Who: Pipp and Sheikah When: Dec. 23rd afternoon. Where: Shopping mall What: Pipp plays a prank. Sheikah gets caught in the middle. Rating: Low. Status: Done!
December 23rd. Christmas Eve Eve. The time when mortals spent time with their loved ones. Or, if they were the procrastinating type, the time that they spent shopping for last minute Christmas gifts in a crowded mall full of other procrastinators.
Pipp should have had better things to do. But ever since the Nightmare, Christmas was a bit of a sour topic for him. It's not as if he celebrated the commercialized holiday or the supposed birth of Jesus Chris, but it was often a time that reminded him of friends and family. It was cold. Humans were all usually indoors, snuggling with their loved ones and drinking hot cocoa.
Pipp didn't have his family anymore. Or many of his friends. The Nightmare took them.
He could have tagged along with Michaela. But, she was visiting her mother and her mother's girlfriend. Doing family stuff. No, Pipp wasn't jealous! He would probably hang out with some of his new friends later and drink - but for now, he had other plans!
Pipp was in a crowded shopping mall - in the center area, near the food court. The shopping mall was lavishly adorned with Christmas decorations. Wreathes and colorful lights everywhere, as well as a GINORMOUS pine tree in the middle of the mall. The tree was over fifteen feet tall! It was decked out extravagantly with colorful, glittering globes, tinsel, and shining white lights.
Pipp thought it was quite pretty. But there was one other decoration throughout the tree that interested him: large, wooden Nutcracker ornaments. There were dozens of them throughout the tree's branches. He always admired the craftsmanship of Nutcrackers. All wooden and paint.
Pipp had plans for these Nutcrackers, though. He stood by the tree, waiting. People were rushing all throughout the mall. He looked up at the tree and concentrating, focusing his glamour.
Pipp was a fan of a mortal movie called "The Nightmare before Christmas." How quaint it was, mixing scary things with its cheery wintery things! He was a fan of all the characters, especially Jack's little dog. What was it's name again? Oh, it was just such a cute movie.
Thinking of that film, he gleefully focused his magic. A few seconds went by, and a faint "chomp" could be heard by those nearest the tree - but just barely.
A few seconds more...
Suddenly, the Nutcracker dolls started springing forth from the tree. Their "teeth" started to chomp again, slowly at first, until it picked up to a steady beat of chomping that made a loud sound as they all moved their teeth in unison. Their arms moved up and down, and their legs moved as well. The Nutcrackers were animated by pure magic. And they were marching forward and free from the tree, ever closer to more and more of the mortals.
Pipp thought it was hilarious. It reminded him of something else he saw from those Halloween movies.. zombies? How they were always hungry and everything. The Nutcrackers now looked as if they were hungry, marching forward and in between humans, chomping their teeth in the air.
Chomp. Chomp. Chomp.
Although Pipp thought the idea was hilarious, not many of the mortals agreed. A few children and young teenagers pointed, gleeful and amused at the animated toy Nutcrackers. A few other children screamed. But more than the children, many of the adults screamed.
Pretty soon, there was a big rush throughout the shopping mall. Many people stumbled over toy Nutcrackers. Some of the Nutcrackers bit at people's ankles, but they could not bite into their skin.
A few other adults didn't freak out and simply looked perplexed - they just assumed they were toy wind-up dolls. But wait, weren't they made out of wood? And how were they doing that?
Pipp just stood by the tree, snickering and laughing. No one much noticed him. They were all too startled by the scene of dozens and dozens of large toy Nutcrackers chasing them. To another fae though, he might be terribly obvious - especially as the source of the magic around the little toys.