doumo arigatou gozaimasu!

So there I am at the Ahern WA, parked in my usual spot there (right under the Need Help? sign in the Bonifacio pavilion). One or two newbies being attended to. Then three. Then five. Then eight. Odd for such a normally quiet time of night. I sweep my camera around the WA looking for mentors. No such luck.

Then two more newbies appear. One new entry, and one brought by another player looking for a volunteer to assist her friend. Ten at once exceeds my handling capacity unless they're all of an age - if they are, we're all on the same page, but we had quite an assortement of folks there, and I could no longer deal on my lonesome. Lethe was off sleeping. Time to holler for a Linden. I figure if I can get one mentor down on the ground, I'll be alright, and having a liason do it means I don't have to IM known Mentors individually and go through the whole "Are you busy at the moment?" thing which can eat up so much of a newbie's valuable patience.

Well, Nicole Linden put out the call, and - well...I don't know just what she said, but I can vouch for the results.

Ginny was on the scene literally within seconds, ReallyRick was right behind her, just another ten seconds behind. Then they started popping out everywhere. Like the Santas in the City of Lost Children, only without the tones of creepy horror.

Hip-deep in wonderful, competent, assistance. Pretty soon, everyone had more or less paired off, the excess mentors hovered for a bit to see if there would be any more folks to help, and then returned to what they had been about. I just wanted to hug everyone thanks. One of the new folks who had been in at the beginning stayed a little while with a few more questions and some conversation. Then I send her off to check out Merrow's L$1 clothes. More than worth it for a girl with an industrial/urban fashion bent.

I didn't get to thank all of you individually, folks, and some of you I have thanked more than once. More than twice. Thank you all again. All of you handled your charges with care and respect, and with commendable promptness. You did us all proud.