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"I believe I can say, with confidence, that our little gifting war will be my victory come weeks end.: Assuming it was by weeks end that she picked up her gift. He had a feeling that as good as Painite was with gift giving she couldn't top his gift, unless she had bought him some cuddly animal as well. In which case he was stumped on how to top that, aside from paying for some get away vacation for the General.

"I do. My mother tends to invite her side and my father's side of the family over. I have several aunts and uncles, whether by marriage or not, and a load of cousins. It's nice, for a while, then they break off and it becomes rather...odd and uncomfortable. Being an only child, and not having contact all the time with my cousins, I'm not in on all the inside jokes and talks so I wind up left out of things. I figure once things wind down, maybe even before they leave, I'll go out for a patrol." He hadn't thought about going out before they'd all left but the words just slipped past his lips. It felt...right. He didn't like feeling left out like he did around them, or teased by his cousins. He didn't like to be around them for a few reasons.

Catching the General waving to someone, or someones, he turned his slate eyes in that direction and spotted three people who didn't seem to be enjoying themselves. Well, not everyone enjoyed the holidays or celebrations. Oh well. Waving as well, though a more muted, and toned down, wave he suddenly had his attention grabbed by a certain short blond haired Captain.

"Evening Howlite." He didn't know her that well but he felt he knew her well enough to know she was the sort to party and drink. "I've been to parties, but most are far more...formal and I don't do any drinking." He spoke lightly. "I wasn't sure what else would be here. I'd only spotted the wine. Thanks though." Watching as Howlite went off toward the group that looked less than thrilled to be here, were they like this with family during the holidays also?

Painite gave Howlite and warm smile and a laugh at the directions, nodding her head. That made sense to her. She would not admit it out loud, but if she was allowed too close to the wine for too long it would likely result in some spillage.

Which she would promptly and deviously blame on someone else.

Painite wondered about family. She thought it must be nice, being able to see them. She just lived too far from home, what with an entire ocean between her and her home turf. Still, she got cards and presents sent to her, and certainly sent everything she could to them.

"That sounds," she said, picking up their conversations after a bit of healthy daydreaming, "very nice. I mean, a bloody lot of people, but sometimes big gatherings can be fun." A pause, then she grinned, realizing what she said and glancing around pointedly. "I mean, just look at what we have here. There's always some bumps when family gathers, but they still love you, I'm sure."

She enjoyed some of the food she had gathered, looking for a place for them to relax.

Being called popular by the incoming Howlite made Uranophane grimace even more. Then again, that was the effect her protege generally had on her, and the behavior was such a par for the course that the General barely even flinched or even attempted to make more space for herself upon registering the sensation of their shoulders rubbing together. She knew already it would have been pointless.

"Good, maybe you can love parties enough for us both," she quipped. Then, by means of introduction, she continued, "Zircon... Howlite... Hematite," with a hand gesturing towards the three in turn. There was probably at least one in the trio who already knew the name of another, but she couldn't very well recall.

Her fingers curled themselves curiously and cautiously around the proffered wine glass, while her face gave a look of uncertainty about what she should think of the dark liquid inside. "Did you already drink from this." That got an reply on the negative from Hematite, but Uranophane still hesitated to do more with the wine than just look at it. Besides a bit of champagne to commemorate her high school graduation, she hadn't really drank anything her entire life. This wasn't exactly the setting in which she would have preferred to start.

Then again.

She was currently sober at an awful secret santa party she did not want to be at.

It wasn't like this could do anything but make it somewhat more tolerable. Down the hatch it went, albeit slowly at first.

Personal bubble. Personal bubble.

Goddamn personal bubble.

If Zircon hadn't seemed tense a moment ago, she nearly physically seized when Hematite touched her, shoulders crunched inwards as if she were expecting to get hit. "Yes, Ca--Howlite, I understand," she nodded stiffly, ending her portion of that conversation and turning to address the devil on her shoulder.

However, when she saw the holiday-induced panic in his eyes, Zircon couldn't help but feel a little pitiful, and as she forced her anxiety levels down she even tried to think of a solution to his overexposure to the holiday spirit. Humming in thought, she used her free arm to grab the aviators off of her browline, offering it to the fellow lieutenant.

"Might block out some of the residual Christmas cheer," she mumbled, still trying to wriggle free of his weight without making it seem like an overt escape. That egg nog was actually starting to sound pretty good, and the moment she got free, she was going to exercise her right as a legal adult and pour herself a tall glass of forget-this-ever-happened.

Jack liked to party.

Proustite liked to party too.

But there was a profound difference between a good time and social obligations. His reaction to the news that the Negaverse would be holding a Christmas social wasn't only predictable. It was rational. The last time he'd shared a room with more than one of his fellow agents the Lieutenant had been harassed by giant statues, robbed of his power, and dragged across the floor by invisible hands. Before that he and many others had followed Tanzanite through the Horror Hallway that marked the entrance to the Rift on what was very probably the worst field trip in the history of time.

So.

When Proustite heard that there was going to be an event he was understandably skeptical.

Also a little horrified. It was this, more than anything, that had Jack out all day shopping for a suitable gift. Because if they were serious about this s**t he wasn't going to be the one standing around responsible for ruining Christmas.

The present he placed under the tree was wrapped neatly in festive paper. The box was small, but inside there glittered an impressive golden locket. It was heart-shaped. Proustite had placed a picture of himself posing like this inside.

He and Titanite were practically strangers, but that wasn't the point.

Proustite spread love like it was a venereal ********, maybe it was.

The white ball of puff that dangled at the end of the red santa hat Proustite had selected especially for this occasion jingled conspicuously when he stood up. There was a megawatt smile on his moderately attractive face. It was genuine, and dazzled in the light.

He was pleased to be there, and a little bit shocked by it.

"To the system." Hematite raised an imaginary glass to Howlite's veiled threat, smiling right back at her with the humor of a person who feared far, far worse things in life than the consequences of something that petty. Good old ******** Negaverse. Some things never changed, he'd come to realize. And there was something oddly freeing about having ended up where he'd started. Maybe that was what was making him so bold tonight. Or maybe it was the beer he'd been guzzling before Apatite could summon his a** to her party.

Hm. It was definitely the beer.

"Oh, hey, thanks." He accepted the offered sunglasses pretty readily, slipping them on. Anything to tone down the garish christmas lighting in the room and make it impossible for the more spirited Negaversers to make eye contact with him. Truly, Zircon was a saint. "It's worth a shot."

"Well, Howlite, let's not wait to find out. Hey, you!" Zircon was finally free. Hematite had turned away to grab a passing server by its shoulder. The youma was at least as tall as Hematite, but it made up for that with spines. Lots of spines. The youma bristled a little at the rough treatment, but unfortunately, there were ranks in the Negaverse even below lieutenant.

"My name," it corrected him with inhuman patience and the baring of entirely too many sharp teeth, "is Nithammeg."

"Good for you." Whoosh, went the hint over Hematite's head. Not that he would have felt bad or anything even if he'd had a clue. The lieutenant was admittedly taking some small, probably slightly sick pleasure in getting to order anyone around at this point. He opened his arms wide to indicate the group mingling near the food table. "Listen, we want a round of - eggnog? - yeah, eggnog here. Me and all the ladies. Except that one -" he gestured loosely in Benitoite's water-toting direction - "Doesn't drink. Also, not actually a lady."

"And keep them coming!" he shouted to Nithammeg's already retreating back.

Christmas.

At some point during her trying few months as a lonesome pioneer of Chaos' ever-expanding power she had forgotten that there were still menial things where she was expected to find joy. That expectation was deeply rooted in a belief that she was still more human than not, but who was she to correct a General-Queen? If she was summoned then it was an expectation and she wasn't going to stomp her feet and throw a temper tantrum.

She arrived without announcement, flowed through the slow, easy current of mingling bodies without a word and placed a present delicately among those accumulating beneath the tree. Shopping had been harder than she recalled the previous year but she had managed without too much difficulty - knowing what others liked was just a matter of information after all. What little doubt she had about the gift was made up for in the detail of the wrapping - certainly the complete opposite of the comic papered box she knew belonged to a particular lieutenant.

With a small shake of her head she turned, letting her bright eyes sweep across the crowd. She stood there awkwardly next to the tree for a long while, trying to decide if it was worth socializing at all. She'd brought the gift, it was surely the only requirement. Her eyes drifted across the mingling Negaverse agents she knew - Serandite, Zinkenite, Proustite, Labyrinthite... there.

She heard him before she saw him, but even his voice was unmistakable. Lieutenant Hematite was hard to miss. She spared a brief, half smile for his rowdy nature but her feet didn't move to join him. There were a lot of people gathered around him (or Uranophane, to be more precise) and they were very near to a table covered in food. That was an awkward situation she didn't want to bring to light.

Instead she found her eyes drifting to the newest General-King among the ranks and possibly one of her oldest friends among the Negaverse, so old that even she wasn't sure how far their friendship spanned. They never had been able to figure it out. She waited for Zinkenite to finish his cautious scan of the room and then simply dipped her head in greeting once she was sure his attention was in her direction.