Christmas In Hargeon Town

-Hargeon Town, early evening-

Returning to Hargeon Town for the third time in her brief second life, Lucia was here to participate in the Christmas festivities that were taking place in the port town. While she did not dress for the occasion because she had gotten a bit lazy and had not shopped for any new outfits since going to Hargeon Handguns the other day, she was always up for a good party. Besides, some people at the party were not wearing Christmas-themed clothing either, so she should be able to get away with what she was wearing. Wearing her typical outfit of black long-sleeved shirt with long white skirt and black dress shoes with black shoulder bag, Lucia was more than adequately dressed for an evening of fun.

Lucia looked around her as she walked and marveled at how everything had been decorated for Christmas. Almost a week ago the place looked like a normal port town, but now it was a center of holiday festivities with a look that was appropriate for a Christmas party. Storefronts were decorated with wreaths, people were singing holiday songs at machines set up for Christmas Karaoke, there was a Christmas Tree Decorating contest, and there was even a giant Christmas tree where people were to pick up a gift to try to guess what was inside in an activity appropriately called "Guess The Gift."

Lucia was not sure what she wanted to do first. Part of her wanted to go find the nearest coffee shop and see if they were offering any special holiday drinks, but she was more tempted to go check out "Guess The Gift" instead, so that was exactly what she did. Lucia carefully worked her way through the dense holiday crowds and eventually reached the giant Christmas tree she had spotted on her way into Hargeon Town. Once at the Christmas tree she saw people just walking up to the tree and grabbing a gift. Lucia was not sure how the rules to "Guess The Gift" went, so she would try to find someone to talk to before taking part.

"Oh hi there, Lady! Looking to participate in Guess The Gift?" A black-haired young woman dressed as Mrs. Claus asked Lucia. Lucia nodded.

"Yes. What are the rules?" Lucia asked the event staff member.

"They're simple. You walk up to the tree, pick any gift you want, and try to guess what's inside. You're free to shake the box, but don't peek inside or try to cheat with magic. It's that simple!" The young woman told Lucia. The blonde thought that was simple enough, so she decided to give it a try.

"Thanks." Lucia thanked the young staff member for explaining the rules, then walked over to the tree and picked out a medium-sized rectangular box that was green with red ribbon holding it closed. She walked away from the tree and shook the box. Something with what sounded like a hard edge was inside. She shook it again and heard the sound of something hard rattling against the box's interior. Lucia was thinking that it was some kind of appliance like a music player or gaming console, but she was not sure yet... she would need to shake the gift box a little more to get more information for a decent guess.

The blonde was not particularly worried about winning a prize, but she could not deny that it would be nice to walk away with a little something for her trouble.

[Post Word Count: 585]
[Lucia's Word Count: 585/2,000]

Lucia Winchester rolls one Normal Die for Guess The Gift.

The member 'Lucia Winchester' has done the following action : Dice Rolls

---

'Normal Dice' :

Lucia shook the box a third time and thought that she heard the sound of glass hitting the side of the box too... or at least she thought she had heard that sound. She was soon distracted by the feeling of snow being dumped on her head, causing her to yelp in surprise and nearly drop the box. She thought that someone had thrown a snowball that had hit her on the top of the head, but a quick glance around showed that no one was throwing snowballs. She looked up and saw that a cloud had appeared over her head and was now dumping snow on her!

"Some of the boxes are enchanted to give an additional Christmas surprise. It seems like you got one of those boxes!" The young woman explained why the snow cloud had appeared all of a sudden. Lucia shrugged her shoulders. While she was not a big fan of the "just got snowed on" look because when snow combined with her black shirt it made her look like she had a really bad case of dandruff, it was nothing to get terribly upset about. When she thought about what possible enchantments the box could have had, she had a feeling that she had gotten off pretty lightly compared to some people who had participated in "Guess The Gift."

"OK. I can live with that." Lucia replied calmly. Ignoring the constant rain of snow that was falling on her head, she shook the box a fourth time and definitely heard the sound of glass hitting the side. Based on that, she decided to make a guess that it was a coffeemaker. She was pretty sure that she had a coffeemaker.

"So, what do you think you've got?" The young woman asked Lucia. Lucia looked at her before giving her answer.

"I'm thinking I have a coffeemaker." Lucia replied. Having made her guess, Lucia undid the ribbon and kept it in her hand, then opened the box. Lucia peered inside and saw a white coffeemaker complete with a glass coffee pot! The blonde was pleased with this.

"You're right, Lady! Congratulations on your new coffeemaker!" The staff member congratulated Lucia on her accurate guess. Lucia looked into the box a second time and saw that it was not a cheap coffeemaker. It was a sturdily built one that was a middle-of-the-road model... it was not the high-end model, but it was not a bargain brand either. Lucia was pleased with it, especially since it was free.

"Thanks." Lucia said, putting the ribbon inside the gift box and closing the box back up. She would have to make sure that no holiday hooligan snatched the box and ran off with her prize, but with so many people around she was pretty sure that there was nothing to worry about. Except the snow cloud lingering over her head that kept dumping snow on her. When would that annoying thing go away?

"Enjoy the rest of the party and have a happy holiday!" The young woman wished Lucia and handed the blonde three peppermint sticks, which Lucia put in her shoulder bag so that they would not get crushed by the coffeemaker in the gift box. Lucia nodded and walked away from the tree to find some other activity to participate in. She had to hand it to the event staff... there were plenty of other activities to choose from. She was not up for the Christmas Tree Decorating contest or Craft A Sweater, but after walking around and seeing what else there was she might change her mind and participate in one of those activities.

[Post Word Count: 607]
[Lucia's Word Count: 1,192/2,000]
Lucia has completed the Guess The Gift activity. She now has three out of five peppermint sticks needed for event completion.

After winning a shiny new coffeemaker Lucia wandered around the area to get an idea of what other activities were offered. She had already ruled out the Christmas Tree Decorating Contest because decorating something was not her speed. Back in Bellum she had barely decorated her room... the biggest "decoration" was the piano that sat in the middle of her room and maybe the stack of classical music albums that sat on her dresser.

Lucia had also ruled out the Craft A Sweater activity because she was no good at making clothing from scratch. Even though the whole point of it seemed to be to make an ugly sweater, Lucia would end up abusing the leeway granted by the event staff and end up making something truly horrendous that would make abstract artists like Picasso and Dali cry, so she should stay away from that activity for the good of all the festival-goers.

Having excluded those two activities, the only thing left was to do Christmas Karaoke. While Lucia did not like being the center of attention, she looked towards the karaoke area and saw that the atmosphere was pretty relaxed. No one was watching in judgment and people were singing because they wanted to sing, not because anything was on the line. Seeing people sing reminded her of her younger sister Melody and how musically talented she was.

True to her name, the second-oldest Winchester daughter was musically talented. Melody was a triple threat with her ability to play the piano, sing, and play the violin at almost the professional level plus being able to play the clarinet at an advanced level. If she had only had a few more years to live Melody could have easily made a career out of her talent if she chose to. However, Lucia was not sure whether Melody would have done so of her own volition or because their mother Elizabeth was pushing her in that direction.

Lucia stopped thinking about her late sister and walked under a sprig of greenery hanging by a thread from a temporary archway with a banner that read "MERRY CHRISTMAS HARGEON TOWN!". Lucia saw another young woman dressed as Mrs. Claus step in front of her and the blonde paused. Unlike her fellow staff member at the "Guess The Gift" activity, this young woman had shoulder-length blonde hair.

"You passed under some mistletoe. You know what that means, right?" The young woman asked Lucia. Lucia blinked.

"You have to kiss someone!" Came the answer. Lucia blinked again. She had a snow cloud hanging over her head and dumping snow on her constantly. Who would want to kiss her?

"I'll do it!" A young man's voice answered the call with obvious eagerness. Lucia turned to her right and saw a young man with blonde hair and blue eyes walk up to her. He was wearing a olive green jacket with white shirt and olive green pants with black boots. He looked ex-military, but he could just be a fan of military surplus clothing.

Before Lucia could react the young man took the gift box from her hands and sat it on the ground beside them. He then planted a kiss squarely on Lucia's lips and wrapped his hands around her waist. She thought she felt his hands brush her backside for a moment, but she was not sure because she had been distracted by the suddenness of the kiss. Once the kiss was over the young man let go and faced Lucia.

"The name's Andy. Don't be a stranger!" He bade Lucia before leaving for parts unknown. The taller blonde blinked and the event staff member handed her a peppermint stick, perhaps as compensation for the unexpected kiss.

"Here you go!" The blonde event staff member chirped. Lucia took the offered peppermint stick and put it in her shoulder bag before thanking the staff member, then picked up the gift box and went on her way. Despite her aversion to karaoke, Lucia just might have to do it since she had even stronger aversions to both the Christmas Tree Decorating Contest and the Craft A Sweater activity.

[Post Word Count: 690]
[Lucia's Word Count: 1,882/2,000]
Lucia has completed the Mistletoe Mischief activity. She now has four out of five Peppermint Sticks needed for event completion.

-At the Christmas Karaoke booths-

Lucia felt nervous as she approached the Christmas Karaoke machines to take a turn at singing a holiday classic in front of a crowd. Her stomach was turning flips just thinking about it. She was Melody's equal on the piano, but she lacked her late sister's singing ability. The blonde did not want to drive the crowd away with her lack of ability, but when she spotted a mildly intoxicated young redheaded woman in a Santa's Elf costume warbling her way through "Jingle Bell Rock" while slurring some of the lyrics, Lucia knew that she had a lot of leeway.

She would need every inch of leeway she could get to avoid being stoned to death by an angry crowd around Christmas.

Once a karaoke machine opened up Lucia took the opportunity to get this over with. She walked up to it, sat her gift box down at her feet, and picked a song to sing along to. Once she cycled through what was available the choice became an easy one. Lucia would endeavor to sing "Silent Night" because it was her personal favorite and Diana's favorite.

-Two minutes and forty-one seconds later-

After completing what she thought was a passable rendition of the Christmas classic Lucia picked up her gift box and stepped away from the Christmas Karaoke machine in order to let someone else have a turn. As she left the machine behind a young male staff member dressed as an elf handed her a peppermint stick, which she took in a free hand and gently set down the box. She then put the offered peppermint stick in her shoulder bag before picking up the gift box and moving further away from the machines as a middle-aged man in a Santa costume worked his way through "Joy To The World."

Lucia had had enough holiday fun for one night. She decided to go home and put her new coffeemaker to good use... after she found some coffee for it, of course, but that could wait for another time. Right now she just wanted to go home and enjoy the rest of the night... if this snow cloud hanging over her head would let her. Lucia shrugged it off and slowly made her way out of Hargeon Town to take her new prize home. Tonight had been a very good night for the blonde.

[Post Word Count: 400]
[Lucia's Word Count: 2,282/2,000]
Lucia has completed the Christmas Karaoke activity. She now has all five Peppermint Sticks needed for event completion.