Santa Claus is coming to town

[afallenstar]

Who: Secret Santa participants, but also EVERYONE!
Where: Town Hall
When: Evening of day 24
What: Present giving! The Secret Santa reveal, and anyone who wants to have a christmas party is welcome to join too!
Notess: Party style thread guys, so go nuts. No order, everything is chaos, tag to your hearts content, feel free to break off into separate threads, and no spiking the punch! Also I think she's sort of mentioned it to a bunch of people but want to do me some lovely favours and handwave the actual name drawing? I will backtag if people want but it seems a little pointless to thread that out.


There's another message on the network that morning from Anna, just audio again. It's about as garbled as her first one regarding the Secret Santa idea, but for anyone who is listening closely enough they'll make out a few details. Namely this evening, town hall, and bring your presents before she shuts it off.

She's spent the rest of the day trying to do what she can to make the place look nicer. She's hardly got Christmas decorations on tap, but she's done what she can with what she has all the same. There's paper snow flakes up around the place, some of the food from her house placed in bowls to make it more party-appropriate, and it's no fir but she has relocated a small tree from the edge of the woods and placed it in the hall. Barely decorated, not even the right kind of tree, it's the best she can do with the resources she's been given.

Now all there is to do is wait for people to come.

Comments

[thezerothlaw]

Daneel hasn't expected to receive anything, and he looks down at the present with a mixture of surprise and confusion, and he looks up at Steve with his expression grave.

"Thank you. I'm not human, and it isn't necessary to give me a gift. Are you sure you wish to give this to me?"

[pursuitofcappiness]

Steve nods and grins.

What he wants to say is, "Doesn't matter. It's Christmas."

What he does is hold up a sign that says Merry Christmas. It is a very decorative page.

[thezerothlaw]

Words or not, Daneel understands, and he opens the package very carefully and solemnly. He's never been given a present before, and the last thing he would want to do is offend by refusing it.

The very first thing he does with the hat is put it on, and even if the smile he gives Steve looks slightly unnatural, that's more to do with his lack of practice at anything more than small, grave expressions than with anything approaching a lack of gratitude. He likes the hat; he has no plan to take it off anytime soon just because it's his and he's never really owned anything either.

"Thank you very much," he says, his voice quiet. "Merry Christmas."

[pursuitofcappiness]

He holds up a sign that says, "You're welcome." And he does notice that his smile is a little weird, but that's alright. Children have expressions built in, and even if they didn't, they've had mimicking all their lives. Daneel is trying. That's enough.

"Are you enjoying the party?" Steve writes.

[thezerothlaw]

Daneel has to think about how to answer that.

"I appreciate the opportunity to observe so many individuals in one place," he says at last. "I'm not used, perhaps, to being a guest, but I believe I'm finding the experience enlightening. Yes, I think it's fair to say I'm enjoying the party."

[pursuitofcappiness]

That's good to hear. Steve too, has to learn about peoples' customs, being from a different time and place than most of them. It's been a little bit difficult on him, but he can't imagine how it must feel to have to start from scratch.

He thinks Daneel does a great job.

He pats Daneel on the shoulder.

[thezerothlaw]

Daneel gives Steve a small, grave smile, an expression he's far more practiced at than his attempt at a broad grin.

"Thank you," he says. "You're very kind. I hope your ability to speak returns to you. I would like to have a proper conversation with you at some point, if you're amenable to it."

[pursuitofcappiness]

He nods enthusiastically and mouths the words "You too," hoping that there's some sort of facial recognition that reads lips or something, even a little bit. He thinks it's all pretty fascinating.