[SpringsSong]

Another day came and went, and although Lana and Xyshari were surprised at the appearance of a box before them, and then strange stones in their pockets, they were still curious as to what else this event would bring forth.

"I'm not sure about the whole... 'stuff randomly appearing in our pockets or in front of us'-thing, but... perhaps we could share this little Life Day tradition with the Alliance when we return?" Xyshari asked.  "It would be easy enough to hand out little presents throughout the course of the time period, if people were willing to adopt it."

"Perhaps we should ask Bowdaar about any Life Day traditions the Wookies have," Lana suggested.  "Since Life Day began as a Wookiee tradition, and since he himself is a Wookiee, he would have insights that we do not."

[Kestrel]

Just him, today. Koyren had planned for Elentai and Adayra on Days 10 and 9 (or day 3 and 4?), but with Elentai sick and all the others with other plans (or, in Adayra's case, just plain unwilling to go), he'd headed off to the tavern by himself, this time. Not that was necessarily a bad thing. Koyren was quite accustomed to showing up to parties by himself--and indeed, this one wasn't of the sort that made you feel uncomfortable for not bringing a plus one.

He shook himself out and put on a smile before stepping back in. It was to be another long night of dancing, socializing, and snacking, but really, that was just about how he'd describe his ideal evening, anyway.

[Sappheara]

Chumani sat at the table watching the crowd. This advent seem to go smoothly with such a large crowd. Anguish didn't wait for anyone to speak. He pushed his chair back and grabbed his sister's hand. "If we going stay here for the rest of the advent, we might as well try to enjoy it". He dragged his sister to the empty part of the tavern."Lets dance to the seasonal music." He urged his sister to dance to the slow music.

(Sorry, done this post on my phone.)

[FrostWynd]

"Skylar? You here? Skyyylaaaar!" Eliza tried to call out her friend's name. But it looked like she was just being drowned out by everyone else in here, and so wasn't really having much luck with finding them that way. She smiled sheepishly at a few folks may have happened to turn their attention to her with disapproving looks. She didn't mean to interrupt, and quickly apologized. "S-sorry... Just looking for someone." Afterwards, she would dart out of sight into the rest of the crowd as fast as she could. Unable to handle being stared at like that.

She wouldn't even get to notice that a few small stones would magically appear in the pocket of her jacket, as she kept on looking. Being much more quiet now.

"Hm?" Skylar's attention drifted away from a platter of cookies that was almost already emptied out, and even more of the delicious sugary treat already stuffed in her mouth. Was someone calling her name? She started looking around, staring at everyone that was in her sight, but... she didn't recognize anybody.

Could she have been imagining it?

Well, the cookies would get to be spared a few moments from their fated doom of being eaten by a greedy cat, as she'd have something else to keep herself occupied. The next moment, her tail brushed up against a solid object nearby, and she was immediately drawn in by a pretty giftbox that wasn't there before.

She was so intruiged, Skylar started nosing around for anything that could potentially ruin the fun. ...No stickers saying she'd have to wait until Christmas, and nobody else that it looked like it belonged to. So it would be safe for her to open this giftbox now, right?

[Day 9]

[FieldsofIris]

When that man addressed her, Dahlia's eyes snapped back to him, narrowing into a fierce glare. "Friend, my right foot, you crook!" She had begun to get louder, as had Kosok's growling, and they caught a few curious glances. The man behind her didn't need anyone else coming at him right now, so she paused, taking a moment to calm herself slightly before continuing.

"Full offense, but I think you need to beat it," Dahlia said with a quiet steel and crossed her arms, her muscles bunching up in a show of intimidation. "There is obviously something wrong, that's can't just be ignored. Can't you tell you're making this young man uncomfortable?" He could most certainly tell, and was probably doing it on purpose. She was ready to rip into the guy further, but paused as she felt the tug on her Christmas jumper.

Shifting slightly, she met the smaller man's - Cody's - eyes, her blood boiling at the panic she saw there. "It's okay, hon, take a deep breath for me," she murmured as she turned to face him fully, inhaling and exhaling in counts of four. Slowly, she moved her hand to rest on his shoulder, calculating every move so that the man new what was happening.

"We're not gonna let anything happen to you," Dahlia murmured, trying to keep his gaze. "Why don't we go talk to the Quest Master? She'll know the address, then we can call someone for you, okay?" With a slight squeeze to his shoulder, she shifted, creating a path for him off of the barstool while still blocking him from the other man.

Kosok chattered in agreement, then hopped down onto Cody's shoulder. His glare stayed fixed on the hostile one, but his tail wrapped around the smaller man's neck in an attempt at comfort.

[Claiming Day 9's / the 17th's prize! c:]

[Lilith Michaelis]

The doll did not immediately go inside, not today. No, she was much too busy playing in the thick, freshly fallen snow. Not that it hadn't been there before, but how many chances did someone like her get to play in the snow? Not a lot, that's how many. And besides, she still managed to stay out of the way, stay unnoticed by the majority of the party goers. It was a little lonely, but that was the way that it had to be. She was okay with that.

Hadya finally pushed herself up and inspected her snow angel. Satisfied, her large eye turned towards the party and made her way over. She tapped the Quest Master's leg and presented a note, indicating she wished to claim the day's prize.

((Claiming the prize for the 9th day/December 17th))

[Middy]

An event in the real world? Why would they even consider going to such a thing-- if not for something to do during the day. Mirage remained in kuhna form, not wanting to draw attention to themselves too much, despite looking like the kind of creature one should avoid anyway. Counterintuitive? Maybe, but they didn't care. In that form, they could just fade into nothingness if bothered too much. "I'm claiming today's prize," they said, voice soft, but haunting at the same time, then vanished into thin air shortly after.

[Claiming Day 9 Prize]

[Silver]

"Worry no more, the party's here!" Gamble cheerfully announced as he entered the room. Much to his dismay, it didn't seem like anyone was going to acknowledge his little joke. What a shame. He didn't actually know anyone here, but he wasn't going to let that stop him from having a good time.

Across the room he spotted the most abysmal sweater he had ever seen and quickly shuffled over toward it and its owner. "Oh man, where did you get that? I can't believe you were brave enough to wear it in public!" Gamble laughed, assuming that the person wearing it had done so as a joke like he would have. Unfortunately his comment was met with a disinterested glare. Gamble frowned and made a quick escape from that situation. Man, was this party completely humorless?

[Adelie]

Winter. Winter always made things difficult.

Winter meant snow, which she didn't mind; winter meant holiday lights and holly, which she didn't mind, either - couldn't mind what you didn't see. Winter also meant her favorite graduate student - favorite meaning first of one, of course - went home for the holidays and wasn't around to deliver food to her doorstep, which she did mind horribly.

The trip to the grocery store was not a particularly long and arduous one, even with snow falling gently around her; she had wrapped herself in layer upon layer until she resembled a large, variegated yarn ball. They'd installed a self-service section recently, too, so she didn't have to talk to anyone unless the self-service machines broke. Which they did. Incessantly, irritably, invariably.

So she took the long way around, meandering through deserted streets. One building with an open door caught her curiosity - she wasn't familiar with this part of the town, but she didn't remember it being here before - and she peered in only to be greeted by the scene of a jubilant holiday party.

Not her thing, not at all. But she'd already been seen here, and it would be necessary for her to keep up appearances and at least go in, and oh - it would've been so much easier to just go straight to the grocery store.

[Isalynne]

So what was the big deal, anyway? Victor was all for a good knees-up at the best of times, especially for the festive season, but he was beginning to question the legitimacy of the concept. Some stranger inviting any old nobody off of the street into a tavern to eat, drink and be merry? GivImg out gifts all willy nilly?

Call him a cynic, but it surprised him that anyone could be so selfless in that day and age.

[Indigo]

"Perhaps I am surprised by both," Steed said. "I was not expecting to be here at all, which is a point in your favor, but this is also a very different setting than that in which we last met."

He watched her pass along the box with interest. Presumably this was some magic of the Quest Master's, part of the event—he hadn't spotted one himself, but he wouldn't be surprised to learn that Trevelyan had ended up with them instead—but how she could be sure who it belonged to, even with her unusual perceptions...well, it wouldn't be worthwhile to dwell on it too much, but he was curious, even now that that it wasn't turned solely on him, to see how her spirit sense worked.

"What did bring you here? Or did you forget?" It was a mild barb, though he hadn't really intended it that way; but he looked back on their meeting with such thoroughly mixed feelings that it was difficult to modulate his tone, or know what tone he was aiming for in the first place.

[Moofius]

(( Indigo, you can always ignore me for a day if I'm too slow! XDX! I had to shovel in the morning and then first aid from 1-9 pm (which turned into 10, then rides home. ))

“Well,” Phil laughed, “what one finds relaxing, another might find hectic. You gotta' find what a relaxing year looks like to you, then see if you can make it happen. Knowing what's in and out of your control is key for that. Liiiike parties like this are MUCH more relaxing than a formal dinner for me. A lot less rules to follow and way more acceptable to break them. Plus you don't need to be elitist here. No socks? No shoes? Come in!”
Phil himself was dressed in a business suit, all clean lines and ironed creases. His tie was about the wackiest thing on him, and it was a bright sky blue with no pattern and a subtle texture. Still, he had a bright smile and relaxed stance that managed to make him approachable to most.

“A beautiful name, is it celtic or somewhere in that family?” he asked, curiosity piqued, “I've always loved names. They can say so much, or misdirect, it's fascinating, really.”

He also wondered. He'd already gotten notifications for day 12 and day 10. How and when did they know to send them?

[Sarah]

Sundays felt like filler days. Like someone declared a week required seven days and so Sunday was conceived in a panic to make this unknown man's dream a reality. Sundays a lot like June, but at least June contained some of the fun of summer - and most schools ended in June. No one liked Sunday. Anyone who said they did was a dirty liar, unless they said they hated Tuesdays most. At least Tuesdays served a purpose for most terrible day of the week. Sunday wasn't terrible, it just felt pointless.

"I guess I'm here for the advent calendar?" Kail said, his voice inflecting that he had no idea what he was doing or how he'd gotten to this place.

[Jaden Wolf]

Albany narrowed her eyes almost playfully at Steed. She'd clearly caught the barb in his question and was evidently amused. At this point, it was a wonder if anything was not amusing to her. Though, in the next moment, she looked around in an almost disinterested manner. For the most part. There was a second where she seemed to zero in on someone nearby and frowned. The second had passed fairly quickly though as she shrugged lightly. "It was a favour to someone," she said, pausing only a moment before quietly adding, "I believe." Who knew if she was being serious about the last bit or not.

A girl passing by glanced over and then did a double take at Albany. "Oh hey! Albany, right? Nice to see you!" Clearly the girl was the type who was about to join in and chat for a bit, but then some voice shouted through the din, "FLAY!" With a light laugh, she shrugged. "Guess we'll have to talk some other time," she said, adding a quick, "nice to meet you," to Steed before moving along. Apparently, it didn't matter that they hadn't actually been introduced. Albany smiled lightly before saying "Perhaps I wasn't meant to stick around?" in a mildly questioning voice that didn't seem directed at anyone in particular.

_____

Flay had been surprised to see someone familiar here, though she barely knew who Albany was to begin with. Ignoring that, she weaved through the crowd up to the guy who'd called her earlier. He was just some dude who'd been hanging around in here and offered to help her get ahold of the gift she'd been asked to pick up for the day.

[ToxicShadow]

It was a good thing he was already dead. Well, undead, obviously, but still. Otherwise, chances were, by now, he would have been dead, or just completely crazed, after having stayed awake for the last ninety five hours or so. It was for these sorts of reasons that no one that actually worked for the Quest Master, in their tavern, at least, was human or mortal, or whatever term one wanted to use. They had to be able to keep up with the strange, powerful creature and their whims.

As he served up drinks and refilled platters, he sipped his own mug of warm apple cider with its very own cinnamon stick. Just like the guests, he was free to munch, even while he worked. Just, uh, not on any of the guests. Only food and drink. (Not that he ate other living creatures in the first place. He wasn't one of those kinds of undead.)