A Bit Of Holiday Cheer (Event w/ Aliarey)

-Capital Crocus, noon-

Wearing a purple long-sleeved t-shirt under an open white jacket and black skirt with white tights and black tennis shoes, Diana was sporting a variant of her usual casual outfit that was better suited for cold weather. Her choice of shirt made her stand out among the festivalgoers, who were clad in both more ordinary everyday colors and traditional holiday colors such as red, green, and white. Diana could not help but to wear her favorite color everywhere she went and today was no exception.

The city in which she lived was decorated for the occasion with wreaths hung on business doors, white banners with green borders hung between buildings and red letters spelling out holiday-related messages, inflatable Santas perched on the tops of some houses, and more stands of Christmas lights than Diana could count. As she walked through the busy city streets with her hands in her coat pockets she heard snippets of popular Christmas carols being sung and parts of popular pieces of Christmas music being played over speakers. The blonde did not have any particular place she wanted to go in the city... she just wanted to see everything Capital Crocus had to offer.

Diana hoped that she would encounter her old friend Aliarey Casady somewhere in the city before the day was over. The two blondes had an uncanny habit of meeting up for events even if they did not arrange their meeting beforehand. The green-eyed blonde was hoping that that trend would continue because she had taken a liking to Aliarey, whose outgoing personality complemented Diana's introverted nature despite how odd that sounded. The unlikely pair had been through a lot together and Diana considered Aliarey her one real friend in this world. If the green-eyed blonde had a wish for the holidays it was to meet her friend and see how she was doing.

[Post Word Count: 314]
[Diana's Word Count: 314]
[Total Word Count: 314/4,000]

"Oh, you've got to be kidding me!" What the heck kind of last-minute side gig did she get herself into this time? Sure there should have been some red flags an age and a half ago. Like when she was randomly approached to take the spot of some girl who was a no-show for the gig just because she happened to be a blonde. Or when she found out she had to wear one of those silly red Christmas-themed mini dresses in the freaking cold! Or the fact that there was pay to be one of those people who walked beside floats during a parade. Wasn't that for volunteers? Aliarey had just originally assumed they were just as desperate for a replacement blonde as she was for spare cash. She had standards though and she definitely knew the line had been crossed when she saw just who she was escorting down that magical parade road through the capital.

The job was supposed to be easy. Be one of the gorgeous smiling women who walked beside a float featuring Santa himself. It was always a highlight of the holiday. The most she would have to do is wave and maybe dance or something. She didn't get to the part of learning some of the steps she'd have to do. Once she saw some sharp tooth monstrosity in a Santa costume Alia knew she had to nope on out of there as quickly as possible. Was he a replacement too? Honestly, the new guy looked like he might have eaten the original old dude that was supposed to be on that fake sleigh. The reindeer were even worse. Was she the only one with eyes?! The only one with a sense of being disturbed?

"Hey, um," Aliarey started to say to the woman who had recruited her. Apparently, she had been in charge of making sure all the ladies were there and knew what they had to do for the parade walk. They really needed to replace the person in charge of the Santa guy. "That's not really the Santa for the parade, is it?" A look of confusion is what she got as an answer as the woman looked at the walking monstrosity Aliarey pointed at. That needed an explanation? Really? The mage sighed. "That doesn't seem a bit too extreme to you? He looks like he jumped out of a horror movie."

The woman laughed and waved her concern away. "Oh don't be silly! It's probably a reference to that one show. You know? The one where Halloween and Christmas clash? The kids love that one!"

"'Probably?'" Alia asked, raising a thin brow questioningly. "You mean you don't know?"

"A late change to the program. The Santa we had was also a no-show. This guy was probably randomly picked in town today like you were. Likely because he had his own costume. It's not like being Santa requires a huge set of skills besides looking the part. Just smile and wave."

"Yeah because people want that thing smiling at them," Alia mumbled to herself as the woman quickly cut the conversation and walked away to attend to some other girl who had ripped her dress. Her blue eyes looked at the monster again but she quickly looked away when she noticed it looking right back at her. Yep, fuck no. She was so out of there. All the danger alarms in her body were going off at once and that paycheck just was not worth it.

Without saying a word to anyone, Aliarey left the building and took to the busy streets of the capital. She didn't even bother to change. Although, being a requip mage she could just do that quickly later on when she realized she was still in that red long-sleeved Christmas dress with the fluffy white ends, the knee-high white boots that blended in with the wintry decor, pearly white cloth gloves that covered her hands, and that ridiculous Santa hat on her head. Safety first, fashion emergency later.

The further away she got from the building the more Alia felt safe and could better forget what she had just left behind. Whatever that was it wasn't her problem anymore. It could stay that way, right? Right. Absolutely. She just had to move on and find something else to do.

A random thought crossed her mind. Was Diana in the capital too? It had been a while since they did anything even remotely festive. Alia had been way too busy for it and Diana was doing... whatever it was Diana usually did when they weren't together. How the two were friends was beyond any logical reasoning, and so was Aliarey's plan to see if Diana was in town. Rather than call or send a text on her iLac the blonde summoned up the little rift that led to her own magical personal storage and took from it a megaphone. The item was raised to her mouth where she could easily shout into it.

"DIANA!" Shouted Aliarey, the megaphone raising the volume of her voice significantly. "ARE YOU HERE?!" The action got the young woman quite a few stares, glares, and various other reactions from the townspeople around her. She didn't care. The plan wasn't to nonstop shout into the megaphone. She'd just do it every minute or so in different spots around the capital. That was a good enough compromise so she wasn't too disruptive. "IT'S ME ALIAREY. DIIIIAAAANNNNAAAA!"

Did it ever occur to her that even if Diana were in town it was possible that she would run in the opposite direction of her voice? Nah.

(Word Count: 941
Thread Total: 1255)

Diana had been walking through the busy streets in search of her friend but was not having any success. She had seen plenty of young blonde women and a few of them had both the body type and blue eyes that Aliarey had, but none of them were mages like the genuine article. Perhaps Diana should have tried to arrange a meeting at a prominent landmark like a tall building or the city outskirts, but it was likely too late for that now. Fortunately for the purple-clad blonde fate chose to intervene by making it a lot easier for her to find Aliarey courtesy of her friend's voice being loudly projected over a distance. Diana stopped where she was when she heard her name called.

Had Aliarey procured a microphone with which to call out to Diana?

Diana did not know and it really did not matter, but if Aliarey had done something like that it would be in character for her. Putting the question out of her mind, the green-eyed blonde turned around began moving in the direction her friend's voice had come from. She carefully maneuvered through the bustling crowds and had to dodge and weave around individuals who were either oblivious to her presence or just did not want to move for whatever reason, but Diana followed Aliarey's voice despite it seeming like it moved about from time to time until she finally found the blue-eyed mage, who was wearing a cute and festive outfit and standing with a megaphone in hand. How Aliarey had gotten a megaphone was a question for another time... right now she was going to talk to her friend.

"Hello, Aliarey. It has been awhile." Diana calmly greeted the other blonde with the same calm voice and poker face she always had. The green-eyed blonde took a casual glance at Aliarey's clothing and noted how it made her friend look. She was not sure what word was the right word to use to describe the apparel, but Aliarey wore the outfit well.

"I like your outfit. It is fitting for the occasion." Diana calmly remarked with complete sincerity.

[Post Word Count: 356]
[Diana's Word Count: 670]
[Total Word Count: 1,611/4,000]

Aw, man. It was about time to give up. Walking through the city with the megaphone idea wasn't going according to plan. Diana was supposed to show up instantly, or at least two minutes into her act. That was a completely reasonable expectation. Since that was not what happened that had to mean Diana wasn't anywhere close. Plus, her idea was quickly losing its charm.

"Well so much for that." Aliarey sighed in a mix of annoyance and disappointment. Now what was she supposed to do? Go to the next town and try again? Ugh.

The blonde was just about to toss the megaphone in the trash when Diana made her appearance. Her blinking blue eyes stared at the other woman in surprise. Then her gaze shifted to the megaphone she held and back into Diana. "Hot damn that actually worked!" Of course it worked! She was secretly a prodigal genius!

Aliarey grinned. There was no thought in her mind that shouting Diana's name as she was might have been both inconsiderate and embarrassing for her green-eyed counterpart. An apology was out of the question. Already her mind and motivations had moved on.

"Hey, hey!" Alia skipped the few steps it took to close the distance between them and gave Diana a quick hug. Very few people were fortunate enough to receive a hug from her and Diana just happened to be one of them. She pulled away and stepped back so that there was once again breathing room between them.

The wide grin on her face lost its shape to become a frown. Right. The outfit. Her eyes rolled. It took Diana mentioning it for her to remember the morning events. She knew the words were meant to be a compliment but normally she wouldn't be caught dead in an outfit like that. It took a decent paycheck. It sucked having to walk out on the job that time but staying alive was way better.

"Thanks. It was for a job buuutttt it didn't feel right. When the danger bells go off I know to get away as fast as possible." Aliarey crossed her arms over her chest and sighed. "I just hope it's me being paranoid and those morons aren't serious about sending a freakish monster Santa to the parade. Dealing with that wasn't on my agenda for today. Or ever, really."

(Word Count: 394
Aliarey Total: 1335
Thread Total: 2005)

After doing some deft maneuvering to make her way through bustling holiday crowds without incident and following the sound of Aliarey's voice whenever she called for Diana through the megaphone Diana was now face-to-face with her one true friend. When the blue-eyed blonde came in for a hug Diana stayed where she was and prepared for her skin to crawl as it always did whenever someone touched her, but when the hug was given Diana felt no discomfort whatsoever, an outcome that was genuinely surprising to the latter. In the past the green-eyed blonde desperately wanted to get out of Aliarey's clutches whenever the latter embraced her, but today there was no such response.

Diana supposed that one reason for her lack of "fight or flight" response was that the other blonde was her friend and would never deliberately hurt her. Another reason was that Medeia and Juno had taught her that being touched did not always mean that harm was about to be done to her. When she was a child Diana had learned to associate someone touching her with pain, pain that was usually delivered in the form of a slap to the face or a shove to the floor courtesy of her mother, older sister Melody, or her older brother Lucius. The Warlord and the pink-haired young woman had demonstrated that comfort could come from physical contact with another person by hugging the blonde and respecting her boundaries by not trying to take things any further than that.

The purple-clad blonde was released from the hug within seconds of it being initiated and her skin felt perfectly normal as she listened to Aliarey tell the tale of how she had come to acquire her current outfit. Apparently it was something that she was to wear for some sort of work that she was to do before something made her change her mind and not go through with it. Diana got a hint of what that something was when a Santa who sounded like he was not a jovial bringer of holiday cheer was mentioned. Seconds later Diana decided that that topic was worth discussing, if only to hear what was unsettling enough to make Aliarey walk away from an opportunity to earn money.

"Please tell me anything you know about this unusual Santa, Aliarey." Diana calmly requested.

[Post Word Count: 390]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,060]
[Total Word Count: 2,395/4,000]

"Huh?" The surprise on Aliarey's face was noticeable. It was hard to believe that Diana was interested in the monster Santa. Did she know him or something? Maybe he was the target of some bounty. Hardly shocking if so. Some people say you can't judge a person based on their looks but to hell with that logic. Alia was sure that guy had eaten some people in the past. She shrugged. If Diana wanted to know more for whatever reason she'd tell all she could. Although it wasn't much.

"He's creepy, but that's about all I know. Looks like he jumped straight out of some Christmas horror movie. Big teeth, claws, glowing eyes, in need of some serious moisturizer, horns for eyebrows. That kind of thing. There was no way it was makeup, and even if it was a costume doesn't give me the shivers. There was something about that guy that was seriously off." Aliarey turned around to try and spot the building where the parade preparations were held but she could see nothing through the crowd and other buildings in the way. She had walked further through the city than she had originally thought. Another detail she noticed was the loud music she could hear off in the distance. The parade had started.

Her blue gaze fell back onto Diana. "He's supposed to be the main event for the parade, and it looks like it started." As she spoke those words many of the people around started to make their way to the center of the city in the hopes of getting a chance to see the festive event before it ended. Aliarey didn't care enough to warn them. They'd just think she was crazy anyway. "Going to suck for anyone around if my gut is right about that guy." Her words didn't indicate that she much cared about that possibility. It was just her opinion and theory of what could happen. If she had intended to play hero she would have investigated the creepy Santa instead of leaving. It was a big city. There had to be someone else capable enough.

(Word Count: 354
Aliarey Total: 1689
Thread Total: 2749)

Diana listened to the description carefully and could not help but to agree with her friend's assessment of the unusual Santa. It sounded like a malevolent entity posing as Santa Claus had used their resemblance to the beloved holiday figure to get access to a place they could find a lot of potential victims. Diana did not know what the imposter planned to do with anyone they managed to catch, but she doubted that it would end well for the hapless individual.

"I do not like the sound of this individual at all, Aliarey. From what you said they might pose a threat to anyone they encounter." Diana voiced her opinion of the imposter Santa and stated her belief that no one would be safe around them. The green-eyed blonde listened to her friend give an additional piece of information concerning the figure's involvement in a holiday parade and her concern deepened. While it did not show on her face Diana did not like the idea of so many people being in the imposter's path and especially did not like the fact that children might be in harm's way. When Aliarey casually remarked that the parade was just getting underway the green-eyed blonde knew they did not have much time to get somewhere on the parade route and be ready to act if the malevolent Santa decided to terrorize the people of Capital Crocus.

"I do not think it is a good idea to let this person do what they please. We should find a place along the parade route and stand ready in case they decide to attack someone." Diana suggested to Aliarey. She was not sure if her friend would be on board with the idea or not, but Diana could not let harm come to the people of Capital Crocus if she could do something about it. While she preferred to have Aliarey by her side the green-eyed blonde would gladly act alone if she needed to.

[Post Word Count: 330]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,390]
[Total Word Count: 3,079/4,000]

What?! Had Diana already forgotten what she just said? It'd suck for anyone that was around that guy if anything happened. The two of them were part of that anyone, and here was Diana suggesting they not only get closer but get involved with dealing with Santa Claus' evil doppelganger. For free?! Aliarey was flabbergasted. She didn't leave the parade just to turn around and go right back! That was insane!

The imaginary cliched shoulder devil and angel played around with her inner thoughts. She didn't care about the other people that could be in danger but at the same time maybe she kind of did. Being a random protector mage of the people was never something she cared about. The angel was losing the debate and not even the spirit of the holiday season earned points. But wait! If that Santa did start being a danger to society maybe she'd get some kind of payment for helping put him down. It wasn't like she'd truly be in danger, right? She was awesome and Diana was there, who was also awesome. What was there really to worry about? Plus, going along with Diana's plan could count as a present seeing as Alia just realized she hadn't gotten her anything. Those were a couple of winning arguments for the shoulder angel.

Aliarey put a hand on her hip and leaned into it while sighing. Shoulder angel it was. "Okay, fine. We'll hang around and be a couple of heroines if things get crazy. The crowd will probably scatter if the guy starts biting people so using my magic shouldn't be an issue." That was, after all, an important factor. Most of her magic wasn't exactly safe to use around innocent people. Using it during a parade wasn't ideal at all.

In the background the parade music shifted to the familiar Santa Claus Is Coming To Town. That had to be a sign. "We should get going. This isn't much of a plan, but since when do we make one anyway?" If they were lucky it was all an overreaction and all they'd be doing is watching a boring parade with a weird Santa.

With that said, Aliarey began to walk towards the loud music and cheering crowd. Well, cheering until they got a look at the one sitting on the sleigh and the reindeer that pulled it. A lot more reactions mixed into the noise. So far nothing much more than that happened. That at least gave the pair of blondes time to get there.

(Word Count: 424
Aliarey Total: 2113
Thread Total: 3503)

Enemy Info:

Diana could tell that her friend was reluctant to join her in watching over the parade in case the Santa imposter decided to spread his warped version of holiday cheer. However, just a few years ago the green-eyed blonde would have shared her friend's attitude. Back then she would have required a hefty payment before taking the risk of fighting the entity Aliarey had described, but after leaving her former trade behind her Diana was willing to do the right thing even if there was no money in it for her.

"Thank you, Aliarey." Diana sincerely thanked her friend for agreeing to her request. While Diana probably could have handled the Santa imposter by herself she appreciated having Aliarey's particular brand of magic on her side. The green-eyed blonde's magic consisted mostly of spells that could target only one opponent at a time, but she had a few for taking on multiple opponents if the need arose. However, she wanted Aliarey with her because the blue-eyed blonde had both a magic that was good at crowd control and was a good source of moral support when times got tough.

"I have magic that is best suited for single opponents and a homing spell, so precision is not quite as much of a concern for me. Between the two of us we should be able to take care of this unusual Santa if he attacks the crowd." Diana voiced confidence in their chances of success despite there not being an official plan of action. Thinking on one's feet tended to work out well for the two blondes because they were not bound to a plan and thus did not freeze up if a part of the plan did not work or if unexpected complications suddenly popped up. Since their approach had worked so far Diana saw no reason to change it, so she decided not to introduce a last-second complication by trying to come up with a grand plan.

The two blondes walked towards the parade area with Aliarey in the lead and Diana heard a Christmas classic playing. As she walked she hoped that luck would be with them and they would be able to get good places from which to observe the odd figure posing as Santa. While Diana was not one to always bank on luck being on their side, more often than not things tended to work out for them. With that in mind Diana mentally prepared herself for possible combat and continued to follow her friend towards the mass of people gathered along the parade route.

[Post Word Count: 430]
[Diana's Word Count: 1,820]
[Total Word Count: 3,933]

"Blonde Ambition's got this!" Aliarey told Diana with a grin and a thumbs up. Diana had thanked her but she knew that the green-eyed version of the team likely had an idea that she was helping for selfish reasons. For the most part anyway. It still felt good to be thanked for it though. "Now to save the day!" With that said, Aliarey began her march to the parade to find Santa's evil twin and keep an eye on him.

The pair of blondes may have saved time by not coming up with a plan but it still wasn't quite fast enough. A monstrous roar drowned out the music of the parade. Everything stopped. The music, the flow of the parade, the now stunned crowd. The silence was broken as the alternate universe Santa stood up and exited the sleigh. As his heavy footsteps took him towards the front and past the horror-themed reindeer he spoke to his audience. "Make a list. Check it twice. Find out who's naughty or nice." His voice was deep, threatening, and matched all too well his monstrous appearance. "All naughty."

Aliarey didn't quite know the order of events that happened next. It had all happened so fast and she wasn't close enough to make out all of the details. Even what was said after didn't stick in her mind. People screamed and scattered as the reindeer took off, somehow easily breaking their binds to the sleigh. The disgusting animals showed no mercy as they destroyed anything in their path, including people.

"Aw, hell. I knew it!" It figured she'd be right about a looming crisis. The worst part was she couldn't do anything about it. Too many people were running around her, even pushing as she stood still. She couldn't blame them since they were trying to escape but my god was it annoying when she was trying to get a good enough eye on the targets. Her turret magic was useless until they were all out of the way. Even the weapons that were capable of single shots were way too powerful to be used while in a moving and panicked crowd. The last thing she wanted was to get in major trouble for killing someone accidentally. She was a good shot but this was just ridiculous. "Mass teleportation item is so on the shopping list," she told herself while resisting the urge to yell at the morons in her way.

Her mind put together some ideas on what to do. A light flashed from her as she tapped into her requip magic and what was left behind was a jetpack strapped to her back. Another flash brought out a golden pistol from her magic storage. It technically wasn't a part of her magic but was still a powerful weapon on its own. It'd allow some control at the very least.

"Diana cover your eyes for a second!" Aliarey shouted as she rose into the air using her activated jetpack and took aim at the evil Santa. She fired a single shot that, upon impact, released a blinding light that spread far and wide. Sure she wanted to avoid using spells that covered an area but that one was harmless to everyone and everything. All it did was cause the vision of those affected to become blurred and distorted. The crowd slowed considerably as most stopped or got to the ground, but more importantly, the reindeer also stopped their terrorizing charge. The beasts wobbled and walked awkwardly in their blinded state. Some charged into buildings or unoccupied stands. They made for easy targets. As for the Santa, he growled in distress, angrily shouting more about how naughty they all were. She and Diana had a bit more time to put an end to it all before the spell faded.

"We don't have much time. Do what you do best!" Aliarey shouted down to her teammate as a way to let her know that it was safe to look. Hopefully, she got the warning and had not been blinded by the spell too.

(Word Count: 679
Aliarey Total: 2792
Thread Total: 4612)

A few moments had passed since Mr. Kris Kringle and his reindeer were blinded by the flare. Aliarey wasn't quite sure what Diana was doing. She was sure she was taking some of those things out but that was about it. Things were happening too quickly for Alia to keep track of her friend. The most she could do was make sure she wasn't in her line of sight as she continued to use Goldbrand to take out a few of the reindeer.

The blinding effect was wearing off. It wasn't too hard to tell that much considering everyone was coming back to their senses and moving again. Thankfully the crowd was getting far enough away that Alia thought it was a good idea to use her turrets. Finally. Getting rid of enemies with those was so much easier and effective.

Two discs connected to her magic appeared in her free hand at her will. The blonde tossed them and upon hitting the ground they formed into two different turrets. One was her favorite. A simple but powerful turret with a gatling gun. The thing went to work immediately, firing upon the reindeer as it spun. The second turret was one that may have been a bit much but Aliarey wasn't taking any chances with the evil Santa. From the disc a turret with a large gun formed. It began to charge, collecting energy, and after a few seconds, it fired a blast of energy aimed directly at Kris Kringle. He was obliterated, dispersing into magic particles and leaving no body behind. The bodies of the reindeer also disappeared at his end.

Aliarey waited, using her jetpack to remain in the air. Nothing else happened so she could only assume that it really was over. No more evil Santa and accompanying reindeer. Of course, no more parade too. The woman lowered herself back onto the ground and dismissed all of her weapons and jetpack. She supposed she may as well try and convince Diana to head to another town for holiday celebratory activities. It was very unlikely there'd be much fun to be had after all of that.

(Word Count: 358
Thread Total: 4970)