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Chris’s smile remained as Megiddo… no, Keren… introduced herself, but his eyebrows raised just slightly in confusion, wondering if he’d offended her somehow. He was glad to hear the name Penelope, wondering if she will be showing up as well, but couldn’t really make much of an introduction for himself as she excused herself and slipped away.

“Zia,” he did scold as she made her comment about Keren. “Come on, knock it off,” he frowned as he went back to tuning his guitar. They were there to meet others and try and form a stronger bond between them all, not to isolate and push others away just because of a silly comment — a comment he wasn’t even offended by.

Chris glanced over to Paris to see how she was doing, knowing she had come to this event expecting to be uncomfortable, and probably still was. However, she seemed to be meeting a few people… which was good. He didn’t want to crowd her unless she seemed to be getting too distressed.

The presence of a senshi (Sailor Iris), on the other hand, caught his attention immediately, and Chris looked up from testing a few chords on his guitar to see if he recognized her. He’d seen her before, but didn’t remember ever being introduced. So, he picked up a blanket from the bin he and Paris had brought, and stepped forward to hand it to her.

“Chris Gallo,” he introduced, offering the blanket if she wanted it. “Your outfit doesn’t look too warm,” he said with a friendly smile, glancing over at the cat he’d seen on a few occasions. “*********>, right…? I think we sort of of met at that summer camp a few years ago…”

Silverah

Carneli

LizzyMoo

Paris's smile seemed to alter a bit each second. It warmed somewhat toward Arian, twitched into something of an awkward half-smile half-nervous grimace at the arrival of Chris's best friend, grew somewhat more strained at what Paris thought was rather unnecessary sniping that might have earned a joking remark from her had she been paying enough attention to determine appropriateness one way or the other, nearly fell entirely as a powered Senshi approached the area, but managed to return back to semi-awkward bordering on warm as Arian introduced both she and Orah.

“Oh,” she said, and tried to ignore all the other potential distractions for the sake of having a (hopefully) rather pleasant encounter with someone she actually kinda-sorta-but-not-really knew. “We have met before!”

Instinct said to drop hints as to her identity rather than revealing it outright; there was plenty she thought might work considering her previous conversation with Ida. But their encounter had been a good one, so Paris decided it was alright to throw caution to the wind for once and grabbed Orah's hand for a delighted shake.

“I'm Ganymede,” she said, and though she felt confident enough in revealing this to Orah, she still kept her voice somewhat low. “We met a while back. Maybe a few months ago, I think? It was much warmer out then, I know that much. Did you guys meet as Senshi and then get cozy as normal people, or was it the other way around?”

The Jeep was a novel experience. Elke had almost never been driven anywhere in Destiny City--the traffic almost never seemed to allow for it. And when she had been in a car, it had been the sort of thing that was low-to-the-ground and, you know, didn't have removable doors. (She'd tried to talk Finn into taking them off, just because, but: no go.) To be honest, the ride was only about thirty percent of why she'd shown up: Zue had told her that Hara Berezaiti was hosting a party, and Elke just had to check on her. Zue'd hinted that she hadn't been doing so well.

"I don't really know anyone here," she admitted, almost habitually curling her fingers into the hem of Finn's shirt. Almost. She remembered she was twenty and a mature Young Woman now, not a sixteen-year-old just in time and instead shoved her hands into the pockets of her not-very-seasonal skirt.

She caught the tail end of what seemed like some kind of lecture, watched the purple-haired girl deflate and guessed what had happened. It disappointed her, a little, and she beckoned the girl over. "Did you set up the Secret Senshi," she asked, giving Keren a smile. "Nice name! Sometimes it's just like, 'Hey, I don't even celebrate this whole Christmas thing,' right?" With a shrug, she dismissed the whole topic--hopefully the girl wouldn't be too put out and go sit in a corner the whole evening, what with a little bit of reassurance that she had definitely not done anything wrong.

Or, well, not that Elke had noticed. Even so, was it worth ruining a party? She didn't think so! "Finn has not had a good time with the Negaverse lately," she said, primly, rejoining Finn's conversation. "He keeps going out on his own and oh, it's so shameful."

Orah brightened when she realized who she was talking to and she gripped the offered hand warmly. Impulsively, she moved forward and wrapped Paris in a hug, unable to help a laugh that broke from her.

"Ganymede! Its so good to see you again!" She said, releasing her to step back again, beaming happily. "I'm so glad you came. Yeah, me and Arian met through a mutual friend, Tsui. Arian wanted some help finding and training new people on our side and since we all sort of had something in common and wanted the same things, we decided we'd team up. Its been going really well so far, we make a pretty good team."

Orah turned her bright smile on Arian before she turned back, practically bouncing in her knee high winter boots.

"Its a little awkward, introducing your powered selves here, isn't it? Still, I feel like there are people I know in one form that I don't know in another and its always safer to know who's here... make sure no one sneaks in who's not one of us." It wasn't really part of her nature to be overly suspicious, but truly, you could never be too safe when all of them were gathered like this.

"I am not drunk only because I haven't had access to alchohol yet." Holi noted, her voice still as taughtly strung as an guitar string. "Are you ok??" She demanded, as Zia slumped wearily, and more ridiculous debate spread outward from the ridiculous discussion about "Senshi" being more appropriate than "Santa."

"Chris." She turned to the young man who had helped her set up, deciding to use this opportunity to shut down any further snark at her friend. "Chris please go get a chair."

"....And then I'm going to get wine glass and have some every time I hear the word Christmas." She growled. "Next time I decide to try and get people together, remind me to do it in the summer or something. And no where near July either, so that I don't end up with a huge debate over how July Fourth is too... I don't know... firework centric."

[I'm so sorry I've been slow to tag this! Anyone who wants to grab any of my characters, just give me a quote. <3]

Alejandro proudly clutched his box of Cocoa Puffs under his arm. After nachos, they were pretty much the best snack. Sweet, and crunchy, and easy to eat and clean. No potential for ruining anyone's clothes! He had carefully saved up his allowance to pay for the cereal so that his Mama wouldn't be suspicious (or have to try and add an additional food expense to her budget). There had been no way for him to sneak out of the house without her knowing--or at least not without worrying his Mama and Papa or enduring teasing from his brothers.

So, he had settled on a half lie. The truthful part was that he was going to a Christmas party where there would be lots of adult supervision. The lying part was that he was not, in fact, at the library (one of the places she trusted him to go alone). And of course there was the omitted facts that there would be magical men and women and cats, and that he himself was one of those "terrorists" that the snotfaced news announcer denounced. But again, he didn't want to worry her.

He strutted in with his box of cereal in one hand and a small, shiny green bag for the gift exchange in the other. He was particularly proud of himself for his whoopie cushion selection! He was wearing a cream-colored sweater with an embroidered string of red, yellow, and blue Christmas lights on it with a pair of jeans and some sneakers. No pink, aside from what he had been naturally born with, and he considered that a victory!

There were already lots of people and even some kitties about, so he just raised his voice and hoped someone nearby could hear him, "Hi everyone! I have... a snack and a present? Where do they go?"

===

A streak of cream dashed in right behind Alejandro, briefly brushing his leg but moving on to a more distant target. Peppermint goggles strapped firmly over her eyes, Horatio had spied a very familiar Orah hugging a pretty blond girl and she wanted in too. There was a gentlemen close by too, not currently involved in hugging, but maybe together there could be a group hug!

"Oraaaaaaaaaaaah, wait, wait, I want to meet your friends and get hugs I'm coming as fast as I can! Wait for me, wait, wait, waaaaait!'





==

Penelope was running late because of her own indecisions. She had not known what exactly to bring for food and as a result had decided to bring... well, a little bit of everything. In her arms were various different containers and each had something different to offer. The largest, on the bottom, was a rectangular container of white cupcakes with alternating red and green frosting. Atop that was a box of fruit, sliced apples, grapes, and oranges, for the more healthily inclined. Her gift for the exchange was on top of that, the only wrapped box with silver paper and a blue velvet bow. Atop that were some smaller tin containers of cinnamon nuts, fudge, and peppermint bark. Getting all of these materials on and off the bus had been... difficult, as had walking it to the party location. Difficult, but she hoped worth the wait for her gathered friends!

Her holiday attire was perhaps a little dressier than the occasion really called for, but again, her own insecurities had prompted her to dress nicely. She had on a full length red lace dress of 1950s inspiration, scalloped at the hem which perfectly matched her red, slightly pointed flats. Over her dress she wore a white fur cape to offer warmth and a little touch of Christmas. In her ears were little Christmas Tree earrings that matched the necklace she wore. It was the same outfit she wore to her mother and father's business Christmas parties and to their family celebration. She could think of nothing more fitting to wear amongst those who were her family now because of the secrets they shared, the battles they fought together.

But there would be no war today. No fighting, beyond maybe the kind she heard siblings had, no injuries, no death. Just a celebration of light and life and appreciation. It warmed Penelope against the cold and melted away her normal coat of insecurities. An easy, genuine smile was on her face as she entered, carefully squeezing through the entrance.

She could see nothing beyond the stacked containers in her arms, so she asked, much more softly than the excited fellow who had entered before her, "I could use some direction too? If someone's not too busy?"

Finn popped the cork out of the first bottle of wine and produced three glasses. He filled them in rapid succession, offering one each to Holi, Zia, and Elke. "Ladies," he said, nodding to each of them. "You may, in fact, be right," he added to Zia, "But I will still refrain, as I am designated driver for this little lady here... and pretty much everyone else, if they need me to be."

"As for my face," he said, setting the wine aside in favor of a bottle of cola, which he poured a glass of for himself. "I suppose I was going to catch a battle scar sooner or later. I'd tell the story but you'd probably be bored to tears. Battles are a dime a dozen. Right? Right. But if you really want to hear it, I can be bribed with cupcakes. I bet your leg looks gnarly, but you don't need to show me on account of the weather and also on account of standards of modesty. Anyone else want any wine while I'm pouring? I'm just going to put it out there that I'm not checking IDs but if you're obviously, like fifteen, I'm going to have to say no."





***

Keren offered Elke a small smile, feeling better about herself. Then, from across the party, she spotted Penelope making an appearance. "Hey!" she called, hurrying over. She reached to take some of the trays out of Penelope's arms, spreading the load more evenly across the pair of them. "I'll get these. We can just go put them on the table. There's room, see? I got everything set up for the exchange already."

She took note of Penelope's outfit with a quick look up and down - a bit fancy for the occasion, sure, but Keren liked it. "You look great," she gushed, leading Penelope over to the table. Carefully, she set the containers of food down and spread them out. "Red's really your color. And I love your cape and your earrings. So festive!" Just because she'd made the exchange's name more inclusive didn't mean she couldn't appreciate holidays individually as well.

Stepping a bit closer, she asked, "So everyone here's a senshi or a knight, huh?" It was such a diverse bunch! And sort of surprising, too. Keren was trying to be on the lookout for classmates, and although she recognized a few people in passing from the halls of Horizon Institute, there was no one here who she was particularly close with - save Penelope, but that'd started with powered forms. "That's a lot of trust."

To be completely honest, she'd debated coming powered up as Megiddo and then bailed on that idea at the last minute. Now she was glad she had, as most people were here as civilians and the lone senshi who'd come in her uniform stuck out like a sore thumb.