Welcome to Gaia! ::

Koko haulted the 'attack,' smiling. She peered over at Myze for a moment, curious. "I guess you don't want to come over here, huh? It's pretty fun, you know."

She pouted, almost looking offended, but really wasn't.

"Maybe I should bring them home with me," Kari pondered this. "I promise to get them back as soon as I'm done, though!"

"Alright, then," Koko shrugged, stroking Ceri's hair. "I'm glad you're happy! That's at least one good thing I've done today," she nodded.

Kari shook her head, "No, that's alright. I, what would you call it - taste tested some of the things Koko made while we were at the bakery. I figure that's enough for me! But thanks anyway."

The thule scratched her head, thinking.

"Maybe I should get going back home now, so I can get these back soon."

"Ah, presents under the Christmas tree," Koko said happily, walking after Ceri. She knelt down so she could get a look and the presents themselves.

"Do you know which ones are yours?"

"No problem, Aunt 'cavi! And you're right," Kari agreed. "You first, I insist," the thule joked; though, seeing as it was 'cavi's house, she found that perfectly normal.

Koko laughed at the day thule's actions, "No, not all the presents! I only see one for you," she explained. It was amusing, at the very least, that Ceri thought all the presents were for her. "But, I'll tell you what, I'll get you something special for Christmas. How's that sound?"

She only turned to look at 'cavi and Kari, grinning. "What took you so long, I wonder? That's alright, though; me and Ceri were bonding, I believe."

Kari followed her aunt, hairpins in hand. When she heard Koko speak, she could only laugh.

"Bonding, huh? Well, as nice as that is, we should get going. I've got something to do," she said, and plainly left it at that.

"Yep! She's such a curious kid, too," Koko commented before pushing herself up from her kneeling position. As she dusted off her hands, she said, "I have to go now, Ceri, because of Ri. I'll be back with your special something later, alright?" Ignoring Kari's usual correction.

Then she thought.

"Something for Myze, too. It's only fair!"

Kari smiled.

"Thanks for letting us stay for a while, Aunt 'cavi. We'll see you later then?" The thule said, already starting to walk to the front door, Koko going right after her.

"Merry Christmas, you guys," Koko chirped, waving, then let both herself and Kari out and closed the door.

ooc; yay for shrimpy end posts.

{ OOC Disclaimer: I would like to state that any Christmas gifts given out by Jasmine, or Myze and Ceri are not meant to offend anyone. To Ecavi, in Gaia Christmas is just a time of year Santa Claus gives out gifts to kids, with no really religious association to it. This is because not only would I not be sure what she believes about god(s), but Santa Claus obviously exsists in Gaia (He gave out all the jolly items, no?) It's treated like a festival with roots you just don't bother questioning.

So, keep in mind this is from a perspective where it's just some jolly fat man that came and gave them presents becase they're children. X-x; Any gifts and/or wishing of Merry Christmas was just meant along such lines as well, again not meaning to act ignorant of anything.

.. yes, I felt the need to include this. ^^; }

*

The previous night had been difficult, and much different from the years before. This year not only was there Ecavi and the pets, there were also three young girls who were terribly excited about the arrival of Santa Claus. The night seemed long; Jasmine and Ceri were the most excited in the whole house, while Myze enjoyed the excited atmosphere in her own way- that is by avoiding the others and just watching from her usual spot in the chair with her kitty plush.

After Ecavi had had enough excitement, she used the old excuse, how Santa wouldn't come if children weren't in bed when he came by, to get everyone to calm down and go to sleep for the whole night. And, of course, it worked.

*

Ceri was, not surprisingly, the first person up. In the little room she shared with Myze, on her little bed by the window, she spied the new sunlight and knew that it was morning right away. What woke Myze up was the delighted squeal that Ceri made.

"Mornin'!" Ceri exclaimed, scrambling from the bed and pulling her orange tabby plushie with her, "Let's go!"

Myze groaned but joined her sister, climbing off the bed (and leaving her own plushie to sleep). She sent a telepathic message to her twin, 'No, we should wake the others up.'

"Okay!" Ceri agreed readily, if that's what it took to get downstairs to rip open the presents then that is what she would do. She was out the door in a flash and marching down the hall, "'avi!" It didn't take her long to reach Ecavi's room, since it was just a couple doors away, and she had to push the door open and continue marching.

"'avi! 'ismas!" Ceri screeched. Myze followed Ceri into the room, though she stayed quiet.

"Mhhhmhm?" Ecavi mumbled groggily, pulling herself to the edge of the bed and looking at the day thule. She glanced to the window, then back at Ceri, "It's only dawn.."

"'ismas!" the thule insisted.

"Okay, okay," Ecavi said, smiling, and getting up out of bed, "You two head downstairs."

*

Ecavi gently knocked on Jasmine's door before entering the room. She'd gotten the Noodle Animals, and Briar and Elena up first since they had rooms upstairs- but the dragon has a room on the ground floor. With a smile, and a small Prairie dog Noodle Butterfly perched on her shoulder, Ecavi stepped into the room and over to the bed.

"Min," she cooed, "Miiin~"

The dragon opened her golden brown eyes tiredly, "Wha?"

"Guess what?" Ecavi asked with a grin, seeming less tired.

Min blinked, then sat upright, "Christmas!"

"Yep," the fairy nodded. Nya squealed excitedly from her shoulder and fluttered her orange wings happily. Jasmine stumbled off of her bed quickly and headed past her mother into the hallway.

"Come on, Nya," Ecavi said, shaking her head and following after the dragon.

*

Gift opening lasted quite some time. Jasmine, Myze and Ceri each managed to open one gift- but when they opened them, they took so long looking at them and playing around that Ecavi decided they should have some breakfast before continuing. The first set of gifts they opened were from Ecavi.

Ceri tore open the wrapping paper of a gift labelled for her- she'd checked with Ecavi to make sure it really was for her before opening it. She'd done this because she remembered her conversation with Koko about how not all of them were really for her. What greeted her from behind the wrapping paper was a shiny book with a sun on the front of it. She oo'ed and aw'ed at it, flipping through it- only to find it was blank.

Myze was greeted by a similar image when she opened her gift, tearing carefully through the wrapping paper and pulling the book out gently. The book she found was darker, but equally as shiny as the one Ceri had, and it had a crescent moon marked upon it. She also flipped through it, finding the pages to be blank- unlike Ceri, she understood the meaning of this. It was a book for them to write in, when they learned to write.

"It's a journal, Ceri," Ecavi explained, noticing the puzzled look on Ceri's face, "You write in it. I'll help you learn how."

Ceri oo'ed and hugged the journal, then waved it around to watch the shininess of it. Myze spent time admiring her journal as well, though she took time to look to Ecavi and smile slightly- making sure that she saw it. This was a gift the night thule found pleasing, something to her own tastes.

Jasmine, who'd already received a journal, found in her first gift some jewellery. In a small box she found a long chain with a medium sized chunk of a golden brown stone on the end of it. The chain was shiny, and she liked that about it. The stone was pretty as well, but she didn't really understand the meaning of it. She looked to Ecavi curiously.

"It's amber," Ecavi explained, "Er- something about static or something- well, I thought it would suit you. If nothing else, it's a nice color with your scales." Ecavi beamed, then held out her hands- offering to put it on for her.

*

After having some breakfast they all returned to opening presents. Another gift for the girls from the general household was a lava lamp. Jasmine, Ceri and Myze each got one- each a different color. Jasmine got a red one, Ceri a yellow and Myze a blue.

None of them really understood what these were, until Ecavi plugged one of them in- Min's red one, to be exact. After quite the wait and recapturing Ceri's attention a couple of times, the thick liquid in the lamp started to form blobs that floated around in the thinner liquid. This, combined with the glow of the light causing the heat for this to happen, caught the attention of Min and Ceri- who both were happy with the gift having found out what it does. Myze, while enjoying the mysterious looking glowing, wasn't as fascinated by it.

Gifts from Santa were quite simple; each girl got a stocking full of candy and some small but beautiful dolls. All of which Jasmine, Ceri and Myze liked well enough!

(Jasmine)
(Ceri)
(Myze)

*

Later Ecavi pulled aside Ceri and Myze, taking them into the living room with her and sitting down on the couch. With a smile on her face and some packages in her lap, she gave them each a one armed hug.

"I decided to give these to you both after everyone else was busy," she explained, glancing at the packages.

"Oooh!" Ceri squealed and reached out for one of the packages.

"No, Ceri," Ecavi cooed, stopping her, "First things first. This is for you, Myze." She picked up one of the three packages, it was long and flat, and handed it to the apathetic looking night thule.

Myze took the package and carefully opened it, and her eyes widened slightly when she withdrew its contents. Inside this gift were her own hairpins, both whole and looking as though they'd never been broken. The night thule looked up at Ecavi for an explanation, as pleased as she could possibly be. Now she could stop wearing her hair down or in a braid, which she was growing tired of- she could have her hair the way she'd always had it before!

"These are from Kari and me, sort of," Ecavi grinned, "I asked Kari to fix them for you, and she did a marvellous job."

Myze nodded slowly, holding them out for Ecavi to take and pointing to her hair, "Do?"

"In a couple of minutes, we'll brush out your hair and pin it up, ok?" Ecavi smiled, "Now, these two gifts are for you both from Kari and Koko."

"Koko!" Ceri exclaimed, making grabby-hands at the packages.

"This one is for you, Ceri," Ecavi said, handing a small package to the day thule, then handing a larger one to the night thule, "This one is for you, Myze."

"Yay!" Ceri said, tearing into the paper- revealing a brand new and quite shiny yoyo, "Oooh!" Ecavi bit back a laugh- oh, the fun Ceri would have trying to figure that out, and then even more once she did learn how to use it. It was a great idea for the day thule, and she was sure of that.

In Myze's package there was a book, quite a large book- about stars, the constellations, celestial happenings.. anything the thule could want to know about it. Ecavi grinned when she saw this gift as well- Koko (or maybe Kari was behind it) had excellent ideas for gifts! Myze would have that read in no time!

"Merry Christmas," Ecavi grinned, "I'll go get a brush for your hair, Myze."

(image by Koko-Tokei)

*

{ The Invisible Couch - this is where Ecavi obviously did some of her shopping 8D;; since I used quite a few of these things as gifts in this entry, I believe credit is due for the shop! The graphics are marvelous, I recommend a visit 83 }