D
Dumont
'Twas a night before various holidays, and all through 188604,
Not a creature was stirring, save for the sand demon's roar.
Dissenters were strung up on snapped necks with care,
to send out the message 'fight back? don't you dare!'.
Street urchins nestled on rags; lacking beds,
as visions of gin tumblers danced in their heads.
And Alex in his mecha, and Akemi his bar,
rested securely in knowledge that they would go far.
When out at the spaceport, there arose such a clatter,
the soldiers at the port flew forth to see what's the matter.
Away to deliveries they dashed with a flash,
tore open packed crates; gave bubblewrap a slash.
The moon as a crest, over the desert wind's blow
Gave luster of treasure to the objects below
When what, to wondering eyes should appear,
The gifts from civilization were finally here!
As the combined alien holiday season comes upon 188604, various gifts are sent forth and delivered by courier, as some people can't apparently be bothered to hand them over in person. In alphabetical order...
To Aashi:
- A finely modified Solanii Laiz Pistol, detailed in gold and amethyst. Blank gold plate on polished walnut grip; comes with coupon for free engraving of a crest or sigil of choice to be added there. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from the Van Banning Financial Enclave)
- Engraved bracelet, locally made on 188604. (Non-denominational holiday gift, from Arccos)
To Akemi:
- Customised NAM HHG, short barrel and modified firing mechanism built into codpiece. Fired by thrusting one's hips. Seems hand made by the sender. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from Ashley Cocq)
- Tiny top hat fascinater, with matching frilly lace cravat. (Midwinter gift, from T. Smithee)
- Gold pocketwatch, probably stolen; detailed illustration of Olena Sands on the inner case. (Midwinter gift, from Olena Sands)
- Fitted underarm holster for a Nekovalkyrja Service Pistol (Lewis Pasco day gift, from Ichirou Daniels)
- Mug shaped like Moomie the Moon Mouse, stamped with 'REPLICA' on the bottom (Midwinter gift from Ichirou Daniels)
- Confirmation that Rennie is alive, upon Olena's receiving a gift from her. (Accidental gift, at best)
- Sadie's old bowler hat, (Only given over because she bought a new one)
To Alex:
- A shortened Westech Trench Shotgun, with pistol grip and holster. Holster comes with mountings to be fitted to a cockpit interior. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from Ichirou Daniels)
- An ugly knitted sweater depicting snowy mountains. (Midwinter gift, from Ichirou Daniels)
- Fine leather sword belt (Midwinter gift from T. Smithee)
To Corgan:
- A finely modified NAM HHG, detailed in silver and pearl. Blank silver plate on polished oak grip; comes with coupon for free engraving of a sigil or crest there. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from the Van Banning Financial Enclave)
- A selection of platinum-rare in-game items, usable in that Polysentience game Corgan has been playing (Non-denominational gift, from Arccos)
To Cyrus:
- A finely modified Styrling Man Cannon, detailed in platinum and emerald. Blank platinum plate on polished hickory grip; comes with coupon for free engraving of a sigil or crest there. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from the Van Banning Financial Enclave)
- A series of high end combat analysis and statistics programs. (Non-denominational gift, from Arccos)
To Gut-Stripe:
- A finely forged mono-molecular edged rapier, durandium with yellowish-orange finish and internal poison reservoir. Acid-etched basket-hilt with depictions of dead misshuvurthyar. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from the Van Banning Financial Enclave)
To Jason:
- A shortened Westech Trench Shotgun, with pistol grip and holster. Holster comes with mountings to be fitted to a cockpit interior. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from Ichirou Daniels)
- An ugly knitted sweater depicting snowy mountains. (Midwinter gift, from Ichirou Daniels)
- Mech-scale sword, suitable for hull breaching. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from Jolie Daniels)
- A pair of piloting gloves, supple leather. (Midwinter gift, from Jolie Daniels)
To Raphael:
- A finely modified AMR-1 rifle, detailed in white-gold and ruby. Blank gold plate on polished cherry stock; comes with coupon for free engraving of a sigil or crest there. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from the Van Banning Financial Enclave)
To Ronin:
- A scented soap-on-a-rope with the word 'princess' carved on it. Locally made on 188604, mildly acidic and induces burning sensation when used. (From Kelly Buchanan)
To Rubi:
- The keys to a fine townhouse in Osman city; keychain is shaped like a shovel roughly the size of a teaspoon, the haft of which contains a tiny rolled up deed to the property. Delivered by having it thrown at her head by a small child. (?!)
To Sammy:
- Statuette of Sammy and Arccos hugging, rendered in polished tungsten. Bottom of base is engraved with the word 'Eternal'. (Non-denominational gift, from Arccos)
To Truffleclub:
- A custom Polysentience .vri realm, with simplified toolkit and administrator function locked to Truffleclub. (Non-denominational gift, from Arccos)
- Sufficient raw materials and parts to fix the remaining inactive Largegear units on the White Lament. (Non-denominational gift, from Arccos)
- Large scale tophat, hatband decorated with embroidered lemons. (Midwinter gift, from Lundy and Mizzie)
To Uso:
- A set of royal jewels, including crown and scepter. White-gold inset with emeralds, with purple detailing to match Uso's eyes. Matching ermine fur and purple velvet coronation cloak, scepter has a built in tazer. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from Evelien Van Banning)
- Fine leather collar. (Mixed messages from Evelien Van Banning)
- Sponsored membership to an exclusive equestrian club. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from Evelien Van Banning)
- Group pass to a luxury resort of her choice, redeemable for a single USO event. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from the Van Banning Financial Enclave)
- Her datapad back. (From Arccos)
- Fully constructed control headset for teleoperations, requiring only retuning for Vekimen neural structure (Non-denominational gift, from Arccos)
- One suit of military-spec Origin Impulse power armor, re-engineered to fit a Vekimen. (Lewis Pasco day gift, from the Van Banning Financial Enclave)