[crow]

"Why not?" said Koh'a, grinning again.

"How many people do you think have been in and out of that thing?" Senah wrinkled her nose. She was always the fussier of the two, though Koh'a knew from experience that she would rough it without complaint if that was what the circumstances were.

But he had grown up in the woods, and maybe Senah wasn't entirely wrong about his foolhardiness. Koh'a gave a shrug. "It's not like we've got a plague on. I'm sure I can live with someone's cooties. Or several scores of someones'." And if it itched, well, it would only be for a few hours.

[zapdragon555]

Fujiko Mine | Arsène Lupin III
[#43bcb4] [#BF0000]

Lupin, quite preoccupied with a cheese danish, was not the first to notice the rather angry, angular pair of slacks and brimmed hat stomping towards him. And Fujiko, ever hyperaware, was quick to slip herself free of Lupin with a sheepish sort of smirk, dancing fingers up his arm with a wink. "You've got business. I'll leave you to it."

Jigen Daisuke | Goemon Ishikawa XIII
[#0040BF] [#8b88c7]

"Hmp—?" Lupin mumbled through a mouthful as Fujiko slipped away, quick as a cat, and Lupin was promptly grabbed by the back of his collar and spun around to face a very angry bush of hair under a hat.

"Where the hell've y'been, asshole?!" Jigen barked, bristling Goemon slightly a few steps behind him, who raised an apologetic hand to a few startled patrons. "Didn't answer my calls?! What—"

"Inside voice, cowboy," Goemon whispered, lightly thwacking the gunman on the hip with the sheath of his sword. Jigen griped a noise, but relented, releasing his grip on Lupin's lapels with a grimace.

"I figured y'were too wrapped up in that broad to give a damn. Or some other one. So we figured we'd go without ya."

Lupin blinked owlishly, and swallowed the half-chewed danish in his mouth, a flicker of hurt in his eyes as he put on a wide smirk. "C'mon, Jigen, you know I always give a damn about you."

"Hah!" Jigen scoffed harshly and stamped over to the snack table, snatching a peppermint-covered pretzel stick and taking an angry bite out of it, letting the crunch soothe some of the violent rage in him. "Tryina do a job without me, is what y'were doing. A suspicious as hell one. With her, of all people."

Goemon's mouth twitched, and he leaned over Jigen's shoulder, lowering his voice. "She's likely within earshot. You don't have to be quite so quick to insult—"

"It's because it never works, Goemon. You—you," he jammed the half-bitten pretzel at Lupin's face, startling his posture stiffer. "You of all people should know that. You should've learned by now. Are y'some kinda masochi—don't answer that. God." Jigen crunched another bite of pretzel, grumbling out a soft, tired sound as Goemon's hand gently came down upon and squeezed his shoulder, the samurai's gaze leveling on Lupin's face.

"We received a letter—or... I received a letter. It had all of our names on it. Yours... Fujiko's, too. It's why we were desperate to get a hold of you. It smelled like a trap." He glanced down at the smaller, scruffier man, and smiled slightly, tilting his head at Lupin. "He was worried."

"Like hell I was," Jigen snarled, stuffing a Christmas cookie into his mouth before he could fully finish the pretzel. Lupin's bewildered gaze softened, and he moved to pick up a glass, filling it with punch and holding it out to Jigen as some sort of peace offering. Jigen stared at it with a frown and full cheeks, before swallowing. "What's in it."

"Dunno. It'll probably take your edge off, though," Lupin sneered, and Jigen bristled—only to startle quiet as Lupin tipped it towards his own lips, and took a long drink, then held it out to Jigen with a raised brow. Jigen stared at the slash of red lipstick on the thing, and... did take a moment to properly look at Lupin, his attire, his... admittedly handsome edge.

Well. If the thing was poisoned, they were both going down, then. That was how it worked. Jigen wouldn't have it any other way, so he tipped the glass towards himself and drank deeply of it, shuddering at the ultra-sweet taste. "Dunno how anyone can stand this stuff. You think they got scotch?"

"Maybe upstairs," Lupin mused, with a wag of his brows that had Jigen and Goemon exchanging a glance. The samurai was the first to speak up, as Jigen foraged for one more thing to nibble on.

"It would be nice if you could fill us in, if you don't mind us muscling in. By which I mean... you won't mind. And you will tell us." Goemon's rather wan smirk bode few arguments, and Lupin, despite rather bereft of the idea that he wouldn't be completing a job with Fujiko on his own... was never opposed to some very well-skilled backup.

[FrostWynd]

Maybe this would finally be the lesson that Kassia needed to learn that there was still a long ways to go before she could act like a normal human, and not all cat logic would apply to every situation wherever she went. There was even another important thing to be learned, particularly about falling, and that was when she felt something odd on her fingers after having touched her nose. Raising them up to get a better look would reveal they were now smeared with some red, and she'd realize how much she messed up here from falling on her face. Paying little mind to Bacca's quiet pleading for them to leave, the girl stood up and took off further into the mansion in a random direction without any real warning. Unsure of how to deal with this new problem she had, or where to really go, as she tried to cover up the mess with one of her oversized sleeves.

[Day 9]

[Lilith Michaelis]

Hmm. Their quarry was moving. That was annoying an unfortunate. They waited for the boy to exit the main hall before skittering across the ceiling, glancing around the main room once more before continuing down the hallway after him.



He still felt watched. He glanced over his shoulder ever minute or so but did not see anyone. But he knew they were there. They had to be.

Something wasn't right. But where were they?

[GrayGriffin]

The Diosol smirked. "Well...?" he asked. "I'm waiting for your answer..."

He obviously knew it already. But he probably wanted to hear it straight from the fish's mouth. The Werebetta sighed. "Fine. I don't mind being bound to you. I don't mind spending time with you." The Diosol waved a paw in an encouraging, "go on" gesture. "Okay. Fine. I actually like spending time with you."

"See? Was that so hard?" asked the Diosol, one eyebrow raised.

[SpringsSong]

Xyshari. Lana.

For a moment, the women could only sit there at the table that they'd ended up at, an assortment of treats and a couple of mugs of eggnog in front of them. They were remembering the moment when Xyshari took the Eternal Throne for the Alliance, and the immediate after effects. Lana had nearly been crippled by the electrical shock that had come from Xyshari sitting on the throne, and then, she had felt Xyshari's psyche shatter.

The way Theron had described it when they were all safely back on Odessen, they weren't sure if Lana would have ever woken up if not for Xyshari fighting back as avidly as she had - if she had failed, then Lana's psyche would have been shattered, too.

"We really shouldn't be thinking of such depressing things right now," Lana said after a moment. "It's nearly Life Day! We should be celebrating," she said, and Xyshari chuckled as she raised her mug of eggnog.

"That I can agree with," she said. "Sometimes it's hard not to think on the past, though - to wonder what might have been different if we'd done something a certain way instead."

[ToxxicRenegadeAngel]

Gabriel swallowed his nerves and greeted the hostess with a small smile on his face as she welcomed him through the door.

Having already attended one party this year, he had decided to come as he had ultimately enjoyed himself and had found himself missing the Christmas Spirit of years past.

He was greeted by a wave of "Merry Christmas" being shouted by strangers before they returned to their festivities, and as he handed his leather jacket to the butler to be whisked off to the cloakroom, he let a smile bloom as he caught the eye of the demure but pretty waitress who offered him an appetiser from the tray she carried.

[ToxicShadow]

Stepping over the threshold into the mansion, Toxic's gloved hand held onto Z's arm that was offered out to her, although she did not need it to keep her balance. Her steps were dignified, even in heels.

The pair were late, but they could not possibly spend all twelve days at the mansion. They had work to do and other matters to tend to, of course. But a little Christmas date? It was worth doing.

They were all dressed up in their finery and, as they made their way through the crowd, Z asked, "What shall we do first?"

"Hm. A snack, then dancing?" The woman suggested.

[Jaykobell]

Everything was quiet. Too quiet. Never mind the large mansion with the big party going on with a ton of guests. The quiet thing was just a metaphor.

And it was just to stall. Yes, for truly great things only arrive when they are needed. They can't simply appear, they can't simply be there just by showing their profile picture at the top of a forum post. That's right.

But the time was near. The party was ongoing, costumes aplenty, food being wolfed down, guests enjoying the night. The party would soon come to a close, all the prizes given away to the invitees. Yes. Everything was going to smoothly.

No one knew. No one knew about the potential for evil that resided in that party. Mina-san were all too engrossed in the party.

But he knew.

And he would save them all.

Ikuzo!

[crow]

"I'm perfectly fine with what I'm wearing," said Senah. But Koh'a hadn't really expected to get her to join him anyway. Senah cared a lot more about how she looked to people, and she was also a lot more uptight. And while he thought she might secretly want to cut loose once in a while, it probably wasn't with a garish fashion statement, sad as that might be.

They walked into the main space of the party together. Koh'a was at once on the lookout for refreshments, and was disappointed to find that he didn't immediately spot a waiter weaving through the crowd with glasses of something or the other.

[Firetra]

The two glided across the dance floor with style and grace befit of their position as nobles. Once Arean started to dance, it was like he entered a trance. His mind shut off and all he focused on was moving from one position to the next.

The music filled the dance hall as others talked and enjoyed their time, but time seemed to stand still and the music seemed so distant to only these two dancers. Every now and then Kai would try to throw off Arean's pace and put in some irregular move or longer step, but he would always catch on and would robotically return back to the waltz.

Eventually the band drew their song to a close and all the dancers stopped and bowed to their partner, giving a round of applause to the band. As they were clapping, Kai said to Arean under her breath, "I don't know why you hate to dance, you have always been so good at it!"

Arean snickered and replied, "I hate it because it's too boring. It's the same movement over and over again, and I just can't get any enjoyment out of it." He said with a straight face.

[Azura Rayume]

Not exactly a party person

Don't have to be
I'm not

Clearly
You keep texting me

Wyatt smiled and made a mental note to drag June to the next one of these things he found an invite for. She never dressed up for anything at all, let alone a party. Besides, he felt like she would liven up something like this. She would at least be abrasive enough to get a reaction out of the typically stuffy attendants. That alone would make it worth it, especially with the looks his father would surely get.

[Adelie]

So she was late, huh? An entire day late. How she could be an entire day late for a party was a bit of a mystery, really - but when the event was hosted by the mysterious and magical Quest Master, there was plenty of room for strange and inexplicable happenings.

Speaking of the Quest Master - that was the whole reason why she was here. She wasn't sure exactly how she'd gotten an invitation to the Quest Master's holiday party, but she was absolutely floored by it - after all, she was one of the Quest Master's biggest fans. Maybe the biggest fan, because she wasn't exactly sure if there were others out there. Hopefully, she'd have to chance to meet her idol at this event.

[FrostWynd]

Next thing Bacca knew, his friend was gone. There might have been a brief moment of hope that, finally, this time she would actually listen, and they'd be able to leave the mansion without any further fuss.  But of course, his hopes would be dashed in the following instant where he watched his friend speed off in the opposite direction of where he wanted. And the cruelest part about it?

She left him behind!

"K-Kaaassss!" He shouted after her, this time in a significantly whinier tone at the sheer disbelief of what had happened. She actually ditched him, one hundred percent! There was no warning, no usual phrase thrown his way to encourage him to follow her, just, absolutely nothing! No words could describe how he was feeling about all of this, but one thing was for sure, it did not feel good at all.

And it was only going to get even worse from here.

As the little cat was busy trying to process everything that just happened, and mostly failing in the endeavor, he would not notice that there would be others creeping up behind him through the door. Not until it was too late to actually do anything about it, and a pair of new, unfamiliar hands grabbed at him. And once again, he'd feel himself getting lifted into the air against his will, this time with delighted squealing, followed with a single word. "Kitty!" The new girl would declare with absolute delight. Just behind her was a darkly colored dog, who peered around her to look up at her newest find. His face said everything as sympathy was written all over it.

[Day 10]

[Lilith Michaelis]

Alright. They were bored simply stalking this boy now. And they were relatively alone. Time to make a proper introduction.

This being of colorful flame and shadow dropped down from the ceiling, their indigo dress swirling around their feet for a moment as they landed and stood. Their feet never made a sound, because they never touched the ground in the first place.

"Hello, tasty little morsel. Are you enjoying this interesting little party? Tell me, what is it about...?"