2 House Velenosa Guards, Sasha, a Velenosian Assistant arrive, following Dimitri.

The Tragedy has been transformed (kind of) for the evening into the perfect atmosphere for a puppet show! The normal furniture has been shoved aside to make way for the revelry. A table with all types of crafts, ties, bits of fabrics, pre-made puppet bases awaits the craftiest of the crowd, and a raised puppetry stage with a dark curtained backdrop calls to the performers of the bunch! A center for refreshments, most of them geared toward a child's preferences offers sweets and drinks, and a judge's station made just for the children to sit in judgment on the adults of this world. The Tragedy's children run about, some vocal and friendly and very hands on, others a little bit weary of the crowd of outsiders invading their space. Knights of Solace stand by to help in whatever they can.

12 House Velenosa Guards, Ibasia, the Velenosa Lady-in-Waiting, Ellani, the palm sized spider arrive, following Jaenelle.

It's puppet night! Porter is wandering around, easy to spot with the giant purple hat (and also being reasonably taller than a lot of people present). He's hauling in the puppet stage from off to the side and getting it into its final position. As people arrive, he greets them cheerfully and says, "Definitely give all of your donations to Bree. I'm like-- her assistant!" Yes, that is his new job title that he decided right then and there.

Zoey says in Draconic, "I"

Dame Bree Harthall, Knight Lieutenant of Solace, has never looked better! At least that's what she told herself when she donned her ridiculous hat, with all the fake gems and feathers and absurdity. It sits jauntily on her head, the peacock feathers extended over and out to tickle anyone who dare walk too close! She's at the moment, surrounded by children who are yelling, "Why didn't you bring your sword! You promised to show us!" The Butterfly knight, hating to disappoint, lets out a laugh and patpats one of the louder kids on the head. "Next time. We will have our fighting lessons, and I will show you. I wouldn't want any of the puppets to meet the end of your fierceness." This is said generally to the bunch, which appeases them some, and then she looks up to those flooding in. "Hello!" she beams, waving a hand at them all. She seems her regular cheery self, but anyone who knows the knight might notice some strain in her eyes. Easily covered up in favor of the CHILDREN. "Lord Porter!" She beckons to her friend, making sure to use his title here. "You're in charge, right?" A flash of a grin. Wait, then he's throwing HER under the bus. "And as my assistant, assist me in taking the donations..." she laughs. But she's already removing her hat and putting it on a table so people can toss things in there. Really fancy business.

2 Kennex corsairs, Jane arrive, following Catalana.

Into the Tragedy comes Rorik walking alongside Helena, the pair chattering away. Whatever they are discussing has clearly amused Rorik, who is laughing quite loudly, though that could very well just be his default state. ".. so I tripped over the sofa, sprawled on the ground, and then Lady Azova dumped a full glass of wine on my head! And that's how we won the comedy routine," is what he ends with. It's probably a very great story, all things considered, too bad everyone here missed the beginning. "PORTER!" he bellows as soon as he sees his cousin, a big grin for Porter and Bree, before he looks to Helena and quirks his brows. "Can we sit right up front?"

2 House Deepwood Guards, Tobias, a pine marten arrive, following Braelynn.

Braelynn arrives, following Piccola.

Sam, who is a boy and definitely not a princess in disguise arrives, following Niklas.

Nurie enters the Tragedy quietly, though her gaze is warm and curious. Her smile brightens at the decorations and stations, especially at those geared towards the children. But she does move towards the two hosts that appear to be collecting the donations, offering her own. "Half from me, and half from Lady Sabine Tessere, who very much regrets not being able to be present tonight herself! Thank you for organzing this, Dame Bree, Lord Porter. I'm very much looking forward to seeing what people come up with!"

Catalana was sneaking in behind Rorik but of course he bellows. She chides him, since someone has to be the adult in house Kennex. 'Manners! We do not hollar inside." Regardless, she gives him a fond pat on the arm before going and finding people who aren't so loud and obnoxious.

Far be it for Dimitri miss such a worthy event. Making his way into the Tragedy, he's taking a moment to look around, hands adjusting the new tunic that he's wearing. Settling upon where donations are beeing accepted, he's making his way over, so as to give his particular donation before turning back to look about the area once again.

Zoey goes to Bree. "With the refugee center I do not have much to spare, but I hope this helps," she says before handing over her own donation.

"I'm looking forward to what YOU come up with," Bree laughs to Nurie as she seems to be taking an audience role already. "You can make your puppets over there," she says with a gesture toward the table. "And I will send word to Lady Sabine as a thank you." And then Zoey enters, and hands over the donation. "Every little bit helps," she says the tagline for many donation drives.

Sabella is over with the children already, twirling around and trying to catch a few but always seeming to be just two steps behind them! She's laughing, they're laughing, and as one of those hats walks by she looks up and says to Porter, "This is a great event! I'm so glad you're doing this, Porter! What a wonderful idea for a bunch of wonderful children!"

"Lord Porter will be outlining the rules for the puppet show!" Bree then says quickly, her eyes widening, less he try to make her in charge of THAT too.

Yes, this is an extremely tightly run operation and everyone should be highly impressed by these two people and their ridiculous hats. When Porter hears his name being called, he wanders over in Bree's direction, dusting something off of his hand. Probably splinters. "I definitely already made you in charge," he tells her brightly, rocking on his heels with amusement glinting in his eyes. He ruffles the hair on one of the kids as they go by and-- "RORIK!" he calls out, waving. He starts gesturing people to the puppet creation table, "If you want to be in the puppet show, you can come over here. The... shape... parts are already made?" These are basically sock puppets. "And you can decorate them!" Charming. "It's going to be GREAT. The kids are really excited to see the show."

"Yes, I'm definitely going to outline them!" Porter adds. See, super professional here.

Blacktongue has been looking forward to puppet time, and he enters with a brief look around before holding the door for someone behind him that he offers a bow and a flourish to.

Sir Bhandn was a bit hesitant initially about coming, but all it took was one little girl tugging on his sleeve and tearfully declaring that she can't see very well because everyone's so tall. One "up you go" later, and a rumbled instruction about holding on tight, and then the aging knight is making his way over to where Bree is with his apparently new bestest friend, according to the child he's carefully supporting on his wide shoulders. "Remind me to send some to you after," his deep voice declares to Bree, his hands firmly gripping his rider's legs so she doesn't fall off his shoulders.


Piccola arrives just after Nurie, along with Braelynn.

Her face is a bit stiff. Those who know her know that she usually has a 'resting bitch face' on, or a half-lidded 'imma had five drinks' face. Tonight, she has an even neutral expression locked on her. She's probably already spotted Nurie ahead of her, but she nonetheless puts herself in line to give a donation. A gesture to Braelynn suggests that the other woman come with her, and to wait to donate.

And when it is her turn to deliver her donation, she says to Bree: "From Piccola of House Tessere."


"It could have gone either way, I think, depending on how good the wine was," Helena quips to Rorik's story, smiling when he yells for Porter. She heads to Bree, handing her a little envelope with her donation. "Thank you both for organizing this. It's a very worthy cause," she says, smiling down at a little urchin who goes running by. She looks at the puppet-making station when Bree points it out to Nurie and chews her lower lip. "I'm not the most artistic when it comes to arts and crafts," the Redrain princess confesses to Rorik. "Do we win consolation prizes for who makes the worst one?"

"And I'm really excited to see the show, too," Bree grins, pointing out that this ridiculous endeavor is not just for the children. As more and more come by, Bree greets each of them. A special salute for Bhandn, a thank you for the others. Helena and Rorik get a surprised little blink and she greets them both. "Go! Decorate!" she encourages.

Braelynn follows behind Piccola and Nurie and waits in the same line. When she reaches Bree she smiles to her and hands over her own donation. "From House Deepwood. I hope it helps." She then moves aside to follow Piccola through the crowd, a smile etched on her lips as she watches the children playing with the puppets. She jumps out of the way of one of them, even, as a little girl comes running by, almost colliding with her.

Coming in not long after Blacktongue as he holds the door open, Jaenelle reaches for the arm of her Harlequin as they move further into the room. "Will you be making a puppet?" she asks him curiously, tilting her head to look up at the man. "I admit to having no skill whats so ever with puppet making. I assume you just," she lifts her hand upward, "and then wrap it brightly colored cloth and ribbons and then," she wiggles her hand from side to side to mimic a puppet moving? Its all unclear.

"In this case, I'm certain the room will have more than enough imagination to make up for less that perfect craftsmanship," Nurie reassures Helena brightly, with a wink. And just so, she moves off towards the puppet making center, making note of one small boy that seems to be looking at the supplies wistfully. "I might need some help coming up with an idea," she says more gently, including him in her smile. Piccola and Braelynn behind her get a warm wave as they wait to make their own donations.

"CATALANA!" Didn't she just tell Rorik /not/ to bellow? He puts his arm about Cat's shoulders for a quick snug before he lets her go, grinning a broader smile. "I'll try," to use his inside voice. It's not going to happen. There's a laugh over to Bree afterward. "I'm /going/, I'm /decorating/," he insists as he ambles over to the decorating booth with Helena. To the Redrain Princess, he proposes: "Maybe the uglier the better. We should put a unicorn horn right in the middle of one of their heads," he is already grabbing one of the .. err.. shapes? Whatever. He's sticking it on his hand and waving the undecorated shape at Helena, trying to talk out of the corner of his mouth, "Decorate me, your Highness, please!"

Catalana firstly redirects her feet to Bree and hands over her donation. "Here. I hope this helps a little." But it's Porter who gets her attention shortly after. "Aww. Look at you! You're all grown up /and/ responsible. Next thing, you'll become quiet and wear house slippers and complain about the economic stability of the isles." She gives Porter's beard a fond little tug, yet cringes at Rorik shouting and laughs exasperatedly at him. "What did I say about yelling?"

Niklas wanders in a little late, followed along by his assistant. He looks around and then when Catalana is tugging Porter's beard he wanders over and gives her a shove on her shoulder, then turns and screams, "RORIK! GODS ABOVE IT'S BEEN DAYS!"

Once it looks like everyone is settled in, Porter projects his voice a little louder. It's already loud, but now it's /more/ loud to be comfortably heard over people walking around and talking and making puppets. "Thank you for coming down here tonight! This is a great cause. How this is going to work out is, you're going to decorate puppets and then you can join the stage. I will give you three prompts and your puppets are going to act them out. The children are going to be judging you! So you'll want to cater accordingly. They will judge which person gets to take THAT HAT home with them. It's a really great, I'm jealous of whoever wins. Get decorating!" When those instructions are given out, he turns to find Catalana speaking to him. Her words make him laugh and he smiles crookedly even as she's tugging his beard, "Never."

When donation-taking duty is over, and her hat is filled to the brim with sweet, sweet help for the children, she goes to store it somewhere safe, replacing her hat atop her head. Then she's rushing over to the table for decorating, grabbing one of the shells of a puppet and waving it at the nearest person. "Just take one of these, and make whatever you think will work! We'll begin the show..." She looks up at Porter, both brows lifting. "Shortly?" This is a finely tuned operation.


Piccola also has to dance out of the way of a child.

When she does so, she grimaces, and then laughs quietly. Her eyes light up, and she presses her lips together tightly. As if forgetting that she's come with someone, the Green Knight crouches after stopping a child. "Can you help me make a puppet?" she asks with uncharacteristic warmth. As soon as she has the little girl's consent, she straightens and looks to Braelynn.

"Coming?" she asks of the other woman, gesturing to the puppet creation table.


Zoey walks past the puppet creation station, taking a visual inventory of the construction materials. "Porter?" she calls back toward her brother-in-law. "Is this glitter I see over here?"

With his donation given, Dimitri adjusts his tunic a bit and then moves to make his way over towards the station with the drinks, so that he can claim one for himself. Then, he's turning back to survey the crowd, giving a smile and a little nod of his head to those that he happens to know and even those that he doesn't.

"NIKLAS! YOU BEAUTIFUL THING YOU!" Rorik shouts back over to Niklas, waving his undecorated puppet hand in the air wildly at Niklas.

Bree slips away from the chaos of construction, moving to join her co-host for a brief, quiet word. She claps him on the back with a grin.

Catalana is about to thump Niklas's chest for shouting too. Damn loud Kennexes, when she suddenly realizes it's Niklas. She eyes the puppets. Eyes Nik. Eyes the puppets again and swiftly goes to create a puppet.

"Of course!" Braelynn says, following behind Piccola and the small child. She moves to the puppet making table. She doesn't start in right away though. She taps her fingernail on the edge of the table while she comes up with a game plan. There's a brief nod of her head, and when she looks over at Piccola and the child she gives them a bright smile before leaning forward and gathering the needed supplies. She asks the child with Piccola, "What do you think? Green or purple. I can't decide."

All the yelling catches Bhandn's attention, and it's not just him who's wondering. "Why are they yelling?" his rider asks him. "I don't think even they know," is the knight's blithe answer. "Want to make a puppet?" "No I want to watch!" That's perfectly fine with this old man, so he'll wander the room, eyeing Rorik and Niklas as they exchange pleasantries.

"That's probably true," Helena says to Nurie in agreement, letting Rorik lead her in the direction of the craft table. She raises her brows as everyone seems to be yelling, but the corner of her mouth tics up into a smirk at the family camaraderie. "Unicorns are never ugly, Lord Rorik. So I don't think I can endeavor to make one. But don't let that stop you from making the prettiest unicorn you can." She grins at his bad ventriloquism and takes the blank puppet from his hand. "We have to perform? And Niklas is here?" she whispers to Rorik, side-eyeing the Kennex-Grayson. "I fold." She grins at Niklas and waves with the puppet, blank mouth opening and closing.

Blacktongue nods at Jaenelle and grins broadly "I surely am. And honestly I think the grownups being terribly gaudy and over the top is part of, if not the entire point. I encourage you to also give it a try."

Piccola has joined the a puppet creation station.

Braelynn has joined the a puppet creation station.

Whatever Bree says has Porter laughing and he pinches the bridge of his nose.

Zoey has joined the a puppet creation station.

Nurie has joined the a puppet creation station.

Niklas points at Rorik and then at the hat and then back to Rorik. "I NEED THAT F-" Eyes wide, looking to the many tragic orphans here and there. "FANTASTIC HAT!" He waves his hands wildly in the air, gives Catalana another shove and then heads over to the drinks table, where he prepares for himself a glass of everything dumped together. The vile concoction is raised in Dimitri's direction. "Your highness. I hope things are going well for you now that you've settled into the city a bit more."

Blacktongue has joined the a puppet creation station.

Merek of course came to watch puppets while he begins to settle about.

Catching sight of Niklas, there's a smile given and then an incline of his head, "It is /beyond/ a fantastic hat. I was just thinking what my wife would do if I came home with it." A curl of his lips to a grin at that and then he's giving a nod of his head, "And indeed. Settling in quite nicely. Or perhaps, a little more then nicely, I suppose. And how are things with you?"

"Your Highness!" Bree gasps at Niklas. GASP, but he corrects himself, and so she's laughing, and the kids are running around yelling F-FANTASTIC HAT!

Sabella turns when she hears her husband, and who can't, jumping up and down and giving a wave as she collects her skirts, dashing away from the gabby kid hands that pull at them, "Hold on, I'll be back," she promises with a laugh, heading over to throw her arms around Niklas, "Have you seen that hat!?"

"You didn't see me and Porter at the unicorn party. We were majestic, but boy were we ugly," Rorik confesses to Helena with a hearty laugh, taking a handful of glitter and sprinkling it all over Helena's puppet when she STEALS it from him. "You have to perform, it's for the /children/. And for that F-" he side-eyes Niklas, they are probably thinking the same thing, "-ANTASTIC hat," he perks a grin back to Helena and grabs another shape. He spies Jaenelle over there with Blacktongue and makes his undecorated puppet bow to the Archduchess. "Hello, your Grace!"

Catalana squints at Niklas and boldly tells him. "I'm going to win that FABULOUS hat and then wear it at every family event so you can wallow in misery at how amazing I am." She begins to eagerly decorate her puppet that's full of pinks and purples and whimsy.

"You are going to try, at least," Zoey says to Catalana. "We shall see."

Bree moves to intercept Niklas as he's making his cocktail, and not to scold him for his almost-slip, either. "Your Highness, I am still very much interested in your help for a certain smart project that is totally not about tormenting anyone in this room named Porter." Subtly whispered, because no one will figure out her dastardly plan. "But first you need to win that hat."

Nurie speaks quietly with the child that's slowly come closer to her side, conferring with him, as she slowly starts to work on the puppet, apparently no stranger to taking direction from someone else to make their vision a reality. It's not a knight or a unicorn that she's making though, inbetween whispers and some snickers, but the base shape is being transformed into a lumpy, bumpy frog. Not even a prince!

Jaenelle hands a small pouch off to one of her guards with the expressed purpose to hunt down Bree and hand it over before her attention shifts once more. "Oh I definitely plan to participate. I have even made a donation for both of us. I am quite fond of the children here, and the work those running this home do. Please the Knights of Solace are some of my favorite people." She lowers her voice, "dont tell the King's Own." She moves then with Blacktongue to the work station to prepare her puppet crafting. Before she begins, Rorik is greeting her, and she smiles warmly and dips her head in his direction, "you look less wet."

As the puppet creating continues on, Porter is wandering through the people, engaging happily in conversation. He puts his hand on Rorik's shoulder and agrees, "We were so majestic and yet... so hideous. I'm going to save that costume for all of time. I thought I was going to die of exhaustion at the end though."

Blacktongue nods at Jaenelle and grins at her greeting to Rorik as he starts perusing the materials, checking for something to match the cotton candy pink he's dyed his beard today.

Catalana looks over at Rorik's puppet and while he's distracted, draws a giant bulbous nose on it. It helped it surely.

"If it's for the children." Helena looks at the glitter all over the puppet -- which means it will get all over her, too. She blows off the excess in Rorik's direction. "Well, I'm sure you wore it well, anyway," she says diplomatically to both Rorik and Porter, dark-blue eyes sparkling a bit. The puppet she's working on looks like it might be a chicken. A glittery chicken.

Niklas pulls Sabella, who is thankfully shorter than him, into a tight hug. "I did see the hat! It's pure magic!" Back to Dimitri he says, "Oh, things are going well! I have my play showing in the Isles, my opera is set to start here soon, I got to see Lord Rysen gut that pig Sir Piotr on the field of battle. Honestly, everything's coming up Niklas!" He eyes that hat invidiously, then says to both Dimitri and his wife, "I gotta make a puppet. I might make two. One will be Wash, which will look like a peach, and the other will be Catalana, which will look like a manatee."

"Not a whale, Nik?" Zoey asks, grinning.

And more donations! Bree lifts her eyes to the direction the guard indicates, and she smiles brightly at Jaenelle before her hand goes to chest and she bows. She surveys the puppet making next, seeing people finishing up here and there, and then turns to look for Porter in the crowd. "We ready for this show? I know I am!"

"Lady Zoey!" That's what Dimitri's offering upon seeing her and there's a smile given, only for him to then look back to Niklas, "Excellent! I shall have to make a point of seeing said opera." There's a pause and then a chuckle, "Mm. Two is better then one, I suppose. Double the chances of winning?" A quick grin is offered at that.

Catalana calls back to Niklas and Sabella. "You know. I was just talking about how beautiful your babies are and how it's a shame there aren't more of them. I mean. Your babies are adorable Sabella. Surely one more won't hurt?" She lifts up her sparkly pink princess puppet who unsurprisingly looks a little like Sabella.

"Don't forget it's also for the hat," Rorik says to Helena before getting a face full of glitter! Now he sparkles as brightly as his puppet, which is getting its own glitter bath along with, apparently, a bulbous nose. "I like it," he says to Catalana, before he beams a grin over to Jaenelle and combs his fingers through his hair. Which.. just streaks more glitter through the dark blonde locks. "I'm told I dry off exceptionally well," he remarks to her with a chuckle. "Hmm, I think your puppet needs more feathers," he says to Helena, and starts sticking big colorful ones into her puppet.

Niklas shakes his head at Zoey. "I'm trying to be more sensitive. Ever since I found out that there are talking whales I realized that it's unkind of me to compare them to Catalana."

Sabella kisses Nik's cheek then nudges him with an elbow, "Be nice! Or I might have to make amends with Cat and it sounds like the best way to do that is to have another---oohhhh that is so BEAUTIFUL!" She then gushes to Catalana, running over so she can look at it, "I am absolutely terrible at art, but I'm going to try to make one of Nik and then we can act out hilariously embarrassing scenes!"

"Your Grace," Bhandn offers to Jaenelle as he approaches with child on shoulders. He can't bow, so he opts for a deep bending of the knees that some could justifiably call a squat. "Thank you for coming. Are you intending to participate as well, or just to observe like my friend here?"

Zoey greets Dimitri with a smile and a wave, and stifles a laugh at Niklas' reply. She turns her attention back to her work... Is that a fish? With a mane?

"We definitely wore that costume as well as two oversized oafs can wear a unicorn costume, that's for sure. We were the greatest." Porter sighs wistfully at the memory and then pushes off of his cousin, messing his hair up a bit. "I'm ready!" he calls over to Bree. Wandering over to the puppet stage thing, he fixes the currents and begins the announcement. "Would all puppeteers please join us, no matter the state of your puppet!. It's going to be a tight fit so, just, um. Try not to touch each other too much." He'll wait for everyone to head over and for the children to take up their seats at the 'judging station'. "YOUR FIRST PROMPT IS: You're knights, going on a strange quest. Show us what you've got." And then the curtains are opened! GO.

Niklas checked charm + performance at difficulty 20, rolling 51 higher.

Zoey checked charm + performance at difficulty 20, rolling 36 higher.

Sabella checked charm + performance at difficulty 20, rolling 29 higher.

Catalana beams fondly at Sabella. "You could re-enact your meeting. When Niklas was a clumsy stupid boy who stood on your foot."

Rorik checked charm + performance at difficulty 20, rolling 16 higher.

Blacktongue checked charm + performance at difficulty 20, rolling 9 higher.

Jaenelle checked charm + performance at difficulty 20, rolling 24 higher.

Catalana checked charm + performance at difficulty 20, rolling 56 higher.

Helena checked charm + performance at difficulty 20, rolling 40 higher.

Braelynn checked charm + performance at difficulty 15, rolling 8 higher.

Niklas sniffs at Catalana. "Show's what you know. I elbowed her in the face!"

A few of the Tragedy's children scramble to find a spot at the judge's station, wanting to be in charge of it all! This ends with some of the chairs hosting multiple kids, tangled together as they don't recognize the importance of personal space.

goddam apostrophe

Braelynn checked charm + performance at difficulty 20, rolling 20 higher.

As the puppet show begins to take place, Dimitri is moving to find himself a seat, a grin dancing to his lips as he looks to those that are going to be participating.

Zoey has left the a puppet creation station.

Zoey has joined the a perfectly delightful puppet stage .

Catalana laughs at Niklas as she saunters over to the stage. "That doesn't make it better Niklas." She squats down behind the stage with her Sabella/princess puppet and in her squeakiest voice cries out about needing rescuing from brave knights. Pointing to some of the children in the crowds, the puppet declares them all knights and there to help. There's a fair bit of swooning and glitter going everywhere as she encourages the children to make horse noises and battle cries.

Jaenelle looks towards Porter, asking, "My Lord, can you explain why the front of the same costume wins first prize while the ass of the same only manages a small third? What did you do?" she accuses, brows arching in question as it he must have done something and it was most likely terrible. She also might be totally cheating herself as she peers over at Blacktongue for puppet ideas, and manages to get something prepared just in time. To Bhandn as she lifts what appears to be her slipper with fluffy eyes attached, "her name is Elsabet. She is the Knight of small, round, things. She is currently on a quest to the Kingdom of large square surfaces to defeat the curse that is causing them all to be too slippery to stand on."

"Absolutely, Dame Bree," says Niklas to Dame Bree. Duh. "We can discuss details later. Once I've won that hat!" He looks down at his puppet and begins carefully gluing shit all over it. "Sabella, did Alarice have an eyepatch?"

Blacktongue has left the a puppet creation station.


Piccola snickers at something Braelynn says to her at the crafting station.

"Go get 'em," she tells the other woman, who's set to hit the stage and improv in the show. Although she made a puppet -- it looks like a cat that may have taken too many punches to the face -- the Green Knight sidles from that station to the drink station. Because she needs a drink, right?

Time to enjoy the show.


Piccola has left the a puppet creation station.

Bree moves to lean against the creation station, since the puppets are ready and she can just enjoy the show. There's a smile at her lips as she watches all of these adults rushing around for the enjoyment of the children. Niklas' assurance that they will plot nefarious deeds later earns a bob of her head. "Indeed! Then maybe you can look as good as me," and she waves a hand to her own hat, which is STUNNING.

Piccola has joined the a station set up with drinks.

Sabella throws her puppet together somewhat literally. While she may be an accomplished singer and dancer and actress and diplomat, it turns out she's really not good at arts and crafts. What she holds up eventually has crossed eyes, which is impressive since one eye is on the thing's forehead and the other is on its cheek. There's some yarn hair and a huge red mouth that's probably supposed to be smiling but is otherwise rather terrifying, "I will save you! I am a heroic--what? no she didn't--" she pauses, thinking, then says with authority, "She did not!"

Nurie checked charm + performance at difficulty 20, rolling 22 higher.

For Jaenelle's question, Porter can only helplessly shrug and offer an apologetic smile, "I don't know, your grace. Perhaps the next time we dress up as a unicorn, we should make sure that the two halves are... the same. Or matching. We sort of.. neglected to do that. Maybe they didn't like the color combination on Rorik's side." It really was a hideous costume.

Nurie has left the a puppet creation station.

Blacktongue has made a knight with wings for upper limbs instead of arms clad in all whites and blues "And this is Oswald Aston Leopold Burroughs, Cursed knight of drafty cottages and empty firewood bins."

Braelynn has left the a puppet creation station.

Braelynn has joined the a station set up with drinks.

"That /is/ a nice hat," says Niklas, admiring Bree's choice in headgear. When Sabella assures him that Alarice didn't have an eyepatch he looks back to his puppet. After a long moment he says, "Are you sure?" He pokes at his puppet, then says, "Did anyone have an eyepatch? I could do a play about Prince Mason, but that seems like it might be in poor taste."

"Well, I guess my chicken's now a rooster," Helena says after Rorik tosses things at it. "Oh, it's Cluck. Looks just like him." It doesn't. Not in the least. It looks a little more like a turkey, maybe, if turkey's wore a lot of glitter. "I'm sorry I missed it," she says of the unicorn party. "Though I do wonder how much fun poor Lord Rorik had in the rear of the costume." She looks up at the man. "Did you get to eat or drink any? Were there breathing holes?"

"It's perfect. Cluck would be proud," Rorik beams at Helena, "And I drank! But no breathing holes, you can't imagine the smell..." Shaking his head, he looks over to Jaenelle and points. "It was rigged!" Rorik agrees with her before he hops behind the puppet stage, the large man having a terrible time ducking behind it. So the top of his head, with his now gloriously glitter-filled hair, is visible along with his puppet: a mess of glitter, fake gems, a big bulbous nose, and a huge horn jutting out from the center of its forehead. "I AM DAME GLITTERSHINE!" he declares in the squeakiest voice possible, whilst waltzing his puppet down the stage and bumping into everyone else's puppets. "I AM ON AN EPIC QUEST SEEKING MY .. uhm, what should she be seeking?" he peeks over the stage to the children at the judge's table, who start shouting answers, "Uh. Right. MY HORN! I'M ON AN EPIC QUEST SEEKING MY HORN WHICH WAS STOLEN BY ... pigs? Did you say pigs? Oh. CHICKENS! Evil PIG CHICKENS!! BUT WAIT! I FOUND IT, IT'S BEEN ON MY HEAD THE ENTIRE TIME!" and that's the end of the quest, apparently.

Catalana looks over to Rorik, "How did you let Porter talk you into being the as-backside?"

As Rorik is puppeting Dame Glittershine, Porter will answer. "He volunteered."

Zoey's puppet, a half-lion half-fish 'merlion' moves in a wavy motion to join the other puppets. "I think I saw the chickens take it to the lake," it declares. "Follow me as I go by river!"

The children squeal, cheer, and gasp loudly at the performances, actually pretty forgiving of all the nonsense. Although one of them turns to another and mouths, "Evil pig chickens?" There's always one judge who doesn't get it. Always one.

"Yay!" declares the little girl on Bhandn's shoulders, who claps in reply to Jaenelle's introduction of Elsabet. "Shh, we're starting," Bhandn tells the child he's holding, not unkindly as he takes up a space where he himself isn't surrounded by tall people and can't see either. That means he'll lurk by the drinks, in the end, offering to Jaenelle another bend of his knees as he withdraws to his vantage point.

There's a soft little laugh from Dimitri as the show begins and he's lifting his hands to give a clap, only to call out, "Oh my! More!" Reclaiming his drink, he's taking another little sip of it, only to then lower it back down as he continues to watch.

Niklas looks around quickly, grabs a handful of shells and smashes them to bits, then glues them onto his second puppet. When he finishes he holds up a pair. The first is a dashing and handsome figure holding a brilliant sword and wearing armor of eye-searing burnt orange and teal blue, marked with a hedgehog on his chest. The other is a grey skinned monstrocity with fins, black eyes (literal doll's eyes) and a mouth full of horrible teeth. "Let me tell you, my friends, the story of the Prince of Quills and his battle with the sharkenoid of the vast black deeps!"

As the puppeting continues on, Porter can only laugh at some of the antics that are occurring all at once. The children look plenty entertained, they laugh a little a louder at some parts than others, but they're all STARING. "Your strange quest continues on, but there's been a terrible accident. No longer do the people of the Compact consider you knights! You're all now outlaws! What's your next move? How do you reclaim your good names?" The childre are all looking on with big, wide eyes.

Zoey checked charm + performance at difficulty 25, rolling 34 higher.

Niklas checked charm + performance at difficulty 25, rolling 68 higher.

Rorik checked charm + performance at difficulty 25, rolling 15 higher.

Jaenelle checked charm + performance at difficulty 25, rolling 23 higher.

Catalana checked charm + performance at difficulty 25, rolling 22 higher.

Helena checked charm + performance at difficulty 25, rolling 27 higher.

Blacktongue checked charm + performance at difficulty 25, rolling 9 lower.

Sabella checked charm + performance at difficulty 25, rolling 23 higher.

"OH NO! THERE'S BEEN A TERRIBLE ACCIDENT!" Dame Glittershine (Rorik) cry-squeaks with her glittering mouth open wide. Rorik moves his puppet hand frantically from side to side to express Dame Glittershine's horror at this accident, glitter flying EVERYWHERE! "I KNOW EXACTLY WHAT TO DO! I WILL -" he peeks around the stage, pointing at one of the judges and wiggling a finger to bring an orphan over here. She whispers in his ear, he giggles happily, and has 'Dame Glittershine' shout: "GO TO THE END OF THE RAINBOW AND BRING BACK ALL THE DIAMONDS!" This is what he gets for listening to a child.

Blacktongue looks confused at the sudden shift and say "Well Oz will try and fly with his wing arms to rescue what he thought was someone who fell in the river but it was really a big fish and he gets knocked out of the air by its flopping tail."

Helena's turn at the puppetry is less robust than some of the (all of the) Kennex clan's, but her rooster puppet and a friend that looks like call out little riddles in rhymes, letting the children guess them. "What has an eye but cannot see? What buzzes by flowers but isn't a bee?" and so forth. Despite not being an actress, she manages to give each of the two critters different enough voices, and each time one of the orphan guesses right, the two puppets seem to jump up and down in excitement as she wiggles her fingers back and forth beneath them.

"Get the rubies, too!" Bree shouts at Dame Glittershine helpfully.

Catalana immediately latches on to Rorik's plot with her own Sabella puppet. "Here let me help you Dame Glittershine! To the rainbow!" She sing squeaks and merrily plods her hand alongside Rorik.

"And the rainbow!" Bhandn's little rider calls out to Dame Glittershine. "Bring back the rainbow!"

Bree nods to Bhandn! "YES. The rainbow, too! All of it!"

"While Lord Rogers wasn't actually a villain, people assumed so because of his somewhat awkward appearance," Sabella instructs the kids that are watching her horrifying puppet move through the world, "But he was actually so very kind that when he looked up to the sky rainbows just appeared out of nowhere!"

"Oh no!" the merlion cries, covering its face with its paws. "Perhaps if I join the Prince of Quills in defeating the sharkenoids, we can win back the love of the people!" The half-fish creature roars and bats at the shark-creature Niklas holds. "And then we can help bring back the rainbow too!" Zoey adds, seeing the way this wind is blowing.

And then, an idea strikes, and Bree calls to Porter, "Do you think I should change my name? Glittershine is pretty awesome." Some of the kids answer for him in a screaming, "YES!"

The sharkenoid snaps at Zoey's fish creature, but then its shell-teeth get caught together and it takes Niklas a minute to untangle it. "This seemed like a better idea when the Prince of Quills came up with it." He looks over to Sabella and makes a face at her ugly puppet. "Yipes stripes! I think Sabella dropped hers and it got trod upon."

Catalana mutters loudly 'She made it in exact likeness of you Niklas."

"YIPES STRIPES!" Comes a yell, and one might expect it to be from a kid but no... it is Bree. For some reason this amuses her greatly, and she files it away as a battle cry for later.

"YES. Definitely change your name to Dame Glittershine. If I could get away with it--" Porter stops to think on that. He looks at a child that is staring at him. "I would /also/ definitely change my name to Dame Glittershine." The child cheers. The kids are honestly getting pretty hyped up at this point.

Sir Floppington the Soulful Hound arrives, following Rowenova.

Jaenelle pauses in whatever her puppet might do to watch the others for a moment. Rainbows. She slowly nods, then looking back to the children she squints. "Rainbows are nice and all, but Dame Glittershine is lying! She doesnt wish to go to the rainbow to save it, she is trying to eat it! You can't let her get away with that!" For her part to stop the evil plot, she picks up a button and throws it at Rorik's puppet's head.

Showing up with Sir Floppington is Scout Rowenova, and the fur-clad duo swiftly stride their way inside.

"We can't /both/ be Dame Glittershine!" Bree protests, her laughter from the YIPES STRIPES continue into this. "I'll fight you for it," she flashes a wide, cheeky grin. And there was must rejoicing from the kids, who witnessed their LAST fight.

There's a dramatic gasp from above Bhandn's head as Jaenelle reveals that DASTARDLY PLOT to eat the rainbow! "NO EATING RAINBOWS!" is the full volume yell from above the Knight of Solace. There's even a shaken finger sent at Dame Glittershine at the accusation.

Dimitri can't help but laugh at the show that's been put on and when he comes to catch sight of Rowenova making her way in, he's lifting a hand and giving a wave, only to then offer, "You're missing an absolutely hilarious show."

Rorik opens up Dame Glittershine's mouth super wide to GRAB the button in the air and act like its gobbling it up. Then Dame Glittershine /throws/ back her head and cackles manically. "AHAHAHAHA! ELSABET IS RIGHT! I AM GOING TO EAT THE RAINBOW AND FART IT BACK OUT!" Because, you know, most children love rainbows and fart jokes.

Moving closer to Dimitri, Nova slows to look to the puppets with curiosity. "Sounds like!" says she as Sir Flop settles in next to her. She smirks faintly about the future of rainbows which are eaten.

Catalana gasps loudly with her Sabella puppet "How dare you!" Taking the tiny little glittery shoe off her puppet she starts to beat Dame Glittershine's bulbous nose with it. "Bad Dame! bad bad dame!"

2 House Velenosa Guards, Seton, A Velenosian Assistant arrive, following Cerys.

The puppeteers are now mutinying against one another over the cause of going to the rainbow or not. "FIGHT DAME BREE!" one of the kids starts to shout at Porter after Bree points it out. "Okay, okay. I'll fight her tomorrow!" he says with a laugh and picks the boy up, hoisting him onto his shoulders. "YOUR LAST PROMPT. Your quest to clear your names is almost successful, HOWEVER, some /other/ accident has befallen you. You now have amnesia. How do you reclaim your memories and emerge heroes???"

Sabella gasps at Niklas, "He's different but he's beautiful!" she replies, giving the puppet a little hug as if to shield it from Niklas' comments!

Rorik checked charm + performance at difficulty 30, rolling 24 higher.

Sabella checked charm + performance at difficulty 30, rolling 34 higher.

Jaenelle checked charm + performance at difficulty 30, rolling 1 lower.

Catalana checked charm + performance at difficulty 30, rolling 18 higher.

Zoey checked charm + performance at difficulty 30, rolling 31 higher.

Niklas checked charm + performance at difficulty 30, rolling 40 higher.

Bree is overheard praising Sabella: Different but beautiful is right!

Niklas is overheard praising Jaenelle: You tried, and that's what really matters.

Helena checked charm + performance at difficulty 30, rolling 15 higher.

Blacktongue checked charm + performance at difficulty 30, rolling 2 higher.

When Sabella scolds Niklas, Bree is there to cheer her on. "Yes! Different but beautiful!" she agrees, from the bottom of her heart. With Porter's acceptance of her challenge, she echoes, "Tomorrow," and then goes back to watching the show unfold in the last round.

"What's am neesa mean?" is the demand made to Porter by the little girl riding on Sir Bhandn's shoulders. He's trying hard not to quiver with laughter as the once-tearful-now-demanding child accosts the man for definitions, or maybe Bhandn is just amused at this whole thing.

Jaenelle checked command + leadership at difficulty 15, rolling 61 higher.

Catalana's puppet bonks Dame Glittershine with a shoe and the Dame falls over. "OH NO!" squeaks Rorik, "I have fallen and I can't get up! Also I lost my memory! Whatever was I doing?!" The glittery dame flails around before she pops back up miraculously. And since this play has gone off the rails, spies Jaenelle's shoe puppet and hop-hop-hops over. "THIS IS THE BEST SHOE EVER! I MUST EAT IT!" Glittershine declares, then glomps all over it and Rorik's puppet to eat Jaenelle's puppet.

It's hard not to laugh with the show that's being put on and there's another little shake of Dimtiri's head as it transpires. He's found himself a seat to watch, Rowenova having joined him a moment ago and he's looking back to her, "There's need to be portraits done of all these puppets so that they can be put on display somewhere. Forever immortalized."

Niklas considers Bree and Sabella's words of wisdom, looking like someone in a movie who's really learned his lesson and is totally going to change his ways. Then he says to Catalana, "I take it all back. You're /different/ but /beautiful/." He glances to some kids, then nods sidelong toward Catalana and makes a cartoonishly grossed out face.

As her cobalt-blue/kohl-lined gaze dances between the hilarious puppets, the wolfy scout Rowenova softly rumbles an agreeable sound after Dimitri's words before bobbing a nod, too. "Mayhaps, Prince Niklas can see to it being done."

The puppet cannibalism is too much for the kids, a few shouting, "EWWWW!" some others encouraging the meal. As far as judges go, they are very fickle.

Jaenelle might be causing a small revolt in children ranks, and as Rorik approaches to attempt to eat her puppet with his, the archduchess holds up her shoe-puppet high in the air which makes absolutely no sense as she is a lot shorter than Rorik is. She begins to scoot away, marching as she moves quickly in a chant to encourage the children to come to her side in this, "no farting rainbows! No farting rainbows! Rainbows arent food, they are friends!"

Catalana gasps at Niklas's words. Her hand clutched to her chest. "Ouch Niklas. Ouch." She begins to pretend cry. Really ham it up for the kids/knights she recruited first off. Using the puppet, she declares to the knight children, "That fiend has hurt our friend's feelings! All good knights know that isn't very nice. Quick! Charge and bring him to heel!" The eager children cheer and begin charging for Niklas and his weird sharkenoid puppet.

Rowenova says, "Pardon me, but I have to agree."

Niklas calls out, "Rainbows aren't food or friends, they're farts!" He then turns to the kids and gestures for a chant, "Farts! Farts! Farts!"

Two can play at this game. Rorik starts marching too, grabbing a couple of kids and putting them on his shoulders, so they can join in the farts chanting. "FARTS FARTS FARTS! GLITTER FARTS ARE THE BEST FARTS!"

The chanting erupts, the kids dutifully making "Farts! Farts! Farts!" their newest mantra.

"Farts! Farts! Farts!" Niklas has a willing participant in that chant from the child Bhandn is carrying around.

Sabella looks from Nik to Catalana to all the children that are now running around yelling farts and then finally to her puppet, "We tried, Lord Rodgers. We tried. Let's retire back to the land of imagination where all the rainbows we could ever need await!"

Zoey seems at a loss with the chanting of 'farts' and makes he merlion do a classic 'woe is me!' pose. "I must rerun to the sea and escape this silliness!"


From her place by the drinks, Piccola joins in the chant: "Farts! Farts! Farts!" Because.


Blacktongue laughs and starts making assorted fart noises with his mouth and hands, even taking a moment to teach some of the nice young people in the audience the trick of it

Are they puppets eating each other? WHAT IS HAPPENING. Puppets are screaming, children are screaming (in laughter) and most of the room in general is in hysterics over one antic or another. When it comes time for things to be drawing to a close, Porter heads over to the 'judges' which is the biggest cluster of kids and starts asking for a show of hands. They're briefly distracted because a bunch of them start shouting, "FARTS! FARTS! FARTS!" Porter can't handle it, he's laughing so hard. He actually has to take a moment here. The kid on his shoulders is laughing. SOMEHOW he figures out which person the kids like the most in this chaos and he has the boy he's carrying around announce it: "PRINCE NIKLAS! FARTS! FARTS! FARTS!"

Late to the show, Cerys slips in as quietly as she can and locates her husband. At least, she tries to locate her husband. The sheer insanity of what is going on catches her attention and she finds herself stuck staring at these puppets, and the chaos going on with the children. A grin tugs at her lips, the scar at the corner of her mouth corkscrewing into her cheek in a deep dimple.

Bree joins Porter, because she totally helped (kind of) in the creation of this epic event. She's laughing, too, and when the winner is announced she cheers along with the rest of them. The most feathery of all hats is claimed, and she strides to present it to the prince. "Your Highness, your prize! From one fantastic hat owner to another, welcome to the club."


Somewhere in the chanting, Piccola gets doused with glitter. A lot of glitter. When she notices, she looks to the woman standing next to her with the flower-like puppet armed with a glitter wand.


Sam, who is a boy and definitely not a princess in disguise leaves, following Niklas.

During the mayhem and the laughing, Dimitri manages to catch sight of Cerys and he's lifting a hand to give a wave in her direction, "Cer!" That's offered just enough to catch his attention before he's looking back over towards the stage and there's a mock groan as Niklas is declared the winner, "Nooooo!" A pause and then, "Well done, Prince Niklas! You will be forever immortalized for this little event."

While marching with his stream of children shouting "FARTS FARTS FARTS!", Rorik snags a jar of glitter off the puppet making table and starts trying to toss glitter at people. Jaenelle gets a sprinkle of glitter, Helena gets a sprinkle of glitter, Catalana gets a sprinkle of glitter! Rorik makes sure to sprinkle EVERYBODY with glitter!

(OOC)The scene set/room mood is now set to: The Tragedy has been transformed (kind of) for the evening into the perfect atmosphere for a puppet show! The normal furniture has been shoved aside to make way for the revelry. A table with all types of crafts, ties, bits of fabrics, pre-made puppet bases awaits the craftiest of the crowd, and a raised puppetry stage with a dark curtained backdrop calls to the performers of the bunch! A center for refreshments, most of them geared toward a child's preferences offers sweets and drinks, and a judge's station made just for the children to sit in judgment on the adults of this world. The Tragedy's children run about, some vocal and friendly and very hands on, others a little bit weary of the crowd of outsiders invading their space. Knights of Solace stand by to help in whatever they can.)

Braelynn is smiling sheepishly, still halfheartedly chanting "Farts?" Then she reaches up and brushes some of the glitter off one of Piccola's shoulders. "Sure. It'll wash off." She then looks back toward the rest of the room and adds sheepishly, "Eventually."

Seeing Cerys, Nova waves merrily to the woman and then makes room for her to come sit with them over here by Sir Floppington.

Porter gets glitter on him. "NOT IN MY BEARD AGAIN!" he calls out in an approximation of horror.

Sam, who is a boy and definitely not a princess in disguise arrives, following Niklas.

Zoey sees Rorik making the rounds with the glitter and hides behind Porter. "Rorik Kennex, you keep that cursed stuff away from me!"

Despite not winning the hat, a messenger arrives to hand Jaenelle a small box. Peeking inside, she looks towards Niklas as she pulls out a circlet from the box and place it upon her head. It might not be a hat full of feathers, but its beautiful! She points towards her head, who really won now Niklas?! And then she is glitter bombed by Rorik and looks understanding, "I did almost get you eaten, I deserve that."

Catalana laughs and shakes her head at Niklas. "You won because of farts. Still congratulations for being the loudest." She sniffs after, "I didn't want that hat anyway." She groans at Rorik when he glitters her and she hollars, very much like her cousins. "RORIK KENNEX! I just got all that glitter out of my hair. What is your fascination with glitter?"

Niklas takes a dazzling leather hat adorned with a ridiculous abundance of multicolored feathers.

Bree is glittered, her mouth closing just a second too late when Rorik throws it, and so she has glitter on her tongue. She sputters, but then laughs, blinking away glitter from her lashes. "Great. This stuff NEVER goes away," she tosses Rorik A LOOK, but doesn't retaliate. Yet. Later, maybe.

Helena's retreated to a corner, giving her two puppets to a child nearby to take over. They immediately start following Rorik in the parade. Her wallflower location doesn't protect her from being glittered. It's fair. Sort of. She sneezes, the jostling of her slim frame shaking off a bit of glitter from her hair and gown to the ground.

"Really." Bhandn's reaction to the glitter is to reflexively shut his eyes and give out a sigh. The antics of the children might have amused him, but apparently the adults don't get the same consideration. He gives out a sigh, but the child he's porting on his shoulders loves it, giving out a squeal of delight when she gets bombed. And helpfully musses Bhandn's hair so he's well and truly sparkling up there.

Niklas takes the hat and looks it over, then sets it down upon his head. He looks this way and that, not able to see himself in any mirrors but absolutely confident in how fantastic he looks. After reaching up and patting it down just a little more on his head he steps toward Jaenelle, gives her a nod and then does a hardcore model turn and heads back to his wife.

"It's the gift that keeps on giving!" Rorik beams a sparkling smile to everyone, because *he* is also glittered. He nods sagely over to Jaenelle, "Yes you do!" The children that Rorik glitters giggles in delight.

Bree is overheard praising Niklas: For the most amazing displays of puppetry!

Sabella is glittery enough already that a few more flecks of anything won't really make a difference, so she has taken to kneeling down to speak and laugh with a group of children playing one of those group hand slapping games, though when Nik shows off the hat she laughs, "Somehow I knew you'd wear that well, Nik! See that man? That's my husband, the Playwright!"

All events should end in chaos! CONFETTI tossed everywhere, Farts! being chanted, Niklas modeling perhaps the single most important bit of fashion in the history of Arx. Bree looks suitably pleased at how this all turned out, her smile wide and genuine, and then she calls out to them all, "Thank you, everyone! This was wonderful, and I am certain all of your donations will help the children here." A beat, and then a desperate plea, "PLEASE, take the puppets home. Please."

"...or leave them with the children!" Bree blinks at her own plea, like wth Bree. GIVE THEM TO THE KIDS.

Braelynn is overheard praising Bree.

Braelynn is overheard praising Porter.

Braelynn is overheard praising Niklas.

Rorik is overheard praising Bree.

Rorik is overheard praising Porter.

Rorik is overheard praising Niklas.

Dimitri is overheard praising Bree.

Dimitri is overheard praising Porter.

Dimitri is overheard praising Niklas.

Catalana flicks the sparkles from her hair and laughs as she does so. "Don't make me regret naming you the less obnoxious cousin Rorik." She teases him fondly however. "I think when Porter glittered us, Aethan made him clean it up with his tongue. Perhaps you should get the same punishment for here?"

Picking something that is not glitter and is definitely confetti out of his beard, which is equally horrible in this time, Porter sends a look askew at Bree as she starts to argue with herself. He looks amused. "Yes! Thank you for coming. And definitely give stuff to Bree. Not to me. Because I'm just going to give it oher anyway."

Niklas stares at Catalana in equal parts fascination and horror. "Porter has glittery poos?!"

Rorik is suddenly mobbed by a group of kids who want Dame Glittershine! He falls to the ground dramatically as though they've felled a giant. "I'm down, I'm down! Somebody saaaveeee meeeeeeee~!" he holds up his puppet hand and one of the kids takes it and runs off! The other kids start climbing all over him like he's a jungle gym or something.

Niklas points at the children, then points at Porter, "Glitterpoo! Glitterpoo! Glitterpoo!"

Speaking of which, Porter starts taking stuff out of his pocket and handing it to Bree.

Catalana nods seriously to Niklas. "He farted sparkles everywhere!"

"I don't want all this!" Bree protests as Porter makes her the pack mule, but she has little choice. "Fine. Fine," she starts storing it away, the bookkeeping of this particular event not the greatest, clearly.

Making her way carefully over to Dimitri, she kisses his cheek and grins, "Looks like I made it just for the end. I'm afraid to ask what I missed, but this all looks fabulous and horrifying and dear Gods there will be glitter everywhere. We'll need some damp clay..."

Tilting his cheek into the kiss, Dimitri is giving a nod of his head in the direction of Cerys, even as he rises to his feet, "You did, unfortunately. It was a great improv show and those that participated did absolutely amazing with the puppet creations." A curl of his lips to a smile as he glances about before looking back, "And yes, it will be. But, the kids certainly enjoyed it."

Bree fades into the background then, allowing the kids to run about with their new puppets, the energy refreshing and warm. For her part, the Knight of Solace begins a slow process of cleaning up. Kind of useless at the moment, because she'll move something and a kid will move it back, but she goes about these motions. To all those who came, she's offering her thanks as she moves past.

Rosaline, former contortionist of Tor leaves, following Blacktongue.

Niklas carefully takes his puppets and folds them up, then tucks them under his amazing hat. Then he heads over to his wife and nudges her in the side. "You're different _and_ you're beautiful. Let's go home and look at our children so they don't forget our faces."

Rorik suddenly pops up from the ground with a ROAR! The children scream and run away and he gives chase for awhile as the tickle monster who is, also, apparently trying to find a rainbow to eat? But eventually he wanders back around to Helena, putting his hands to his hips. "Well, that was fun," he decides with a grin. "Too bad I didn't win the hat. It's such an epic hat." He looks jealously over to Niklas.

"If you have hat envy, Rorik, I am certain we can come up with one for you," Zoey says after handing off her puppet as well.

Catalana subtly slides alongside Sabella and murmurs loud enough for him to hear. "You really should have just one more. Five is a lucky number you know."

"It's not as rewarding if you don't earn it, Rory," says Niklas piously as he heads to the exit with Sabella. A finger is raised to Catalana, but which one it is will forever remain a mystery. (it's his middle one)

Elizabetta, a disapproving lady-in-waiting, Lily, an aloof lady-in-waiting, 2 Grayson House Guards, Clark, an exasperated guard leave, following Sabella.

Sam, who is a boy and definitely not a princess in disguise, Sabella leave, following Niklas.

Once the show itself ends, so does Bhandn's involvement with carrying around his little partner. She wants let down so she can go play. Plus, he'll make his way to try and help out with the cleaning as well. It's one of the reasons he came, after all, which is his explanation if questioned.

Catalana snorts as the couple leave and she totally plots. "I'm going to start sending him baby things. Little tiny baby shoes to Sabella and the like." She saunters back over to Porter and gives his shoulder a gentle squeeze. "You did a brilliant job here Porter."

"Maybe lacy headbands and rattles?" Zoey suggests to Catalana. "Ooh! Embroidered blankets!"

"It is a fine hat," Helena says, patting Rorik on the shoulder. "I'm quite relieved not to win it, myself. THat hat is an obligation. You walk into a room wearing a hat like that, and people expect things of you. I can't live with that sort of pressure," the Redrain princess says. "Also," she pats her curls, "I don't really *do* hats. Just hairpins or flowers, or the very rare tiara. My hair is not at all forgiving of hats or helmets." She steps out of her lean. "Thank you for inviting me. It was quite enlightening," she says, rubbing another bit of glitter off her nose, as she looks around at the aftermath.

Now that things are winding down, Porter puts the little onto the ground and gets to work busting things down. That's what's going to occupy a reasonable amount of his time. When Catalan speaks to him, he offers her a quick grin. "Thanks. I had a partner--" he adds, gesturing to Bree. Who is somewhere! He's pretty sure. Then he goes back to dragging things out of the way to better spots. The little puppet stage gets to stay up.

Dal, a jumpy and introverted bookworm leaves, following Bhandn.

With the event over and the children clearly needing some down time because they have been far too poked at for the last few moments, Jaenelle takes her leave, her small army of guards meeting her at the door as she opens it to escort their charge through the lower boroughs.

12 House Velenosa Guards, Ibasia, the Velenosa Lady-in-Waiting, Ellani, the palm sized spider leave, following Jaenelle.