"Was that the last one?" asked Falchion.
Rashida checked the list. "Yes, actually, I believe it was the last one. So yes, thank you for attending. Now, run along back to your RCs. I'm tired..."
"Wait, wait! Guys, the countdown's about to end!" Sarah cried excitedly.
"We've got thirty seconds to go," said E.V.L. "Just give all of us this one chance?"
Falchion gave his partner a pleading look. "Rashida... This is our first time hosting this event. And we're so close to the finale. At least let us celebrate the stroke of midnight."
Rashida facepawed. "Okay, fine. Just leave me out of it..."
"Actually, I wanted to give you something too. Wait, wait! Ten seconds to go!"
The party goers looked at Rashida's digital sundial, unanimously counting the seconds until the clock showed midnight.
"Nine!"
"Eight!"
"Seven!"
"Six!"
"Five!"
"Four!"
"Three!"
"Two!"
"One!"
"HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!"
Everyone who was in the mood to cheer did so, throwing confetti, cakefetti, and other assorted miscellanies all over the place. Falchion thankfully resisted the urge to throw Spikes as well.
"So... About that gift?" asked Rashida.
Falchion nodded, pulling open a nearby drawer with his beak, and took out several small, black balls, which he offered to her. "I wanted to give you these."
She took them in surprise, turning them over in her hands. "What are they?"
"Dark Balls. A type of Poké Ball from my home continuum - the fourth movie of the anime specifically. I got them from the training mission with Chris and Ami. I told you about a while ago." He nodded to them before continuing. "They were originally used to capture some legendary Pokémon, but I was thinking that they could be modified to quarantine any CAFs we may eventually rescue, so I figured, well..."
She looked at him, her red-pink eyes wide. "You wanted to... give these to me?"
He looked at her with a disappointed expression. "If you don’t want them, well..."
To his complete surprise, she hugged him. In front of everyone.
"I never received a gift from anyone at the PPC. I don't know what to say..."
"You're welcome," replied Falchion. "And Happy New Year to you too."
"Yo, birdie!" Rayner called out to them. "When we're done, can E.V.L. and I stick around for a bit? You may need some extra help to clean up all this confetti!"
If Falchion could have blushed, he would have. "Oh, right... I forgot you didn't like having confetti all over our RC..."
Rashida facepawed again. "This is going to be a long 2015."

[END]

**********

A/N: That took a *lot* longer than I thought it would, but it looks like this RP is officially complete. Thanks for participating, everyone! Hopefully, next year's Gift Exchange won't take two months instead of one. XD

She was far too nice to steal someone else's gift (and most of them looked kind of weird anyway), so she levitated the final package over to her. She untied the bright yellow ribbon and draped it loosely around her hat.

"Ami...?" Miguel began.

"What? It might come in handy someday." She set the box down, then knelt and used her hooves to open it. "Ooo, cookies! I think they're chocolate chip, too! Wait, they're oatmeal raisin...no, chocolate...What the hay is this?"

Fiorano stood up and walked over to the pile, where only two presents were left. She closed her eyes and grabbed randomly. She picked up a thin package, and, after tearing it open, held out a bar of Bleepolate. "Uh. OK then."

Rashida nudged Falchion with her wing. "Your turn, you stupid bird..."
"Huh? Oh, right!"
The Skarmory stood up, strutting towards the pile, and wondering if he should pick anything. Then he noticed a glint of something metallic...
"You know what, I might as well save myself the trouble of trying to open a present," he said with a mischevious smirk. "Rina, Randa, can I have that watch, please? Hopefully, that'll give you ladies the opportunity to nab a certain something..."
Sarah had to struggle to hold in another fit of giggles.
Rashida meanwhile huffed and rolled her eyes at her partner. "Un. Believable."

"Keelah, what is that thing?" grumbled Naya as she fumbled with the underside of her helmet. "Hang on a second, I just have to..." The quarian pushed a button and twisted a valve under her helmet's chin piece. "There we go. Much better."

The Guardsman, who had pulled a respirator over his face, chuckled at his partner. "Closed off the air intake valve, eh?"

"Yeah. I'll enough air for another hour; I don't feel like scrubbing my suit's olfactory filters today."

"Naya, I believe it is your turn." said Terabyte, raising a finger.

"Oh, is it? Well, then let's see..."

The quarian woman stood up and examined the remaining gifts. There were several small boxes, one oddly-shaped lump, and a long box. She settled on the latter and returned to her seat. She united the strings that held down the box's lid and carefully opened the lid lest another malodorous mini pop out of it. A glint of polished wood caught her eye. She lifted the lid a little further. In the box sat a rifle made of a handsome light blue wood featuring a gold-and-silver hammer, trigger, and sights. Naya carefully lifted the weapon out of the box with both hands.

"My word... now that is what you call a gift," whispered the quarian. She span around in her seat, making sure there was nobody in front of her, and squinted down the rifle's sights while keeping the weapon pointed at the ground. "Iron sights... not bad. Not too heavy, either..." She returned the rifle to her lap and ran a finger along the decoration on the rifle's stock. After a moment, Naya rose her head and addressed the room. "Just a question, though: does the previous owner of this weapon know what this thing fires? It's not muzzle-loading, is it?"

"Who cares?" said the Guardsman. "Look at the thing. It's beautiful!"

Ami, Chris, and Miguel edged away from Ari and the mini-Boulder. "Is there a way to politely tell someone their present's making you nauseous?" Miguel whispered.

"Probably not," Ami whispered back. "We'll just have to deal with it for now." She nudged Chris' arm. "It's your turn, by the way."

Chris picked a large, square present with snowman wrapping paper from the bottom of the pile. "Oof! What is this, a block of iron?" He opened it to reveal a thick book titled "The Unabridged Guide to Poisons." "...Well, that's morbid."

"Useful, though," said Miguel with a shrug.

Cepha glared at Des. "Well, how exactly is Amara supposed to know that? There's no label on the box or anything! And anyways -"

Fiorano coughed. "Uh, not to interrupt, but it's your turn."

Cepha made a hmph sound and walked over to the pile, grabbing a thin box out of the (now significantly reduced) pile and tore it open, holding up a unicorn horn. "Uh. Kinda a morbid gift to give, but all right."

Ari stood up. "Oh, it's my turn now, right?" She walked up and picked a sealed box. "Wow, this is shut up tightly," she muttered as she pried it open. "There we go, and - what is that smell Why -" she covered her nose as a mini crawled out.

"I thought the crowbar was from me!" Sarah piped up indignantly. "We'll, my mom, technically, but still!"
E.V.L. ignored her complaint as she stood up and stalked towards the pile. After a few moments' deliberation, she picked up a rather large box. A rather glitchy sound came from the inside.
As soon as she returned to her place next to Rayner, she opened the box - and out popped a pixelated ghost!
Rayner practically jumped out of his skin. "What in Equestria?!..."

"Is it out turn now?" Rina asked, standing up. "It is? Okay!" She pointed at Tera. "Crowbar, please!"

Randa smacked her lightly on the arm. "Hey now, you can't be wasting our present on yourself," she chided.

Rina pouted. "Oh, fine." She picked up a little box instead. "How about this?" She handed it over to Randa, who tore off the paper in one swift movement. Both girls' eyes went huge.

"Is this what I think it is?" Randa asked, holding up a replica of Dumbledore's pocket watch.

Rina could only squee.

"You, machine. Hand over the scarf."

Terabyte, who had been alternating between practicing to tie the scarf around its shoulders and feeling the fabric slide between its digits, froze in mid-motion and slowly looked up at the Librarian. Its camera-eyes dimmed and its three-fingered hands tightened around the fabric, then relaxed.

"Acknowledged," said the geth as it slowly undid the knot at its neck.

Upon seeing her partner visibly disappointed with this turn of events, Naya leaned towards the robot and coughed: "Takebacksies."

The geth turned to its quarian partner. "Message not received."

From Terabyte's other side, the Guardsman said: "He stole it from you, so you're now in play. You have the option to pick a gift from the pile or you can... steal someone's gift."

Realization flitted across Terabyte's face-- insomuch as emotion can be read from two luminous camera-eyes and a set of metal plates that might be considered eyebrows-- and the geth carefully folded up the scarf and walked over to the Librarian. The sentient AI gave the Time Lord the scarf, took a step back, then extended its right arm. "You, Gallifreyan. Hand over the scarf."

Terabyte looked back at its partners, then back at the Librarian. "Please," it added.

“Here,” Des said, “catch.” After making sure the safety was on, he nonchalantly threw the rifle to Rayner.
He turned to Cepha. “You really can't appreciate it, can't you? First things first, that box is pure adamentine. Have you any idea how much this thing is worth? Some fantasy world races would kill for a box like that one. Second, these aren't just “dried leaves”, dammit! It's Tippy Golden Flowery Orange Pekoe-quality Stygian Tea, which is, bar none, the best tea in the whole multiverse.” The bearded human pouted. “So show some respect.”
The Librarian, meanwhile, got up. “You, machine,” he told Terabyte. “Hand over the scarf.”

Rayner's mild interest in Miguel and his friends discussing their new present was cut short by his partner poking him again with her tail.
"Hey Pony Boy," she muttered in a clearly uninterested tone, "it's your turn."
"Huh? Oh, right!" He stood up and brushed back his multicolored hair, grinning in triumph.
"Y'know what, I might as well throw this gift-giving conga line a curveball and steal from somebody." He turned and pointed at Des and the Librarian. "The rifle, if you please!"
E.V.L. gave him a look that practically screamed, "What in Cocytus are you thinking?!"
"In case I need to off a Sue without making too much of a mess," he explained. The ex-Ficubus, unsurprisingly, did not look relieved at all.

((For realsies this time.))
Miguel Correa glanced at the index card labeled "10" in his left hand. "Oh, it's my turn," he noted. "Chris, Ami, do you think I should introduce myself? I don't know anyone here besides Falchion, and..."

"If it makes you feel better, neither do we," Chris replied.

"It's kind of exciting, actually," Ami said, giggling. "Like we're meeting celebrities!"

Miguel laughed, too. "Thanks for the perspective, Ami." He picked a medium-sized box with snowman wrapping paper from the bottom of the pile. "Well, this looks interesting."

He opened it and was met with three very familiar smiling faces--Totoro (and his two nameless buddies), Mei, and Satsuki. "YES! We got some Hayao Miyazaki movies!"

Chris and Ami perked up instantly. "Excellent! How many?"

"Lemme check..." Miguel turned the box around and counted the DVDs. "Whoo, almost twenty. Which one should we watch first?"

((Hey, Skarmory. Just a heads-up: I done goofed and accidentally attributed the Grandine rifle to Des in one of my replies. Make sure to change it to the Lancer!))
- - - - -

As Amara puzzled over the tea leaves, Terabyte stood up and wandered over towards the coffee table. The robotic agent stared at the gift pile for a couple of seconds and grabbed a soft-looking package. The geth returned to its seat and, with machine precision, unwrapped the gift without tearing the wrapping paper. The robot lifted a faintly glowing red scarf out of the package and admired it.

"A scarf!" exclaimed the Artificial Intelligence as it ran its mech-digits though the knitted fabric. "It is very... pretty. I like it," said Terabyte as it tied the scarf around its neck.

Behind her opaque visor, Naya arched an eyebrow. "I think that's the first time you said you found something pretty. Keelah, that's so weird."

The Guardsman fake-wiped a tear from his eye. "Lookit, Naya. Our machine intelligence of a partner is learning the meaning of beauty! I'm so proud of him!"

"Don't ruin the moment, you jerk," shot back Naya with a playful swipe at her partner's shoulder.

Cepha poked Amara in the side. The former Witch glanced up from where she had been knitting (what she had been knitting was indeterminable, given that she was using her hair-hands and regular hands at the same time.) "What is it?"

"It's your turn to go up and pick." Cepha nodded at the pile.

Amara set down her needles and walked over, staring intently at the presents before picking up a box and heading over to where the RC 1.877, 97, and 8888 groups had been sitting. She tore off the paper and held up a metal box. She pulled the lid off and frowned. "A metal box full of dried and shredded plants?"

((I'm going to ignore Eatpraylove's post. Seriously: not cool, dude.))

“Why am I even here?” asked the Librarian. He was sitting in a corner, as far away from everybody else as possible, having decided that leaning on the walls wasn't a good idea after having some Sar-plasm stick to his coat.
“Socialisation,” Des reminded him as he browsed the pile of gifts. The Librarian huffed, and Des gave him a doubting look before returning to the pile. He sat down, closed his eyes, and put his hand on a random gift. He picked it up – it was long and not quite light. Tearing the wrapping off, he revealed a vaguely ellipsoid rifle.
“Well, well, like I didn't have enough of those.”

Miguel cleared his throat nervously. "Hello, everyone, my name's Miguel..."

"Hello, Miguel," half the crowd responded in their best Alcoholics Anonymous voices.

"Very funny. Uh, I'm working with Chris and Ami--" he indicated his partners "--and I hope I get to meet some of you later, once I know what I'm doing." He took a random large gift from the pile and opened it. "...A Guide to Poisons? Wow, that's morbid."

"Useful, though," Chris said with a shrug

Tera looked at the crowbar. " Doubt I'll be able to copy that trick."

Lana grinned. "Ah, that one's mine. Got it off an ATLA fic, if I remember right."

Narav considered the gameboard before moving one of his High Lord figures a few squares forward. "Ah, I believe I'm next?" He loped over to the pile and plucked out a small rectangular package out of the pile before walking back. The Canim, noticing that Theia had made her move, captured one of her Steadholder pieces and opened his gift, holding up a CD set. "Hm."

Lana and Riaa looked at their numbers. "Us now, I guess?" asked the drider. The two walked over and each grabbed a present out of the heap. Riaa tore hers open, holding up an oddly-shaped pendant, while Lana unwrapped a heavy camoflage vest. "Huh. This looks durable," the former Smoke Knight noted.

[A/N: If any of you recognize the gifts belonging to your agents, feel free to respond to the recipients with their reactions!]

Sarah burst out laughing. "That crowbar belonged to my mother! I wasn't there to see it, but from what I heard, she was able to store it inside her cleavage! Don't ask how that works, seriously..."
A number of other players burst out laughing, the rest of them murmuring amongst each other in a mixture of confusion and amusement.
"All right, my turn!" Sarah cheered, stepping up to the pile. After a few seconds' deliberation, she picked up a rather long package, moved back to her place next to her brother, and opened it up.
"Brrrr, is it cold in here or is it just me?" she asked, picking up the two-handed sword whose blade seemed to exude some kind of frosty vapor.
"Careful!" Rashida snarled before her partner could swing it around. "You could take someone's head off with that!"

Agent Theia looked at her number. "Guess I'm going first, then?" She asked. She stood up from where she'd been playing ludus with Agent Narav and prodded Tera.

"What?"
"You're number 2, aren't you?" Theia nodded at the slip of paper in Tera's claws. The two agents walked up to the gift heap. "Well, let's see then." She looked at the variously-shaped presents and grabbed a gift wrapped in paper with pictures of cheery zombies on it and went back to her spot, moving her Steadholder piece up to the skyboard.

Tera frowned at the heap. " So I shall take... this one! " She grabbed an oblong present and headed back to where she had been working her way through a small hill of holiday cookies.