was a simple letter on pale pink paper, slightly bleached with a gold lining around the edge. Man, these people, whoever they were, really liked the gold and pink aesthetic. Percy couldn't argue though, it looked nice.

He tossed the envelope onto the coffee table and unfolded the letter. It read:

To, Wilder.

You've been in the roster of RHG gladiators for quite some time now, and as such, we would like to invite you, and one guest if you deem fit, to a Christmas themed gift-giving event! Your name has been added to a pool of candidates to receive a gift, and we've given you a chance to give someone a gift as well! Your target is: Dante Rockwell. We've attached a bio page to help you decide on a gift. Act soon and Merry Christmas!

Percy raised an eyebrow. It'd been a while, but he'd actually forgotten about the RHG thing. It felt a little weird to be invited to something like this, especially completely out of the blue. He didn't want to comment on the fact that the letter had been addressed to him through Liz's mailbox, as if they'd known he was staying with her.

"Well? What is it?" Liz asked, snapping him out of his temporary stasis. He shrugged and handed her the letter.

"Invitation to a gift giving ceremony for my...job, of sorts. Says you can come too if you want." Percy responded. Liz read the letter over a couple of times and nodded.

"Oh sure, it'd be fun, but I feel like I'd be out of place. Y'know, with you and all your dangerous associates," Liz sat up and reached back to undo her bun, letting her hair fall down over her back. "But I'd be willing to tag along with you."

Percy nodded and began to get dressed, all the while reading over the bio page for Dante Rockwell. "Cool, if that's the case, you should tag along now too. I have to get this guy a present, and apparently he likes knives." Liz frowned and stood up, making her way around the back of Percy's couch and out into the hall.

"Sounds like you have your job cut out for you then. Come on, if we leave early, we might be able to beat the worst of the snowfall."





Fifteen minutes later, Percy and Liz were walking down a familiar street, wrapped up in winter clothes to fight against the chilling cold around them. Percy had decked himself out in all black clothing; boots, pants, shirt, coat, gloves and scarf. The white of his hair was almost as pure as the snow around him, minus the few specks of perma-dried blood and it's near-dead color from not being outside for a while.

Liz was more into the holidays than Percy, and she wasn't afraid to show it. She wore blue jeans, black boots, and a striped red, white, and green winter coat with red gloves and a green scarf. Underneath it all, she wore a stereotypical terrible Christmas sweater, fit with small snowmen and reindeer. When she showed the sweater to Percy, he scoffed and laughed.

"You're taking this ugly sweater thing way too far, Liz." He had told her, but then added that at least it looked nice on her. Liz had rolled her eyes and dismissed his comment, deeming him jealous that he didn't have an awesome homemade sweater like hers. Nonetheless, they'd both gotten laughs out of how bad it was, and she'd decided to stick with it.

They were huddled close together as they finally came to their stop: A shady looking shop with an old sign too faded to read. It was in a fairly high-end place in town, and surprisingly Liz had never seen it before. She expressed her skepticism various times as they got closer and closer to the store.

"Is that the place we're going to?"

"Yes, Liz."

"You sure? It looks rundown, or at the very least, closed for now."

"It's not, trust me."

"It's not like I have an issue trusting you, I just don't trust this store. Why are you so sure they'll have what you're looking for anyway?"

"Because this is where I go to get all my special orders done."

"Special orders? Like what?"

"Like most of the borders for my cards. I'm not a metal-smith, you think I do that stuff on my own?"

"...I had assumed it, yea."

"Just, pipe down and let me talk, okay?"

Liz grunted her disappointment but reluctantly agreed as they entered the store, the old wooden door creaking behind them as they

Sorry. Did I cause too much trouble?

Also, got mine first guess. You know who you are and you made it rather obvious the moment I got the gift.

Huh? No, not at all! It just slipped my mind is all. And that was even after I edited what I got for you! Aside from Dante, who signed his, again, I cut whenever someone name dropped the giver in the package.

Quote from Crank

Aside from Dante, who signed his, again, I cut whenever someone name dropped the giver in the package.

Fucking Dante. :p

Man am I an overachiever. I feel wrong for writing so much, lol.

Quote from SriGraecus

Man am I an overachiever. I feel wrong for writing so much, lol.

Don't. You did great. :]

You turned in some nice stuff, I appreciated it!

Oh, you're welcome, it's just strange to see, y'know? A whooole lot of text, haha.

Quote from Urako

Sorry. Did I cause too much trouble?

Also, got mine first guess. You know who you are and you made it rather obvious the moment I got the gift.

LOL yeah. But what the hell.

Mine was obvious too. Got it right when I read the NAME of my gift.