Event: Secret Gift Exchange

It’s late afternoon, but the castle is still bustling with activity. ‘Mons are running to and fro, excitement gleaming in their eyes as they run about with lanterns and candles to brighten up the castle for the festival. Lanterns are strung from everywhere from the railings of grand staircases to the walls of the kitchen, which earns them some angry shouting from the Heatmor that runs it.
In the throne room, Alaric sits coiled up near the throne, watching servants decorate the hall with drooping eyelids. He rests his chin on his coiled up body and lets his eyes slide over the room sluggishly, barely taking in the sights around him. He blinks slow and heavy, and when he opens his eyes, he is greeted by a large, gold blur.
: Good afternoon, sssleepy sssnake~
The golden cobra pushes her nose to Alaric’s and nuzzles him.
: Mmm, good afternoon, dear.
: If I may be ssso bold asss to interrupt to your nap, I have sssomething that requiresss your attention.
: Ah. (he unravels himself from his coils) Is there another issue or pr-
: What? No, of courssse not, I wasss sssimply playing around, thisss is a gift.
: A gift?
Tara shifts her body to reveal a lumpy shaped, bag crudely wrapped in red cloth.
: I...attempted to wrap it, but the lack of armsss made it difficult ssso I gave up.
: How did you even wrap it to this extent?
: Oh, I just held it in my mouth, and-
: Actually, never mind, it jussst getsss too complicated after that point.
: But, pleassse, open it!
: Yeah, Alaric, open it with your arms!
: Oh, I’ll be sure to, Jackson.
Before Alaric can even lean down to examine the gift, the ghost swoops in and phases through the floor, grabs the gift, and floats up towards the ceiling. He holds the gift in both arms, shakes it around a few times to try to guess its contents, and but in the end, he gives up and phases his head through the cloth and bag to see its contents.
: Oh wow, what a nice gift! Good pick, Tara, I’m sure he’ll love it.
: I think I’d love it more if I could see its contents myself.
: You’re probably right, here, catch!
The ghost toss the bag to Alaric, who does not catch it.
: Oh, uh, right. Arms…. If makes you feel better, it’s not breakable!
: Thank you kindly, King Jackson.
: You’re in a jovial mood today, Jackssson.
: Yeah, I guess so, I’m sorry, but the dark months really get me excited.
: Oh? Why isss that, Jackssson?
: Well, uh, for starters the night is longer and ghosts like that.
: But more than that, I remember being alive and celebrating during the dark months with my friends! We would give gifts and holds parties and see people and light big bonfires to keep the cold and dark away, it was great fun. I think seeing you two exchange a gift reminded me of that.
: Well, if you like, I do believe we could convincsse a few othersss to do the sssame.
: Whaa?
: Well, it’sss jussst asss you sssaid, thessse monthsss are long and dark, ssso exsschanging giftsss during thisss time would be fun for everyone.
: Yeah, you think so?
: I do. Alaric?
The two ‘mons turn to look at Alaric, who is busying himself with trying to unwrap his gift by pulling at the red cloth with his teeth; his head is fully craned downwards and he shakes the gift around madly trying to loosen it from the cloth. When he catches their eyes, Alaric halts immediately and stares back at them, cheeks burning red. As the three of them watch each other, gravity takes over, causes the gift to unwind itself from cloth, and fall to the floor and scatter everywhere.
: A-ah, c-chestnuts, thank you Tara, I l-love these. Eh-heh….heh...ah. Ahem.
: I’m glad you do, dear. Now, would you be opposssed to holding a gift exsschange for the citizssensss?
: Oh, no, of course not, that sounds like great fun. We could ask those who were interested to write their names down and hand out partners at random so that no one would know who was their gift giver an-
: What about those who cannot write?
: Um...what?
: You know, literacy isn’t the most common thing around here, what do you plan on doing for those who cannot write their own name?
: Aah...have a scribe do it for them, I suppose.
: Works for me!
The ghost floats into the air, spins around the rooms a few times out of happiness, and then pops his head through the floor, where a muffled conversation can be heard.
: HEY DARWING, GUESS WHAT!
: SQUAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACK!
: Oh dear…
-~-~-~-~-~-
Tis the season to be giving! And thus the holiday gift exchange is here.
From now till December 28th we will be accepting notes for people who wish to take part in the gift exchange. On the 29th we will note everyone with the person they will be making a gift for and you will have till January 20th to finish this gift.
To participate, please send in a note titled "Gift Exchange" with the following things listed:
Character(s) you would like featured with links to their application(s):
Art gift idea you would like:
Writing gift idea you would like:''
General guidelines for this are as follows:
* While you can list several characters, your gifter only needs to draw or write about the first one you have listed.
* Do not share who you are gifting with any others, it’s supposed to be a secret to everyone!
* Art submissions should be flat colored at minimum.
* Written submissions should be a minimum of 750 words.
* When your gift is finished upload it to your sta.sh and send the admin team a note with a link (Title it something like "Finished Gift"). This is for just in case. This way if something goes wrong on your end, the person you are gifting still gets the present you worked so hard to make them.
* Please try to list both a drawing and a writing idea for anyone to potentially work with, even if it is the same idea twice! Also keep it fairly simple, please.
* If you for some reason are suddenly unable to finish your gift for someone or you will be unable to submit on the gifting day, please tell us as soon as you can! We need to be able to compensate for the missing gift by either making one or sending it via note.
* On the gifting day (January 20th) you can submit your present to the Events Folder. Do not submit it before then!
* Try to mention the name of the person you are gifting in the submission’s description. This is just so it shows up as a mention in their notifications so they don’t have to sort through the folder or in the other notifs.
* If there are any questions, please be sure to send a note and ask! We will be glad to answer.
Happy holidays everyone!
Category:Events
Category:Arc 1
Category:Aether
Category:Branching Objective