Halloween gift-stravaganza!

[scarred_grin]

[sorta back from hiatus; massive apologies to folks I dropped the ball on threading with, this has not been my year at all. Folks who were threading with this one, shieldmaiden_lagertha or addicted_to_the_knife, if you want to pick up or start a new thread, let me know! I won't disappear for months at a time again, I hope]

When your charitable foundation’s funded by self-replicating gold, some of that gold needs to be spent occasionally or things get ridiculous. To that end, this season’s operation of the Łukaszewicz Foundation (nominally supporting the arts) is turning Halloween into Goth Christmas: goodies for everybody, just for showing up.

If your pup goes to the bar on or around Halloween, they will be presented with one of the following six items (unless you don't want them to be, of course):

1. Tembleque, made in a skull-shaped mold. Skull-pudding tastes like coconut, it turns out.

2. A spooky cupcake. Something like these, maybe.

3. A little wooden coffin-shaped trinket box, tiny brass fittings and all, containing an edible sugar skull.

4. An old key on a length of spooky black ribbon. What, if anything, this key opens is up to you. All you get here is the key, no lock.

5. An aggressively cute skeleton figurine, made of felt. They’ve all got different outfits. Yours can be dressed any way you like.

6. A coin for the ferryman! Or, you know, the jukebox right there, conveniently stocked with goth and/or spooky music. Or keep it (specifically, it’s a silver 1936 Polish 2 złote coin, the one with the ship on one side and eagle on the other).

In addition, a Halloween tree is set up over to the side, in the bar. It’s made of wood and metal, a few silver leaves clinging to its scraggly branches; it’s strung with purple lights and decorated with ornaments, mostly sugar skulls and paper flowers and spiders made of glass beads. Under and around it are wrapped gifts with no names on them, and every bar patron is free to take one, but only one.

There are a few envelopes, and one package is clearly a gift-wrapped pineapple, but otherwise there’s no way to be sure what anything is until it’s opened. They’re almost all handmade, since the foundation is about supporting the arts; none are alive, some are magic, and they’re all great gifts for somebody. Your pup’s taste may vary, but hey, it’s all free. Trade around, get something they like better.

So! Tell me a criterion your pup uses to select one of the gifts (size? proportion—is it more cube-shaped, wide and flat, tall and skinny? weight? the sound it makes when shaken—rattle, jingle, thump, slosh, no sound at all? maybe they prefer an envelope or the pineapple?) and I’ll tell you what they get.

:D ?

Comments

[isawit]

So what happens if someone tries to take more than one gift from the tree? Not 100% sure if Cat here would try but it is a temptation.

And I think she would pick a smaller package, something that seems like it would fit in a pocket or be easy to carry.

[scarred_grin]

There really isn't anything to stop people from taking more than one thing; it's just bad form to take something, open it and then put it back. Loki has no moral authority to tell anybody not to take things that are just lying around.

In the package: a necklace, bronze hammered into leaf shapes, with fire opal beads between. Autumn, in jewelry form.

[isawit]

And Cat is trying be best not to cry at receiving such a beautiful gift.

[herr_bookman]

Autor absolutely takes the pineapple, once he figures out he's allowed.

[souffle_girlek]

*resolutely, resolutely refuses to burst into song*

*hums anyway*

[herr_bookman]

FFFF it's in my head

[souffle_girlek]

Mwahahahaha

[scarred_grin]

Freshest, tastiest pineapple ever, in a form-fitting wrapping job that probably took a while, each leaf of the crown individually wrapped. Part of a family holiday tradition that makes no more sense than most traditions, and hey, that pineapple makes for some good eating.

[herr_bookman]

That is fantastic. Now to find someone to share it with... Thank you for this!

[scarred_grin]

More than welcome! ^__^

[vojvode]

Hmm....

[scarred_grin]

So many choices!

[death_gone_mad]

The tree will go up on Halloween, right? As much as Amascut hates Halloween, she must tend bar on the days of the dead and an early Halloweeny tree will warn her off. Eh, she'll tend bar on the 31st, 1st, or 2nd anyway; I'll find a way. It's tradition, dammit!

Anyhow, gifts... she isn't the sentimental type, so she will try to pick something useful. Something cubey might be useful, but long and skinny may be as well. Hmm. Something that goes thunk might be, too. She'll probably shake all the presents.

I'll throw in Fairy Fixit as well... something smallish and light.

[scarred_grin]

It'll probably go up late the night before, once Egil's in bed. Put it up too early, and everything might be gone before Halloween actually happens.

Useful, and with a satisfying thunk when shaken? Here's a dagger made from the tooth of a Bas-Lag bonefish, its handle made of carved bone. Fairly sharp, better at stabbing than slashing, looks nice on display.

Smallish and light? Here's a small figurine of a rolled-up, sleeping tabby cat made of silver and bronze mokume-gane. Teja does some very nice work.

[fairy_fixit]

OO! I have been wondering how to keep Amascut away from Fairy Fixit if I EP them both. But then mokume-gane kitty.

Fairy Fixit might be jealous about the bonefish tooth if she ever finds out about it, though. :D

[merryeccentricities]

Joly is about as capable of passing up a Mysterious Present as he is of doing a can-can on skates, which is Not Very. He'll pick something that makes Mysterious Sounds on top of it-- a rattle, a slosh, a rattle that's somehow sloshy? There's an exciting strange package!




((ooc: and mun shall now sulk with envy at the awesome things available at the bar. Sulk, sulk, envy envy. I wanna cutey skeleton toooo :P))

[scarred_grin]

Rattle and sloshy? Spring in a Bottle! One of Sigyn's old recipes, it's a tonic made with spring flowers that not only improves health, it also captures the feeling of spring, all new beginnings and creative energy. Not like a drug or supernatural control, doesn't make anybody act unlike themselves, just a nice feeling for a while, since not all healing is physical.

(ooc: I would love to have all of the things on offer, plus a Halloween tree, but there's never enough time to make all the things. it's unfair!)

[merryeccentricities]

Absolutely perfect, of course- a tonic for things medicine really can't touch. <3 And to be saved for...when it becomes more obviously needed. What a good tree!


((ooc:I now at least want to make Coconut Skull Pudding. XD I may see what I can do...))

[scarred_grin]

Not all things left lying around the bar are bad!

(ooc: if I had the fancy skull-shaped molds like Pyrrha does, I'd cook just about everything in it. ^_^ )

[is_the_motion]

If she gets wind that there's cake, Bonnie's probably gonna sniff it.

[scarred_grin]

There's definitely cake. Well, tasty homemade cupcakes, anyway. Pyrrha likes to cook. ^_^

[death_fangirl]

0u0

[scarred_grin]

^___^

[death_fangirl]

Aradia would already enjoy the little skeleton, but I'm thinking she should pick up a soft, lumpy, medium-sized present.

[scarred_grin]

Here's a little backpack/shoulder-bag in the form of a cute, cartoony plush of a goth of ambiguous gender, yarn dreads and fishnets and all. The zipper goes around the neck, concealed by a collar, and the bag will hold a nearly limitless supply of small things as long as they can fit in through the neck opening. It's a bit like a bag of holding, but more Halloween.

[chanter1944]

Sariel would probably pick a smaller present, once she figures out they're being given away. Possibly a smaller cube, or something cylindrical. Or maybe one of the envelopes, even.

If I decide she gets a felt skeleton, it will not be dressed in Starfleet reds. Or Starfleet anything. That'd just be too creepy.

[scarred_grin]

Here's an old-school nautical compass, shiny brass fittings and gimbal, in a round box covered in some kind of bone or ivory. The top of the box is engraved, scrimshaw-style, with presumably the constellations one might navigate by (not Earth's, though); the side has a geometric floral design. It works, and it also looks nice.

...yeah, that would be a little creepy.

[visible_sariel]

Oh, that is just perfect. :)

[scarred_grin]

^___^

[runningred]

Jay takes a cube about the size of his fist, toying with it curiously. Also, he's rather enamoured by the ferryman's coins. They appeal to his sense of humour.

[scarred_grin]

Be the envy of the steampunk crowd with this shiny bronze pocketwatch that incorporates celestial markings on its face, much like the Antikythera mechanism (but more accurate). It adjusts itself to local time in other worlds, even ones that don't have 24-hour days.

[runningred]

Pretty. Jay plays with it, letting the light play off the surface. This will come in very handy. He plays with the ferryman's coins too, tossing up the idea of making them into dog tags. It doesn't hurt to have them with him for next time.

[scarred_grin]

That is not a time you want to be caught without exact change. ^_^

[capture_eternity]

Dorian Gray, for one, will take a large, heavy parcel -- and will be amazed by the idea of sugar skulls and cute skeletons!

[scarred_grin]

Ever want to make a footstool of your enemies? Well, here you go: a footstool with a smooth ebony top, and legs consisting of life-sized carved wooden skulls (in white oak) on small pedestals. Makes any room instantly more goth.

[genarti]

Oh, I love this idea!

For some of mine, I'm not sure if they'd take a present. But Cosette would go for something small and probably soft. Thor would just go for something that seemed interesting -- either a weird shape he couldn't identify, or a box that rattled, or something that seemed like it might be a foodstuff.

[scarred_grin]

For Cosette, have the warmest, softest socks ever, with matching mittens. They're some fancy alpaca-silk blend, in shades of blue that look a bit like watercolor paint, and there's a wave pattern to the knitting. They never wear out, which is useful for socks.

For Thor, the most rattly box contains a carved bone chess set; the pieces on one side are sailors, looking very vaguely Napoleonic-era, while the other side is all some kind of monstrous. There's scrimshaw around the margins of the matching board, showing ships in battle with horrors from the deep, which probably explains the pieces.

[genarti]

:D! This is all fantastic.

[scarred_grin]

^____^

[intoaman]

Diaval has a skeleton felt toy. He might even be stroking it a bit. It feels nice.

But then there are presents! He inches towards the biggest, shiniest one he can find. It seems to be soft inside but he's too busy playing with the pretty wrapping paper at the moment.

[scarred_grin]

The package even has shiny silver-foil ribbon tied around it for stability--it contains a quilt of silk and velvet, in shades of dark blue and purple to depict the night sky, with gold stars here and there (specifically, Orion and his dogs). Very soft and very warm.

[intoaman]

Diaval doesn't like dogs but as he has no idea what the patterns mean, he doesn't notice or care. The quilt is snuggly and warm and a very happy raven will be curled up by the fire if anyone's looking!

[street_sparrow]

Gavroche takes something small with interesting lumpy bits and leaves a little carving of an animal in its place because he believes in paying back.

Giovanni... one of the heavier things and the glitterier the better.

Cadfael probably just one of the envelopes, because monks aren't supposed to have personal possessions.

Athelstan picks something soft.

Ichabod... just takes the first thing that comes to hand.

Norrington picks up a smallish square box.

[girlwithout]

Awwww. Slightly late, but:

Allie Pennington takes something long and thin and leaves a nice thank-you card in its place.

And Rikki grabs a box about the size of your average hardback book.