[ToxicShadow]

When the group of no less than a dozen pirates began to venture in, the Quest Master beamed, approaching the single one that lead the whole group. "Hello, my darling~ I wasn't expecting you."

"Well, I wasn't expecting myself here either. Darling." Captain Veer gave the word an emphasis, though the meaning of the word to anyone listening in was probably vastly different than the usage between the two of them. It was just that either of them calling the other 'Mother,' wasn't accurate, either. "But I'd never question it. Once we're pulled here, what choice do we have?"

At the bar, the bartender approached the woman that leaned up against it, inquiring about food. "Indeed, we do. We even have a special menu, for the next twelve or so days," he answered, handing over a two sided menu.

[FrostWynd]

Finding herself overcome with the temptation that all this food brought her, Amala couldn't help but grab herself a plate to fill up with different things to try out. Depending on what she grabbed, it was entirely possible that she might not find everything to be edible, but it never hurt to give it at least a taste to experience the new and interesting flavors it may have. Even some of those drinks were rather interesting to look at, that she was considering trying some of those too.

But beyond that, it did seem like the options she had to enjoy the party were fairly limited, to say the least. Especially when you were all alone without the company of friends or family to help things along, there would be certain limitations to prevent her from engaging in certain party related activities to some extent. But she seemed determined to make the best of it and have fun anyway to the best of her ability.

[Adelie]

There's honestly more food here than she expected - more food, and more to drink. Maybe it's just a factor of her expecting less, she supposes; when you get used to little parties hosted by students and perennially broke academic institutions, the sight of actual cocktails and not just pizza bites and bar food really astounds you.

She picks up a glass of something colorful - doesn't even check the name - and downs it in a few gulps. Sweet, with a hint of a bitter aftertaste. Not bad. Not bad at all. Maybe later, she'll drop by and grab another one; for now, it's a little too obvious.

[Kyrit]

She was here somewhere. Estebanito just knew Kyrit had to be lurking in the crowd somewhere. She'd forced them to dock the ship and promptly ran off before he could so much as ask what was going on. Once he'd entered town he'd heard mention of the advent calendar and knew exactly what was going on, and he wasn't happy. Now he was going to have to find her in this huge crowd - he hated crowds so much - in order to drag her back to the ship. Thus began his journey through the mass of bodies.

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

This time, Rheese found the tavern as she strode into town, and she didn't hesitate before heading inside. She had skipped breakfast again, this time not even bothering to take the risk of Lloyd pulling a prank on her.

She strode up to the bar, figuring she would place her order first and pick up her gift while it was cooking. After flashing the bartender a quick smile, she scanned one of the menus before deciding, and was told it would only be a few minutes.

She headed over to the Advent Calendar, and smiled before asking as politely as she could:

"Hello, I'd like today's gift, please."

[crow]

Just when Dae-hyun thought this day couldn't possibly be shaping up to be any worse, he heard a familiar voice calling his name from across the room.

Against his better judgement, he turned. It was half reflex, half curiosity--- poorly thought through curiosity, at that. If he'd just thought it through a little more, it might have occurred to him to ignore it, and play it off like they'd been mistaken or something. Even Min-jun wasn't tactless enough to randomly go and grab someone in the crowd to confirm their identity, right?

But he did turn, and what he saw made the pit of his stomach sink like a stone. Min-jun, with Do-yun in tow, making a beeline for him.

"You invited my entire group?" Dae-hyun hissed.

"Huh? No, I just called Yo-han hyung here," said Dong-hyun. The confusion on his face looked genuine, and... Dae-hyun knew his brother. Dong-hyun wasn't the type to lie. Dae-hyun hadn't even realized he'd been holding onto that last thread of hope until it fizzled out right in front of him. So it really was just Min-jun and Do-yun, together on one of their days off.

"Guess they came too, huh?" said Yo-han. He seemed surprised too, but only mildly, and took it in stride as he turned to face them. "Hyung. Fancy seeing you here." He arched a brow at Do-yun, probably because of just how out of place Do-yun looked at a party. Probably wondering how Min-jun got him to come.

And Dae-hyun was trying pretty hard to think about almost anything else.

[Silver]

Amity never sat still for long and this trip was no exception. She rolled her eyes at Descant's two drinks and got up to find herself something to eat. She tilted her head at the selection of food available. It wasn't really what she expected for a holiday feast, but she didn't mind. Shame there weren't any tacos to go with it.

"Here I got us some meat," she said. She plopped a plate full of skewers onto the table.

Descant was still pretty annoyed, so she grabbed one and ate it in silence. It had to be an especially annoying event to stop her from spewing out witty remarks.

[MythicDusk]

Orion blinked owlishly at the newcomer to his table. He placed down the cup carefully, swallowing hard. His brain always seemed to short curcuit around new people. "N-no, of course not."

His voice was soft, anxious. He cursed himself inwardly for his cowardace. He wondered momentarily if the new person would simply take the chair and leave him to his misery.

But then he saw the book in their arms. One of the books he had actually managed to get a small article in. It was just about discovering stars with a home telescope, but the sight of it made his stomach twist in strange way.

[Mojave]

He'd been told to attend this little shindig for the remainder of the event. Maybe make a friend. Find a girlfriend? As she had said before falling back asleep, anything that would cure his boredom and get him out of the house. Judah pouted a little; apparently Mojave didn't appreciate his little jokes. Besides, it wasn't like he'd known she hated spiders so much to have night terrors. Kaido could have been a little nicer explaining.

So here he was, dressed in his best formal attire and standing on the porch wondering if he even would have any fun. He knocked on the door and upon entering, introduced himself to the host who greeted him. "Thank you for hosting this holiday event. I'm Judah." He then slipped among the crowd to find a drink.

[Isalynne]

Cecil chuckled. It was beautiful, to see Cyril so relaxed, at ease enough to laugh and tease without glancing over his shoulder. Until he did. Instantly, needles of concern prickled over Cecil's flesh, trying to discern the object of the boy's attention in the crowd. It wasn't a familiar face that his father had sent to tail him, was it? Having heard about previous antics, it wouldn't have been a shock.

"Mhm," He scooted off of his stool to stride further along the bar to an undisturbed bartender. "Back in a sec."

Even though he only looked away for long enough to order their drinks and pay, it was more than enough time for Cyril to be accosted by someone. Of course, he didn't want to doubt the boy's ability to take care of himself, but his immediate urge was to leap to the rescue. All he could do was force himself to wait.

[Lilith Michaelis]

Kakashi waited quietly as the child thoroughly inspected his face. He wondered what the kid was looking for. What did this strange little boy look for in people? What did he find interesting?

Well, no reason Kakashi couldn't observe the kid while the kid was observing him. His one visible eye, dark grey in colour, met the boy's golden gaze for a moment before scanning over the rest of his face. Something in that gaze unsettled him...

From further away, the kid's skin had appeared dark, but now that the ninja was closer, it was more of a dark grey than any sort of brown, like all colour had been sucked out of him. The web of veins and cracks through the boy's skin had become more apparent now that he was closer as well. Who, or what, was he?

Kakashi was pulled out of his reverie as the child suddenly pulled back and was patting a hand on his headband, right over his... eye. Huh. But before he could question further, he was being pulled into the myriad of boxes. He found a comfortable enough spot to sit before smiling at the strange boy. "You're certainly excitable, huh?"

[Saahs]

"Boxes," Omen hissed gleefully, crawling further into the gift-wrapped crevices of his domain. He scuttled and turned about, so he could face the grown man and continue looking at him with that owlish stare. "Friend! Boxes." It made perfect sense to him.

Once Kakashi was acceptably delved amongst the boxes, Omen reached for his hand to inspect it inch by inch, fingerprint to fingerprint. His fingertips were each given a stern look-over, and his nails gently picked and tapped at. If allowed, he'd take off the protective glove covering the man's palm, so he could also trace over his tendons and veins under the skin on the back of his hand.

[Freezair]

True to her name... and coloring... and birthday... and the fact that her brother was a candymaker... Noel loved Christmas. And while she did love her brother's sweets, the Advent Calendar event was not to be missed! She didn't bother with a tacky sweater--her own red-and-green coat was festive enough for her. And besides, she heard there was Hawaiian barbecue at this advent calendar! Christmas was so full of sweets, a little break from it was nice. Though... wasn't there also a lot of pineapple in tropical barbecue?

Hmm. At Christmas, even the meat was sweet.

[zapdragon555]

Cyril had looked away, after a long moment of staring at the man, unsure of why the hair on the back of his neck stood up just looking at him. He tried to let out a small laugh, to dispel the tension, a breath to ease the hunch in his shoulders, and tried to look forward to the promise of fruity drinks and a nice night.

Until the man walked up to him, and Cyril nearly jumped out of his skin at the new utter lack of distance between them. He leaned back, startled, and tried to make sense of what the man was saying.

Utter nonsense, was what it was. Cyril straightened, putting on a guarded expression, a neutral thing that looked practiced and poised. "I don't know you, nor do I have any idea of what you're talking about. Please leave me be."

His eyes darted to where Cecil had disappeared, and he caught the man's eye. He gave Cecil a look that seemed to subtly ask for his help in getting out of this strange situation. For all he knew, the man was on drugs, or drunk already, but... he didn't seem drunk, nor did he sound particularly under the influence of anything. Cyril looked back at the man, his brow furrowing. "What do you mean by... 'reality distortion,' anyway?"

[ToxicShadow]

Most of the pirate crew began to wander off, finding one thing or another to help with, seemingly unfazed by the strange mist that appeared all around them. Though, it was Yosuke that approached the bartender with a grin. "Hey, anything I can do to help?"

The teen was only somewhat familiar to the man behind the bar, but he was well aware he was someone from Veer's crew, certainly unable to miss the show of several pirates all entering the tavern at once. "You want to pass out drinks?" he suggested, nodding his head toward a circular tray, as he began to set several prepared beverages neatly upon it.