[Freezair]

He remembered Christmas.

He remembered the cold from when he'd been a cat. He remembered the strange lights. He remembered being confused by the strange way the big cats with no fur that walked on two legs were behaving. He remembered passing into the dark and waking up on the other side as something else, as a Yo-kai. He remembered the sudden explosion of understanding. But he did not remember the face of the little girl he'd spent the holiday with.

Not since she'd abandoned him and he'd ended up here.

He had no particular attachments to Christmas. He did not think of it as the "happiest" or "most wonderful" time of the year. Some of his associations with it were quite sad, after all.

But at least, at this burgeoning event, he didn't feel Lost.

[SpringsSong]

"You, with a buzz," Lana mused. "That had to be quite interesting for him to witness."

"He was understandably concerned as to whether or not I was all right," Xyshari said. "...he knew I wasn't. I think he mostly asked for the verbal confirmation, and to see if I would keep up the brave face for anyone possibly lurking nearby, or if I would be honest in a way that only he knew... the way I'm honest with you," she said.

"And you were," Lana said.

"Like I said, there was no point. He knew I wasn't, there was no point in me putting on an act."

[Sarah]

Tired. Hyx was tired. It was the night before Christmas eve and he wasn't getting any less busy. The castle had been a mess all day. He wasn't necessarily a part of the mess but he'd had to work around it. Christmas eve was going to be the most busy day, and Christmas day would be less busy but it wouldn't be any better. For the time being he would take a small break from one mess to involve himself in a massive party.

[Kylo]

Anthos quietly padded into the party with a soft smile. It had been so long since he had last gone to a party. Not since Naavi had...he shook his head and forced himself to live in the moment. He went and got himself a drink and sat down to eat some of the holiday treats. It wasn't long before he decided to try to dance for a while. To let go and just enjoy himself as he swayed to the beat. He could move on. He could get by. He would enjoy himself tonight, even if it meant letting go of the past.

[zapdragon555]

Johan was in the middle of a bite of cake when he felt a chill prickle his spine. He looked up and swallowed, setting his fork down silently and carefully while Karl ate, seemingly unnoticing of the stiffness in Johan's back. Johan's hand came to rest on Karl's wrist, pressing with his thumb, tight. It was an unspoken, agreed-upon signal that had Karl's fork clattering to the plate as he got to his feet and grabbed his bag.

Johan stood as well, albeit a bit more casually, and stepped out to let Karl out--unfortunately, it was around that time that Tenma's eyes scanned back over the crowd from their spot at the front door. Tenma felt his heart fall out of his chest with anxiety at seeing even a tiny glimpse of that face--but there was no denying it. It was Johan. "Mr. Grimmer, there," he breathed, touching Grimmer's arm and nodding towards Johan. Grimmer's expression tightened with a nervous look, and nodded as well. The two men moved into the crowd.

A myriad of curses ran through Karl's head as he wove through the partygoers, the sound of Christmas music over the speakers sounding tinny and overbearing with danger so close on their trail. Somewhere, however, he found solace in the fact that Johan was running away. Whatever that strange speech from before had been, he seemed to have had a change of heart about getting caught. Or maybe this was more of that 'stalling the inevitable' stuff. Either way, Karl was going to stall for as long as fate allowed.

[Claiming Dec. 23]

[Jaykobell]

"Sweet!"

"Salty!"

"Sweet!"

"Salty!"

A pair of shady characters entered the rave. The music and the ambiance seemed lost on the two as they argued over which delicious food table to frequent first. And they weren't all that quiet about their argument, either — as they argued, their voices rose, echoing strangely through their creepy plague doctor masks.

"It's always salty stuff with you!" the smaller one dressed in red complained. They were smaller than their friend, their mask representing that: it was a next, compact design that got the theme across without being overbearing. "We just ate! Who eats more salt after dinner?"

"Sugar makes you nauseous!" the taller one in green retaliated. They were tall and lanky, and their mask played the part, much like the red one: it was way too much, the beak overwhelming and seemingly ready to stab someone's eyes out. "It's so easy to get sick with sugar. Salt is much less of a problem!"

"Salt leads to all sorts of heart diseases!" the red one yelled, cupping their hands into fists. With the large coats, multiple layers of clothing, and gloves, not a single cell of skin could be seen on either of them.

"So does sugar!" the green one howled with a beginning of exasperation. "And it makes you fat!"

"U-um..."

A third figure followed behind the two. Unlike them, his demeanor was a lot more subdued, even up to his colors: completely white only with some accents of beige, along with black gloves and boots.

When he spoke, even so softly against the loud music, the two figures turned around abruptly. "Ah!" the green one exclaimed. "Caraway! Perfect."

"Caraway!" the red one interjected. "You pick one! Sweet or salty?"

And so, in a small corner of the room, the two watched intently as Caraway tried to think of an answer.

[Silver]

A whole mixed drink might not be too much for a human, but it was a lot for a little Kitrell. She had taken quite a bit out of a few different glasses, and she was starting to feel wobbly. She wasn't terribly graceful on her feet in the first place. She stumbled backwards and landed on her own tail. She let out a disgruntled huff, almost like a sigh.

All of this party crashing was exhausting! She was so tired. She curled up on the bar and buried her face under her wings. Were the lights always that bright? She curled up tighter unto herself as though that would make all of the annoyances of the party go away.

[Adelie]

Someone else wobbled by, clearly under the influence of just a few too many drinks. She couldn't blame them, really - she was thinking about going back for another after she finished hers, and she was pretty sure she wouldn't be in the best of shape after that.

But they were a kindred spirit in more ways than just that - they too didn't look like they belonged here, dressed in what seemed to be workout clothes or a yoga outfit. Perhaps they had been on their way to a morning run before they'd been spirited away here; perhaps she could just ask them.

But that sounded like social interaction, and that was certainly not something she wanted to do.

[SpringsSong]

"I'd still like to meet him one of these days," Lana said, nudging Xyshari gently. "I know you say he approves of you, which you can tell through your bond, but..."

"But you actually wanna put a face to the name," Xyshari said, nodding. "I understand. And, honestly, I wanna see him again. Been too long, it feel like, even though he and I can talk literally whenever we want to," she said. As if on cue, she straightened her posture slightly, her eyes focusing on nothing in particular for a few moments. Lana supposed that, had she not been drunk, she wouldn't have needed to make such an effort.

[Mojave]

Diego meant to take his drink elsewhere, but just as he picked it up the song ended. As part of the Christmas Eve celebration the DJ switched over to slow songs and ballads for all the couples present. With a sigh, Diego took a seat next to Carlisle as the couple who'd been sitting there headed to the dance floor. "So. How... are you liking the event?" Diego asked in a tenuous attempt to make small talk.

Carlisle smiled as he turned to face Diego. If they were gonna chat, might as well give the kid his full attention. "It's alright. Not as forthcoming with the party favors since it's Christmas and people grow a sense of decency this time of year. Have you even slept since this party started?"

[Jaykobell]

Caraway fiddled with his hands nervously as the two figures looked at him intensely. Despite the masks hiding the eyes and faces, he didn't need them off to know and feel the anticipation.

Knowing how the two could be, Caraway looked down. "C-can't we..." he started to mumble before hesitating a little. "C-can't we do both?" he suggested.

The two plague doctors stared as he answered, and then they looked at each other. Then, they silently turned their heads back to Caraway. "Well, of course we'll eat from both," the red one answered matter of factly. "But which one should we do first?" they clarified.

"Right," the green one confirmed, crossing their arms and nodding. "Which one first?"

Caraway stared back in silence, even more dumbfounded by the situation.

[Kylo]

Feemor sighed as he took a seat and ordered a drink. He was tired from his mission and just needed to take a short break. The music was loud but the rhythm was soothing is a way. He downed his drink quickly and laid back in his chair. He intended to just close his eyes for a while. Just a minute or two. Before long he was sound asleep and snoring lightly. Looks like he was going to be there a while now.

[Jaden Wolf]

Normally, Zion wasn't too bothered by the practices of the Oberon House, but tonight was just ridiculous. Who insisted on setting up a marriage interview on Christmas Eve? Even if he was the apparent heir to the organization, surely booking his holiday against his will was going too far? Actually, specifically because he was the heir, shouldn't he have the power to just postpone it?

Like his parents would ever let him have his own way. In that way, he somewhat resented Kai. Sure, there were circumstances, but if Kai hadn't left then Zion wouldn't be stuck here alone in a random, noisy tavern on Christmas Eve, waiting for some stranger who might not even show.

He looked at his watch. It had been 15 minutes. Maybe he could just leave and claim they were a no-show. The Oberon heir couldn't be expected to just wait, after all.

"Uh, hello," came a voice. Zion didn't look up until the voice continued, a little nervously, "you are Zion, right?"
So much for reclaiming his night.

[Silver]

Against all odds, she had actually managed to fall asleep on the bar for a while. Usually a short nap made her feel better, but she almost certainly felt worse. She rolled lazily to one side and slipped off the bar, only managing to catch herself at the last second to avoid crashing to the floor. For a creature that could fly, she certainly wasn't proving very graceful.

She decided enough was enough with all that loud obnoxious noise all the humans were enjoying and flew off the bar in pursuit of its source. She flapped wildly, far over-estimating how much she needed to move her wings to get where she was going, but did eventually manage to crash land into a speaker. She screeched at it and tried to knock it over, hoping that would finally kill the monster inside once and for all.

[SpringsSong]

Xyshari's eyes snapped back into focus after a moment, and she began to look around the tavern. After a few minutes, however, she sat down and smirked, mostly to herself. Lana tilted her head, looking around the tavern as well before directing her attention to her wife.

"I know that look..." she said.

"You'll see," Xyshari said. She reached for her glass and took another long drink from it, and after a moment, someone cleared his throat behind them.

"Ona," the voice said. Xyshari smiled as she looked behind her, leaning back to do so.

"Hey, Ina," she said with a smile. "Didn't realize you were gonna be actually visiting! And you finally get to meet my wife," Xyshari said, motioning to Lana. The man looked at the blonde-haired Sith and folded his arms for a minute.

"...I trust my sister's judgment," he said, extending a hand. "I'm Ti, her former Padawan."

"A pleasure," Lana said, shaking his hand. "Lana, formerly Sith Intelligence... now, just one of Xyshari's most trusted confidants. And her partner in all things."