Day Out n' About

    Holidays. It was not something that Xander thought about really. Most of the times in real life he only knew such things were happening because of people he knew or people randomly reminding him. It was-- hard to track what was when and how when you had citizenship to two countries.

That was a ton of holidays to keep up with and honestly, somewhere as an adult, he just stopped tracking them. Maybe it was during his time before or maybe it was after a particular event in his life, but either way...

He had no clue what today was, till he walked into town and heard girls gossiping that he passed by. The dark scaled Salamander raised a brow, till he heard one say it: Valentine's day.

    At first he whispered it to himself and then his eyes went wide. "... Oh no." Then the Rune Knight of Holy Knightdom slid over to a few ladies and smiled gently, "Excuse me ma'ams. Did I hear right? Today is-- Valentine's day?"

    "It sure is!" One of the girls replied with a smile. "And then later on White Days, boy's like you get to treat us!" They giggled as they walked off.

    Xander one part did a soft sigh of relief, then muttered gently, "Right... Japan has /two/ days. One of the girls-- which is today... then the boys later. Right... Right." He then tapped his head gently. "... Keep it in your head this time."

    "Hey~ Xander~"

    The dark-scaled Salamander's introspective mutterings are interrupted by the familiar, cheerful voice calling out from... almost directly above him?

    Lo and behold, when he looks, there's a red-haired and -scaled Salamander there, crouched on the precarious balance of a pole that has the banner of a shop hanging from it. One elbow propped to an upraised knee, and chin propped onto the same arm's scaley knuckles. Tail idly sweeping from side to side slowly while he peers down at the other scaled man.

    "Everything alright down there?" Asks Atif once Xander has taken actual count of him. "It kinda looked like you were worrying about something reeeeaaallly important."

"You know, keeping track of these sort of things is important." Comes a familiar voice. Kita, the resident gothically dressed Imp is leaning against a wall, standing out a bit in her blue and black aesthetic amongst the livelier colors of reds and pinks. "Even if you don't have a girlfriend, there are usually some kind of in-game events associated with holidays. So it's worth keeping track of the dates."

She pushes herself off from the wall with her usual, lithe grace, approaching Xander with a grin on her features which shows off her slightly pointed Imp teeth. Teasingly, she walks right up to him, puts her hands onto his chest, looks up, blinks those seductive gray-blue eyes of hers, and...

Then shoves a small box at him. "Happy Valentine's day." She grins.

Then, she steps back, looking upwards, keeping her eyes slightly shielded by her witch-hat. "Friend of yours? I didn't know Salamanders traveled in packs."

    Xander peers up at Atif and is about to respond, but here comes Kita. The dark scaled one seems to be at a loss of words or unable to give a proper response beyond an odd, draconic-like rumble. When she hands him the box he releases a soft, "Thank you..."

    He holds the box and then motions up to Atif, "F-friend. Yes. He is, uh, my friend. Atif, this is Kita... Kita, Atif." Xander then looks at the box, rumbling again.

    Atif absolutely, positively gets the wrong idea while he watches Xander and Kita from his perch above. His eyes widen up a bit while Kita stalks up to Xander, and his own skin turns a bit red--

    Right up until the box is brought out. Right. That's what's going on.

    Calmed down enough almost immediately after, he presents a sunny smile down to Kita when he's introduced. "Hello!" He calls cheerfully, with one hand lifting with a little wiggle given from his fingers. "Nice to meet you!"

The sly girl gives a soft chuckle as she raises a hand to return the greeting to Atif. "The pleasure is all mine. Kita Blackthorne." She gives a proper introduction, then slips into a graceful sort of bow. The sort of bow that probably gives the high-perched Salamander more of a view of her dress than would normally be intended.

Then, she rises back up again, "What is it with Salamanders and being unnaturally handsome?" She asks, head cocked slightly. "It seems really unfair." Her tail twitches.

Then, she reaches out and pokes Xander in the arm. "Open it."

Inside the small package is a simple wooden frame, around a sketched drawing of Xander in a battle pose. "It's not much, but I figured it was better than buying sweets or burning something to a crisp trying to cook something."

    Thankfully Xander missed Atif getting the wrong idea, but it was easy to do. Kita had that way about her and Xander pretty much let her do that.

His fingers fidgeted with the box. His tail moving side to side nervously. If he was to dare close his eyes right now, even for a moment-- he would hear...

Xander shakes his head softly, trying to get his focus back to normal. "J-just this... holiday. Actually many holidays. To many holidays." He manages to get out, though he does look up at Atif, "Get down here will you!" He huffs out, trying to still find a means to recompose himself.

Then he mutters softly toward Kita, "... and you try tracking two different country holidays. You learn to ignore them as well." Though it was all deeper than that.

Though when Kita pokes him on the arm, he goes to open the box, though nervously. Only to spot the picture. He smiles warmly, though it shifts a little, before he smiles again. "Thank you Kita." He then closes the box. "They say a picture is worth a thousand words and perhaps in-in this case, a, um, thousand gifts!" He chuckles gently. "Y-yeah." Then ahems softly.

"A-as for us being handsome. I blame the scales. Its the scales. yep. Just scale things." He then goes to place the box in the inventory for safe keeping.

    "o/~ Nothing really matters, anyone can see o/~"

    "o/~ Nothing really matters o/~"

    "o/~ Nothing really matters... to meeeee.... o/~"

    And then, whispered, "...every way the wind blooooooooooooooooooooooows.... o/~"

    Uta finishes singing her song, accompanied by her tapping softly with her staff on a series of glass bottles, each filled to a different level with some kind of potion, as a musical accompaniment. Yes, she's been using her caduceus and a stand's merchandise on display as an impromptu musical instrument, every light tap on a bottle lighting up the tip of her stick with a colorful aura, and enveloped the corresponding bottle into a little glimmering cloud of magic.

    THe shopkeeper doesn't seem to mind, though: she even applauds, along with the nearby crowd.

    Bow left, bow right, bow center, straighten again. "That was amazing!" Uta exclaims to herself, taking long, deep breaths after what must have been a rather tiring performance. "I... I should probably keep the instrumental solo a little shorter next time, though."

    Bows done, she completely ignores the pile of coins that's been thrown on the floor next to her, and heads straight for where the group was. "Sorry, Kita, got distracted there for a moment. I-"

    She frowns.

    "...wait, Xander and Atif? I thought..." She turns to Kita. "...I know I can be distracted at times, but I'm positive it was /Gwen/ and /Kauchemar/ who were here a moment ago."

    Two things happen with Atif when it comes to Kita. One: He very visibly looks *away* from her while she's bowing like that, what with the realization of what his actual vantage point provided him with. Though it might not be as obvious to everyone else, the fierce blush on his face is. And two: He laughs akwardly at the mention of salamanders' pre-disposition to handsomness. "I, er-- I wouldn't know about that..." He mumbles sheepishly while scratching one scaley finger along a tan-skinned cheek.

    He perks up a bit again when Xander all but orders him to get down from his vertically-advantageous position. "O-...oh, alright." With that, he lets his weight tip over forward, and he goes plummeting down-- and forward, still, to send his body flipping around just so that he lands on his feet with a slight bend of his knees, tail momentarily pointed directly upwards.

    He elects not to comment on the interchange between Xander and Kita any further (probably jsut as much for his own sake as Xander's) -- and lo and behold, Uta appears with a convenient distraction!

    "Hey!" He calls to the approaching musician-spriggan, hand held up high and waving. "Uta, right? You..."

    Whatever words that were coming out drift off with some visible confusion, and his head cocks sideways in a manner that one would associate more with dogs than dragons. Or lizards, depending on how you view salamanders.

    "I don't know this Kauchemar person so I wouldn't know any better, but..." His head tips down, and he twists his spine from side to side to accomade getting a good look down at himself. "...Iiiii don't think I look like Gwen, at least? I mean, I have scales, I'm not as tall, I don't wear the same clothes and... you know... I'm not a woman."

"Why? I only live in one country." Kita replies, twitching her nose at Xander with a playful wink. "Besides, the only thing you have to worry about in Elder Tale is whatever holidays exist within the game. Got to grind those special events for glamours and bonus items." Yep, there is a gamer underneath all that hot goth librarian exterior.

"You're welcome." She states, and then seems to consider if scales are really the appealing part of Salamanders. "Hrm, maybe it is the scales. I might have to experiment." And that's the point she runs the back of her fingertips against the scales on his forearm. Tease.

"Oh, hey Uta." Distractions. Kita raises her hand away from the poor Salamander, offering her a wave of greeting. "And no, that was yesterday." Kauchemar was right, Uta is a bit of a space-case sometimes, it seems. "Were you here playing music all night?"

"Ahh, he comes down from on high." Kita smiles towards Atif, tipping her head towards him. "Kauchemar is a nightmare Were Fang. You definitely don't look like them." She confirms with a laugh. "Or Gwen for that matter."

    Xander peers over to Uta as she makes herself known, "One, nice singing." He gives her a thumbs up, ".. Secondly, yeah, he is missing the front load pillows, and there is some banana nuts down below I'm sure."

The dark scaled and skinned Salamander then points to the coins, "Also, shouldn't you pick up your tip?" He asks Uta raising a brow gently.

Then he growls lowly, "Also do I look like a horse? I mean, I can understand an /ass/, but I am lacking the parts myself and I'm fairly sure I'd look horrible--" he pauses and seems to think on that, "Actually no. I looked alright in a dress." Wait-what?

    Then suddenly Kita decides to 'experiment' and runs her hand along those smooth, obsidian black scales of his. He tsks, but there is a mischievous look in his eyes. Those gold, fiery draconic eyes getting that playful, almost devilish glint to them.

So soon, as Kita turns her attention away, he takes a claw and runs it very carefully along the arm of her exposed wing as he walks around, his tail flicking the back of her dress up. /Two/ can play this game!

Though his attention does turn to Atif, "By the way, how have you been holding up? Getting ready to be swarmed by ladies yet?" He says with a gentle laugh. "Or, like Kita suggested here, going to chase down those events?"

    "Atif! Right! Me!", the Spriggan replies to Atif's three words which include her name. "I know. That's why I was confused. You look nothing like either, so..."

    Kita gets nods and a bit of spacing out. "Glamours? Bonus items?", she finally asks, confused. "I have no idea of what a glamour is, but I am totally interested in this whole 'bonus item' thing. It sounds like 'free stuff', and I am totally into financial optimization."

    She flicks her menu open, and shimmers her staff away. "/Of course/ I haven't been playing all night! I may be easily distracted, but I am not /that/ distracted!"

    Doubtful, but let's continue.

    "No, I went to what counts as 'home', had as passable a night's sleep it is possible to have under the current circumstances, gathered my stuff, came back here, and was asked to give an encore by the stand owners who recognised me." Head turned abruptly. "Rigth. Tip!" She disappears for a moment, gathers the pile of coins, shares some with the shopkeepers she's been using the merchandise of as instruments, then walks back to the group. "...Nice to see you too, Xander," she replies, deadpan, at all those comments which, it would appear, she took as teasing directed at her. "You don't deserve it after all that mocking, but here you go. Catch!"

    Uta reaches into her pocket, pulls out a small glass bottle of Potion of Minor Healing, the size of a balled-up fist, and tosses it to Xander. "I hope you choke on that," she teases back, "but considering how its effect is exactly to cure that sort of thing, I will just have to chew on the irony."

    "Front load--" Is all Atif repeats of Xander's assessment on the similiarities (or lack thereof rather) between him and Gwen before he cuts himself off with an akward series of coughs.

    Instead, there's a quick smile flashed to Kita. "Well-- of course. I like being in high places, but, it... gets pretty akward to keep up conversations like that after a while, you know?"

    And then? Then he very politely turns to face the other way while Kita and Xander go about their routine that may or may not appear as some kind of courting dance to some people. Possibly including to Atif.

    "Huh?" He is, still, brought to turn his attention right back to the other salamander when he is addressed, and his tail twitches up briefly at the question. "...Eh. I don't really mind event-specific gear too much, personally," he confesses. "... And as for the other thing... well..." The usually-cheerful redhead ends up looking uncharacteristically self-conscious in that moment, and he peers off to the side while rubbing his fingertips along the back of his neck. "I kind of started fresh when the Expansion dropped, and... well, I kinda... Haven't really gotten to know anyone since then to... well, that kind of extent. So I don't think I have to worry about being chased down by anyone."

Kita raises a hand to lightly cover her mouth as she restrains a laugh. Xander's unique way of describing the difference between men and woman getting a twitch of her tail and an amused spark in her eyes. "Front load pillows..." She snickers.

The touch along the edge of her wing has it stetching out in response, a little shiver running down her spine. "No fair." The girl complains, "I'm supposed to be the one teasing you, not the other way around." Her own Impish tail swats at him. "And don't mention wearing a dress around Gwen, or you'll probably end up in one again before you know it. She's incorrigible."

"Glamours are basically fancy clothing they release during events. The event items are usually just food, or decorations, though." Kita looks around the decorations here in Alne, "I'm betting most of those will be at the event in Ninetails Dominion, though. As for me, I'd rather not bother with the travel and just have a quiet night in."

Then, her eyes flick to Atif, "Well, it's a shame that I didn't get to know you sooner. I'd have at least made you something. Though I don't chase." She smirks, "I am a flirt, though, so there's that."

"God damn it, Uta!" Jazz's slightly shrill (cute!!) voice comes from down the way and a frustrated Undine with long purple hair, a pointed witch's hat, tentacles hanging from her head, and a long black coat comes storming up to her.

It is, of course, Jazz.

"I am going to kick you in the damn shin. Do you EVER watch where you're going?" She seems a bit dirty, like someone took a tumble.

"YOU HIT ME IN THE FACE WITH YOUR STUPID WINGS!"

    Xander raises a brow and grins at Atif, "Is that so?" That grin does fade as Uta tosses him his gift. Which he catches it and looks over to the Spriggan, "Luv ya too, Uta." Then goes to place the bottle in his inventory.

The dark scaled Salamander laughs at Kita says 'No fair' and grins at her. "What comes around, goes around!" He says with a playful tone. Though he looks over to Atif once more. "Also don't mind this one," he motions to Kita, "She is a flirt, nothing more. Nothing less. Just means she sees you as a friend when she does! Besides," He places his hands behind his head. "She is taken by someone else and I do admit-- there are times I'm jealous of it."

    Then Xander hears Jazz's voice and glances over. "Look out, here comes the overly cute express." His tail twitches gently. "... You know. It's actually hard to take her seriously, cause she just sounds cuter the more angrier she gets." His head tilts gently.

Then he looks over to Uta, "Also how can you hit that poor innocent, cute being with your little wings. You monster!" He says placing his hands to the side of his face; Though he was in no way being serious.

    After all. This is Xander. If he was serious, someone probably would be getting stabbed or watching him him mentally suffer.

    "Hey guys!" Mizuki waves a bit tiredly. "How is it going?" She looks at Uta a bit concernedly, since the last time she saw her she had just had to deal with a rather large realization.

    Uta makes a 'wha?' sound at Xander, and spins abruptly just as Jazz is within wing-slapping-range. "Who- what- where?", she asks the exact moment a second wing impact sends the tiny Undine flying sideways; if she sounds cuter the angrier she gets, her cuteness is likely to be kicked up a few notches now.

    "...I see nobody?", concludes Uta with a shrug, and she returns to address Atif. "Oh, hey, you also got a friendship gift. Here.", she says, and she fishes another of those bottles from her pocket. "I've made these herbal medicines by hand, so that they taste real."

    Caveat emptor: she said /real/, not /good/. Truth in advertising.

    "Don't worry, Atif. People meet all the time here. Before you know it, you'll end up building a network of relationships which, when graphed as arcs-and-dots, will end up looking like a giant bowl of spaghetti and meatballs.

    She takes in Kita's explanation. "Hm. Still, there's hope we will get free stuff here in Alne as well, isn't there? I like free stuff. First of all, because it's stuff, and I like stuff. Second, it's free, and that makes it twice as good."

    To Mizuki, she turns and goes, "...Hi. I'm being a responsible member of the community and fulfilling my socially expected duty of giving out presents. How's it going for you?"

Jazz heard Xander's words, you know, and she was turning to make a rude gesture his way. This being Japan, she just points at him, as if to say, 'I will remember that you did this thing, you offensive person!' And the the wings clock her and she gets knocked down for not the first time today.

There is a frustrated sound from the ground. It happens to prove Xander correct.

    "Jazz! Are you okay?"

    Mizuki nods to Uta. "I'm... also doing that. Although I didn't get very many. I thought about trying to give gifts to absolutely everyone but decided it would be too much... sorry. So uh... things are going well?"

    Atif blinks once, twice, three times at Kita. As innocent as the words might otherwise be, there's still the faintest flush of color over his cheeks -- at least the olive tone makes it a little harder to perceive. "Ahah... It's really no big deal, don't worry about it..." He insists, with a quiet cough before Xander's words draw his attention.

    "I-- I wasn't assuming anything about anything," he mumbles in assurance at... something? Some kind of claim or another he must have htought was there in the other Salamander's words.

    "Oh!" With a measure of suprrise, he holds out his hands to catch the provided bottle of medicine, and then his tail shoulders droop a little, while his lips curve into a small smile. "...Thank you, Uta."

    His tail perks up high again when he hears the shrill yell of a certain Undine, and his eyes, widened up, turn to look back and forth between Uta and Jazz with a brief surge of worry.

    "A-...ah, come on, you know she isn't the type to do that on purpose," he offers to Jazz then, with a little akward wave of his hand. "It was just an acc--"

    Except then Jazz gets smacked in the face by wings all over again. This time, the red salamander yelps, and comes scuttering over to the Undine. "Are you okay?" He asks of her, while holding a hand down to her in offer of support... while strategically positioning himself standing in between her and Uta. For reasons.

    "OH! Hey! Mizuki!" The werefang gets a BIG wide smile from him, and an equally big and energetic wave.

The teasing Salamander is met with a look from the Imp, her eyes narrowing ever so slightly before she... just sticks her tongue out. It's a cute expression. "It's not my fault you Salamanders are fun to play with. But... guilty as charged." Her expression shifts into a grin which shows one fang in the process. "And yes, happily taken, thank you." She smirks. "Though, you could always sign up for the waiting list, just incase..."

And there is Jazz, walking right into the center of the group of people who seem to most often play into the whole 'cute fanclub' thing. Kita, on the other hand, does not. "Hey Jazz. You okay?"

"We can hope, but I'm probably just having a quiet night with my partner rather than hunting for game rewards." She shrugs, seeming indifferent either way. Perhaps, getting to spend time with someone is its own reward.

"Hey." She offers to Mizuki, but then her eyes flick back to Atif. He was even easier to fluster than Xander. She just gives the red Salamander a wink and laughs to herself.

    Jazz makes an angry gesture at Xander, which causes the dark scaled Salamander to just chuckle a little, before he gives Jazz a wink. This all happening before Uta smacks the poor girl around, which-- just makes Xander have to turn away with his laughing.

Once Mizuki shows up, he ahems softly and tries to collect himself. "I'm doing great! I may take Atif here out of the main square, as things are getting busier and you know-- Guy things, so you ladies can do your.. Lady things this day."

    So. Many. Ladies.

    "Unless," He motions an open hand to Atif, "You /want/ to stay here with all these beautiful ladies and get their individual, respectful, attention." His hand then closes as he looks over to Kita, "... and you have a waiting list? I can only imagine that I am something like sixty-nine on there." There was a toothy grin.

Before he raises up his hand, "Anyways, it is getting crowded in this main square and as more people wake up, its only going to get /more/ crowded. Your choice Atif!" Then he goes step away from the main group; though anyone /could/ follow him.

"You're welcome, Atif!"

    All that mention of Jazz does cause Uta some concern. One person making a mistake is understandable, but so many? So she turns around again, and lo and behold, there she is.

    Everyone go d'aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaw....

    "Oh my goodness Jazz I'm so sorry!" She says, rushing over to try and help the Undine to her feet. "He's right, I wasn't doing this on purpose! I am still not used to having wings! I would say that these things have a mind of their own, but actually, all they do is stand there and be very large paddles. So, uh, there is no moment in time when they have a mind to speak of?"

    Uta makes a face as she realizes what she's just said. "Nevermind."

    Mizuki gets a slightly pensive, "...I suppose you could say I'm learning to deal with the situation as I go along. Thankfully..."

    She turns to Xander. "...people /helpfully/ keep reminding me of things, so that I can work at this at my best, I suppose!"

    Well, Uta, knowing you... yes. Yes you do need someone to remind you of things.

    No matter how obvious.

There lies Jazz, making a frustrated sound on the ground when Uta hovers over her and apologizes. She deflates, seeming briefly defeated before she finally accepts help, gets to her feet, and then tells the Spriggan, "I should still give you a kick in the shin," before she lifts a dirtied hand at Kita. Her sails full of frustration had the wind knocked out of them by them.
There is a lengthy sigh.

    Mizuki nods to Uta and gives Xander a look. "We're just people, you know, same as you. Sometimes we talk to our friends about things, sometimes even in private. That's a person thing not a lady thing or a guy thing."

    She approaches Jazz. "So I asked around about how this holiday works in Japan. Obviously I don't have any boys I like, and I'm not sure who I'd owe obligation chocolate to... but I heard that sometimes girls give eachother friendship chocolate. So..." She produces a little package from her inventory, it's a candy item. "There's no taste but it gives a few % extra XP for an hour. You may be a downer but you've been there to talk to since the start." She blinks. "Do I, uh, bow or something? I don't really know."

At this point there's someone here her name has been mentioned today she's not in a maid outfit. No today she's wearing a long winter coat and has some sort of dress under it. She seems to be in a good mood as she calls out.

"I started sneezing and figured I should come out of the shop and see what was going on."

You spoke her name and she has appeared. She seems to be in very good spirits though.

"After yesterday I have been sketching out outfits! Thank you for the ideas Uta!"

She pauses at the mention of chocolate and seems to be thinking.

"Also Jazz has Uta talked to you about her idea?"

    "Hey, come on," Atif murmurs with an encouraging pat given to Jazz's shoulder once she's up on her feet. "No harm meant, you know? We're all friends here." He gives the Undine a brilliant smile, before he looks after Xander.

    "...Eh? Guy things? Um... Sure...?" He looks more confused by this than anything else. To the point that he doesn't quite even manage any kind of reaction, when given the tease about potential attention from 'the ladies'.

    So, just like that, he's padding on after the other Salamander -- but since he does spot Gwen, he gives the woman a quick wave and a call of "Hi, Gwen!" before focusing fully on following after Xander.

"Looks like you're mostly still in one piece." Kita offers, making sure to check the hand that is shown to her as well as glance over the rest of the small Undine for any obvious damage. "I fully encourage it. Some people need a kick to the shin now and again."

Then, she turns to Xander, "Aww, are you getting intimidated by all the ... what did you call them again? Front load pillows?" Kita folds her arms. Her wings flick out, the little bat-like appendages flexing slightly along her back. "Oh, and interesting numerical choice. Though I would probably put you a little higher on the list. Just a little."

As Mizuki proceeds to give out a Valentine's day gift, it seems to remind Kita that she has a few things that need to be given out as well. "Oh, right. Hey Uta." She reaches down and pulls her sketchbook out of the shoulder bag she carries, flipping through what seems to be an endless number of pages before finally pulling one free. "Here's that sketch you wanted. Though you should probably give it to someone to hold on to it, if you're worried you might get lost." It's just a simple profile shot, similar to others from the LAN postings.

"Oh, and this one is for you." Another drawing is offered to Jazz, though this one seems to be more detailed. It has the Undine, looking quite epic, with her hair blowing back and water rising up around her feet. Clearly Kita has taken some artistic liberties. "Happy Valentine's day."

    But now Atif's leaving? "Ah, wait!" Mizuki runs over to him. "Thanks for the other day! I don't see any reason I should only be able to give friendship candy to girls... besides," she winks, "as far as we can tell, anyone might be a girl in here." Even if the reverse is far more likely.

    She hands him an xp candy too.

    Xander makes a talking gesture with his hand as he keeps on walking toward Mizuki, before giving her a hand wave gesture. Though passing by Gwen he says gently, "Hey Gwen. Congratz on the shop!" He also turns around and points at Kita, "Maybe just a little!" He says with a minor hand wobble.

There seems to be an Atif is tow, so when Atif catches up, the dark scaled Salamander takes a few steps back to match his pace a bit more. "I didn't get the chance to know more about you. Beyond you seem to like to hang around on things. Got almost a parkour type of vibe, ya know?"

Uta takes the sketch and gives it a looooooong look. She finally points at it. "Hey, it's the girl from my menu! I've been meaning to ask, why is she in my menu? Is she the game mascot or something?"

    Give it a moment...

    Uta gives her head a wild shake and blushes, "....wait, wait, nevermind. I've just remembered about it. Thanks!"

    She manages to hide her mild worry at Gwen mentioning ideas, having no idea herself of what they might be. "...you're welcome?", she says. After all, the coat is nice.

    She eagerly listens to Jazz and Kita, thinks about it a little, and finally, contrite, concedes, "...I mean. If you think that it would help..." And lifts the trim of her coat just enough to let one shin out from under it. She winces in preparation for the impact.

    "Oh, yeah!", she manages to say, still wincing. "We've been thinking we should be selling merchandise based on you! Picture, for one. But we might also go into dolls. We'll get your face all over Yamato! And make some good coin in the process!"

Uta, after thanking Gwen, gives Mizuki a deadpan, "...c'mon, we all know what things REALLY are like."

If we're honest, Jazz is more than a little overwhelmed. First, there's Mizuki's arrival and the cat girl is handing her a cookie. "Oh, well, I'm so glad that you can overlook me being a 'downer', Mizuki. Did you by any chance attend the martial arts school of the backhanded compliment? If not, you could teach a few lessons." She flips the cookie into the air, catching it. "Valentines already? God, has it really been that long already?"

She makes a face at this and then is caught off guard by the presentation of a portrait of her to her. She takes it in her other hand and just winds up staring at it, unsure of what to say, and the she just bows towards Kita. She begins to roll it up when she is queried about whether or not she knows about Uta's idea. There is a pause.

She looks at Gwen.

She looks at Uta. Then Uta elaborates even more. She looks back and forth again.

Back and forth one more time. Quickly , the cookies it popped into her mouth and almost swallowed whole followed by a quick statement:

"Oh gosh will you look at that, this buff has such a short timer, gotta go!" And then she is GONE. Swiftly. Were this a cartoon she'd have left speed lined shaped like "NOOOOOOPE" behind her.

Gwen looks to Atif and grins looking Atif over. If you thought she just had outfit ideas for women? You'd be very wrong there. "Hey, Atif."

She also turns her attention to Xander.

"Sorry I like my front-loaded pillows."

Gwen bounces a bit in place at this and just seems amused at all of this.

"Thank you, Xander."

"It could make you a lot of gold Jazz if you are interested in that."

She looks at Uta as well.

"You could as well Uta and make some good gold on it."

    When Uta mentions 'the girl from the menu' Mizuki's ears turn and then she does and she stares at Uta in disbelief. At least she remembers quickly. And then Mizuki's ears splay as Uta points out what she was already thinking. c.c; "All the more reason to not tease people about their appearance. You know Jazz is sensitive about it, /menu-girl/. If you wanna market someone's face, market your own."

    And then she walks up to Gwen and holds out another candy. "Thanks-for-saving-me-from-Haggar candy."

"Anyone could be a guy, or a girl. That's why I figure it's better to give gifts when you can. I just haven't had time to work on sketches for everyone yet." Kita replies, nodding towards Mizuki. "Though, I am a girl." She chuckles. "I come by these front load pillows naturally." She did have a few signs of her avatar being a body scan, such as a couple of small scars which are visible.

When Jazz all but disappears after the suggestion of merchandizing, Kita just rolls her eyes, looking at Uta and Gwen, "Told you so." Yep, she fully expected that reaction, but leave it to the two of them.

"Anyways, I'm gonna go follow Xander, and maybe do manly stuff." She smirks. Then, in a quieter voice, she adds, "Feels like something might be off so... I'm going to go keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't start fighting walls again." With that, Kita excuses herself to go follow the Salamander.

    Bouncing boobs does not help and Xander just sighs softly. Women, they torture him so and only one person here understands /why/ they do.

Somewhere on the way to where-ever, Atif decided to check out and head elsewhere cause he may or may not forgotten something. This left Xander to find his way heading for the gates outside alone and zero clue that Kita is on his heels. Then again, he was pretty easy to sneak up on!

    Uta looks between Gwen and Mizuki, and blushes. "N- no, no, look, it's not /merely/ a money-making scheme! Hear me out here!"

    She starts walking around, and making gestures in the air as she explains. "...We all know that Jazz is looking for someone, right? Now, it's been more than a month since the apocalypse, and we still have adventurers we can't reach. If Jazz's friend is among them, well, he's probably not in a place easily reached by the search efforts that goes into Lost Adventurers. Maybe he's even in Ezzo, and still needs rescuing...

    Sudden turn, Uta turns to walk the other way. "Now, imagine this scenario. Let's assume that Jazz /even knows/ what her friend looks like in-game, which is a big assumption already. She gives us a description merely in words. We provide a sketch that, if it is spread over Yamato at all, will copied in a laughably small number of runs by other artists, possibly with different styles. The already approximate image, assuming we can have one at all, will be degraded beyond recognition.

    Sudden pivot on one foot. Pointing alternately at Gwen and Mizuki. "But now. Think the /other/ way around. Jazz. A truely unique appearance. One we have a /live model/ for. One that /we just know/ would produce a mass phenomenon. I mean..."

    She closes her eyes, inhales, exhales. "Fine, I'll say it. /Menu-girl/ looks cute. I'll give you that. BUT, this is a videogame avatar!", she continues, pointing at herself. "/Everyone/ looks nice in this world. The point is, however, there is run-of-the-mill-nice, and then there is, well... /Jazz/."

    Gestures get wider and more expansive. Arms spread, long steps. "Now imagine. If we could replicate the pop culture marketing of the real world, Jazz's likeness would be /everywhere/, in the most remote corners of the world, with nerds all over the place nitpicking about how each reproduction does not match the original and helpfully providing corrections. We'd probably get cosplayers as well! Heck, it'd be so pervasive even /I/ couldn't miss being bombarded with information about Jazz!"

    Intense stare.

    And then she flops onto a nearby bench. "...and then there's the part where I'm from Osaka and I just tend to see a potential business in anything. But that's not the main point. The main point is... get the word out there. Have Jazz's friend find Jazz."

    Mizuki turns to Kita as she speaks. As 'front-load pillows' are singled out, she feels no envy over her own being small. Wait, is that a dead giveaway? Should she pretend to? No, that way lies madness... ^o.o^;

    "Have... have fun." she says to her fellow Knight's back as Kita heads off after Xander and Atif.

    Uta as... somehow as usual, has reasoning behind why Jazz's cuteness should be exploited. "Yes, I get it. Her friend would see the avatar and be able to find her. It's still her decision. And there might be other ways. If Jazz's friend is here... they either came through Alne or Ezzo at some point. They already know to look here. Haven't boards already been set up for trying to find people? They should be able to use those fine, unless her friend just hasn't been able to leave Ezzo yet."

"o/~ I'm your only friend, I'm not your only friend; but I'm a little glowing friend, but really I'm not actually your friend, but I am-- o/~"

Once again the haunting voice drifts through the streets of Alne, though this time in not quite a sullen mood as the day before. Though the nightmare bard's choice in music to 'fit' the holiday is still fairly more lowkey than the more energetic and professing songs most would choose for it.

"o/~ Blue canary in the alley by the torch post, who watchs over you! Make a little birdhouse in your soul. o/~" Kauchemar even making an effort to change some words to better fit Yamato's setting this time. And a small elemental of stone and dirt follows behind her, thumping its body with a rocky fist to provide some percussion to their beat.
"o/~ Not to put too fine a point on it... Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet. Make a little birdhouse in your soul o/~"

Gwen pauses for a moment as she looks to Uta as she seems to have more to say so she goes quiet and listens to what Uta has to say. She thinks she sees where this plan is going for a moment. 5R
"Wait. I think I see where you are going with this."

She goes silent again as she seme to be pretty intently on what's going on.

"So use it as a way to help Jazz find her friend. I see where you are going with this. I feel shallow thinking it was just a way to earn coin about it..."

    They Might Be Giants.

    Someone is singing They Might Be Giants.

    Mizuki starts singing along, although she doesn't alter the lyrics. o/~ "I have a secret to tell, from my electrical well, it's a simple message and I'm leaving out the /whistles and bells/!" o/~ She starts dancing along, moving hands up and down and swaying side to side.

    o/~"So the room must listen to meeeee, filibuster vigilantlyyyyy, my name is blue canary, one note spelled L I T E. My story's infinite, like the laundries infinite, doesn't rest! Blue canary in the outlet by the lightswitch, WHO WATCHES OVER YOUUUUUU, make a little birdhouse in your soul not to put too fine a point on it, say I'm the only bee in your bonnet. Make a little birdhouse in your soul!" o/~

    Uta replies to Mizuki, "Well, of course. Of course we'll need her permission. That's why I've asked her instead of just going ahead and finding an unscrupolous artist, didn't I?" A short pause. "We can't tell for sure, where Jazz's friend is, if he's here at all. We'll need some time, I suppose."

    To Gwen, she replies "Well, I mean, earning a coin out of it is definitely a benefit, but... hey, if we have to, we can give up that part."

    She shrugs and grins sheepishly. "What can I say? I guess I get overexcited about big projects. Oh, speaking of coins." She looks around. And just stares at Kauchemar and Mizuki. "...I don't know that song." Back to Gwen. "I've been told there'd be free stuff. Where's the free stuff?"

Surprising someone would join in. Even more surprising they're using the normal lyrics, meaning it must be another Adventurer. Kauchemar doesn't let it disrupt her playing though, she just sings along as she's following the other voice. It brings the dire equine upon the group at about the same time as reaching the break after the chorus.

"Well, fancy running into you folks again."

There was music but Gwen was more focused upon her conversation with Uta, she didn't quite notice the music but after a while it does register it's not a band she expected to hear a cover of here in Yamato or Japan to be sure. "Yeah given Jazz is looking for someone. It's from a Western Band called They Might Be Giants."

Kauchemar briefly bows towards Gwen. "As I said before, I spent a lot of time stateside." Then resumes playing on her lute, motioning for the percussion elemental to follow her. "I have no one special here to spend the holiday with, so I decided to just share my music in general. A little something from home, to remind people they're not alone here, and have those waiting for them to return." Might be a little optimistic thinking, with how little they know about the situation of them being stuck here, but optimism is probably something a lot of people need right now.

    Mizuki smiles at Kauchemar. "Thank you for that!" She runs up to shake Kauchemar's hand. "I need to get going though. Keep it up!" She heads off, singing to herself. o/~ "There's a picture opposite me, of my primitive ancestry, that stood on rocky shores and kept the beaches shipwreck free... Though I respect that a lot, I'd be fired if that were my job, after killing Jason off and countless screaming Argonauts..."

Gwen says "Fair enough, I might need to hit you up for a few things." She'll let the singing contiune but she'll soon be on her way. Gwen seems to have things to work on.

Uta inhales. "FRIENDSHIP HEALTH POTIONS FOR EVERYONE!", she exclaims, fishes bottles the size of a balled up fist from her pockets, and hands all around to the people who haven't gotten one yet. "There, that's been taken care of... uh. Nice bird there. Bye!"