VALOR'S DAY [Modplot]

[letsgolegion]

Who| Open to everyone!
What| Valor's Day Celebrations
Where| On Legion World or on Earth below
When| After heistplot.
Warnings/Notes| N/A


VALOR'S DAYUniversally celebrated through the United Planets, this yearly holiday celebrates the hero Valor, a Daxamite responsible for helping many UP species like the Braalians and Winathians to colonize their worlds over a thousand years ago. Valor's Day has over time evolved into a general holiday that promotes togetherness, charity, and good will through the galaxy.

Valor's Day celebrations through the UP are know for their displays of multi-colored lights, decorated trees, garlands of various plants and flowers, and "goodwill" carols. Valor's Day is also associated with Valor pageants and "origin" plays, and the playing of the blootsplort horn and tringlebells. Traditionally, gifts are given between different individuals, with each species having their own specific gift-giving traditions.

Legion World is no exception when it comes to the festivities. Garlands of rainbow flowers and wreathes of fragrant grasses decorate the halls and common areas. In some places where it won't interfere in Legion operations, goodwill carols play. The music is played on alien instruments and is probably very different compared to what some of the Legionnaires might be used to hearing around winter holidays, but it has the same mix of cheer and brightness as Christmas carols.

Comments

GIFT EXCHANGE

[letsgolegion]

In one of the larger common areas, a Valoriste has been arranged. The name of this web-like collection of strings of lights has no direct translation in many of the displacee Legionnaires' languages, and is decorated in colorful glass and paper ornaments. Each light is meant to represent a world touched by Valor, or that later joined the UP because of Valor seeding worlds throughout the galaxy.

There are tables in this large common area filled with Valor's Day treats, like star-shaped smintz cookies, cheesy boofs, and chocolate-covered soystix. There's also spiced trippaple cider and delicious blue grognod (which tastes similar to eggnog) to drink.

The atmospheric lights of the tree make it a great place to exchange Valor's Day gifts. Either Legionnaire can leave their gifts here for others to find, or exchange them in person around the tree.

[ooc: Players are allowed to either post lists of gifts as being left for others to open while they're not around, or play out specific scenes of people exchanging gifts in person.]

[turntex]

There are a series of gifts left under the tree shittily wrapped in what looks like newspaper. Where did Dave even find actual newspaper in the spacefuture? It's a mystery.

One bundle is labeled "to wash". Upon opening, it's revealed to be a brown t-shirt with a chest pocket, a cute little cartoon printed on and around the pocket.

Another package has a tag that reads "to reaper". Inside is a cheery decorative throw pillow. Something nice to spruce up a room, maybe.

One present is oddly warm and looks like one large box until unwrapped, where it turns out to be a stack of pizza boxes. All contain that spacefuture hawaiian pizza with no ham and extra pineapple. The tag reads "to grif".

There's a small box in there labeled "to kubo". Inside is a memory chip with some handwritten instructions on how to access the file on it on a comm device. The file in question is a pretty fucking sick remix of one of Kubo's own performances. And right next to that gift is another little bundle labeled "to mrs kubos mom", containing a hair scrunchie with a fun design, because hey, you gotta be able to tie back long hair if you're gonna be sword-fighting. Dave thought it was pretty considerate of him.

The ony thing left unwrapped is a life-sized cardboard cutout of Will Smith left standing tucked as close to the tree as Dave could get it. The image appears photoshopped, however -- skin turned greyscale, eyes colored in with yellow and green, and a pair of candy corn-colored horns stuck on his head. There's a tag on a ribbon looped around cardboard Will Smith's neck reading "to karkat <3 dave". He figures anyone getting nosy will just interpret it as his regular brand of bullshit anyway.

And anyone else Dave's ever spoken to will find a thoughtful card with their name on it. Happy Valor's Day, y'all.

not here, sadly

[fantasmaniac]

Reaper has been getting the strange notion that something is happening out there. Somewhere. Something strange and melancholy stirring inside him (lol). Let's hope Sombra comes across every gift that's made out to "Reaper" and brings them back to the base for his unwrapping pleasure.

[bachido]

The remix was well-received, Kubo listening to it several times over with growing delight at Dave's variation of his tune.

"Dave, this sounds great!"

It was new and strange and unlike anything he would have come up with on his own, and to have a song that he and a friend had made together with their own distinct styles was absolutely wonderful.

"This is a great present! Thank you!"

[turntex]

Aw. It's all kinds of heartwarming to see the kid so fucking jazzed about it. And it's not like Dave didn't already know his beats were deliriously sick, but it's pretty cool to get validation from someone else, especially an actual musician.

"Glad you dig it," Dave says, shrugging all too casually and shoving his hands into his pockets. "All my best friends back home played instruments so I used to make shit like this a lot. The shamisen was pretty cool to experiment with."

[meanmonkey]

Sariatu laughs softly at the label on her gift, but accepts it with good grace.

Before turning it over in her hands a bit confused. Is it a bracelet? It seems to be the right size, but it's so odd. "I think I need instructions," she says after a moment.

[turntex]

Jesus, Dave never thought he'd be explaining the function of a scrunchie. Actual demonstrations aren't gonna happen because he's not about to just start touching a lady's hair, even if she is very nice, and he's never actually hair to tie a ponytail in his life so he'd probably just look like a moron attempting it. But he makes a brave attempt at illustrating his explanation with vague gestures.

"It's for tying back your hair. Except you don't actually need to tie anything because it's stretchy, so you can just wrap it around your hair a few times and it'll hold it. Any instructions beyond that are out of my depth and will need to be acquired from someone who's had hair long enough to actually do something with at least once in their life."

[kingtyrantranger]

Jason's not expecting much. He'll be skipping most of the festivities. He will, however, pop gifts down for everyone.

What do they get? Action figures. Of themselves. The high quality ones that are programmed with poses, phrases, holographic power displays, reprogrammable uniforms, and limited AI so that they can actually 'interact' to an extent.

[unrecovered]

It turns out that Wash is absolutely a smartass in terms of gift-giving. Most of his packages are wrapped a bit messily, as that's what happens when the local spacefuture girl scout troop is outside a shopping center offering to wrap packages in exchange for donations to charity and you're feeling generous.

York receives a thumb drive with a rather large data file on it: it's the equivalent of a book of puzzles for him and Delta to work on. Supposedly, at least one of them is completely unsolvable. They'll just have to test that theory.

Chief's package opens to reveal a very old but still in box Xenomorph figurine.

Reinhardt's is a small bag, in which is a single beer koozie with "IT'S HAMMER TIME" printed on the front in large, obnoxious font.

Nita receives a plastic shark fin on a headband, with a note reading, "Wear it while you're swimming."

Pidge, Kubo, and Dipper each receive an envelope with a piece of paper and a card. The paper reads "Class canceled the week of Valor Day." and the card is a single Get Out Of Class Free coupon, to be used at any time, no excuse required.

Reaper receives a perfect replica of his missing gun, made, uselessly, out of a hunk of solid plastic. The attached note reads, "You were naughty this year."

Grif receives a box of spacefuture twinkies, because why not.

One final package is addressed to Locus, wrapped neatly and in completely different paper, and with no From name on the label. Inside is a copy of 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.

not here

[fantasmaniac]

Reaper has been getting the strange notion that something is happening out there. Somewhere. Something stupid and utterly not worth his time. Let's hope Sombra comes across every gift that's made out to "Reaper" and brings them back to the base for his unwrapping pleasure.

[i_got_this]

[South's new so it's not like she had a lot of time to prepare. Or a lot of people to prepare for. She does bother for a couple things for those who initially welcomed her;

York gets a spray breath freshener 'so you don't smell like a brewery after we hang out'

Kubo gets a pair of sunglasses (South drew a tongue-out smiley face over the left eye) and a loaf of bread with the note 'pre-porter' stuck on it.

Grif gets a gift card to a convenience store. It's for the equivalent of about $5.

Jason gets a pack of gum and an energy drink

Hiccup gets a stick of deodorant

[bachido]

Kubo laughed out loud at his present, and proceeded to wear his glasses for the rest of the celebration.

From: 4zúc4r

[vata]

Most of the gifts are laid out under the Valoriste, wrapped in holographic paper that's about as attention-grabbing as the woman responsible for them. If that wasn't enough of a hint, some of the nicknames written out on the attached cards are:

To Dígitos: the paper's a glittering mix of red, blue and white, shifting every so often when the box is tilted - heavy as it feels from the outside, inside is a coffee mug that's been custom made to order by an alien company - designed to read as 'intergalactic hero' in their native language, arranged to form something resembling 7 and 6 respectively. Instead, translation software and relatively different definitions mean that it actually says 'space good dude'. The mug's also been stuffed to the brim with an assortment of hard candy that no one in their right mind would eat and enjoy* (*provided they're under the age of fifty five), a little confetti resembling the kind local to her home, and a box of instant, dangerously maximum strength coffee.

Just add water and stir.

To Soldado: The paper's a little more subdued this time. Still flashy, enough that it has armored patterning along the sides with webbed little octagons embossed across the surface, but the color's something closer to Locus' suit. Lightweight, opening the package reveals a thickly knitted, peppermint pattern scarf woven out of a foreign substance that's resistant (according to an attached certificate from Bepsy.com) to 'fire, lightning, dust storms and little kitten claws :)'. At the tail end of the scarf on either side are pockets for sticking your hands into, each with a pattern of a rifle surrounded by the words 'Vaya con dios'.

To Cortana: There's a bright azure box left under the Valoriste as a courtesy, but it comes with an added bonus of a file sent directly to Cortana's Omnicom. Inside the box is a little hologram projector that spits out a custom logo on cue, the exact same color as Cortana's virtual skin and marked with coded patterning to match. The file itself? Same thing, only the straight up usable version, just in case she feels like marking her own virtual territory.

To Tracer: The golden box holding Lena's present seems programmed to vibrate every now and then with jittery blue light, mimicking Tracer's penchant for flitting from one location to the next. Inside? An unparalleled...ly soft set of mittens with clipped fingertips, shaped like glittering little space jellies. They're sickeningly cute, as far as these things go. And that's not including stubby little tentacles for knuckles, or the gold embroidery underneath.

To Payback: The box is black and gold with alternating, flashy stripes that look as real as something fresh out of a jewelry store. Tearing away the paper reveals the smallest little tool, embossed with a glowing bird skull and somewhat Mexican-influenced embossed patterning around it. Popping open the device itself splays out a full set of high-tech lockpicking tools with a fully functional interface that Parker should be able to utilize easily.

Happy hunting, amiga.

To The Locksmith: Bright sunflare orange packaging (radiant enough to blind when put in direct light) can be torn away to expose a tall, tall pre-purchased plant that'd been picked up from their trip to the New Jersey Casino. The base is a digital clock that plays a little jingle every hour on the hour - soothing as chimes in the rain - designed to be 'simple enough for a child to take care of!' according to the box. There are a couple different models available, but the one selected for him is a nightglow shadesong plant that acts as a soft, comforting nightlight, especially helpful to keep small children asleep and free of nightmares.

Attached is a card from Azúcar herself that adds: 'I hacked the clock in the base and turned it into a temporary signal-jammer for any basic communication networks. Give it to anybody you want to screw over - at least for a little while. xoxo Azúcar 💀'

To Vaquero: Out of all the gifts she's left out, McCree's is the least attention-grabbing. The paper's brown, organic-feeling and worn, and painted with virtual dust at the corners. It's also the heaviest out of everything else there, and inside it's easy to see why: one all-too-bright boot (about as close as anyone in space can come to replicating 'cowboy anything') carrying an oversized bottle of bourbon from a planet called Hvewrir V. Apparently it's top of the line.

And she would know: she stole it from the top shelf supply in the New Jersey Casino.

Just in case your characters aren't too sure about checking under the display for their gifts, Azúcar herself will be loitering nearby, more than content to slyly nudge them towards what's been laid out for them specifically. No thanks required.

Well— all except for one, that is.

To Gabriel: It's laid out on his bed in her safehouse; she doesn't mention it immediately, doesn't prod him towards it except for the occasional check-in to see if it's still there. Night-black paper, unmarked aside from a little hand-drawn skull on top with a speech bubble that reads 'die die die!'.

Inside is a pair of pitch dark leather gloves, the underside (and inside) patterned with icy, glowing plates that seem to seep smoke. Beneath that, a nifty tactical beanie to match and a small, small digital plug-in for his omnicom. A card attached instructs him on how to link the card up with his own personal omnicom, and that doing so will allow him to read directly from her personal database at any given time, '-love, Sombra'.

In truth, linking it does nothing but change his every incoming call to play a midi version of Feliz Navidad at max volume for a full, relentless minute.

Happy Valor's Day, mijo.

[ooc: feel free to assume Sombra is either lurking nearby if you'd like to thread out gift giving, or content to just creep on them as they open their gifts without saying anything if you'd like to handwave it! Alternatively I'm open to wildcard shenanigans so threads of just sipping cider by the Valoriste and talking smack about the Legion proper/holidays/hacking/the fact that her hair freaking glows as much as the decorations/whatever.

Come at me. :)]

[agnominal]

Locus had only meant to briefly survey the stack of gifts. None, he'd assumed, were meant for him. Of course, the moment he reassures himself of that fact, he catches sight of the name tag with that familiar moniker on it.

Sombra.

A little bewildered, Locus took the package from its fellows, turning it over suspiciously in his hands before carefully unwrapping it. When that soft length of woven material spills out, he's not sure what to think. Maybe it was a mistake. Maybe he'd unwrapped a gift meant for someone else.

But no. Those guns on the pockets are pretty telling.

Hard to gauge an expression through that armor, but he stands perfectly still, just...turning it over in his hands.

[steelandtemper]

Aside from dodging that unbelievably annoying baby AI that's flitting around the network--seriously, she was better behaved than that mere microseconds after being activated--Cortana hasn't been paying attention to the holiday...stuff. It's simply not a part of her life and never has been, nor does she feel any lack. Not even among the flashes of Dr. Halsey's memories can she find any affection for Christmas, and that hardly surprises her. Were the war not her creator's one consuming concern, Cortana still wouldn't have expected her to make time for seasonal frivolity, and certainly not for religion.

Which is all to say, it comes as a surprise when Sombra's file hits the DMZ partition on Cortana's Omnicomm and gets bounced straight to quarantine. Unsolicited executable code doesn't just get to show up and waltz into a spot in her runtime, after all. Cortana switches her attention to the new file, stripping it to its component bytes as she checks for any nasty surprises. It's clean, not that she'd been expecting treachery, but you don't get to be the UNSC's best counterintrusion specialist by being careless.

Which leaves only the question of why. It's nothing Cortana couldn't have whipped up herself if she'd felt the need, and it represents a more substantial investment of time and effort for a human than it would for her. What could Sombra possibly want--ah. Quid pro quo, Cortana understands, and for the moment, there's no harm in amiable reciprocity.

Happily, an equivalent favor won't put her out much. She trims down one of her semantics parsing processes, and even without the classified bits, it leaves an algorithm that does a very good job acting like it can understand what it reads. Doing the AI equivalent of groping around in a toolbox, she finds some self-editing code and hooks it into the core process, creating a tidy little program that will learn what Sombra's interested in and seek it out for her on the network. Cortana slaps a UI that mimics Sombra's atop the lot of it, and takes a step back to examine her handiwork.

Something's missing.

Oh, of course.

She pulls some radio noise from Legion World's sensors and uses it to seed a random generator that will occasionally retrieve and serve entirely unplanned content. A little unpredictability is good. Keeps you sharp.

Valor's Day shopping completed, Cortana looks around for where Sombra's connected to the network, then flits over to stand at her metaphorical door. Knock knock.

⊙⊃⊙

[fantasmaniac]

Let's be real, Valor's Day is treated with the same sort of distant attitude that he gives Christmas, a holiday that he didn't really revel too much in nor gave too much thought after becoming Reaper. Even back in the good ol' days, he didn't get terribly involved. Just enough to show the ones that he cared for that he appreciated them. It didn't help that he was somewhat of a terrible gift-giver, but it was the thought that counted, right?

Presents from Sombra are things he treats like how a cat-owner treats their pet's freshly killed 'gift', but he also has to admit that her gifts a lot more useful than dead things. Not to mention the gesture itself always comes as a genuine surprise. He hates that.

The loud ripping of paper echos through the empty room, setting the black card with the 'die die die' written on it off to the side. Unceremoniously, he turns the box over and dumps the contents out onto the bed. Even while alone in the room, he doesn't visibly sigh or appear irritated by this gesture. Once more, he feels weirdly indebted to her— then he opens the card and reads the instructions. A flicker of suspicion crosses his mind at the idea of Sombra giving him a direct line to her personal database. Can't say she's ever done that before. He could only assume that if she was being even remotely genuine about this, it would be because the information here is practically useless. Or it was some sort of prank.

He's totally banking on a prank.

But the curiosity is still present and nagging at him, so he carefully follows instruction and slots the plug-in into his omnicom. Turning the phone over in his hand, he waits for something to indicate whether it's working or not.

[steelandtemper]

Having learned the true meaning of Valor's Day from Sombra, Cortana has decided to show that she cares about people's capacity to maybe be useful to her in the future, and has whipped up a few AI-flavored gifts for the handful of people she likes.

Sombra's gift is as described.

York + Delta get another murderously difficult encryption puzzle, this one more elegantly planned and executed than the first, since she's not rushing or trying to prove a point with this one. Inside is a sophisticated motion- and threat-detection algorithm for York's bad side that can run either in concert with Delta or just on his armor if Delta's busy, and a mathematical package that's basically the AI equivalent of an album of piano concertos for Delta.

Reinhardt gets a huge directory containing every single UP culture's versions of paladin legends, in various well-reviewed adapations. (It turns out there's a bunch on the Justice League in there, because come the hell on, that's pretty much King Superman and the Knights of the Satellite Table.)

Locus gets an updated tactical package for his armor. If he's suspicious, it's properly signed with the relevant UNSC keys...but then it would be, wouldn't it?

Babbage gets a program for the sim room that's basically the Museum of Pre-Electronic Computing. Every version of a computer starting with Babbage Senior's difference engine through the very last mechanical computers of the World War II era like Enigma is modeled in complete working detail. Run all the agonizingly slow calculations you want, Babbage! Is he into that kind of thing? She has no idea, but has been reliably informed that "it's the thought that counts."

The Master Chief is not covered under her conclusions about the meaning of gift-giving, and she always does anything that occurs to her to make his life easier, anyway (except to stop causing trouble) but she still makes sure to time her most recent firmware update on his armor for the holiday.

not here for obvious reasons but

[vata]

[Aww, te quiero, hermosa. ;) <3]

[littlecousin]

Nita got a gift for literally everyone. If your name's on the Legion roster, even if she's never met you, you at least have the space future equivalent of a $10 Starbucks or Amazon gift card. Yep, actually that nice.

As for her CR, we have the slight problem that Nita is hugely thoughtful and I'm kind of a jerk...sooooo, you tell me what she got your character. She's not above good-natured gag gifts if she thinks it's something they'd appreciate, but in general, all this "telling your friends you love them" shit is entirely her jam, so she's really really good at presents.

Re: GIFT EXCHANGE

[bachido]

There was no gift-giving winter festival from his childhood for Kubo to associate Valor's day with, but there had been many things he would have liked to have been able to give his mother in winter, when they spent so much time in their cave keeping warm. Being in the position to afford gifts for her was wonderful.

For her, he had two things they'd always wanted in their cave - a thick, warm quilt, made of beautiful patterned silk and layered with down, large enough for both of them to snuggle under. And best of all - another shamisen.

It had taken a while to find anyone still capable of making such an archaic instrument, and Kubo presented it wrapped to her with immense pride.

For Dave, he had more fine silk (or the future's equivalent of silk, anyway) goods - a quilted haori jacket with pockets, black with red accents embroidered with Dave's broken record logo. It was a comfortable piece of clothing, warm as a blanket to go over Dave's comfy god jammies. He'd also tucked an origami horse into the pocket, folded from an elegant embossed red and black paper.

He'd gotten Wash a fine jacket, too - this one a lighter silk, in a fine grey and black pattern that shifted like shadows, the cuffs embroidered with silvery thread. It was as comfortable as Dave's, but less like a blanket and more like a nice shirt a person might wear in spring for an extra layer. In the pocket was Wash's origami, a powerful tiger, each stripe individually folded.

Everyone Kubo had spoken to enough to get a sense of what they might like got a piece of origami, folded from artisan paper that Kubo had had to go out of his way to find. Any ideas he'd had about origami not being a hefty enough present for good friends went out the window when he realized how difficult artisinal - or any - paper was to find these days. For Jason Grace, a cleverly folded wolf. For Azula, an elegant koi in red and gold. For Mabel, a lithe deer. For Dipper, a detailed fox. For Karina, a blue paper rose, folded thorns intact. For Roland, ironically, a lobster. For Switch, a killer whale. For Victor and Yuuri each, he'd folded replicas of Makkachin. For Pidge, a lion. For Tadashi, a humpback whale. For Barry, a cheetah - he'd looked up what animal was fastest on Earth. For Hiccup, Toothless. For Robbie, a cat bearing a remarkable resemblance to Niels. For Stephen, an eagle. For Rebecca, a carefully articulated archer. For Kyle, a shark. For Grif, a regular ordinary normal child. For Inahime, a lotus with watercolor paint anointing each carefully folded petal.

With his collection of special gift paper in his pack, he circulated the party, looking for people he hadn't spoken to long enough yet to learn what they might like for a gift.

I'mma just give him his present here because reasons

[meanmonkey]

Sariatu has a package for Kubo, as well - just finished and picked up on her way here. It's wrapped in tissue paper and was probably meant to go in a box after, but she doesn't understand this sort of wrapping, and she's eager to get it back to him.

His father's robes, demanded from him a few days ago in a way that brooked no argument, cleaned, delicately repaired in a few places with synthetic silk-like thread, and hemmed in a way that can be let out as he grows, so it will fit him more-or-less properly now.

"Kubo! I have your present!" She looks nearly as excited as he does, honestly. She thinks this is a good gift, that he will love, and she can't wait to see his face when he realizes what it is.

[unrecovered]

Wash's first thought is that he's misread the tag somehow and opened a present that doesn't belong to him, because there's no way anyone has given him something this nice. But no, double checking the tag confirms that it's from Kubo and it's meant for him.

He's...having a tough time wrapping his head around it, to be honest. The jacket is the finest thing he's ever owned, all soft smoky fabric and silver accents, and...well, he still can't believe it's supposed to be his.

(I can't afford this fell away when the military and then the Legion started taking care of his basic needs. I don't deserve this has settled comfortably in its place, and that's a mindset that's a lot harder to shake.)

He's absentmindedly smoothing the jacket over his lap when he finds something in one of the pockets and pulls it out: an intricately folded origami tiger. That's what finally scatters what few thoughts he's managed to gather and pin down. This is all from Kubo. Kubo thinks he's worth this much effort, that he deserves something as nice as the jacket. Deep down, some part of him had known it already - people don't make friends with you if they don't think you're worth something - but the honest, almost extravagant expression of the sentiment has thrown him completely.

So he stays where he is, sitting on a bench not far from the Valoriste, beautiful jacket spread over his lap and paper tiger held delicately in his hands, staring into the middle distance like it holds answers or can at least tell him what he's feeling and how best to corral it. He might be a little overwrought right now. Just a bit.

[turntex]

The jacket goes on Dave's body immediately, because how can he resist? He pauses only long enough to wiggle out his his cape and pulls the haori on instead, feeling like the goddamn king of weeb mountain.

It's a great feeling.

And he finds the origami quickly enough, because of course he tries to shove his hands in the pockets within a minute of putting it on. Pulling it out to examine it carefully, Dave grins.

"Dude. My bro would be so jealous of my entire life right now. He fuckin' loves horses."

And weeby shit, but Dave does not want to have to explain that word to Kubo.

[the_real_sir_prize]

Victor doesn't know a lot of people here yet, but he does know one person, and that one person absolutely deserves a present. Especially since being here has been so miserable for him.

Yuuri deserves something nice.

Which is why Victor can be found carefully cradling a box in both hands, humming and looking very pleased with himself. Makkachin is padding along at his side, occasionally bouncing up to try and nose the box. Victor laughs and fends him off, coming to a stop in front of of Yuuri's door.

"Yuuri~" he calls out, gently kicking the door a couple of times due to his lack of free hands. "Happy Valor's Day! Can I come in?"

[katsudork]

"Come in."

Yuuri appreciated that Victor asked. They shared a suite, but sometimes he needed to retreat to his room alone for a little while to recharge. The only time that Victor came in unannounced was occasionally at night, when he sometimes slinked in for a cuddle in the dark.

When it came to that, Yuuri never complained.

Yuuri gently tapped his toe on the button on the wall panel that opened the door. He was sprawled out on his bed, watching a holovid on his omnicom. He looked up, saw the box, and his eyebrows twitched up in confusion. Then his eyes widened with the quiet horror that came whenever someone got you a gift and you didn't think to get them one.

"We're doing presents? I didn't know we were doing presents!"

It was a weird alien holiday and they'd just gotten there. He figured they'd ignore the gift part and just enjoy the lights. (And cookies.)