Riri woke up a while ago and made sure to eat breakfast today. She has felt a little anxious since arriving and has barely touched the food in her hotel so far. Riri cleans up before leaving her room and taking the elevator back down to the ground floor to meet up with the others. It works as intended.
The square is oddly silent for a change, even despite it only being Christmas Eve. The tree in the Square seems to have gotten a bit taller since anyone has last seen it. A countdown is now added to the tree and a lot of the screens nearby. It seems to be counting down to midnight. And it seems to be counting down to the point when Santa will be coming to town. Riri will be able to note these changes. The star is no longer in view of her balcony window.
Elara is walking around the entrance to the arcade waiting for a friend. The streets are just as empty as last night and the countdown to Santa continues to wind down. Just seems to be a few hours longer. The lightshows on the now larger tree are more extravagant than before, with fireworks adding to the chaos.
"Hi!" Riri waves as she spots them at the entrance. She has a book held under her arm. Riri is still in the same sweater, definitely needing to buy new clothes today. "I'm here now, sorry!"
Elara waves with a black lipsticked grin her face, "Oh hey! Ready to go shopping? Luna and Hinata know where I'm taking you, so they'll follow when they can." Her backpack has Mr. Bunnykins poking out the top.
Riri blushes as she sees the lipstick and smiles. "I'm ready whenever, Elara. My room had this book in it that I wanted to ask about. I'm still learning some stuff here." Riri also nods to Mr. Bunnykins after noticing them in the backpack.
Mr. Bunnykins would nod back but he is unable to, so instead he says, "Heyyyy~" in the most sassy voice possible. Only Elara and Riri can hear this.
"A book? Can I see it?" Elara asks
"Of course." Riri happily shows them the book from the hotel room and also points to the invitation in the back of it. "I was wondering if they leave this in every room there. I thought it was weird but I've also never been in a hotel before."
Elara's mood seems to sour on seeing what book it is. They open it up to the front inside cover, and realizing their mother wrote it, they groan. "Ugh fucking hell. That's mom's book."
"I had no idea. I'm sorry. I can put it back in the room or something if it helps." Riri apologises and feels like she messed up, having no idea what to do now.
Elara shakes her head and tries to reassure Riri, "Nah, actually thank you for telling me this. I've been trying to stop Mom's cult for the past little bit. Now I know her stupid bible is in hotels."
Riri is concerned. "What sort of stuff is the cult even doing? What do you think that 'gift' on the invitation is?" Riri shakes her head and realises she has already lowered the mood.
"It's a really stupid rivalry between families, both gaining members for some stupid shit," Elara says as she notices the discomfort from Riri, so she switches topics, "anyway, wanna get some new clothes? I got a couple places in mind, some rather cool shit there."
"Yes. please. I hope you suggest some cute stuff if you think it suits me. I bet it'll make me as cute you as you." Riri smiles at her and follows.
"Hell yeah, I'll make you look even cuter than me!" Elara giggles and leads the way towards a building down the road a bit. It's a store called Threadz. On entering the store, it's HUGE. Filled with all kinds of clothes and outfits that the mind can imagine and even some so unbelievably weird they could be considered trendy. Luna and Hinata are already in the store looking around at new outfits for themselves, specifically hoodies. On seeing Elara and Riri enter, they both wave hi.
Luna smiles, "Yooooo happy almost christmas Riri!" Hinata grins, "Heyyyyy you two look good!"
"It'll be near impossible to keep up with you, Elara!" Riri giggles in return as they enter the store to meet their friends. Riri waves back at them both as soon as she sees them. "I missed you both! I should have called or something, sorry!"
"It's okay! We had to get some new clothes anyway," Luna smiles. She's wearing a generic blue and white sailor school uniform with a skirt, like the kind you see in anime. Hinata's wearing a black and yellow kimono, "Yeah! We're just getting some shopping."
"Anyway, shall we?" Elara asks the three of them. Luna and Hinata both nod. "Do you have any idea what you'd want Riri? It's my treat."
"I'm not super sure, to be honest. I'm missing most of my wardrobe so I have a lot to replace. Socks, skirts, hoodies, almost anything you can think of." Riri sounds awkward and indecisive as she looks around at all of the strange styles and comfy clothes on show.
Elara smiles. "Okay, let's start with some basics, socks and whatnot, then we can look for more interesting things." Elara leads the group with a cart towards the area with socks and similar stuff. of all sizes and colors, "Uhm, just pick some stuff from here," she says. It's their first time taking someone shopping like this.
Riri points to some thigh high socks in both black, white and dark blue. "I'm sorry if this is super basic and boring of me but I've never actually worn thigh highs before, do you think it'll be fine?" Riri is awkward as heck but trying to push on through it.
"That looks adorable Riri, those would go so hard!" Elara smiles and blushes.
Luna cheers, "heck yeah!"
Hinata nods in agreement. "Do you need anything else? Underwear, other kinds of socks? It's our treat."
"I do need new underwear. I might look for different socks some other time." Riri nods to them both. "I feel shy. I have no idea if it's normal to feel anxious about clothes or not."
"Not really, but at the same time, clothes can be considered an expression of our style. So, I understand where you're coming from. Not to mention, I'm not used to shopping." Elara responds and claps, "anyway, boring stuff done, let's go to the skirts next!" Elara leads the way, Luna and Hinata follow
"I do worry my style will be super lame." Riri follows them and spots several skirts. She is most interested in the black and blue options, but she also sees pastel pink there. Riri points her index fingers together with a blush. "I think this would work for me but I'm not sure."
"oooh those would match your hair well! Let's just get all of them and you can mix and match as you please!" Elara smiles as all three of the skirts get added to the cart. Hinata and Luna both grin excitedly.
"Next is some shirts, hoodies and stuff." Hinata seems drawn that way and the other two follow.
"I hope I'm not taking too long!" Riri smiles as she walks with them and looks around for anything in blue, black, white or pink. "I figure I should try to match things somewhat!"
There are a bunch of different shirts of all kinds of styles in blue, black, white, and pink. In fact, a couple seem to catch Elara's eyes, "oh hey one moment, lemme cook." Luna and Hinata watch smiling. They eventually return with a black turtleneck sweater, a white hoodie with some various pink cherry blossoms on it, and some various other shirts of all kinds. "Whatcha think Riri? I think you'd look cute as heck in these!"
"Elara, this is perfect!" Riri blushes as she looks at all of the clothes chosen. "Yes!"
Elara claps her hands, "hell yeah! Anything else you want?"
Luna puts a couple new hoodies and a couple cropped t-shirts in the cart. Hinata has a pair of jeans and another kimono there too, this one themed around roses.
"I think I'll be fine for now but I do need new underwear. I kind of want to look there on my own." Riri turns to the other two and looks at what they've picked out, super interested in their styles. "I love how different you both are when it comes to clothes, so distinct but still so pretty."
"Eheh. Thank you Riri," Luna blushes
Hinata has been hit with intense bottom thoughts, she can't get anything else more than a stammer out, but she nods.
"That aisle is over there, take your time." Elara points towards the underwear aisle and the three wait and look around some more.
"I'll be back soon, no worries." Riri smiles back at them and walks to the aisle. Riri takes a moment to pick out underwear that seems both cute and comfortable. She makes her way back to the team soon after.
"Welcome back! Alright, lemme see here, we have shirts, skirts, socks, uhhh... anything else Riri? And just note that this isn't a one time deal. If you need more stuff, we can come back later." Elara smiles. Luna and Hinata nod agreeing.
"I'm sure it'll be fine for now, there is a lot to try on here. I'm ready when you all are." Riri is still shy but seems to be easing up. "I'm so thankful for all of you. I'm going to repay this eventually. Promise."
"Awwright, let's go check out." Elara, Luna, Hinata, and Riri all walk to the checkouts. When everything is said and done, Riri gets six bags of clothes to carry out.
"Wait hang on, I forgot to give you this. Merry Christmas Riri." Hinata hands Riri a wrapped gift outside.
Luna is holding all six bags for Riri as they all step outside.
Riri accepts the wrapped gift and the bags. "Uh, do you want me to open this today or wait for tomorrow?" Riri smiles to them both and holds it in her hands.
"Probably best you open it now," Hinata giggles.
It's a decently large box, one pulled out of her purse. Like the size of a nintendo switch box. It's wrapped in gold and green, with a cute bow on it. A tag says "Merry Christmas Riri - from Hinata" on it.
"I'll do that then. Thank you." Riri reads the tag and nods as she slowly removes the pretty bow and the wrapping around the gift.
On opening the gift, Riri is greeted by a blue canvas backpack, one similar to what Elara has on her back. A logo depicting a yellow sun with the letters S E in black is on the center of the front. "It's a Portal Bag! One that can hold nearly limitless amounts of items, like those bags of clothes you got!"
"And you should probably open the bag too Riri, there might be another surprise in there for ya," Luna smiles.
"Woah, what?" Riri admires the design and looks inside the bag to see what she was talking about, laughing a little. "You put a gift in a gift?"
There's another much smaller box, also wrapped but this time blue and purple wrapping paper with a lighter blue bow and a tag that says "Merry Christmas Riri - From Luna"
"I love that you two even theme your wrapping." Riri smiles as she takes the gift out of the bag. "I should open this too, right?"
Luna nods, "please do. I have some things I wanna teach you at some point. This is gonna help."
"Okay, sounds sweet." Riri takes her time unwrapping this gift and holds on to the tag after removing it. Riri places the tags to both gifts in her pocket. On unwrapping, Riri finds a pocket knife in some kind of a purple crystal. A black wooden handle adorned with golden accents and a moon etched into it is included, "I figured you'd want to try some combat training at some point. This knife is special, you'll see at some point how it works." Luna explains with a warm smile on her face. The sky begins to snow a little bit and the light shows on the tree start up again.
"I do want to train some time. I hope I can come along on an adventure if I do well with it." Riri is in awe as she inspects the pocket knife, each detail so deserving of respect. Riri is happily distracted as soft snow lands on her glasses. "I missed the snow so much, we rarely had it back at home. I need to say it again but thank you so much."
"You're so very welcome Riri. Uhm, we do need to get back home, but we'll see you tomorrow," Luna smiles and blushes, her long purple hair becoming white from the snow falling.
"Of course! We're happy to have you!" Hinata blushes
"Oh for sure, it's been amazing Riri! I uh better get back before Phoebe finds out i'm gone." Elara says
"I get that. I hope I see you all again soon, it's okay if tomorrow is too busy to make it." Riri offers each of them a hug and sighs as she remembers the book. "I forgot to mention this but my hotel room had a book for that moon cult in it. I should probably return it in case they're upset."
All three give Riri a hug, then Luna says, "can you hold onto that book for me please? I might need to scan through that a little later. I want to know what the heck Tsukuyomi's doing. Also if there's ever anything you need, you can call me. My mind is accessible throughout the multiverse as long as my signals aren't blocked." Then Luna snaps her fingers as Elara disappears before the two of them disappear themselves.
"Sounds good to me." Riri smiles as she waves the three goodbye. She finishes filling her backpack and picks it up. Riri looks up to the snowing sky as she starts her short walk home to the hotel. After a long day, Riri returns to her suite.
Riri places her backpack on her bed and picks out some clothes before going to the bathroom to shower. She wants to be at her best and brightest for tomorrow. Riri soon leaves the bathroom with a fresh look and fluffy hair and starts to unpack, putting her new clothes in the closet. The closet is full of new clothes! The countdown outside is beginning to wind down and outside is peaceful. It is a silent night. All is calm.
Riri smiles at the ticking timer outside and checks the device in the room to see if she can order any food right now.
The food menu seems to be available 24/7 and has any meal or snack Riri can think of
Riri picks pizza to help her remember what home was like. She checks to see if she can have veggies on it as well as have fries on the side. Riri is ready to place this order. All of that is accepted on the screen by typing it out. About five minutes later, a knock is at her door.
Riri hops out of bed to open the door and see who is there.
A robot butler, the one with cat ears from before, has a tray with a hot and fresh pizza exactly how Riri ordered it, and a basket of hot french fries. "Woah, thank you!" Riri smiles as she accepts the food from the robot, surprised at how fast all of that happened.
It shows an emoticon on its face screen that looks like
(^~^) . o O (Enjoy!)
before leaving.
The food looks delicious and fresh, smells amazing too!
Riri shuts the door softly and takes the food to her bed, making sure she doesn't drop any of it while eating. Riri is pleasantly surprised by the taste.
It tastes like how they remember it, the pizza cheesy and texture perfect, and the fries hot and crispy with ketchup. The timer over in the square seems to almost up. Around 10 minutes to go.
Riri takes her time to eat through most of it and saves some pizza for tomorrow. Right now, she wants to watch the timer tick down to zero. Riri seems sleepy and might not make it to midnight, however.
As the timer continues to tick down, at around a minute to go, Riri feels unnaturally tired. She can try to fight off the exhaustion, but everything will be telling her to go to sleep. "Eepy..." Riri uses the little energy she has left to put her food away in the fridge and return to bed, where she slowly drifts off to sleep watching the timer tick down. "Good night..."
Overnight, no one will remember what happened. The only thing Riri is able to recall is the sound of jingling bells.