Festival: Charity Date Auction

There are rare times when both Mori and Gwen agree on an idea. This is one of those times, when Gwen thinks it is a great idea to help out the Red Chain. Even better she's talked both Uther and Morri into helping host the whole affair, so it would begin with the stage being empty and both of her parents there in a suit and Morri is in some sort of gown, that's more modest than normal.

"WELCOME TO the Red Chain charity auction I hope all you singles are ready for a good time!" Morri then chips in.

"THATS RIGHT! Hopefully, we can help find some of you're single some love and get you off my wall wouldn't that be nice?!"

The stage is set with some strange set up it almost looks like someone was trying to replicate ... a char gen or status menu somehow.

The question is where is Gwen? She's not out on stage just yet maybe she's not even the first one to come out, only time will tell.

Yeowang's presence at this festival is logical in light of her position with the Red Chain, though perhaps made more poignant by the lack of Jayu. Searching for him for two and a half years, finding him earlier this year, and then his subsequent recent disappearance have made her life a roller coaster, but she's here as chief operating officer of the Red Chain, and her personal feelings have to be set aside for the moment. There has been quite a large donation set aside in case Jayu /does/ show up, though. She covers the bases.

She is here now in a professional-looking skirt-suit-looking outfit with a greenish-blue blazer and skirt, with a ruffled white blouse and low heeled black leather boots. A dark brown fur-lined cloak wraps her against the February weather, and her hair is coiled atop her head in a large bun, with a thin tail falling down her back. Fur gloves cover her hands as she holds a warm stone between them and watches the official festivities kick off.

She watches the official proceedings proceed without comment, nodding thoughtfully to herself from time to time, though her mood is clearly not in synch with the mood of the festival.

    Fuka waits 'backstage' as it were, running fingers lightly over a mock-up of the enchantment she engraved into the frame fronting the stage. The one that stores a simple light illusion for participants, displaying a text overlay in fancy neon with their fight statistics listed for all to see. Well, theoretically at least. It's not like anyone sat down and checked over what any given participant entered in for their own display. They could write literally anything on the hand-held demo screen and have it flashed onto the screen overlay for the entire audience to see. How very scandalous! The very idea! Hopefully Morri didn't get in and override anyone's text. Fuka's pretty sure she couldn't, but then this was an off-the-cuff enchantment, not something she'd developed in a rigorous and well-tested program while sleep-deprived and fuelled by caffiene.

    As to Fuka's outfit, well, she's dressed in pink. Not a typical colour for her. Her hair's done fancy, and she's wearing a tiara and blue baubles and white elbow-length gloves and a floofy dress. Very girly indeed, suspiciously so given her normal look. "Aaaaand... there we go! Someone get out there and show them what your momma gave you!" Fuka cheers from backstage. "Especially if your momma's Morri because then that's probably literal!"

Shiruba shoots Fukaziroh a look, and deadpans "If I was using what my earthly momma gave me I wouldn't have anything to be here with." Pause. "Neat trick with the display though."

Then she glances back at the sizable audience that's gathered. Her tail flicks a few times anxiously. She is very much not accustomed to putting herself 'on display' like this. "... Someone else start." It's not cold feet, she just doesn't want to go first. The massive meal Gwen bribed her with to do this didn't cover being the first piece of eyecandy. Nor does she really know what to do, say, act, ect.

Uta, today, seems to have foregone the kung-fu part of her job description, and have leaned completely into the 'nurse' part. At least so far: she's still wearing a nurse uniform, but it's a rather more elegant one than usual: a proper skirt, double-breasted lapel with round red buttons, poofy sleeves, gloves, and of course, the nurse's cap. Hats are important. All of this trimmed with a metallic red chain motif.

This, at least, is what she's showed up at the event with. Whether she's going to keep it or change when it's time to go up for auction, is anyone's guess.

"...Which one, Fuka?", asks Uta, who is standing next to her pink-clad friend. "I have been adopted by so many people that you'll have to be more specific."

    Fuka grins at various friends' objections, her expression playful and perhaps a little feral. Not at all princess-y in fact. "Pick one, Songbird! Or just go out there and be yourself. You hardly need anyone else promoting you, I'm sure the audience'll just want to eat you right up as you are~" she claims. "I mean, candystriper! It's perfectly delicious!"

    Maybe Fuka's a little nervous too. Rather than brashly proceeding, she looks over at Shiruba instead. "Well not your *actual* mother of course. It's a figure of speech! You can go out and shake your tail instead!" she says, still grinning. "I know that'd make ME bid. It's a very nice tail, and everyone loves to see a happy little tail wagging!"

Yeowang watches the proceedings thoughtfully, sighing at the socially awkward nature of some gamers. Jump face first into a pit of zombies, but earnest affection and the threat of personal interaction makes them nervous. She, of course, doesn't suffer from social awkwardness, but perhaps the opposite, having been raised from childhood to be assertive and, well, pushy at times. "Is the order of you going out not set already?" she asks the candidates? Fuka, who she wouldn't expect nervousness from, is even coming across nervy. Well, she's probably the most forward of the group, at least in general, so...

If no one else will go out, Yeowang will, and she calls out to the crowd, "Good afternoon, everyone!" She's got a voice that at least seems used to public address. "I hope you're all looking forward to our Date Auction. The benefits go to the Red Chain, and so to everyone, so please bid generously. And without further ado, Fukaziroh, won't you please come out and let them see out first date?"

"I guess I could. But as Shiruba points out..." she gestures towards her friend. "...None of this is due to my pre-apocalypse mother," she says, as she, with open palms, points down at her... avatar? Body? There's no telling what is actually is, at this point. The mystery remains thick.

"...In fact, this is what character generation gave me, which means... character generation is technically my mother in this world?" She frowns. And then shakes her head. "That's weird."

She flicks her menu open, and navigates through it, before raising her head again and noticing the stage set up to look like, you guessed it, a sort of character generation. "Oh, that reminds me of my mother... and I have no idea how."

Gwen is backstage too but one can only guess what she'll be wearing when she goes out, due to who knows how many outfits she has stored away in her personal inventory, right? She looks at Shiruba and Fuka with a grin on her face.

"Oh come on you're both lovely, Where is the confident hunter now Shiruba?!"

She looks to Uta and she laughs for a moment.

"You are Shiruba level adopted..."

Given Morri nearly or may have got into a fight with Shiruba's parents over her treatment.

Yeowang heads out and gets the show rolling starting with being the first one out.

Morri and Uthger watch approvingly as Uther speaks up.

"And so we now have the tiny bomber the mistress of the thunder axe the lady who proves hot things come in small packages! Fukaziroh!!!!!!"

"That may be true," her tail does tend to draw a lot of attention. "But this isn't a hunting matter" Then Shiruba pauses. Fuka is busy with her display thing. Uta is having a moment of decision paralysis, going off on a tangent, and it seems like a lot of the other contestants are having difficulty getting prepared. Fortunately Yeowang gets the show rolling like a good organizer and calls Yukaziroh out first.

Followed by a sigh as she runs a hand back through her hair, which for once in a long while is actually properly styled, the large poof in the back bobbing almost like a second tail with her movements. In the end her desire to support her friends wins out over her own anxiety, and she adds to the applause the fiesty axegirl is certain to be getting.

Not being first is out of the way, certainly she won't have any farther issues. Hopefully.

    Fuka isn't nervous, not really. She just is more interested in promoting her friends than she is in taking the stage herself! Her actually going on stage, well, that's going to be fun. Also an opportunity to joke around. Not something to take too seriously. The actual bidding, well, that's another matter. Fuka's looking forward to bidding on her friends, but hopes she manages to get through the bids on herself with some fair good-natured play rather than expectations of anyone actually seriously considering dating her.

    Still, Yeowang calls her out, then the Pantdragons make it official. Fuka rolls her eyes, then nods. "Watch and learn, ladies!" she grins, and struts out. Well, mostly struts. As much as you can when wearing princess pumps and aren't exactly used to it. Fuka's tough, but she's not the most graceful of adventurers! At least she's not actually clumsy.

    Up on the stage, 'Princess Peach' appears with the words struck through with a broad line, replaced by 'Damsel of Decavolts' followed by 'Fukaziroh' and a handful of stats that might come up in a video game, except Fukaed somewhat by some being outright lies. Like a Charm stat of 999, and her bust stat somehow sneaking into there and being super obviously a massive exaggeration. Like, extremely massive. Moreso than Gwen, well over a foot taller than she is.

    "Heeeeey everybody! You all know me, probably! Well let me tell you why you should bid on me! Because it's for charity!" Fuka grins, and turns to walk off the stage. Abruptly she stops, looking back. "Just kidding. Okay so, what you probably don't know is I was suuuuuper popular in the previous life, so I've got a looooot of dating experience." Fuka claims. This is rare, since she rarely talks about the other life. At all. And it might not be wholly true either. Her grin's broad enough to signal she might be exaggerating or outright lying for fun.

    "Let me tell you though, almost every one of those dates was a COMPLETE disaster!" Fuka claims, still grinning. Possibly exaggerating. Or possibly just wanting people to assume she's joking. "So if you do date me, you stand a strong possibility of being my best date ever! Won't that be something worth paying for?! And hey, I might not be all that serious..." she pauses, no doubt waiting for catcalls. "... But you know I'll be fun!" she adds, striking a victory pose.

Yeowang looks on appreciatively as Uther comes up and adds to the hype. Clearly he knows Fuka better than she does, and she appreciates the color commentary. She smiles as Fuka steps up on stage, smiling to the smaller girl and offering a thumb's up of encouragement. "And here we have our first date!" she calls out, and reads off a couple of the canned statistics that the contestants themselves entered. "Fuka, our lovely leadoff date, let's hear how much you all want to go on a date with her?"

There is a cheer for Fuka, and the bidding begins slowly at first as the bidders, both players and Landers, don't seem entirely comfortable with the process, but Yeowang seems to handle it smoothly, subly driving up the bidding as she hypes Fuka, and Fuka hypes herself, and tries to encourage everyone. "Wow, look at that," she says with a smile as the bids start coming in more steadily and things pick up. "Will /you/," she asks the audience in general, "step up to be Fuka's best date ever?"

Over the audience's boisterous cheering and laughing, a certain stage magician in a top hat and a goatee projects his voice from the back of the room, "Don't sell yourself short! I'm sure there'll be plenty of people who will rise to the challenge!", Shenmi smirks. "In fact, as good as Bao is in general, I -do- need a different assistant for the number of the woman sawed in half. If you will join me, I'll just have to find the other half!"

Gwen looks to Shiruba for a moment "Dating totally is a hunting matter!" She looks at Shiruba grins and sets a hand on Shiruba's shoulder. "Don't make me push you out there mmmm?"

Meanwhile Fuka out on stage and Morri raises an eyebrow she knows next to nothing about Fuka before she arrived in ETO after all. Then again there isn't much about Morri known outside of the Pendragons and those they have adopted.

With a grin on her face she'll pick Shiruba up and move to pick up Shiruba move out to the stage exit and will shove Shiruba out on to the stage.

Morri speaks up this time "And here comes my lovely daughter Shiruba! The mighty huntress maybe she'll hunt down your heart or will you catch her's?!"

    Fuka departs the stage, cackling as Shenmi calls out, clearly not upset at the banter. "Just so long as your expectations aren't too high!" she replies. "Even you can make a bid! You DO have money right?" she asks, over one shoulder, as she departs. Okay, now to see Shiba, and the rest of her friends as well. No regrets going out and making a fool of herself! She likes making a fool of herself after all.

Backstage or off to the side or WHATEVER, Thalis finishes her minor primping. She doublechecks the buckles on her leather corset, makes sure her skirt isn't -too- short (just short enough), and that her long coat drapes over her shoulders in the perfectly dramatic fashion.

She peers into a handy mirror, making sure her light makeup is good, and at this point, she simply waits her turn!

Yeowang smirks as Fuka departs the stage after the good-natured exchange. That does seem to have broken the ice, as it were, and she will wave another auctionee onstage. "Who do we have next?" she asks Uther dramatically, "I'll bet it's someone great!" She looks off into the wings, and waits to see who will step out? "Surely one of our adventurer heroes waiting to meet that special someone?"

"It's not that kind of hunting," Shiruba snarks back. "Probably the one kind of hunting I don't have experience wi-hey!" But it's a moot point as Gwen takes advantage of being the Big Sister in more way than one, and literally putting her on-stage. She's going to get an earful for that. Later.

To her credit, Shiruba has gotten use to being in front of large groups of people. She just didn't want to be the one to go first, with no idea what to do, and make a fool out of herself (Because Fuka already did). And Morri... actually behaving (for her) not making it all awkward and weird.

Gwen would of been pleased to see Shiruba is wearing one of the outfits she made for her, the dress for more formal occasions. Colored in the shades of green that would typically be used in forest camoflague, with decorations of ivy vines and leaves coiled about that give the sleek fit to the form an elven touch as well to farther impress the forest motif. As well as paying respect to her being a ranger, with the left shoulder and arm-sleeve modeled in a stylish rendition of the covering and brace archers wear to protect and support their arm while bowhunting. Her hair was fixed up with it's usual bleached bone hairpins, but little green ribbons to match the esemblem have been tied to them for a flourish.

She does manage to make a bit of a show of it, if unintentionally, as she walks about the stage. The swish of her tail does indeed accent her stride to draw attention to it, the sway a natural part of it. One of the finest Hunters in Yamato wasn't the only thing that could be said about her. She's also a moderator for one of the three main Alliances. One of the most dangerous Ranged combantants out there. Fluffy and easy on the eyes.

Shiruba is just too modest to say anything herself, even when put on the spot, but she's more of an act than talk kind of person anyways. This is her being herself and not trying to act it up just to get more notice.

"That was great, Fuka!", Uta exclaims, over the of the cheering of the audience, a noisy commotion of overlapping voices among which one can pick up sentences like "Come back!" and "I think she's funny", and "I'm gonna bid on her!", "Challenge accepted!", and "What do you mean she isn't the real Princess Peach?".

"I'm sure you'll sell like hotcakes! I mean, like a hotcake. Singular. Since there is... only one of you? Which means we won't be able to sell many of you, but we should be able to sell you pretty quickly. Hopefully for a good price! Because of the laws of supply and demand."

As Shiruba steps onto the stage, the audience explodes once again! This time, with wolf whitles, of course. And lots of "Aroooo"s.

"Its time you got some Shiruba!" Gwen notes from back stage.

Uther meanwhile adopts a faux British accent "Here we have the wild she wolf out stalking for prey or perhaps something more. Here in her natural environment. This demure display may be simply a lure for her prey! So will you be the hunter or the hunted with her!?"

Shiruba manages to make a show of her presence on stage, despite not being the sort to show off. The commentary from Morri and Uther helps, though he gets a bit of a look for that attempt at the accent. She works with it though, swishing her tail and striking a pose mimicking drawing and firing her bow. Then finally bowing, and exiting herself from the stage.

That wasn't all that bad... not that she'd want to do it too often repeatedly. But you guys got her to strut at least a little bit, it's an improvement!

    Fuka grins in response to Uta's praise. Being herself comes naturally, and she didn't feel any mean-spiritedness out of the audience. Her cheeks are a little flushed, but then they often are. Perhaps a little more than usual though, right now. "I'd say a short stack of hot cakes but yes there's only one of me. Alas." muses Fukaziroh. "I know I'd bid on me. I'll have to make up for some of you amazing people somehow!" she grins. And speaking of which, she lets out an aroo followed by a raunchy wolf whistle in appreciation of Shiruba.

    She's not the only one, though it's unlikely anyone else is disrespectful enough to actually whistle like Fuka does. "Hunter or hunted? Might be fun to find out!" one audience member cracks wise, to some degree of laughter and agreement.

"Buy her dinner! She's very food motivated!", Uta helpfully yells at the audience from Backstage as Shiruba walks out.

Back to Fuka, Uta offers, "...heck, I'd bid on you if... you know...", she trail off, probably referring to when, in the past, Uta revealed to Fuka that she couldn't bring herself to take part in a same-sex date. Baroness Wake, she is not.

"H-...hi!", Uta says as she timidly steps onto the stage, wringing her hands. Her wings are flattened against her back, and she keeps shifting weight from one foot to the other.

Uta's stat sheet shows the correct character picture, but reads simply "CLIPPY, HOW DO I SET MY STATS?" over and over, except for the last line, which reads "CLIPPY, HOW DO I SET MY STATS, PLEASE?"

And yes, of course she's blushing a lot.

"I- I am sure we all know how important it is to be here tonight to help for a greater cause. The Red Chain. See, one of the reasons I think I should be purchased is that I am perfectly on brand for the event. I also am skilled in all things musical! If you've always dremaed of a Broadway style date, we can arrange that! Although we might need someone else to man the musical instruments. It's a bit hard to play a whole ensemble while engaging in a dance number over inn tables. I might manage a single instrument, possibly, but that'll severely limit the range of potential dance moves. Also, I strongly advise against a piano. Or a pipe organ. Do we even have pipe organs in this world?", she wonders, looking around. "In any case. I am also passionate about books, so if you're into library dates, that's fine too! We might have a bit of an issue breaking into a Broadway number there. You know, etiquette. Oh, also, if you want a Broadway number at the inn, we should probably notify the owners in advance. They might not appreciate it as a surprise."

She leans over, and whispers, "Oh, and if the date goes really well, after the dinner and entertainment, which might or might not coincide due to the potential Broadway nature of the whole thing, I might take you to my place and show you my slime collection!" Her wide smile turns to panic as she wingflails "...Wait! No! For full disclosure, I mean that, like, literally! It's not a euphemism for anything or anything of the sort! I /literally/ collect slimes! And will point to each one of them and tell you interesting fact about them! Like the "Slime Shadey" the Dark Slime, or "Gookaziroh" the exploding slime, or-" She stops. "I... uh... I really like slimes. Yes. Anyway, I think that's all. Have I forgotten anything?" She looks up and away, and taps her lips multiple times. "Oh, right!", she finally exclaims, punching her fist.

She bows to the audience, and offers, "My name is Uta Furore, Aerialist, musical kung-fu nurse. Pleased to meet you!"

Well it's time Gwen's turn to head on out on the stage of history. What will Gwen be wearing given the wide array of outfits she carries at all times? Not even those closest to her could guess. Well everyone is about to find out. Given that nature is to get attention and bids Gwen makes up her mind, she'll strut out on stage. She's wearing her mystic knight outfit she's prone to using the high highs, boots long long-sleeved top that surprisingly shows thing off well enough as she struts out on stage with a big old grin on her face.

"I'm Gwen Pendragon and first I want to thank Uta for her wonderful ideas in setting off this whole state of affairs. For those of you who do not know me I'm one of the best tailors in Yamato eager adventuers amature cook and a big fan of learning all sorts of fun and new things. If you want a date that will be an adventure please bid on me!"

https://i.imgur.com/DSsOOi6.jpg

    Fuka's aware of Uta's lifestyle choices when it comes to dating, and doesn't mind at all. She'd happily date someone like Uta herself, but she's willing to respect the line between going out as friends and going out with the intent for romance. Truth to tell she has her own preferences when it comes to romance but ... well, this dating isn't about that. And she's totally going to bid on Uta, yes. She's not the only one though, because let's face it Uta's adorable. Or adorkable. And let's face it as well, the people who got caught playing a VRMMO on New Years as the Apocalypse happened are mostly dorks as well!

    "Oh yeah, everyone! Uta is the one who came up with all the best ideas for this and she's as smart as she is cute!" Fuka bellows from offstage, her voice cutting through. Possibly because she's hacked into the local sound system or possibly because she's just loud. "Bid high or I'm going to beat you all!" she promises. Not clarifying whether she means to beat them on their bids or just, you know, beat them.

    But now it's Gwen's turn to strut her stuff. And the statuesque sylph definitely has talent. Er, that is to say, stage presence. Fuka catcalls from the side as well. "Shake what your momma gave you!" she suggests, looking aside to Shiruba for approval. Because, after all, Gwen's momma is right here.

Shiruba leans against a wall once she's off-stage to catch her breath and settle the little bit of anxiety she had left. Over all, that went well... honestly she was more worried about what Morri might do than the crowd, but her adoptive motherly figure behaved herself. At least for Morri.

She eventually walks back to the side of the stage, just to join the applause and even add a sharp "Aroo!" for Uta. Because it wouldn't be a complete scene if the resident wolfgirl didn't add at least one wolf whistle/howl.

Uta, as she leaves the stage, hides her face in her hand at all the mentions of how this was her idea. She -could- mention that the date auction was not her idea, and that the whole point of bringing up the chargen interface was as part of a list of things she was expecting Gwen would have done, and would have preferred Gwen not to do, but she does have the Etiquette skill, and decides that protesting would only make things worse. She therefore disappears backstage, blushing at Fuka's incitation of the audience.

"Bid on Gwen! You won't regret it! She's like a big sister to me! In that she's very sisterly and... very... big."

Ok, it seems like the experience has broken Uta's brain. Perhaps someone should suggest she gets some rest.

    Merek is taking the time to look around, while it looks like he will also walk onto the stage, and when he has been properly listed, he will walk away to find a place to relax. It's then that he will take the time to relax. He will likely bid while he is a candidate.

    Merek adds for the audience on his way up, "Merek, I reinvented coffee and all that. I uh... Like walks on the moonlight beach," he says. The man nods a little bit, he does not look like there is really a lot to say.

    Fuka's grinning like a madwoman, which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows her. In this case it's because she's having fun... which should come as no surprise to anyone who knows her. Specifically friends and cool people are doing friendly and cool things, and it's gone even better than she'd hoped!

    The little blonde, wearing what looks like a Princess Peach cosplay as much as anything else, flashes a thumbs-up and grin to Shiruba then turns to see who's next. Who's next, it turns out, is a familiar face, and the first male participant! "Oh wow, you invented coffee?" Fuka asks. "I kinda want to marry you now!" she announces, to the laughs and catcalls of some of the audience. "Wait your turn!" shouts one. "Bid for it!" shouts another. To which Fuka just continues to grin and catcalls right back. "What else do you like to do in moonlight~?" she presses.

    Merek will think about the question, and nods a little bit to Fuka, "I like exploring the world and... Making new friends." Then he smiles, "I don't really think there is all that much to me, I am here to support the charity and make new friends."

    "That's right!" insists Fuka, sighing dramatically. "You're here to support the charity, which means making yourself look worth buying!" she claims.

    Still, she's not unmoved. Making friends and exploring the world? Fuka does enjoy those things. And so do a few others in the audience. Moonlight strolls? Coffee? It may not be exciting, but some people aren't looking for excitement. "I hope someone decides to pay for you! Here we go ladies, a real fixer-upper! The discoverer of coffee and all-around expert in the, uh... *brewing* arts if you know what I mean!" Fuka claims, not without some exasperated fondness.

Thalia FINALLY takes her turn on the stage. Her boots click as she mounts the stairs and moves towards the front, her coat nearly dragging on the floor behind her. She smiles widely, her porple eyes glinting.

"Hello you lucky people with deep pockets! I'm Thalia and there are three reasons you should bid on me. One, I'm cute. Two, I'm -fantastic- DPS. And three..."

She trails off, reaching up to whip the long coat off and she tosses it in a dramatic fashion. She steps closer to the front of the stage, hands on her hips, showing off her edgy and, well, possibly right on the edge of propriety outfit. It's like Morri dressed her. The overbust corset coupled with the boots and miniskirt are actively flirtatous and designed to attract attention.

"I'm -really- cute. So don't spare your coin purses. Give your money to charity, and take me on a date! Who knows where we'll go? All I guarantee is it'll be ~fun~!"

She flounces off the stage, scooping to pick up her coat as she leaves. ... Somebody probably looked up her skirt as she did so. Perverts.

    Fuka does have a thing for cute girls. And more to the point, she has a thing for idols. And for those who know how to flirt and have fun. She cheers Thalia on, her cheering getting somewhat raucious when Thalia whips her coat off. Hey she can appreciate a good show! She's not the most pervy member of the audience either. One man yells "Take it ALL off!" in a mostly playful manner, getting tackled down by his companions, one of them yelling "That's why you can't get any dates you moron!"

    Still, it's all in good fun. Isn't it?

As she steps off the stage, she calls out to the thirsty fellow in the audience.

"That costs -EXTRA-!"

How did she let Uta talk her into this? Oh yes, Uta just hits the little sister, cute puppy or Kitton buttons pretty hard. That's how Miho is here, she's in a kimono at the moment it's a simple coloured one matching her scales and should get people's attention given how often she's seen in combat gear or forge gear. Either way, she walks out on the catwalk with an umbrella over one shoulder open. She looks out across the crown and seems a bit sheepish.

"I'm Miho Mithrilscale and while many of you use my creations from swords to hammers, perhaps we could start to forge a good time and maybe something more!"

Goldenblade has been brought around to help promote this event, and so she will come up and say a few words, at least she will after the shouting stops. She does bring a bit of showmanship to the proceedings, not so much by her actions, but by her fame as a Westeland officer and the things she's done to support Yamato. Also, she'd inadvertentently ground out all the quests that give you reputation with all the various Yamato factions, so she's got a very good reputation and is known throughout Yamato.

She begins, "I hope you all are having a good time?" This is met with cheers and shouting. "I want you all to know, that we're not just celebrating lovers, but all the new friends and old friends who support us and make our lives richer for their presence. I hope you will all be our friends and we can all make our lives richer by celebrating together." This seems to meet with audience approval as well.

    Seated in the audience, mostly staying quiet - she already /has/ a girlfriend, after all - Miyako simply watches the show. She's even got a nice new outfit for the occasion, with black leather pants, matching gold-chased boots and tunic, and to top it all off a teal-and-gold haori and cape combination. It'll look great when she's on-stage herself, she hopes.

    She /was/ going to just toss a pile of cash in the kitty after it was all over, with no plans whatsoever to actually bid on any of the prospective dates. But, her eyes do keep getting drawn to the prospects as they introduce themselves, and eventually she makes her choice.

    Why -not- drag another fellow Spriggan into some fun-times, after all? And Thalia -is-, indeed, quite cute. And Kotono likes her too....

"I could use more beer, but otherwise it's been good so far!", shouts Shenmi from the audience. Who is met with the GLARES of some Salamanders. The Conjurer blinks at them "...What?", he asks. "Do you -know- who that is?", one says, with... is that reverence? It totally is reverence. "Uh..." shenmi blinks. "That's... Goldenblade?" What's so special about her? As far as he knows, they went on a few quests togeher, hung out at social gatherings....

"The One and Only Goldenblade!", almost whispers another Salamander. His volume lowers even further when he gets to the name, as if uttering it too loudly might upset the order of the Universe. "...Please elaborate."

Goldenblade laughs as Shenmi doesn't share the Landers' reverence for her, but she'll say to the audience, "That's fine, and I /have/ gone on adventures and quests with this gentleman, and we've supported one another as companions ought. So he's a man of good character and stalwart intent, and worthy of ...your honor and respect." She's not used to speeches, and this one's totally off the cuff. She knows the sorts of things that ought to be said, but coming up with them and saying them at the right time is a challenge. On the other hand, the audience is favorable in general and likely to go along with nearly anything she says, as long as she keeps it pretty normal. But her normal is 1962, so it doesn't exactly cross with today, but it seems it's close enough.

    Fuka peers over at Goldenblade when she says this. "Gentleman?" she asks dubiously. "Well, at least he takes good care of his bun bun, our Baoman." she says dismissively. Good character probably isn't a thing here, either for Shenmi or... well, not for Fuka either. As for respect, well, why would Fuka do that? "And he has fair tastes in entertainment I guess!" she adds, not entirely grudgingly.

Goldenblade smirks as Fuka interjects reality into the discussion. Goldenblade is from the generation that taught their kids, 'If you can't say something nice, don't say anything,' and she seems to be going with that sentiment. That's a very Japanese feeling in any event, and at work, the need to extemporize meaningless and vague praise when the situation arises is a life skill. Or it was in her day. Which contained no dinosaurs, no matter what her college-age grandkids claim.

The two Salamanders pull back and quietly gasp. "You... you know Goldenblade?"

"THE Goldenblade?", the other whispers, even lower.

"Yup. We go way back, The Goldenblade and I. Honor and respect and all that."

"Do you think... do you think you could..."

"...Introduce us?"

"Welllll....", shenmi wonders, sliding down the chair in a bit of a devil-may-care pose, while clasping his hands on his chest and rolling his eyes to look away. "I don't know... I suppose we could discuss this..." He glances back at the Salamanders, with a grin, "...over a good meal..."

"I'll let you know that I have the -best- tastes in entertainment!", Shenmi shouts back at Fuka, before returning to the Salamanders. "Which reminds me. Providing some form of quality entertainment after dinner would be really nice..."

Goldenblade sees she has armed Shenmi with more street cred than she had intended. Well, he seems to be managing all right and the Landers seem pleased, so she won't pursue that. Hopefully her brief praise for him won't come back and bite her too badly later. "I hope you all will be coming to the ball later after the day's festivities," she adds.

"There is a dance?!", Uta asks, surprised. "Who... who thought this was a good idea? Did... did they call it 'Ball and Chain'? Please tell me that they did not call it 'Ball and Chain...'"

After exchanging hushed words with the Salamanders, likely appointment details or something along those lines, Shenmi looks pleased with himself. "A ball, you say? Hmmm." Formal dances tend to have refreshments. And there's going plenty of people to entertain. That should be a good time. "I'm... considering joining in. Sounds like fun."

    "Please tell me they DID call it Ball and Chain!" Fuka cackles. She tries to sober up, but it's a hard challenge to meet. "Or maybe they called it Red Ball. It gives you wings! Or maybe Blue B..." she pauses, glancing over at Uta and grinning hard enough to make it clear she's up to something. "Anyways dancing is fun! Not as fun as karaoke, but still pretty good."

Goldenblade smiles to Uta and to Fuka, chuckles, and says, "No, it's not a 'ball and chain'. But I thought it would be nice if people could attend an actual formal ball to celebrate with their 'dates'. You kids probably never got to a lot of those sorts of events. They were much more of a big deal when I was growing up, and I enjoyed them, and since we don't have television yet, or really karaoke," she eyes Fuka, "I thuoght people might like a fun thing to do." Apparently singing along with bards doesn't count.

Some were talked into it, some were armstroned into others bribed. Not Llyn oh no she was not forced into it she just about pinned Uta to the floor in excitement to sign up for the date auction and so it's not too hard to get the Pirate Reporter out on stage it's clear she's having fun hell she's behaving a bit like a certain Morri in how she's showing off.

"Ahoy Captains of ships seeking love! I am Llyn! Pirate from the Palace Lands! I know someone out there would love to come aboard with me for an adventure-seeking Booty for us both!"

AT this she'll turn about heading to leave the stage and Morri is laughing at it all. Lynn keeps swaggering as she goes.

"We'll have to see who comes into port for me mmm Daiyu?"

Oh she will forever find new and inventive ways to make Daiyu uncomfortable it seems. Well, there are worse forms of revenge, right?

    While Fuka has no real connection with Llyn she does appreciate a bombastic (or bombtastic) delivery. Not to mention a cute woman. Not to mention puns and booty. "I'd ship that!" she cries out, almost sounding drunk. Wait has someone been letting the little sylph have alcohol?

Llyn turns about to look at Fuka and gives her a big old not so innocent grin as she looks the smaller Sylph over for a moment and she looks to Morri then gazes for Uta before she'll wave at the crowd one last time.

The seat next to Miyako is empty... for now anyway.

Then, in the blink of an eye, there's another Spriggan sitting there.

If you guessed it was Kotono, you're right.

"Sorry I'm late," She whispers to Miyako. "Don't ask what happened, please." She settles herself in, watching and waiting with a slight smirk on her face, although there's a hint of pain in her smile.

    Miyako nods to her partner and hands her a drink she's been saving. "Glad you finally made it, Ko-chan. I was about to start worrying."

    No, she wasn't. She'd already started.

    She waves down a passing waitron to send for some snacks for the pair while they wait to see how the bidding turns out.

Llyn has done her bit on stage and is looking very pleased with herself as she's leaning back on a wall back sage. She has some papers? Parchments? Whatever they are she's going over them for the moment with an amused look on her face. She flips to another page and mutters.

"Well this has been quite the eyefull today for everyone..."

Thalia flounces off the stage, coat draped over her arm, as her piece and posing and raw -sass- has been completed. She slips around behind the stage in the 'We're done but waiting for the money' area.

"Oh, hey," she says upon spotting Llyn. "You looked great up there!"

Llyn grins at Thaila "You looked great as well up there. We had to play thing up the thrister we get the bidders the more money we raise for the Red Chain right? Llyn's the name by the way and you are Thalia right? So you make most of your stuff? Get it as drops or buy it?"

"Play it up? Oh, not me. This is just how I am," she says with an impish grin. "I dress provocative, I act provocative because I like people looking at me. Whether it's because I am cute or stylish or impressive." She pauses, shrugging. "I crave any and all attention."

"As for my gear, most of this is drops and whatever I've been able to stitch together myself. I'm no Gwen, but I'm a passable tailor."

    Merek looks along to the people and nods a bit, though the man looks like he's waiting to see what all the others are doing for their work.

Llyn says "Nothing worse than only the gods notice you exist and maybe not even then." She smirks a bit. "Oh it's fun to get the attention isn't it. I'd never have dressed like this...back on earth."

She nods a little bit. "Still you do work nothing to be ashmed of and should show off!"