Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
But, unfortunately, St Nicholas was never to be there.

The dreamers were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of all sorts of adventures danced in their heads.
Each dreamer in PJ's or Nightgowns with caps,
As if they were already sleeping inside of a nap.

When out in the living room there arose such a clatter,
The dreamer sprang up from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away down the stairs, from their warm beds they bolted,
What they saw was something .. not quite what they expected.

Powdered sugar on the tree made it look like snow
There was a cup of spilt milk on the carpet below.
When, what to ones wandering eyes should they discover
A senshi of the moon, sprawled on the floor with her head under a platter.

She spoke not a word, but lifted the plate from her vision,
When she looked up to see she was caught, her cheeks they did brighten.
Scratching her head with the sheepish of smiles,
Her embarrassment matches the Santa hat on her usual hairstyle.

".. I guess you caught me." She said as she holds out a present,
The ribbon was all curls and the wrapping quite decent,
Now the question, for your Christmas dream pleasure,
Will you open it now or will you open it later?

(ooc: BEHOLD MY FAIL!RHYMING. Also MERRY CHRISTMAS GAIZ. This post is family themed, or it doesn't have to be. It's really all up to you~ Just to clarify, she IS dressed up as first incarnation of Sailor Moon... but with a Santa hat.. Yeah. C_C )

[ today, you've gotten a call from a nurse at Abbott-Alabaster Hospital. there's a family member currently occupying one of their rooms and as their kin, you're notified.

for some reason (to lecture, to scold, to make fun of, to be a good sibling, etc) you've found it in you to take time out of your very busy schedule (or maybe it's an empty one) to come down and see him.

and there, in room 301, he sits.

Riku covers his mouth as he coughs and looks over as you enter. his face is red and his eyes are dim, hair a mess. he looks somewhat damp--not surprising given what the nurse told you about his situation. apparently, he saved someone from drowning on one of the frozen lakes--the ice cracked and he fell in and then had to be fished out.

he slowly turns his back to the figure. ]

I told them not to call anyone.

[ he's a big boy. B( go away. ]

[ooc: if it's not too much trouble, i'm thinking of threads happening chronologically--first thread first and so forth. so far I have a stepsister for Riku and a dad (stepdad? idk Eleven does what he wants) so besides those, go ahead and throw any family member you want!]

[ The Doctor simply nods to the dreamer as they find themselves in The TARDIS console room. He's flying around the console, as par usual, hitting random things and random dials. Sitting on his head is a cowboy hat. Somehow, it just works with the bowtie, suspenders and green coat. Don't ask. ]

Right then! I've got a special treat in mind. [ He turns away from the console, facing the dreamer with a smile on his face. He crosses his arms over his chest. ] I've got the TARDIS set up to land on one day of the year - any year - any place in any year! One special day. It comes around every year but it's the day that almost everyone looks forward to. All I have to do is hit the randomize blinker and we're off!

Call it a present! You'll understand when we land.


(( ooc: non-event post for December! The Doctor is taking your characters to a place they've never been before on December 24th--Christmas Eve! Just head on over to the R.N.G. and leave the number you picked somewhere in your post. The numbers are from 1-5. It can be brackets, subject header, whatever~ but you won't know where your character is going until they do! ALSO: This is a canon update post to post-Closing Time (6.11). The Doctor is off on his round about last tour before he heads to his death. Hence the present to you all. ))

The forest is quiet, and green. A cloaked man heads towards an altar in a clearing, already laid out with candles and, crosswise, his sword in its sheath. He takes a deep, cleansing breath, and picks it up.

"Kunzite!"

The voice interrupts him. He fires a swift, angry look in its direction, unwilling to let the blue-haired girl hurrying towards the clearing from the forest's edge interfere in this. Under his glower, the ground shakes violently and a chasm opens between them, stopping her short as she scrambles to keep her balance and can go no further. She shouts something else, but her voice is useless and the sound is stillborn. Her mouth works uselessly, frantically, as she tries to make herself heard, to no avail.

Kunzite frees the weapon from its rest, and throws the sheath carelessly on the ground. His hands are steady as he deals his own death blow and gives a great, wordless cry. Mercury can only watch, face tight with conflicting emotions and dark eyes forcibly dry.

--

There's nothing to explain how the forest has suddenly changed, but Mercury is still there. The chasm is gone. The altar has been replaced by a memorial tablet. Glimmering flowers, closed buds made of living ice, grow throughout the entire clearing; it doesn't take counting to know there are one thousand and ninety-four.

Mercury tends the grave site, as she has done regularly for three years now, as she will do tomorrow when she awakens. If the passing of time has helped to alleviate the impact, it has not lessened the importance. As she pours the water over the stone, her face becomes almost calm in repose as she sinks into reflection.

She could use a sympathetic presence.

It's a sky of storm clouds, dark and threatening, piled against each other, the air thick with the scent of ozone - but it's a silent sky.  The clouds don't move, there's no storm wind, no rumble of thunder or flares of lightning.  Instead the sky is static, heavy.  Indifferent.  Strange streaks of a living, glowing green trace across the sky in slim arches, frozen in place, paths or trailing ends of forgotten energy.  Underfoot, barren, ancient, rocky ground falls away on every side.

It's an island of rock floating in an endless sky, flat on its surface, bottom a jagged mess, as if it was ripped out of somewhere better by its roots and left to drift through a sea of storm clouds.  Far in the distance there are other uprooted clots of earth, just as barren, just as forgotten.  This island in the middle of nowhere however isn't empty.  There are ruins here, fallen pillars.  And there are bodies.  So many dead bodies.  Soldiers, scientists, civilians, scattered around the ruins, each one dead, each one bearing the traces of a violent death even if they blur at their edges and become indistinct if looked at too closely. 

There is one body that's still alive though, deep in the heart of the ruin, sitting on weathered steps that lead to nowhere.  There's a giant sword driven into the stone near his right side and a thick leather wing spreads out from his left shoulder.  He's not dressed in his usual garb, instead a ragged, lethal mix of clothes from memory, not always his, and he doesn't look up from where he has he mouth and chin pressed into the hands of flesh and clawed steel woven in front of him, elbows resting on his knees.  The stairs are clear of bodies beyond his. 

Except for two. 

On his right, near the bloody sword is the body of a dark haired man in SOLDIER uniform, spiky hair clotted in his own blood, blue green eyes closed for good.  On the left, almost under the stretch of the wing is a brunette woman, dressed in pink, flowers scattered dying and forgotten around her.

Blue eyes the color of the lightning that doesn't move through the empty clouds lift at intrusion but other than that Cloud doesn't rise or move at all.  He's here with his dead. 

What do you want?

ooc. so, another Cloud's-messed-up post.  Because we have got to get through these so we can move on to the naked in high school dreams  that just killed the atmosphere I was trying to set didn't it?  Anyway, I am shamelessly swiping the Dissidia setting and his alternate Kingdom Hearts outfit from that too.  He's not Kingdom Hearts Cloud, though feel free to think he is if that applies.  And yes, that's Zack and Aerith quite dead on the stairs with him (though that doesn't mean if you're Zack or Aerith you can't still come for the sheer mind screw of it all).  Be prepared for the emo - or conversely, some violence.  He's just come to the realization that he's going to have to abandon his family in his waking world and he's not in a chatty mood.

The desert sun beats down in full force upon a river of sand. It looks uncrossable, at least by any normal means. Though it's clearly grains of dust and dirt, it flows naturally, rippled with small waves. Dead trees grow within it, with only barren branches.

A boat approaches, a ferry carrying a hooded and cloaked figure. It glides noiselessly atop the sand. Slowly, finally, the ferryman brings the vessel to a halt just nearby. Her face is still hidden as she waits, hand out, for her fare.

"Hop on," she offers, and the voice is clearly feminine. "And unburden yourself." In the dream, everything lost can be regained come morning.

"You have something you want to leave behind, don't you?" It's a shrewd guess; very few people are without regrets they'd like to forget. She makes it sound almost enticing.

The first thing that hits you once you step into this dream scape is the sun shining almost directly into your eye. But, once the glare settles, the sight to behold is nothing other than a high school decorated very brightly with food and game booths, students in costumes, balloons and the chatter of happy folks that wander around the school grounds.

Welcome to Juuban High School's Cultural Festival.

If the main courtyard doesn't suit your fancy, the inside of the school has even more choices to choose from. There are classes that are designed for cafes with all sorts of different foods. Some have been shaped to be haunted houses -- others have fortune telling booths or perhaps they're displaying and selling different knick knacks the class has voted to sell.

In the stage area there are different performances every hour; the theater club is performing the play they've been working real hard on. There may be a fashion show from the fashion club and the music club might be putting on a concert for the student body!

... but might you be wondering where the dreamer of this elaborate setting is?

Usagi Tsukino is in her school uniform. She's partaking in the festivities as a member of the festival commitie as the red arm band around her left arm states. She's running around the festival helping out with different classes and booths by making sure everything is going as smoothly as it can... fact of the matter is that she's all over the school doing what she can.

Where ever you find her, she's sporting a large pair of bunny ears which also has a small sign promoting her class and their store. (Hey, she has to support her class somehow.)

(ooc: A not!event'd Usagi and her dream. If you feel like having an october event'd character comment, I'm totally down with that. Other wise, have fun! \o\)

[ This dream is a treat for all those who find themselves with the Doctor. As normal, he's spinning around the console and piloting the ship that looks like it's made out of odds and ends. He is rambling on of course, something about one of his favorite times of the year. Even though he can go through all of time and space, so technically the time of year can be repeating over and over for him. With a wave of his hand he ignores whatever you decide to say, and spins on his heels. The central column of the TARDIS stops moving and he bolts towards the doors and throws them open. ]

Right then! The old girl got to be very random with this. I just gave her the holiday and she decided where to put us! Bit of a gamble, I'd say, but what's life without a bit of adventure, eh? So, I present to you: All Hallows Eve!

In some varying year. We'll figure that out in a bit. Ought to be a news paper around here somewhere.


(( OOC: Non-event post! Happy Halloween everyone! Each person will get their own place they go to for Halloween~ :3 ))

[ The room that you could step into is one of many in the CIA installment that he has been spending time in. It is surrounded by several pieces of equipment. Charles is standing in the center, looking around and examining Cerebro. He moves his fingers over the headpiece, feeling it carefully.

His tone is peaceful and friendly, and he turns to look over his shoulder at whoever approaches. He walks towards the entrance and offers a smile and a nod, looking back at the work. ]

Quite an amazing piece work, isn't it?