Everyone Loves the Sleigh

[letskicksomeice]

They'd had a few days to get settled in. In that time, the Yetis and Elves had been nothing but welcoming, making sure the gang had a never-ending supply of treats, cocoa, and eggnog, as well as more wholesome food to nosh on. Even though they had work to do - and seemed to enjoy doing it - the Yetis had been helpful in getting them all settled in, into rooms specially designed to each of their specifications. If anything had a want or need of something, like new clothes, or a new pair of shoes, they'd been quick to provide.

Jack and Bunny had done their part to make the new folks feel welcome, as well, by showing them around and socializing, but they'd been in and out constantly during the last few days. Some of the times they'd come back in, they'd looked a touch on this side of ragged.

True to their word, despite the fact that they'd been busy putting out fires caused by Kuk and Its minions, they had reached out to a few contacts of theirs to see about helping the others get home.

That was why Jack was gathering them all up on the balcony in front of the globe.

"Okay, guys, we have some good news. We managed to get in touch with an ally of ours. We think she can give us more information about what exactly you are. Like...how much you were changed to be like us, how the mechanics of the world have changed to pull you in. It might give us some headway in figuring out how to get you back home. She wants to meet you."

[ooc: Bendytimed to after they negotiate Tony being allowed to stay at the Pole.]

Comments

Ready the Sleigh!

[letskicksomeice]

[ooc: Any questions? They can ask them here.]

[animalhats]

Molly was surrounded near-constantly, from day one, by a little gaggle of elves, and this little meeting was no exception, though she kept trying to shoo them today by nudging them with her foot.

"Um, so who are we meeting? Is she nice?"

[letskicksomeice]

"When she's not being a massive pain in the behind, yeah, I guess she's nice."
Apparently, there was history there, judging from the irate look of wounded teenage boy ego on Jack's face. "She's something like a myth biographer and historian. She deals in stories and knowledge and understands how the magic in our world works better than most. Anyone else who understands it better was already taken."

He went on, "Her name's Mary Katherine. But some of you might know her by another name: Mother Goose."

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard raises an eyebrow, looking at the globe like it's the big boulder from Indiana Jones, about to crush them all. "Does she have a twin sister named Ashley?"

He's no longer dressed in dirty rags, and has persuaded the Yetis to stop giving him Christmas sweaters and instead deck him in baggy cargo pants and an oversized zip-down hoodie. At first glance he looks larger; at second glance, even smaller, with all the fabric pooled around him like shadows. He bounces one of those light-up rubber balls on the floor and catches it. It throws spangles of blue and gold light around.

[letskicksomeice]

He'd hung around with kids enough to get that reference.

"Yes, and they both have an adorable catchphrase," he said glibly, then added with an eyeroll, "No, she doesn't have a sister. She used to run around with the Guardians a bit before my time, even though she never became one."

Katoli's World - Dakeng Scenic Area, Northeast of Taichung

[letskicksomeice]

An abandoned amusement park was an odd place for a meeting but Katherine had given them good reasoning for it when she'd chosen it.

It wasn't as creepy as it could have been. The rides were busted down and rusting, but the forest had started to reclaim the area. Far be it from making it look depressing, the natural world flourishing here looked more like all the abandoned equipment had been overcome with life. Flowers bloomed on the vines threaded between roller coaster tracks and the whole area was filled with the chirping and chittering of birds.

Jack brought the sleigh in for a landing on a path that was nearly overgrown with weeds, then pulled his staff out from the part of his belt he'd looped it through.

"Everybody out. Keep close to Bunny and I, keep your voices down, and keep your eyes open. If you notice something odd, say so. Our contact is a lady in her twenties, auburn hair, yellow coat. Might have a big, cranky goose with her."

Re: Katoli's World - Dakeng Scenic Area, Northeast of Taichung

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

"I thought she was the goose." Howard doesn't get out of the sleigh immediately. Instead he keeps his eyes about him, scanning the surroundings for any threat and keeping an eye on which high places he can climb up and which nooks and crannies he can hide in.

Well, that and his legs are shaking a bit too hard for him to walk right now. Damn sleigh ride.

Re: Katoli's World - Dakeng Scenic Area, Northeast of Taichung

[mywarrenmyrules]

"Nah, she's the Mother."

Bunny kept his head high, sniffing the air, his ears twitching in every direction to catch stray sounds. He held both boomerangs at the ready.

Occasionally he'd stop moving and listen a little too intently in one direction or another, but whatever was out there must not have been too threatening (yet), because he always turned back to the group without a word.

[morethanmyth]

"Hello, Bunny. Hello, usurper."

A young women melted out of the shadows of a half-collapsed building, as if appearing out of nowhere. She had auburn hair, gray eyes, and a yellow coat lined with fur. A snowy white goose waddled out next to her, staring at the newcomers with great suspicion.

A saber with an intricately designed golden sheath was strapped to her waist and she clutched a book in her hands as if it was a precious thing.

Back in the Sleigh!

[spellitonce]

Nico scrambled into the sleigh on Molly's heels and leaped into the back so she wouldn't have to move too far if she had to shoot things off their tail mid-flight.

"I don't need to know what they are, I just need to know how to hurt them!"

The sleigh had been worn smooth from years of use, and kept in such good repair there wasn't anything she could scratch herself on, so she dug the finger nails of her left hand into her palm until she felt the skin split and the magic sit up and take notice within her.

"Skipping stones!"

The rocks on the ground around the sleigh rose up and began pelting into the cloud fearlings or whatever they were, zipping around the two Guardians and the rest of their allies. Hey, Bunny seemed to be doing all right with his boomerangs against the, so rocks would probably hurt them too, right?

Re: Back in the Sleigh!

[iselldrugstothecommunity]

Howard slides towards the sleigh like a batter running for a base. It's because of this, and his diminutive statute, that one of those batlike creatures that was aiming for his head barely misses him and goes tumbling over. It crashes into one of the reindeer, which panics and bolts. The chaos of the draft animals, one trying to run and the others pulling back, forces the sleigh to tip, tip...

It makes a more impressive crash as it falls over than the food cart, that's for sure. Howard rolls to the side, scraping up his elbows in the process, and as he gets to his feet, yells at Molly. "You! Stupid Hat Girl! This way!"

Re: Back in the Sleigh!

[animalhats]

"My name is Molly, and my hat's not stupid!" Molly shouts back, but she's already running around to the back. She doesn't even grunt or show signs of exerting herself as she lifts and rights the sleigh and holds it in place for a moment, to make sure the reindeer aren't going to try to take off or anything.

As she's doing that, she glances over at Howard. "Are you okay?"

Re: Back in the Sleigh!

[morethanmyth]

One of the bat-things swooped at Molly but before it even has a chance to get near her, Katherine's goose, now gigantic, swooped in and snapped its bill around it, destroying it. Apparently, the goose was quite vicious, its massive wings destroying fearlings every time they flapped.

Somehow, even its loud honkHONKS were threatening.

Katherine, in the meantime, had her sword out and was viciously defending the sleigh, trying to get glances in at it to see if it'd been damaged at all by the fearling attack.

"Looks like they've damaged the suspension. We need to fix it or we won't be able to steer it when we're airborn."

She was faced with a problem here, in that they needed every possible hand on deck fighting, but she didn't know if anyone else had the capacity to fix it or fight in her place.

Creepy-Crawlies

[morethanmyth]

Fearlings erupted through the trees in a loping run, their bodies stretching and elongating as they ran, their limbs going just a little too long for comfort. They were ugly-looking, oily things, their skin something so dark that all light seemed unable to escape from it and yet glistening with slime at the same time.

Wide, long mouths stretched into un-uttered screams and giant, white rheumy eyes rested in their heads.

These fearlings seemed entirely ground-based, but that didn't stop them from leaping and jumping, the massive claws on their hands and feet used to slash at members of the group.

[ivehearditbothways]

Shawn hasn't been running long when a couple of fearlings leap out from behind a sign to cut him off. He skids to a stop and does a quick pan for an exit (no dice) or something to defend himself with. Spotting a loose chunk of concrete, he scoops it up and bounces it in one hand.

This is somehow a million times more scary than facing down a man with a gun (a scenario which has become strangely commonplace in his life), but it's okay, he can do this. Deep breath. Just...bash the walking abominations in the face and keep running, right? Piece of cake—

Not his most convincing pep talk, but they're already coming at him, so he heaves himself forward and just barely manages to duck a set of razor-sharp claws.

[madeforthis]

"IIIIIIIINCOOOOMIIIIING!"

Should Shawn or the Fearlings look in the direction of that yell, they'll spy a flying mass of green goo with a face, which in short order, splash-smashes into the offending creatures before quickly reforming into a humanoid shape.

"I'll keep 'em busy, you smash 'em!"

[ivehearditbothways]

That was hands-down the coolest thing Shawn has ever seen in real life. Including the time Lassie killed Bobo the donut.

"Whoa- You've got it!"

The concrete chunk makes a nasty sound as he uses it to sucker punch one of the still-dazed fearlings.

Flapping-Flyies

[morethanmyth]

Attacking from above were ugly fearlings that seemed to morph between the shapes of different flying animals. Most of the time, they looked like bats, but sometimes their wings took on the shape of predatory birds or even gliding animals like flying squirrels. These ones seemed to be the source of the strange laugh-screaming, as they swooped down and gouged at them with nasty claws or tried to drag them into the air to drop them from a great height or rip them apart. They screamed constantly, most likely making it difficult for the group to hear each other.

[lifelinked]

There was a flash of golden light from Mami's ring, then a little egg, and then Mami was dressed to fight. Oh, she would do what she was told and stay close to allies, but there was no way she was refraining from shooting.

This situation was fairly dire. On top of the ferocity of their opponents, the group effort was new to her. She hdsn't fought with any allies since Kyoko's departure, and that was so long ago that her group combat tactics were a little rusty.

Fortunately, she had enough space to fit around any obstacle. She whipped the newly formed feathered hat off her head, pulled a long musket out, and fired. Again and again, rapidly summoning new weapons from various places as she used the single shot in each. She focused on the usual rule---create distance between yourselves and the enemy, if possible. Her method of attack wasn't the fastest, but she had to make it work.

"On your left!" she yelled as loud as she could...no, it had moved. "The right!"

She quickly fired in both directions, aware that protecting this area was going to be difficult.

[mywarrenmyrules]

Anyone in the party who still thought that Guardians of Childhood might attempt kid-friendliness in battle are, if they have the chance to look up from their own work, seeing otherwise.

The Easter Bunny's boomerangs rip through the fearlings like they're razor-edged, but when they're flying away from him he doesn't wait for their return to keep on killing. His hand-to-hand is the graceful brutality of a long-trained master. Between himself and his weapons, he racks up kills in three places at once, but with such rabbit-speed that he might as well be in more.

The fearlings that make it past his three-pointed wall of protection around the newly minted myths are numerous, but they are a trickle compared to the flood that he - with Jack - holds back.

[letskicksomeice]

By now, Jack and Bunny were a well-oiled machine, moving in and out of the space the other occupied as if they could read each other's minds, ducking and dodging each other's attacks effortlessly. As they weaved in and out, Jack blasted the fearlings with his ice blasts, making them crumble to icy, black dust, but when he needed to, when they got in close, he wasn't shy about using his staff as a blunt weapon.

The fearlings did seem to want to get in close to him, more-so than Bunny, reaching out with grasping fingers, but he was careful to keep them at a distance. Even the ones that managed to touch him seemed stymied by the layer of ice covering his skin.

Planting his staff in the dirt, Jack used it to propel his legs up so he could kick viciously at the fearlings and Bunny grabbed onto Jack's staff to do the same.

The hardest part seemed to be getting used to having to fight alongside others that weren't Bunny, but it certainly helped that some of them were so competent. Mami calling out where she was aiming made it easier to avoid getting in her way - and easier for Jack to keep her from getting in his. Propelling himself off of a fearling with a sharp kick that made it fall into dust, he even blasted ice in the same direction as one of her attacks to help her take down a particularly large fearling.

The Escape

[letskicksomeice]

"Everybody in and buckled up!" Jack called out, blasting fearlings to keep the sleigh clear. Now that they were all gathered around it and concentrating their fire, it was a little bit easier.

Hopefully, Howard's repairs would hold.

"Katherine, can you fly the sleigh?"

[morethanmyth]

"I should think so," she said as he climbed in, sheathing her sword, her goose shrinking to normal goose size as it flew in with her. "I helped design the prototype. But what about you and Bunny, aren't you coming?"

[letskicksomeice]

"We'll hold them off so you can get them all back to the Pole and use Bunny's tunnels. If we run into lindworms, we'll deal."

He blasted at some fearlings.

"The yetis added a stealth shield to it - hit the red button on the dash for it." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a snowglobe, tossing it to her. "Use this once you're clear."

[morethanmyth]

"But -"