The Universe's Mixer

Green. His leather clothes were green. He didn’t know how Hood had arranged for this, but he would make that scum pay for it. He was fairly certain Jeannie could turn everything back to it’s proper black, she was very good at things like that. He was about to go find her when something outside his window caught his eye.

Could it really be what he thought it was? Sir Guy of Gisborne quickly dressed in his green leather and went outside. He had heard the tales from Eire about these little men. Some kind of spirit called leprechauns. Before coming to this City, Guy would never have believed that they were real, but he was here with a genie as his housekeeper. He also remembered that the stories of these little spirits always mentioned gold.

Catch a leprechaun; win a pot full of gold.

Guy liked the thought of that. With enough gold, he could get away from the Sheriff once he got back to Nottingham. If he got back to Nottingham. But even away from home, gold would be a very good thing to have on hand. He went to his horse and frowned when he saw that not only was Rupert’s tack green, but he had shamrocks braided into his mane and tail. Guy growled as he stripped the greenery off of his steed. He would kill Hood for this.

Leaving Rupert happily munching on the shamrocks, Sir Guy took his sword and went out hunting leprechauns.

Graduation. It was supposed to be a special day, spent with friends and family. It was supposed to be a celebration of achievements, a transition into another stage of life. It was supposed to be an adventure.

A year ago, graduation had been an adventure that Raven had really wanted to embark upon. No danger, no loss. She could have gotten on-board with the idea of going to college, or taking a trip with Mac and Mal. A little normalcy, a break after several long years of fighting and fear.

( Then she'd come to the City. )

The Library seemed the best place to go. Surely, it would have something there about the leprechauns. They reminded Fred of Lucky, but the language she heard some of them use, the way they drank, and the bawdy gestures they made certainly did not seem very Lucky the Leprechaun like. Not one bit. So, with the need for information, and not knowing what to do once the leprechauns had left, she led the way to the Library.

Of course, the City was being difficult in letting them get there, and she'd had to explain, even if Sam didn't need it, that the City could move places. It didn't seem to be held by the normal laws of physics, or even the abnormal ones. In fact, she even when she thought she had finally figured out how the world, the City actually, worked, it went and did something that went completely against what she'd finally figured out. There were days she felt as if she were some Fred shaped rat in a very confusing maze, and she wasn't even getting a piece of cheese for all her troubles. At least it wasn't the pleasure button; Fred had a feeling many people would have died by now if that were the case.

She sighed as they turned a corner she had promised for the umpteenth time to be the right one, but then she smiled. Well, if they couldn't go to the Library, maybe the Library could come to them.

"It's the office. Angel Investigations. Maybe Angel will be there. He's another hero type. He was a vampire, but he isn't anymore. He went to some place really bad. Hell, maybe, I didn't really ask much, or if I did I am going to pretend like I didn't. Because the two of you are really odd when it comes to the feelings thing. He knows about..." The phsycist gave him the once over. "You know. Emonday loodbay." Just a quick smile and a motion for him to join.

"Who knows. Wesley may be in. Oh, you have to meet Wesley again. He's smart, really smart. He knows all sorts of things about demons, and I hope you ..the other you, the you before you you, put up the books Angel said you could borrow. Probably did." She nodded and started walking again. The office was in a small hole in the wall kind of place, or seemed to be, and it was in so many shades of green, Fred hoped Angel wasn't around. He probably would not have liked it.

Coming back to the warehouse after blowing up her castle wasn’t as upsetting as some might think. Yeah, Harl had liked having all the fancy things and people to order around, but it got a little boring after a while. They expected a queen to do things, and she really preferred to do her own thing her own way. Freedom was more priceless than any gem.

( Of course, that didn’t mean she hadn’t swiped some crown jewels as she went. )

There were a few things that Jeannie took a great deal of pride in. At the top of her list was that when she had a master that treated her well, she returned the favor a thousand fold. She did her very best to make their lives comfortable, fulfilling, and most importantly, fun. But each master had their own idea of what that meant, and she needed to mold them slowly until they had a good time ( in spite of themselves. )

Late at night, under the light of the full moon, he was out on the prowl. A new place meant the possibility of new prey. He liked new prey. It kept his hunting skills sharp. Tonight wasn’t about feeding; he just wanted to get to know his new home.

He liked the park. It had a nice open area for running and trees for him to use for cover while stalking his prey. His human half actually liked it when he went running. He could actually feel Larry’s joy as he ran full speed across the park. Places like this made it good to be a wolf.

( Or at least a wolf man. )

Sweeney still could not find his apartment. Damn City with it's continuous changing ways. So drunk, and still relatively pissed off from his altercation with the Djinn, Sweeney fell over and slept where he landed. It was when he woke up that confusion set in.

( First of all, he was uncomfortable, and not just from laying on the ground. )

When Sam rolled out of bed and into the shower that morning, he'd just grabbed the first clean shirt that he could get his hands on. He didn't really know where half of his clothes had come from, despite the fact that he still had to do his laundry from time to time. He certainly hadn't had much on him when he had arrived. But this was a new shirt, he was sure of it. It just happened to be in his closet. It just happened to be green.

When he came out of the shower, tugging the green shirt over abs that would make Twilight and Supernatural fans alike want to bake cookies on his stomach and sigh when said shirt met his jeans, he went back to the closet to grab another layer--wondering what was up with the crack-fic commentary in his head. Was it something in the City air? And what was up with all the green? Was it March already?

Green, green, green. Button-downs. Tees. Everything but his jeans and his old jacket, and whatever dirty laundry was stuffed into the hamper that was in need of taking to the laundromat. He glanced down. Even his boxers were green plaid. He went to his drawer and pulled out a pair of socks. "Thank God." They were regular, white-and-gray crew socks. He didn't think he could have dealt with argyle.

Not when he was hearing strange noises from the kitchen area. He poked his head out once he was satisfactorily dressed, his brow furrowing at the sight of an open cupboard door. He didn't remember leaving anything open the night before, but he shrugged it off and turned on his computer. Another scuffling, scurrying noise, followed by a creak, and then a thump. He peered into the kitchen again and the cupboard door was shut. Was it his imagination, or did the revolving corner cupboard swing on its carousel an inch or two? "Oh, no, you don't..."

It had been some time since the KWIT crew took over the air ways, but the City felt it was time again to show their beaming faces. Plus, this was good news, not the bad news like last time. Snow was definitely for the birds.

Frank and Candy smiled brightly at the camera as the screens of so many televisions, monitors, and yes, even those fancy phones came into focus. The pair were all decked out in green and seemed rather proud to match the green background, the green desk, the green chairs. There was even a green tinting to the light; how they managed not to disappear with all that green really was a magical physics mystery that only the City could provide.

"We-he-hell. Welcome to the KWIT news room. We've got some very exciting news for all our wonderful viewers-" Frank beamed.

"Yes, that's right, Frank. We certainly do." Candy cut in trying to outshine her co-anchor.

"We've gone green! The whole City in fact." The picture cut to various shots of well-known City places like the Library, the Hospital, the Police Station, which were now all decked out in green bunting and shamrocks. The people milling about, coming and going, were also dressed in green, hospital staff, library clerks, and yes, even the police officers. Soon, the picture was back on Candy and Frank.

"Frank, can you believe it? It took us this long to finally catch on to that bandwagon?" Candy turned to look at Frank for only a second before turning back to the camera with that vapid smile.

"No, Candy, I can't. Well, going green certainly takes the worry out of matching up the clothes, doesn't it?" Frank gave Candy a knowing glance, and Candy glanced down at her outfit to make sure her clothes did indeed in all their greenness match.

"You're so very right, Frank. More news though. We've got little green men!"

"Oh, Candy, they're not green; they're just dressed in green, but they are certainly little. I've got one living in my closet right now!" The picture changed once more; this time little men in their green outfits looking very much like what most people expect out of leprechauns. Frank voiced over. "Yes, nothing like that one fellow, are they?"

"No, Frank, no. They're real leprechauns." Candy and Frank were back in view. "Rumor has it, there are pots of gold all around the City, and these little men know where to find them. Does the little man in your closet have some gold?"

"Well, that's why they call it a rumor, Candy. No, the little man in my closet likes my shoes; he didn't come with gold." Frank smiled. "He's actually a pretty good little shoeshine."

Candy smiled awkwardly, not sure how to move on, as Frank seemed rather smitten with his leprechaun. He started to talk about the way the little man was fascinated by the shiny buckles and buttons on his clothes. Candy looked up at the camera, lost, but then smiled brightly again.

"Well, that's all. Remember, go green! Actually, you don't have much of a choice. The City has taken care of all of it!" Candy continued to smile at the camera, and Frank kept babbling. The picture blacks out, and everything is returned to "normal."

It happened overnight, as many things did within its walls. In the morning, the inhabitants were going to wake up to a very fun surprise. It felt that it had been a bit remiss lately in celebrating holidays, though most of the people here seemed to find their own way to celebrate the last few. But this one, this one it wanted to play with and make memorable.

The first one appeared with a low ~thwop~ sound as it seemed to fall out of thin air onto the chilly sidewalk. The small being stood, took off his tiny green bowler hat to dust it off and looked about. The City was pleased, very pleased, with the look of the little man. He was exactly what it had envisioned, unlike certain large beings of the same ilk. No, this was much better.

It was so much better that the City decided that its original estimate of how many it would need was far, far too low. The first creature was quickly joined by many of his bretheren in rapid succession, each appearing with the same low popping noise, like the muted sound of popcorn bursting out of its kernels. By the time the sound stopped, there were countless numbers of two-foot tall leprechauns standing about in a myriad of shades of green.

Oh yes. Yes, this was going to be a great deal of fun. And this time, instead of one magical creature, as had been the case with the Cupid last year, there were many. So everybody would be able to join in the fun. It was just an added bit of wonderful irony that the place where the newest inhabitants had appeared was mere steps away from where another leprechaun, a much larger leprechaun, lay as he slept off the large quantity of liquor he’d consumed.

Having started, the City was further inspired by its little visitors. They were not enough. There would have to be more, much more, to make its inhabitants get into the spirit of the holiday and to make its leprechauns feel at home. A new color. And some gold. And, oh, there were so many ideas.

This was going to be fun.

Zoe sat at the counter, waiting for her breakfast. She'd visited this diner enough times that she didn't even need to ask for anything. The coffee was served quickly, and the waitress gave a quick barking order that Zoe suspected meant two scrambled eggs, two sausage links, and three slices of toast. It was a large meal perhaps, but then the Amazon didn't usually settle again for meal until later in the evening. What did she do all day? She walked the Wall. She kept looking for a crack or a way out. Something. She kept looking for a way home.

She had the map, and while the parts moved around, she was slowly identifying what parts of the Wall she'd seen. Or she hoped she was. The damn City kept moving, so it made for a tricky situation. For three days straight, she'd looked at the same piece of Wall without realizing it until it was time to head back to the ship. She'd decided to live in Serenity for now. Maybe it was for Kaylee, even though she didn't see the young mechanic often, or maybe it was to keep some sense of herself, some sense of...sense. It was the only real place she knew and understood, so she used it as an anchor.

The warrior woman thanked the waitress and started spreading butter over a piece of toast, which would soon be followed by what the waitress claimed was homemade jelly. Boysenberry today. The other day had been snozzberry. She still hadn't figured out what a snozzberry was. To sit quietly and eat breakfast, that seemed like the ideal situation before heading back out to find a chink in the City's armor.