[ When Namine woke up, she had been confused. And slightly panicked at finding herself enclosed. But the pod had opened easily enough for her to slip out, clutching the items she had woken up with. She had grown accustomed to her white surroundings within Castle Oblivion. So this was new.

After emerging from the cave, she was blinking up at the sky. It felt strange. Like some trick. Glancing nervously around, she found herself expecting to see a black, cloaked figure appearing, closely followed by that voice -- pleasantly conversational and yet, filled with quiet malice.

But nothing happened.

She could see people bustling around a little ways from her, but nobody spared her a glance. Taking a deep breath, she inspected the items in her possession. It was the device that held her interest. Fumbling around with it, she finally managed to get it working.

She hoped so, anyway. There was a red, blinking light. That meant it was recording right? Anyone looking at her now, would realize she was a new arrival, what with the small chest tucked under one arm. ]

Can anyone tell me...

[ She paused, biting her lip. What was she even asking? How to get back home? No. She shook her head, as though to shake away those thoughts. The first thing to do was to find out if anyone from back home had been brought here as well. ]

I'm looking for my friends, please.

Backdated- April 1st

[Arelen stepped on a plastic pink egg, noticing others as she dried her hair, coming out of the shower.]

What the hell-?

[She bent over and picked it up, fearing the worst, and opened the one she had stepped on.... only to find chocolate. With a relieved sigh, she took a bite and sat on her bed, drying her hair with the towel in her free hand, and saw a blue plastic egg on her nightstand. Thinking it was more chocolate, she casually opened it, to find it completely empty...

Or so she thought]

What a rip off.

[When a voice began to loudly narrate what she was thinking and doing.]

Arelen tossed the wretched plastic to the ground then looked confused at the sky.

Who the hell is in here?!

She angrily clutched the towel to her chest to cover her body more, but alas, there was no one else besides herself in and around her apartment.

Seriously you pervert, show yourself!

She yelled again, and didn't realize that it may have been the blue empty egg she tossed aside. With another snarl, Arelen looked at the egg for any sign of an explanation, and when she found none, she questioned the ceiling.

Why are you describing my- the egg... this world.

She gave a frustrated growling noise.

I hate Genessia.

Action

[Thoroughly annoyed with the Christopher Lee narration, she can be found wandering the streets of Attleton and/or Genessia City any time during this event, to and from work, as well as AT work if you want to hear the narrator talk about her inner-most thoughts.]

Shut up shut up shut up!!

She growled at the sky once more.

_______________________________________________________________________

VIDEO: April 7th

[Arelen hesitantly opened one eye, and looked around.]

Hello?

[Silence. SILENCE!! THAT VOICE WAS GONE! She jumped out of bed and accidentally knocked her phone over, turning on the video on the ground at an odd angle as she laughed hysterically.]

That stupid narrator is gone!

[She gasped as she looked at the clock and calendar on her nightstand.]

And just in time too... Happy birthday to me.

[She looked around, looking for something, and picked up the phone.]

Oh!

[She then blinked, noticing the camera was on.]

Shit.

[And turned it off.]

[Genessia is treated to the upside-down image of a young boy who looks to be in his early teens and who possesses some rather familiar looking wild, red hair. From the look of things, he's sitting on a bench in one of Genessia's city parks.]

I got it working! Alright! Oh wait...

[Lea turns his phone right-side-up.]

There we go. Hey, did you guys know this thing has games on it? It's really cool! I can't wait to show everybody at school.

Anyway, I'm Lea. Got it memorized? Nice town you've got here. Though not quite as nice as Radiant Garden. And speaking of which...

[His expression turns a bit sheepish.] 

...Anybody know how to get back there from here?

 WHO: Demyx and YOU (and Arelen)
WHAT: Demyx is being a little brat. And he has snowballs. You're all going down.
WHEN: January 9th
WHERE: Genessia City
WARNING: Possibly none, possibly some, it's time to find out! Pick your poison below!

( Christmas might be overrated to him, but damn if he doesn't enjoy the snow... )

 

[Laying in bed, a full glass of wine, and a half a bottle next to it on her nightstand beside her can be seen depending on how she moves while she talks.]

I'm finally feeling better, and it's cold as balls outside. So... whatever, just to anyone that was [She looks away from the camera with a slight blush and almost forces herself to say the next word, before going back to her usual annoyed with the world bored look.] concerned, I'm not dead. I'm over that stupid flu, and I have food and booze. I'm not leaving this place for anything or anyone while it looks like this outside.

Have fun during the blizzard losers.

[As she turns off the video, it spans to the rest of the nightstand where she's grabbing her new Silence of the Lambs book and a jar of hazelnut spread with a spoon in it next to the bottle of wine. She's set.]

[When the feed starts up, the only thing visible is a black hooded figure's head and a still-ajar door. Were it not for him speaking up, it would have been hard to tell exactly who it was. Even then, he doesn't offer a name - only a sigh of annoyance before he speaks.]

You know, for a place that tries to be so accomodating, it sure does leave a few tripping hazards.

[He temporarily tries to angle the camera to show what it was that tripped him coming in - a medium-sized package all wrapped in red paper, just inside one of the starter apartments - but considering his own little... handicap, only a corner is seen.]

I was wondering, though - is there an audio version of the reading material? While the girl's voice was helpful, I... can't read them.

[Not through the blindfold wrapped around his eyes, and he didn't want to remove it for his own personal reasons. Not that anyone could see it with his hood up in the first place, or any of his facial features beyond silver hair that escaped its confines in the tumble that was likely heard throughout the entire apartment complex with how thin the walls are.]

...Was hard enough finding my way here.

[The feed ends after a few seconds of fumbling for where the off button ought to be.]

Amy wasn't really in a party mood. But a closed door invitation only party was good for her rep, and she could use the extra money a boost in popularity might bring, because they were an income shy on the house, now. And what finally got her moving was the thought that people popped up at Christmas. If Rory was going to reappear... it would be at a Christmas party.

So she went all out on decorations. She sent out the invitations and sent them through the Doctors. Well... River got hers directly, as would Arelene, because she didn't know if the Doctors knew her. As for Rose.... Her invitation would go through Eleven, with a note to him, that she is only invited because of what he had said, and that if Rose starts drama or trouble... she would be out on her rear in the snow.

After a talk with Ten, her plan for a dry party was changed to a very limited bar.

And on the 23rd, she'd be finishing up decorations in the afternoon, with the Eleven told that was when the party started, and told Ten and Twelve that they were welcome to help decorate at that time. Eleven, she knew, would be late, which was why he was given the earlier time.

So come noon, she was decorating a fake tree, painted Tardis blue, with bright silver tinsel and lights. The walls and hearth were already started, and the table was set with a place for everyone invited... and one for Rory, beside hers. Since it was a potluck, she didn't have to cook for everyone, thankfully. At least, not a full meal. So she made a few medium sized servings of things, enough for a few people. Yorkshire pudding, fish fingers and custard, a glazed spiral ham - which she will not admit to having bought pre-cooked and simply added honey and tossed it in the oven - and a banana coconut cream pie. That might have come from a mix. Hush. She made sure all the boxes were thrown out well before even the decorators were due.

she had the last of the food that needed to be cooked cooking, she had a christmas selection of music playing, and she was dancing around, getting everything ready.


Evening - Party time

After leaving someone else to finish the last bits, she went up to get showered and changed. And she looked splendid when she came down. Well, for a casual party, anyway. A trim snug green sweater, short skirt, long red scarf, black stockings, cute green flats. It was time to play host and start letting guests in, always looking for that one particular face every time she opened the door...

WHO: OPEN TO ALL!
WHAT: Holiday party! Date auction! Shenanigans.
WHEN: December 15th, 2017 - Evening
WHERE: Fairy Tale HQ - Fayren
NOTES: The auction and the kissing contest are time sensitive! Bids close and the last kiss will be accepted on Friday, December 22nd, at midnight PST!

Fayren didn't have electricity, but it had something even better.

MAGIC!

There were twinkling colored lights that burned, flickered, and floated in an ethereal way, enchanting the building in a way that fluorescent lights never could. Branches of evergreen were hung here and there to give the air a fresh pine scent. There were also pinecones doused with cinnamon and nutmeg near the doorways.

Except near the kitchens, because the food smells were more than enough to entice the senses. There were mini-sausages swimming in a thick and spicy sauce, sweet and tangy meatballs on toothpicks, vegetables and dip, bite-sized cream puffs, iced sugar cookies, cheese and crackers, mulled cider, and eggnog in alcoholic and non-alcoholic varieties.

The main room, expansive as it was, had plenty of room for music, dancing, and mingling. There were some tables and several chairs set up, and a small stage where musicians were welcome to perform to their heart's content. To the side was an even smaller stage where a sprig of mistletoe was suspended on a loop of scarlet ribbon, with a sign that reads: "Test Your Passion! Win This Arcade Game!" And next to that was a full-sized arcade game version of Alley Brawlers. Might be worth checking out!

But there were more games than that, and more than a few maps set up on easels of the headquarters and where to go to play certain games. A single lane bowling alley (with manual set-up of the pins), a "fishing" booth where people toss a clothespin on a fishing line over a curtain to have a little prize attached by someone hidden on the other side, a ring toss for cans of soda, a cake walk (with full-sized cakes for the winners and cupcakes for the losers), ornament decorating, pin-the-tail-on-the-unicorn, face painting, a pool of rubber ducks with numbers corresponding to prizes on the bottom, goldfish scooping... Almost anything one would find at a carnival was sure to be found here.

As for the auction? Step right up, right past the gauzy white curtains into a big room lit with twinkling golden lights. Anyone was welcome to come in, but if someone wanted to participate as a bidder, they'd have to make a donation at the door. In return, each donor would receive a packet of 100 red tickets with the same number assigned to the bidder name: one roll of tickets with 101 for the first donor, a roll of tickets with 102 for the second donor, and so on.

Cookies and punch were available in this room, with several tables and chairs set up before a large stage with a microphone. Along the wall was a line of clear plastic boxes, with slots on top, set in front of each auction date's face. A card that indicated the name of each person, their age, and a brief description of what they were all about was pasted onto the front of the boxes. People were welcome to look at the line-up if they wanted, or even use some of their tickets prematurely if they wanted, as they were clearly for a drawing. Until the auction starts, soft piano music plays from a stereo running on batteries.

Who: Arelen and Shinjiro (and possibly Lea and/or anyone else who might want to check on her)
Where: Her apartment
What: She has the flu. :|
When: Evening, December 14th
Warnings: language, alcohol consumption. It's Arelen and Shinji, that's kind of inevitable.

( Point the finger, blame the other, watch the temple topple over. To bring the pieces back together, rediscover communication. )

( Locked to Sunset Summit Apartments, Floor 6 )

_____________________________________________________

( Open to All )

[This is how Ted spends his evenings in boot camp: farting around on the phone. This time it's seasonal.]

Last year around this yuletide time, many were in the dark as to who Santa Claus, that mysterious, nigh-omnipresent gift giver, really was. Allow me to illuminate.

A little under 1700 years ago, the true faith wasn't as organized as it ought to have been. Emperor Constantine set to fix that, summoning bishops to his First Ecunemical Council to see what was and was not orthodox.

Saint Nicholas, from whom the name "Santa Claus" comes, was one such, having under his belt a variety of saintly good deeds. Raising the dead, baptizing his own jailer, rescuing slaves from captivity, and yes, the anonymous gift-giving he's so well known for. It started out as leaving bits of gold in shoes for unmarried daughters; you needed a good dowry for that in those times.

But back to the council. The primary controversy centered around whether the Son of God was equivalent to God Himself. The answer is "yes", by the way, but they hadn't reached such an accord just then. A fierce debate raged, with St. Nick on the side of the affirmative, while the ones impugning Christ's divinity were headed up by the heresiarch Arius.

Most of us, at one time or another, have had the misfortune of weathering nonsense about a subject we like. Given that the subject was God and that, being a bishop, Saint Nicholas loved Him very much, it grew to be profoundly intolerable.

[There's a dramatic pause as Ted's voice turns to a more excited pitch.]

So he smote that heretic with his fist! Knocked him down flatter than a pine tree, hahaha!

[You can hear the rustling of leaves as Ted sat back down, recovering from his own enthusiasm.]

As you might expect, that's not very seemly behavior for a bishop, so they put him in jail. No jail could hold him for long, of course; Christ himself had a hand in his release. If that's not vindication, I don't know what is. Once the dust settled, the council saw the light and accepted the truth. A happy ending if ever there was one. Unless you're an Arian, of course. You'd better not be!

St. Nicholas, in addition to his holiday rounds, continues to be the patron saint of children and those who brave the dangers of the sea; thank God for him.

So, if you find any heretics who aggressively won't give Christ His due, be sure to "deck their halls". It's what Santa would want.

[Was that the moral of the story, Ted?]

Oh, and uh, be of good cheer, of course. It's very early, but merry Christmas!

( Action; )

--

Video;

[after fiddling with his new smartphone for a while (the technology here was incredible, much more advanced and smooth than the usual flip phones he was used to using), the recording turns on to a blond young man with spiky blond hair and surprisingly bright blue eyes. his expression, on the other hand? not as bright as the rest of him.

hey. say hello to the newest 'kidnapee' of Genessia.]

Hm... [a beat. he should have thought this through before he hit record to try and communicate with someone. what did he say? who would listen? he clears his throat before finding his voice again.] Guess I'm new here. Sorry, but I want out.

Anyone know where the exit is?

[...guess that's it? the feed ends there as he puts the phone back in his pocket. ... that was smooth. but at least it was worth a try.]

It's getting to be that time of year where people start making big plans for the holidays! Christmas, you know, is considered a very romantic holiday, and the perfect chance to confess your love to someone you care about.

So let's talk business!

[Because of course Minako is going to seize this opportunity, why wouldn't she? She cheerfully claps her palms together and beams.]

I know there are lots of single people here, because I got loads of applications for my matchmaking services.

[That's a lie, she only got one.]

And since the date auction we had a little while back was such a huge and popular success, I decided it's a great time to to roll one out on a grand scale. Mark your calendars: the Heart-Bursting Date Auction of Feverish Love will be held December 15th! That's a Friday night, so make sure you can get the night off if you work during that time. We'll be doing things a little differently, but it'll still be for charity, with money going to the local elementary schools. What I need from you guys is to sign up so people have dates to bid on!

[Minako whips out a little sample bid card and holds it in front of the screen, then pulls it back to point to the lines.]

I just need your name, age, whether you like boys or girls, and a little paragraph about yourself that catches the interest of potential bidders. You can leave it blank if you want me to write it for you, but it helps if you give me some ideas about what you like, what kind of hobbies you enjoy, stuff like that!

[She puts the card down.]

So is anyone planning a special holiday party? I'll happily volunteer to help out. And if not, then just leave the whole thing to me. I just need to find a space big enough for lots of people to come and dance, mingle, eat, and play some games.

[Winking, she wags a finger.]

This one might be a little more casual. I want everyone to feel comfortable and have a great time! I'm confident I can get a holiday date for everyone that wants one, so sign up right now! Peace!

[She kisses her fingertips and holds up a 'V' sign, the little flirt. At least she means well. ...Mostly.]

---------------

[OOC: Like she asked, you can sign up your characters for the date auction, or with another player's permission, sign up SOMEONE ELSE for the auction. The actual sign-up will be posted after December's Butterfly event to make sure we get as many current characters as possible, but now your character can start plotting ICly if they like and sending in their submissions prior to the party/auction. You can also sign up for her matchmaking services right here if you want her to officially and legally get your character a date, or take dating lessons, or anything else romance-related.]

[Video]

I know it's been a few days, but... [Arelen's blushing slightly, and not wanting to look at the camera. After a few moments, she closes her eyes, takes a breath, and faces it so she's on screen properly.]

I only remember acting strange, and, well... doing things I normally would have done... or said.

[Frustrated sigh as the blush gets brighter.]

I just wanted to apologize for my actions a few nights ago at the Halloween party. I was stupid, and I drank way too much.

So... [Purses her lips and looks away again, growling at herself for having to do this, and takes another breath, composing herself, and looks to the camera again, sincerity in her eyes.]

I'm sorry if I offended anyone or made anyone feel uncomfortable.

[She looks to the side, frowning, then clicks the feed off.]

------------------------------------------------------------------------

[Action- Apartment]

( We've lived too long, too close... so call off your ghost... )

Who: Everyone
What: Halloween Party
Where: Nova City - After Life
When: 4 PM October 31st to who knows how early of November 1st
Warnings: B for boos and booze. Also Gale is there so that deserves a warning in itself. Is spooky.

----

Welcome to After Life. The entrance of the Nova City nightclub has the additional illumination courtesy of a purple neon bat to welcome the party goers, which that little bat seems more inviting than the almost ominous fog coming out of the front doors. Just beyond the door are a variety of glowsticks, should one feel so inclined to equip themselves with them for the night. The varying colored glass tables are trimmed with fake cobwebs with little spider lights illuminating from beneath it while at each table's end has a jack-o'-lantern of different carvings with color changing LED lights inside. The club's colored strobe lighting reflects off of the club's crystalline walls to help lend to the atmosphere in an almost eerie manner, even adding additional color to the fog hovering over the floor.


As the party begins, Gale makes a special introduction to the ladies who helped make the party possible- Yang Xiao Long, Ayame Sasaki, Gwen Stacy and Mikaela Banes. He wouldn't let the party go on without the much deserved recognition for them.

( You better be good - You better beware )

What: Arelen's Fear
Date: October 27th.
Warning: physical abuse

( But heavy is the crown that's always hidden, tender is the heart you never see, hard and fast shines the grin that we flash, but there's a vulnerable stripe or two on me. )

[There's the sound of someone running. It's not night, so he's not being chased by monsters, he's just exercising and clearing his head. He stops, a little breathless and speaks aloud to himself.]

Oh hey, it's the twenty-fifth!

[There's a pause as he pulls out his phone to take a selfie, and there's a camera shutter noise as he does.]

There! Birthday picture!

[He sounds cheerful.]

[Zexion appears on the screen and he does not look happy in the slightest. Although perhaps he should be- he seems to be alive, after all, despite that the last thing he remembers, that shouldn't be the case. His frown deepens. He wants to ask how that's possible, but he's not sure if anyone here will have the answer to that, or if he even really wants it right now.]

Hello?

[He shifts in his seat like he's uncomfortable or unsure of himself. To be fair, he's much more familiar with books than he is with technology, and he's not entirely sure if videotaping himself is a good idea, but it's potentially the fastest way to get information.]

If I'm to believe the information that was given to me upon my arrival, I've arrived in a world that I cannot leave. Is that accurate?

[He did already try to leave via darkness, but clearly that didn't work, or else he wouldn't still be here.]