Hi JilaCosa.... (1)

(SLOOOSH) Mouse takes one down the back of the neck. Before she can turn around, (SLOOSH) another hits her smack in the middle of her back. She sees she underestimated this fight. Time to get down and dirty!

but because of artickat's fur being light on the ends with darker roots (had to cover the gray! ha,ha) she blends in perfectly with the snow!

BroMo quickly recovers and tackles artickat and she lands face first in the snow. While holding her down he grabs a hand full of snow so he can stuff it down the back of her shirt.

Mouse hits the ground to avoid any more missles, and sidearms one to help Artickat. SPLAT! it find it's target on brothermosers back and he looks up to see who has joined in the fight. Artickat takes advantage and squirms out from under brothermoser. She gathers up snow and lets one go...

"I've been getting hit too! I don't know who it is yet but I going to make them pay!" mouse said with a crazy grin on her face.

With a snow ball in each hand He throws one at Mouse and Articat. Unfortunately for him he notices they both also have 2 snowballs each. M_E turns and runs for his life.

Brother Moser starts throwing snowballs at any thing that moves. <kersplat> <kersplat> <kersplat> <kersplat> <kersplat>. He dives for the protection of the snow fort built by the lodge.

Hearing news of a skating party on the roof, KaraS walks out into the roof garden, skates in hand. Suddenly, she is hit by snowballs from all sides.

KaraS and brothermoser grin wickedly at eachother and, at an unspoken signal, they both kneel up and start slinging snowballs at the same time. Cries of distress come from behind the bushes as Mouse and artikat find themselves under attack.

Sorry Kara! Mouse yells over the snow bank. Since the snowballs have been flying, the aim hasn't always been true. Unsuspecting Scapers were NOT targets, believe me! Now for BrotherMoser and M_E, well, they started this, so they are fair game.

Mouse and Arctikat start burrowing under the snow to find the really good, dense, packing snow, and to her surprise, Mouse finds a wooden door with a big ring for a handle in the ground. She shows the door to Artickat, who thinks they should open the door.

Mouse and Artickat scramble to return fire and throw a dozen snowballs up out of the hole, praying they find their correct targets.

Mouse and Artickat tug on the brass ring, but the door is too heavy for them. They make their way back up to the surface in time to see olpaint whip a few snowballs over the edge of the bank.

Turning the map over, the one brothermoser so kindly left in the basement, Ragnar rounded the corner into a winter wonderland. The fresh air and cool damp smell of snow was like a fresh breeze.

Ragnar strolls over, crunching snow as he goes. Little icecicles beginning to form from frost in his beard. The figure looks familiar.

"I know you. olpaint right? I've seen you around a time or two but never actually introduced myself." Ragnar offers a hand to a new aquaintence."Pleasure."

"Mouse. Artic! I wondered where you to had gotten off to. Cann't get enough snow huh?" He smiled mischieviously at them. Signs of a snow ball fight were all around."So what're you guys up to?"

But what the hey. I get a bit cautious from running around with the Scooby gang in the basement but it's never stopped me before. Lets give it a try!

Just as the snowball fight was getting good, brothermoser abandoned KaraS and ducked inside the lodge! Now she'll have to hold the savages off herself. Slowly, she peeked over the mound of snow she was hiding behind only to see...

Quickly she hurried over to see what everyone was staring at. Just as she arrived Ragnar jumped down into a hole. Now he was standing on a door.

"Where does that door lead?" KaraS asked. "It should lead down into the attic but I've spent a lot of time there and I never noticed a door in the ceiling."

He chased Mouse_in_the_lab and artickat out of the hole and then, with muscles bulging like Arnold Schwartzeneggar, he struggled to open the strange door. But it didn't budge. Ragnar stepped back and eyed the door warily.

Olpaint held out a glowing golden key which shone with a strange, unnatural light. As it dangled from it's golden chain it hummed and vibrated with magical energy.

"Ok." RagnarRB said. He grabbed the magic key and inserted it into the keyhole on the strange door. The lock turned with an odd clicking noise and the door opened all by itself. With a whoosing noise Ragnar, Olpaint, KaraS, Mouse_in_the_lab, and arctickat were sucked down into the strange hole.

Brother Moser walks over to where all of the foot prints lead. He sees an open trap door! BroMo thinks to himself, "When will they learn that you don't just jump into an hole without knowing where it goes"

After a moment's consideration, Brother Moser decides to follow the band of entripid explorers. He jumps into the hole and disappears in a flash.

the band of kidnapped 'Scapers plodded through the deep snow toward the castle. Everything was frozen, the bushes, the trees, a small pond they came across. And it was COLD. Though they had been dressed for winter weather the poor 'Scapers were freezing their little butts off.

No sooner were the words out of his mouth than it started to snow. There was just a little at first but soon they were trying to walk through a raging blizzard.

As they rounded the corner of a huge snowbank, the 'Scapers saw a small, delapadated shack. Quickly they dashed inside. It was still cold but at least they were out of the wind. As they huddled together for warmth in the dark shack the 'Scapers heard a strange sound.....

The Scapers shivered one and all as they piled into the shack. The darkness enclosed them all around except for that bit beaten back by the snow laden wind blowing thru the open door.

"Wh..wh...what'..tha..atat..no..no..noise?" Mouse inquired, huddleing in close to the mass of Scapers who just couldn't quite make their way out of the circle of light.

Mouse said to the others, "It's a good thing I have my emergency kit with me." She found the kit which was stored in the pocket of her jacket - 4 long-lasting candles with small mirror reflectors, a box of wooden matches, and one of those things you break and it heats up for a couple hours (I know, pretty technical, but bear with me!). Always come prepared! Mouse contemplated breaking open the heat thing because her hands were SO cold, but though better of it and saved the heat pack in case someone really needed it. She proceeded to rub her frozen hands and warm them.

After some discussion, one of the candles is lit. The interior of the shack is illuminated enough to see a some chairs, a sofa, a couple beds and some bedding, a small kitchen with a teapot, a small fireplace and about a cord of wood. "It's a good thing someone was prepared for this cold" said Ragnar. Artickat agreed, and added,"Let's get a fire started!". A fire was laid in the fireplace, and the candle was used to get it started, then blown out, for conservation. After a few tense moments, the fire was blazing. The Scapers warmed themselves in front of the fire, as they contemplated what was in store for them.

"You know, this place really isn't that bad, and at least we're out of the cold and snow" KaraS mentioned. Olpaint agreed, and added, "I wish we knew where we were, though."

Brothermoser looked out the window, and said, "Maybe we should try to get to that castle. They might know how to get us back to the house". Ragnar and Mouse looked around to see what else in the shack could be useful to the Scapers on their journey.

But first we should warm ourselves by the fire and get some food and water in our bellies, I found some cans of spam and cans of peas in the kitchen. Ragnar if you and mouse melt some snow in that teapot maybe Kara and I can do something with this grub. Brother w-w-would you check that chitter-chitter noise and cover Ragnar and mouse while they get snow?

elf: "Ah, no" the elf answers uncertainly. "I'm one of Santa's elf. I'm just waiting for the storm to subside. Then I'll return to the North Pole"

The gang sits around the fire and eats the Spam. Nobody is particularily happ about this turn of events. After a good night's sleep the gang....

to plan the Journey when olpaint says; "I found some green tea way in the back of the cupboard, it was in this baggy behind the cans of peas. Lets make tea with the melted snow to brace ourselves for the trip."

"Storms over and with only SPAM to eat…I'm for going to the castle" artickat looks at mouse and makes a funny face. "My stomach is growling and no way no how am I eating SPAM!"

"Thanks for the tea olpaint. Let's hit the road and get some grub!" BroMo opens the door of the shack and the Gang is hit with a blast of cold air.

"You think this is beautiful, wait until you see the inside" the elf pushes the front door open and the Gang stands in the doorway with they're mouths hanging open.

Inside the castle the little band of merry scapers see the greatest spectical of bright festive christmas lights. Hundreds of Elves wrapping presants singing holiday songs. A giant Christmas tree with so many colors on it the mind boogles trying to take it all in.

"Well, he said he was going down to the 7-11 for a pack of cigarettes about two weeks ago." the elf replied. "And he never returned. Mrs. Claus is devestated and everyone is depressed."

The 'Scapers looked around. No one looked particurlarly depressed. All the elves were singing as they worked and toys were being turned out at a frightening pace.

The elf glared at the tall Viking warrior. "You should see us on one of our good days. The level of merriment in here is very low. But why are we standing out here talking. Come in and get yourselves warm. I'll send word to the Missus that you're here."

So the 'Scapers came in, out of the cold, and took off their boots and coats. Someone brought them some coaco to go with the cookies and soon they were hapily munching away.

The 'Scapers turned around and saw a tall, dark haired woman dressed in fancy red and white lengere. She was very beautiful. Ragnar's mug of coaco hit the floor with a crash and brothermoser and olpaint looked like someone had smacked them on the back of the head with a two by four. M_E looked stunned. Mouse, artickat and KaraS were unimpressed.

The male 'Scapers stared at Candy Claus like they were totally incapable of thought. Olpaint had a goofy grin on his face and Ragnar was starting to drool.

"They look like they've been encorselled." said Mouse waving her hand in front of brothermoser's face. Brothermoser didn't even blink.

Mrs. Claus, and wonders why she looks so young. And Santa going out for cigarettes? THAT certainly isn't in the Christmas stories! She looks at the males in the group and see their catatonic state hasn't improved. Hmmm.

Mouse puls KaraS and artickat over to the side, as Candy Claus giggles, (and jiggles), again. Some almost inaudible sounds are coming from the guys, but Mouse doesn't want to hear what they are!

Alright girls, since we seem to be unaffected by Candy, maybe we can think a little clearer. Don't you think there's a lot wrong with this picture? Elves, ok. Presents, lights, castle, ok. But Candy in lingerie, and Santa out for smokes just doesn't add up to me.

"Her voice is grating on my nerves!" artickat starts to flex her claws. "This reminds me of that Potion #9 movie. Do you think maybe...?"

KaraS pulls some cotton out of her pocket (KaraS will be filling in for Rae in this scene due to her absence) "Put this in your ears and see if that makes it any better."

After putting the cotton in their ears the girls feel the anger start to drain out of them. "THIS is much better" mouse looks at artickat and KaraS "How about you two take Mrs. Clause to the kitchen to get more coca while I try to revive the guys."

When mouse walks over to the guys and starts to lightly tap Rangar on the face to get his attention, KaraS and artickat walk over to Mrs. Clause.

"Could you show us your kitchen? I always wanted to see Santa's kitchen." Artickat shoots KaraS a WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT? look. KaraS shoots a look back as if to say YOU GOT SOMETHING BETTER?

Artickat puts up a hand to stop her "Please don't. You could pock an eye out!" The guys can be heard groaning in the background.

(She could take this time to preach about how sad it is that some males seem to lose all their senses when confronted with a beautiful woman in lingerie who, well, um, jiggles.)

But as she is alternately smacking (with love, guys, with love), and shaking olpaint, M_E, Brothermoser, and Ragnar, she realizes that these guys are displaying the classic signs of being drugged. The glassy eyes, the drooling, the inability to form coherent thoughts, let alone sentences, was a dead giveaway. Mouse feels slightly bad about judging the guys too quickly, but hey, let's not dwell on what's done. (She secretly hopes they don't remember the smacking and shaking part.) Mouse notices that Candy Claus' perfume is pretty heavy in the air, and wonders about the connection, if any. The guys need fresh air, and fast.

Just as KaraS and artickat are coming out of the kitchen with Candy, Mouse is pushing the unresponsive guys out the castle door. The cold air and biting wind seem to do the trick, and the guys come out of their collective coma.

Ragnar shivered as the chill suddenly set in. He blinked hard a couple times and shook his head trying to clear his thoughts. It knew he had just spoken but wasn't sure what he'd said. The other men were standing around shaking themselves into various stages of awarenes.Mouse stood around expectantly.

KaraS and artickat pull the FAKE Mrs. Clause behind them towards the rest of the gang."Mouse, your not going to believe this." KaraS pulls the fake Mrs. C to a stop in front of the others.

"Welllllll, we made a quick trip to the powder room and I flushed her." Artickat gives the FAKE a dirty look "She started to spill her guts really fast after the first flush!"

"MR GOBBLES is her partner in crime. The FAKE told him that he would be able to get the recipe for Tick's BROWNIES if he helped her. She was supposed to make sure everything looked Kosher while MR GOBBLES takes Santa so there wouldn't be a Chirstmas!" KaraS said with a flourish.

The fake Mrs. Claus was HELPED by artickat and KaraS to reveal the way back to the roof garden. (The flushing was ingenious, I thought!) Turns out it was through a door in the castle garden. But to get through the castle, the guys needed to be blindfolded and led, due to the perfume and, um, attributes of the fake Mrs. Claus - I'm told men don't care if the, um, attributes are fake, but, in this case, the men weren't to happy with the fake Mrs. Claus. Mouse knew that once they got back to the roof garden, the friends she made here could finally EAT and get ready for Christmas, knowing that Santa was sure to show up soon.....

Feeling himself pelted with snowballs Ragnar makes a mad dash for...well elsewhere but trips and stumbles trying to run and remove the blind fold at the same time...

making a mad attempt to gather up some snow for a decent snowball, when he comes across a boot planted in front of him in the snow. His gaze slowly travels upwards, over the sparking silver lame' catsuit, the curves, the Long red hair, until he reaches the face of...

The Sixth-Sense Dreamer looks down on the big Viking. Splattered snow covers his leather jacket, and a blindfold hangs rakishly across one eye. 6th smirks at Ragnar sweetly, oblivious to the snowball fight going on. One hand is planted on her hip, the other behind her back.

Ragnar stands up, brushing the snow off of himself, and watching out of the corner of his eye as 6th's gaze follows him upwards.

"I just have one question." 6th says sweetly. She pulls out the biggest snowball Ragnar has ever seen anyone heft. 6th rolls the snowball back and forth between her hands.

Ragnar knows he is in serious trouble. He bolts, but a fallen branch trips him and he falls flat on his face. Rolling over, he gazes up at 6th, who is standing over him.

6th has a beautifully wicked smile on her face. "I wanted to tell you that you were PARTLY right. I'm not evil, but I am bad! I just didn't want you worrying that my being bad was a thing you needed to worry about. I needed to tell you that so everything would be cool. And speaking of cool..." 6th lets fly with the snowball, splatting Ragnar smack in the face.

"Don't worry sugar, I packed the snow lightly." 6th chuckles and, brushing her hands off, she turns to walk back to the cabin. She needs something to drink. It's frelling freezing out here!

Bromo to Ragnar: "Never underestimate the power of the Force my young apprentice. Do not be decieved by appearances. Those beautiful women are deadly pie and snowball assassins."