Welcome to Gaia! ::

Ulrich stared at the token in stunned silence for a moment, and finally he murmured in a bewildered tone, "Maybe someone did slip in some more winning tokens ..."

River pouted. "Nineko!" she chided him. "What does it saaaaaaaaaaaay? Did Miyuki win, too?"

Ulrich blinked, then held his hand out to take the token from Miyuki. "She did indeed," he told her. "That means both of you can choose a prize."

In the meantime, he was going to look over his tokens and make sure that no one had switched them out on him. Sure, one person winning was believable - but two in a row? And he had watched River mix hers in so carefully ...

Ulrich blinked. "A baby?" he repeated, surprised by the strange question. "For a baby? What baby?"

His mind was still catching up.

River frowned at Ulrich. "Nineko! Don't be silly!" she told him. "There's only one baby around here, and that's Baby Shiloh!"

Ulrich blinked at her. "Oh ... well ... Shiloh's really too young to have anything," he explained. "So while your intentions are wonderful, perhaps you should think of someone else to give your prize to?"

He didn't want to disappoint her, but Shiloh was far too young. She was only weeks old! Half a month! Not nearly old enough to have something made of wood.

Ulrich laughed. "Brooke is old enough, yes, but you have to be careful - if you give her a gift, either she'll be insulted and think you're making fun of her for not earning her own, or she'll come to expect it from you all the time. She's ... a bit odd that way."

He was sure she would grow out of it, but at the moment that was the stage she was at.

"Why don't you just choose something you like," he suggested, "and you can figure out what to do with it afterward? Perhaps hold onto it until you do find someone to give it to."

River looked over the collection of carvings, toys, and other wooden items on the table. There was a lot to choose from - which was surprising, considering her nineko had insisted there was only one winning token. Still, she supposed he had to have a selection for those who did end up winning, just to make sure that they would have the opportunity to choose something they truly wanted instead of something they didn't care for.

"This," she decided finally, choosing a wooden sword that was identical to Vergil's real one. A katana, she had heard it called.

Ulrich smiled at her. "You always did like Yamato, didn't you?" he chuckled softly. "I suppose that means you'll want me to teach you to use it, as I'm teaching Vergil?"

River giggled and slid the wooden katana through her belt, blade up. "Well, I'm going to be leaving in two days," she told him. "But maybe when I get back."

"Uh huh," River grinned at Miyuki, watching as she chose her prize. "That's what Vergil calls it. He says it's a Japanese sword, a place from your world. That's where he's from, originally. Well I don't know about Japan, or whatever, but from your world, I mean."

She looked up at her great-grandfather, who was sifting through the remainder of the tokens with an amazed look on his face.

"I was right," he murmured, completely stunned. "There was only one winning token ... you two girls must be very lucky."

River smiled at Miyuki, sensing her uneasiness and wanted to make her feel better.

"Come on," she said brightly. "It's time for us to get a snack! You did say we would do that next, didn't you?"

She pointed across the crowd to where there were half a dozen tables laden with all sorts of foods - snacks as well as meal foods. "Come on!"