Ooc: yes, it's that time again!! Don't shoot, Arrika and I decided beforehand!!

IC: The cool winter breeze sang a windy tune as it swirled across the fields, dancing past two travelers. Sakiko leaned against a tree, tapping her foot impatiently. She and Arrika had planned to meet that day, as the Sheikah told her that she'd have a great surprise for her. The mage rolled her eyes at the thought - it sounded so immature, but she had no idea what the surprise was about, as immature things were often predictable.

Zeze, wearing a golden helmet with fake blood - berry juice - yodeled loudly. The bard yelled,

"Sakiko, I think I see her!"

The mage sighed,

"See who?"

The bard smiled, and twirled around her spear, and gave the mage a salute.

"I dunno. Just playing the role of a faithful sentry, y'know?"

Arrika trudged through the newly fallen snow, a long, heavy bag draped across one shoulder. She waved upon seeing Sakiko and Zeze, putting on a new burst of speed from excitement. The Sheikah nearly tripped over a tree root at the end, but righted herself and saluted back to the two of them. "Erm..." She said upon seeing Zeze's outfit, and more specifically the helmet. "Is that... uh... blood, by any chance?" She asked uncertainly, forgetting the surprise she had planned for a moment.

Zeze jumped up, and screamed excitedly,

"Arrika!! O my goddesses, it's so good to see you!!"

The bard smiled widely, and pointed at the helmet.

"This? It's only berries... I'd never kill an innocent person just to smear their blood on my helmet. Besides, it'd start to stink. And anyways, if you get hungry, one lick of this helmet-"

"Ok, stop."

Sakiko folded her arms and raised her eyebrows at Arrika.

"The surprise?"

"Yes. The surprise. I'll have you know I planned this out a lot beforehand," said Arrika cheerily. "Sakiko, I have decided that...." The Sheikah began, singing like a herald's trumpet, "...you will be hosting this year's Christmas party! Now, I know you might protest, actually I know you're gonna protest, but it's a genius idea and haven't you always wanted to go out and party? You'll meet tons of people, or if you don't want a whole giant bash you can just invite a couple of people you already know. It'll be great, we'll have a roast, and marshmallows and hot cocoa, and then we'll sing, and then we can get drunk! It'll be awesome, you just wait!"

Silence.

More silence.

Even more silence.

Sakiko's jaws dropped, her silver eyes wide. Zeze laughed,

"Now, that's a surprise!"

She gave Arrika a high-five, and nodded.

"Yeah, sounds great! Partay, baby, partay!! Let's invite everyone we know, people we've heard of once or twice, and people we've never even heard of or seen!"

Sakiko raised her arms, and yelled,

"TIME OUT!"

The mage backed away slowly, unconsciouly.

"No, never. I refuse. Have a party, do whatever you'd like - but I'm not hosting anything. There. That's my answer."

She was going to ask what was in the bag that Arrika was holding, but thought better of it. She didn't want to know.

"Hells yea!" Arrika said, high fiving Zeze back.

"Whaaat...? No way! You are having a party, and that is final, Missy," Arrika said. "And after I went through all the trouble to get this for you and even had it modified to fit you like a second skin..." The Sheikah said, pointing to the bag slung over her shoulder. The memory of Zeze in her sleek, skin tight "thief outfit" came to mind, so she reworded her previous statement. "It'll fit perfectly to match that impossibly slim little waist you've got. Now, if I can't convince you, and Zeze sure can't convince you, maybe this will!" Arrika unzipped the bag with a flourish to reveal a stunning, bright red dress that contrasted greatly with the pure white snow around them. The dress was strapless, short, and flouncy, and tiny glittering diamonds sparkled, winking in the bright light.

Sakiko lost her usual cool composure in the space of few seconds. The mage tripped on a non-existent pebble, and fell on her back. She glared at the dress as if it was an evil creature, and stammered,

"But..it's...so skimpy...what do you think I am?"

Zeze snorted, and hit her head on a tree trunk. All sorts of demented thought flooded into her head as she laughed,

"Sakiko, you'll look so cute! You know you want it! Arrika and I already got ours - and it's much shorter, or skimpier, as you put it. Embrace your feminine side!"

The mage got up quickly, and cried,

"I'm afraid you got the dress for nothing! I'm not wearing it! The color, it's..it's..! If I'm wearing it, I'll be like... some loose, non-virgin..!"

Zapheta snorted again, and grabbed her stomach painfully.

"Stop exaggerating, Saki."

"What's wrong? You know, you'd look absolutely stunning in red! Show off that great figure of yours for once, and stop hiding behind all those billowy, dusty robes!" Arrika said. "Look, I'm not asking you to stand on some dirty street by yourself in the middle of the night and wear this. I'm asking you to let loose for one night and be the old Sakiko. You may not remember her, but she's still there. It'll be fun! Everyone'll tell you you look beautiful, and then one of the random guys we don't even know will hit on you, and then you can get a boyfriend and fix that whole 'I'm still a virgin, waaaah!' problem," Arrika said, winking.

Sakiko gasped, and put a pale hand over her gaping mouth. The vulgularity of Arrika's speech threw her off guard. The mage brushed some dangling sweat from her forehead, and opened her mouth to protest. But what Arrika said about her old-self barred her from doing so, even for a brief moment. Sakiko hesitated, wondering if she could actually pretend to be different person, if she could pretend that she was energetic and fun-loving as Zeze and Arrika. The mage glanced the skimpy dress over again, and muttered,

"I don't know about the great body, but I guess if I can add extensions to the shoulder area, along with more material to cover the legs..."

Zeze pushed the mage playfully.

"No way!! Let go of your boring self for that one night, Sakiko! Just once - you'll feel so sexy in this dress!"

Sakiko raised her eyebrows, and looked at Arrika.

"Well..."

"Don't look at me," Arrika replied in answer to Sakiko's unasked question. "You know what I'm going to say. Zeze, tell her she'll look great. C'mon, Sakiko, I can tell you're just itching to try it on and pose in front of a full length mirror... I would too, but bright red like that in such vast quantities isn't my style..."

Sakiko sighed, and muttered,

"Fine. I'll try it on. But I'm not agreeing to hosting anything."

Zeze smiled,

"I knew you'd relent, some time or another. That's why I brought this!!"

She ran into the forest, and retrieved a long board. She rested it against two trees, so that it created a wall. Zeze also propped up a large full-sized mirror, which had been hidden away with the long board. She explained,

"Arrika and I had already planned this, so we'd know exactly what we're doing."

Sakiko scowled, annoyed that she had no clue of such odious plans that these two were brewing up. The mage sighed heavily, and extended her arm towards Arrika demandingly.

"Alright, give it here."

Arrika grinned triumphantly as she handed the sparkling dress to her. "Oh, I'm sure you'll change your mind completely about playing host after you put it on. You'll be the belle of the ball, or whatever they call the hottest chick at a party! Me 'n Zeze'll be perfect little wallflowers so you get all the attention." The Sheikah crossed her arms as she leaned against a tree, waiting for Sakiko to finish. "My first idea was to go with a Princess Zelda and her maids, you of course being Zelda..." she blathered on and on. "...but in the end we decided bright red would look the best," she finished.

Sakiko retreated behind the wall, and slipped off her robe. She snorted,

"You two? Wallflowers? That'll be the same as saying a turtle can fly."

The mage held the over sparkly, vivid red dress, examining it sullenly. She sighed heavily, and pursed her lips. Ok, so her pride was going to be hurt a little. Oh, well. The mage bit her lips, painfully slipping into the glamorous piece of clothing. She blushed as she peered into the mirror shyly, noticing how short the dress was. Her bare, pale shoulders tingled, and she noted that the length was just above her knees. She cried,

"Ugh! No way am I showing up in public in this..this..little tiny thing!"

"hehehehe...you certainly are stereotype teenage girls aren’t you!"
Azador appeared in the scenery, with a very common piece of bread in his hands.
" Brings back some good memories...You remind me of sister Vivian, she was always busy with her looks and sorts hehe..." He looked up into the blue skies just like he was trying to avoid any eye contact.

Sakiko jumped, hearing another voice other than Arrika's or Zeze's. Forgetting entirely that she had a very short, very red, very ruffley dress, she stepped out of the wall. She cried,

"Is someone here?"

Sakiko jumped when she saw Azador, and almost tripped. She caught her balance just in time, only to find Zeze pointing and laughing.

"Oh my goddesses! This is too funny!! Sakiko, you look so...different! Like a party animal, or something! Heh heh, this is so hilarious!"

Sakiko blushed almost as red as her dress, and yelled,

"Shut up!"