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The voice has been haunting your dreams -- and, occasionally, your real world -- for days now. The unusual, captivating presence that the voice personifies has been haunting you for even longer. Ever since you won one of those snowglobes from Imperium Greetings, you’ve since realized, it has been there. She has been there, whoever she is, and day by day her presence had been growing more and more pronounced until it was as if she might as well have been standing in the room with you. Lately, once in a while, you’ve wound your trinkets and been greeted by a voice on top of the music. The voice always said small things... small, strange things, but always seeming to reassure you at the end: I’ll be here soon.

Soon... then three days... then two... and then, on Christmas Eve, the voice comes in one last time over that song that’s been on repeat in the back of your mind since you first heard it. This time, there aren’t the vagueries there were before: although the message is spoken slowly, it’s still clear. You know what she needs you to do, and there’s little hesitation to be had in doing it.

You go to Destiny City’s Town Square... and take all the snowglobes you have in your possession with you.

On the way up there, and when you reach your destination, it is clear to see that you haven’t been the only person hearing that voice and having those dreams... there are others taking the same path you were, with their own prizes gathered up in their arms or gingerly packed in boxes. Some have only their treasured one, others over half a dozen -- but however many you were able to win didn’t affect the strength of their message, apparently. They all ended up at the same place, after all.

The Town Square, like it is every year, was festively decorated, with a large Christmas tree on each corner and so many colorful lights strung about it’s easy to see even at night. There are bright, silver bells hanging from the streetlights and store awnings as well, that tinkle a bit under the occasional chilling breeze. Other than that, however, and the sound of your own footsteps, the area is silent, the town itself seeming to wait with bated breath for... something.

Her, perhaps?

It was too icy out for him to take his bike, let alone go on foot. Downtown had been the whisper, the brush of gentle words echoing in his ears. The voice of a mystery woman had become shockingly more…common almost. At first Marlo had refused to think it real, but then..it would happen. Random, out of the blue. What was it? What drove him to seek out the source of this voice? This woman who danced a sad tune which rendered him weak and powerless? He wanted to meet her, see her in the flesh. Know that this was something.
Something more.
But today, he felt it, that drive, that need, only now, Marlo was following with a clear message. Take the globes he had hoarded, take them, and go to the Town Square. To what end he wasn’t sure, but whatever the source, whatever the reason he had to go. He had to do this. He needed to get there now. Quickly, and yet- Stuck at home due the ice covered road. He wouldn’t be able to get far on his bike, let alone by bus or by foot. He needed a car. He needed Elzo.

The phone rang twice, and Elzo could hear it echoing in the background. The song. That haunting wordless turn that tore at his heart.
“Elzo.”
“Yeah?”
“I need a ride.”
The phone clicked off and Marlo cursed at his brother. The b*****d was probably upset he’d not agreed to join him for a small family get together. Family dinner or not, Marlo had to get down town, he had to find a way. 10 minutes of him winding the globes, listening to the melody. Just..what were they? Who was she? Questions fueled him endlessly.

At the door Elzo only hit it once, and as expected, Marlo answered, his face a mix of cold anger. Elzo smirked as the younger brother stomped his way to the backseat, Audrey having taken the front.
“Downtown right?” Elzo had his briefcase with him and it looked..lumpy? Plus he was dressed for work. Marlo would have ignored it but…could they have heard the same thing? The way Elzo was looking at Marlo’s back pack made the 18 year old speculate.
Downtown they drove. And once there-
Marlo and Elzo both stood side by side, an odd tension filling them both.

Tony could not quite bring himself to ignore the orders of the snowglobes at this point. After so long thinking about them, watching them, listening to them, he was quite convinced that something was going on. His instincts told him to be careful, as he often had a habit of being delicious youma bait, but the rest of him told him to listen to these callings.

There was someone waiting. Someone coming. A senshi? Could he finally be helpful, just by bringing these snowglobes to the town square? Or perhaps it was a trap.

It seemed too simple, when he tried to think about it. Where had they really come from, and why were they here? Why now did they want to be gathered, after being distributed? He knew he wasn't the only one who had one: people at the library had been chatting about them constantly. They had to mean something, they had to be important, and he knew in his bones that this was a calling he could not ignore.

Not like Nate, who was barely at home these days. Maybe purposefully avoiding the snowglobes? Tony wasn't sure. His son hated obligation and responsibility, he had come to know that much in his futile attempts to bond with the teenager. Perhaps he was more affected by it than he was willing to admit, and was just avoiding it at all costs.

Tony didn't really care, at this point. He would take both snowglobes, gathering them carefully. Dogby barked at him, and he knew he wasn't going to get out of the apartment without having to take the little corgy puppy for a walk.

Which meant it would be very slow progress to the Town Square, but that was fine.

Dog and snowglobes ready, cane awkwardly included in there, Tony headed out, locking the door behind him and leaving a note under it for Nate to find, should he come home before Tony returned. Not that he would really wonder where his dad had gotten to.

In time, he reached the Town Square. He spotted a few people he knew, including the short haired theatre lady who came in to the library some times to look at plays, but he didn't speak to anyone. Dogby stayed close to his leg, whimpering softly. She wasn't used to people, cold or, really, long walks. Feeling guilty, Tony picked her up, holding her in one arm while he had the snowglobes bundled carefully under the other, cane in hand on that side. Dogby snuggled against him, kicking her stumpy paws in earnest.

Though she had advocated against the blistering heat of summer, Audrey had never taken readily to the biting cold of winter. Her idea of a perfect day was fifty degrees with pale sunlight filtering down on a partly cloudy day. In other words, the bluenette would have been perfectly content in Forks if she knew it existed. Yet here she was standing in the center of downtown with snow up to her knees because Certain Men were nearly a foot taller than she was. "Listen guys, I know the tree is pretty and it's basically Christmas, but couldn't we have done this...I don't know...tomorrow? When it wasn't so damn cold?" Freezing to death wasn't exactly a great way to spend your Christmas!

Audrey wouldn't have known about the compulsion, the song, or the voice. The single snowglobe that she'd won had been all an attempt for Pasha and his giant blue puppy eyes; he'd been sad that so far he'd been unable to win a single one of the pretty little things. So she wasn't even trying to hide her annoyance but nonetheless, she stepped up to slide one of her smaller hands into Elzo's larger one. At least he was warmer.

The entire thing was stupid. Maris refused to properly admit that she had a snowglobe on her person. It was in her bag, albeit wrapped up in newspaper - certainly not cupped lovingly in her hands, or something else idiotic and sentimental. Oh, she could feel her heartstrings being tugged... but she was deeply suspicious of those emotions. They weren't her. Not really. And that voice - no matter how hard it tried to convince her that it was soothing, comforting, sweet... no. She had to fight through that soft warm haze! Even here, in the chill of the snow, she could feel the warmth trying to creep back into her mind. She was underdressed slightly, just for that purpose... just to keep the warmth at bay.

But here she was, all the same. It was her duty as a senshi, she supposed, checking out strange things, drop-kicking them off of buildings if necessary. She rubbed her hands together as she tried to blend with the crowd, giving people sidelong glances - how many snowglobes did any one person need?! A few people here had at least a dozen!

Man, strange things were happening in whoville. At least, it seemed as much, Randy scanning the streets to see he wasn’t the only one heading for the town square. It didn’t take much to see that a large group of people were heading in the same direction- even a dunderhead who barely ever went to class could figure it out.

They were all getting drawn there by the same thing that was drawing him. Pulled by the same string. But… pulled in a good way, or something like that.

It wasn’t that he was worried about what he was going to find, he was just nervous about it all coming to an end. Personally, he had found the random voice in his head totally awesome. Not to mention good company in those moments where he found himself particularly lonely. The fact that voices in one’s head were commonly a sign of mental illness rendered irrelevant to the boy, the desire to have someone around out-powering the need to remain completely sane.

No one was perfectly sane anyway.

Now, somehow, it felt like he would be losing a friend. Or perhaps just having to share the same friend with other people. After all, other people were heading the same way, too. It was clear they must have been hearing the same strange, yet oddly comforting voice in their less-awesome minds. Ah well. Whatever was meant to happen, it was going to be soon. So said the snow globe tucked into his side satchel, and so he believed.

The walk was long and mostly uninteresting, Randy never one to engage strangers, even with reason to. It would have been nice to ask if they had, indeed, heard the same things he had heard the past couple days. For all he knew, there was some dorky tree-lighting going on and that was what was really drawing the people in. Too much work for the greased-up young lad, however, leaving him to continue a silent path to the well decorated time square. Finally, though, he saw someone he could actually deal with speaking to, just bending over to pick up a small, whimpering mutt.

A familiar sight- he had stolen the pup not too long ago, as he remembered.

“Heya pops!” the boy called merrily, pulling his bare hands from his tarnished leather jacket to offer a nerdy two-handed wave. More or less prancing over, Randy grinned, offering the stumpy dog a pat on the head before looking at its master.

“So… you here too, huh? Guess this thing is bigger than I thought!” He stood next to the man, taking an odd comfort in having the older gentleman there with him. Though he imagined the man would be useless if something bad happened, he was a wise old dude, and had a strange way about him that made Randy feel calm.

Peering over towards the girl with moss-colored hair Audrey shuffled her memory back to the ball. Gabbie, Elzo's prom date! Even bundled up for the winter it was hard to forget the striking eyes or svelte figure, wasn't it? It was when you didn't have one at any rate. Tugging lightly at the hand the teen got no response, so she abandoned her boyfriend with a shrug to go and hopefully find something to occupy her until he stopped being so mercurial. Trudging through the snow back onto the slightly shoveled path, gloved hands slapped disgustedly at her wet pants.

"Hey! Is there something going on here that I totally missed the memo on? Elzo seemed adamant that we get down here asap. I figured he had something planned, but they just seem pretty happy to look on up at that tree. It's pretty and all, but unless it's gonna spark into flame and warm us up I'm pretty much done." Amber eyes turned themselves to the giant man towering over her then, blue curls spilling down past her bottom as she looked up.

"Hello there, I'm Audrey. You are absolutely huge."

He had felt disappointed by the large group collecting in the town square when he moved from a side alley and into the square. Since receiving the message – at long last – to come, he had expected to have a private meeting with the girl who had haunted his dreams and days. The fact the snowglobe spoke to him had not made him feel that he was being called to him, but he had felt a degree of something private, personal, and unique in talking to the girl - even if she really hadn't responded back to him. Seeing more people had ruined his idea that he was somehow special, and it cheapened the call to come here and the need to be here.

Still, he did not leave. Even if it was for a glimpse of her, he would stay and work his way through the crowd. If he could be of some assistance, provide a bit of help that the voice so desperately needed, he would be there.

Dressed in his peacoat, scarf, mitten, Ladon stepped in and moved in, looking about for any signs of something special. A glimpse of silver hair or the soft, blue eyes he often caught out of the corner of his eye.

The snowglobes, a small collection, were in his backpack, each wrapped in a scarf to keep them from bumping and hitting each other. The idea of any cracking bothered him too much, and he even felt on edge to bring them out of the safety of his room to the streets. But like the girl that spoke to him, he would protect the snowglobes for as long as he could before the mysterious girl asked to take them. He wanted to be able to show her what good condition he kept them in.

Looking about, he swore he spotted a few familiar faces, but they didn't keep his interest. He was too busy looking for someone else. Someone he had been waiting for since her first message.