Ilyna looks to Jason for a moment, but as this was his idea in the first place, she returns her attention to Li with a nod. "Okay, you can open the one from Va'ynna, then wait for the rest."
#RedrockAgency – November 24, 2020
Va'ynna takes a step back, returning his thanks with a small smile before collecting her bag from the floor and putting Jason's present into it. "It's okay to wait too," she suggests, fidgeting a bit nervously at the impending judgement of her presents.
Jason snickers to himself at Li's enthusiasm. Va'ynna's suggestion causes him to furrow his brow. "What? No, V!" he insists. "Gotta-... you know, open the gifts in front of the gifter!" he continues with a gesture down towards the present she just placed into the bag, smile spreading back out across his lips as he gives a shrug of his shoulders, as if to imply he has no control over it, "It's tradition."
Victoria nods in agreeement with Jason. "He is right, the gifter has to see your reaction to opening it." She says with a smile, looking at the Jason's gift to Va'ynna and back to Va'ynna herself. "Gotta follow tradition."
Li grins widely at Ilyna's confirmation, the chatter of the others going unnoticed as she wastes no time in peeling her gift from Va'ynna open.
Vasquez seems amused, raising an eyebrow as her attention shifts between Jason and the pair of guests in tune with their conversation. It seems she has no interest in getting involved.
Cynthia shifts forward, resting her elbows on her knees and letting her beer bottle dangle by the neck as she looks to see what Li's gift is.
Ilyna lets the gift be in her lap, not in any hurry to tear into it. She smiles at Li's enthusiasm, however, and finds herself looking at her unwrap the gift with some curiosity.
Va'ynna tilts her head for a moment, but nods with a resigned sigh. "Okay, tradition is tradition" she says, in case the other two still expects her permisson. It does nothing to temper her nerves as she watcher Li dig into it.
To Li, From Va'ynna. The inside of the card has a small drawing of Va'ynna taking a knee and bowing. Text: 'A gift for the knight, from her squire.' Her handwriting is intricate, and not well suited for a beginner in the language. Inside is a dark-blue fuzzy sweater with a Christmas tree motif. However, as the wrapping no longer keeps it folded, a pair of hard objects hidden within are at great risk of escaping. One of
which is a box with a small battery-driven candle-like light depicted accompanied by a tiny hexagonal solar panel. It's meant for outdoor decorations according ot the packaging. The other, and bigger object is a flat white device with a thin bezel around with a stylus attached to it. It's minimal in design, with only one button in the top-left corner. The screen of it has a very paper-like texture.
Jason reigns in his big dumb grin, offering Va'ynna a firm nod in agreement as she gives in. He gets to work in digging a thumb under a corner of his present, but doesn't start tearing just yet, attention instead turning to Li as she gets through the paper of her gift. He studies the gifts that are revealed, well aware of the many hours Li spends up here drawing while Ilyna works. A thoughtful gift, indeed. He casts a glance back
Victoria smiles at Li opening her present. She looks over to Va'ynna and gives a loving smile, keeping quiet for now as she waits for Li's reaction. She opens the envelop carefully but leaves whatever is inside along for now.
Li has absolutely no idea what the card says, of course, holding it up for Ilyna to read while she looks through the rest of the things in the package. She tilts her head, eyebrows furrowing as she studies the electronics and the sweater. "What is it?" she asks aloud, lifting a couple of the things to study them more closely.
Halisi 's eyebrows furrow at the sight of what seems to be a drawing pad of some sort, sucking on her lips a little. Is there some unintended gift overlap, perhaps?
Ilyna takes the card and looks at it closely. "A gift for the knight, from her squire," she reads aloud with a warm smile in her voice. She looks at the items in Li's hand too with some curiosity.
The screen surface is 10" diagonally, much smaller than the sheets of paper she usually draws on, but it's much more portable. The button is a bit hard to find at first, but it's along the top edge of the device, out of the way of most places that could be pressed accidentally.
Va'ynna tilts her head when the girl is confused. Jason's approval does a lot to dispell her nerves, so she puts her bag on the ground and walks over to crouch in front of her. "You can draw on it like a sketchbook, and save the drawings for later," she says. "The... pen can click the controls too, so you don't need the glove. It'll take some time... to get used to it, but I think you'll like this way of
drawing." She then regards the other box. "The other one is a light for... snow sculptures. I saw it when I was buying Christmas lights, and thought of the castle we made together."
Jason's shoulders rattle with a chuckle at Li's confusion. When Va'ynna steps up to give an explanation, he steals glance Vasquez' way. The smile on her lips causes his own to widen unintentionally. "And-... uhh-..." he tucks his gift under his arm and hurriedly steps over, deciding he should lend his expertise as well. "And this-..." he continues from where Va'ynna left off as he reaches out to take the sweater and holds it up
to his chest, pinning it in place with his chin as he looks down over it. With his free hand he extends the sleeve outward so Li can get a better look at it. His gaze turns from the sweater to Li, "...is a sweater." A true encyclopedia of knowledge. He shoots a knowing look Va'ynna's way with a lift of his brow, a silent, 'You're welcome.'
Victoria nods in approval at Va'ynna, and whispers to her "Don't worry she'll enjoy it." Vicky then turns her attention to the envelop Jason gave her and investigates what is in it.
Li nods along with the explanations, studying each item curiously. A big smile soon crosses her lips and she looks up at the asari again. "Thank you, Vynna! You're a good squirrel!" she proclaims, a stern nod accompanying the last statement.
Vasquez lets out an unexpected snort of laughter, pressing a closed hand against her mouth to muffle it and hide her sudden grin.
Halisi 's smile returns as Ilyna reads out the message, and Li's response gets a chuckle out of her.
Va'ynna giggles at Jason completing her explanation, for she had trusted that the girl wasn't unaware of what a sweater is. Li's answer puts the biggest smile on her face, and returns the stern nod. Her card implies that she knows full and well the correct word for it, but that just makes the answer so much more endearing to her. "I'm glad you like it, my knight," she says with a bow, stands back up and steps
Inside of Vicky's envelope is a Christmas card. On the front is a fleet of reindeer, dashing across the galaxy, led by a certain red-nosed mascot as they tow a starship behind them that's sporting a particularly gaudy red, green, and white paintjob. The message inside is handwritten. In marker. The same black marker Jason used to label all of the gifts, it seems. "You're not fired yet. Merry Christmas, Vicky!" it reads. "From: Jason &
Jason too, is unable to suppress the sudden snort that slips out. "The best squirrel." he agrees, putting on as serious of a look as he can manage as he offers the asari a firm nod of his head. He's not able to maintain it for long and, soon enough, that dumb grin slips free. He drops the sweater back to Li before noticing that Vicky has taken the card out. He gives her an exaggerated smile and a big, congratulatory thumbs up.
"Alright, V. You and me. C'mon." he says, already turning his gift in his hands as he searches for a crease to get his thumb into.
Victoria is unable to suppress a little chuckle but gives a quick cough to hide her chuckle. She gives a quick shrug and a slight smirk at the image of reindeer hurling a starship, she opens the card and reads the message inside. She lets out a muffled chuckle before looking at both Jason and Vasquez giving them smile. "Thanks, best gift I could ask for."
Li seems a little puzzled by the laughter, but doesn't think much of it, and Va'ynna's bow gets a giggle out of her. She keeps all the gifts in her lap, arms resting protectively over them.
Halisi seems a little amused by Ilyna's apparent confusion over the reaction of the humans to Li's words. A smile tugs at the corner of her mouth as she silently studies the asari.
Va'ynna nods to Jason and returns to where she put the bag down, the nerves creeping back into her expression. The picks the gift up and, with a nod to Jason, she starts tearing the wrapping, trying to tear at the not-tape parts of it. She casts a glance towards Victoria's envelope, smiling at the picture on the card. "Did humans use draft animals for their spaceships in the past?" she asks jokingly.
Ilyna catches Halisi's glance in the corner of her eyes, but pretends otherwise as she looks down at the present in her lap. When Jason and Va'ynna goes to open theirs, she too gets to work on the wrapping.
The wrapping on Va'ynna's gift is more of a 'sleeve' than a proper wrapping. The excessive used of tape makes it a worthy adversary, but once a wide swathe of untaped-paper is found, the whole thing easily comes apart. The heavy duty tape causes the wrapping to maintain its rigid shape, allowing one to merely slide it off once an opening has been torn in the paper. Like a gift-snake shedding its gift-skin. Inside is a box. A fancy bright
holographic label of a star is in the upper left corner with the words Solar 'Core' beside it. Va'ynna may remember it as the simulstim recommended by the owner of the electronics shop.
Jason snickers as Vicky takes the joke in stride. Vasquez' questioning look just gets a coy shrug of his shoulders. The asari's question garners another snicker as he watches her open the gift for a moment. "Sounded like yours was getting a bit out of date, so-..." he explains with a shrug once it's clear what's inside before he turns his attention down to his own gift, using his thumb to tear at the paper.
Victoria turns her attention to the magnificently wrap present that Va'ynna has opened. She gives Va'ynna a nod that simply says 'nice'. She then turns her attention towards Jason and his gift.
Vasquez shifts a bit against the armrest and crosses her arms loosely, smiling silently as Va'ynna opens her present.
To Jason, From Va'ynna. The inside of the card has a small drawing of Va'ynna pouring a glass behind a counter. Text: 'Don't take this the wrong way, Jason. I'm not telling you stop coming by.' The wrapping easily gives way to a semi-opaque box of Christmas cookies of different shapes, colors and sizes. Taped to it is a bottle of rum from an Illium-based but human-owned brand. It's not a brand offered at the Respite, so
To Ilyna, From Va'ynna. The inside of the card has a small drawing of Va'ynna holding out her arms for a hug. Text: 'To one squire from the other.' The wrapping gives way to a sweater matching Li's albeit with a dark green base color instead of blue. There is nothing hidden within this one, however.
Va'ynna raises her brows at the gift, looking at it thoughtfully. "Oh," she says, as nervousness turns to guilt. There is a disparity in level of thoughtfulness in the gifts, but she doesn't want to appear ungrateful. "It is so long since I had time to... watch a vid, but now I'll really try to find the time. Thank you, Jason. It's great." She doesn't manage to hide the shame in her voice, however.
Ilyna holds up the sweater and looks it over thoughtfully. It's modest, but being very limited beyond the holiday. A certain other Atana must not have been involved in this, Ilyna thinks to herself. She puts it on, and and straightens it; it fits her well. "Thank you," she says with a smille.
Jason doesn't seem to notice the 'gift disparity' that's troubling Va'ynna, lopsided grin crossing his face as he looks over the label of the bottle with the box of cookies nested into the crook of his arm. Not that he's any sort of connoisseur of booze, it's just a thing you do. Look at the label and act like you know what you're looking at. In his other hand he holds the card, blue eyes turning towards it and scanning across the
words. "Wasn't planning on it." he assures Va'ynna, giving the card a small lift as he looks over to her and gives a small nod of his head. "Thanks, V." he says sincerely, extending the hand holding the card out to one side in an offer of a sidehug.
Victoria smiles at the exchange of presents between friends. She pockets the card Jason gave her, she quickly checks her omni-tool if any messages and puts it away after checking.
Li seems to take a cue from Ilyna, untangling the sweater from beneath the other items and slipping it on, forgetting entirely about her Christmas hat and displacing it in the process, leaving a lump on her back as its lost beneath the sweater.
Vasquez ' smile wavers a little at being excluded from Va'ynna's thanks. She might not have had anything to do with picking out the present but she sure had a part in paying for it.
Halisi smirks a little at Li's sweater mishap, trying to nudge Ilyna's attention towards it with a slight tilt of her head and a look, since she's out of range to assist.
Cynthia cranes her neck a little to see what kind of booze Jason's got his hands on, nodding quietly to herself.
Vasquez glances towards Jason's present, eyebrows furrowing briefly, but she doesn't say anything, the faint smile remaining as she continues to observe the exchange.
Va'ynna relaxes after she watches Jason open her gift, and she accepts his gratitude as genuine. She returns the side-hug. "Good," she says in return, with no shame in her voice this time.
Ilyna chuckles at the Christmas hat being enveloped by the sweater, but Halisi's nudge makes her take action immediately rather than waiting for her to notice. "Christmas hats are worn on the head, sweetie, not the back," she jokes as she fishes the hat out of the sweater and puts it back on her head.
Jason gives the asari a quick, gentle squeeze and a pat on her opposite shoulder. "I appreciate you stopping by like this." he offers as he releases the hug. "I know it-... uhh-..." he nods, gaze turning towards the couch, "...means a lot to Li." Given the way things went at the Respite the other day, a part of him was worried she wouldn't show up. That he may have overstepped his boundaries with his unsolicited advice. He gives a
small, sheepish tilt of his head. "Means a lot to me, too." he says, forcing a small, if a bit uncomfortable, smile back into place as he glances Va'ynna's way.
Victoria smiles at the display of friendship that is happening in front of her. With all the display happiness and friendship happening today, Vicky can feel her heart grow a little bit larger today.
Va'ynna is quiet for a moment after he speaks due to the awkwardness of it, though she did give a faint affirming hum at first. She's once again drawn back to the topic of their last conversation, which she had forced to the back of her mind with the holidays, helping Enila and Varisa settle into their jobs. Or more aptly put, she has a few excuses to not make a decision on that. "I'm... happy we could stop by,"
Ilyna chuckles, not letting Li's reaction to it stop her from putting the Christmas hat back on. She then winds an arm over her shoulder to pat it. She contemplates snapping a picture of Li, but with just one free hand she refrains for now.
More pleasantries and laughter is shared amongst the group and the present opening is delayed a bit further, but it's not long before the pair of guests announce their departure.
Jason waits until best wishes and farewells are exchanged before stepping over to the pair. "How about I walk you guys out...?" he asks, sounding as if he has something on his mind. He's quick to shoot an apologetic glance Vasquez' way, accompanied by a raise of his finger to assure her it'll only take him a minute.
Victoria looks at Jason and gives a shrug. "Sure, it's not like we gonna steal anything on the way out." She says with a joking tone and a goofy smile.
Vasquez raises an eyebrow, but doesn't comment, turning her attention towards Li instead. "Want something to drink? Cookies?" she suggests, glancing up at Ilyna to make sure she knows she's included in the offer as well.
Halisi has already slipped off to fetch her wine glass, sipping it quietly from her spot in the armchair.
Ilyna nods as well. "Yes, please," she says, too polite to turn down the offer despite still being weary from the big meal.
Va'ynna nods to Jason, and gives Victoria a pointed stare at her comment. She then puts the box for the gift in her bag and picks it up, and starts on her way towards the door. She slips in a "Merry Christmas" and a wave before she's out of the room, however.
Jason gives a loud snort at Victoria's assurance. "Well, I believe one of you won't..." he jokes in a mutter as he leads the way back towards the door. Before stepping out into the hallway behind Va'ynna, he casts a glance back towards the others. "Wait until I'm back before you maniacs start tearing through the rest of the gifts!" he calls back. The gifts given to him by Va'ynna have found their way onto the coffee table by
his claimed spot on the couch. This will be his treasure trove. Once in the hall, he waits until they're a few steps down the hall before looking back over his shoulder to Vicky. "So, I-... uhh-... wanted to let you know that we're working on bringing another ship- and its crew- onboard to expand this whole-..." he gestures idly with his hand as he walks, "...cargo hauling side gig we've got going on. Just waiting to hear
back from them." There's a short pause as they reach the stairs and he takes a position beside the top of them. Seemingly deciding that whatever he needs to say can happen here, he turns to face the pair, leaning an elbow against the railing. "Guessing we won't get an answer until after the new year but, if they're in, we're gonna need you to work with them to get everything running smoothly. Think you can handle that?"
Victoria gives everyone a wave goodbye. "Merry Christmas everyone." She walks out of the rec room to catch up to Jason and Va'ynna. She listens to everything Jason has to say before even opening her mouth. "I mean, if you trust me enough. I can do that." She stops and thinks for a moment, some ideas coming to her. "Depends on their ship, could use mine for more valuable transportation,
Vasquez nods and heads off towards the kitchen, halted partway by Jason's comment, which garners an eyeroll and a dismissive handwave. Upon reaching the kitchen she grabs the gingerbread cookies and a soda for Li before looking up. "Soda or more wine?" she asks Ilyna.
Va'ynna giggles as Jason calls back to the others, but she remains quiet as she listens to the conversation with Victoria. There is some concern in her thoughtful expression, as she is worried this could mean Victoria leaving Aite again.
Ilyna nods in agreement with Halisi, and keeps her arm over Li's shoulder just in case. "Soda," she replies to Vasquez.
Jason gives a small shrug of his shoulders. "We can worry about the details later. Once we know if they're even onboard. Obviously we're not expecting you to handle it all on your own. Me and Linda will be helping out." More Linda than him, of course. "But you've got a grasp on a lot of the moving parts so I just wanted to give you a heads up."
Vasquez nods, grabbing a second soda and opening both before heading on back to the others. "Drinks." she says, handing them the sodas and retaking her seat, grabbing a gingerbread cookie for herself before setting them next to Li, who immediately takes one.
Victoria gives Jason a nod. "Alright, too easy. Is there anything else I need to know or was that all of it?" She pauses for a moment and her stomach rumbles loudly. "Kind of want to have some dinner before I starve."
Jason's smirk returns to his face and he gives a slow shake of his head, slightly exasperated snicker slipping out. "Nah. That's all." he says. He draws in a deep breath, briefly looking to Va'ynna. "You mind if she catches up with you?" he asks Victoria, indicating the asari with a small dip of his head in her direction. "Should only take a minute. Promise." His gaze shifts back to Va'ynna, as if to make sure she's got a minute
Victoria looks between Jason and Va'ynna and gives a shrug and a smile. "Sure, I'll wait in the lobby." She starts to make her way towards the lobby and will wait for Va'ynna there.