This Ain't No Christmas Carol

"Yeeeeesssss!" Aliarey rubbed her hands together in anticipation as she watched Diana open the wine bottle and proceed to pour some of the alcoholic beverage into the plastic cup. There were probably some rich proper aristocrats out there that sensed their tacky way of drinking wine out of a cheap cup. The cringe. The painful horror. It was a shame she couldn't see the look on their faces. They were probably already filling out a mission request to hunt both Diana and herself down for pulling off such a blasphemous crime. Alia didn't care, and neither did her silly imaginations. The day was going swell. She did some stuff at the local winter festival, met up with Diana, and hell now Diana was starting to act a little more human than robot. Her trying to add to the conversation put Alia a bit more at ease. After all, if she wanted to hang out with a robot she'd just summon up her Draovis models. That and it was way better to say one of her very few friends was actually a living... thing. Diana was human, wasn't she? She never asked before. Either way it was way better to say she had a friend of flesh and blood and not one that was either fake or made of metal.

"Free wine and free cookies! Proof that Christmas miracles exist!" She exclaimed loudly while raising her arms high into the air. Yes. Aliarey was having a great time receiving such blessings onto her life. Free stuff was the best. There was the matter of helping Diana out with what she had been looking for though. Her wishes had still yet to be fulfilled. Had the blue eyed version of the blondes completely forgotten about it? The answer was yes. Yes, she did. She'd remember eventually. Probably once all the cookies and wine were long consumed.

"Thanks!" The cheerful grin on Alia's face widened. She took the cup that was offered to her and carefully held it as she took a sip. The cup remained there at her lips, hiding her mouth. Not because she was gulping the entire thing down but because she was trying to hide the weird facial expression she knew full well she was making. Freaking hell. People actually enjoyed drinking wine? Aliarey did not like it. At all. Maybe it was an acquired taste? Or maybe her taste buds just were not refined enough to enjoy the luxurious privilege of being attacked by fancy people beverages.

"Mmmmm," Alia forced herself to act like she enjoyed the taste. She hated to lie about it, but Diana had used up so much of her reward from the Guess the Gift game just so she could try it. Normally she wouldn't really care. Actually why did she care? It was weird. The whole friend thing was starting to get confusing. She didn't want to disappoint Diana but she had zero issues with disappointing pretty much everyone else in her life. Life sure was complex. The cup was brought down now that she could fight the flavor away and force a smile. "This is um..." Jeez, she couldn't make herself say that it was actually good, tasty, or the drink of heavenly singing angels. "Whatever rich people say when they drink this stuff." Bingo. Just use her supreme lack of intellect on the subject to her advantage. That'd work!

(Word Count: 568
Alia Total: 5717)

Diana was glad that Aliarey was so pleased with the wine because Diana herself was not so thrilled. The more she looked at the bottle the less she liked it. It reminded her too much of her abusive parents and their abuse of her when they were under its influence. She would be glad to give Aliarey the whole thing just so that she had a good reason to throw the bottle away and never look at it again.

However, Diana was not going to ruin the festive mood thinking about the ghosts of years past. They were not going to ruin her fun on this night. Her parents had ruined her life enough and she was not going to let them hold her back any longer. Right now, anyway.

Diana listened to her fellow blonde call free wine and free cookies a Christmas miracle. The huntress did not share her companion's belief. Then again, Aliarey had a different view of the world than Diana and in the former's view she had really received a miraculous gift.

Diana had received one when she was rescued from near-death by a deity after being ambushed outside the gates of Silent Cemetery. After being shot repeatedly by automatic weapons and left on the brink of death, she had been carried into Silent Cemetery and left for the zombies to finish off. However, a cosmic entity named Selene rescued her by blasting the zombies to ash with a spell and granted Diana a new magic, a magic known as Lunar Guardian.

Diana remained silent and watched Aliarey grin before taking a drink of the wine. Diana could not see Aliarey's entire face because of the wine cup, but the green-eyed blonde was not sure if her companion liked the wine or not. Maybe she should try some herself to see if it was any good. If she tried it, this would be the first time she had drank wine in a long time.

"If you do not want any more wine, I will finish the bottle." Diana offered Aliarey a chance to have the rest of the bottle if she wanted it. If the blue-eyed blonde did not want any more wine, Diana would drink it herself so that the drink did not go to waste and throw away the bottle. The bottle was nothing that she wanted to keep as a memento. The only reasons she had hung onto the bottle this long were because it was a prize from the guessing game and Aliarey had wanted to try some of the wine.

[Post Word Count: 430]
[Diana's New Word Count: 6,136]

Oh, thank god! There was a way out of drinking anymore of that stuff. She hadn't even finished what was in her cup. If Diana had offered her anymore she was going to have to pretend to drop it or something. "You go ahead and drink the rest. It's your prize so you might as well get something out of it, right?" She set the cup down on the empty bench space beside her and even moved the plate of cookies there as well. "I'll just take a moment and open this thing already." That "thing" being the still wrapped present from the Guess the Gift game. "Kind of surprised no one has tracked me down for practically stealing it from the contest. They need some better coordinators over there." Alia shrugged, amused as she thought more about it. She took hold of the gift and sat it on her lap where the cookie plate had just been.

Alia started with the ribbon, pulling one end of the bow and watching it unwrap itself from the gentle tug. That... was about as gentle and slow as it got. After that ribbon was off and all that was left was the thin protective lining of wrapping paper it was the end for that present. The blonde quickly tore at the once beautiful paper and ripped it apart. A large maniacal grin was on her face, but the gift was small, and so the excitement of tearing into the limited amount of wrapping paper was short lived. A damn shame. The fun part was over. Now all that was left to do was get disappointed at the gift it actually was.

What had been under the decorative paper was a wooden cube. On the underside was a metal hook that could be turned. Alia had seen something like that before, and it was what she had thought earlier. An old fashioned music box. Was it fully working though? She had heard a few notes playing earlier when she shook it, but that was far from it being fully operational. "Well, this could have been worse, I guess." She stated while examining the box, turning it over and getting a look at every angle. "I wonder what tune this thing plays. It looks pretty ordinary so kind of hard to tell. Not that I am an expert on music boxes or anything." To find out, Aliarey took hold of the metal lever and began to twist it round and round. Then she let go and opened the box.

Within the box the comb and cylinder worked together to produce a sound. It was a nice little tune. High spirited and good for the Christmas theme holidays. The weird thing was that even though it had been fully wound up the music was quick to become deathly silent. Actually, now that Alia realized it, everything around her was silent. Had the parade ended? That didn't explain no noise coming from the other people around though. She rose her blue eyed gaze and took a look around. Nothing was totally strange. Aside from the quiet. People were doing their normal thing. The parade was still going. Alia just couldn't hear any of it.

It was then the music box turned into swirls of magic that sailed through the air around the two blondes and then took off and spread throughout the entire town. The tune that was playing in the box originally now boomed to life throughout the town. Not some tacky notes that only a music box could play, but full on orchestra instrument sounds and everything. It was as if a concert was playing loud enough that no matter where you were in town it still sounded as if you were right next to the stage. The music was not the only thing either. Now the people around them were moving along with the music. As if it was a normal everyday thing. Aliarey had been to Magnolia Town before. Its residents were not that weird. This was abnormal. The hell was going on?

The trickster spirit's spell had now taken effect. The two were now in an alternate Magnolia. One where it was a living musical. And they were now a part of the intro musical scene.

(Word Count: 715
Aliarey Total: 6432)

Having been given free reign to do what she wanted with the rest of the wine, Diana decided to get rid of it. There were just too many bad memories associated with Monarch '83 for her to get any enjoyment out of it. The fact that the wine was her father's favorite brand made the choice even easier for the huntress. Having made her decision, Diana informed Aliarey what she was going to do.

"I do not want the rest of the wine, Aliarey. I will go get rid of it one way or another. I will return shortly." Diana informed Aliarey of her decision. Diana then calmly walked away to get rid of the alcohol. Maybe someone else would want it... if they did, they were welcome to it. The huntress certainly did not want it. The novelty of getting wine as a gift from Guess The Gift had worn off long ago and now she only wanted the "gift" out of her sight as quickly as it could be gotten rid of.

-Five minutes later-

Diana returned to Aliarey after locating the person who had given the blue-eyed blonde the hot chocolate and gave the bottle of wine to them. Once Diana had explained that her companion had only poured the wine into a cup the hot chocolate stand operator gratefully accepted the gift. With that errand complete, Diana returned to see that Aliarey had unwrapped her Guess The Gift prize and was now holding a small music box.

Diana heard Aliarey muse that her prize could have been worse. The green-eyed blonde silently agreed. She had gotten a bottle of wine that happened to be her father's favorite brand and it had brought back way too many unpleasant memories of her childhood and adolescence. Diana would have much preferred to get a music box instead of the "gift" she had gotten. Oh well. At least the wine was gone now and she had re-gifted it to someone who would appreciate it.

Aliarey then wondered aloud what kind of tune the box played. She began to twist the little metal lever and a spirited tune appropriate to the holiday played. It was not some cheap music box that struggled to play a few notes before suddenly stopping. The box played smoothly and the sound quality was amazing considering how small it was. Then Diana noticed something unusual about their surroundings.

The band from earlier had gone completely silent.

So had the crowds of people around them.

It was then that Diana noticed that something else was off about this situation. The music coming from the music box now boasted a full "professional orchestra" sound and it could be heard no matter where one was. The people around them were now moving around them in time to the music. Diana was not sure what was going on and she was not certain what it was leading up to. Whatever happened next, it was likely going to be weird.

"Aliarey... what exactly is going on here?" Diana asked her fellow blonde with audible confusion on her voice. Diana had never seen anything like this before. She was not sure what on Earthland was going on here and hoped that Aliarey could give her an answer.

[Post Word Count: 546]
[Diana's New Word Count: 6,682]

"Kay." Aliarey gave a nonchalant wave goodbye when Diana left. She didn't even lift up her gaze from the wrapped present. Hopefully the green eyed blonde's absence was just temporary. Actually, thinking about it just a little, saying that she was getting rid of the wine was a damn good way to sneak away if she really wanted to. Hell, thinking about it a bit more, if Diana was so eager to get rid of it maybe she should have just asked for the bottle way before then and took it to Trey and the old man. Though, she really didn't think that Diana would just give it away without taking some for herself. It was weird. Not weird enough for her to bother the other woman and ask, however. If she said she didn't want it then she'd just leave it at that. Alia didn't care. She cared more about if Diana came back or not. Good thing the mysterious present was a good way to distract herself until she returned.

Fast forward five minutes later. Aliarey hadn't noticed that Diana had returned. Her attention had been focused on the music box and voicing her thoughts aloud to herself. The strange turn the world took only made the distraction worse. It wasn't until Diana spoke up and asked what was going on that Alia realized her uh... friend? Companion? Long time acquaintance? Well whatever she was. The main point in Alia's mind was that Diana had returned. And she wasn't acting as strange as everyone else! Hallelujah! She wouldn't be alone in whatever weirdness was going on around her!

"Oh, thank god!" Alia cried out with great relief in her tone, standing up from the bench and music box still in hand. "You're still normal!" As normal as Diana could be anyway. She wasn't dancing and frolicking around like some winter wonderland nutcase and that's all that mattered. Her gaze looked around again, seeing that everyone was still dancing to the music. Any minute now they were probably going to start singing. That's what the scene reminded her of now. Those weird musicals that played on the lacrivision. "I have no idea what happened here. If I didn't know any better I'd say we ended up sitting ourselves in the realm of musicals. This has to be a part of the event though, right? A weird, unannounced, totally unnecessary part of the parade. Yeah, that has to be it." How that whole section of town ended up being so extremely coordinated she had no idea except that must have taken an extreme amount of practice. "Buuuttt just in case we should probably get out of here in case this is not a part of the event and everyone here is just crazy or they're infected by some kind of Christmas dust in the air that makes you spontaneously dance like a weirdo."

As Aliarey finished her sentence the happy music and dancing stopped. Not in a normal way where everyone just goes back to what they were doing. Rather it was a sudden stop. So sudden that everyone around stopped in whatever pose they were in when that final note of music faded. A chill ran down Alia's spine. The sight was a bit creepy and was more akin to staring at living mannequins than actual townspeople that were just moments ago enjoying the Christmas parade. It didn't help that a thick white fog started to cover the area as the sky darkened. Okkkaaayyy. So whoever was in charge of the event had a huge budget for effects. Hopefully. Maybe. Possibly.

The parade floats started to move. Silently. Slowly. Then the parade stopped as a different float drove on up to be the center of attention. It didn't quite belong even though it tried. Its decorations were more suited for some Halloween ghost story with the hilarity of adding Christmas light for kicks. Suddenly, the townsfolk around them disappeared in thin air and were replaced by ghostly visages of them. All of them attached to chains and wailing. Yeah, it was starting to look more and more like Diana and herself weren't going to have a typical normal day in Magnolia Town. "Yeeaahhhh, we should totally get out of here. I'm not dealing with this today." She didn't know if this was a rescue mission, an elimination mission, or just one of those things that would have ended up on the job board just because. Whatever it was, she didn't care. She wasn't fearless, and she sure as hell wasn't touching this one. It didn't quite dawn on her quite yet that it was more of an escape mission and she would have no choice but to participate.

The parade float then burst to life with a full ghostly band appearing on top of it. A different sort of song than before started to play. Two others appeared in front of the float to take the vocals, singing the words as if they were more in a musical play than just singing a normal song. The ghostly citizens of the town had ceased their wailing and were now performing their new dance routines. The new scene distracted Aliarey. A new thought other than fleeing the scene took over her mind. One of great importance. Greater than her very life! "Do you think they'll let me play those drums?"

Aliarey was obviously not the brains between the two of them. Hopefully Diana could sense the danger of the situation and convince her fellow blonde to not take over the drum playing. Something else was coming and the band was just setting the stage.

(Word Count: 943
Aliarey Total: 7375)

Diana blinked when Aliarey exclaimed in relief that the former was still normal. The blue-eyed blonde had no idea what Diana's "normal" was. Normal was a subjective term, after all.

Diana looked around her and noticed that the dancing had still not stopped. Everyone around them was still dancing in time to the music, everyone except the two blondes. After noticing that detail the huntress looked back at Aliarey, who was obviously as confused as she was about this situation. The blue-eyed blonde mused that they might have entered a situation ripped right out of a holiday musical. Aliarey then added that the musical was part of the event, one that was totally unanticipated and totally unwanted.

Diana was highly doubtful of her companion's claim. There was no way in Earthland that any of this was part of the event. Something about this entire situation was off in a way that was more than a little unsettling. The extreme precision of the dancers all moving in unison and moving perfectly to the music did not help matters. That kind of precision was achievable only by the very best dance troupes... or by advanced androids like Ami.

Aliarey asserted that the pair needed to get out of town in case all of this musical nonsense was not in the Christmas event and everyone involved had either lost their minds or had come under the influence of a magic "Christmas dust" that compelled everyone under its effects to dance. That description was not the most elegant, but it was certainly accurate.

"I agree. Let us leave this place at once." Diana agreed with her companion. Moments later the dancing and happy music came to an abrupt stop. Even though she did not show it, that unsettled Diana a little. What was worse was the fact that all the dancers had stopped and held the exact pose they had assumed the very moment the music stopped. That gave her further cause to believe that there was something off about this situation.

Her belief was only further reinforced when the sky darkened and a white fog began to roll in. Then the parade floats started to move in unearthly silence, causing Diana to feel a growing sense of apprehension about what was going on. Then the parade stopped and a new float moved into the center of the procession. The new float was a strange combination of Halloween theme with Christmas lights that looked like they were added by someone who was not quite sure what look they were going for.

Diana's attention was diverted from the odd float to the people around her, who had all been somehow replaced by spectral versions of themselves with chains on their bodies. They were all wailing as well, lending a certain "lost souls" cacophony to the scene around the two blondes. That was the breaking point for Aliarey, who stated in no uncertain terms that she was not dealing with this today. Diana was right there with her.

"I came here for a normal Christmas celebration, not whatever this is." Diana asserted to her companion. This was NOT what she had come here for. She had come here for a normal holiday party with normal holiday music and normal holiday activities. She had not come here for a holiday musical, a haunted holiday musical, or a musical haunting on a holiday. Diana was not OK with any of this and wanted it all to stop now.

To add to the spectacle, the garishly decorated parade float now had a ghostly band "standing" on it and they were playing a song with a distinct electric guitar sound. Two more ghosts appeared in front of the float and began to sing the lyrics to the song. The ghosts around the pair had stopped wailing and were now performing a new dance with uncanny precision. To top it all off, Aliarey asked a question of Diana that made the green-eyed blonde question her companion's judgment.

Aliarey asked Diana if the ghosts would let her do some drumming.

Diana frowned deeply. On this occasion she did not bother even trying to hide her displeasure from Aliarey. Things were getting weird beyond description and her biggest concern was whether or not the ghosts would let her play the drums? That bit of absurdity was too much for Diana to bear.

She was so over this nonsense.

"Aliarey, forget the drums! There are other things we need to worry about!" Diana sharply rebuked her companion for having such an odd priority and frowned at her, glaring angrily in the blue-eyed blonde's direction to emphasize the point. The huntress was not liking this situation at all and wanted nothing more but to leave before it somehow got even worse. She was not sure what form "even worse" would take, but something told her that she did not want to be here when it arrived.

"If we are going to leave, I suggest we do so now. If we are going to stay and fight, we need to start preparing!" Diana urged Aliarey to forget about playing the drums and focus on either getting out of here or preparing for a fight. She waited to see how the blue-eyed blonde would react to her words before preparing to either flee or fight. Aliarey had better not take too long to make up her mind.

[Post Word Count: 900]
[Diana's New Word Count: 7,582]

Diana's sharp rebuke was not expected. Granted Aliarey wouldn't have expected it from anyone. In her mind, her inquiry was a very good one and of great significance. For that to come from Diana of all people though? Now that was something truly amazing. It should have been recorded if only to be used as evidence so people all over Ishgar would believe the tale of when Diana displayed emotion. The next thing said made Alia blink her blue eyes in disbelief. "Stay and fight?" Holy crap, just what did Diana think was going on? Sure everything going on around them was weird, slightly creepy, unexplainable, and very much unwanted, but she made it sound as if they were about to be attacked. What was going to happen? The band getting off that float and coming to whack them with their instruments? Come on. "So that's a no then?" She asked, going back to her previous question about the drums. It wasn't a serious question and served more to add to her sarcastic nature than anything. It was pretty clear by Diana's previous tone and expression that playing ghostly drums was not on that day's agenda. At least she did not ask about playing the guitar instead. That was as equally an important thought.

"All right, lets get out of here. We were supposed to do Christmas shopping anyway, and I'm pretty sure neither of us really wants what is being offered here. Probably have to sell our soul or something as a price." Aliarey had said that as a joke, but a part of her really believed that was probably the case. Or close to it anyway. Things were getting too eerily weird for her to ignore the possibility. Besides, the distraction of the cool instruments and wanting to play them had now passed. That fear and unease were starting to settle in and take over again.

Aliarey gave the rockin' parade float another glance. She stared, keeping a good eye on it as she took some steps backward. The ghoulish band kept playing. The ghostly dancers around them kept dancing. Good. Diana and herself had gone unnoticed. Maybe they could escape the role of audience with ease. Confident with that theory, or maybe she was feigning that small moment of courage, the requip mage turned her back on the ghosts and began to walk back the way she and Diana had originally come. "The parade kind of has any other way blocked so let's just go back to the game zone. Things should be normal over there. I think." Surely the darkened sky and everything else was just the use of some powerful magic for the event. All for show and nothing else. The whole town couldn't possibly be affected. Besides, Aliarey wasn’t quite ready to just start destroying everything in her path to make an escape. She could use her brain for a short while and treat this whole thing… calmly. Like a very rational and responsible adult. She was one of those. Supposedly.

The parade float would not follow them. The music would even fade the further they got away from that strange musical concert. They could think it was over. Well, except for the ticking clock sounds that surrounded them. It was low at first. Barely even something to acknowledge as out of place. But the sound continued. Over and over and over. Getting louder and louder. The scenery didn't change much either. It was still way darker than it was earlier. The fog was still there. Honestly, it reminded Aliarey more of the haunted pumpkin patch where she had first met Diana. The Christmas theme was certainly lost by now. Even the people that were once gathered around enjoying the games and events were gone. It was just herself and Diana. Awkward.

Aliarey stepped up to the display window of a store and peered through, trying to see if anyone was hiding in that darkness. There didn't seem to be. She put on a grin as she turned away and looked back to wherever Diana was. "Looks like everyone left town super suddenly and suspiciously mysteriously. On the plus side, we can take anything we want and nobody would care. This makes finding yourself a gift way easier and affordable!" The blue-eyed blonde was joking mostly. Although there was a tempting truth to the realization as well. It was probably best to find a way back to normal before she got the great idea of taking store valuables for free.

The clock continued to tick.

(Word Count: 761
Aliarey Total: 8136)

Diana saw Aliarey's expression and felt a twinge of regret about what she had just said to the closest thing to a friend she had, but her stern rebuke was necessary to keep them both alive. They were surrounded by ghosts and playing the drums was a very bad idea; the loud noises might alert them to the presence of prey. Not wanting to be surrounded by ghosts if they decided to go on the attack, Diana either wanted to fight the apparitions or run from them. No matter what they did, Diana wanted them to work together because teamwork was the only way that they were going to get through this mess.

"No drums. Not right now." Diana replied to Aliarey's obviously sarcastic remark in a calmer tone than she had used earlier. Once the blondes got out of this mess and got to a place where things made sense again Aliarey could play the drums all she wanted. However, Diana wanted to be at a safe distance when the blue-eyed blonde began to play them. Aliarey's playing was... lively, to say the least.

Diana listened to Aliarey suggest that they get out of here and go Christmas shopping. The blue-eyed blonde added that the wares that might be offered were nothing they would want... not at a price they were willing to pay, anyway. Aliarey jokingly mentioned the classic price of one's soul and the huntress let it pass without comment, mainly because the green-eyed blonde did not want to think about the value of her soul.

The green-eyed blonde wanted move on from that unpleasant thought and looked for anything to take her mind off of it. She quickly focused on Aliarey's suggestion to get out of here.

"I agree. Let us leave this place at once." Diana seconded Aliarey's suggestion in a calm voice. She immediately began to follow her colleague away from the ghastly parade and towards a place they hoped was safe and normal. As Diana followed Aliarey she looked around and noticed that both the ghostly dancers and the ghostly band were oblivious to their escape attempt. That was fine with her.

Aliarey suggested that they head towards the game zone of the party and Diana nodded. She was not going to argue with that. Anywhere had to be better than this creepy place. Since the dancing spirits and the band were not making any effort to stop them from leaving, Diana got the feeling that she might have overreacted just a little bit a short while ago. Then she frowned again.

In her line of work it paid to be cautious.

Just because the ghosts were not trying to stop them now did not mean that they were not going to try and stop them later.

Diana refrained from attacking with her magic since they were far more ghosts than she could handle and she did not want to throw the first punch if she and Aliarey could get away without fighting. Thankfully none of the ghosts followed them and that tacky parade float remained right where it had stopped. The further they got from the scene the softer the music got. However, a low ticking sound picked up where the music had left off. As the pair continued to walk it grew louder and louder, but that was not the only change to the scenery.

The area around them had somehow gotten darker, much darker than it was earlier. The fog was still there, giving the area the feel that something unpleasant could happen at any moment. Diana looked around them and noticed that the people who once filled the area and enjoyed the holiday festivities were now nowhere to be seen. The gloomy atmosphere and the lack of people made Diana apprehensive.

Aliarey stepped up to the display window of a store and peered through it while Diana kept a watch for any hostile entities. After a brief time the blue-eyed blonde turned to Diana and spoke. Aliarey jokingly suggested that now was a good time to get Christmas gifts for free by applying a five-finger discount to what they wanted. Keeping her cool and refraining from delivering another stinging rebuke, Diana faced the grinning blonde.

"Maybe we should save the shopping for later, Aliarey. I am not liking what is going on here and we need to stay alert. For all we know something could be waiting in the shops for us to come in." Diana calmly suggested to her fellow blonde. Aliarey's remark about shopping was more than likely a joke, but the huntress was not entirely sure. She was fairly certain that back at the place where the parade floats had stopped Aliarey would have played the drums despite the risk of alerting the ghosts if Diana had allowed her to.

[Post Word Count: 804]
[Diana's New Word Count: 8,386]

"Yeeaaahhh, you do have a point." As much as she joked earlier about everyone skipping town the truth was that Aliarey seriously doubted that was the case. Diana and herself were probably warped into some weird alternate reality by some spell they couldn't sense. Being her sucked. Being Diana didn't seem to be too thrilling either considering she was there too. They really needed to find a way to increase their luck or something. Well, whatever. They were there now and they had to deal with the situation since it was becoming more and more apparent that it wasn't going away and the world around them was only getting worse.

Alia stepped away from the shop, shrugging her shoulders at the situation and having absolutely no idea what to do now. Coming back to the game area did not work out the way she had hoped. It was then that she took notice of the loud ticking sound. Now that the music wasn't blaring in her ears she could hear the silence around her besides that ticking. She looked around, searching for whatever clock had an abnormally loud mechanism but found none nearby. "Do you hear that ticking?" Not really paying attention to any answer she might have been given, Alia began to leave the area in a light jog. Maybe that ticking meant something? She didn't rightly know but it was very abnormal. The sound wasn't even easy to track. It just seemed to be all around instead of coming from a smaller source nearby. And then it stopped. Aliarey had just gone around the corner of a building when the sound ceased. She stopped and looked around again. "The hell? Damn, I thought for sure I was going to find out what that was."

The air got colder, especially so when what she thought was a brush of wind went right through her. That was when she noticed that her feet were even colder than the rest of her. Heavy even. In fact, she couldn't move them at all. She looked down to see that they were covered in a thick layer of ice that fused them to the ground. Her eyes looked up at the sound of giggling. In the air floated a pale child that looked like she spent the night in a freezer. Aside from the obvious transparent body she also had. Oh boy. A ghost. Who the hell invited ghosts for the Christmas party? Didn't their celebratory holiday already pass on by months ago?

The ghost child giggled again, that time with a more sinister touch and a smile that Alia would rather not see on anyone she encountered. Alia attempted to lift her feet with the hope of easily breaking the ice by force. It wasn't going all too well and neither was trying to break it with her hands. "If I have to shoot my way out of this I am going to be so pissed!"

Alia was never one to dawdle when things got too dangerous for comfort. She stood back up straight and materialized a turret disc that she then threw onto the ground in front of her. It formed into her flame turret. No, she didn't intend to set herself on fire. That'd be stupid. Instead, the turret aimed its firey blast at the ghost girl.... which admittedly was probably equally as stupid because it was a ghost. Since when did normal fire do anything to them? Ha. Details. The secondary plan was for the heat coming from the turret to melt the ice on her feet to loosen it a bit.

(Word Count: 603
Aliarey Total: 8739)

Diana listened to Aliarey concede that the former had a point about the danger of the shop and followed her fellow blonde away from the shop. It was moments later when Diana heard a strange ticking sound like a pocket watch. Where on Earthland was it coming from?

When Aliarey asked if Diana had heard the ticking noise too the green-eyed blonde was quick to reply.

"Yes, Aliarey. I heard the ticking too." Diana replied shortly after her companion began to go somewhere while moving at a pace equivalent to a light jog. Diana started a light jog of her own to keep up with Aliarey and found her standing just around the corner of a building. The green-eyed blonde heard her companion mutter something about "finding out what that was", but Diana was not too focused on what her partner had said because her dislike of the situation was stronger than her curiosity about what Aliarey was saying. This whole situation was like something out of the Quiet Mountain games... all that was missing was radio static and Triangle Face lugging along a club twice its height.

The air suddenly grew cold and Diana felt a really deep chill go through her body, but as it turned out, Aliarey had it a lot worse. The blue-eyed blonde's feet were suddenly frozen to the ground by a thick layer of ice. Diana wondered how in Earthland that happened when she heard the sound of giggling and faced forward. She saw a ghostly little girl with a sinister smile right out of a horror movie floating a short distance away from Aliarey. Diana frowned.

More ghosts?

She was so done with this supernatural stupidity.

Diana quickly moved to an angle where she could fire a spell without running the risk of hitting Aliarey, who had deployed one of her turrets to shoot the ghost. Diana frowned. Unless that turret was packing silver bullets or something else that could hurt ghosts, shooting a ghost was about as effective against it as using harsh language.

She channeled pale blue magic into her right hand, pointed her index and middle fingers at the ghostly girl, and fired a Spirit Drain Beam right at it. The pale blue beam hit it in the face without going anywhere near Aliarey. The ghostly girl gave an ear-piercing scream before disappearing and going back into the ether or wherever it had come from. Diana frowned again.

She doubted that she and Aliarey were finished with the ghosts.

Diana was not afraid of ghosts. As an experienced mage with two magic types that could hurt ghosts, spirits were more of a nuisance to her than a serious threat... unless they showed up in large numbers. Then they could be a threat to her.

Drawing on experience gained from fighting ghosts several times in the past, the huntress recalled that ghosts tended to show up in groups, so Diana kept her eyes and ears open for more sinister spirits as she walked over to Aliarey and stopped just a short distance to the blue-eyed blonde's left.

"Are you all right, Aliarey? Do you need help freeing yourself from that ice?" Diana asked her companion. They had better get going as quickly as possible. The green-eyed blonde was anticipating more creepy spirits showing up any moment now.

[Post Word Count: 556]
[Diana's New Word Count: 8,942]

The ghost was amused by Alia's worthless turret. It did absolutely nothing at all besides provide some warmth in the cold chilly weather. That sucked. Clearly, she needed to start using purified flame or holy water or something. She knew zilch about handling the supernatural. The only thing she knew was that her stuff didn't work at all on them. It was why she hated ghosts in particular. They couldn't even be hurt so forget killing something that was already dead. At least with a werewolf or vampire or whatever she could hit and annoy it a bit.

Alia's mind was blank but at the same time, it was jumbling around so many thoughts and plans on how to deal with the threat. Then it happened. She had been saved! A pale blue beam appeared out of nowhere and hit that little ghost girl right in the face! Then the ghost was gone. Just like that. One-shot kill against a being that she had no chance of hitting even that much. "Whoa." The flames of her turret had died down by then. Not that it mattered since it was next to useless and the threat was gone anyway. With the flames gone though she could better focus on her surroundings and follow where the beam had come from. That had been Diana. Holy bejeezus. She knew Diana was strong, but she didn't know she could deal with ghosts so easily!

"Nah, I got this," she replied as soon as her wide-eyed stare felt too long. Alia moved her feet a bit and was able to swing her legs by force to break the ice completely. The flame turret had done its other job of melting the ice enough to loosen its hold on her. "Ah, that's better. I hate being trapped like that." Her flame turret shrunk down into disc form right about then, to which she leaned down and took hold of it, along with the music box she had dropped when things got slightly crazy. "You know, it's a good thing you can blast ghosts away like that. We'd be in a real bind if you couldn't. I'm kind of in a mix of jealous and grateful. It's a weird feeling that I really don't want to question too much." The disc was dismissed as she stood up straight and stared at Diana once more. "So, I'll just leave it at that and stick with thanks for the save."

The peace didn't last for long. The spooky Christmas parade float from before burst through a newly opened portal on the streets of the abandoned game zone. Once again the band on top was playing music, although this time it was a different song than before. They didn't get far though before the band stopped, their instruments screeching to an unexpected halt. They had realized something very significant was missing. "Wait a minute. Where's the Ghost of Christmas Past? This was supposed to be her song!"
"I smell the magical energies of a battle. Is it... is it really over already?"
"We were only late by thirty seconds! What happened?!"
"So what now? Do we skip to Christmas Present?"
"Uhhhhh...." The band was conflicted. If the Ghost of Christmas Past was defeated so easily was it even worth trying to start up music for the next couple of ghosts? Things were not going as planned.

"Let's sneak away while they're distracted," Aliarey whispered before tip-toeing her way off the scene. Sneak. Sneak. Quuueeeiiitttt. The hopes of that plan actually working were soon dashed. The band was distracted, yes, but the next ghost had arrived on the scene. A skeletal reindeer rode in from out of nowhere and nearly ran Aliarey right over. The blue-eyed blonde shouted and fell backwards onto the ground, landing roughly on her rear. "What the heck?!" She couldn't even get mad as she glared at the creature. Whatever anger had begun to boil diminished and was replaced with fear upon seeing what rode on the back of the skeletal reindeer. Another ghost! This one looking older than the last one and wearing attire fit for dead royalty.

Alia scrambled to her feet and quickly got behind Diana. "Kill it, Diana! Use your laser beam of ghostly death! I'd help but uh.... yeah. I got nothing and what you got works really super well." Truly Aliarey may as well have just taken the cheerleader role. She was good for nothing else in the current fights. No offense that was effective, no support, nada.

The ghost said nothing, only laughing as she conjured up swords made of ice. As for the parade float band, they shouted excitedly at the ghost's presence and clapped. It was time for the show to begin anew! Would the Ghost of Christmas Present last longer than Past? Probably not, but they were in denial. They started to play their new song as the background music.

(Word Count: 823
Aliarey Total: 9562)

After blasting that obnoxious ghost girl back to the spirit world and rescuing Aliarey from her predicament, Diana listened to her companion talk about how she appreciated her ability to destroy ghosts. The green-eyed blonde had two entire magics allowing her to fight the supernatural, so ghosts were not beyond her ability to kill. Or banish. Or whatever happened to ghosts she hit with her anti-ghost magic.

"It is no problem, Aliarey." Diana received the praise in her usual nonchalant manner. She was glad that she was able to help without hitting Aliarey with the Spirit Drain Beam because while her partner could have likely survived it, it was one of her most powerful spells in her primary magic. Hitting Aliarey with a spell meant to destroy her attacker would not endear her to the blue-eyed blonde.

Diana took a quiet breath and was about to ask Aliarey where they would be going next when the post-battle calm was interrupted by the unexpected arrival of that weird parade float from earlier. It emerged from a portal with great fanfare due to it play music which stopped only a few seconds in. To Diana's amazement the ghosts on the float began to talk amongst themselves about the music they were supposed to be playing. The green-eyed blonde's amazement soon turned to irritation the longer they discussed what they should do.

She thought she had left them behind, but to her chagrin they had followed the blonde duo here. Diana had a mind to blast them back to wherever they came from when Aliarey of all people was the voice of reason and suggested sneaking away. Diana quietly turned around and joined her partner in attempting to leave the scene by stealth. She stayed slightly behind Aliarey in case the ghosts got wise to what the blondes were doing and attempted to pursue them.

Try as they might to get away without a fight, the duo did not get far before another apparition arrived to cut off their escape, zipping in front of Aliarey to make a dramatic entrance. The apparition in question was a female ghost wearing elegant attire from another age riding on the back of a skeletal reindeer. While the surprised Aliarey fell onto her backside Diana frowned at the sight of the ghostly rider producing a pair of icy swords from out of nowhere.

The ghost could summon as many weapons as it liked, but it would not last long enough to use any of them.

The green-eyed blonde did not need much encouragement from Aliarey to attack the ghost with her magic. Not wanting to change a winning formula, Diana decided to use another Spirit Drain Beam since it packed a lot of anti-ghost punch and had good range. The huntress channeled pale blue magic into her right hand, pointed her index and middle fingers at the target, and fired a Spirit Drain Beam right at the ghostly reindeer to deprive the female specter of its mobility and a potential second means of attack. The skeletal reindeer was banished with a single blast, but its rider was not going to leave this world peacefully.

As the spirit rallied Diana calmly prepared another Spirit Drain Beam, fired it at the spirit, and hit it in the face as it moved towards Diana with malicious intent. The green-eyed blonde watched it scream before vanishing from this world along with its weapons. Diana took another quiet breath before turning around to face Aliarey.

"Are you OK, Aliarey? Did the fall hurt you very badly?" Diana asked her partner how she was doing after the fall she had taken earlier. It did not look like Aliarey had been hurt by the fall, but she would ask her friend before making any assumptions about her condition.

[Post Word Count: 634]
[Diana's New Word Count: 9,576]

The music once again came to a sudden screeching halt. The ghost of Christmas Present had been destroyed! Easily. Not as quickly as Christmas Past was, but that was mostly because there were two targets instead of the one. The band on the float stared at where the spirit once stood. They couldn't believe it. They were Christmas spirits! Not some random weak soul that was wandering limbo for eternity. But just like that they were gone. What kind of monster was that woman? She couldn't have been human. Was she a supernatural hunter?

The sound of an iLac ringing brought everyone out of their shock. One band member took the device, ghost edition, out of his pocket. Another one of the band members had a more violent reaction to everything. He took his guitar and slammed it hard onto the layer of float that he stood upon. The instrument broke and shattered into several pieces. "That's it! That's the second time I haven't been able to play a full song. I quit!" The ghostly band member jumped off the float and began to stomp away from it. He passed by Diana and Aliarey but ignored them. He was just interested in leaving. Not dealing with whatever the hell they were.
"Sooooo, what now?" Another asked. "Christmas Future is tougher, right? We might get a full minute into the song this time."
"Nope." The one with the iLac had ended the quick call and put the device away. "Christmas Future just called. She said her future for today didn't look good if she came here so she said forget it. The gig is over."
"Uh, isn't Scrooge supposed to show up?"
"We're short a guitar and Ted just quit."
"Yeah, I'm with Ted. I quit. This doesn't pay enough."
The rest of the band began to agree with that thought. The whole thing wasn't worth it if they pissed that one woman off enough to end up like Christmas Past and Christmas Present. After all, the whole thing was supposed to be a joke. One started by a trickster that just wanted to have a little fun by pranking some random people. Apparently, the blonde's hated jokes. And Christmas rock. The float backed up into a newly opened portal. That same portal closed immediately, leaving no trace of the float or its band members.

As for Aliarey, she watched as Diana let that ghost and her skeletal reindeer have it. "Yes! Take that. Haha!" The blue eyed one of the blonde duo relished hearing that ghost scream and disappear. It had been destroyed by Diana's awesome ghost killing abilities just like the other one had. She sure was lucky that she had met Diana. If she had been alone she'd be haunted for eternity for sure. With Diana though it was all working out nicely. No ghost stood a chance! It was totally awesome.

The issues of the band Aliarey hadn't paid attention to just yet. Once the ghost had been defeated Diana had asked how she was doing. That was sweet. Usually people would just tell her to walk it off or something like that. It was kind of nice having someone at least attempt to show they cared about her well being. "Oh yeah, I'm fine. It was just a small fall. It could have been way worse if that ghost had actually hit me. It's a good thing you were here to take care of it. I'm starting to rack up a debt at this rate though. I hope you take coupons for these life saving endevours. Not sure if I can repay it this many times. We're already at two just for today." It was a joke, of course. Mostly. Diana did need to be repaid in turn. Aliarey would have her back in the future if it came down to it, so long as it didn't involve anything suicidal. But damn, it sure would be way easier if she could just repay Diana by buying her a cup of hot chocolate or something. The whole finding the perfect gift thing didn't seem to be going the way she had intentionally planned when she offered to help. The ghosts would be blamed for that. One hundred percent.

The band member that quit first walked past them, alerting Aliarey which resulted in her taking a defensive stance and being ready for anything he might try to do. Instead, he just walked on by and continued onward further into the deserted foggy streets. "Huh?" She looked over towards the float and noticed that it was now gone. "What just happened? Is that dose of stupid crazy over?" Aliarey stood normally and started to walk around slowly, looking at everything in case she missed something. All was quiet now. No ticking. No music. No cackling ghosts. Just fog, a ton of grey, and gently falling snow. It still was not the real Magnolia though so the two women were still in a bit of a predicament.

(Word Count: 838
Aliarey Total: 10,400)

As expected the second ghost and its skeletal mount went down in one Spirit Drain Beam apiece and Aliarey cheered loudly. Diana was three for three when it came to blasting the spirits back to whence they came and she had not even begun to tap into her magic reserves to any appreciable degree. That was good for her and Aliarey because there was no telling when other spirits would show up to give them trouble.

After sending the spectral woman and her ride back to the great beyond Diana had asked her fellow blonde how she was doing and Aliarey had given her answer. Diana was pleased to hear that the blue-eyed blonde had not taken any serious injury either from the "fight" or the fall. Being hurt in the middle of a place straight out of a Quiet Mountain game was not a good place to be hurt. Aliarey spoke of owing Diana two debts and mused that if things kept going like they were she would owe the huntress a mountain of debt that would be hard to get out from under.

Diana was not worried about it. As Angela Helton could testify, Diana did not like being in anyone's debt and she would certainly not keep track of what Aliarey owed to her. That kind of thing had a nasty way of backfiring and if Diana insisted on compiling a list of debts Aliarey could just abandon Diana in a perilous situation to wipe away her debt. Dead people could not collect debts, after all.

"Do not worry about it, Aliarey. You do not owe me anything." Diana replied in a serious tone of voice. She was tired of seeing the world as a series of business transactions. Such a view was not feasible for her to keep up any more and it was tiring to keep track of who owed her what and what she owed to others. Diana's thoughts were forcibly put on hold when one of the ghostly band members walked towards them.

Diana raised her right hand towards it to prepare another one of her ghost-killing spells. She had expected it to try and fight them, but instead the ghost just kept on walking without even giving the two blondes a second glance. Diana was surprised by that sight, but she did not let it show on her face.

Once the ghost had moved on down the road Aliarey asked Diana a question she had wanted to ask her companion. Diana faced the blue-eyed blonde and spoke to her.

"I have no idea, Aliarey. I too hope that this entire bizarre episode is finished. It has gone on far too long for my liking." Diana said to her companion. She had been over all of this stupidity the moment the ghostly band showed up to play their peculiar brand of music. Ever since then things had been getting dumber and dumber with no end in sight. Maybe this marked the end of all the weirdness that had plagued this evening.

When the blue-eyed blonde began to walk around Diana followed Aliarey and as she progressed gradually noticed that an eerie calm had settled over the area. Instead of giving her any sort of comfort, the calm only made her apprehensive.

It could be the calm before the storm.

In her experience periods of calm were usually preludes to big occurrences. Since they had been fighting ghosts Diana expected the ghosts to play one last card in an effort to take her and Aliarey down. She was not sure what form that last card would take, but she was certain that it would be something to behold.

[Post Word Count: 614]
[Diana's New Word Count: 10,190]

A single brow was arched quizzically. She didn't owe Diana anything? For real? Well, people saying that was nothing new. What would be new is if someone actually meant it wholeheartedly. Diana didn't seem like a liar, but then again Aliarey really never put that kind of thing to the test with her either. It'd be nice though in a way if those words really were truthful and that Diana would continue to save her butt time and time again while knowing it'd be impossible to repay that amount of life-preserving favors. That was how friends worked. In those happy-go-lucky stories, films, or the biography of some dimwitted social media popstar anyway. Not so much for her, but it'd be a decent change. Welcoming even. Hard to get used to though. Even right then Aliarey was feeling a bit uncomfortable knowing that she owed Diana nothing. It was weird.

"Well, I was just half-joking anyway. We'll call it even one day even if you say it doesn't need to happen. Don't think it'll happen today though. Maybe next Christmas or somewhere in those months in between. Never know!" For a moment Aliarey was her normal self as if the two of them were not trapped in some weird version of Magnolia and all was back to normal. Was that the power of thinking positively? The grand invincible ability to just remain upbeat and joke around even when things were stupid or terrifying? Yeah, she didn't like it. Her negativity came right back almost immediately after putting the whole owing Diana thing to rest.

"Gotta get out of this cringe festive nightmare first though," Aliarey said under her breath as an outer thought to herself. It wasn't meant for Diana to hear or comment on but she had no doubt in her mind that her fellow blonde would agree. That had been when the band member that had rage quit walked by and the rest had disappeared altogether. Just like herself, Diana had zero clue on what was going on now or what would happen from there on out. As expected, she was done with the whole thing. Aliarey couldn't blame her, especially since Diana had been doing pretty much everything to take care of the threats that they had encountered. Meanwhile, she herself learned how to get trapped and fall onto the ground. What an excellent strategy to keep herself in the jolly good mood fit for the holiday season.

Puffing her cheeks, Aliarey let out a hopeless breath of air. Yeah, she had nothing. No idea whatsoever how to get out of that mess. Unless blowing up the entire fictional town to maybe possibly end up in the real one counted as a spectacular idea worth trying. She tapped her hands against her thighs a few times, still thinking. It looked as if the two would be spending one cold unholy night in that place. Maybe even two. A week. Possibly forever. If there was anything else out to get them it wasn't making itself known. Perhaps the new strategy was to just abandon them there entirely. That'd show them! And then it happened. The thing that broke the silence that had fallen upon the artificial city.

The music box. It had fallen out of Alairey's grip again during her fall. She hadn't even noticed. The music box lied on the snow-covered street, partially broken now but still functional. Its lid popped open and its Christmas tune began to play. A pretty gentle little tune. Not like the stuff that was being played by the ghost band. That got Aliarey's attention quickly but there was no time for her to reclaim her lost possession. Swirls of magic and energy came from the box and spread out all around where Diana and Aliarey stood. It was the same exact phenomenon that occurred right before Diana and herself found themselves in that weird version of Magnolia. The ghostly grey town disappeared, leaving only the swirling tornado of energy around them.

A voice then spoke. Male if Aliarey had to guess based on sound alone. Other than that the voice was not one of anger or evil. Rather, the source the voice belonged to must have been amused by the whole thing. It all started with a laugh. One that echoed all around the two women stuck in the swirling energy tornado. "Wow! Couldn't even get through a whole act with you two girls. What's wrong? Didn't enjoy the show?" The voice sighed, feigning disappointment. "All that hard work to change everything and get you there. Of everyone in town, I had to go and pick the two that had the worst sense of humor. This Christmas Special will have to end prematurely. Now that just ain't right. Woe is me indeed!" The voice laughed again. At no point did it even suggest showing its actual form. There was no need. He had wasted enough time fooling around with those two. They just weren't fun. "Now I'll return you back to that fun lively reality you like to call home. Maybe I'll see you two again on the next holiday. Or even next year. I'm a very busy trickster and there are so many people around. I can't always hit the same ones twice, but I may have to make an exception just for you two. The tragedy that happened today has to be rectified. It's goodbye for now though ya'll. Remember to have a Merry Christmas and all that jolly jazz."

The swirls of magic disappeared. The Christmas music of the festival could be heard, as well as the crowds of people making noise while having fun with the events, singing, or chatting away with friends and family. Aliarey and Diana were back in the real Magnolia Town. At the same exact spot they had been before things got weird. Even their plates of Christmas cookies remained sitting there on the bench.

Aliarey looked around, blinked her eyes, and looked again. The wine bottle was still gone. Diana had gotten rid of that before the whole trip down Christmas Carol Lane. Damn. That meant the whole thing couldn't be blamed on drinking an entire bottle of wine. "Okay, so.... that was a thing. I think." She turned to Diana. "That was a thing, right? Not a hallucination from having a sip of that wine? I'm not crazy?" The concerned blonde waited for the other to say something to confirm her theory before moving on.

"You know what? That whole thing kind of ruined this for me. We should probably get out of here in case that thing decides to come back. You want to go do something else?" There was plenty of other stuff in town to do away from the festival. They could even go to the next town over if need be. It was just a kindly suggestion though. Aliarey was pretty much done with the festival and didn't want to risk any other kind of Christmas magic happening. She wanted to leave. It was cool if Diana decided to stay though or just not want to hang out anymore that day at all in general. "I think this town has a theatre or something. We can go see something there. Just don't ask how I plan to get us in." The requip mage smiled slyly as she waited for a reply.

(Word Count: 1233
Aliarey Total: 11,633)

Aliarey took the news that she did not owe Diana anything for the rescues with obvious disbelief. She then said that she was going to find a way to repay the debt but made it clear that repaying the debt would happen at some point in the future. Diana was fine with that. She had assured Aliarey that the latter owed her nothing for saving her life and was not going to change her mind on the matter, but if Aliarey felt that she owed Diana something, Diana was not going to dissuade her. Diana was just glad to have someone to call a friend.

"I am in no hurry, Aliarey." Diana replied. She was patient. It was all but certain that the two blondes would have many other adventures and on one of those adventures Diana might end up needing help. It was best to save the "debt" for that time instead of trying to cash it in right away.

With that settled Diana turned her attention to thinking of a way to get out of this place before even more ghosts showed up. Diana did not have long to think because soon she heard faint music playing and sidelined coming up with an escape plan in favor of listening to the music. Unlike that obnoxious "music" the ghosts had been playing, this was actual Christmas music. A few seconds later the ghost town she and Aliarey had been standing in vanished and it was just them and a male voice.

The mysterious voice droned on and on about how the duo had thwarted its holiday plans for them, but the short version was that it would be back to spice up their next holiday. However, it did not specify when it would come back to put the duo through another round of magical hijinks. It thought that it was being tricky and mysterious, but Diana just considered the voice to be really annoying. She was glad when it departed and took with it the Quiet Mountain version of Magnolia Town with the endless fog and the obnoxious ghost musicians standing on their tacky parade float that could not make up its mind on which holiday it was supposed to be decorated for.

The two blondes found themselves back in the real Magnolia Town with real Christmas music and real people. Diana was relieved to see that they were now free from that alternate reality Magnolia Town where nothing made sense. Diana was busy enjoying reality again when she heard Aliarey ask her a couple of questions about whether their ordeal had been real or just the product of an altered state of consciousness brought on by the wine Aliarey had consumed. The green-eyed blonde made eye contact with her companion before speaking.

"It seems like what we just went through really happened, Aliarey. I do not think the wine had anything in it, but I am not qualified to judge that since I did not take a sip of it." Diana gave her opinion on the truth of the matter. As odd as everything had been, she did not think that the weirdness could be blamed on the wine. Everything had been too real for it to be chalked up to bad wine.

"I have had enough holiday fun for one evening, Aliarey. If you have nothing else that you want to do here, I would like to leave town while we still can." Diana informed Aliarey of what she wanted to do from here. Diana wanted nothing more than to put this whole bizarre episode behind her and the best way to begin doing that was to leave town. However, that was strictly Diana's opinion.

Aliarey might not be quite ready to call it a night and might want to do something else before they left town. If the blue-eyed blonde wanted to stay and do something else Diana would stay here and spend a little more time with her friend. If Aliarey wanted to leave town right away Diana would be glad to leave town. The blue-eyed blonde talked about the possibility of there being a theater in Magnolia Town and that made Diana reconsider her earlier opinion.

"On second thought, I am interested in going to the theater, but everyone else might have the same idea." Diana replied to the idea. Then a thought crossed her mind. A rather unpleasant thought that caused her to speak up.

"What will you do if all the theater is showing is Christmas movies? Do you want to watch a Christmas movie after what we went through earlier?" Diana asked Aliarey before they went all the way to the theater just to be met with that unpleasant surprise. Diana was not keen on watching a Christmas movie right now. She did not want to see a Christmas musical either. After all the weirdness she had went through tonight she doubted that she would willingly watch a Christmas movie or Christmas musical for many, many years.

[Post Word Count: 836]
[Diana's New Word Count: 11,026]

And there it was. A question Aliarey had not expected in the slightest. Diana was right! Christmas movies, plays, and musicals were hits at that time of year. Alia felt sick. Disgusted. She couldn't take sitting through two to three hours of something like that. Blowing the theatre up would have been a fun activity as an alternative, but that might be considered overly excessive. "Eh, worth checking out. We'll find something to do if that's all that's at the theatre," Aliarey spoke, almost too optimistically for bonus reassurance points. Reassuring herself was just as important as reassuring Diana.

And so marked the end of that holiday festival for the two women. Hopefully, their next Christmas festival together would be more like the movies they so wanted to avoid watching.

(Word Count: 130
Aliarey Total: 11,763)
Diana Total: 11,026

11,763 + 11,026 = 22789 Thread Total
100Y Word Count Starts Here