#dreaming

And something... stirs. They have not met the real santa, not yet, but there are other dreams of Yule. Jólaköttur is one. The Yule cat

"Wait, I SELL Clothes" Faux Santa insists

And from the dreaming there is a feline rumble of... interests

Lovecraft's eyes gleam as she paces, her tail flicking in agitation. She raises her voice again, laced with venomous delight.

"Oh, but you have no clothes fit for Yule, no finery woven with the frost of Winter, no garb blessed by the turning of the sun! Just cheap fabric, stitched by the hands of mortals, not the hands of dreamers."

A voice gives a low sound, echoing about "You are underdressed for this location," and a great cat looms. It is black as night, it is white as snow, it is a cat of distinction and high standards

The fake banal santa looks up "I ... I can put you on a T shirt, you'll make a..."

THWAP, a giant clawed paw strikes the intruding nervousa "I am not bought" The Yule cat seems infuriated "I am not sold. " TWHAP "I encouraged many to gather wool so they might survive" The claws stick into the banal being, but so full of glamorur is the yule cat it does not even dull its claws "I warned of the danger of negllecting the power of cold. I am old, Clawless Claus who stinks of plastic and dyed paper. I am renewed. " A pounce ...

the 'Santa' is lost under the giant cat, "And while I do not always like him, your pretense of what Yule is, what you would warp it to be.. it OFFENDS me. I find it in poor taste.. but I'll devour you anyway" And The Yule Cat does

For once, Brown Dog hides behind Love Craft! Shivering

It is undignified to cheer, but Lovecraft gives big long eye blinks of satiisfaction at the Cat. To Brown Dog, she says, "Fear not. I saw a new collar under the tree."

Brown Dog shivers just a bit less.

The Yule cat turns, it's raw power and glamour SNUFFIng the banlity it digest rather than being snuffed in turn. It's form changes anew "Little Sister, what brings you?"

Lovecraft looks UP at the mighty cat, and feels... small.

"I had come to demand a boon of the Fat Man." She yowls, politely.

"Oh, HIM" A scoff as if a clone of same had not just been slain. The Yule Cat grooms as if the subject were boring as toast, but then says "This path can lead there but there are more challenges. Youre too soon, you see?"

"Cats, like wizards, are neither early nor late. I come as I must, for one with little time left. Nine of nine lives he has lived, and yet, one more I will have for him. This last spent with many hard years, and only in the twilight has he come Home. Too soon, Night calls for him. I say, nay."

"Mmm, disrupting that bargain would take the power of such as the Fat Man" The Yule cat warns "A cat has nine lives. For three he plays, for three he strays, and for the last three he stays.” a tut "That is the pact, humans glorified their trinity, so Cats, being superior, did three times three. Yet before that, The sun god Atum-Ra often took the form of a cat so he could visit the underworld for the land of the dead is no stranger to cats there, Atum-Ra gave birth to eight other gods including Bast, who stayed truest to perfection and established nine as a cat's number. Some say there are nine lives in us for each level of hell but the devils are trapped there, we wander free. It punishes them further to see us slip in and out where they cannot. Again, we are agents of fate, gods, and mystery. Yet the pact IS 9. What will you offer the fat man to break this ? I have glanced at the list... you are on the naughty side, Lovecraft."

Lovecrafts stirs, and looks around carefully. Checking for any who might listen in. Well, Brown Dog is here... her eyes flick over him.

Brown Dog is still hiding behind Lovecraft. Yule Cat is scary

Then she stretches, and flexes her claws, and says in a diffident tone, "A life for a life. For He who belongs to She, who belongs to Me. I have several yet to spare." Said as though it is no big thing. "One of mine, I trade."

The Yule cat looks surprised "You would give one of yours for a lesser feline? This he has such power oer you? Are you... " A look down on the smaller cat "Domesticated?"

A hiss, and Lovecraft draws back her paw to SWAT at the Yule cat!

"I am my own!"

"It would be... inconvenient for my servants to grieve."

The Yule cat accepts this response. If Lovecraft had NOT argued that, then the Yulecat would know she truly WAS Domesticated, for only the ones who are ...Shudder tame seem to not see it as a bad thing

"Still a heavy price for little gain to you. One wonders how many lives you have remaining?" Clean paw

Tentatively, Brown Dog seems to be coming out of his fear, and rather than behind Lovecraft, he moves to her side

Lovecraft fidgets uncomfortably. "Plenty" She responds, though... she is not quite sure. It is not given to Cats to remember, that is.

"Do you? YOu are chimera, not free of the rules so much as a being of them at time" THe Yule cat tuts "The rules..can change, can be defied, but if you defy that rule, then the life becomes worth less than it was before. Or perhaps it isn't so.. .I am no philospher" Not quite true, cats think VERY deep thoughts at times.

"They are mine lives, for me to live or give." Lovecraft licks a paw.

"I had thought for a moment, to trade this one." A glance at Brown Dog. "But a dog's life, feh, worth so little." The lie, smooth and confident.

"Oh quite agreed. Dogs give of themselves so freely even to the unworthy they barely value their own lives" A tisk

"Shameful, that." She agrees.

Brown Dog wags!

If he were a tree he'd let some selfish bastard turn him into a stump 😉

Granted, he loves tree stumps. TO PEE ON!

"I doubt the Fat man will aid you but... go forth anyway. And watch out for his deer, they fly about freely now and then before 'the big night' and ... like birds, may leave droppings"

"Feh." She licks her nose and blinks at the cat politely, then nudges Browndog. "Onward."

Brown Dog offers to go and sniff Yule Cat's butt, maybe Yule cat isn't so scary...

RRowr Yule cat warns!

And Brown Dog is ONWARDS and a head, tail between his legs

Lovecraft pauses to kick snow over the corpse of the fake Santa, as though it were something that needs to be covered in a litter box. Then, they move on!

The path gets more christmasy. There's a boy with his tongue stuck to frozen lampost. He appears to be chimerical, and apparently is here so people can mock his suffering

Lovecraft hisses in amusement and continues on.

Brown Dog wants to join and starts to extend his tongue

"I will leave you here." Lovecraft warns.

Brown Dog huffs and snorts, and follows after. The boy will go on to inspire others to laugh at stupid moves

It seems to take miles and miles, but no more fake santas at least