[Moofius]

Grid

Grid dipped right back, more than happy to follow whatever customs were thrown her way. Unfortunately the gurl was very quiet and the party was on the bumpin' side of the sound spectrum. Grid scooted closer and leaned in to get a better idea of what she was dealing with.

Grid put the few sounds she caught, the young woman's expression, and the slightly broken but contained candy cane and put it all together.
"What is it? Uhm..." She looked around quickly, snatched a drink off a tray, a martini with what looked like an eggnog base, and a plucked the candycane off the side. She downed the drink (not a virgin eggnog then) and set the empty drink on a table. This happened all within a few moments.

Grid was efficient, and with no danger sensed, she seemed to be attracting luck.
"So candy cane, they're wrapped, to keep them fresh and clean."
She used her teeth similarly to Aranyani, but this time to grabbed a loose end of plastic to tear it off. She unwrapped the whole thing and tucked the plastic in a pocket to throw out later.

"You can either suck on them, or chew them, but they'll get stuck in your teeth. They're minty, usually!" She stuck the end of her candy cane, this one a shade of light brown twisting around a slightly darker shade, into her mouth to suck on, the curved end bobbing.
"There's all kinds of flavours, but the white and red are mint always. I'm Grid, by the way. Nice to meetcha'."

[zapdragon555]

Cody had to smile at Dahlia at that, though the image of anyone trying to punch Cyril made him cringe a bit. No doubt, the results would be nasty for both sides... A small noise of sympathy came out of him, shrugging his shoulders a bit at the comment about Ava's judgement regarding Cyril. "I-I... don't know enough about their relationship to really know." Maybe people were just like that, some people. "He seems good for her... maybe." He'd been telling himself that, at least.

He nodded quietly in response to the suggestion to try the snack table for the address of the place. He cast a glance back over at Cyril, who seemed distracted with someone else now. Even so... Cody... really didn't feel safe here on his own. He knew it was irrational, that Cyril was fine, just intimidating and a little mean. Maybe Cody was imagining most of it--oh, but, if Dahlia had noticed too, then maybe not. Second guessing himself several times internally, Cody finally swallowed and nodded, stiff. "I-I'd love if you stayed," he mumbled, and then a hurried, "I'm sorry. J-just until Zane gets here. I'm sure it won't... be long, I couldn't have walked that far..." Or perhaps he did. The night was a bit of a blur, from the tears in his eyes and his spinning, foggy head.

--

Cyril's eyes drifted down to the man's table, which in fact, sported no food whatsoever, and he slowly looked back up at him with narrowed eyes. "Are you messing with me?" he murmured, a tone of warning under his voice that was nearly lost in the noise of the tavern. Cyril's nose wrinkled with disgust as the man started drooling--but somehow, he... couldn't even find it within himself to get angry. The result wasn't happiness, or apathy, it was just... nothing. Cyril had half a mind to get up and leave, maybe grab Cody on his way out (honestly at this point Cyril was considering taking the boy back to Zane's apartment, or Ava's, himself--a part of him had forgotten why he'd been so hell-bent on making the boy uncomfortable in the first place. Again, void, all void; where had the resentment gone?), but half the tavern's eyes had been on him moments ago. He doubted he'd get away with anything at that rate. "You look sick. Got a nose problem?" Cyril murmured, ordering another drink and seeming to use the question as a double-entendre to ask about the other man's apparent drug habit. Unless he was drunk, but Cyril had been sitting at that bar for quite awhile and hadn't seen the man drink a thing. "Take it somewhere else, and don't look like you're associating with me. I can't afford that on my record."

[Claiming Day 7!]

[Middy]

She had come down from the mountains to take a look at this event. In order to not draw too much attention to her monstrous form, she in turn draped herself in heavy white furs while keeping her mask on. No one needed to know she was a yeti after-all, too many questions, or terrified people. True, she looked scary but in fact she only wished to help those who got lost in the cold north. She would claim her prize for the day and return to her mountain peak.

[Claiming Day 7]

[Freezair]

Nobody paid much extra attention to a cold breeze blowing on a winter's afternoon. They pulled their coats tighter around themselves; they rubbed their hands together. They noticed, but they didn't care.

No one suspected ghosts were passing through.

Those who were sensitive to it might have felt something brush against their legs. They might have heard disembodied, high-pitched laughter. And perhaps they might have felt a little afraid. But there was nothing to fear. For there was nothing malevolent or vicious about the ghost children gathering in front of the calendar. They were simply here for the same reason as everyone else: to have fun. And leading them was an elegant and stately Paragon, her angelic wings as soft as the snow below, who smiled beatificially at her charges.

A few stray treats may have gone missing from the calendar. But they made the days of the departed children who played there, eager for one last Christmas before they moved on to the next life.

[Skylark]

You know what? Everything was great. Eggnog was great. Candy canes were great. These pretty lights and all the pretty clothes everyone was wearing were great. He loved it all, there was nothing wrong. Everything was great. It was so great he soft of felt like dancing, but sadly there wasn't anyone here he felt he'd want to make for life with. But even so! It was great.

Maybe he should dance anyway. Maybe he should.... dang. Was it the next day already? Time sure did fly when everything was great. Two blue paws snaked out, grabbing a mug of eggnog and downing it in a single gulp. Yes. Everything was great.

[FrostWynd]

Eliza wasn't... too sure about what to do next with the Kitrell. Should she leave it be? Or should she help it clean up?

Still at a loss, it was Skylar who chose to make the next move. Wriggling herself out from Eliza's grip, without knocking the giftbox out of her hands, she landed lightly back onto the table. "Sheesh, some party goers are even messier than I am!" And as far as they were concerned, that way saying something. It was awfully odd that the Kitrell was trying to clean up while still sitting in the tart, but Skylar decided to hold back from making further comments about that.

"We should... we should help clean this mess up." Eliza finally said, after a moment of consideration. Skylar gave her an annoyed look. "We? We're not the ones who made the mess though. Why should we do it?" Even if Skylar disagreed, it seemed like the right thing to do. And Eliza felt sure that whoever was the host of this party probably wouldn't appreciate there being dessert splattered everywhere. So she started to work on that, first by setting aside the giftbox, next grabbing a handful of napkins from the table, and then doing what she could to clean up around the Kitrell.

In the meantime, Skylar opted out of doing any cleaning. Instead she just sat down and simply watched as the Kitrell went about their business. Was it really not realizing how futile its attempts were? Skylar almost couldn't keep it in any longer, and very much wanted to say something. But then it decided to roll off the table. Skylar's head tilted and she leaned over to look down at where they landed. "The mess is spreading." She 'warned' Eliza while they were now over at the other end of the table, trying to find more napkins. No promises that she even heard her though.

By the time Eliza came back with more napkins in her hand, she found that the Kitrell was already gone, and there was a suspicious splatter of whipped cream on the floor. "Wheeeere did it go?" She asked, looking around. Skylar was just staring off in one direction, having seen the whole thing, and now failing to hold back a snicker. "I wouldn't recommend the punch."

[Day 7]

[Kestrel]

Noelani walked in and she smiled and she cooed over the streamers and the lights and the little miniature angels perched at the back of the refreshments table and she greeted the many strangers here with happy words and open body language and gently refused all attempts to be coaxed into dancing.

She wanted to scream.

But her best friend had begged and begged her to go with her and so Noelani had bribed her face into smiling back and had blackmailed her mouth and vocal chords to make the sound "yes" and when the day came had threatened her legs to walk her here.

And Heather was no where to be seen.

"I'll be a little late," she had messaged, perfect punctuation and capitalization and spelling as always but that did not make Noelani wanted to throttle her any less.

But Heather was her best friend and Heather thought her perfect and if she left it would be weird and strange and not perfect and gods if there was one thing in all the worlds that Noelani wanted, it was to be normal. But also perfect. Normally perfect. Perfectly normal.

So she forced her face to fit into the smiling mold it knew only so well and she grabbed a cup she could pretend was filled with holiday cheer and she could damn well pretend to like it here.

Noelani was good at that.

[crow]

Leo had said the wrong thing, evidently--- or not said enough, more likely. It was written all over Oliver's face. His own smile fell, and though he didn't look precisely disappointed, he was... at a loss. For once, he didn't know what to say.

Oliver occupied a strange place in Leo's life: neither work nor family. Bosses and clients and classmates he could handle with the same detached ease with which he had done so for half his life; and he knew all the subtle nuances of Vivi's moods, the specifics of his mother's expectations. Oliver... Leo didn't know what he wanted. No, that was the operant thing; Oliver didn't seem to want anything from him, not in the usual sense. If anything, Oliver seemed content to seek out Leo's company, and... somewhat embarrassingly, he didn't know what to do with that.

It wasn't unpleasant. He just wished...

Oliver's question provided a welcome distraction. "Right," he said, sitting up a little straighter, and holding up his hand to call a waiter to them. "I'll have..." He glanced over at the menu written behind the bar. "I'll have a chopped kale and chicken salad, with the soup of the day."

"And for you?" said the waiter, turning to Oliver.

[Isalynne]

Aranyani was totally fascinated by the sequence of events she was witnessing. This marvellous woman had just plucked that drink from thin air - not literally, of course, but so quick that it might has well have been - and drank it all in the blink of an eye! The people from the outside world were full of little marvels like that. She kept her focus as Grid unwrapped the candy cane, and then attempted to follow suit, picking at the plastic wrapping with her nails.

"Ah! Ah, I see, so this.. this is an edible stick!" Once the candy was revealed to her in its entirety, she laughed her little tinkling laugh.. and crunched the end between her teeth like it was nothing. "Amazing! You should be very proud, they are delicious!"

With the concept of sucking on it completely lost to her, she made quick work of the whole thing, chomping it down and swallowing it within a matter of seconds. For such a dainty looking thing, her table manners were downright savage.

"Oh! Yes, yes! Friend Grid, it is.. how shall I say in this tongue.. uh, the trees smile upon this meeting!" She reached out and took one of Grid's hands in both of hers, squeezing it tight. "I am humble Aranyani, a priestess. You honour me with your assistance."

[SpringsSong]

Lana and Xyshari continued to mill about the party, stopping to pick up a couple of mugs of hot cocoa as time went on.  After a few moments, however, they heard a clamor at the door, followed by a mechanical voice.

"Commentary: Unfortunately, I cannot 'hand over my weapon' until I have found my Masters.  Amusement: I would be a very poor bodyguard if I did so."

"Oh dear," Xyshari said, shaking her head as she sipped the hot cocoa.

"We knew he'd catch up to us eventually.  May as well tell him that it's all right to leave his blaster behind," Lana said, taking Xyshari's hand and approaching the owner of the mechanical voice.

"Elated salutations: Greetings again, Masters!  I am sorry that it took me so long to find you.  Commentary: there is an especially high concentration of organic meat--" the bodyguard droid began to say.

"It's a party, HK," Lana said.  "And we're the only ones from the Alliance here.  I think we're safe."

"And... let's not go calling everyone 'organic meatbag', HK," Xyshari said.  "I... don't know how they'd take it."

"Confusion: It is what they are, Master Kryslania.  Why would they not know how to take it?" HK-55 asked, and Lana and Xyshari simply looked at each other and shook their heads.

[Mojave]

Sometimes, being endowed with magic was a godsend. Like right now. She hadn't slept since before she arrived at the Advent Event and with a little bit of spark and glitter, she was refreshed. Granted, she couldn't keep it up forever, but she could still hang out for a little while more. At least long enough to grab today's gift. The downside of course, was that sometimes, she just didn't care how long she crashed out afterwards. The party was still going and thus, so was she, so after claiming the day's gifts, she made another round with everyone, drinking eggnogg (though somehow she never got more than tipsy, regardless of how much she consumed) the entire time.

[Saahs]

Mingling amongst the people gathered at the party, Warren sipped away at the spiked egg nog he'd snagged. Yesterday, hot cocoa. Today? GET SMACK SLAMMIN' DRUNK. He knocked the egg nog back, not quite sure what to expect. But it certainly wasn't that. Rich, creamy sweetness of that level was a little more than he'd hoped for. He coughed, spitting the nog back into his cup... before tipping it back again for a more careful drink.

Once he'd finished off his cup's fill, he set the empty cup aside and found a less populated area to lurk. He peered down at the kazoo papoose hanging around his neck. Hmm. Yes, he could play a little bit of music, but would it be appropriate? ... Since when did he care about propriety? Warren began to fish out the kazoo, a small snicker escaping him.

[Adelie]

She's got to stop taking these jobs.

It's obvious from the very premise this is an absurd idea - who even sends mail by Wilson to someone at a party? She'd never read other people's messages, but her money's on a jilted lover or - even better - a stalker. Nothing good comes out of being involved in these things, but someone's got to deliver the mail.

She ducks under someone's arm, hops between someone else's legs, narrowly escapes someone's foot. People really don't like looking where they're going these days, do they?

But she supposes this is no place for a bird. Just look at the food - nothing the right size for a beaked creature to eat, and they even have fried chicken. Wrong holiday. Halloween's the one for scaring people, not Christmas.

She spots her target by the edge of the crowd, a fried chicken drumstick in their hand, and she shudders. But the mail must go through, after all.

[Lilith Michaelis]

Another day, another present to get! She hoped Daddy wouldn't mind all of these presents, but this was so much fun! As usual, she stopped by the Quest Master first, leaving her little note claiming her prize for the night and went on in.

...Wasn't that the boy from yesterday? The one she had ever so discreetly given hot chocolate to? Sort of. Shhhh, it counted. Hadya weaved between legs and feet and tables until she was able to get a better look. It was him! He had the headband and everything. She chittered excitedly as she ran over to the young man. What was that he was holding though? She tilted her head at him and started yanking on his pant leg, pointing at the strange object.

((Claiming the prize for the 7th day/December 19th))

[Jaykobell]

They needed to get away for a little bit. They were the pillar of support, the one who always made sure everyone got along. With Emotions and Logic going at it, and worse than ever before, they were exhausted. One of them gave way, usually, but not this time. Their fighting had turned bad, and they'd needed a getaway for a little bit.

The festivities did little to cheer them up, but the distractions somewhat helped in clearing their mind a bit. With a quiet, but drawn out sigh, they slipped within the crowd. "These are beautiful decorations that you have here," they commented quietly as they lightly brought a paw to some of the small decorations. "I heard you're offering little prizes on the house for the holidays. Could I possibly indulge?"