77th ♫ | the door decorated with silver ribbons swung open

[phaiinein]

MURDERGAME ALL-STARS MINGLE ❤ HOLIDAY EDITION

Yet another year has gone by and yet another load of survivors have come tumbling out of a murdergame! With the end of the year coming around, that means it's obviously time for an interdimensional winter holiday party of dubious canonicity for any and all characters who've been along for the murdergame ride! You've gotten an invite and arrived at this appropriately decked out party space with enough room, food and drinks and cool decorations to keep a party going into the wee hours of the night!

Just toplevel with your character's name and what game and round they were from — no blank comments! Make sure to give everyone an idea of what life has been like for the past year and give everyone a chance to catch up with your character and their new life!

Have snowball fights! Eat too much food! Swap presents! Shittalk your relatives! And most importantly of all, have a happy holiday party!

Comments

[theproducer]

[For most of the party, Nina hasn't strayed too far from Barry's side. Wallflower-ing with him, especially knowing that they're both dealing with similar anxieties, feels more comfortable than forcing herself into talking to strangers unprompted. It's easy for her to feel at ease near him, even without a few glasses of wine to help.

At one point she excuses herself, giving his arm a reassuring squeeze and letting him know she'll be right back. She's gone about ten minutes before she's suddenly next to him again, one arm tucked behind her back like she's hiding something and a coy smile on her lips. She leans down to plant a quick kiss on his cheek, leaving behind a faint wine red lipstick mark.]

Keep an eye out for Anna. I think she's aiming to make you Barry Claus for the kids.

[berkmanblock]

[He manages on his own for that bit of time, mainly via small talk and pretending his glass is more interesting than it is. The moment Barry does look up though, Nina's back and some tension in his shoulders noticeably relaxes. He'll play along and pretend he doesn't notice she's hiding something and smile when she kisses him.]

Hey, Nina. ...wait, Anna's looking to what? [His eyebrows quirk up with mild confusion. Well, it's not the worst thing anyone's asked him to do? But still.] Do...any of the kids even still believe in Santa?

[The majority of them are teenagers, after all. Dee and Snake are probably the closest to being that age, but he's not sure Snake fully got the Christmas explanation he tried to give him.

...plus he can very clearly see Dee ripping the beard off a mall Santa in his mind's eye.]

[theproducer]

[She loops her free arm around his, comfortably leaning her weight against his side and her head on his shoulder.]

It's Anna. Do you think that would stop her? [Nina herself is still somewhat unclear on the "Santa lore" but she's osmosed enough to accept the general idea of putting on a fake beard and lying to children in the name of gift giving. Something tells her certain children (Dee and Snake specifically coming to mind) would be much more accepting if there was a guarantee they'd be getting weapons as gifts.]

Her...cousin? Is here. [She pretty sure he's Anna's cousin, with how they keep excitedly yelling "Cousin!" at each other.] That Richard guy with the crown and beard. He has small kids with him, they probably have some concept of Earth Middle Ages Santa.

But we can always hide you behind the tree for a little while if you don't want to. [As amusing as Barry Claus has the potential to be in her eyes, she wants him to have a nice time and not feel like he has to slap on a silly suit and fake beard.]

[berkmanblock]

...probably not? [He gives a mildly resigned laugh. Though he's not fully certain what Anna's idea of the Santa lore might be and if it differs from the standard 21st century earth perception of a magic old man leaving stuff at your house if you're good enough. Then again Barry knows about it is catching some Christmas specials on in the background during the season (He saw The Santa Clause on a plane once! He doesn't know if the whole kill and replace thing is a Tim Allen original or if that's just how Santas are made!).]

So that'd make her an aunt--or something. ...how old are these kids?

[If it were just Dee, Snake, and some teens he'd be turning it down in all likelihood, but the idea of little kids from the middle ages does soften it a bit. Significantly less terrifying than your average mall Santa (He also saw Elf on a plane once! Mall Santa seemed like a painful job in that movie!)]

I'd mostly just have to let them tell me what they want or--however it worked back then. Wasn't old Santa a saint or something?

[theproducer]

[The entirety of Nina's 21st century Christmas knowledge can probably be summed up with "was it in some kind of ancient Christmas special she might have seen/was it offhandedly mentioned by a Champion? Maybe she knows it.". (Tell her anything about Earth Christmas traditions and she'll probably believe it. What even is a missile toad?)]

Stars, I can never tell with kids' ages. The little boy is...a little over two, I think? And the girl is maybe one? [Surprisingly, she's right even if the nuance between a two year old versus a two and a half year old are lost on her.]

Anna just called him "Nicholas" so your guess is as good as mine. My personal research said he was... [She pauses, humming in thought with a playful smile.] Either raised by faeries, an otherwise normal human wood carver, or possibly a Viking.

[berkmanblock]

[She might figure out the mistletoe thing sooner or later: Barry is aware enough of the tradition and lame enough to potentially try.]

—Jesus, that’s…they’d be babies, wouldn’t they? Guess they wouldn’t fully remember later, but—I don’t know, it might be important anyway. [His eyebrows furrow in consideration. The Santa related dread aside, he’s a bit flattered Anna considers him good enough with kids for it.]

Wait, what was that last one? [Barry blinks with mild confusion.] I mean, good for him, I think…most Vikings don’t get a career change, right? Since they, uh…yeah, they died.

…do kids even care about Vikings?

[theproducer]

[What a lame tradition that Nina would inevitably find embarrassingly delightful if he tries.]

Isn't it some kind of rite of passage for kids? Getting pictures with Santa you won't remember but your parents can show them off for years on end? That sounds important. [To Nina, Anna's reasoning (and a little bit her own personal bias) makes sense. Barry is pretty good with the teenagers, somehow less likely to scare the kids than Brain, he has some interest in trying it despite the apprehension. She's a little proud of him for even thinking about it this hard.

She gives his arm a gentle squeeze and chuckles.] The Viking thing wasn't exactly explained. It seemed like more of an excuse to have a sad but badass Santa who can beat up a bunch of mercenaries to save a family. It's a dumb, fun movie though- we should watch it sometime.

...if someone explained them to Dee, I feel like she'd like them. Vikings seem up her alley. [Speaking of, she has a promised blade-wielding roomba for that girl-] Oh, that reminds me- I have a present for you.

[berkmanblock]

I guess…some do? Mostly just saw Santa stuff in movies instead of, uhh…actually doing it. I think I just wrote a letter back then?

[The post office was a lot closer than any malls where he lived as a kid.

Barry doesn’t think not having that formative experience is actually the root of what’s wrong with him, but hey, it probably matters in some way. He’s alright with the teens, Snake, and Dee, so normal infants are probably easier! Right…?]

—oh! Like Die Hard? [He perks up at the summary. He liked Die Hard even though he wasn’t sure why it counted as a Christmas movie, so this one sounds fun. (To be honest he’s willing to watch most movies Nina picks out even if he doesn’t fully get them.)

A mildly pained grimace flits across his face when Dee and Vikings come up.] I feel like she’d like them too much, maybe? There’s gotta be, uh…kid-friendly Vikings somewhere… [Or just never show her Vikings ever for everyone’s good.]

You do? Wow, uh… [He should not be surprised, but now he feels mildly awkward for whatever reason.] I have one for you—the rest of them are at home, they…wouldn’t travel as well… [Dragging an entire gamer chair across dimensions probably wouldn’t work out. Still, he should have printed a picture out maybe? Dammit.]

[theproducer]

[Even just the act of writing letters to an imaginary man who'd bring you gifts you actually wanted would have been a marvel to Nina in her childhood, although the "naughty or nice" thing does leave a particular sour taste in her mouth in the here and now.

Her eyes light up.] Exactly! It's like if you crossed Die Hard with...oh, what's that other one? Not where the kid is alone in a city and meets the pigeon lady but the first one- Home Alone! [Nina likes watching movies with Barry, even when she can tell he doesn't get the same things from them she does. It used to be a solitary activity for her, in the dark of her apartment (or, more likely, her office) with a bottle of wine or something harder depending on her mood. Now she gets to comfortably sprawl on a couch with him, one hand in a bowl of popcorn and the other entwined with his.

Unsurprisingly, she's found she vastly prefers the latter.]

I'll make a mental note to avoid introducing her to Loki's brother if the chance ever comes up. [She's not positive if the two of them would actually count as vikings in the traditional sense but based on what she's heard better safe than "Dee wants to upgrade to a battle axe now".

Nina removes her hand from behind her back, handing him a square package wrapped in shiny silver paper and carefully tied off with a purple ribbon.] Yours just happened to travel extra well so I figured it'd be nice to do it here. [She smiles, wide and warm, and gives his arm another reassuring squeeze.] And I don't mind being surprised when we get home.

[berkmanblock]

Oh, so it’s a home invasion movie? That’s—yeah, that’s why the kid was fucking up the guys in Home Alone. [Barry figures he’d have liked that movie as a kid. Kids like feeling capable, so maybe Home Alone is a power fantasy for imagining beating bad guys by yourself and ordering way too much pizza. Though in reality he had only seen the movie with Nina a few weeks ago as an adult. It was still pretty good though, given he’s kind of biased with the magic of actually being able to experience things like Christmas again.

It takes a moment for Barry to remember specifically who Loki’s brother is, but once an outline of a blonde man with a hammer starts appearing in his head, he nods at the suggestion of avoiding Dee meeting him.] Unless he’s, I don’t know—good at teaching trigger discipline? But for axes? [If they can’t stop Dee, at least putting her chaos in good hands might work.

Barry gives a tiny smile of relief when Nina says she doesn’t mind, grabbing a small box from the bag he’s kept nearby. The slightly tacky reindeer wrapping paper around it clearly wasn’t done by a professional, especially compared to Nina’s gift that he exchanges it with.] Ha, good, I’m just glad I remembered one…thanks. [He turns the box in his hand for a moment, almost feeling a bit bad about undoing the wrapping paper.]

[theproducer]

Mmhm. A group of mercenaries hold a rich family hostage and only Santa is there to save the family and fuck everyone else up. [She chuckles.] Well, Santa and an 8 year old loose in an attic get the fuck them up. It's surprisingly heartwarming. [Much like Home Alone except with considerably more family dysfunction, violence and literal Christmas magic.]

Loki says he's much more responsible than he used to be but avoidance still sounds like our best case. [The family gossip and ridiculous stories Loki has fed her over the last few months is already thick to fill a book. Maybe when Dee is a little older and less likely to accidentally destroy a building.] Snake might like to spar with an actual god sometime though. Maybe that can be his Christmas present.

[She takes awkwardly wrapped box with care, turning it carefully in her hands with a soft expression and a small lump starts to form in her throat. It's a little silly, feeling a swell of emotion over getting a present, but the act of giving and receiving gifts is still has a few complicated feelings stirring up. She swallows and clears her throat, smiling warmly at Barry.] Thank you. Go ahead and tear away. It's what's inside that's important. [Not taking her own advice, Nina gingerly pulls at the tape to carefully unwrap her gift.

For Barry, once the wrapping paper is free from the top, the closed cardboard flaps fall open to reveal several items in the box. None of them are wrapped individually save for the stack of several video games - abut half of which are multiplayer- that are bound together with a thick red ribbon and tied with a bow.

Tucked in on one side of the game stack is a Christmas tree ornament. It's a flat and round slice of pale pine, hand-painted with a very simple sunset beach scene with a sky streaked with gradients of purple, orange and red.

On the opposite side is a small wall calendar. At a glance it looks fairly ordinary, the dates and months lining up with the coming year in their new home dimension, but the pictures on the upper half aren't the usual puppies in sweaters or movie posters you'd find if it had been picked up at a mall. They're photos of various locations with names like "The Vegas Quadrant", the familiar "Frizzle Plaza" and "Infinite Flags", "the Lena Horne Theatre" and then, a few pages later, a much more futuristic theater called the "Cosmic Curtain Company Theatre". There are twelve of them in total, one for each month, and all have small notes printed in Nina's hand with little fun facts about the locations.

The last gift is a plain, unsealed envelope that's been delicately placed on top of the video games. Written on the front, in Nina's looping cursive handwriting, are two sentences: Barry- We've seen enough tragedies. Let's switch genres. ♥]