Slay Bells in the Snow

Completed one-shot storylines are archived here after their completion.
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Slay Bells in the Snow

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

September had been a month of initiations and October one of trials by fire. November introduced tedium, while December carried aloft the promise of banked vacation days being spent. That is, if you had some seniority... With Holden Hall's division being so young, there wouldn't be much chestnut-roasting going on, except perhaps on the very eve of Christmas. They'd all get one free holiday and would have to work on the other one. It helped that working in an English manor afforded more passive distractions, but the group also had one ace up its sleeve of which it didn't suspect the existence yet.

Archie had been in a steady relationship with Deputy Chief Lowell for some time, now. The amorous pair worked swimmingly both personally and professionally, and that afforded the Clank the opportunity to plead for a tiny bit of special treatment. The Holden family had its traditions, after all, and he'd be remiss if work prevented him from living up to his obligations as a host.

So, while Christmas was still two weeks away, Archie had managed to schedule for a bit of an early party at the Hall. The lads and lasses would have their peer-bonding moments, Crystal and himself would later have some time by the crackling fireplace in his room - and he'd be able to live up to the expectations held by the rest of the family by briefly serving as host for his uncle.

Considering all this, he'd been conspiring with Gubbin for a while, bringing up boxes of decorations from the old coal cellar and stashing them in the servants' quarters. With a place as big as the Hall, it stood to reason that the amount of ornaments to place were fairly considerable - but two Clanks and a Malk seemed to pull the job off well enough, concealing the efforts of their labor by carefully choosing which rooms to garnish first. The end result was what Drake had taken to calling the Christmas Infection, a kind of creeping mass of holly, magically preserved pine wreaths, mistletoe and old-fashioned freshly cut Christmas trees. From the kitchen, the Yuletide Morass skipped around entire sections of the manor, creeping into the vigilantes' field of view progressively rather than assaulting them en masse right after Halloween.

Gathering everyone under his roof for the pretext of one last pre-vacation push had been quite the ordeal. He knew he could afford to clue Crystal in early on, but Francis and Zebediah knew him so well as to make it difficult for him to lie to them. It'd been even harder to convince Silas and Aspasia to close their restaurant earlier and to join them for the evening; but he'd pulled it off.

If they had been his family, he wouldn't have put together this much of an artifice. He would've told them he planned on hosting them for the evening and would have mentioned the imminent arrival of their respective families. His young coworkers, however, seemed deserving of a tiny bit of drama. Considering, he'd worked in one of his usual copper and forest-green clothing combinations, trying his best to stop himself from humming Christmas carols under his breath. An intentional accident with one of his fountain pens was all the excuse he needed to excuse himself to his bedroom, where he pulled out his Yuletide regalia.

To be fair, he didn't look all that different after putting it on; he'd simply switched his pants for a black pair and otherwise dressed in red, golden and green variations on his usual dress code, with the filligree on his waistcoat artfully reproducing the more joyful John Tenniel engravings for Dickens' original edition of A Christmas Carol. The only thing that could possibly bring his mood down, all things considered, was Forsythe's unannounced arrival. Every year, he'd prayed for a telegram or a phone call telling him the mouse would be staying at a hotel, instead. Every year, he'd crossed his fingers and hoped for a stated date and time of arrival.

It had never happened.

That, however, wasn't his concern at present. He made his way back down to the main hall, cane twirling every now and then, having carefully timed his return with the staff's usual time of departure. Aidan was the first to approach the front door and, as planned, he didn't know his parents and Nigel were coming over for dinner.

Waxed floors and spats being what they were, he didn't need to do much to catch up to the soldier. Just as Aidan opened the door and called out one last "Bye, guys! Merry Christmas!" he planted his cane's tip on the door's panel and pushed it shut.

Aidan scanned the Clank from head to toe and scoffed incredulously. "What gives, Arch?!"

Giving a chipper and defiant little smirk, Holden slipped between Drake and the door and locked it shut behind his back. "None of you are leaving this house until very late in the evening, I'm afraid. Crystal's figures are quite clear; last month's reports were unsatisfactory."

Archie's mask of rigid professionalism felt like cracking, and it hurt. He felt like sniggering so hard, and keeping it in was making him feel terrible. "Tut, tut!" he managed to say on a chiding tone, "Go put that coat back on your rack, young man; you'll have time aplenty for Hallmark Channel specials after midnight.
- Midnight?!"

Oh, that was so cruel! Aidan's tone was so distraught, his look had flashed from one of quiet relief to one of seething anger - and he seemingly hadn't caught on to the significance of his dress change, either. Repressing the urge to sock the poor lad on the shoulder with a smirk and a wink, he instead pointed a gloved hand towards the Eastern reading room's corridor.

"Go on, now," he said, "and warn the others. I shan't see a single feather from a single coat, nor a single boot track in this front hall until the witching hour! Off you pop, Drake!"

Looking for all the world like he was about to take a pipe wrench to one of the automaton's more sensitive parts, Aidan stalked off and started rapping on doors, settling with a despondent call of "Overtime!" as an explanation.

He didn't feel like this often, but Archie almost felt like a kid who'd have managed the very perilous act of sneaking a comic book into the groceries bill. A fluttering butterfly of exhilaration frantically moving around in his chest as he walked in the other direction, he returned to his office and closed the door, locking it. He pressed his back against the wall, intently listening for any shouts of displeasure and various other curses that were sure to follow, and couldn't keep himself from casting nervous glances at his office's broom closet. He'd hidden a very special black trash bag in it after discovering the sheer wonderment of Nerf guns. Parting from a thousand dollars or so in his own reserves had felt a bit irresponsible, but he'd quickly latched onto the idea of thanking his newfound colleagues for their services in the most original way he could think of.

What did he owe those youths, he'd wondered. For long evenings, he'd tried to figure out what would go along nicely with the expected minuscule State-sanctioned pay grade bump. He'd sometimes been a harsh instructor and a difficult supervisor and had tested many a local technophile's patience with his inability to handle their new equipment. He hadn't always been pleasant to be around with, although Crystal had never suffered for it. She'd actually been his sounding board, the one person he could talk to when he resented having to push former civilians as hard as he did.

What he owed them, it seemed, was a breach of character. If he'd trained them in the art of subtlety and public relations, then he had to be as unsubtle as he could be. If he'd always been that discreet watchdog looming over their shoulder, then he had to give them one big and blessedly obvious fright. If he'd been the old stick in the mud who didn't allow himself to see the fun parts of their work, he had to compress all that denied joviality in one big explosion.

Two auto-loaded Nerf shotguns, one oversized rifle-like model and two rotating-chamber pistols ought to do the trick, he'd reasoned. A small storm's worth of foam darts would work perfectly - if he managed to catch them by surprise.

What better way to do this than to play the part of the strict employer for a few minutes longer?

He gave himself a look in the broom closet's little mirror. He felt ridiculous with all those bright orange plastic straps, all that simplified alien tech being used to pinch someone in the back of the head with a few inches of hollow foam.

He felt ridiculous, and he loved every moment of it.

* * *

Little did Archie know, however, that Arthur had brewed plans of his own.

One of the least serious examples of magic and technology intermingling involved tabletop gaming and roleplaying. In decades prior, you'd have found Murder Mystery kits on sale in any decent tabletop shop and, essentially, nearly any common toy-related superstore. They'd usually consisted of a tape, a few guidelines, some catering and ambiance-related suggestions and maybe a few ancillary materials like notepads and a few cheaply sharpened pencils. Today, however, intricate enchantments could transform any ordinary home into an oppressive and dramatic environment, providing nearly everything needed to establish the mood and tone with the power of entertainment industry-graded disposable Veils. Insert one arcane hologram of a pre-recorded and costumed narrator delivering some starting bits of exposition, and you had everything needed to turn an ordinary cocktail afternoon into a late-night Whodunnit set in the middle of a raging storm.

Of course, some outlets offered à la carte packages for restaurants or other sizable venues. All you had to do was pay a visit to a kit-seller's website - Arthur had connections in Triton Games - and fill out a fairly standard form: how many guests there'd be, if the game had to be a planned event or could be allowed to spring into place, or if anyone had strong aversions to the sight of blood or suggested dismemberment, among other juicy details. They'd provide the story, the music and the setting - right down to costumes - and all you had to offer would be alcohol and food.

If nobody knew Gubbin had helped Archie with his planned party, then Archie didn't know Gubbin had helped Arthur with his own project...

Sneaking the game's box under the first stealthily-erected Christmas tree had been child's play. For now, all Arthur had to do was play the part of the conscientious objector, first acting as the opposing force to Archibald the Stickler. Then, he'd need to direct the Nerfpocalypse to have it suit his own ends, ideally by helping one of the "victims" of Archie's rampage to hide in one particularly fortuitous room.

All they had to do was find the unmarked and unwrapped wooden box under that poor little tree that was sitting in Archie's old exhibition hall and bring it to a central location.

Oh how terrible it was, to be repressing such glorious laughter! In the meantime, however, he played along. "It's not that bad, Aidan," he said, "Think on that as a chance to close the books. Preston and I haven't been able to go over the last couple months and we've still got a few kinks to work out in our info distribution methods. At least we'll be able to let you leave for Christmas with a clear head instead of a half-empty To Do list.
- You're being supportive and rational," opposed the soldier. "This isn't like you.
- Oops?" replied the younger Holden, shrugging comically for effect. "Um, Insert Creepy Innuendo Here, maybe?"
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Slay Bells in the Snow

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

"Right," Aislinn quipped, scoffing. "If there's one thing the Holden brothers share in common, it's the five year old boy who can barely contain himself when he's up to something. With Archie spreading the spirit of Christmas around the Hall like Scrooge given a new lease on life, something's up."

Neasa raised a brow and nodded, glancing at the Freak. "What's even odder is that Arthur's in on it. He's the Jack Skellington to Archie's Father Christmas."

Ciaran lightly smirked and looked to the human. "Well, what were you planning on doing with your break, Three? My sisters think there's a conspiracy happening, and Archie decided to make us a collective Bob Cratchit and burn the midnight oil."
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Slay Bells in the Snow

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

"Christmas is still two weeks away," replied Aidan, "so I was mostly just going to catch up on the gifts I have to buy. Pair that with more movie nights or game nights than usual, and I guess you'd have a sense of how things usually go at Casa Drake. Tonight, though; I'd hoped on being able to sneak online and buy Sis a couple albums, maybe one or two games from a Humble Bundle."

Visibly dejected, he lifted his pile of file folders and gave the roanes a weighted glance. "Instead, we're all going to spend the night sorting case files and figuring out what takes precedence when we get back to work... Yippie."

Arthur, in the meantime, ignored the selkies' suspicions and settled with placing a hand on his own eternally skull-patterned waistcoat. "Well, for what it's worth; you all have my sympathies. Now you're all too aware of what it feels like to have Archie as a brother. The constant recriminations, the pointed requests to be more professional or serious, the crushing loneliness of one technophile vampire when opposed to his sibling's complete lack of interest in the computing world..."

Three shot a glare at the Freak. "Why drag Jenkins and Zahavi over, anyway? Their big heyday was the Centennial Tree business; they mostly just pulled our asses out a few fires the rest of the time. I'm not even sure Charles has an office in here!
- Optimization," shrugged the Freak. "Putting all the neat little pieces of the last few months together in one clean little package - it's all very Archibald, to be honest. I'd just let my own mess grow and sort my way through it as I go along, if it were up to me."

Muffled footsteps staggered down the hall, and a slightly tipsy Zebediah Buck leaned in the doorframe of the room the roanes and Drake shared. "Well, it's official," he said, his voice already a little slurred, "our boss is a bloody slave-driver!
- Afternoon, Zeb," noted Three. "I see you'd already stuck yourself in Party Mode...
- Eh, I might cadge a ride back home from Starr in a little while," he said, "regale myself with the Buck household's take on Yuletide celebrations... Here's a hint: it's going to be dark, dank, cold and more than a tiny bit depressing. Don't mind me, I simply feel like I should be better off clinging to you youngsters' bits and pieces of honest life."

Three had a hard time staying annoyed at Zebediah. Most of the man's drunken antics still allowed him to work as a decent researcher, and most of his melancholy was something he managed to ignore. It was a harder prospect during holidays - especially those with a charged arcane significance, which made him understand why Zeb would want to spare himself from as much Gothic misery as possible. The family curse fed on normally joyful days, so overtime felt almost like a reprieve. If anything, he managed a scoff.

"Well, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but we'll be downing coffee cups and reviewing case files all evening.
- Aw, that's too bad," pouted the lich. "Not to worry, though; we've our doors to lock and my alcohol reserves!" he said, holding up a flask. "If Master Archibald feels like denying us some release, then we can at least inject a little fun in the proceedings!"

Three grimaced lightly. "Eh, no thanks. I'm not much of a Coffee Spiked with Brandy guy.
- You're missing out..." teased the lich, giving the soldier a slow wink and a drunken little chuckle.
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Slay Bells in the Snow

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

Feeling he should get back to work, Ciaran returned to his desk with a dismayed expression, sighing lightly under his breath. He began looking at the files he still had to go through.

It was Aislinn's turn to raise an eyebrow. "What's wrong with you?" she asked.

Her twin looked to her and dismissed the question with a waved hand. "Nothing, really. While Archie might be up to something, I still wish he had let us go home. Like Three, I was hoping to do some Christmas shopping."

"For anyone in particular?" interjected Neasa, hoping to get a dig at him. "Besides us, I mean."

Slightly ruffled, Ciaran huffed out a breath as he typed. "I thought about getting Sophia something. It's been a few weeks since we went out on the hike together. Had a great time, but I can tell she's still keeping me at a distance. And now with winter rolling in, that frostiness is just that much more apparent, literally and metaphorically! There, you happy?" he snipped, not really angry at his older sister but still bearing some frustration.

Neasa didn't really want to piss the former dockworker off and backed off. "Give it some time, Ciaran, and keep at it."

The male selkie muttered something under his breath and buried himself in his typing.
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Slay Bells in the Snow

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

"Just push through," added Aidan. "Sophia doesn't really mean it; it's just the way things go. Gubbin's instincts are keener around this time of year, Jack Greene snoozes thirteen hours a day until springtime and Lady Eirean flirts with basic mortality until the same period. The part of her that isn't beholden to her job as a dryad would want you to find something nice for her. I'm sure she already has something for you, too."

He shrugged lightly. "Besides, I remember Archie telling us that in his experience, Sophia's wintertime doldrums are a bit offset with mild stimulants like coffee or tea. Just give her an occasion to perk herself up a little and it should be fine."

Shortly afterwards, a knock sounded on the door. "Might I interject?" came Archie's voice. "I'm aware I've saddled you with fairly unenviable tasks on the eve of your vacation, but there is one detail that should take precedence..."

Sighing, Drake stood up. "Aren't you pushing this a little, Archie? We're already swamped as it is, I don't know how you possibly could-"

He opened the door, his eyes immediately widening. "...lighten the mood."

Standing with Nerf shotguns akimbo, Archie gave the soldier a wink. "I would suggest ducking, my lad."

Three threw himself to the floor with a mixture of panic and sudden glee hitting his system, while the Clank tried for his best Scarface impression. "MERRY CHRISTMAS FROM MY LITTLE FOAMY FRIENDS!"

Mercilessly (and rather joyfully) the roanes were pelted with a regular stream of orange darts that lasted for a solid six or seven seconds. "Run!" defiantly called Archie, "run and hide! You'll find that I've stashed other such weapons in various corners of the mansion! Arm yourselves, my friends, and claim your suction-cup-clad revenge!"

Smirking all the while, Three used Holden's monolog to stand up, surge past him and snatch one of the Nerf pistols out of one of his holsters. "The problem with Nerf darts, Arch," he said, "is that they'd actually stick to those porcelain eyeballs of yours... I don't think you'd like that a whole lot."

Archie turned and smirked back. "Oh-ho! Defiant until the very end, aren't we?
- Scram, guys," the soldier said to the others, grinning. "Find those guns; I've got Scrooge here covered."

Drake couldn't hold back a chuckle. "Hasn't anyone ever told you, Arch? You do not engage a member of the United States Marine Corps during a Nerf office war. It'll only end in someone's bruised Victorian pride and you turning into a kid-friendly version of Pinhead. Dart-head."
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Slay Bells in the Snow

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

The roanes reacted with a mixture of surprise and glee when the darts hit them. Aislinn, Ciaran, and Neasa bolted past the automaton and ran down the hallway to find more of the hidden Nerf weaponry. Archibald and Aidan would hear defiant shouts in the selkie tongue that promised revenge come from the area they had escaped to.
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Slay Bells in the Snow

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

Three and Archie slowly shifted their common axis, carefully spinning in front of one another. "You know I could extend one my wrist-blades and slash this toy in two, don't you?" the Clank asked.

"You also know I've been working on my field projection ability, Arch," retorted the soldier. "I could block your strike, get a few seconds to get a few good hits in.
- Then it seems we are at a stalemate," observed the spy. "On the other hand - I still have more darts than you.
- Eyeball. Nerf Dart," replied the soldier. "Think about it."

The mocked tension they'd instigated rose, one of the nearby room's clock marking the seconds in their harmless version of a Mexican stand-off. Three's mind raced, his nurtured soldier's responses used in what was probably the most fun and engaging thing he'd experienced in a while.

"You know," he observed, "I never understood why you insist on wearing that top hat of yours indoors...
- Well, my gibuses are part of assorted outfits," the Clank started to explain. "That and, well, my scalp still feels cold if I do not-"

Drake quickly angled his pistol upwards and unceremoniously shot Archie's hat off of his head. The Clank sputtered and blinked in response, and it was all Aidan needed to rush him and wrench one of the auto-loaded shotguns out of his hands, all the while dropping the Nerf pistol and kicking it away.

"Welp, looks like we're evenly matched, now."

Archie sighed. "It would seem so... If only you knew."

He lightly raised his head. "Crystal, darling? Now would be a wonderful time to lend a hand!
- What's Lowell doing here?" asked Drake with a scoff.

The Clank smirked in return. "My dear boy, this is no overtime punishment; this is a party in the making. Where would I be without my best dancing partner?"
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Slay Bells in the Snow

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

"Coming, Archie!" Crystal responded. She entered through the door and lunged toward Three as he rushed the clank. She fired her Nerf shotgun with three of the darts aimed at Drake's legs and torso.
User avatar
IamLEAM1983
Site Admin
 

Posts: 3707
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:54 am
Location: Quebec, Canada

Re: Slay Bells in the Snow

Post by IamLEAM1983 »

"Fuck!" was the human's reply, worded as half a cry and half a chuckle. He did his best to avoid the projectiles but couldn't stop Crystal from landing a few good shots against the back of his legs. "Retreat!" he called out, running into the opposite wing of the building with a bout of laughter choked in his throat. "You'll get yours, Holden!" was all he could manage, a bit like a defeated villain.

Edging towards a sprint, he darted to the left and further towards the rear of the mansion, until one of the doors on the left opened just as he passed by it. "In here!" seethed Arthur. "I've just managed to guide the other kids to one of the stashes; you're the only one left unarmed!"

Three didn't need much more of an invitation to duck in, where he'd meet with the roanes. Seeing several hundred dollars of plastic weaponry sprawled along a small reading room's table, he looked up to his colleagues. "Can we assume we actually did good and Crystal didn't have any reason to ask us to pull overtime?" he asked, in a tone he hoped the others would understand to be rhetorical.

In the meantime, Archie had watched Drake retreat with a satisfied smirk playing behind his moustache. He bent down and picked up his hat, and then gave Lowell a slow appraisal. "The veritable Bonnie to my Clyde, I daresay," he teased. "Minus the inconvenient kill streak, of course."

As explained earlier, he'd quickly taken Coach and Bucky's provided examples and done his best to stop worrying about notions of propriety in his relationship with the werewolf. Not that it hadn't stopped feeling slightly clandestine to him - but that only served to add spice to his more heartfelt moments. Using his free arm to hug her waist, he went for slow and measured kisses, each of them marking a few words.

"Two weeks. You. Me. A ski resort. No paperwork. No cases. Just... us."
User avatar
TennyoCeres84
Site Admin
 

Posts: 2929
Joined: Tue Jan 08, 2013 4:59 am

Re: Slay Bells in the Snow

Post by TennyoCeres84 »

"Oh, definitely. Archie just wanted to let out his inner kid and add some fun to the humdrum of gift-shopping and tv watching," Aislinn commented, looking over the plastic arsenal.

Neasa chuckled. "We should start planning our counterattack. How can we get the best of them?" she asked.

Meanwhile, Crystal returned the embrace and smiled as she kissed back. "That sounds like a fantastic idea. A couple's retreat is a nice change of pace," she responded. "Would Colorado be good for you? Or would you prefer someplace else?" she queried, smirking.
Locked