Robyn sat in front of her mirror as she brushed through her long hair. Oh, I do hope to make a good impression. I’ve never been to one of these parties before, and I don’t really know anyone in town yet. She set the brush down, mostly satisfied. But these holiday parties are famous. They must be to have heard about them from back home. She looked around her new house. -New to her, that is. The place was getting on in years, but still in working order. Small, and cozy, but still, with no one else living there, it seemed empty.

I’d much rather stay home. But, you can’t make friends without meeting people. She took the cap off her lipstick and gave it a twist before applying. It was red, like her hair, but not a particularly flirtatious hue. There. The finishing touch was done. Well, at this point there was nothing left to do except gather her coat and purse and walk out the front door. Only one short stop along the way to pick up peppermints. She found them useful to settle her stomach after a meal, and she had finished the last one in her purse the day before. -At least she thought it was the last one, unless one had spilled out of the bag and was now at the bottom beneath various other items that were seldom useful often, but when needed, were lifesaving, usually figuratively, and only once literally. That was when her uncle was having a heart attack and she produced a bottle of aspirin promptly. She kept her head and kept him calm until the medics arrived. A scary night to be sure. Well, if I could make it through that holiday party, I ought to be able to handle this one. Having buttoned her blue coat, she picked up her purse with one hand, then twisted the door handle with the other. She walked out and closed the door tightly behind her, then gave it one last twist, ensuring it had locked. Well, now we are off on an adventure.

At a distance, it would have been difficult to tell if there was an actual person underneath the puffy marigold-yellow coat, black gloves, long green gingham scarf, and blue knit cap with a perky white ball on top, or if it was just a thoroughly-dressed ambulatory mannequin, but if you came closer you could catch a glimpse of Ian Grayson hiding underneath all the clothes. 

When he had first left the house, Ian had congratulated himself on dressing appropriately for the occasion -- Lauren, visiting family back in Temsee, had taken their car with her, and so he had to walk to the bus stop to get to his job at the music store the next town over -- but with the wind having picked up, the walk home somehow seemed twice as long. Despite his best efforts, his nose was numb, his eyes were stinging, and rubbing his hands together warmed them up just enough to ache. 

A patch of ice caught him by surprise. Ian flung out his arms, intending to balance himself, but instead sending him toppling into a snowbank off to one side.

"Gah! Bleh! Fah!"

Ian scrambled back onto his feet, trying desperately to shake the snow off himself like a wet dog. As he frantically brushed off his arms and scooped snow out of the gap between the coat and his sweater, he realized he was in front of the Mansion. Wasn't the party last year around this time? He looked up at the building. It didn't look festive, but perhaps appearances were deceiving ... ? 

A gust of wind sent bits of snow down the back of his sweater, and Ian shuddered. Well, at least it'll be out of the wind! Stepping up to the door, he gave the door two good, hard knocks. 

Cerberus was leaning into Molly and quite enjoying the double dose of attention when the blasted door knocker again interrupted his pets. 

He let out a great woof, clambered to his feet, and took off toward the door. Delia sighed and, after a moment, got up and followed. Again, she chose to block Cerberus’ ability to thoroughly sniff the newcomer, which was all the more important now because Cerb didn’t know what it was this time. Although questionable in some aspects, Molly was clearly humanoid. This…thing…was…well, probably not a new chew toy, but one could hope. 

“Well,” Delia said, surveying the newest guest on her door, “I suppose you’re welcome to come in and warm up as long as you promise not to touch any Red Rider BB Guns.”

"Thank you," Ian said fervently, stepping inside as quickly as he could. Pausing in the entryway to stomp and shake the snow off his boots and coat, rubbing his hands together like he was trying to rub two sticks together to create enough friction to spark a fire, he gave further thought to the introduction. "Uh, I used up all my firearm-associated interest when I was eight, so, um, no problem?"

Was that a reference to that one movie? Ian was usually pretty good with pop cultural references, but maybe that part of his brain was still locked up by the cold. Shame Lauren wasn't around to enjoy it.

The peppermints where safely in Robyn’s purse as she walked up the steps to the mansion. The place looked mostly dark. The outside light was not on. The whole atmosphere certainly didn’t match the extravagance described of earlier parties. But, she had come all this way. She might as well try the door bell. She reached up and rung, then stood back to see who was at home. This was the correct address… Wasn’t it?

"Oh, seriously?" Delia complained, having barely finished...greeting...Ian. She turned back to the door and jerked it open. "Yes?"

Meanwhile, Cerberus gave Ian a full sniffing and a lick upon determining he, too, was acceptable, and most likely would distribute good pets. 

"Oh hi, Ian," said Molly, as she recognized the person under the layer of clothes and caked snow.  "Merry Christmas!  Do you want to hang up your coat--?"

That was as far as she got before there was a fresh knock, and she watched Delia pull the door open.  Maybe there would be a party after all?

"Molly! Hi!" Ian slid off his coat, giving it a good shake to knock off the last of the snow. "How's the holiday season treating you?"

"I don't know; a bit dusty." Molly laughed, as she caught a passing glimpse of herself in a mirror.  "The season seems to be flying by without any 'beg pardon' or 'by your leave' from me.  Hello, there," she turned to the other newcomer, who smelled faintly of peppermints.  "I'm Molly Brown; I don't think I've met you before, though our mutual hair colour ought to preclude any need for formality.  Welcome to the--the--well, the party, if you want to call it that."

Robyn was even more confused after meeting the person who came to the door. The whole place seemed to have a Halloween vibe, complete with pet monster.

“Um… hello! This is the Holiday Mansion isn’t it?”

Although first impressions are hard to shake, Molly was doing a fair job distracting Robyn from her’s.

“My name is Robyn. I’m new to town and was hoping to make a few acquaintances tonight.”

Posted by: @risto

“Um… hello! This is the Holiday Mansion isn’t it?”

"Well, this is the Mansion, and I suppose it is during the holidays, so logically, it is," Delia said, trying to wrangle Cerberus into...someplace else. The back room, another dimension, either worked. "Come in, come in! Shut out the cold and...do whatever Molly tells you to do with your coat?"

"Well, hi, Robyn, it's nice to meet you," said Molly cheerfully, extending a damp hand.  She added apologetically, "There's not many of us here just now.  Normally there's quite the crowd.  And I'm afraid that it's not very festive, either."

She blinked and did a double take, hands halting mid-wave.  Those holly wreaths had not been there a few moments ago--she was sure of that--nor the towering Christmas tree at the far end of the room.  And the table, which had been discouragingly empty, was covered in dishes, coloured and plain, loaded with things festive and good to eat.  Molly swallowed hard and moved closer to the table--she didn't want to say anything, in case she was dreaming or, as seemed more likely, hallucinating.  But a dish of carrot pudding with lemon sauce, still warm, had a most comforting solidity to it when she picked it up.

There was only one way to be sure, though; in a piercing whisper, Molly called:

"Cerby! Cerby, come here!"

Cerberus’ right head perked up as Molly hissed his name. He looked up at Delia, who was busy shepherding him into another room, away from the interesting people, and made up his mind. He bolted toward Molly, skidding to a stop and sitting at her feet. 

"Good boy!  Would you like a cookie--or three?"  Molly held out several pieces of gingerbread temptingly, admiring the bright red bows that now adorned the necks of Cerberus.  She didn't know if ordinary dogs liked gingerbread or not, but figured it was worth testing her hypothesis.  If he could smell them, as indeed seemed to be the case, they must have substance.

"Um, Ian, Robyn..." she said, "you might as well help yourself.  Beverages over here, I think, and everything else you could possibly want, at your command, beside them.  Delia, where is this all coming from?" she asked, sotto voce, sidling over towards the ghost wrangler.  "And more to the point, how are we going to stop it?" as the table grew fuller and fuller.

Cerberus reached out to take the cookies, even had one lip on one, when--

"Cerberus!" Delia commanded. Cerberus sighed and stopped (his left mouth might have taken the teensiest nibble), looking back at Delia, then trotting over to her.

Posted by: @aileth

Delia, where is this all coming from?

"It's the holiday spirit," she said with a smile. "You hoped for it, they hoped for it, and there it is."

A decadent cupcake tower materialized like a final flourish, and there the tables were--filled, set, ready to be dug into, and not a moment too soon.

~~

Indeed, not a moment too soon! As we pass the Feast of Epiphany, yet another Holiday Mansion must draw to a close. The Mansion will remain open through the end of the weekend, before shuddering--shuttering--its doors again.