With Jeff and Maeve supporting Cosette on either side, the trio made their way into the warm air of the mansion and to where Ainsley and Kaelin were posted up sipping on steaming cups of hot cider. 

"Cider?" Ainsley asked, handing Cosette a mug as the young woman sat down next to Kaelin. 

"Ainsley, I don't think this bag matches the outfit you picked out for me," Jeff said, gesturing at the bright red bag resting against his hip. 

Ainsley-Marie looked up at Jeff, "oh, that definitely clashes." She replied, tossing him his roughly wrapped present once again. 

Jeffery pulled a small folding knife out of his back pocket and sliced open the duct tape to reveal a rudimentary survival kit. "Huh, coulda used this when we were on that deserted island. Watchu get? 

" A... Pomegranate, is this lavender? And a sheaf of grain." Ainsley replied, pondering the meaning of such a gift. 

"On the bright side, you can finally start that garden in our non-existent backyard."

Ainsley chuckled, but then something clicked in her brain. "Wait, no, I've seen these before, in professor Tomlin's Grecian mythology class. These are Persephone's icons, three of them anyhow, weird."

"I'm a bit rusty on my mythology; you'll have to fill me in on this Persephone."

"Well, her backstory depends on which version you go with, but essentially she's Hades' wife, co-ruler of the underworld and goddess of vegetation."

"Makes you wonder which one of these party-goers is as a big of a nerd as you."

Ainsley scanned the party, "yeah... It makes you wonder."

Posted by: @valiantarcher

"I don't think I'm familiar with the name, sorry. Do they play a lot of folk songs - you know, the ones about how hard life is and how the crops have failed for years - with kind of haunting pipes and strings, but with a...weird twist, like there is something else going on that no one is talking about? I can't claim any expertise, but I think that would describe the native Kinnelmore music. What style of music do you enjoy? Are you musically skilled?"

The corners of Lauren's mouth twitched at the depiction of Kinnelmore's music. "I guess Ionestra's gone a bit more mainstream. They definitely have the haunting pipes and strings element, not so much failing crops." 

She absently twisted a few strands of hair. "Music's about the only thing I can claim any degree of skill with," she said ruefully. "Well, that and selling lemonade maybe. I like a wide variety of music, except for pop. So much of that stuff is just -- no, if I get started on that, we'll be here for hours." 

Posted by: @valiantarcher

"Emm, I hope you weren't too frightened by the earlier...ruckus." He shot a glance at the man next to Faye, who has holding a ceramic container in the form of an elephant for some reason. "Or you?"

Ian waved, then offered an oatmeal cookie to the bull. He picked up a few different kinds for himself. "Ian. And I escaped unscathed, thanks." He felt no small relief that Lauren wasn't nearby at the moment. He caught sight of Emma and her father approaching, and smiled at the little girl. "Hey there Emma, I wanted to introduce you to my new friend Hector. You wouldn't happen to have any peanuts, do you? Elephants love peanuts."

"We should probably grab your gifts, as well," Maeve said to the girls after giving a curious glance at Jeff and Ainsley's gifts. She walked over to the table, holding up first a small green box wrapped with candy canes, a pale blue gift bag, a green box with a red bow, a small, nondescript box marked FRAGILE, and a  newspapered item.

"I want the newspaper one!" Kaelin called.

Maeve tucked it under her arm, picked up the item Cosette selected, and, finally, the candy-cane clad box for herself. She returned and distributed their gifts. Kaelin tore into hers; Maeve meticulously picked the wrapping paper off and folded it. 

"It's so pretty!" Kaelin gasped, holding up an intrinsically decorated leather book and sniffing it. "I wonder who brought it."

"It is gorgeous," Maeve agreed. "Might make a good journal for you, yes?"

"And I can sketch in it too!"

Maeve popped the top off of her box and considered it for a moment with a slightly puzzled look.

"Well?" Kaelin demanded. 

"It's a...soft...children's version of an animal I can't remember the name of," she said. Kaelin groaned. 

"It's a hippo, Maeve. A hippo."

Maeve held the toy up, looked it square in the eye, and studied it intently.

"Aww, what a cutie!" Exclaimed Ainsley-Marie, momentarily distracted by Maeve's new friend.

"Watcha gonna name it?"

Jeffery, for his part, was stuck pondering the meaning of Ainsley's odd gift and who could have been the gift-giver. He wandered off from their little group of friends, scrutinizing each member of the party. That's when he realized Delia was a ghost hunter; if anyone knew anything about the goddess of the underworld, it would be her. 

"Hey Delia, got a moment?"

Delia moved to the last window and, upon opening it, discovered the curtain was stuck in a rather inconvenient manner. She gave it a quick jerk, then realized something inside it was actively stopping its movement. She pulled the edge back to find Mr. Waters. 

"Hiding from the wrath of Moses' Ark?" she asked cheerily before re-tucking the curtain to appropriately obscure the detective's hiding place. 

Posted by: @jackalopeofevul

"Hey Delia, got a moment?"

"Two for you," she said, turning to scrutinize Jeff and his med bag. "Saved another soul from an untimely demise?"

"Hey, every soul I save is one less you need to hunt. Just tryna make your job easier." Jeff replied, hands in his pockets. 

"Where do the souls go, after you hunt them down? You got a special box or something?"

"I mean, boxes are an easy way to transport pretty much anything. Easy to alphabetize, too. Eventually, though, they'll end up back where they belong, in what you all call the Underworld. It's really more like a separate plane of existence, but that's beside the point. Why? Thinking about picking up a side job?" Delia asked dryly. 

Posted by: @arin
Music's about the only thing I can claim any degree of skill with. Well, that and selling lemonade maybe. I like a wide variety of music, except for pop. So much of that stuff is just -- no, if I get started on that, we'll be here for hours.

"You're talented in both music and trade?" Moira asked, a bit awestruck. "What instrument do you play? Or do you sing?" She wanted to ask Lauren if she was planning on selling lemonade in Ditto Town as well, but she had seemed less excited about that than music.

--
The bull eagerly accepted the cookie from the man - a promising sign, he thought.

Ian. And I escaped unscathed, thanks.

"Good to hear, and nice to meet you, Ian," he said - and mostly meant it.

Posted by: @stargazer
Hello again, Faye and Norro. Enjoying the party?

The bull nodded at Dan. "Hello. The party has been more exciting than I'd anticipated. And yourself?"

Jeff blushed just a tad, shoving his hands deeper into his pockets.

"Well, I was thinking about buying a ring, so if your offering, I wouldn't say no to a little over time. So, this underworld, it got a ruler? Ainsley was going off about some goddess or something. Persephone, I think. Ever met her?" 

For the second time that evening, Delia's drink nearly came out her nose. 

"Yeah," she coughed. "I know her. She's cool. Why's Ainsley going on about her?"

Note to self: keep another eye on Ainsley.

Junior made his way toward the refreshment table. Unfortunately, a large bovine had placed himself directly in front of it. Junior was not interested in making another scene. “Once kicked twice shy?” he thought. He’d messed with the bull. He didn’t want to deal with the horns. Junior looked around for a secondary refreshment table. No such luck.

He’d promised Molly some punch. He couldn’t go back without it. Hmm...

Well, the table was a rather long one. It just might work. Junior kept an eye on the bull carefully. Norro seemed to be in conversation. All Junior had to do was wait for the right moment...

And the moment came. When Norro wasn’t looking at it, Junior made a dash for the refreshment table and dove underneath it, sliding under the table cloth. He didn’t think anyone had seen him, but then again, how would one know, being under a table cloth? Junior listened to the conversation and watched the feet of those standing around the refreshment table. 

Now, if he was stealthy...

If anyone was watching, they would have seen a pair of hands emerge from the back side of the table and feel for a glass. Nope, not there. That felt like a decoration. Ah! There it was. Junior tipped the glass over and worked his right hand around the punch bowl, feeling for the ladle. He found it.

It wouldn’t be surprising to know that there were a few drips as he lifted the ladle out of the bowl and poured the punch into the glass, but much fewer than one might expect under the circumstances. Slowly, he replaced the ladle into the bowl, and soon the glass was descending down the back side of the table.

Now, all that is left is to get out from under this table unnoticed.

"I dunno really, she got a few salad garnishes in her gift tonight, said they were icons of something. Personally, I thought it was pretty funny. As long as they ain't cursed or something, I think she'll get over it soon enough."

"Huh. Wonder whose gift it was," Delia said, sipping her tea. "And that made you want to talk about dead people?"

"I deal in death as well, Delia, and on occasion I do wonder what happens to the souls I fail to save, or even less frequently; the souls I'm forced to put down. This underworld, is it a pleasant place for it's inhabitants? Or does it have a more fire and brimstone flavor to it?"

Posted by: @arin

"Hey there Emma, I wanted to introduce you to my new friend Hector. You wouldn't happen to have any peanuts, do you? Elephants love peanuts."

Emma giggled.  "Hi, Hector," she said.  "I don't have peanuts.  Want a cookie?"

Dan just smiled at the exchange, knowing where this gift had come from but keeping quiet about it. If Emma wanted to spill the beans, that would be okay.

Posted by: @valiantarcher

The bull nodded at Dan. "Hello. The party has been more exciting than I'd anticipated. And yourself?"

"Oh, I could tell ya stories."  He winked at Faye and Norro both.  "Never a dull moment at one of these."  Just then a hand seemed to reach up from under the table and grab a glass of punch. Now I'm imagining things.

Fortunately he was distracted by Maeve and Ainsley-Marie talking about her gift, the plush hippo.  Now I know where the girls' gifts went.  I hope they like them as much as my kids seem to like theirs.

-----

By now Angie had brought Grace in from outside.  "I can't believe you're not cold," Angie said, "all that time out there without even a scarf."

"I don't know, Mom,  I feel fine."

Angie was puzzled; normally Grace was the one who got coldest first when the family was enjoying winter activities. Maybe just the excitement of seeing friends again.