[The cyborg appears, his tone and manner even more grave than usual as he makes his announcement.]

It has been brought to my attention that Nova City Guardian Gale Reinhardt has returned to his place of origin. I am certain he will be missed by many here and it was an honor to serve as his deputy. With his absence I am now your Guardian, at least on a temporary basis until the next formal election.

I will endeavor to serve the community to the best of my abilities.

Deputies of Nova City, report to me at once with your status and check in so we can confirm any other unfortunate disappearances.

If any of you, the public, have any concerns, they may be addressed here.

[Locked to Hector]

[she has drunk twice as much as the potion as normal just to get her through the day. Somehow she wants to be vital for it. It makes no sense and she doesn't care to think about it. Instead, first thing in the morning, even before the sun is really up, she tromps into the hut, shedding her muddied coat and galoshes by the door, thumping a box on a nearby table and spotting the idiota snaps:]

Give me your pants.

---
---

[Locked to Dove]

[sometime near mid afternoon, Imelda is sitting at a cafe, dressed reasonably well with a flower in her hair and stirring some tea, waiting and looking generally annoyed at life. It's nice to meet someone who she is starting to consider a friend-- though who knows how long that will last.]

---
---
[Open]

[Imelda, still under the potions affects and looking alive and in the flower of (irritated) youth, is trying to get an armload of unwieldy supplies across town and/or on public transport. She doesn't seem in a great mood, but when is she? Will you help her or bar her way? Take care with either one]

[Sometime in the night, you might find an exhausted skeleton who is nevertheless alive but doesn't have the wherewithal to stand. She'll be fine. She really will. It's not as if she can die again]

[Leanne can be seen with a solemn expression on her face as she traverses some stone hallways, she idly nods as another winged person walks past her, to which the other simply bows before continuing on with their task. She continues to walk until she walks past what seems to look like a kitchen, she pauses as she takes in the sight of it, finally allowing herself to smile a little. After a few more moments, she finally arrives at a rather large chamber and at one side of it, there were two empty thrones.

Leanne goes to sigh softly at the sight of the empty thrones before walking now with purpose towards them. Once there, she stares at them before moving to sit down at the bigger one of the two and rests her staff across her lap.]


It seems like my home is here. [She then moves her staff to hit the floor to the side of her with the end of it.]


I shall open the doors to it for those who are seeking a place to live as long as they abide by the rules of this realm. I can provide work, food, shelter and raiment to those in need. If you are in need of healing, please find your way here and we shall take care of you.

[A deep sigh as she goes to sit straighter.]

My home of Serenes is here, please come and rest your weary souls.

Who: Charlie McGee
What: Typical DITL. Charlie can be found in several locations.
When: January 8th, all day.
Where: All over.
Warnings: None at the moment

Cake Town: Attleton in the AM, Fayren in the PM

The first stop of Charlie's day is one of the Cake Town stores. She has schedules to put up, orders to place, customers and people to interact with. It's fine, she'll be fine. This is okay. When she's not busy making food for customers, she can be found seated at one of the chairs, working on the schedule and looking up new recipes to add to the menu. And while she's seated, she's eating. It's a crepe with chocolate and strawberries, one of the ones people can get at Cake Town. She really should have gone for something healthier, but none of her adults are around. This is the decision of a teenager who hasn't had much access to food until recently. She'll eat what she wants.

Axiom Games: Early afternoon - Genessia City

Charlie isn't really sure what brought her to Axiom. Maybe it was the noise and flashing lights and laughter, but she finds herself stepping in, looking around, and buying tokens to play games. Soon enough, she's playing at a First Person Shooter style zombie game, and she's not doing too well. It's kind of hard to aim the gun just right, and these damn things keep popping up before she can even take care of the first ones.

Eventually, she dies, and with a huff of frustration, she steps away from the game. Hands on her waist, a faint scowl on her face that looks more amused than angry. And then more money is put in and she decides to keep trying, mumbling herself in a tone that doesn't sound angry, despite the words.

"...stupid, god-damn exploding...piece of hairy garbage...you're gonna get it." Resting the toy rifle against her shoulder, Charlie decides to try again and does a tiny bit better this time.

Just a tiny bit.

Garden Park: Mid-afternoon - Genessia City

Charlie is taking a break from being inside. She doesn't do well with all that sitting inside a building, so she's happy to catch a much-needed respite from crowds and people. She has Andi and Victor with her, both dogs happy with chew toys and nibbling at the bowls of food Charlie set up for them so she can eat her own sandwich in peace.

She has a book nearby, too. Pinocchio. She's read it a million times over, but there's something about the soft smile on her face that may suggest this book brings her joy. Occasionally, she reaches up to pet Andi or Victor, but for the most part, she's pretty happy with reading about the little wooden boy and the trouble he gets himself into.

It's that time of the year again, isn't it?

[Have a mildly unimpressed dhampir making a face in regards to the Guardian debates. While he hasn't been keeping a close eye on the event, he certainly can't believe he's been in Genessia long enough to witness another change of hands. It's a little...humbling. Why? Well, Augustine never expected his stay in Genessia to be an indefinite one.]

Lovely. Now we sit back and listen to the candidates spout endlessly about working for the greater good and all that nonsense. The usual campaign pageantry we're used to by now.

[Well! A certain someone is feeling quite cynical today despite looking quite handsome in an all black ensemble. There's hints of red here and there but it's all so discreet.]

In any case, I'm in need of some holiday cheer. So, I was wondering if anyone is interested in decking the metaphorical halls with me, preferably with candy canes and eggnog.

[Knowing him, he's mentioning the eggnog loaded with alcohol.]

Although, this begs the question...who actually celebrates Christmas here? [Good question, right? Augustine is actually curious about this.] So many of us hail from various different worlds and such, so is Christmas honestly a holiday that is celebrated largely here?

Or does it go by other names, perhaps? I know I heard someone refer to it as "Starlight" before.

[He pauses.] I forgot whom it was but that's a rather festive name.

[ He'll keep this sweet and short.. ]

There are chocobos here?

[Anyone near the dream docks would hear a desperate wail of pure anguish and might see Prompto still sitting, curled up in a ball and crying into his hands. He's dirty, he looks like he's been dragged through hell and back in his full formal Crownsguard fatigues. His gun is resting on his lap, smeared with blood.]

Video

[He's gotten ahold of himself mostly. His eyes are a little red, and Prompto looks older. A lot older, even though he's only about a decade older, and he's grown a goatee through what is a very vivid, real dream. He rubs his eyes.]

How long have I been asleep?

[It's only been a few days, but to Prompto, it's been a decade.]

( action prompts below the cut! )

RELAX AND REFLECT. ( video )

Whoa— hey... ( there's upside-down camera view of noctis as the device lands hard on the ground. he's holding his palms up, as though he was trying to stop what looked like a small army of people in uniform clapping and caroling in unison. )

That's not, you don't have to...

Happy Birthday to you~! ♪

( jeez, how had they even guessed? couldn't have been that ostentatious piece of cake he ordered for himself... why couldn't he just ruin his appetite in peace?! )

( Action; )

--

Voice to Video;

[normally, Cloud would filter his messages to those he specifically wanted to reach out to. between wanting to see if Fenrir was still here, if he even had an apartment to go back to, a job, the pathway to the Church... he didn't even know who was here still or not, or who would remember him. the easiest answer would be that he left while everyone else stayed. but there was only one way to find out,]

Hey.

[great start, Cloud. he pinches the bridge of his nose and under his breath,]

I'm fired, aren't I.

[starting over, the voice switches to video as the camera catches a head of spiky hair and bright blue eyes.]

What did I miss?

[Mother's Day. Something Qubine hasn't heard of, but he can definitely appreciate.]

So...humans have a holiday to celebrate mothers as well? A noble cause, I have to admit.

We have no such holiday in Sornieth, but I have my reasons to appreciate the mothers...the female dragons. When I was first raising my clan, I only had two ways to take in dragons - either by finding abandoned eggs throughout Sornieth, or by breeding. However, I had a rather difficult time finding female dragons to breed. The eggs I had found were mostly hatching male dragons, and even the ones who did manage to breed were also hatching male dragons...or stillborns. However, as my clan grew, breeding became less necessary.

It was because of the difficulty we had in the beginning that the female dragons were especially valuable to us. For a while, I even had to forbid the female dragons from beginning their Passage until they've had a chance to breed. I later lifted that rule as our clan grew.

So you can imagine that I appreciate all the mothers in my clan. Azalea, Orphne... [He chuckles a bit.] Usha...and of course, Shayla. Though I fared poorly as a father, at least I can be glad that Shayla was the best mother she could be to our sons before they died...

[Qubine lets out a sigh.]

As for my own mother...her name was Duana. I only met her recently for the first time since I matured and left my original home. And she...was much like Shayla. Perhaps that was one of many things that drew me to Shayla.

[He falls silent for a moment before ending the feed.]

It's Mother's Day tomorrow! Back home, that was a day when we honored our mothers. And the other influential women in our lives. I think it's a really nice holiday, so wanted to share it with everyone!

But I know a lot of us don't have our mothers or cool lady mentors here... So I thought, why don't we talk about them? And spread some love for them! Everyone, please tell me about your mothers and lovely women friends! My mother's name is Horie, and she's the beeest! She raised me to be a kind and thoughtful girl, and showed me that girls can be strong leaders! I love Mama soooo much!

[But her mother doesn't love her. What Satou is really fishing for right now are stories of what a mother should be like. And people to talk positively about her own mother too. If she says she loves her mother enough, maybe she'll really stop feeling so bitter and betrayed.]

[ action - Various Cities / Ends at Holodeck(Nova) ]
[Satou can be found around town on Saturday and Sunday, doing a bit of shopping. In particular, she's buying flower bouquets to hand out to a few ladies she admires in Genessia *cough Hikaru cough* Occasionally, she pauses randomly to watch the civilian families walk by.

By the end of the day, she's finds herself back at the Holodeck. Satou looks between her options: She could go and train her magic, becoming stronger and more like the perfect weapon her mother created her to be... or she could "sin" and goof off with the Fantasy RPG.]

... Would that be okay? She doesn't have to know. [Satou sighs.] She would be happy if I had fun on Mother's Day, right..? Though... That Mama was just a lie, huh...? 

[Realizing she just said something AWFUL about her mother, Satou smushes her cheeks and yells in public.] Noooo! Don't say that, you braaaat! Brat, brat, braaaat--- [Oh right, she's in public. Hanging her head in shame now. N-No one heard or saw that childish outburst, right?]

[Prompto doesn't make very many video posts because they make him excessively nervous but here he is, on screen with a bit of a grimace.]

I'm b-back to normal.

[He waves a little.]

Um, th-thanks to everyone who...looked after me. [He glances away.]

Can w-we just forget that happened?

[He waves goodbye.]

( Action under the cut!!  )

[Network Video Post]

[He isn't intending on speaking on the network, he's seen it, but this is before he's into social media and the internet, his phone is much more advanced then the one he usually had which is confusing.

So instead there is a shy, chubby child with wide glasses looking at the network with wonder. His eyes widen when he realizes that he's recording, this will be seen.

He waves shyly.]

( Cut for action prompts! )

Genessia City - Midnight

[It's late in the evening when this arrival makes his weary debut.

If it wasn't for the bone chilling cold, Regis would've doubted that he was still alive. He stands out here by the Bay retracing his steps as he tightly clutches the cane within his hand. He's freezing, utterly freezing but despite the dull ache of the cold he wears a slight smile upon his face.

How many times has he washed up upon this shore and seen this starlit horizon? One too many times now. It seems that the gods have no idea what to do with the fallen king but Regis isn't complaining. He knows a blessing when he sees one and despite how often he awakens within this odd world, he's always grateful. And so, he makes his way towards the city ahead with relative ease but not before glancing at the lonely hologram upon the pier.

He gives her a thoughtful glance as he searches for his phone. Once he finds it, Regis hesitates briefly before finally logging into the Network. Uncertainty grips him as he finally records this message.]


...Is it safe to assume that I'm here to stay? I certainly hope so.

( Genessia | Library )

[Seeing Belle in the library is common enough however the last few weeks have brought in Belle more frequently than before. She's looking up information about different forms of literature as well as complimentary teaching guides. Belle is considering becoming a teacher of either literature, language or French but is unsure where to start. She knows how to teach but classes appear to require a more firm structure than the lessons her father had given her.

She pours over books for hours every afternoon before finally relenting and taking the long walk home to her apartment in Genessia. She always has a pile of books in her arms and at times has trouble navigating as she puts away some and checks out others.

Shaymin is sitting with her, curled up on one of the chairs at her side as she closes another guide to teaching.]

I don't know if I can do this Shay.

[Belle exhales a soft breath before looking back at the texts in front of her. She's determined but is that enough?]

( Genessia | Singing - Street in front of Stone Ridge )

[A few months ago, Belle had started building a music box. It is similar to the one her father had made though she doesn't have his eye for art. She has his mechanical mind and while the outside is different, the same song plays through the box as she carefully places the last piece into the clockwork. She hasn't seen her father for almost a year now and she misses him dearly. Belle is comforted by the fact that time doesn't pass the same way in Genessia as it does at home but she can't help but feel as if a part of herself is missing.

As the song plays Belle begins to sing. The windows to her house are open and the sweet sound of her voice echoes all the way to the streets. Belle has a beautiful singing voice but it's also quite sad too.]

How does a moment last forever?
How can a story never die?
It is love we must hold onto,
never easy, but we try.

Sometimes our happiness is captured.
somehow a time and place stand still
love lives on inside our hearts
and always will.

[Belle feels tears prickle on her cheeks as she closes the music box.]

( Riding Horses | Closed )