[FrostWynd]

A brow rose as Eliza was clearly confused by her strangely timed remark. "...Why? What's wrong with the-- ohmygoodness!" Turning her attention towards the very same direction that Skylar was staring at, she finally figured out what the cat was talking about. That Kitrell was in the punch bowl! Why the heck was it swimming in the punch?!

If it had been under different circumstances, Eliza probably would've found the sight amusing because of how absurd it looked. But... humor was nowhere near the forefront of her mind right now. Instead she felt concern for the Kitrell.

Skylar was the complete opposite. She thought it was hilarious, and was very interested to see how things played out. If only the next round of Advent-related magic were better timed...

Suddenly something materialized and landed right on Skylar's head, covering an eye, plus completely distracting her for the next few moments.

"Wh-- Hey!" She would exclaim, suddenly shaking about to knock the object off. It easily came off, and flew away down onto the floor. Eliza gave her a look for acting like that, and had to crouch down to pick it up. Then she was soon startled by someone that came up trying to get her attention, causing her to utter a small gasp and stand back up straight. Almost bumping her head on the table in the process... "Y-Yes...?" She responded, before being handed a mug. "Oh, um, thanks!" A shy smile was now on her face, as she  took it. But when she looked inside, she found... a bottle with pink liquid inside? "Huh..." This was some kind of a potion, wasn't it?

Between the potion, and the item that turned out to be a collar decorated with spikes (that really wasn't Skylar's style), that was all it took for both of them to lose track of the Kitrell. Once they finally focused their attention back to the punch, the small creature had vanished again...

Naturally, they both had to go and look for it. For two completely different reasons.

[Moofius]

Grid

“Hmm, yeah that makes sense..” Grid mumbled to herself thoughtfully. Course the people in the Tengel wouldn't call it the Tengel, but it was a bit surprising to Grid that this girl had come from so far away and had not spoken to anyone about where she had come from. Was this a political excursion? Had she just... left?

While Aranyani made quick work of her baked foe, Grid reached around herself to grab a map-
Except she didn't have her maps, and even if she did, she was nowhere near Tengel. Why would she have a Tengel map here?
“Let me just...” From a much more easily accessible pocket on her pants Grid pulled out a phone and used the search bar to get an ariael view of the Tengel rainforest, with artificial lines of blue painted over to show where the smaller river systems were.
“This place? We call this entire forest the Tengel Rainforest. It's uh...” Grid used two fingers to pinch the image, zooming out to show a large mass of land, “It's a big place. Za'o Feio...” Grid wished she had her notes, maybe she could pin point the language family, or even the culture that called it that. Alas, she was sort of at a loss.

[Jaykobell]

They had no idea how they'd ended up here, but here they were now. They felt a little dizzy from their unexpected trip, but the festive decorations and atmosphere made them smile brightly. Everybody here was so cheerful and excited to be here! They did love this time of year, with how generous everybody got.

Their steps continued to be weird and confusing as they stepped inside. They bumped into a few other people, but of course without meaning to. The majority were fine about it, either too happy or too buzzy to be upset.

"Woooooo," they whistled as they fell onto the counter of the tavern. "I like this place! Wee!"

[Skylark]

A funny thing, the holiday season. It was quite curious the lengths people would go to in celebration of... what, exactly? He was having a hard time parsing that out. Some seemed to be worshiping a man in red (and not the man in red he was used to people worshiping). Others seemed to be hung up on the traditional Christianity stories, you know the ones. Nonsensical, really, for if they bothered to read the literature at all they'd know this was entirely the wrong time of the year. Anyways. Others still seemed to worship winter itself or have celebration for many nights in a row for reasons untold, but likely also religious.

It was fascinating, really.

He couldn't help but want to observe them all in their nonsensical glory. Getting up close and mingling with the masses, as it were. If only he didn't keep getting so distracted by the gifts all over the place or the sweet-smelling drinks being offered. One could almost... get caught up in the festive cheer. Was that was this season was all about?

[Isalynne]

The marvel over baked goods and candies was nothing compared to the utter amazement on Aranyani's face upon being faced with a phone. What was this curious little device? It was giving off light, and doing things when Grid touched it! Was it magic? She'd never been able to achieve anything quite like this with her magic!

"This little thing! How do you do this?" She was content to lean in and squish against the woman with no concept of maintaining appropriate personal space. Thankfully, she wasn't impolite enough to make a grab for the object of her fascination. Watching the image change made her flinch back in surprise. "Ah! Changed!"

The novelty hadn't worn off in the slightest, but Aranyani did her best to be serious, squinting at the display in an effort to distinguish anything familiar. Luckily enough, one of the blue lines was in a shape she instantly recognised.

"This! Here.. this is a.. a river, in your words, yes? This river. It is the sacred river, I think. I was born inside it!"

[RiDragon]

Null was going to just let the dude go.  He had his fill on the man's anger, and judging by how much it was and just how...  "fermented" it had gotten, he really did not wanna mess with him.  He suspected that guy had some....  Issues.

However, a weird tugging sensation forced him to get up and follow.  He didn't..  Want to follow him.  But at the same time..  He kind of did?  He felt like a puppy that needed to follow its person.

Did he..  Accidentally form a mental link with this guy.  Crap..  Hopefully he could just..  Lurk nearby and work on breaking it.  And no one would notice.

[Lilith Michaelis]

Hadya watched curiously as he twiddled the strange bright thing between his fingers, listening to him carefully.  She tilted her head, eye squinting just a bit, as he brought the thing to his lips and -- Oh it was glorious! She chittered in joy, clapping her porcelain hands together and her eye widening in amazement. She pat his leg a few times, insisting that he play the kazoo again. What a wonderful wonderful instrument!

He was a silly boy for sure. And there was something that felt.....No, that wasn't important right now. Fun times and silly music were important right now.

((Claiming the prize for the 5th day/December 21th))

[Adelie]

What was it about holidays that always made her lazy?

Actually, that was a silly accusation to make - she was always lazy. It was just that the holiday season always made her especially lazy and unwilling to do things she needed to be responsible for, like buying presents, sending Christmas cards, or, for that matter, feeding herself. It had taken a particular level of energy for her to actually go out and attend this party, and now that she had made it here, she was decidedly uninterested in doing anything more.

Unfortunately, despite providing most other things, this party didn't provide a place for her to lie down and refuse to do anything on, so she was at somewhat of a loss.

[Skeetzybug]

Few things were better promotion than a good old fashioned gathering of folks, if you asked Muffy. She tucked her basket of goodies under one arm as she fiddled with the door, a flash of warm air washing over her. The room already smelled of the holidays, sugars and spices and all kinds of nice warm things. She quickly trotted over to the goodie table, making sure it was okay before setting out her basket with pride. She adjusted the label with her shop’s name on it, making it visible but not too in-your-face, and waited with a smile on her muzzle.

She really hoped she could grab some interest today, but if she couldn’t, at least she knew that people would have nice treats at such a nice party.

[ToxicShadow]

After taking in his surroundings for a moment, the colorful Kuhna hopped up onto one of the bar stools that remained empty, and quickly grabbed the attention of the man standing behind the counter with a wave of his paw. "Hey, it's crazy busy here," he said, only once the other man had come over.

The man nodded his head. "It seems like word has gotten out everywhere." People and creatures were coming from all over the place to check out the Quest Master's party. "They just keep on coming."

[Night]

Oliver was willing to let the subject drop, but that didn't mean that anger wasn't bitter at the back of his throat.

He was fiddling with sleeve of his sweatshirt again when he replied, the garish green thread beginning to unravel where he picked at it. "I don't know that I would say I'm the boss." The concept of him being in charge of much of anything was almost laughable. He just supplied the information - ninety percent of the direction came down to Brian. "I'd just be writing the paychecks. Or, well. Brian writes the paychecks, I just sign them. And they aren't really checks, it's more like a communal pool of money that... you know what, I'm just going to stop, I'm not making this sound any more appealing."

His cheeks were on fire again, and he covered his face with both hands. He shook his head, peeking an eye open between his fingers to look at Leo. He was still smiling despite. "No, the gift isn't a bribe. It's just something that I made for you with some of the down time I've had - as like, a thank you. Part of one. We owe you a lot for helping us out with the whole... demon cult... thing."  He managed to pry his hands from his face, even though he was confident he was still an unappealing shade of embarrassed. "Go ahead and open it!"

[zapdragon555]

Cyril didn't feel the same tug, mostly because Null hadn't let it grown very taught before getting up to follow. He did, however, pause to look over his shoulder, and he bristled to see the man was following him. Cyril whirled around to face Null, his anger beginning to bubble up once more, blazing behind cold, forcibly calm eyes. "Do not follow me," he said, his voice stern. At the moment, he didn't seem violent at all, just very visibly agitated. He took a few more steps back, eyeing the man up and down. "What is it you want from me? Drug money? I can give you that. Easy. Just get off my back."

---

Cody scrubbed at his eyes, taking off his glasses to do so. He somehow looked even smaller, his presence even less than it was when they were on him. Light lashes damp with tears, he managed to take in a proper deep breath and shrug halfheartedly. "I broke a plate," he mumbled. "I-I'm not sure if I threw it, or just dropped it, i-it's kind of a weird blur... b-but it broke on the floor and he's--he's just a poor college student, I-I shouldn't be making more expenses for him..." Cody caught himself, his eyes a little wide, as if he'd just happened upon something that had been wordlessly bothering him for a long time.

But they'd talked about it before. Zane was happy to give Cody a real place to stay... but Cody really needed to consider therapy like Zane had mentioned. Old wounds... the thought of opening them up again scared Cody something terrible. "Y-yeah," he finally croaked out, in response to Dahlia's final words, a teary smile tugging at his mouth. "I..." He looked a little tense for a few seconds, before he let out a heavy breath and let his shoulders sag. "I really love him. I-I just don't know what to do other than apologize." Cody sniffed, then looked up suddenly, at Dahlia, with an embarrassed smile. "Sorry, I guess I'm n-not quite... used to saying that. E-even if he is my boyfriend. It's even been, like, about five months, s-so you'd think by now..." Cody shrugged and let out a small, but happy laugh, in spite of himself. "Th-thanks for listening. Sorry for dumping all of this on a stranger... D-dahlia, wasn't it? And... Ko... Kosok, right?"

[Claiming Day 5!]

[RiDragon]

Null took a few steps back, but felt the whatever it was grow taught again.  He wasn't a strong person.  He wasn't a person at all actually.  His body was just an illusion, he was only about as strong as his original form.  Which was...  A small reptile.  Basically.  He could barely pick up a heavy plate.

"Drug money?"  He bristled up a little at that.  Did he really look like an addict?  Well...  Guess he was kind of acting high.  "No, just."  He looked around, trying to find an excuse.  "I wanted to.  Buy you a drink.  To apologize for being weird.  I don't drink often and my body was..  Not reacting well."  He forced an apologetic smile.

[Moofius]

Grid

How DID she do it? Grid laughed.
“I mean, the easy answer is a just poked it, the long answer involves sciences and engineering and computer technology I don't understand.”
Yeah, hoo boy, how do you explain a complex commodity chain to a girl who thought candy canes were amazing? There were WAY better candies around! Oh well, there was time to course correct on that, and everything else, later.

As for being in a person's personal space, Grid wasn't somebody who minded. She'd been to so many places in Evelon and met so many people, she was use to all kinds of different ideas of what personal space was.
“Yeah yeah, okay really?” The party was quickly becoming inconsequential as Grid tried to figure out where exactly this girl was from, “I'm sure we named it something...” Grid snorted, zooming into the map to see what the river was called, and what it flowed to.

“Huh, nope, I've never been to that region....” She said thoughtfully, before dragging the map further down river and pointing to a place where the river forked, two small rivers becoming the one.
“Closest I've been to your neck of the...” Grid frowned, “Closest I have been to where you're from is this place. It's pretty far up river from you, and at this junction is a group. The are the protector's of the Mother and Father rivers,” at the titles she pointed to one river, then the other, “I have the traditional names written down somewhere. Have you been here? They have a shaman, or medicine man, or a priest and his name was Tah'kwache. I dunno if he's still there, but if you would know anyone I know, it'd be him.”

As for her being born in the river, well, knowing the Tengel and the wild magical things that happened that could be literal or figurative. Hard to be sure of anything where myth folded so easily into the present day and ancient magic was indistinguishable from modern science, but Grid was intrigued. A new adventure, maybe?

[Flame]

The holidays were one of the few excuses that Wren could occasionally count on to get her down to the mortal realm, and of the holidays that she'd learned about in her ageless lifetime, Christmas was one of her absolute favorites. Unlike the other holidays, this one seemed to focus around camaraderie, food, music, and her favorite part - gifts. Of course, seeing as the other gods and goddesses considered themselves removed from standard human festivities, it wasn't as if she had anyone to exchange gifts with (or to give her gifts), so she spent what time she could get away with among the mortals.

She'd heard that this particular party was going to be one of the larger ones (but still small and intimate enough to give a personal experience), and so she'd made her way here and very quickly integrated herself into the festivities which were already well under way. It seemed she was in luck, and that gifts were a part of this party as well, and they were being handed out left and right to any and all guests of the party. Quietly delighted, she made her way over to the growing gift line to await her turn to receive the mystery surprise of the day.