2175/Adventure in the Kingdom of Toys!

Adventure in the Kingdom of Toys!
Date of Scene:	18 December 2024
Location:	Plot Room 1
Synopsis:	Amy, Chrono, Taro and Yaling all meet Santa and Mrs. Claus, who need help with a familiar problem!
Cast of Characters:	3, Chrono Harlaown, Taro Yamada, Yaling Yao, Amanda Faust

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KitKat (3) has posed:
It's getting into the Christmas season, and last year: TOYMAJIN attacked the North Pole, attempting to ruin Christmas for children worldwide. The day was saved and Toymajin was driven back to his Toy Kingdom.

This year, the sleigh. Yes, that one, landed with the COMPLETE company of reindeer, yes, even the red nose reindeer himself. And two figures went into the cafeteria to bogart ovens this late night for cookies.

Freshly, baked, Mrs. Claus cookies.

Santa is here, sitting on a chair while Mrs. Claus is setting out cookies, milk, nd hot chocolate across the table.

Much like last year, you've been summoned. Somehow, here. Maybe you saw the sleigh land? Maybe you we're drawn here by the smell of cookies? Maybe a letter found a way to you delivered by reindeer.

But here you are. In front of the building, the smell wafting outside easily.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown was well... okay. The whole Santa thing? He had the impression it was fake. A story. He'd been TOLD it was a story. And then others said it wasn't. And frankly, with all the magic he'd seen?

It turning out to be real wouldn't even surprise him at this point. Big guy in a red suit with magic reindeer flying all around the world in a single night? HA! He knew people who STOPPED TIME to bake SNACKS!

Old Saint Nicholas wasn't even in the top ten of 'No freaking way' anymore.

But when he saw a bunch of reindeer landing on the grounds, pulling a sleigh? Yeah... he was going to investigate. So it was that the young TSAB agent, in full uniform (the non-magical one) showed up outside the building, his eyes narrowed... before stepping forward, pushing open the door and stepping in. He wasn't one to hesitate when there could be criminality afoot! Such daring, dangerous and dastardly deceits had to be destroyed before they devoted themselves to doom!

Taro Yamada has posed:
The Back Street Slasher - cough, excuse him, Kuiper Belt Cape - has statistically been significantly gooder than he has been for most of the 78 years of his unnaturally enlongated life, having gone from supernatural pest to wannabe mahou. Unfortunately, over 50 years of being a spooky vampire means that the appearance of the Entire Western Santa and Reindeer is deeply suspicious.

"If you do ranged attacks, I can get up close and personal?" he murmurs to Chrono, squinting at the cookies. Lkely the cookies of malice that brainwashed you. Malevolent cookies.

Yaling Yao has posed:
Christmas, the holiday that every child waits for with wonder and joy in their heart. And Yaling was no different, though she was doing her best to go to sleep like every good child during this season. It wasn't present time yet, but she isn't going against one of its most famous rules!

Or so she meant to do, but her excitement was stronger than anything. Maybe she should imagine Claus hopping down the chimney and count each one of those like sheep?

Three minutes later, the chimneys multiply, but though her imagination's Santa may conquer all the chimneys, the same can't be said about her sleep. Maybe she could make herself some relaxing tea? She just now needs to sneak in and out, easy.

"Where are you going? You should sleep." comes BaiBai's voice. Drat, she can't even make it past her Shifu. "Just making some herbal tea to help my sleep!", she grabs the snake and starts walking towards the cafeteria's building after putting on her slippers and a pajama overcoat, unaware of the late night visitors.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "We're not shooting Santa!" Amy chastises, as she drops down from a nearby rooftop, having been watching and waiting to see if the sleigh would appear again this year. She's in henshin but wearing a christmas outfit: Red-with-white-faux-fur boots and dress and a hat with matching striped stockings.

    Amy runs up and hugs Taro warmly, smiling. "It's so good to see you! Merry Christmas!"

    She walks along with them, patting Taro on the back. "Ready for the Kuiper Belt Cape Saves Christmas special? ...And also the rest of us saving it too, of course..."

    Amy holds her hand to her chin. "I wonder what's threatening Christmas this year...?"

KitKat (3) has posed:
You can enter the main Cafeteria. There's a jolly balding fat man there with a long bushy beard, in mid gingerbread cookie man bite. Ms. Claus looks up at the same time and goes. "Pa, visitors!" she says. Santa Claus lowers his cookie looking at it longingly. He eats these everyday. And he never gets tired of them.

True Love.

"Hello again!" laughs Santa Claus at Amy Faust. Hohoho.

Mrs. Claus sighs a little. "We're not just here for a visit before the holidays..." she says.

"Right." says Santa. "Toymajin is planning his usual mischief." he says sadly. "Same as last year. As every year. SO we wish to send an envoy to the Kingdom of Toys to try to broker peace before that happens..." he says.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Kuiper-Taro scoops Amy into a hug - an impressive scoop given that he's in uniform and thus Tall McHugeMan - and spins her around.

"Is he the real Santa? There's been plenty of fakers around," he says, eying the santa suspiciously.

But Amy is vouching for this so called Santa, so Taro follows her into the cafeteria.

"So you need us to...negotiate with the toy people?"

He's just going to. Try and hand off a cookie to Yaling or Chrono to test it's effects. Quietly. Shhhh.

Yaling Yao has posed:
Yaling closes her reindeer overcoat tighter against the cold of the night, holding tightly onto all the warmth she can have until she has reached the building (is transforming ok if you are cold?). BaiBai likewise was hiding from the chilly air inside the girl's hood.

"Next time you grab me like that, that's all you will be hearing me mention for a whole week", the snake sighs, watching ahead of themselves. "Just, you know, the earlier I get my tea, the earlier I sleep", Yaling replies, feeling guilty about her rough handling. It will probably work. She is assuming that will do the trick anyhow.

The fairy is about to say more when both of them notice the light coming from the cafeteria, prompting Yaling to close the hood more around BaiBai. Useless precaution really. Probably it's just another student baking cookies for a late night snack. As unhealthy as that might be.

The green-haired girl slowly pushes open the door, the door pushed open completely when she sees the group on the other side, coming in just in time to hear the jolly man's words, her eyes shifting between him and Ms. Claus. Could it be...?

"Are you Santa Claus and Ms. Claus!?", her eyes shine as she barges into the room. "Hello, sir, I am Yaling Yao, Grade 9! I am good about my curfew usually, I promise! But you really are the Santa Claus and Mr. Claus, right?", she repeats herself.

Taking off the hood, she reveals BaiBai while she introduces the snake too. "And this is BaiBai, my fairy shifu. Can I volunteer? I really want to come and help", she asks the man full of energy, especially now that she is away from the cold. She takes the cookie Kuiper is handing her, but she does nothing with it, her focus fully on the old pair.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy is pleasantly surprised to not only get hugged back but scooped up and spun! "Woah! Ahaha!" she can't help laughing a little from the instinctive surprise at being picked up meeting the relief of knowing it's Taro and she's OK; afterwards she's pressed close to him as they walk to the cafeteria.

    Upon seeing the Christmas couple, she smiles and waves, "Hey again!"

    At Taro's question, she answers quietly, "I... I don't know how he could be more real. We rode in his sleigh and he made... so many deliveries on the way to dropping us off afterward. No I don't know how that works when parents and parental figures buy presents too and don't notice presents they didn't pay for. I didn't... think to ask at the time." Amy admits, puzzled a bit at her own lapse in curiousity.

    If cookies are offered she will absolutely try a couple, not feeling the need to watch someone else eat it first.

    Chrono and Yaling get nods -- "Haven't seen you in awhile!"

    And the mission is received: "I... I'm not very good at negotiation, I admit. But if you think Toymajin will respond to logical arguments and debate, I'm your ma--uh, woman!"

    A bit less confidently, she adds, "I just want to help if I can, it's not to pay back for the, the Megazord and everything else... Do you really like, remember stuff like that?"

    She rambles a bit, her mind wandering, "I guess it's in the back of a closet now... it was such a big deal at the time, maybe I should have treated it better, but the clips snapped off the pterodactyl zord so fast..."

KitKat (3) has posed:
Santa Claus and Mrs. Claus receives visitors. Santa laughs at Yao's entrance. "The one and only...!" he says, snapping his suspenders. "What a ham." says Mrs. Claus. Yao, Amy, and basically everyone has cookies and hot chocolate pushed at them.

"That's... the hope. And if you can't talk him down, you need to... make him reconsider causing problems!" says Santa Claus with a furrowed brow. "I don't like that. But last year came too close to no Christmas ever again."

"We made overtures already. You'll be meeting at the edges of the Toy Kingdom, At the Island of Misfit Toys." Santa says.

Mrs Claus speaks up. "The Toymasjin wasn't always like this. He was another Toy." she says a bit sadly.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown had frozen in the doorway, staring for a moment. An old man and his wife, and their cookies. And they were going to the Kingdom of Toys. To broker peace. He just... he just sighed. A very, very soft sigh.

It wasn't that he minded. In fact, brokering peace sounded great. It was more... well... ... ...

He was going to be turned into a toy at some point during this. He could feel it. It was going through his head and he tried to ignore it. But somehow... he just *knew* that would happen. Thank goodness the twins weren't here to see.

He'd finally take a seat and pick up a cookie, doing a quick scan with his device... then biting into one. Milk and cookies, huh. And stopping...

Stopping Toymajin from causing problems for Santa. Oh, he was going to tell Rashmi allllll about this one later.

Taro Yamada has posed:
After seeing the cookies don't seem to be poisoned or cause mind control, Taro takes one and nibbles. Delicately.

"Oh, this is good!" he says, and takes a bigger bite. Yeah, ok, he'll take the candy now. It's allowed!

"Did Toymasjin get rejected by human children due to being flawed in some way, causing him to lose faith in humanity and wish to punish those who rejected him?"

Not that, uh. Not that Taro knows exactly how that feels.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    "Misfit toys?" Amy echoes. Taro has a hypothesis, and Amy nods, wondering the same. She rubs her chin, "You think a couple of misfit people will maybe get through to him, huh...?"

    She takes a long sip of hot chocolate and looks between Santa and the others here.

KitKat (3) has posed:
Santa Claus looks at Taro solemnly. He knows when you've been sleeping... he knows when you're awake. He knows when you've been good or bad. So be good, for goodness sake.

"That is very close." says Santa Claus. "He was an abandoned toy himself. It's why he's so... insistent on preventing more abandoned toys." he says. "Me nor my wife knows the specifics beyond this." he says.

Mrs. Claus looks to Amy. "Toymajin means well. But his actions come at the happiness of everyone else." she says. "Do you understand?" she asks quietly.

Santa Claus places his hands to his tummy. "Do not worry about broken toys. Toys are meant to be broken, sometimes. It means they we're played with and loved." he says.

He gives Chrono a look. However.

"You." he says. "You're not from this planet. Who are you?" he asks.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown just chewed on his cookie as he listened. Eh. Possessed demon toys that were very much alive now. Apparently that was their future, sometimes, in this world. He was going to add THAT to the report. Luckily this wasn't his first day on earth, otherwise he--

AND THEN SANTA JUST CALLED HIM OUT! He had a sharp intake of air, and... ack. Cookie. Cookie down the wrong pipe. Ow ow. OW! He coughed, pounding on his chest a few times, waving it off, before taking a big drink of the milk.

Of course, once he could breathe again, he got to his feet and held out his right hand. His ID card came up and... "I am Time Space Administration Bureau Enforcer Chrono Harlaown," he said. "I'm on this planet investigating the jewel seeds and attempting to capture the inter-dimensional criminal, Precia Testarosa," he said firmly. "A pleasure to make your acquiantance. You are correct, though. I'm from Midchildia. Though... I haven't had anyone realize it without me expressly saying it. I take it that is a form of your magic, sir?" he asked.

Taro Yamada has posed:
"According to Western Legend, the yokai known as Santa Claus knows when all living beings are sleeping, when they're awake, and if they have been bad or good. Subsequently, the good are given presents on the holiday of Christmas, and the bad either get nothing, coal, or a visit from a yokai called Krampus who will punish them," Taro reports.

He's not really dressed for christmas, six foot vampire guy in a ragged cloak and a black kimono decorated with eggplants, eagles and mountains, but he's got a red obi and red horns so that's soooort of festive?

"So we have to prevent Toymajin from forcing all toys to be played with. Do we need to defeat him, or as per the tradition, do we need to teach him the power of love and family by understanding the virtues of love and forgiveness in the western holiday of Christmas?"

He's seen fifty years of holiday specials. He has an idea of what needs to go down. (....he thinks.)

Yaling Yao has posed:
Yaling waves at Amy, finally eating the cookie Kuiper handed her, her eyes opening wide in delighted amazement. "This is really good", she says, unsure of who exactly to address with that, if Kuiper who handed it to her, or Mrs. Claus who probably made it (that's how the story goes, right?)

This happened last year too?? "What was it like, last year?", Yaling asks Amy, who has gotten to talk about riding in his sleigh and they were there when Santa Claus made his delivery. Okay, keep calm, Yaling, you aren't going to help broker peace if you are too excited about riding Santa's sleigh. But still! Santa's sleigh!!

"Why is he on the Island of Misfit toys?" she asks the elderly couple, doing well enough at keeping her excitement within. She still feels like somebody turned gravity waaaay down.

And then Santa drops the explanation of what caused Toymajin's behaviour. "But you said Toymajin was abandoned, not broken due to being played with too much", Yaling replies, her heart feeling for the poor toy. "He needs our help too! This is about restoring the magic of Christmas, right!? Toymajin should experience it too!", she exclaims unequivocally. She kinda wants to ask Chrono lots of questions about what his world is like, but her curiosity is a very small voice for now in front of the toy's fate.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy sets down her hot chocolate and considers Mrs. Claus's words, and then Santa speaks. She narrows her eyes and balls her fists at the thought that broken toys were more loved by the world than she for so many years.

    She looks back at Mrs. Claus with rebellious eyes; although it perhaps only makes her look all the more a child. "I remember that last time I grew disillusioned... But I know this: I'm a magical girl," she turns to look at Santa, "And you're--" There's a brief pause as she was about to drop an f-bomb for emphasis but, it's Santa "--Santa Claus. This is about... the magic of the holiday spirit and all that. If there is ever a time to, to stand by ideals, then this is it."

    She looks back at Mrs. Claus and balls her hands into fists at her side.. "If Christmas and the happiness it brings were to end up dependent on someone's suffering..."

    Amanda shakes her head. "Then... We walk away from Omelas."

    She shakes her head a little and then forces a smile. "But, that's getting ahead of ourselves. Surely there is a way to... to redress and heal him. And... if so, we'll find it."

    Amy looks at Chrono, and is about to exposit when Taro beats her to it, and the classification of Santa Claus as a youkai makes her laugh! Although then she says, more seriously, "The latter. If at all possible, the latter. If it's the former... who will save Christmas for the abandoned toys?" She smiles and nods at Yaling saying much the same, "Exactly!"

    Amy rubs the back of her head and lets out a breath, looking a bit more conflicted. "Look at me. First I end up friends with princesses, and then I'm helping someone who purports to be an absolute judge of morality." There's some kind of metaphor in it all. A child's view of the world versus an adult's. Is Santa here the faith of children in a moral universe, made manifest?

    The universe could stand to be a fair bit more moral.

    Amy sighs, "I'll find my way through it, somehow. A world where Toymajin gets Christmas to is worth fighting for, that's for sure." She flashes a smile.

KitKat (3) has posed:
Santa Claus listens to all the words. Taro's words. Amy's resolve, Chrono's surprise, Yao's curiosity. He opens his mouth. And there's the bong of a clock. Midnight. Somewhere in the distance. He frowns. "I will answer these questions on the way. Mrs. Claus will be remaining here. We'll be traveling with Rudolph and Hermie....Hermie is..."

"Different." he says as he stands. "One of my elves." he says.

Hermie is probably in the sleigh, hiding. Reading a Dentistry book. Again.

"Let's go." he says, leading the crew back out to the sleigh.

"Safe Travels!" says Mrs. Claus.

Yaling Yao has posed:
Yaling looks weirdly at Santa Claus. He is kinda not like the wellspring of generosity she imagined him to be. Maybe he is stressed, could it be that? Still, she thinks he could use remembering what they said about the magic of christmas. Toymajin deserves happiness just as much as everyone else, not to be dismissed like an emotionless toy whose time ran out.

Is the North Pole maybe not as happy as she thought, Yaling considers as she moves to Santa Claus' sleigh. Rudolph is from there, no? And 'weird' Hermie too, apparently. All those things to consider, and get BaiBai's thoughts on. And then there is this other world Chrono is from.

Amanda Faust has posed:
    Amy will introduce herself to Hermie and no doubt make conversation on the trip, but for now...

    She fills a thermos with hot chocolate and puts cookies in little ziplock baggies for the road -- she's prepared this time! -- and heads out to the sleigh, content to enjoy the spectacle of the magical journey while snuggled up to Taro.

    A moment of warmth and friendship at the beginning of this cold night; They may need it.

Chrono Harlaown has posed:
Chrono Harlaown blinked a few times as he followed Santa. Hermie? Different? That was... concerning?

Then again, he was the one Santa brought with him. Maybe this Hermie was a warrior of some sort. Angry attack elf, you never knew. The special forces of the Santa work force.

Ahhh, and he was studying dentistry. Truly, he was learning how to cripple his opposition with a blow to the jaw. Clever.

He glanced at the reindeer with a glowing nose. Welp. Okay then. That was a thing. He was not rubbing it to see if a card came out, though.

Taro Yamada has posed:
Undoubtedly Hermie is an elf who is most peculiar and quite impossibly hard to describe. Taro will simplpy have to engage him in conversation to figure out if they have the same things wrong with them.

"Amy, you've traveled by sleigh before, havne't you?" he asks as he gingerly lets a reindeer sniff his fingers. "It has seatbelts, doesn't it?"