Tis the Season (open)

[yolanda7g]

Angel walked in the hotel, his hair slick and clothes heavy with slime. He stopped at the stairs and looked warily around the hotel. Glad to see no one, he descended the stairs and went straight to the glass cabinet of weapons.

Angel had to admit, not one of his best nights. Slime was never a good thing. Ever. At least the thing was easy to kill. Opening the cabinet to put away his ax, he turned to Gunn, who came with him to the fight.

With a matter-of-fact tone, he stated, "I think I'm going to go shower," He was disgusted, to say the least. The demon slime didn't smell like roses.

[yolanda7j]

Gunn wondered what the hell was up with demon slime. Was this an added bonus for killing someone's demon cousin or something? Was this an old school episode of Double Dare? He decided to voice those questions to Angel as he went over to the weapon's cabinet.

"Seriously, what is it with slime? What, is it not enough to nearly be dismembered? Pshh. It's like the powers are sayiny' 'here's somethin' to remember us by'. Shoot, they can keep all that noise to themselves. I didn't order any sides, you feel me?"

When Angel announced his b-line to the showers,Gunn grinned and nodded. "Good idea, I'mma go and do the same before rush hour rolls in."

Angel turned to look at him and blinked.

"Meaning Cordy and the rest of the folks. But mostly Cordy."

Angel nodded with an "oh" expression and continued toward his room.

Before Gunn left, something caught his attention by the desk. After closer inspection, he said "Yooo, hey, Angel? Man, you might want to see this..."

Approaching the desk, he saw an array of Christmas wrapped gifts. On the top was a card with "Wolfram & Hart" on the cover.

Definitely not good.

[yolanda7g]

Angel stopped when he heard Gunn beckon him. What go it possibly be?

Angel walked over Gunn and caught sight of the "gifts"

"Don't touch it," Angel warned, noticing the names on each of the boxes. This was one of those times where he had no idea what to do. What was this, a joke for Wolfram & Hart? Was it a trap? Was it some mind game?

What exactly was their agenda with this. Angel coould rule out one thing, it wasn't Christmas spirit. Something was up.

So now what?

[yolanda7j]

Gunn laughed a bit and glanced at Angel. "What? You think the lawyers took all that time to gift wrap a bumch of bombs or somethin'?" He shook his head and waved his hand dismissively. "Psh. Man, they ain't got time for that. Seriously, if we so important that they gotta use WMDs for their annual holiday diabolical plannin', then I'mma question this whole apocolypse-is-coming mess, for real."

He laughed again. "Come on man. I ain't saying trust the guys, but If they decide to give us keys to a limo, I won't be complainin'...ya know...just sayin'. "

Gunn took another look at the presents, all different sizes, all with red and white wrapping paper, and a tag.

"Maybe we should wait for folks to get here or somethin'." Gunn shrugged. He was at a complete lost. These Wolfram & Hart guys were no joke. Nothing to be messing around with.

But you know...a stretch limo from the evil firm wouldn't be such a crime, right?

[Cordelia Chase]

Cordelia rushed into the hotel, looking harried and frazzled. Christmas time was so exhausting and almost wished she was back in the times where she only received them, not gave them too. But no, on second thought she rathered the new and improved her. Her days of Miss High and Mighty were way over.

She spied Angel and Gunn over near the desk where a few gifts sat. "Ooh, do we have some thank-you-for-saving-us presents?" Cordelia placed down a few bags she'd been carrying and sighed. "I used to love Christmas so much when I was younger but now it's like a chore. One that you try to avoid as much as possible." She wandered over to the guys as she talked and looked down to see the card. She mouthed an 'Oh' and stared for a while, sort of expecting them to explode or something.

"Maybe they felt bad and wanted to say sorry?" Cordelia looked to Angel then Gunn and shrugged, not succeeding in reassuring herself.

[Rain McKnight]

OC: can I join?

[yolanda7g]

(join away

Angel sighed after Gunn gave his suggestions. Looking down at the presents, he mulled over in his mind what exactly to do with them. His first instinct was to throw them out, somewhere far away preferably. But then he noticed a card on the top of the stack. Surely there was no harm in opening a card...right? Maybe it held the key to what was really going on here.

Then Cordy walked in the door. Not attempting to interrupt her rant, he waited til she was finished. "I doubt it," Angel said. He bent down and took the card, enclosed in a blank white envelope. He opened it, revealing a winter themed card, and he read the content aloud.

Seasons Greetings Angel Investigations,

I bet you all are wondering what this is about. In light of the holidays, we at Wolfram & Hart would like to lay our cards out on the table. Firstly, Wolfram & Hart is very interested in Angel Investigations, which I am sure you have guessed. Therefore, we watched every one of you very closely, just as much as you have kept an eye on us. But for this one day, we would like to call a truce, in the spirit of the season. So, no, we have not supplied bombs or any device that would harm any of you within these gifts. We would, however, like to show you the fruits of our hard work in the gifts we customized and selected specifically for each one of you.

Each gift reflects who you truly are.

Please, open the gifts, they were not made to harm, but reveal.

Happy holidays,

Lilah Morgan.

Angel slammed the card down on the presents and looked to the rest of them, his thin lips pressed in a line of disapproval and frustration. "I can't trust them." he announced. "We need the presents out of here. Now."

[Rain McKnight]

Rain hummed as she walked down the busy LA sidewalks. Having just recently come from a doctor’s appointment in which the docs had been thrilled that she seemed to be regaining some of her memory she was on her way to the Hyperion Hotel, the hotel, to see Angel and his pals. She had just switched to “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” when she started down the Hyperion's street and headed for the hotel doors. Rain only stopped humming when she entered the hotel. She skipped into the lobby and headed for the front desk.


“Merry Christmas!” she yelled cheerfully in the thick Irish accent she had decided to keep after Pylea, just positively bubbling over with the joys of the season. When only silence greeted her she stopped to take a look around. “Hey, what’s going on?” she asked looking at the solemn faces around her. “How can you guys be so somber? I brought cookies.” She held up the Kroger’s bag and pulled out a plastic carton of holiday cookies.

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[yolanda7j]

(we're in the Hyperion hotel, btw. In the lobby)

Gunn was about to reply to Angel when a woman came in the door saying 'Merry Christmas'. Right when he heard the Irish accent, he glanced at Angel, thinking this was one of his old vamp pals from his evil hay day. Gunn didn't want to be involve when Angel's past makes an appearance in any shape or form. But then he remembered Rain, the chick Angel, Cordy, and Lorne told him about after their revisit to Pylea.

"How can you guys be so somber? I brought cookies. She said.

Gunn smiled and walked up to her. "Naw, that's normal for these guys. When it doesn't look like death around here is when you start worryin." He took a hold of the cookies. "Let me take that off your hands," He put the cookies the desk and opened them, grabbing one for himself.

Leaning coolly against the desk while eating, he said, "So you must be Rain. Yeah, Angel an' 'em told me the scoop about you, how ya'll was up in Pylea. Man. Glad I missed that second trip. Got too much goin' on in the streets here with my guys to take another vacation in a demon dimension." Taking another bite of the cookie he said, "Damn, these are the bomb. Thanks girl." He nodded over to the presents. "Oh yeah. I think you got one of those addressed to you too. Try to convince Angel here that ain't no evil law firm about to spend their time on making trap presents."

[yolanda7g]

Angel looked up and saw Rain come in the door. Seeing her always made Angel feel uncomfortable, because that memory from years ago still pierced his mind. It was vivid, and real, and confusing. She couldn't be the same demon he killed. Still, Angel was hit with guilt every time he saw her. It was as if the ghost of his victim was haunting him--a painful reminder of Angelus' destruction. Angel remained uneasily silent when Gunn greeted her and the cookies.

Angel sighed and dug his hands in the pockets of his black slacks, listening to Gunn and his underhanded puns. He had grown used to them. Angel recognized that although Gunn was a bit more comfortable around them and was pretty much a part of the team, it would still take a little bit more for Angel to earn his trust as a 'good' vampire, after all Gunn's been through. Angel honestly wouldn't be surprised if Gunn never trusted him completely, and he has a right not to. Angel was reminded of this through Rain.

After Gunn directed her to the presents, Angel decided to pipe up. "Hi, Rain...that's Gunn. And this is..." He looked down at the gifts. "...this needs to get out of here. Some how. Now. Since when do we start believing that Lilah just wants to play 'nice'?"

[Rain McKnight]

Rain smiled at Gunn flirtatiously. The guy was cute! "Thanks," she said when he took the cookies from her. She leaned up against the front desk and looked up into his face. "Death and decay, gloom and doom. Why am I not surprised," she sighed.

Rain laughed when he complemented the cookies. "They're store-bought so don't get too excited," she informed him. Then she turned to Angel. "Why cant we open the presents?" she asked giving him big puppy dog eyes. "Wait....Lilah? Lilah Morgan? Is that who sent you these presents? She visited me earlier today at the hospital while I was in for my check up." Rain looked back at Gunn, "Is that a bad thing?"

[yolanda7j]

Gunn grinned at Rain when she mentioned it was store bought and laughed a bit. "Yeah. And some of the world's greatest treasures can be found at a store near you." He lifted up his half eaten cookie to her. "Case in point." He then finished it off. He had to admit, the chick looked good. Black hair, piecing eyes and all. He had to give the girl props when they were due.

His thoughts were rudely interrupted, however, by Rain's admission. He looked down at her gravely. "Bad thing? Psh. I would say Lilah is the devil incarnate but she probably just represents him." Gunn shook his head and looked over at Angel. "She definitely was not lyin' when she said they were keeping tabs on us. But ya know what?"

Gunn removed himself from the counter and walked right over to the presents, picking them up, looking at the names and spreading them out on the floor. "I'm thinking its about time we got something good around here. Sometimes when we receive something, we should actually take it. Time to live it up," He paused his separating and glanced at Angel. "Well except the undead in the room, I mean."

Looking at the presents, all of them were different sizes. Cordelia's was more than a foot long and rectangle. Rain's was a smaller variety of a rectangle. Angel's was a small cubed box. Gunn's box was slim. He had to admit, he was more than curious. He addressed the group.

"Okay. Lilah? Possibly devil incarnate. But if they're watching us as closely as we all think, they probably want us to chicken out, right? Considering they're trying to analyze our every move."

(BTW guys, I will email u whats in the presents so u can react to them )

[yolanda7g]

(Oh and if you want to open your present at any point, you're free to PM me first and I can tell you)

Angel crossed his arms over his chest as he listened to the conversation, noticing particularly that Cordy was silent. That was good, right? Maybe Cordelia had enough sense to know that opening anything from Lilah is a mistake. He was banking on it. Maybe she'll get a well timed vision about them or something.

Wishful thinking.

Angel broke his serious bemused expression to look at Rain. "She what?" Angel said at her admission about Lilah. That confirmed it for him. Lilah was up to something and it wasn't involving the kindness in her heart, assuming she had any. Angel was about to say something but Gunn already went towards the presents. Angel impusively took a step forward to stop him, "Gunn--"... But he relaxed himself, sighing. There was no point in doing anything to stop Gunn. Besides, the place didn't blow up yet...possibly a good sign...

He looked down at the presents again, concerned and conflicted. And Gunn had a good point. He didn't want to show that they were afraid of them. If they knew that they were on eggshells when it came to Wolfram & Hart, it would give them more leverage. Definitely not good.

But still.

"I don't like this," Angel announced. "We gamble around with mind games and we'll find ourselves losing. I...we cannot take that risk." He looked over at Cordelia, his eyes begging her for help. "Right?"

[Cordelia Chase]

Cordelia glanced to the door, hearing it open and wondering who it would be. She was mildly surprised to see Rain there, someone she'd met from Pylea not too long ago. "Oh, Merry Christmas to you too." She said heartily, then threw Angel a questioningly look. She didn't hesitate on taking on of the cookies that Rain had offered, after Gunn took them from her and also took one for himself. "Mmm, no arguing there... these are great!" Cordelia exclaimed after taking a bite, not caring if they were store-made or not.

She opted to listening to the three of them talking, while she munched away, still eying those presents. She personally didn't see what the big deal was, but Angel being Angel, most of the time he was right. But what if today wasn't one of those times? Then Gunn finally touched the presents and said what she'd been thinking. She threw him a relieved glance and nodded. "I agree... I mean, they can't be bad 24/7, right?" Cordelia put in, looking to Angel.

But that was a mistake, because Angel was pleading with her with his eyes. "Don't do that!" She scolded. He knew it worked on her... most times. "I'm sorry Angel... but I'm going with Gunn on this one." Cordelia said quietly, looking more than guilty for betraying Angel. She looked away, unable to make eye contact with him any longer. Truthfully, she was curious to see exactly what Wolfram and Hart would send them, especially since all the gifts were individually addressed to each of them.

[yolanda7j]

Gunn smiled at Cordelia. "See? Girl knows what she talkin about." Gunn took his present and shook it next to his ear. "Ooo, this little thing got some weight to it." He had some ideas about what it could be but after examining it closer, he had no clue.

He had to admit, this was pretty exciting. This was his first Christmas with presents in a while. Granted, they were from an evil law firm, but something was better than nothing. For the most part his Christmases were spent with his guys and his sister, wishing about better days and preparing for the next sweep. He always wanted to get something special for Alonna, but resources were scarce. So scarce in fact that he decided to give up his soul for a truck.

So despite the evil law firm thing, this day was looking pretty good.

"So should I be the first to do the honors then?" Gunn looked at Angel, not really for permission.

Angel just sighed heavily in silent disapproval as Gunn started ripping open the wrapping paper.

A white box appeared from the paper. Gunn opened the lid and glistening underneath was the polished blade of an intricate dagger. The handle had impressive engravings and designs.

"Damn!" Gunn said in surprise, taking the dagger out and admiring the blade. "This is sick!" He put the box down and spun the blade, and pointing it in an arbitrary direction, testing it out. "Do y'all see this blade? Those guys at Evil Lawyers N' Company don't play around! "