2024-12-29 - Charity Character Breakfast

"Count Grimoire, of the Haunted Boo'dwalk!" is announced and, in dramatic fashion, the Count doesn't appear for a few moments, until...he does. There is a coiled up whip at his hip, under his velvet, flocked frock-coat, but it is tied up in such a way that it's there for effect and not to be used at this event: Too many unknown factors, such as children running around in this enclosed space.

He is, as he usually is, dressed elegantly in a Victorian Gothic style, complete with a top hat and, for the entrance, slim black leather gloves. He stands for a moment, looking at the audience from behind dark-lensed glasses before they're removed and, with a wave of his hand, seem to disappear right out of his hand.

It's a small gesture, but whatever tables he visits will also get their own little displays of his close-up magic. Dark eyes then look to the Yeti currently seated on the throne and does the 'I'm watching you' hand gesture towards Yarble. Maybe he feels -he- has a better right to that throne than any Yeti? Surely there's some backstory as to why the Count is out and about so early in the day.

The Enchantress is one of the newer additions to the park's cast of characters. Known for being morally grey but with the ability to show one's heart's desire, she's become popular among children keen on bringing their imaginations to life. The announcer introduces the Enchantress, a mysterious woman hailing from the misty mountains to mixed reactions. Those aware of the new addition seem excited; the others? They don't care.

Di flourishes as she enters the room in the custom-made costume Tank crafted for her. She conjures up some orbs of light, much to the delight to the children, and allows them to explode fizzling sparkles. She moves to her first table, and focuses on the little girl with the birthday pin.

"Oh, and look who it is," one of the helpers announces - and of course they have mic's to pick up their voices a bit, "One of our friends from Spellbound Island, that I bet our guests already know pretty well!"

Who is it? Well, he's blue, about seven feet tall when you take the suit into consideration, and has been known to rescue the occasional princess. Not kidnapping, of course. That's other dragons. Flynt the Friendly Dragon lumbers out and into the open from behind the scenery, arms sweeping out to either side and body tilting somewhat onto one foot as he shows himself off for the crowd. The kids, of course, absolutely go wild for it.

"It's Flynt, the friendly dragon! Say hi kids!"

They're already saying hi, but one has to stick to the script.

He waddles along over towards Yarble, arms going up again and hopping a bit in excitement as he gestures to the gathered guests, as if he was the one excited to be meeting them.

1 duck... 2 duck... 3.. duck... 4... duck... 9 duck...? Aisley lost count. Not really, but she had a lot of kiddos that she was looking after.

A two year old in her arms and a five year old cuddling up to one side of her her at the mention of monsters, "It's ok, these monsters wont hurt you. I put a protactive spell on you," smiling and attempting to tickler that little side.

Thanksfully there were more costumes coming out and she can direct the attention there, "Look! Look!" The kids at the table with Aisley give out a loud cheer "Yayyyyy!!!!"

Various kids start to jump up and catch the fizzling sparkles from the air like they can catch'em all. The sparkles seem to draw the attention of the two year old in her arms and she turns to look and point, "pretty..." the small voice sounds.

Flynt seems overjoyed at the idea of signing the book, and he acts as if he's filling it out. His name's already in the prop, of course, but after he's waved the oversized 'pen' a few times it lights up brightly for Yarble to show off. A magic signature! Or LED lighting, you know, whichever works.

Then the dragon is lumbering over towards the kids, hunkering down to sit with them. His arms go up and wide in an enthusiastic greeting, his head bobbing a few times. Fortunately, nobody can see him staring at the scaled kid for a moment, because he absolutely does.

Please, God, Wesley prays for the first time in many years, Do not let him breathe fire too. This suit is far too flammable for my liking and the itching from having to regenerate all my skin would be so, so bad.

He reaches over all the same to ruffle the kid's hair with a big plush dragon paw.

The enchantress toes the line between hero and villain as she takes her place at the table. "You want to learn magic?" She asks, an arched brow over her icy blue eyes as she surveys them. "You really think you can handle the power as it courses through your veins?" She shrugs non chalantly. "If that's your heart's desire, I'm sure we can come to an agreement.... for a price," she then allows the children to barter with dinner rolls and napkins to win her favor and teach them magic.

After six dinner rolls, four mints, and a napkin are offered, the Enchantress seems satisfied and stands from her "throne" (a typical dinner chair). "Magic is something that comes from within," she tells them as she flourishes her hand over the crystal ball causing it to cycle through rainbow colors. She turns to the birthday girl. "Close your eyes," she instructs. "Magic is like a living dream. First, you must see what it is you're trying to create in your mind." The little girl informs Di that what she sees in her dreams is a pony that plays the piano and wears high heels as it trots through the pasture. Miraculously, an apperition of exactly that trots through the dining room much to the delight of those at the table and beyond.

Hooray for the future Goth kids! Count Grimoire slowly takes his seat at the table, his gloved hands folded in front of him. Does he intend to eat? Likely not...they're there for the entertainment, but it might also help any sort of 'vampiric image' he might have going on. Dark-lined eyes look from the wolf-kid to the other kid before he answers in his heavy, Eastern European accent, "I will neither confirm nor deny that descriptor." But he, unlike one of the kids at Flynt's table, doesn't seem to have fangs.

Yet.

"I see we have a werewolf at the table. You should be careful of the silverware," is offered with a smirk. He takes one of the forks and looks at it closely before there's an elegant wave of both hands and a silver coin is now in the fork's place.

Oh boy, here we go... Aisley tries to put the two year old down and she cries "No! Uppy!!" and the young toddler is hoisted back up and placed on her hip as she hugs her close. "As you wish..." she murmurs under her breath.

All the characters start coming towards tables and all hell breaks lose, those that were with her are not anymore as they dart over to their favorite character, "Stay close!" calling out a warning and trying to keep track of them all, her eyes can only keep track of so many so far. Those parent hangovers better be bad.

The five year that was clinging to her suddenly gets some courage as Flynt comes close and starts walking towards him.

The lights flicker for a moment, and the ballroom doors are suddenly flung open with a well-rehearsed bang. Wisps of mist roll out—not as dramatic if this was a full production, but enough to catch the slight flicker of light before Malia the Wicked steps out onto the red carpet. The Fae Queen is dressed in her winter attire—frosted leggings, a gown of matte black fabric lined in shimmering frozen blue, and clean fur lining her cloak as she advances on heeled boots. Her dark hair is twisted into an intricate crown of plaits, showing off her pointed ears and the stars glittering on her fair skin. She bears a staff of black wood, twisted around a crystal clear orb at its head, and her claw-tipped fingers curl around it it with a malicious tapping.

She regards the breakfast hall stoically before a crooked smile breaks across her blood red lips. "I see... I am late."

Malia the Wicked starts forward, sweeping down toward the front of the ballroom while her star-flecked eyes glance over toward Yarble, pinning the yeti with a hard stare before she starts to smile again, so bright that her very, very sharp canines glint a bit.

The unicorn is a wild success, with more than one child tugging on the sleeves of her costume, begging her to bring their dreams to life next. Di has them all raising spoons to conjure magic, which mostly results in tiny little sparks of light; when Malia makes her grand entrance, all the little sparkles and the unicorn, dissipate into wisps of black smoke.

Several of the children cower, hiding in Di's costume. "Don't worry little ones. She can't hurt you. She knows that your magic is far too powerful here. You'd have to return to her realm for her to be able to do anything. Plus, Flynt is here," she reminds them, which makes sense to her young audience. Flynt would protect them if she couldn't.

"But, just so you feel extra cozy, raise your wands. " The wands are still spoons. Now close your eyes and envision yourself cuddled up with a blanket of light in your favorite color. " As they listen, Di makes a guess: Most of them end up in pink blankets of light though others have blue, green, or yellow. "See? You're so powerful!"

Of course, Flynt doesn't answer any of the questions aimed in his direction because - like most of the costumed characters - he doesn't speak. It'd be hard to understand him in that suit anyway. He does very enthusiastically bob his head up and down a few times in agreement with the questions aimed in his direction, including taking credit for stopping the New York Interdimensional Cross-Rip Incident of 1984.

At the question about the s'mores, he rubs his belly. God damn it. Now I want s'mores. Thanks, kid, he thinks.

Turning as he notices one of Aisley's charges heading their way, his attention is drawn by the dramatic appearance of MALIA THE WICKED! He gives a startled jump that turns him around in her direction, and he props his fists on his hips, striking a very 'what are YOU doing here' pose for a dragon.

"I am certain they have Werewolf-friendly utensils," he tries to make eye contact with one of the servers. No doubt just another pair of silverware is brought back over, but Count Grimoire will make a big show of make sure it's 'werewolf-friendly' before handing it to the kid. He wouldn't want to be a reason a kid didn't eat their breakfast!

"You do not need his coin," the Count will point out, reaching over to do the 'coin in the ear' trick to the Vampire. "You had one of your own as well." He will give the Vampire kid a nod, "Do you have your sunglasses in case it becomes sunny today?"

His attention turns as Malia enters; likely he hasn't had that much interaction being that he's from a different 'Land', but he'll stand and gesture to the table, "Shall I show you how noblefolk greet Queens? You can either bow," and turns to Malia and offers a flourished bow, "Or you can curtsey," which he also demonstrates. No judgement as to who chooses which obesience.

"Not so fast!" Hooking a finger around the collar of a toddler running towards the unicorn, "Wait I'll go with yo-" SWISH! The princess hat gis whipped around and the tail of a magical princess hat filled with glitter hits Aisley in the face. No permanent damage, just the fact that her face will now have silver glitter on it until the end of time because that does not leave a body.

Sputtering out the tail of the princess hat, she unleashes the hooked child so that she can move the tailed fabric from her face/mouth and push it to the side. "We'll go see the pony." This is said to the child she wrangled by the collar and the one in her arms. "Everyone gets a chance to see who they want to see."

Aisley casts her gaze out to the other kids around the room inquiring about magic and darting off to see their favorite character, keeping each one of those children in eyesight.

Hopefully.

First things first, she takes those who were interested in visiting Flynt right over to him, "He's a nice dragon, but be careful he might blow fire, so watch out and take cover!" The two year old scrunched closer and some of the kids look nervous... Well, that backfired, didn't it? "I just mean," shit she thinks, "He's not going to breathe fire at you... Just in general." Yeah, that helps. sigh "If he blows fire we'll go get him some ice cream to help his burning throat. Because that must hurt!" Sure. That works.

Malia the Wicked smiles casually to the host, sweeping forward with those paneled skirts so she can step up to the throne. "I hope someone cleaned up after him. Can never trust a yeti to dust properly." The Fae turns her eyes on the breakfast goers, and she gestures dismissively before she sweeps down into her throne. When Flynt turns that disapproving hip-prop her way, she dramatically rolls her eyes and waves her hand at him, also dismissively. "Someone has to keep you in line, you meddling dragon."

She drums her nails idly on the arm of her throne, picking at the wood with those very sharp edges. She arches a brow when Count Grimoire begins his instruction on how to bow, and she props her chin on the heel of her hand, black iridescent nails tapping at her lower lip. "Groveling is also acceptable," she says to the Count, flashing those teeth again before she sighs. "But they are so young. Bows and curtsies will do fine."

Her eyes slide to the Enchantress, and she just smiles as if she's greeting an old friend—except, no, no. Definitely not. "Enchantress," she says, almost cooing her name. "So lovely to see you."

Flynt holds out one hand, a finger lifting. Not that finger, there are children present! It's a waggling finger as if to scold her, before he turns back to the kids after 'confronting' the witch, crouching down again and shaking his head as if to reassure them that she's not so scary.

And if the dragon isn't scared, then they shouldn't be, clearly!

"And you as well, My Grace," The Enchantress says, bowing her head as a sign of respect. But there is a... frostiness (that likely makes sense within the context of in park story telling) still exists between them.

With her table feeling bold. They lift their spoons and she guides them through a magic spells that had little fireworks shooting out of the ends. Borrwing some IP from a different wizard story, she spends more energy than she intended to make sure that the fireworks burst into an animal specially chosen for each of them. They are all cute, heroic animals (cough crowd pleases*) like lions, bears, and wolves. The birthday girl gets another unicorn and her little brother gets Flynt, which does cause some jealousy from the others.

With that settled, the Enchantress gathers all her offerings and stuffs the treats and napkinf avors in her pockets. She even manages to make it out with a sticker and two temporary tattoos!

Count Grimoire gives Malia another bow before he turns to the kids at 'his' table and gestures for them to lean in a little closer. "We are Creatures of the Night. We all have Power of our own. Choose the battles you fight, and always know that your power comes from within. Not what someone else claims to give you." Because what good is a favorite character if they can't enourage the kids to embrace their individuality and power, especially when the kids might be a little gothy or creepy. Even Yarble gets looped in on that 'secret' if he chooses.

The Ghouly table will get a few more magic tricks and Count Grimoire will answer questions and chat until it's deemed time for them to depart (so the families can actually eat the expensive meal). Each kid will end up with a 'Boo'dwalk' coin, materialized in a different way, just for them; it's not real currency, but a little souvenir from the Count.

"Ummm, Maybe? But where would we get the popcorn kernels to ask if it's possible??" Aisley looks around her as if to look cluelessly for the missing corn kernels... But that is barely it. Then Ginny is pulling and starting to crawl in the hopes of over her shoulder and it's clear, Oh shit! I'm going down the thoughts are clear as her body starts to fall to the ground.

The weight of the two-year-old in her arms and the weight of the child trying to crawl over her shoulder, the weight was great and not even in the slightest.

Down...Down...Down... Slowly Aisley falls to the ground and very soon that the children just use it as an excuse to crawl on her and she is swallowed up by children climbing all over her. Turning into nothing but a ball of children.

Malia the Wicked plays haughty and untouchable for a few more minutes before a child in the crowd draws her attention. She is on her feet, sweeping down to see what mischief the sticky creature has gotten up to, and despite Malia being quite scary, the girl seems to find her delightful—which is all Malia needs to soften and enlist the girl to help her conquer the room.

As she starts to circulate, she begins her evil recruitment of mischief makers, and ends up granting them trinkets from the Fae as well as suggestions on how to best the most troublesome of heroes.