Welcome to Gaia! ::

Privacy? Who needed that? Solia was actually right about him though; he wouldn't stare. This was a mission, not a peep show. So Hazel got a tongue stuck out at her as a responde to her shooing.

Otto listened to Clarice's explanation while blatantly stripping down to his boxers right then and there. He felt better about thw costume knowing what the reason was. Seemed legit; making sure Insanity wasn't the new Plague; spreading across factions. If it did, Santa could die.

N-not that he cared, okay?

By the time Clarice was finished speaking, Otto was dawned in something he wished to burn soon after being done with it. He was a bit nervous; hoping a repeat of the Joy infection from the year before didn't take him over again. "So, stake out Christmas and make sure the Insanity hasn't taken over there? Anythin' else ya want us to look out for?"

Clarice gave Ami a reassuring smile, "Weapons wouldn't be able to get a charge there anyway, so their use would be limited at best. Standard runics are a good idea, but make sure you hide them well." The blonde's eyebrows shot up at Solia's exclamation, "Every holiday either has it's own world, or is part of another wold. Each human emotion creates it's own unique sort of energy that humans can't normally detect or use, and the Holiday Worlds use those energies. Our main concern has always been FEAR, but last year JOY was brought to our attention."

Taking a sip of her juice, she continued, "Insanity infected Christmas creatures attacked the island last year. A stray, fairly powerful...old woman...elf...thing, had decided to make the island it's home for the better part of a year. For the month of December, it had steadily drugged the on-island hunters into a constant JOY state. The attack ended with it using that energy to force a portal back to Christmas and a lot of property damage. You'll be going to observe and collect data with..."

The assistant produced a new box full of...gingerbread men?

"We tried creating runics for this, but harnessing JOY is still beyond our current tech. Fortunately, we have a simple, if somewhat crude, way to detect Insanity-infected JOY, via minipets. These ones are in a dormant state, and happen to be native to Christmas."

She held one up, "If it comes into direct contact with Insanity it'll start to warp and take on the physical symptoms of infection."

Giving them all a critical look-over, Clarice nodded in satisfaction, raised her phone, and took a few pictures. "Alright, anymore questions?"

Solia was to busy having her mind blown at the knowledge of other holiday workds. She will process data later.

Well, maybe this mission wouldn't be so terrible after all.

And then Clarice took pictures.

Sasha immediately began sulking.

"When do we leave."

Chewing on her straw, Clarice nods at Ami's question, "You're just there to make an assessment, if we decide to intervene, it'll be a later point. Right now we're more concerned about our own safety. She tossed the juice box into a garbage can across the room, performed a discreet fist pump, and then stood up. "We'll be leaving now, so be sure to send off any last texts and goodbyes, because this will take at least a few days."

Leading them down the lab hallways and out of the building, she continued, "You will need to get back within a week, though. Even with your greater durability, JOY isn't something your body can handle indefinitely." Something red flashed in the distance followed by a large explosion and copious yelling about Truth, Justice, and the Santa Way. Within moments, a certain Sun leader was in front of them, towering in a way too-tight elf costume and posed heroically for their benefit.

Clarice firmly ignored him.

There may have been some singing that followed and sad stares or longing, but she ignored those too.

Eventually they came to a point just beyond the facility gates, where an odd-looking portal device had been set up. Finally stopping, Clarice turned to the group and explained, "The JOY used to rip a portal from here to Christmas left us with a weak point between worlds. There's a few theories that the Insanity Fogs can be used to create roads as well, but quite frankly the idea gives me the ******** creeps." She paused, "So we'll probably be forced to deal with that eventually, but for now you get to try out this altered portal proto-type."

The assistant smiled brightly, "It has a 90% success rate!"

With the flick of a switch, Clarice brought the portal to a steady hum. The scent of peppermint began to filter through the clearing, "Now, I'm not sure if your pendants will be able to work after so much JOY exposure, so try to get back here when you're ready to leave."

Stepping through the portal was like stepping through into the happiest moment of your life. You body tingles and your heart swells, and for a long moment you are totally and completely overwhelmed with feelings of wonder and excitement. You could die happy like this. In fact, you're pretty sure you are, in fact, dying.

And then your equilibrium slowly comes back, and you don't die, but the sense of JOY lingers on as you take a look around you.

This place triggered something inside of Sasha. It triggered something deep, deep inside of Sasha that felt so overwhelmingly familiar that she had to fight hard to keep from bursting into tears of utter joy and happiness. The initial few moments after stepping through were just.. amazing. Only after a short time passed did she feel capable of speech.

As she tripped and slid in a bit of yellow snow, Sasha giggled madly.

"I have never even seen yellow snow before," she chirped, dragging herself to her feet, "and it's such a pretty color! I get the feeling that today is just going to be amazing. Don't you guys?"

total group tp: 4
sp left: 25

Ami nodded at Clarice, assured by her division assistant's words. If Clarice determined that they wouldn't get involved, she wouldn't. Unlike some of the more headstrong hunters, Ami would follow orders. She gave a little wave when Allan appeared, but nothing more than that. Secret One Piece buddies were secret.

The statistic for the portal had her raising an eyebrow, but merely at the fact that it was only 90%. The 10% lingered, but she didn't question it. Orders.

She stepped through, peppermint washing her face as the breeze and joy inflicted her. For a split second, she had an enormous smile on her face, feeling absolutely elated and euphoric with everything. Then reality settled back in, and she fell into stride with a tiny smile.

... How long had she been leaning on this tree? Ami yelped as she realized the tree was leaning on her. Of course, the shout attracted the attention of people around her, so she gave an awkward laugh and started petting it. That was completely normal right?

Ami quickly shimmied toward Otto, not saying much, but goofy smile not leaving her lips. "I think we should continue on!" she offered.

Group TP: 7
SP: 23