unforth | Yule

I forgot! Before the trial, Kathryn gave Troy, her sword, to Thangobrind for safe keeping; the two of them get along well. Indeed, he is the only person who she has knowingly and wittingly allowed to bear Troy without her presence.

Kathryn prepared long and hard for Yule. She spent lots of her free time making weapons, and then sold them on e-bay so that she'd have the money necessary to pay for presents for people, and then she went shopping for the perfect gifts.

For Amelie, she got a necklace with a lattice work star on it, with a blue stone at the center. For Careg, she found one of her old blacksmithing books to help him learn. For the Baron (now her foster) she found a beautiful batiked blanket with a sunburst motif. I can't remember what she got Kaye (bad Claire!). She got Diezel and kung-foo action grip Wolverine. She made chocolate peanut butter fudge for everyone she had no specific gift for, and gave bunnies to the people in Smart. (Bunnies and Abort were catch phrases of the group due to various friendly jabs at each other). Lastly, with Kaye's advice as a guide, she got Dino an antique set of drafting tools.

Kathryn was very excited about Yule, and happily engaged in delivering gifts to everyone. Many were appreciative, and many were surprised. Careg looked like she'd made his day, and Diezel seemed truly shocked to receive a gift. It took Kathryn a little while to work up the nerve to give Dino's his, and he seemed both surprised and please once she did. In all, the day got off to a delightlful start.

A little while into things, some pirates arrived looking for Sadiq. Things looked messy for a while, but soon settled down again. The pirates, intrigued by shiny things, went around pestering people. Kathryn continued delivering gifts until she saw one of the pirates bothering Dino, at which point she went over and stopped the pirate, demanding that they leave Dino alone. The pirate agreed to do so when Kathryn gave her the necklace she wore. Dino protested, but Kathryn insisted that she didn't mind. However, Diezel wouldn't stand for it, and went and retrieved the necklace. Very pleased, Kathryn thanked her enthusiastically, and smiled cheerfully as Dino advised her not to do such things in the future.

The day past fairly pleasantly for a while.

A dance was held for one of the muses, and the boys in particular had a great deal of fun makng up silly dances.

When Kathryn gave Grendel is bunny, he promptly ate it, but decided to give Kathryn a gift in return - the rifle that he had tried to shoot the count with.

General enthusiasm greated her gifts, though she pointedly avoided both Lexxander Lugnut and Kanatori the sluagh.

However, things went sour at some point. A group of drunken fraternity boys showed up and began to make a nuisance of themselves, flirting with girls and being annoying. Indeed, Kathryn even made a pass at one just to get him away from the Count, though she felt dirty doing so.

The boys managed to anger the red caps, though, and were beaten up and kicked out. And that's when the trouble started. They called the police! When the cops arrived, the Baron went and spoke to them, while more and more of the citizens of muses left to escape the policemen's watchful eyes. Kathryn, however, after temporary panic, remembered that she ahd a birth certificate that said she was 18, and had nothing to worry about, so she stayed and gave her info to the police - though she ran into difficulty when asked where she lived, and Baroness Eleanor had to jump in to help and say she lived in Terra Haute.

However, then, from no where, the pirates, who had been confined, sprang out of no where to declare that they had been assaulted and confined. Panicked, the police called for back up even as the brother's Grimm worked to make them fall asleep. The first batch were put to sleep (even as more and more people disappeared to safety) even as a second batch arrived. One member though wasn't put to sleep, and after that cop Kathryn ran, though it proved unnecessary, as suddenly vines entrapped her. However, it was painful for Kathryn, for the cop declared that this couldn't be happening! Ouch, Banality.

The further cops came in and drew there guns and ordered everyone get down on the ground. Alarmed, Kathryn knelt next to he Baron (she had hid Troy earlier when she'd realized cops were coming, for Troy is a real sword, and getting caught with him would have been bad) wondering what she could do, when who should appear but Careg! Acting on Kaye's orders, he turned her invisible and spirited her away, and within minutes all of the police had been put to sleep, and the authorities of the city turned there attention to figuring out how to fix it. Kathryn and Careg stood and watched and waited to see if there help was needed. However, things seemed to work out, and Kathryn got distracted by a couple of monkeys who were playing nearby for no readily apparent reason.

Approaching them, she used Willow Whisper to speak with them, and they told her something most remarkable. Apparently, Dale Derring was not Dale Derring. The real Dale Derring had been kidnapped by the monkey king, whose wife had lost her mind. To repair this, Dale's brain had been placed in the monkey queen's body, and the monkey's brain in hers, and it was terrible, most terrible. Alarmed, Kathryn went and told Petros, who she knew to be close to Dale...or at least, close to the doppelganger.

Finally, at the end of the evening, acting on advice that Diezel had given her earlier, Kathryn asked Dino if he might like to go on a date with her.

Over all, it was a busy day, and I'm sure I missed stuff, but it'll do for now.

Next installment, the movie date, Pinnochio's troubles, and more: January and February Interludes.

Yule

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