The Hollidaze is Here Again - Open To All

[forgeabettertomorrow]

WHO: Darin Altway and you!
WHERE: All around
WHEN: Throughout the month of December
WHAT: Various shenanigans
WARNINGS: Mentions of extreme insomnia and holiday stress

-A- Nonah: Darin's Forge
[It had been a few weeks since the events of the swear-in ceremony on the moon. As the days wore on, Darin went from being his usual, upbeat self, to someone far more withdrawn. After working things out with Allura, he made an appoint to work normal hours at the forge. But that still didn't change the fact that he'd been averaging only a few hours of sleep per night, thanks to the fact that he can feel Diomuhr's presence now.]

[Anyone who comes by to see him will find him distracted. He has bags under his eyes and he's slightly off-color; paler than normal, despite not being sick.]

[Distracted by his thoughts and the presence lingering around him, he's also doing something he's never done before: making simple yet egregious mistakes. It's one such mistake that ends with Darin taking the piece he was hammering away on, a shield, and picking it up in his bare hands and crumpling it like it was nothing more than an aluminum can. He then pivots and pitches the solid ball of crumpled steel through the roof like a missile, complete with high pitched whistling sound as it disappears from sight.]

...Great. Now I have something else to fix...

-B- Maurtia Falls: Aegis Force HQ
[Darin was no stranger to exercise. In fact, before he was driven away from his home, he made an appoint to train his body every day. It helped maintain the illusion that his strength was natural, but it also helped him learn control and restraint. He'd more or less restarted his regiment again when he was Ported in, but Aegis Force HQ really gave him a place to cut loose and blow off some steam. And this blue-haired idiot was a kettle ready to boil over. Thankfully, someone showed him how to calibrate and use the Danger Room, which meant less time trying to figure the damn thing out. With all of his mental frustrations, Darin wanted to really go all out. After setting his opponents to 'robots' and cranking the difficulty to maximum, Darin enters into the simulation.]

[What follows, for about half an hour, is the sound of what one might assume is just explosions going off. Apparently 'maximum difficulty' is no joke when it comes to Danger Room settings, and Darin isn't taking the challenge lightly. Peek in on him, and you'll find him tearing through robots of all shapes and sizes with a ferocity that he's never shown before. The booming echoing out from the chamber isn't from the robots, it's from the force of Darin's kicks and punches. He's not even using his dao today, and at the rate he's going, he's going to destroy his limbs.]

Leave me...alone...! WHY THE HELL WON'T YOU LEAVE ME ALONE!?

[From his tone, it's possible he's not talking to the endless stream of robots.]

-C- De Chima: Shopping Center
[With Christmas fast approaching, Darin's taking a trip to De Chima's largest shopping center to get some ideas for presents. He's likely going to make most of the presents he wants to give out himself, but he's in some desperate need of some inspiration. He wanders from store to store, glancing over a list of names. Try to sneak a peek to see if your name is on the list? He might be too distracted to notice.]

[Or maybe you're in the food court, watching as shoppers bustle around. There's a hell of a commotion heading your way though. If you happen to squint, you'll notice a blue haired doofus running full tilt as a mob of angry shoppers chases him through the mall.]

YOU'RE ALL FREAKIN' CRAZY!! IT'S A DAMN TOY!!! YOU TICKLE IT AND IT LAUGHS AND SHAKES!!! KIDS CAN ALREADY DO THAT THEMSELVES!! WHY DO YOU NEED A TOY FOR THAT?! WHAT IS WRONG WITH EVERYONE?!

[Yup]

-D- Dawn of the Delts: Closed to Keith
[Okay, so the Danger Room might have been a bit too much. At least he can still hit the gym like normal. The only problem here is that he still has to make an effort to hide his power.]

[He yawns as he goes through a 'routine' that would make most people want to collapse. Now that he has a place where he can really push himself, this place seemed like small potatoes. What he really needed was a challenge.]

...Huh. Wonder if Keith is around. Last time we sparred, he was in demi-god mode.

...I wonder if he remembers me going toe-to-toe with him.

Comments

[fauxmarth]

[brightening:] You're really good at this, Darin. That's a great idea!

[forgeabettertomorrow]

What can I say? I'm a tradesman. I know what people need and I make what people like~

Plus, I like seeing people happy.

Let's see here...oh, here's one I think I need some help on. Kaneki. I want to do something nice for the guy. He's entirely too hard on himself.

[As if the these two ever give themselves free passes.]

[fauxmarth]

A-ah... [she winces, recalling the disaster she made of Kaneki's Halloween dress shopping. sheepishly:] Y-you may want to ask someone else about that one; every time I try to help him, I seem to mess up in incredible fashion.

...Incredibly...terrible fashion.

[a beat.

quickly:] But! But perhaps Dee Thirty-three will have a better idea? He's his spouse, after all; I could ask him for ideas.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Hey, yeah, that could work. I've only just started getting to know him, but he's a really good person at heart. I can tell. He's just had a rough go of it.

[Darin pulls out his list.]

I'm starting to run out of people. I plan on making a lot of the more personalized gifts myself.

[fauxmarth]

What about Allura? [asked innocently.]

[forgeabettertomorrow]

...Wh...What about her?

[/SWEATS]

[fauxmarth]

...What are you making for her? Do I get to know beforehand?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

It's...erm.

[COUGH]

I'm...going to make her a locket.

[He is bright red, why are you putting him on the spot like this.]

[fauxmarth]

[brightly:] Oh! She's a fan of jewelry? That's fitting, isn't it? For a princess. I bet she'll really like it!

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Yeah, she loves things like that. It's kind of sad, she doesn't really own much of anything like that.

Inside the locket, I was going to make a little hearth with the images of her four mice surrounding it. Something cute and homey. I actually made a sketch of it.

[Darin reaches into his back pocket and pulls out a well-worn notebook. He quickly flips to a page with the design of the locket. It's a simple silver locket on the outside, and the inside is described exactly as he said. There's even a little fire in the hearth...but it looks like the fire is its own separate piece the pops out.]

[fauxmarth]

Oh!! [she peers at it, delighted.] Gods, Darin. It's going to turn out amazing! You really are an incredible talent, you know? Something like that will be priceless.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

[He scratches at his cheek bashfully.]

Y-You think so? I admit, I've never made anything like this before. I don't even know if she'll like it.

The fire is going to be a small ruby pendant that can be worn by someone else. Y'know. If she wanted to give it to someone.

Kinda like how she's kind and caring and provides a safe place for one's fire to burn freely.

[He kicks at the ground.]

Or she could just keep the whole thing together! Her choice!

[fauxmarth]

[she steps away, covering her smile with a hand.]

That's incredibly romantic, you know? Just in concept. It sounds like the sort of pendant you'd hear about in an old legend.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I...I mean.

It's just...!

Look, she can give the fire to whoever she wants! It's her choice! I just thought it was something fit for a princess!

She deserves it!

[He snaps his notebook shut and shoves it back into his pocket, his cheeks burning scarlet.]

R-Romance had nothing to do with it!

[fauxmarth]

[she stifles a chuckle, turning and walking on.]

Don't worry. I think it's fitting. I might not be much of a princess according to the stories, but maybe I still have a bit of insight?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

Y...Yeah?

[Well, now you have him curious.]

Well, if you think she'd like it, then I guess it's a go-ahead.

Though, speaking of...you don't have much interest in jewelry, do you.

[fauxmarth]

Well, it's more that...it gets in the way of fighting. You don't want to get smacked in the face by your own necklaces when trying to evade an ax, right? And any valuables are too enticing for bandits to ignore...it'd be a magnet for problems.

Back in Ylisse, anyway. [she bobs her head in thought.] I've collected some nice things here now that I can, but...I suppose I'm still in the old habit of foregoing it all, now that I think about it.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

No, no. I get you. Jewelry is pretty counter-intuitive to fighting. But...not all jewelry has to offend that pragmatic sense of yours. In fact, I bet I could think of something that's both eye-catching and functional!

[fauxmarth]

[eye-catching and functional, huh? like...

oh!] Like a tiara you can throw? I think I saw that on a TV show once in passing.

[forgeabettertomorrow]

I...

Wait what? Like...throw it as a distraction? Or as an actual weapon?

[fauxmarth]

...

[...]

...I...don't actually know. It seems kind of silly, come to think...

[forgeabettertomorrow]

No no no! I get it! It's like a chakram!

Maybe the outer edge of it is filed down to a razor's edge? Or like, the edge is concealed behind something ornate that would be covering you're forehead?

Interesting...!

[fauxmarth]

I-it sounds really cumbersome, though. And a hazard for the wearer, if it's already razor-sharp, right?

[forgeabettertomorrow]

On the outside of the ring, not the inside. Or maybe it's designed so that if you turn the inner ring, the blades fan out?

...I can probably make it work. Cumbersome or not, it's worth a try.

[But that wasn't what he was talking about. Regardless, he's getting another idea that he plans on keeping to himself for now.]

Okay, so who do we have left? Anyone else come to mind?

[fauxmarth]

[is it worth a try, though? Lucina's not so sure, but she lets it go.]

Well...mm. Oh--actually, I know you're really busy with your own gifts, so do you know any other sources I could get a foil crafted at? I've a mind to get Utena a nice one for herself; she always has to borrow one when she visits to spar.