networkinthenight | [audio] @eleven; Santa's Secret Game [open]

[ Eleven's voice is tired. Drained - her earlier foray into the Void has come back to haunt her during Beacon's Defense with dire consequence, and she feels faint these days, unable to tap into the powers she so violently overused to defend the sleeping inhabitants of Beacon. ]

Home... back home. My... uhm. Mike... told me.

[ She stops talking for a moment. The sound of a quiet breath; she's gathering her thoughts. If you've been here a while you know that she struggles with her words when she's exhausted, when she's upset, when she's emotional. ]

I had one, back home. Christmas... [ She says the word slowly, unsure. ] Mike and me and a few friends, we... played a... game, maybe? Santa's Secret Game... I think. You put your name in a... hat, and then when it's full, you draw one. A name. And you get a gift for that person. But... you can't tell anyone. It's a secret, until they get the gift.

[ The sound of something crinkling. Paper, maybe. ]

I asked Rastus for... paper. For presents. And... ribbons and... bags. I wanted...

I thought...

[ She goes quiet for another moment, then: ]

Presents are... nice. Can we.

Can we just... have something... nice?

Just be nice.

I think, maybe... we could play the game? And give gifts. And be nice.

I... it's. It's from home...

[ooc: Feel free to respond to El, but in the wake of this network post, in the following week she'll go around approaching Beaconites with a large gift bag to collect sign ups for Secret Santa (even if she mislabels the 'game' slightly.

Sign-up can be handwaved through THIS OOC Post, that also includes further information on how this is gonna shake out. ]

Threaded | Flat

Yes, I think something nice would be good. That's an absolutely fabulous idea, El. [ don't sell yourself short! ] I've done some Santa's Secret Game before. It's always quite fun, even if the gifts aren't always amazing.

Do you need any help with setting it up? [ not that he thinks she does. seems like she knows exactly how she wants it to go, and he's fine with that. he's only offering just in case. ]

We can't start doing nice things for each other. We'll start to get comfortable here.

[ it's actually a little overwhelming, how nancy tends to feel worried about, protective of, and impressed by eleven at basically all times. it takes her a little while to respond, but her voice is soft when she does ]

I think we can definitely do something nice. Are all of those supplies back at the cabin? Maybe we could make a few decorations, too, if you're up for it. I can show you how.

I think this sounds like a really nice idea. What kinds of gifts do you give each other where you're from?

It makes it easier to bear the difficult things when you have nicer things to focus on. I think that sounds like a fun game.

We don't really know each other though, so how will we know what to get?

[ Christmas seems like kid stuff - he didn't think Santa was anything more than some tall tale told to get kids to behave during the year until Sora told them all about Christmas Town and how the man in red himself was a real person. Even that had stretched plausibility, until he was reading all the journal entries Jiminy had written about all of their adventures and realized how much of it was true.

That's not exactly what persuades Riku to join in on Eleven's idea. It's the faltering plea she makes, yearning for something warm and familiar from home. After everything that happened, it seems like a very small but not insignificant ask. ]

Sure. Count me in. I know of a few other people to sign up for this, too.

[ An opportunity to mess with a friend or two who might not otherwise be inclined to participate? Priceless. ]

[And now there's a kid who was here when the spirits attacked. She sound incredibly scared despite working to making something positive.]

That sounds like a lot of fun. I'm new here, so it'll be a good way to meet everyone.

...I'm Duster, by the way.

We have Christmas where I'm from, too, but I celebrate something else.

But, I love giving out presents and I love that you're doing this. Count me in. You're putting your own name in, too, right? You deserve something cute.

[ it's never been the gifts part of christmas that peter's ever cared for, it's the spending time with people he cares about. it's not going to be quite the same here, but there are people here that he's come to care about as much as anyone back home, and if secret santa helps make them happy? who'd he be not to join in.

(and c'mon, if he ended up with someone like jason—. ha.) ]

Count me in.

@regina

@freddie1967 | Private

@nancy

@silent | voice

@m.hughes

no subject

@lucky

@mrs.maisel | voice

—audio / @parker