[Ukitake has been incredibly busy over the last two days, and the results of this are finally on show to be seen.

The following people will have received a small nicely wrapped present of homemade candy, cakes and tea : Death the Kid, Rin, Yoruichi, Soi Fong, Matsumoto, Hitsugaya, Hinamori, Ino, Nill, Yuan, and All the Doctors.

All the following people receive the same parcel, as well as a personalised added present (to be mentioned in the individual comments~) : Abel, Max, Lorne, Shunsui, Draco and Ken.

There is also a HUGE bowl of candy set out in the lobby with the message of 'Free for All -- Merry Christmas' written next to it; and a small tree hung with cookies baked in Christmas shapes for the children of the castle.

--

Another thing he's had to organise was the birthday dinner he was throwing for all his friends - preferring not to receive presents, he liked to spend his birthdays thanking those around him for another year of invaluble companionship. The meal he has prepared is immense, courses from all over the world - although predominantly Japanese in flavour - are set out to fill the giant dining table at seven pm sharp.

The doors are open, the delicious smell of his cooking is filling the corridor, so feel free to turn up whether invited or not!]

Dinner is ready, everyone!


[ooc: Open to all! Receive gifts, see the candy in the lobby, come to the birthday dinner! All welcome, invited or not!

Dinner guests are welcome to mingle and threadhop! Have fun!!!]

Hm?

[ it seems that Oz has took notice of the invitation that's been placed on his door. obviously the blonde is reading it, quite intrigued. oh, and for the record, he has noticed that morbid taste of the poster but decided to ignore that being oh-so-oblivious. ]

A ball sounds mightily interesting this time of year! Christmas is literally around the corner, as well~. I still need to buy Gil a gift. Break too! I have the money on me but I don't really know Town that well. Ehehe! Oh, can't forget Jack.

Maybe I'll attend, it'll be a blast, I'm sure!

( Private )

[dictated, kind of groggy-sounding]

I could have sworn I just saw a snowman moving around out there.

... I'm going back to bed.

( Private )

( Minato )

[someone went down to the kitchen and is lounging with a cup of steaming cider. She takes a sip and then opens her journal again]

While the invitation is undeniably creepy, a dance is a dance, right? Who else is in desperate need of friends to go dress shopping with? Danes are a girl's best excuse to pull out all the stops. We want to dazzle these guy, am I right?

[haha paaaause] By the way, this invitation is not extended to creeps, so don't waste your time.

So I'm headed back to my parents' house tomorrow (yay 6 and a half hour flight), which means for the next two weeks, I'll be switching to PST instead of EST. Alas. Hopefully I won't be terribly busy, and I'll still have plenty of time to tag stuff.

Sung to the chorus of: Merry F>BEEP<ing Christmas!

Hey there Paradisaaaa / Merry f>BEEP<ing Christmas!
Put down that freakin journal / and hear some holiday wishes!

Incase you haven't noticed / It's Jesus' birthday!
So get off your stupid freakin' loss / and f>BEEP<ing celebrate!

Long story short: Going home for the holidays. This means Sol will be gone until New Years at latest. Anybody who needs to get a hold of me can pester Morg. But until next I see you, Merry Christmas! And a Happy New Years! 

( booster )

A ball? My, Paradisa has been very generous lately. [ do you know what that means guys? it means impending doom ]


[ ooc: okay. /fails at staying awake... will tag back in the morning. sorry for doing this for like the 989478947897489th time ;-; ]

( James Potter )

First that auction, and now a ball? At least we're being invited this time and not being herded like cattle. By the way, I know who signed me up for that auction! I'm definitely not happy with you. You better have had a good reason.

[ pause as she's flipping the invitation around ]

I guess a formal party could be fun. There's really...nothing else to do for Christmas when you're away from your family, is there? Will those ghosts be there? They were creepy already, and now it's even worse.

[So after a night of chasing after that damn cat and having to stay in town, Gino's walking the halls up to the tenth floor. He looks kind of tired while carrying both his furball Arthur and his open journal, turning to face the door to 1011. Only to spot the severe lack of a nameplate. He glances to make sure his journal's open and dictates while looking back at the door.]

... uhm...

What happened to my room? My nameplate's gone.

[ooc: so uh. no one helped me like I asked. so Gino's stumbled across his dilemma on his own. :|  Open journal, or open in person if you happen to be on the tenth floor.]

[ For anyone who knows the sound, they may recognize hangers moving on a metal rod. Yup, Ten's messing about in the TARDIS wardrobe. ]

For all the... interesting imagery on the invitation, this Christmas Ball sounds like it might be an interesting thing.

[ Rustlerustlerustle. What is it with Ten and multitasking? There's a small whump as a jacket lands on the journal, but it's quickly moved. After another moment of digging through clothing, Ten lets out a loud "a-HA!" ]

There's the tuxedo jacket. ... I should probably take the Declaration of Independence out of the pocket. Wouldn't want that to get ruined.

[ There's a long pause after Ten roots around in his pockets. ] So that's where Jack's sonic blaster went. I knew I had it around here somewhere. Should probably dismantle this. Eventually.

( Private )

( Reno-chan )

( Abel )

[a shriek!]

Wow! The castle finally did something totally cool! These invitations are completely awesome! Misa is impressed!

Ah ha, I bet something horrible will happen. What should I wear?

You know, usually around this time everybody up in the Palace would be running around like wild, trying to set up for the celebration... I guess it's not unlike this, but it'll be weird not seeing everyone this year.

[Standing in the lobby, staring up at one of the larger trees is Pit, currently eyeing the top of it and biting his lip in thought. Want... climb... tree...]

( Miss Deveraux )

This invitation would be a lot more inviting if it didn't have a monochrome heart being pierced with swords on the front. Doesn't exactly say 'Merry Christmas' to me.

...I've got the formal attire down, at least.

[Dictated]

( York/Delta )


Christmas ball with formal attire, huh? That sounds like it'd be something to attend. This place really knows how to go all out.

[Pause] For sleeping outside, would someone recommend a down jacket or a heavier coat?

[because of this conversation, we now have the following question showing up in the journals. Let us pretend it's the 12th]

I would like to know what actions have previously been attempted by residents in order to find an exit from this world. Please be as detailed as possible. It is intended to help in avoiding any repeats, so that the search for a way out can be more efficient.

Thank you.

Merry Christmas: activity check for November is not happening. Between talks and getting the three of us organized and figuring out what we want to do and how ridiculously busy December is for everyone, it just fell by the wayside and as a result, anyone who had a close call is safe.

But at the risk of this happening any other month, here’s the skinny:

At this point, we don’t think we want to add anyone to the mod team (three is enough) but we WOULD like volunteers to help with activity check every month. Three people and 300+ characters is a lot of work and it gets to be very time consuming.

It’s simple: All you have to do is sign up (comment here), and at the end of the month, we’ll assign letters. You check all the characters on the Taken Character list whose name starts with that letter against the tags in the main and log community and hiatus entries, and once we have every section done, we’ll post up the finalized Sweep List.

Please only sign up if you know you’ll have time to check a bunch of names within the first few days of the month.

And that’s it!

It’s the fourth week, Christmas is just around the corner, the world still has that perfect greeting-card quality to it, and there doesn’t seem to be any sign of it stopping any time soon.

It’s getting eerie, isn’t it? Save for whatever entertainment the residents are cooking up, it’s just been so peaceful. Some might be feeling the grain of it by now; since when was the castle ever this loving? There’s a catch, right?

... Right?



PS: IC Discussion here.



When it comes to magic, Paradisa’s got it in spades. Careful with those snowmen you build; they might just come to life and run around.




Residents will find this on their door tonight, heralding the next special day:





Do you have a "normal" character? You know, the ones who never get to do stuff because their level of awesome is usually overshadowed by other residents, and could use some action?

Because as luck would have it, our business is all about them.

Please leave your character’s name and your email here and we'll get back to you with instructions.




We don’t want to impose a blanket of “your character must feel this way” on the castle. Not only does it limit characters’ reactions, but it tends to dull how they’re really feeling. As a result, we’re going to clarify what this means:

If your character would be suspicious, skeptical, annoyed, or otherwise OPPOSED to the castle “suggesting” these things, they are free to stamp their feet and make all the fuss they want over it.

Alternately, if your character would happily take this as an indicator that the castle is taking a happy, new, loving approach and would sing praises, go for it!

Or, really, any place on the spectrum in between those two!





Click here to see the full directory of Christmas-Event posts.

Totally important Christmas poll.

Who thinks we'll:
(1) be invaded by Elfs with a grudge against the world for being forced to make toys for us all year.
(2) be invaded by the Island of Misfit Toys who hold a grudge against the world for being rejected.
(3) [write in your own idea here]

I do not know how the castle decides to grant wishes, but it's broken.

I tried wishing for Christmas gifts for my friends and fans, but instead got some Caisos with the tag 'for gifts only'.

I guess it's time to grace the town proper with my wonderful presence!

[Journal is tucked folded open into one of his many cargo pockets. Some snow might get on it, making some of the pages a little soggy]

[ooc: Hammer's going into town! Feel free to help him out with this whole Holiday Shopping thing!]