Occams Razor

Around dawn, the front door to Main St #3 was literally kicked open. Alice's face was bright red and she was armed with her trusty baseball bat. She was wearing a sweatshirt with the hood up and looked a bout ready to murder something.

Or someone.

"VICTOOOOOOOR!" she howled, stomping out into the snow in her boots, knuckles white around her baseball bat.

Gabriel could be seen in the background, leaning on the doorframe and working very hard to keep a straight face, but the occasional smirk was hidden behind his hand.

"You're making a spectacle of yourself, you know," Gabriel offered with an impressively straight face.

"Silence, you," Alice growled backwards at him, glaring over her shoulder before continuing to stomp through the snow. "I'm going to punt that girl."

"As you command," he said with an infuriating grin, remaining against the doorframe and watching.

Madrigus had been up unusually early that morning, and as he trumped up the road that led to main street he squinted bleary eyes at a melting snow bank. He wondered if the dawn court had seized control of the seasonal throne yet and scooped a small amount of snow one hand, then rolled it into a ball. His normal bag was missing, but the omnipresent grimoire was tucked under one arm.

In the distance, an echoing howl shattered the otherwise peaceful morning and he frowned. Whoever made the racket sounded like they were screaming for Victor.

Straightening his back briefly caused a rattle of pops to scurry up his spine before he hunched over again, drew the hood of his robe in closer, and walked up the slope to peer down Main Street. The ball of snow hit the ground harmlessly.

As he strode cautiously down Main Street he spotted a fuming Alice and a grinning Gabriel. He took a deep breath and decided to see what trouble Victor had gotten herself into.

"Morning, Alice" the wizard, said, his normally grated voice even worse as it was the first time he'd used it that morning. "I heard shouting. What happened?"

"Victor... ATTACKED my HEAD!" Alice snarled, gesturing vaguely at her hood.

"Yes," Gabriel agreed dryly. "That is exactly what happened."

Alice turned to glare daggers at Gabriel (not literal, although with Damaged you can never be sure), who raised his hands. "I was merely agreeing with you, most wise and virtuous keeper."

It clearly took a few seconds where Alice considered whether or not it was worth it to cause Gabriel an inordinate amount of pain before visibly deciding he was not worth her trouble and turning back to Madrigus.

"She attacked my head. I am going to find her and return the favor," Alice glared at her baseball bat, as if it was somehow the baseball bat's fault.

Madrigus took a deep breath to prevent himself from bursting into laughter. One eyebrow cautiously crept upward.

"I see," he replied. "I'd like to accompany you on this endeavor. It sounds... Interesting. Plus I'd like to see Victor about something."

He flicked his gaze at Gabriel, then broke into a smile. Turning to walk with them he spoke again.

"So, what do you mean 'attacked your head?' Did she hit you with something?"

Not long after Alice tears out of #3 with Gabriel in tow, Sally Lautner springs from the door and into the snow-covered lawn clad only in a pair of gym shorts, a bright pink Superman shirt and a pistol belt. He's drawn his candy-laquered revolver as he dove out the door and aims in the direction that Alice and Gabriel travel.

When he sees Madrigus ambling down the road peaceably, Sally furrows his brow, lowers the gun a bit, and looks around.

All quiet on the Western front.

"Hey," Sally says, as he uncocks the revolver, "Who painted my golldarn fingernails while I was sleepin'?" Brow furrowing somehow further, he stares at his fingernails, which are, in fact, a painted a dark, sparkly color.

...

Of course, that's who.

"Ga' damn it, Victor!"

Realizing that he's standing barefoot in the snow, Sally re-holsters his gun, storms back into the house, and leaves Alice, Gabriel, and Madrigus to their quarry.

victor hadn't been out much in months, as the cold weather and dark days brought with it, as it always did, a maelstrom of manic wildness that she couldn't even begin to share with the world. so, she'd been spending her time locked away in the little bedroom reserved for her in that weird but harmless jamie kennigan's ramshackle and spartan little house (might as well make use of it, she'd barely even been there enough yet to unpack her things!)..

lots of training, of course. the mysterious Fey Games were coming up, and she'd be damned if she didn't glitter her finest, having the chance to impress that dark &broodingly handsome magical King of Dusk, and perhaps even win a favorable smile from that stern &implacable countenance! she'd been working out, of course, her Pointy Stick whirling round in ever more deadly dances.. the meditations, determined to keep fear at bay as she delved ever deeper into the mysteries of death and demons.. and then, of course, there was school. if she kept the papers looking good and the troublemaking off the record, the state wouldn't bother coming down to poke around and try to take this place away from her. she was in love with whisper hill, as she'd never been in any place.

school wasn't so bad this semester anyway, as her eighth grade history course proved surprisingly interesting. her teacher had a passionate way of speaking which couldn't do other than draw her in, and a genuine interest in his own subject which was rare and infected her. so, time was going by pretty fast, and even those peaceful interludes in whisper hill were pretty nice. she was still pleased to know, somewhere not quite all the way in the back of her mind, that something exciting and dangerous was bound to happen soon.

it was sort of pleasant out this day in the early morning twilight, and there was birds and rustling pines and melty snow and all that bob ross crap going on, so victor figured she'd take a walk, go see what main street #3 were up to.

they were ALL asleep. lame-o's. the sky started to lighten half an hour ago! victor went back outside and sat on the front stoop for a bit.. traced some mysterious-looking crop circles in the mud with a stick.. walked over to the tire swing and listlessly swayed back and forth, doubled over with the tire round her belly, hands and feet dragging on the ground..

she needed something to do. she went back into the cabin, stood in the center of the little space that was more of a home than jamie's, for sure, stared at all her friends' idiot faces, tapped her foot and scratched her chin for awhile.

a lightbulb flashed, bright and blinding like all of her thoughts, and victor dashed to the ground, wiggled underneath sally's bunk, and - aha!! - there was the little make-up box she'd stashed (being this fabulous is kinda a responsibility).

crouched on the ground looking rather like an imp, she rifled through its contents. gosh, sally was snoring REALLY loud!! he goes first, then. hmm.. hot pink?? nahh, he'd like that too much. that punky gold sparkly one would do the trick. voila!! gorgeous manicure.

"you're welcome, m'am!" she announced, and curtsied in his direction with a wild grin. he kept right on snoring, with that stupid pansy sleep mask on, dead to the world.

out of the corner of victor's eye, alice's long hair splayed across her pillow glinted at her. now, if ANYONE could use more FUN in her damn life, it was alice. she was SO SERIOUS AND BORING, ALL THE TIME! victor was sure she must be a cool person, somewhere in there, and she decided to help a fellow warrior out..

standing back to admire her work, victor stifled a delighted coo.. alice looked BEAUTIFUL with blue hair! this was going to transform the woman's life! plus, it would be REALLY funny when she woke up..

as alice started to stir and make morning sounds, victor slipped out the door and pressed against the side of the cabin under a window, snickering.

as alice came out ranting and screaming her name, victor couldn't believe nobody heard her uncontrollable laughter. it was the kind that came with tears, and made it hard to breathe. peeking out at the scene, victor saw madrigus rolling down the path to witness the spectacle. GOOD, he'd appreciate the full amazingness of her morning's accomplishments, if no one else did. she saw him notice her, over alice's rageful shoulder, and she put a finger to her mouth and winked. sally stumbled out the door, too, admiring his fancy new hands confusedly, but not with any real displeasure, then he just retreated back inside. probably smart.

what an awesome start to the day. this was gonna be a good one.

In response to Madrigus, Alice tugged on her hood. Her face was red, and at first glance one couldn't really notice the difference or what had gotten the girl's feathers all ruffled. And then, at second glance, something became clear.

There were bright blue streaks throughout her normally mouse-brown hair.

Gabriel glanced sideways towards Victor, smirked, and then looked back to Alice, stepping slightly to block casual observance of Victor from Alice specifically. Madrigus could still see her.

Eden walked down Main Street towards Hanley House, head bowed over a sheaf of notes. She flipped through them as she went, muttering softly to herself.

As she passed #3, she looked up distractedly, attention drawn by the commotion. Catching sight of Alice's new 'do, she smiled, "I like your hair, Alice; the blue really suits you. I sometimes wish I were brave enough to try outrageous colors in my own hair."

Turning back to her notes, Eden continued on down the road, dropping a barely perceptible wink in Victor's direction as she went.

as eden walked away, victor clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle the flow of her manic giggling. not surprised that the demons got it, so much, but WOW, for a human, that was SEAMLESS. victor made a mental note to pay more attention to eden, maybe she knew more about fun than she let on..

as the humour of the scene before her had time to percolate, victor realized that sticking around for a confrontation might not be so fun as watching from afar. time to go.. but what to do next? she cocked her head and tapped her chin thoughtfully as she crouched beside the cabin, looked around for inspiration.. nothing really to see, except for alice's back, all hilariously hunched up in rage.. gabriel, helpfully distracting the furious cerulean-tressed beauty.. and.. madrigus.. victor had an idea.

from her surreptitious crouch, she leapt into the air, and hit the ground running..

this was gonna be the best weekend EVER.