[F04 Event] Christmas Extravaganza 2018

[Mishiro 0]

December 19, 2025

Mishiro placed the sketchpad down and replaced the cap on her ink pen. She picked up her coffee mug. With her free hand, brought the menu up and opened a PM from Arabelle. A Christmas-themed event. This would make the third Christmas she'd celebrated in Aincrad. It was almost unnerving how much time had passed. And how much time, she estimated, the game would take to clear at this slow pace. Finishing the last of her coffee, she set the mug down on the table beside the open sketchpad. It was open to the page containing her latest draft. A sketch of a player with a hood covering most of her facial features, aside from her narrow jawline and thin cheeks. Mishiro flipped her sketchpad shut and returned it to her inventory. It wasn't Christmas yet. But it was a good opportunity for Roman to unwind.

Cafe Myosotis's glass door swung open, bringing a fresh wave of snow into the shop. She rose to her feet ready to greet a customer, only to find that it was Roman, dressed in his casual winter attire. He quickly shut the door behind him and gave her a small wave of greeting. "Hey, Shiro. Did you receive Arabelle's PM? She said there's a Christmas-themed event going on in Floor 4." He approached the table she had been sitting at and smiled down at her warmly. "As expected of that little gossip. She always seems to be the first one to find out about everything. Well, regardless, I think it's a good idea for you to go. Take a break for once. You've been staring at those sketches for the past week, I'm surprised you haven't gone mad already."

Mishiro returned his smile. There was no need to convince him, after all.

It didn't take long to reach the venue. Arabelle wasn't very specific in her PM, so they both figured it was in Snowfrost's teleport plaza and not in some building within the main settlement. Dressed in her usual schoolgirl-esque attire with an oversized duffle coat and a pair of mittens, she held onto Roman's hand as they strolled past the different stalls and festivities the fair had to offer. There were cookies cut in the shape of Christmas trees, hot chocolate, and... a stall selling limited items? A quick glance at their prizes proved to Mishiro that they really were limited. Normal items wouldn't sell if they were that expensive. 

"Do you still remember the first Christmas we spent here?"

That prompted her to look up. "Of course I do. We even built a snowman at the end, didn't we?"

"Tried to build," Roman corrected with a chuckle. "You tripped and messed it up right when we were adding the final touches. How about we try again this year? I think this much snow would be enough."

"Mm. Maybe. Oh, look." They came to a stop in front of a large shop in the central area of the fair. It sold limited items, and most importantly... Mishiro approached the large, burly merchant, gently pulling Roman along with her. "Hello, mister. I'd like to join in the raffle."

[ooc: tag @Benny]

Edited December 20, 2018 by Mishiro

[Jinx 0]

Jinx looked at the snow in her hand, it felt..weird. Like nothing she'd ever touched before. She didn't recall snow where she grew up, or more specifically, being allowed to go outside when it was snowing. It was a risk, her parents had said. Frost biting her, or something like that. She honestly couldn't remember the specifics, it was so many years ago now...She let out a quiet hum as something in her mind sharpened...The raffle, she should join the raffle. That would be a good idea. Who knows, maybe for once, she'd get lucky and win something! 

Alisea stood up, only to see ...Arablle? She frowned, how long had the Scythe-user been standing there? Probably a while...She didn't look to happy to see her, even avoided looking at her single eye. Had she been that rude in not noticing the other girl? 

"Arabelle" She said happily, trying to make the other girl less annoyed at she'd been absent minded for...too long "Y-yeah...I don't have many friends, a-and i didn't think it would be nice to bother people just because i felt a little alone..." She explained, a lost look in her eye before she frowned... "W-wait...Christmas? I-is it Christmas already...?" 

@Arabelle

[Morgenstern 1]

OOC: Having to consider this thread after the Chaos arc due to the fact that Jonathan would not have shown otherwise. This will cause some complications with others and my own timeline so anyone with Jonathan and/or following his story, this thread can be seen as non-canon or whatever. @Itzal please refrain your character from seeing either of my characters. 

The blond with a cheerful smile, walked to the fourth floor. He used to have an alchemy shop here once, until he moved up to the nineteenth floor for some time. Behind him, strolled @Penelo who seemed to have not been on this floor for quite some time. Jonathan himself adorned and gold and white jacket with jeans, perfect clothing for the colder weather of the fourth floor. As he looked on to the scene, he seen some people that he knew, and others that he didn't. He turned to Penelo as he looked at the things to do. "I heard there is a raffle, we should go check that out. If its anything like last years, it will give out some really good stuff. Afterwards, I know you don't have much money, but I can get you something at the merchant" After speaking with his sister, he would casually mvoe in. As he did so, he found he got a message. Opening up, he would see the sender was Mina. Sighing, he would close his messages. It had been quite some time since the Fallen Event, and much had happened. Still, he was unsure if he wanted to just see his old guildmates. Stepping forward to the Ticket Booth man. He had a large mustache that caused Jonathan to smile. "I'd like to register for the raffle please, @Benny"

[Penelo 0]

Before they had left, she examined her entire inventory for something warmer, but still found nothing of use. She had discarded all items Chaos had gifted to her one day out of anger. How much she regretted it now, words couldn't tell. Now, she walked behind @Morgenstern in her standard armor. While it wasn't warm at all, it was better than nothing. Even if the front and backs of her legs were bare and she did not have the survival skill.... It was going to be long. However she had promised Jonathan that she would go with him, as long as he promised it would be worth while. Recently, he had convinced her that she should try to get stronger. Of course, she had tendencies to become a healer. She had invested in it a while back, and she would be finishing that out. Jonathan told her, because of her weapon, that she should become a DPS as well, but she didn't really want to be dealing damage. As her brother walked to the stand where the raffle take place and asked to be included, she would walk from around and say, "Add me in as well please" Her luck had always been crud, but if she managed to get something, it could really help her out. After they had left the area, she looked up to Jonathan. "I really don't need anything... I am just glad to get out. I was in hiding for so long that I missed things like this before" 

@Benny

[Baldur 0]

Baldur practically lived on the fourth floor. Well, he didn't actually live on the fourth floor, but it was his favorite floor by far. He loved the snow, he loved the vistas, and he loved Christmas. Perhaps that last was the reason why he loved the perpetually kinkade-esque village of Snowfrost and spent so much time here. It was perfect for when he needed to get away, or when he needed to have something warm to drink with friends. The small cafes seemed more cozy and friendly because of the snow.

So when it came time to start setting up the Christmas festival, Baldur had been one of the first to see it. The azure samurai, or perhaps better now to be called, the Christmas Samurai, was garbed in much more relaxed ware. He would not be leaving the safety of the [area] effect covering the village. It would keep orange players at bay, and beyond that, Baldur could not be hurt within its effects. The safety of it covered him like the blanket of snow upon the village.

In spite of the cold, Baldur did not dress for the weather. His <<survival>> skill meant that he could more or less ignore weather effects, and if he was guilty of anything, Baldur chose style over substance. 

From his idle seat within a small pub, Baldur looked out through the window onto the square as the Christmas tree was set up and strung with candles and decorations. The villagers, both PC and NPC, slowly began to fill the square as the wanna-be samurai sipped on his mug of hot chocolate and hummed christmas carols.

Eventually, Baldur saw that the shop of a very large event merchant had been setup across the square, and so the large man pushed himself to his feet and made his way out into the snow.

"Ohayo, @Benny-San."

Putting his arms into each of the sleeves, Baldur quickly glanced through his wares. There were in fact several amazing, rare items up for sale that Baldur was sure Shield would sadly not be able to stockpile and dole out to people at much higher prices once the event had completed. There were many consumables, and the occasional item that looked good, but wasn't fit for him. But the backpack that he saw there was perfect, given his most recent investment into expanding his inventory space.

"I would like one of the <<hammer space>> packs, and to enter the raffle."

The samurai flashed the NPC a warm smile. It was easy to get caught up in the season, even if this NPC was not actually a vendor with emotions or feeling or life, Baldur would still treat the man with basic respect and friendship. It was harder with some. Most NPCs were purely robotic and relied on key words, but he found that these event NPCs tended to be a little more robust in their AI, though nothing like the Dark Elf council that they fought. But it was the season, and Baldur couldn't help but feel the warmth of Christmas lifting his spirits, perhaps making him a bit more jolly than normal.

-45,000 Col
+1 Hammer Space Backpack

Edited December 24, 2018 by Baldur

[Arsenal 0]

More people start to show up around The man and his boyfriend. You can handle this, it's not like They want to mess with you. Okay. You can do this. He appears to be more nervous with every person. Then a player mentions him, asking for his name. Oh god. Oh no. This isn't good. The man's eyes dart around, landing on the kids playing around the snow fort. "Yeah, Nice to meet you." He smiles with a tilt of his head, still nervous. What do I do? I can't just run, then I won't get to spend time with Spencer. And of course I can't ask him to leave. And Oh God... If Dustin shows up I am screwed. He shakes his head. "Hey, wanna go look to see if they have drinks?" He asks Spencer. "Actually, If you want to talk to your friends, I'm sure I could manage to find them on my own." He backs away, forgetting he was still holding Spencer's. The tug brought him back to his senses and all the sudden a crowd appeared in front of him like they weren't there before. Oh shoot, what am I doing? Crowd bad. Spencer good. He backs up and stands next to Spencer. "So Miss, What's your name?" He asks politely. "Or am I just gonna call you miss the entire time?" He smiles.

@Spencer @Hestia

[Dustin 0]

Dustin makes his way across the first floor, Hunting for hours trying to undo his biggest mistake ever, when a message dings. Cosi? Why would he message me? It's not like we're great friends or anything. He smiles, opening the message and reading it's for a Christmas event. Tempting, but I have better things to do. Besides, Christmas isn't exactly my favorite time of the year. A tear falls down, as he works on killing another monster. He swipes with his blade, cutting the monster clear in two, as it explodes into blue pixels. Then he receives another message. Oh, It's from my guildmate... Arabelle? Don't think I've met her outside of the col farm trip. He smiles, Well, I guess I can check it out. Besides, Kadin would want me to go. His mouth morphs into a frown. He hated when he did stuff because Kadin would want him to, That's not a reason. Yes his brother was important to him, but in all actuality, Kadin would want him to move on and get his sorry butt to the front lines. He climbs atop the teleporter and shouts the activation command.

-Teleport-

His vision fades back to normal, arriving in the main town on the fourth floor. I'm assuming this is the right direction. He smiles, walking in the direction a huge crowd, also following a few stragglers. He reaches the event and looks around for anyone he knows, noticing only people he was sure didn't like him. All except for Arsenal. But he's here with his boyfriend, I can't interrupt that. Dustin breaks away, hiding himself by the snacks and drinks. It was a regular move for him to want to be somewhere else in Christmas parties, but he secretly always knew that was the best place for him. So this time he changes, he wears a smile and sits down in front of the drinks and snacks.

Suddenly the merchant catches his attention. Raffle? I love raffles. They're frickin awesome. HE smiles, making his way to @Benny with a wave of the hand. "Yo, put me down. The candy cane blade caught my eye, I need a new weapon anyways." He smiles. I'm sure the odds of at least winning that one are pretty low, though I've never been in a raffle in this game. He tries not to get his hopes up as he looks around for someone to talk to.

Spoiler

 

Edited December 19, 2018 by Dustin

[Shield 0]

Shield had not expected to be addressed so soon, so when @tricolor_mina approached him, he instinctively winced a little. He turned to her, trying his best to give a warm greeting. "Hello, Mina," he said, giving a slight incline of his head which made the pompom of his had tumble off of his shoulder and dangle beside his chin. "No, you don't need to worry about me. Christmas is just... a time for family and friends. A lot of grow-ups have a hard time around the holidays. They remember the people they miss and they people they can't be with."

He gave the younger player a pat on the top of her shoulder and was just about to make his way further into the crowd when @Cosi made an appearance. "You more or less hit the nail right on the head," Shield said, giving another little half smile. "If I'm honest, this is the first Christmas since SAO started where I even saw the light of day." He glanced up at the dark night sky, realizing the irony of his use of the idiom. "It'll be fine," he said, nodding reassuringly to the players on either side of him. "I swear I don't try to be a 'humbug.' I mainly try to keep to myself so I don't make anyone else's holiday less cheerful."

He still had not gotten a reply from Calypso, but he supposed it would be a little hopeful to expect such a speedy reply. People had other things they were doing. It may well have been that she was already present and just couldn't hear the notification over the sounds of festivities. He was not opposed to the company that he had found - or rather that had found him - so he saw no need to end their conversation at the moment. On his shoulder, Lilith continued to taste the chill winter air, her tongue extending from the end of her sweater sleeve and flicking at the air. It contacted a snowflake, which caused it to retract, confused and momentarily stunned. A few moments later, it shot out again and caught another.

[Itzal 0]

Itzal listened to @Benny stating that he was perfectly fine with it, and asked what name did Itzal want him to write down.  Itzal's eyes widened under the dark mist.  He hadn't expected to be given any leeway at all, yet Kayaba had programmed this system to allow such a thing.  He looked up to the sky.  "Out of all times, now is when you choose to help me?  You're a strange man..."  Either that or he just missed this part of the program.  He looked back to Benny and thought quickly.  Quick he thought.  Can't do shadow, that would be Itzal just different word...  What about dusk?  He ran through the words that translated to dusk and reached one:  Kālacē.  However, it was pronounced Al-eh-seh, and thus he wasn't sure how he felt about it.  If he changed some of the lettering around though...  "Write me down as Kalice.  K, a, l, i, c, e."  He wasn't sure if that's the name he wanted to be known as, but he had to make some sort of last minute decision.  Itzal wasn't going to give his real name.  A few people already knew it too so that was another big reason he couldn't just do that.  Afterwards he walked away from Benny and made his way to beside a building.  Leaning against it, he would look at the players arriving.  New faces were arriving, but he only recognized Baldur out of all of them.  He observed as the man chose the backpack like he had.  It wasn't a difficult choice really, it was the only good item available.

He then spotted @Fae, playing with some children.  He had spoken to Domarus at some point after their confrontation with him, and asked him to give the names of any and all other suspicious individuals.  Outlander was one.  Fae was another.  Normally he'd have been skeptical, but after having seen Adrian in action...  He stared at her a bit longer but made no movement towards her.  There wasn't any need to, and he would probably end up just scaring her off.  Still.  If there was a chance she wasn't in fact as dark as others were concerned she was, maybe he could help her.  Domarus did say after all, that she hadn't done anything since that time of recruitment.  Itzal looked and saw Shield and Mina talking with one another.  He was hoping he'd stay and speak with her, but it didn't look like she had the luck.  He sighed under his hood.  How could he help Mina while retaining his disguise?  Perhaps she would be happy and content to know he planned to speak with her after the event was over...

[Hazado 0]

Haz was really getting into the mood of Christmas somehow and when he got not one message but two he looked quite surprised to see it was one from Neo and the other one from Cosi. It seemed like something was happening on floor 4 not only that it is also in a Christmas theme. Haz smiled a bit and nodded to himself making his way for the cold floor getting into a warm blue coat with a fur collar. He looked a bit like a madman having warm clothing like this on floor one but most would know what was going on. Haz walked up to the teleporter and smiled before saying the words to teleport and making his way to the main settlement of Floor 4.

Once opening his eyes he spotted that the settlement was filled with things and joyful people here and there he was a few known faces but Haz had one thing to do and that is to find Neo, It was very simple to do so and he walked up to Neo giving her A hug from behind and kissing her on the cheek, " Hello dear, Seems like something is bringing Christmas here today. How do you do really? It seems like a lot of people have come here today and I can see a lot of friendly faces as well. Truly never seen something like this in forever, Still can remember the day my father took me to a Christmas market in Germany as he was sent there for a job," Haz said with a smile still hugging Neo from behind before letting go and turning to look around and see what was going on and what kind of things would be sold here.

@Neopolitan

[Hidden 1]

Elucia Persona
Outfit

Spoiler

A white haired girl would enter the area, a smile to her face. Of course, while this girl was just Hidden under the effects of a potion, it would be too hard to distinguish her. Currently, she adorned an entire Christmas get up, Santa hat and everything. She looked around, seeing that there was much to do. She could sign up for a raffle, which she would of course, and she could by one of a large number of items. While there was not much that seemed to be able to help her, a set of rings seemed just fine. She stepped up to the merchant. "Hey, I'll take a set of Platinum Keys and join the raffle." She would lean over to the merchant and whisper something softly into his ear. Only he would be able to hear. "Write me down as Elucia please if you can. Thank you!" She moved away from the booth, finding herself behind a dark hooded man. Unknowing of who it was, she did the most Elucia thing possible. Charge straight in! She would poke the man's shoulder, smiling up to him. "Excuse me, you are looking pretty sullen for someone who should be in the holiday cheer!" She waited for him to turn around. It was probably one of the lower levels thinking that they looked soooo intimidating wearing a hood and all black.... Oh wait... Internally, Hidden would cry. 'I just berated myself' she would think to herself. 'Although, I do actually mean business, so I guess it doesn't count'. 

( @Itzal )

- +5 Platinum Rings
-7,500 Col

[Itzal 0]

Itzal noticed the newcomer arriving.  He didn't recognize her, but that was probably a good thing.  Lately only people who were criminals or just people who wouldn't leave him alone were the ones he knew..  Of course, if Itzal had known that this girl was in fact Hidden, he would have dragged her to the alleyway and handcuffed her then and there before dragging her to Hestia's feet since she owned the prison...  Of course he didn't know that she was Hidden, thus he didn't react much.  When the girl walked over to the merchant he lost sight of her, but Velnia was watching her every move.  If the girl was meaning any harm, Velnia would warn her.  The pale eyed dragon watched the figure but when Itzal felt her poke his shoulder, and Velnia having given no warning, he assumed it was safe.  He turned to look at her through the shifting black mist covering his face.  He heard what she said and smiled sadly, even though she couldn't see it.  "Yes.  However it's also easy to forget there are people who take advantage of others.  Who don't care what the day is, or who their targets are spending time with."  Itzal turned his entire body to face her, effectively blocking out most of the light from her sight behind him.  "I'm here to remember that fact.  I'm here to ensure no one dares think of doing such a thing.  No more.  No less."  @Hidden

[Ennakai 0]

Appearance

Spoiler

Ennakai woke up only to see that something has changed, not only the outside of her shop was make to look like Christmas also all the rest of the settlement, Enna sighed and just looked disappointed. It was one of the only times Enna did really not like for some reasons, meaning about Enna's past and well now life. Enna was looking outside seeing quite a few faces they knew. Enna took their book and took a chair and started drawing in the book. Making a drawing of a window and everything outside, with a smile Enna looked as quite a few known faces seemed to be happy, Neo and Haz were having their moment, Hestia was greeting a lot of people and It looked like wait... BINGO, Dustin was spotted. Dustin always said he did not like big groups but still always ended up in things like this, Enna laughed a bit before looking down. 

"Enna, Snap out of it, Get your coat and just take those steps GET OUTSIDE!" Enna said to themselves before getting a coat and a cup of hot chocolate, and keeping their book in their hand. Then stepping outside of their shop and their smile disappeared before they stopped. Enna could hear now the music and people talking even could hear the NPC say his name, Darn he has a long Name, no wonder everyone calls him Benny. Enna thought to take a sip from the cup. Enna was standing in front of their shop and just gave a weak smile to everyone that walked passed Enna was not in the mood to celebrate this but if someone would walk up Enna would not scare them away and just act happy.

(Just walk up to Enna, they are really not far away from the event they can see everything and hear people talk)

[Hikoru 0]

Hikoru appeared on the 4th floor within a flash of light from the teleporter. He had gotten the message from both the Cardinal and Cosi about the Christmas event this year. Seeing everything with glowing lights and the sounds of laughter made him feel at home. He felt like he was back in the real world, with his family at the holiday festivals they would go to every year. He let out a small sigh and smiled happily as he walked in. He saw a large, burly man with a mustache. He heard him speak about the raffle, and he went over to look at the rewards. Although there wasn't anything he could use, he thought it would be an interesting thing for everyone to do. He smiled and nodded. 

"Thank you for putting this together for us @Benny, means a lot to us. After everything that some of us go through, it's nice to have time away from battles." He spoke. But, he knew Kayaba was listening, as he was at the boss fight. He decided to give a thank you to him, then started to walk around. He found Cosi around a few players and came up. "Hey Cosi, good to see you. Thanks for the invite, I probably would have missed the event if you didn't." He spoke with a small smile.

@Cosi

Hik's Outfit for the event:

Spoiler

 

[Fae 0]

Fae cotninued playing with the kids, now almost done with their snow fort. While it was fun, she knew that once she left them, the snow fort would disappear since they were NPCs. Looking over at how everything was going with the festival, a lot more players were showing up, none or them Fae recognized. There's a lot of strong people here, probably why I know none of 'em... Fae thought to herself as she looked into the crowd. Then she saw @Itzal staring at her. It wasn't that she could see his eyes or face or anything like that really, just his opening of his hood was right in her direction. Fae didn't know why he was staring, but she figured it was safe to talk to him at least. "Hi mister! Did you wanna play with Fae today? Whether you wanna or not, you're gonna get a big hug from Fae!" Fae said before running up to Itzal and hugging his waist, looking up at him. The bell on the collar she was wearing was jingling wildly with her movement, going along with her whole reindeer outfit.

Edited December 19, 2018 by Fae

[Dustin 0]

Dustin smiles, standing up and walking back away from the table and back towards the refreshments. That's right, my sweet Enna lives around here. I should find him. He always cheers me up. He cuts across the crowd, waving to @Jinx and @Arabelle as he moves. They're cool people, but Enna is my favorite person. I wonder how cheery he'll be today. Maybe cheerful enough to make my day better. He approaches the two players he had just waved to and smiles. "Have you two ladies seen a woman with beautiful purple hair? Not you." He points to Arabelle. "Ah, screw it, it'll be better if I find her." He lurks around for a few more minutes, snaking through the large crowd when he sees his not so secret crush.

He gives a tilt of the head. Enna doesn't look too happy, maybe I should leave him alone. Dustin frowns, turning to walk away. It's not my place anyways, I'm just an annoyance to everyone. He begins to walk away, noting the multiple groups forming that he had no intention of being part of. Why am I even here? I could be out farming and getting stronger to hunt that prick who killed Kadin. Then maybe I could enjoy something without thinking of how Kadin is watching me be lazy. He moves back over to Arabelle and Jinx, sitting down and drinking some water. "Y'all having fun?" He asks in a tone that sounded more dead than anything else.

[tricolor_mina 0]

Mina smiled faintly when she got a response from Itzal, and looked at it eagerly... though she stopped with confusion when she noticed that he had brought up the fact that he had a gift for her apparently? "Na, naa... you're such an idiot, but a sweet one nonetheless..." she murmured, shaking her head, a faint rumbling of laughter echoing from her throat. She sighed tiredly when Shield gave an explanation for his sadness. "... to be honest, I don't blame you if you have it rough this time of year. there's always something." she said quietly, her face changing to a sad frown. "It's especially rough whenever you start thinking about your real life around this time... I don't like it either, especially not after..." mina trailed off midsentence as Shield walked away from her, and began talking to another player. "Alone again, I suppose..." she murmured, a sad smile on her face. "Merry Christmas, Shield... I hope things work out for you one of these days." she walked back over to the vendor stall, and noticed the raffle that was supposed to be happening soon. her eyes lit up with excitement when she saw the armor, weapon, trinkets, and other items (Even a familiar!) available for the raffle. She turned to the merchant, a smile on her face.  "Put me down for the raffle sir." she said cheerily, a faint smile on her face. She walked over to one of the areas that had a set of chairs. she sat down, and eventually, she pulled out her menu again, and messaged Itzal just one more time.

Spoiler

To: Itzal

I know you're lying about never having celebrated Christmas, because of the CA Christmas party. Even though I wasn't there, I still know you were present...
Besides that, what do you mean by "Gift"..? I don't have much of anything to give you, honestly... and I'd feel bad if I took something and didn't give you something in return...
Since I know you said we'll meet up later, I can live without seeing you for just this once, but the next time I see you I'm decking you in the face for not saying so much as a hello to me and the others during the Miraak incident.

@Itzal@Benny@Shield

[Itzal 0]

Itzal grunted a bit from the sudden impact of Fae who had rushed up and hugged him out of nowhere.  He heard what she had said and made a rather quiet chuckle as he wrapped his left hand around her and his right hand on the side of her head.  "Sorry, I can't play right now."  He bent down until he was at the same eye level with Fae.  "I need to be the one to watch for criminals.  I'm keeping watch so that others may have fun.  So that others can enjoy themselves.  Someone has to do so, and thus I'll take up that role."  He turned to look at @tricolor_mina.  "However, there are some people who may enjoy having fun with you."  Now that he was talking with her, he had no idea how he was going to lead her down the right path.  At least, as the rogue.  He was going to be showing a more, hard and withdrawn personality over time.  He needed to keep the exceptions down to a minimum.  Of course, as usual he made sure to use his American Accent when he spoke.  He noticed that Elucia ( @Hidden) hadn't left just yet.  He wondered if he was going to end up drawing a crowd...  That would be the opposite result he had expected.  As he stood up again he received another message and dismissed it quicker than people could see it.

[Shield 0]

Mina had gone off on her way for now, so Shield remained by @Cosi. It was tolerable company at least compared to the overly-merry festival goers all around them. He did not begrudge them. After all, in their imprisoned state, finding any source of happiness was worthwhile. It was at least comforting to know that those he knew at least understood where he was coming from. "It helps knowing someone else is on the same page," he finally said aloud, glancing over to Cosi. "Sometimes having a hard time over the holidays results in more accusations than understanding. Criticisms for being a 'Scrooge' and what not," he snorted a little indignantly through his nose. "It's always fun watching people accuse you of having a bad attitude by adopting a bad attitude themselves."

He glanced over at the burly merchant who seemed to be one of the many centers of attention. "Come on," he said, motioning with his head. "I was lured down here by the promise of special gear, and I am not going home without realizing that objective." He made his way over to the line and began browsing the wares. "Man... there are some pretty interesting specials here." He pulled up a blank work document and began drawing on it with his fingers like a blackboard, crunching some quick numbers. "I can't quite justify the expense on any of these temporary bonuses. They offer some unique benefits, but at the end of the day... the permanents seem to be more useful. Though those keys are sure tempting. You know me and my treasure hunting..."

He flagged down the merchant running the stand. "I'll be making a purchase eventually, but for now, go ahead and put me down for the raffle, @Benny." He looked over at Cosi. "What are you thinking of picking up? That backpack is what I'm thinking of, but for tiers one and two players, getting one of those demonics might really pay off..."

[Cosi 0]

Cosi gave @Hikoru a salute and his signature lopsided grin, "No worries mate. I practically live here so I wouldn't not invite others. Hmmm double negatives are weird." Cosi shrugged and turned back to Shield. The two of them made their way to Benny's tent and the items that lay inside. Cosi looked in awe at the offered equipment and gear. Shield on the other hand gave scoured them with his appraising gaze. Shield signed up for the raffle so Cosi followed suit, "Put my name in too @Benny. It's Cosi. And I'd love to get the backpack put I'm short a couple thousand Col. I'll like the look of the keys though. Those could make my grinding trips a little more worthwhile and maybe we can come to an agreement if I let you use one or two. Also, while a demonic would be nice, my build is fine where its at right now." Cosi forked over the Col for the ring of keys and thanked the massive NPC merchant. Cosi pocketed the ring of silvery keys. Cosi moved to leave the tent but still he stuck close to Shield, "And I get you: just cause you're a little more dour then others during the festive season doesn't mean you hate Christmas and joy itself." Cosi chuckled and looked around catching sight of @Hazado with Neo and gave the couple a cheerful wave. "Are you at least here with someone or waiting for friends, @Shield?"

Quote

- 7,500 Col
+ Ring of Platinum Keys