gone_byebye | (no subject)

There's music pouring from well-concealed speakers in the Firehouse as Tyler arrives, and we do mean well-concealed. When a building's decorator corps includes a twenty-three-foot-tall transforming robot and a five-armed, five-eyed, five-brained alien from an arboreal species, the decorations get everywhere. The outside of the Firehouse is practically wrapped in strings of lights, and the inside- well. Someone introduced Jhalak to the concept of pine garland this year and she kind of went berserk with it. The tree in one corner is as sparkly as a north Jersey homeowner's attempt to get on the local news. Even the dinosaur skull hanging from the ceiling of the ground floor is decorated. Ecto's probably to blame for the dinosaur-sized Santa hat, though.

Which isn't to say that's the only holiday being marked here. Miss Eartha the golem has very firmly staked out part of the Firehouse's ground floor for Hanukkah, on the grounds that it was a Jewish ritual that got her into the golem body she now occupies and she feels a certain measure of gratitude for that. Janine's been helping her with that, and somewhat reluctantly Egon's been doing so as well. No sign of Kwanzaa on the premises, probably because Winston is as big of a Christmas man as you'll ever find, but someone tacked up several solar symbols and "Joyous Solstice!" messages. As a matter of fact, about the only sign that anyone here isn't celebrating something is the periodic snark of "Bah humbug!" from the fish tank on Janine's desk.

"Here we are, Tyler. How's that look to you?"

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From:

gone_byebye

Given that she's crouching in preparation for a run- it would be a flying tackle if she didn't have Tyler on her back- she may not have noticed just yet. Then again, given the general chaos, there's not much of anywhere to run to...

.... was that a shadow of someone leaping down from one of the buildings on the south side of Bryant Park just now?

From:

basic_powers

IS IT THE REVENANT CAUSE BOY HOWDY TYLER WOULD LIKE THAT RIGHT NOW!

"AUGH! GET IT OFF! GET IT OFF!" Tyler starts yelling as the tongue latches onto his gauntlet arm. "GRAB HIS TONGUE AND GET IT OOFFFF!"

From:

gone_byebye

It's not the Revenant, no. Not unless the Revenant's had a serious change of heart about going out in public with his face showing, and become a black man in the process. As a matter of fact the fellow who leaps at the goat-creature has the dress and moves one would expect of a capoeira master, which may be why he doesn't so much as bat an eye about the prospect of striking the thing's tongue feet-first at high speed.

"We're going to have to have a talk, Krampus," he says as he drops back into a ready stance, his words heavily accented. "You're way out of line."

The creature howls, staggering backwards.

From:

basic_powers

....

...

You know what? He's not being grabbed by the Krampus anymore, so now Tyler's just going to hug Eartha's head, hyperventilate and stare.

From:

gone_byebye

What follows is a bit difficult to describe. Even in Tyler's world, it's probably not all that often that giant goat-monsters get beaten down to size by guys in their bare feet. And we do mean beaten down to size; each time the dark-skinned man lands a successful strike on the creature it loses a little of the size and mass it gained from the tazer.

(Except for the one flying kick the man directs at the creature's basket; no sense involving the captured kid in the fight, so that's going to go flying Miss Eartha's way...)

From:

basic_powers

And Tyler's just going to clamp onto her head again as Eartha rises up to catch the basket and heartily terrified kid, who is babbling away about he just wanted the darn erector set that he had hidden in his coat.

And the little gadget hero doesn't have to tell the nice lady golem to book it to safety, away from the fight does he?

From:

gone_byebye

No, he doesn't. She's going to turn and bolt for the relative safety of the library building, which.... is going to get interesting, actually, as the most direct route is across the skating rink.

Golems have a lot of momentum.

From:

basic_powers

Skaters will be treated to a very interesting vocal doppeler duet overhead from the two children.

"aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAUUUUUUUGGHHHHHHhhhh!!"

From:

gone_byebye

Followed by a similarly pitched wordless bellow as the goat-creature goes flying past... and then flying back again as the thing bounces off one of the light-poles around the edges of the rink.

When it hits the ice on its return trip it doesn't get up again.

From:

basic_powers

Look, you could not buy enough chocolate raspberry cups in a lifetime to get either of the kids to come down off of Eartha and investigate Goatboy's bastard child.

Likewise, every skater is showing the good sense to get away from where it landed. While cellphones go off every second to take pictures because, good GOD this is New York.

From:

gone_byebye

A moment later the dark-skinned man leaps across the ice, seemingly unbothered by the cold and the lack of traction. He plants one bare foot on the creature's head and says, firmly, "Krampus. No one wants you here. No one needs you here. You are interfering with Sinterklaas' mission, scaring all these people."

It howls weakly, struggling under his foot.

"There was a time when vengeance and punishment were called for. This is not that time. This city has enough of that the rest of the year." He leans on that raised foot more heavily. "New Amsterdam has no need of you. You should go, now, before I get angry."

The creature holds very, very still for a moment; then, with a last snarl of despair, it vanishes.

From:

basic_powers

...and now one can practically feel the outrush of air from the sighs of relief from some of the audience.

It's quickly replaced with puzzled looks at the blackman who just saved the holidays by literally kicking the hell out of that beast.

And at least one boy who is brave enough to come down off of Eartha's shoulders to get a closer look at the man standing in the skating rink.

Look. The Krampus is gone and Tyler would like to at least thank the guy from getting him out of the tongue-bath. So he's going to struggle out onto the ice, sneakers squishing to approach him and clear his throat.

"Erm...ss..sir? Thanks for saving me and the other kid back there."

From:

gone_byebye

He smiles, dropping an elaborate bow that resembles a dance move more than anything else. "You're welcome," he says. "I enjoy the practice. It's been a long time since I've had to fend off anyone attacking Sinterklaas. I take my practice where I can."

From:

basic_powers

For a moment Tyler smiles back and then fidgets, trying to this of the nicest way to ask the question of...

"Who the heck butt ARE you, mister?"

...thank you shoplifter kid, for asking the question from Eartha's shoulders.

From:

gone_byebye

The man laughs. "My name is Piet," he says. "Some call me Zwarte Piet. I serve as Sinterklaas' bodyguard."

"I don't know that name, mister," says the shoplifter kid.

Piet just shakes his head a little. "You should. It was what the people of this city called him, first, before the English came and called him Santa Claus."

From:

basic_powers

Blink Blink.

FACEPALM.

"Or Saint Niclaus."

From:

gone_byebye

Piet nods. "Many names; one man. And many companions. That-" He gestures towards where the Krampus had been. "He comes through the stories from Austria, and punishes the bad children. You would not like where he would have taken you, boy."

The child cringes atop Eartha's shoulders. Piet holds out one hand, and the kid meekly hands over the stolen goods.

"A wise move. Perhaps next time you'll think first, hey?"

From:

basic_powers

"Yessi-"

"JOSEPH MICHAEL KRAUMBAUCHER!!!"

And shoplifte boy..err. Joseph, cringes down on top of Eartha's head, as a woman tear-stained, frantic and furious at what she just saw her son do comes storming across the ice.

Wiiith a few fair slips along the way, ice and heels do NOT mix.

".......hi, mom."

From:

gone_byebye

"I think I can leave his reprimand in your hands, madam," says Piet, sliding gracefully across the ice to offer the woman a hand up. "Take your son and go. We all have places to be tonight."

From:

basic_powers

"T-thank you..." Is what she manages to get to her feet and slide over to Joseph to get him by the collar. From the look of things there are some very quiet and sharp words being dealt out as he's lead away to file the report with the police.

...and somehow Tyler manages to reappear on Eartha's shoulders just a few seconds later, looking a little exhausted.

From:

gone_byebye

"Is everything else all right?' says Piet to Tyler and Miss Eartha. The golem nods, so Piet looks to the boy instead. "I don't mean to be rude, but I have my job to do. They're going to miss me in a bit if I don't move quickly."

From:

basic_powers

"I'm good, just gonna go back to the Firehouse and take a bath. You could probably stop by later, whenever you get a break from work."

He's probably not going to get to the Firehouse right away.

Officer Chen might want some words with him.

"...where do you work, if the Police ask?"