The Mansion: Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

[Melian_Maia]

"Unpleasant," echoed Lia quietly. She tended to stay away from unpleasant things such as multicolored ponies that flew (and sang songs about about smiling) and cookies that had questionable side effects, so she made a mental note to maintain a goodly distance between herself and red-packaged cookies.

Lia considered the firecrackers. She already had her exploding Christmas presents and did not know what to do with her new explosives short of dropping them into people's glasses when they weren't looking. After several moments of careful consideration, Lia decided to embrace her inner minion and bury the firecrackers in some sort of cake.

"Which way to the kitchen?" she asked before heading off to retrieve her new firecrackers.

[Bookwyrm]

"Through that door at the back with the very poorly drawn picture of a cooked turkey on it," came the whispered reply.

Bookwyrm glanced at his watch which of course was visible to him despite his invisibility to everyone else. Shortly after the Random Potion wore off of those still suffering from it, his next ploy would spring into motion. Literally.

[MountainFireflower]

— Lady Z —

"Oh dear, that's embarrassing," I hear the newcomer say as she puts her parcels under the tree.

I scowl. "Tell me about it."

Just then I'm distracted by my feet, which suddenly drag me a few feet away, faster than the rest of my body can follow. Then they dart back. And forth. And back. And forth. I am not amused.

Just then, the newcomer steps onto the dance floor: a brave act, if I do say so myself. She shouts "Ten minutes left!" in my ear. My brain processes this. Ten minutes more of... of... this?!?

"Wait, how did you kno—" I start to say, but the newcomer hustles off the dancefloor as fast as she came. "Well then! Why do people always leave when I'm talking to them? Do I just have the kind of face that no one listens to?"

Ten more minutes. My muscles are starting to ache. I grit my teeth. I. Can. Do. This.

My body drops onto the ground with a huge thump, causing a fair amount of pain to radiate through my back. "Ow," I mutter.

I can do this? I let out a bitter laugh. Yeah, right.

[Melian_Maia]

Lia scampered across the room, dodging the swinging arms of the still dancing Lady Z, and paused in front of the door. Hopefully she had not been seen. The turkey was indeed very poorly drawn and Lia decided it needed something. She fished in her pocket for her handy dandy permanent marker and drew a face, mustache, and furry eyebrows onto the picture.

Once she was satisfied with her efforts, Lia pushed open the door and entered the kitchens. She nearly dropped her packet of firecrackers in her excitement. Everywhere she looked there were cookies and cakes and pies and every sort of Christmas treat imaginable. She was in food heaven. She hopped from tray to tray and tasted a little of everything (excluding the cookies in the red package, of course. She wasn't about to have some unknown plague take her and drop dead before the cake exploded.).

As she went around the kitchen, skipping happily and feeling the beginnings of a sugar high coming on, Lia found It. The mother of all cakes and the one that she was going to blow up.

It was ginormous and had three massive tiers. It was decorated to look like a Christmas tree and Lia knew that it was just meant to be destroyed. Perhaps, she thought to herself, she had embraced her miniony side just a little too much.

But, as she sprinkled the firecrackers liberally over the cake, she dismissed that idea. One can never been miniony enough.

[Lady Arwen]

"Well, well, well," a hand reached out and firmly grasped the back of Lia's collar. "What do we have here? A wayward One, I see."

Lady A was not amused, no matter how much Molly giggled at the twisting and turning Lia, who couldn't quite twist enough to see her Overlady.

[Melian_Maia]

Lia froze and then started to struggle against the hand that held her collar. She couldn't quite recognize the voice of her captor and didn't intend to stick around long enough to find out just who had caught her in the act of destroying a cake.

"Erm," she grunted as she twisted and turned, but could not get free. "Would you mind letting go? I'm trying to escape."

[Lady Arwen]

Lady A laughed.

"My dear Lia," she smiled. "That's exactly why I'm not letting you go. And let's not struggle too hard, there, because you'll only wear yourself out. Now, clean up the cake, like a good little minion, and I might not banish you from the rest of the party, or drive your puny little Overlord from his invisible perch, which I happen to be able to see, because I have my contact lenses on, and they're special. Did I mention--I'm not in a very patient mood tonight, and I have a headache?"

[Melian_Maia]

Lia stopped struggling and sulkily began to pick firecrackers off the cake. She thought about dropping one or two into her pocket when her Overlady wasn't looking, but decided against it. She had heard about what gargoyles do when they're upset and didn't want to risk making Molly mad.

So Lia settled for the easier way that would not get her into much trouble. She asked. "Can I at least keep a few of my firecrackers? They were a present." She did her best puppy eyes and smiled innocently. "I won't hurt anyone with them. Intentionally at least."

[Lady Arwen]

Lady A frowned down at Lia, then finally relented.

"Very well. However. You use them for anything other than celebrating New Years OUTSIDE...." Lady A looked Lia square in the eye. "Bad things. Very bad things. Like GfoDs nesting in your closet and all their duplicates crawling out at night and surrounding your bed and...just use them outside, ok?"

[Bookwyrm]

"Spoilsport," Bookwyrm grumbled and twitched a finger. The cake slowly began to topple over toward the floor.

It was nearly time for his real plan to begin. Lia was just the diversion.

[Dernhelm_of_Rohan]

Anne's eyes fluttered open. She found she was lying on her back and staring at the ceiling. For a moment, she couldn't recall how she'd gotten there and was afraid she might have drunk too much esspresso again. Rolling on her side and supporting herself with one arm, she was slightly embarrassed to find herself in the middle of the Christmas party she had so looked forward to, her new red sateen skirt splayed over the sofa cushions without the least regard for wrinkles.

Oh, right, she thought more calmly. French-talk. Probably something to do with that punch.

Anne sat up and cautiously opened her mouth. "Testing, testing," she whispered. A broad grin spread across her face as her mouth formed words of English. "Yes! I'm normal!"

She seemed to recall someone calling himself a doctor had helped her - doctor who? she wondered. She would have to thank him. But for now, she intended to merely enjoy herself. She began making her way towards the group singing carols. Being an alchemist, she had brought a special elixir to make her voice reach even higher than her usual soprano.

[PrinceCor004]

With the appearance of my old (well, technically young) friend Lia, I left the Ginger Girl safely asleep on the sofa. She should be fine here... plenty of kind folks around to keep an eye on her.

I caught sight of Lady A following Lia into the kitchen and... wait, was that firecrackers I saw in the younger woman's arms?!? I hurriedly, though in a nonchalant way, make my way over to the kitchen. Carefully bypassing the dancing Lady Z, I can't help but be taken back to the the summer of '64 as I hear the chorus of "Having the Time of my Life".... Oh yes! The kitchen!!

"Lia! The Favored One!! Splendid to see you here at last!" I happily greet my friend from over Lady A's shoulder. "Umm, why do you have firecrackers... in the kitchen?"

[Lady Arwen]

Lady A whirled around and precision slapped Booky--hard.

"Just because you think you're invisible doesn't mean I don't know exactly where you are," she grumped, turning back to Lia. "Lia, New Year's is fast approaching. If you want your fireworks to go off, you might want to start setting them up (outside, of course). Oh, and duck."

Lady A moved down, pulling Lia down with her. Cake flew over their heads and plastered the invisible Overlord (and not his decoy or anything else. His malevolence himself was plastered with cake and icing). Molly giggled.

[stargazer]

Erik had been enjoying little Grace Baxter's affection; now she was up on his shoulders as he twirled her about. Her laughter mingled with the caroling and other shenanigans of the party.

Abby watched this with pleasure, knowing that Molly was in good hands with Lady A. Her baby's continued giggles only reassured her this was the case.

When they had the chance, the couple also tried to keep up with everything that was going on, but this proved quite a difficult task. All around them people were speaking in French, turning invisible, breakdancing, blowing things up or dumping cake on the floor or punch outside. It was kind of wild but everyone was having fun, so there was no place they'd rather be.

[Aravanna]

[OOC]I suspect the punch opened up a wormhole inside of my Ditto Town counterpart's body. Since something got through, I don't think the effects are going to wear off in 10 minutes.[/OOC]

A TARDIS???

The last time I was in Ditto Town, Timelords weren't even on the radar. Has that changed, or is the alien inside me FROM their universe? That would explain a lot... but that also means the critter is almost certainly evil. Seriously, everything in their universe turns out to be an evil alien bent on the destruction of Earth and Humanity (and probably Ditto Town.) All things considered, even if there is a TARDIS in the general vicinity, the last thing I'd want to do is let Mr. Voice-In-My-Head anywhere near it.

You're thinking about trying to resist me? That's a very bad idea since the tiny electric currents in your brain are very easily manipulated. I could wipe your brain clean if I wanted, or at the very least, control you... but I don't want to do that. You wouldn’t last long, and killing your host prematurely never serves very well.

Okay, definitely evil... and also terrifying. I don't know if Mr. Glowy-Voice can make good on his promise, but I distinctly remember how weird I felt when he entered my brain. He probably can manipulate me. Already I can feel a pounding headache starting.

Anyways TARDISes are awesome, surely a talking speck can’t do any real damage? So I need to find a Timelord... Where on earth should I even start looking? I glance through the party hopelessly. That's when I see Cor wave something that looks an awful lot like a sonic screwdriver in front of lady I don't recognize.

It can't be. Seriously! COR??? But then, this Cor isn't anything like the boy prince I remember riding through Ditto Town on a dragon, even though they look similar. This Cor seems older than me. In fact, he seems... bigger on the inside? I can't explain it. Is that what a Timelord is like? I don't want to hurt Cor, but is it really the same person, then maybe Mr. Voice will just reopen a wormhole like he says and leave. Either way, I really don't want to die.

But how on earth do you steal a TARDIS key from a Timelord? It's as likely to happen as Booky not blowing anything up on Christmas. I start to follow Cor towards the kitchen, unsure of what I'm going to do. Just as I reach the door, Lady A slaps the air (the air makes quite a nice smacking noise though,) and a cake falls over onto something invisible that definitely deserves to be doused in cake. In the confusion, I reach into Cor's pocket, turn and run. I look down at what I have. It sure looks like a key of some kind. Not sure if it's the right...

I run right into Lady Z break dancing. Hard. We both spill over onto the floor and the key in my hand goes flying into a group of people.

[Melian_Maia]

Lia had just been greeted by her dear friend Cor when she was pulled to the ground in an unceremonious heap by her Overlady. That was going to leave a gorgeous bruise in the morning. "Ouch," she said loudly, feeling around for her firecrackers. If what Lady A had told her was true (and it usually was) the fireworks would detonate soon and if they weren't outside...

Well. Lia didn't like to think about what wold happen then.

She stood up and stifled a giggle at the cake covered and invisible form of the Overlord. He wasn't quite so scary when he was covered in frosting. After retrieving her firecrackers, she turned to Cor, "Want to help me set these up outside? We have to be quick. I think something big is going to happen very soon."