[Mojave]

She had decided to stay a while, mingling and enjoying an eggnog and thus lost track of time. When she glanced at her watch, she saw that it was now the 24th! "Oh, hell, I should really get going." She smiled ruefully at the person she had been speaking to and excused herself. On the way out, she stopped to claim the day's prize. Again she chose something small. After all, money wasn't an issue for her, she felt it would be a sort of theft stealing from the less fortunate if she went for the biggest prize available.

[SpringsSong]

"Okay, this stuff is actually a lot better than the stimcaff Gault spikes," Xyshari said after another mug.  "It's definitely alcoholic.  The first time I had something like this--that gave me more than a barely-pleasant buzz--was the first time Doc had taken me somewhere off of the ship on something other than 'business'," she said, her eyes distant with the memory.  Lana offered a small smile.

"It's good to remember the good times," Lana said softly.  Xyshari nodded, murmuring happily as she swirled the eggnog around in the mug, kissing Lana on the cheek.

---


Ekal.  Aila.  Nyera.  Ciren.

Another group made their way into the tavern, clamoring as they made their way to the bar.  One of them--a short-haired woman with three scars over her right eye--called out for drinks once they were all situated there.

"This is a fair bit more lively than our own Christmases back in Re'klet, eh, friends?" she said, and the other three nodded as they rose their drinks before throwing them back.

[Skylark]

Alas, all fun things had to come to an end. It seemed as if this party of cheer would continue on for a long time yet and he really did have things he must do before he got roped into cerebrating more odd mortal religions. He hadn't even meant to stay here as long as he had, but oh how the time seemed to fly! Or perhaps that was those alcoholic milk drinks. Anyway, it was time for him to move on, even if creatures kept throwing presents at him.

[Freezair]

IT WAS CHRISTMAS EVE!

And that cold he thought he'd fought off had come back to bite him. He blamed not getting enough sleep the day before the big Pre-Christmas sale at Kane's.

But still.

IT WAS CHRISTMAS EVE!

Halvard had come to the advent calendar all decked out. He had a reindeer antler headband. He had a red, green, and white scarf. Finding an ugly sweater that fit his 7-foot-something human frame was tricky, but he'd managed it, and gingerbread men in sunglasses cavorted with skateboarding Santas. None of his children were hear with him, but they were all helping their Uncle Kane with his Christmas party. That was their tradition, and they wouldn't miss it for the world.

It was remarkable, he thought, where he was now. Several years ago, he never could have pictured himself as so happy and successful, with children--children! and a warm and cozy house with a "normal" job. Not a bodyguard, not a bouncer; just an ordinary guy who helped out in a candy shop. And Jade was there. They weren't... together, but even that wasn't important anymore. It was her as a friend he valued most.

Somehow, somewhere, his lift had tuned around in the most dramatic fashion. He'd been plucked out of a royal court full of lush riches and Christmas balls and gem-filled cracked and landed... here. And somehow "here" was better than anything he could have conceived of before.

He sipped his cocoa and smiled.

[Moofius]

Grid

Grid nodded and waited patiently. As a traveller she found it worked better not to interrupt people's processes. Let them figure out exactly what they needed to say.

Aranyani took her time and Grid got a little bit of a clearer picture. She wanted to ask more questions, but yeah, seemed unfair to just grill somebody you just met. Especially when it seemed something of a sad or non-standard situation for the priestess.

That piqued Grid's interest further, but she would have to be careful not to impose too much.

“Me? Hmm, well I never knew my father, and my mom was away a lot. I grew up in a big family of sorts in the woods, but a different forest than yours. When I was old enough I started going out and exploring,” Grid grinned, happy to be past the childhood stage of her life, “I've spent my life exploring the world, actually. For work I make maps. I'm very good at it. I do maps of rivers, forests, or even long forgotten places like old cities or temples.”

Grid smiled, “Maybe I could visit your village sometime.”

[crow]

"No, really, it's great," said Leo, reiterating because he had really run out of things to say. His eyes wandered up and down the length of the sweater once more. It was white, which wasn't a great non-accent color for himself, and there were--- were those reindeer? It was all incredibly intricate, and the more he noticed, the worse he felt, because it was simultaneously clearly the product of a lot of hard work and incredibly tacky.

But Oliver was smiling again, and seeing him light up the way he did... Leo's expression softened, and he smiled back for a moment, before coming to a terrible resolution within himself.

"In fact, you know, I'll put it on right now."

He slipped it over his head, and... was suddenly very glad that he was wearing something else underneath. It was itchy. The places where the sleeves extended past those of his collared shirt began protesting almost immediately. Surreptitiously, he rolled up the sleeves. It was fine. This was a look. He just had to make it through tonight, and then he could put this thing to rest at the back of his closet and never look at it again.

Thank god Christmas sweaters were seasonal.

[ToxicShadow]

"Come, Z~! It'll only be for a moment!" The woman's voice was filled with enthusasim, and she drew out the man's name as she said it. Toxic was leading Z by the hand, well, more dragging him along, a little bit, as they made their way into the tavern.

The woman was wearing a red dress with black accents, black leggings and boots, as well as a black scarf with red and white symbols from a certain video game franchise. (It had been a random gift from Z.) Z was dressed in dark jeans, with a nerdy T-shirt with some video game or TV character or another, black and white creepers, and a black pleather jacket. In addition to that, he also wore a medical mask over his mouth and nose. Not because he was afraid of germs, but because he was actually sick with a cold and didn't wan to pass it around.

In spite of his cold, though, he decided to invite Toxic out, anyway, after she had excitedly mentioned dropping by the days long Christmas party at some point or another. He hadn't expected to get a cold as Christmas drew near, but, he wasn't so bad that he wanted to cancel their plans, even if Toxic had told him it was okay.

Now, though, since he insisted, the woman was smiling as she managed to flag down the Quest Master. "Hello! Merry Christmas! Um, we're here to claim an advent prize for th day?"

They were directed to the wall covered with gift boxes pinned to it, and Toxic nodded her head, leading her friend along with her. Then, removed the lid from the box labeled 2, and reached in for their prize.

[Saahs]

Warren watched as the little doll got right to writing out her message, his upper half bouncing and swaying to and fro just a little to the "heartbeat" of the party going on around them. If he wasn't the one performing, he was always happy to listen to whoever was, or to simply listen to the crowd around him. It was, after all, a song in and of itself, even if it had no set lyrics or chorus.

He leaned about slightly to read the wee doll's message, a smile splitting across his face. "My name's Warren!" he exclaimed, patting a hand to his chest. "And thank you thank you~. I live to be a beacon of comedy an' music."

(Claiming today's present!)

[Isalynne]

Aranyani had gotten the idea that Grid was an explorer of some kind, and was happy to hear it confirmed. It wasn't much to her liking, to wander around the place - she was always excited to see new things, but the comforts of home were the best things for her. Even so, she could see its merits, and already knew that her new friend was good at what she did.

"Wonderful! Close to.. to 'Tengel', or a further away place?" She beamed and practically bounced with enthusiasm at the mention of documenting ruins or other old buildings. "So fascinating! Society, and culture, it can be much changed very fast, yes? Seeing these things.. it is important."

A visitor! Oh, it would be such an honour. The warriors would have something to say about it, to say the least, but she would have the last word as the priestess. No matter how young she was, she was still to be trusted to know danger when she saw it.

"Yes, dear friend! I will welcome you gladly."

[Middy]

Why did he come back... was it because of some fruitless search for a certain someone? Honestly, he had his doubts of him being here at the moment, but something told him to stay put and wait. He had the patience, that wasn't the issue, the issue was his increasing thirst to kill someone-- but that isn't festive now is it? He would hold off, didn't want to cause a scene at all. He was to remain placid, and just observe, that is, until he found his quarry.

[Claiming 2nd Day]

[Redd]

The Koi-like Kuhna blinked around the tavern, taking in all the sights. He'd not meant to take this stop. Hell, he hadn't even meant to catch that particular bus, but here he was and he was damn well sure he was going to get yelled at when he got home (in a friendly, concerned way!) so, maybe taking some time out to explore wasn't such a bad thing.

And maybe he could get a little something for said concerned friend when he got home. Because, hey, he was a nice guy like that.

"Heyya, nice little place you got here." Edelweiss unceremoniously dumped himself on the front counter, casting a glance at the Quest Master before looking around. "Ain't got this sorta stuff where I'm from. Ain't appropriate really, it's summer there. Much too hot for eggnog and snow. Anyway, they say you're giving away stuff?"

Free things? That just made the mistake so much more worth it.

[Claimin' a day]

[Silver]

Silver sighed to herself. It was just her luck that her pet came in to crash the party and make a huge mess everywhere. In a way it was kind of a relief though. She was never very good at socialising, especially in large groups. Having something else to take care of gave her the mental excuse she needed to take some time off from the party.

Muse was happy to find a familiar face in the crowd. Perhaps that's what she was looking for in the first place. She honestly couldn't remember. There was too much pie and other nonsense between now and then. She purred softly as Silver wiped her fur and feathers clean.

[Adelie]

Christmas Eve, was it? One of those days were you were supposed to be at home, drinking hot spiced cider, nibbling on Christmas ham, watching some old Christmas movie with chocolate and caramel popcorn. But her family - if she wanted to call them that - were more into theatrics than festivity. And, well - it wasn't like she was particularly welcome, and it wasn't like she really wanted to see them, either.

That was just the way things went.

But even with that, she couldn't help but feel a little longing for this kind of experience. Wanting to enjoy life was only natural for living beings, wasn't it? A holiday party like this was still a far cry from the feeling of familial relationships, but it was close enough for her purposes.

[RiDragon]

Null let out a small squeak as he was dragged over by Cyril, more of a reaction to being pulled than one out of fear.  He struggled a bit, but knew it was useless.  Unable to focus on trying to drain the energy form the man, he clenched his teeth and braced himself.

"No--  Uh--  I mean yes--?  They might know how to fix it.  But it's not.."  He stopped himself.  Perhaps it was best not to admit that this was all his doing.  But..  If the person who owned the tavern knew how to fix it, wouldn't they also know it was all his doing?  Well...  Best to worry about that later.  It's not like putting off things until the last second hasn't already screwed him over once today.  Well, twice, if you count the part where he chose not to eat.

Oh well.

Luckily, it seemed that dream-boat was nice enough to care for a little scrap of a man like him.  Null felt his face burn again at the smile Zane gave him, and looked away quickly.  "Uh--  Sorry--  I didn't mean to mess with your..  Friend?"  He wasn't quite sure if they truly were friends, Mr. Tall Tan and Handsome didn't seem to be the type to hang with such a negative person, but oh well.  "We uh--  Have a--  Weird thing going on, I guess.  Magic, I think--  Uh, I don't really know about magic, of course."  He added the last part a bit too quickly and flinched at himself.

"Null, my boy, how are you doing?"  A welcome (but in an oddly familiar tone) voice said from behind Null.  He spun around quickly to face The Professor, a genuine beaming smile on his face in the first time in.. Days.

"Professor!"

"What's going on here?"  

Has he heard him say that before?  Oh well.  From the dangerous look in the old man's eyes, he knew exactly what was going on.

The Professor made his way to an invisible spot between Null and Cyril, eyeing something that it seemed he could see.  He tapped on the empty air gently with his cane.  "Aha, an empathetic link, I see."  He murmured, giving a nod.  "Well, I know someone who can help us take care of this, worry not.  Though we have to go about finding them first.  Won't be too hard though, they do own this place after all."  He chuckled to himself.

He completely ignored Cyril and turned to Zane.  "I hear you helped keep my boy safe, thank you good man."  He held out a hand.  "Professor Xavier J. Winter at your service, but you can call me Winter, Zane."  He appeared to be purposefully blocking the views of Null and Cyril from each other.

[Lilith Michaelis]

She watched him for a moment after she finished her message. She liked to watch people when they weren't looking and when they thought no one else wasn't. You got to see what people were like when they were alone, the little parts of themselves they hid from other people. Whether that was good or bad depended on the person.

And, y'know, it was kind of what she was created for.

Nice too meet you, Warren!

Hadya scrawled on to the paper, lifting up the notebook as she finished. Which was a comical sight indeed, as the notebook was probably just about as big as she was. But lift it she did. She clicked in chittered in laughter once more before continuing again.

Are you a muscisan? Do you only play your funny kazoo? Are you having fun? You're pretty!

((Claiming the prize for the 2nd day/December 24th))