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The city was festooned with lights since Christmas Eve day was just a few hours away. Quinn was out late shopping, it was hard getting his folks gifts, and found himself in a rather secluded area. It was surprising how quiet the heart of the city seemed to be. The sounds of cars were in the distance and other than the hum of the street lights everything was hushed... It had to be the cold. It was downright chilly and Quinn shivered a little as he shrugged deeper into his dark winter coat.

A sound in the shadows made Quinn pause and just the feel of the air had him stepping into a doorway to power up. He had walked into many a situation where being powered would have been useful. Havasu didn't sense anything powered but he would look around before continuing along his way, he looked fairly normal if a bit old fashioned and probably cold.

Havasu stepped out of the doorway to find a man dressed convincingly as Santa. He had the whole thing down, even the bear looked convincingly. "Uh, costume party, man. You need some help?" Havasu asked since Santa seemed to be a normal civilian. Santa didn't say anything but he did hold something out and offered it to him. Havasu came closer and realized it was a present wrapped and tied with a bow, a tag visible but unreadable at that distance. Santa silently indicated for Havasu to take the package and after a bit of back and forth between them the younger man relented and took the colorful box. He nearly dropped it in surprise, the thing had some serious mass. When Havasu looked up again Santa was gone and he was alone once more.

Now what could he do? Briefly he contemplated opening it, after all it was given to him, but a glance at the tag showed a name written in beautiful looping handwriting. Sailor Pisces.

Salor Pisces hum? Havasu studied the tag in surprise. What was the likely hood that Santa knew that Havasu knew what a 'sailor' was? It was quite understandable that he was quite suspicious now since the guy in the Santa site was a civilian and shouldn't know that Havasu was a knight... Well page to be specific. He hefted the little wrapped box again trying to judge its contents by its weight alone. It didn't seem to jingle and he was at a loss as to what could be that small and yet that heavy. His fingers fiddled with the ribbon, nearly tugging it off, but he stopped. His parents taught him better than that. Tamping down his urge to satisfy his curiosity he gently placed it in the little belt pouch, it was a tight fit but at least it was out of his questing fingers. As a child he always did enjoy ripping the wrapping paper off just as much as the presents themselves.

Havasu pulled himself away from his thoughts about the mystery of the brightly wrapped box and realized that he was still standing in clear sight of anyone who wanted to walk down the street. Only sheer luck kept anyone from spotting him. He quickly ducked back into the shadowy doorway and took a deep breath. Shang was doing his best to teach him the ropes but life interfered and Havasu still didn't have the whole aura thing. He hoped that he could get a read on a local order who would be able to reach out to Pisces…. He really didn't want to go find Shang just to get him to locate the shenshi.

Havasu was able to block out everything and was concentrating on the feel of an order member. He knew that he needed to get better at this… to make it second nature since it wasn’t like he could stop in the middle of a battle and take the time. He actually found it quite strange. Occasionally he felt the aura’s instinctively but it was almost always unintentional and it was only when he meant to search for the aura’s that he had to really focus on it. He had just gotten to a point when he knew he could get a ‘signal’ when a order aura practically flared right next to him… it seemed to him to come from nowhere.

The cheery voice along with the surprise of the aura had Havasu gasping in surprise and flinching hard enough to rap his head against the brick doorway. He muffled his curse as he rubbed his head and glared at the baroque senshi. “I’ve been better.” He pulled of his hat, not caring what it did to his sandy hair, to check the knot that was forming on the back of his skull. “Damn you scared the crap out of me.” He said in a way of an apology… sort of.

Havasu studied the senshi a bit more as he absently rubbed the bump on his head, the pain had faded mostly away. It really was kind of a remarkable outfit, “arn’t you cold?” he asked absently. The dress had a real victorian feel to it if one overlooked the fact that it seemed to end just above the knees… no victorian lady would be caught dead in that dress. He almost made a comment about how if she had a white wig on she could go to a halloween party as a ‘sexy’ Marie Antoinette but he wisely held his tongue since he didn’t want to get punched just then.

Instead he focused on her question. “I’ve been better.” He smiled sheepishly, resettled his cowboy hat… he was becoming quite attached to it, and gave a quick stereotypical hat tip in how-do-you-do. “Name’s Havasu. Page of Pluto.” Only reason there wasn’t a country twang to his greeting was because he figured he made an a** of himself enough that night already. “I’ll be ok. Mom always said I had a head like a rock anyway so its not like I did any damage.”

"Pisces?" Havasu said incredulously. What was the luck that the person the present was for would be the first person he meets? Could the Santa be more than a nutty civilian like he originally thought?

"Oh... Um yeah." He was still a bit weirded out by the fact that he already ran into the senshi the gift was for, he didn't even register the double entendre her phrases created. He blushed softly when he caught himself once more boggling over the coincidence. "Sorry I don't really know the area around here." He hesitated a moment before just asking, "you don't know a guy in a Santa suit do you?" Some of the powered individuals he had met had some pretty out there outfits but a Santa senshi would have to take the cake... Not to mention the apparent age of the guy.

He reached into his belt pouch and proceeded to try to extract the box that was given to him just a short time ago. It didn't want to leave the confines of the leather. Havasu tried turning it and gently tugging it but to no avail. He didnt want to force it and was contemplating pulling off the belt just to fish the present out when the brightly wrapped parcel popped out. He expected the paper to be ripped and mangled even though he tried hard to be careful but the smooth and wrinkle free paper added to the surreal situation he found himself in,

"Well it's not like we have to stay like this but I got to admit that pulling the costume party lie would be pretty amusing." Havasu's grin was huge. The idea of going into a civilian business in his powered side amused him. He had done research on the 'terrorists' once he finally admitted the reality of his new life, and thought the way the media totally screwed order over was pretty extensive. So the idea of having a civil conversation, buying something, and causing no harm all the while being a 'terrorist' just made his night.

Havasu held out the present and began to explain it and the Santa question. He covered everything, from the uneasy feeling that made him power up to the near comedy routine of passing the bright box back and forth. If the box in his hand wasn't proof that it happened he wouldn't have believed it himself. He ended the explanation with pointing out the name tag. "So you see I was really shocked when you introduced yourself cuz what is the likelihood that the person the present is for shows up shortly after a Santa gives it to me." He offers the heavy little box to the senshi. Maybe now he will get to know what's in the box.

Havasu watched as the senshi examined the box, his fingers once more itching to rip the bright paper of the little present but what she said gave him a pause. "I'm no admiral and wouldn't recognize a trap if the Imperial Navy came around the corner." It was a star wars reference but valid anyway.

"It never even occurred that it might be a trap, Santa read as completely civilian to me but if you can't tell I'm still pretty new and getting a fast accurate read on someone isn't something I've quite mastered." Telling her about his shortcomings as a knight wouldn't really harm anything after all she was on his side of things. Could his urge to open the little box be because it is a trap compelling him to spring it?

He thought about that for a moment before discarding it, after all he was known for going through presents like a whirlwind. The desire was all Havasu. "Is there any way to determine its safety before opening it?" Like Santa, Havasu didn't sense anything but that didn't really mean much.

"I'm aware of the cats but haven't met one yet," Havasu shrugged and wondered how his own cat would appreciate a magical one hanging around. It seemed that having one around might outweigh the outrage of his own normal cat, if only for the dampening effect. Xander explained that there were cats for both sides of the war and he did a general rundown of the battle participants, from negas to corrupts to senshi to knights and mirror. Havasu found it all pretty confusing. He mentally shrugged and turned back to the item at hand... Or in hand as it may be.

"So if you aren't picking anything up can we open the box? I know it's for you but I really am curious what's in it. After all Santa passed it to me so I could give it to you." The whole passing around the box still stumped the newbie knight but since neither of them were sensing any danger Havasu's curiosity was in full force.