Violet looked up from her own book, though it was a novel rather than a research text.

"By Nisse you mean the Christmas Elves right? And do you think small groups will be less conspicuous? I might be new to the magic thing but can't we do a glamour or something to hide us? Or people would see the pixies and so forth? Or would they be able to see through it because they're fey?"

Violet took a breath and made herself stop, flushing slightly in embarrassment. Bad enough she didn't know the first thing about what she was (or how that had happened) but she had to spew questions at everyone without giving them a chance to respond.

Looking down at her feet Violet tried to imagine herself invisible, partly to see if she could and partly because of her outburst. She took a deep breath closing her eyes and concentrating, then another. To anyone watching her she seemed to fade, like a stained glass window, still there but becoming less and less noticeable, until she opened her eyes to look at her hand, when she was right back to visibility again. She sighed, not aware that she had actually done anything.

Julian listened to Violet's questions and was about to respond before he noticed she was doing some sort of magic. His mouth simply hung agape while she seemed to fade and then suddenly return, tilting his head in confusion. Startled back into gear after a moment a silence, the man blinked several times before attempting to offer answers.

"...I um...yes, the Nisse are...Christmas Elves?" He considered the statement a moment, before shrugging it off. I guess he could see the resemblance somewhat, "...Since the Nisse are Fey, the veil won't effect them if that's what you're asking. Since it is rather late....I think any group of people would be considered suspicious, yes? But if we separate into smaller groups, perhaps we'll have a better chance of blending in...well, as well as Fey can blend in I assume."

He blinked again, realizing he'd forgotten something, "I'm Julian by the way..."

"My name is Violet." She smiled holding her hand out to Julian. "I'm kind of new to all this..." She shrugged apologetically. "I can't even make a cookie appear so I don't know how I'd do something like make myself invisible but I figured there had to be something keeping people from seeing things." She looked a little depressed but shook it off and looked around.

"Well if Amara is walking Mouse, and umm... well we have our books... but that leaves the pale guy and the boy that's two different sizes... That is a little confusing. Maybe he could hide IN the tree though?" She bit her lip thoughtfully, trying to come up with a reason why a man with a scarf over his face might be hanging around outside the stock exchange.
This message was last edited by the player at 22:23, Sun 08 May 2016.

As the other fey and the bookish human approach, Elliot continued to fly around the group. Upon hearing himself come up in conversation, Elliot flutters over in a position that makes him appear to be lying on his back. "I could totally hide in the tree, but that doesn't sound like much fun. I could hide in your pocket. That would be fun! Oh and I'm Elliot!"
This message was last edited by the player at 23:16, Sun 08 May 2016.

He happened to glance just as the woman seemed to become slightly transparent before becoming wholly opaque again. It was clearly Fey magic of some kind. Nervous, he slowly made his way towards the woman, only hesitating when another young man approached her first. He said nothing, listening for a few moments instead. Nisse. The word sounded somewhat familiar. It sounded like something he'd heard the old ones of his family mention, something from the old country, though he wasn't entirely sure of exactly what a Nisse was, or Christmas elves for that matter.

 As he overheard mention of a "pale boy," his eyes moved to the woman. True, it wasn't as if he had been exactly hiding in plain sight, but he had to be careful. One never knew who exactly was friend or foe, after all.

"I'm Felix. I.. I hope it's alright. The Library said that help would be appreciated, so I came." He spoke, scarf conveniently hiding his mouth from view.

Even in the darkest hours of the night this corner of the city is not empty, only relatively empty.

Down the street, workmen throw bales of shredded paper into a truck- Wall Street is far too busy during the day to allow interruptions for things like that.   Further away, the traffic on Broadway can be heard.  A few couples wander around in the darkness, headed back to their apartments... or maybe for a last round at a late night bar.

And the rats search for anything overlooked by the throngs of people who flood this place in daylight.

There... moving from shadow to shadow, much like the rats, they can be seen.  Three of them.  Only a foot tall, with pointed hats.  Dragging something that snakes over their shoulders like a fire hose.

It glitters in the streetlights.  Garland.  They are running towards the tree.

Gremian was late to the meeting point. Holding a touristic map and cursing about it, he finally spotted the group. He ran for some steps, but, because of the noise he made with his claws/boots, he preferred to fast walk instead. He was surprise that one of them displayed magic openly after all the speeches from the Library. "Sorry I'm late. Stupid ma..." he stopped as he saw the Nisse. He pointed them and whispered: "Are they the reason we are here?

Violet wasn't entirely sure she wanted a teenage boy (or someone who looked like one sort of) climbing into pockets in her clothes... but before she could comment on it either way Felix introduced himself. She held out her hand to shake his, intending to ask what this had to do with a library.

"Hi..." She trailed off as Gremain pointed out the Nisse's approach. "Um... so what now?" They hadn't really told her what the plan was when they arrived, did they stop them? Or ask them what they were decorating trees for? Or just watch them?

She waved at Gremain but didn't really have time to introduce herself, focusing on Julian for an answer as he seemed to know what was going on here more than most.

The three little figures run for the tree, apparently unaware that they are being watched.

Until… one of them, the last of the trio,  stops, and looks around nervously.

But in stopping, he did not let go of the garland.  The other two creatures are pulled to an unexpected halt.

“Dammit, Karl!” says the middle one, a short, stubby looking female.  At least, it appears that way, not having the bushy white beards the others do, and being large and round in places they are not.

“Others nearby,” Karl says.  “I feel it.”

The lady Nisse tugs on the garland, trying to get him moving again.  “We know, the workmen down the street.  And others will come, so we must be fast and stealthy.  Much power is here.  One more after this, it will be enough.”

“No.. I mean Fey folk.  Magic, like us.  The Rune Stones are trembling.”

“They won’t pay us any mind,” the Nisse woman says.  “This is not for them or about them.  This is about us.  Freedom, Karl.  Let’s move.”

Julian shot a glance toward the tree, before offering a nod that encompassed all of them, "...we try to catch one of them. We need to know what they are up to and where they are keeping the Troll Prince...if we can't catch one, we need to follow them back to their current home or whereabouts. Either way, we need answers from them and quickly."

Amara was looking around and noticed the little elves at they moved to the tree. "You all, go after them, I will cut off their retreat" she says with a giggle." she turns to a swirling mist and speeds off in a round about way so as to cut them off.

Like a dog chasing a rabbit, Mouse sprang after one of the the Nisse.

Moving quickly and confidently, he turns the little fae's direction of flight back towards his companions.  Like a farmdog herding cattle, he nips and turns, keeping the panicked little creature running towards Mouse's goal.
This message was last edited by the player at 04:54, Tue 10 May 2016.

"Minimal pla..." begun Gremian, just at the dog sprang out. "Not the plan, dog!" he mumbled to himself as he ran toward the lady Nisse. He was not running as full speed yet, he wanted the chance to react. If she chose to charge him, he would receive her by sticking to the ground. If she fled toward one of his companion, he would let them capture her. His least favorite option was to pursue her at full speed.

Julian blinked at the speed at which his companions sprung into action, and moved to join the would-be assault against the Nisse. He was unsure of what exactly he would do if he caught one, being just a human after all...but that would have to wait for later.

As the group begins to spring towards the Nisse, Elliot flies a tight circle around everyone. As he does so, he laughs really loud and says "This is really fun! We should do this more often!"

"We could have just asked them nicely... I mean if Amara had cut off the escape the worst that would happen is that we'd have to chase them after all." Violet sighed looking at the chaos. She wasn't really sure what she could do to help if she couldn't even make a cookie, but it seemed mean scaring the little creatures when they weren't even sure what they wanted or why.

Violet knelt down, her arms spread wide. "It's okay, come here, we don't want to hurt you..." She tried to sound comforting rather than jumping about trying to catch them like the others, perhaps they would come to her, even if only to get away from Mouse.

Mouse has a certain effect on Fey creatures, especially the smaller ones.  Perhaps it's magic, or perhaps it's just a perfectly reasonable response to a big black animal with obvious carnivorous tendencies and long sharp teeth, charging towards you.

"Jinglebells!  Run!" the Nisse in the lead shouts.

In desperation he hurls the garland at Mouse as the others drop it and run.

He must have some wicked garland tossing skills because the sparkly garland drapes itself across Mouse.  But it doesn't hinder the dog in any way, it merely decorates him.  In more than garland.  Tinsel and lights now hang from Mouse's ears and tail.

The three Nisse run.  And scatter.

Perhaps if the whole gang worked on this plan first things would be different, but as it is, there is a flurry of chaos, and two of the Nisse get away.

But Mouse, Julian and Gremian trap one.. it hops up onto the curb, ducking past security bollards, heads for a door.. but the door is locked.

It is the Nisse woman.  She turns around, and faces her pursuers.

"Aw, hollyberries," she says.  "Go away!  Bad dog!  Eat somebody else!  I'll buy you a pretzel."

Amara tries to chase one that gets away from the main group.

Grateful that they were able to catch at least one of them, Julian steps forward to question the female Nisse, taking a knee to examine her, "We know what you're doing, but we don't quite yet know why...What power are you trying to gather and what is it for? And what do you know about the whereabouts of the Troll Prince? You better tell us the truth...or...or my canine friend might get hungry."

Julian didn't like the idea of threatening the woman, but they needed answers and quickly. NYC could be in great trouble.

Felix's eyes widened, was the creepy dog seriously going to hurt those tomkins, er.. brownies? Little people, whatever they were. He found himself following after the scattering fey, fearful that they were about to get eaten. Thankfully, two had gotten away, but the third seemed caught.

 He moved towards the remaining nisse woman, his eyes narrowing at the Human as he gave his threat. That seemed very harsh, especially given the circumstances. He stepped closer, looking to the small woman. "I think what he means to say is that we could really use your assistance, miss..?" He tried, drawing out his final word in order to give her a chance to respond, holding out his hand towards her.

Violet frowned at all the threatening both verbal and in terms of body language. She smiled as Felix offered his hand to the small woman, at least someone seemed to want to try being civilised BEFORE scaring her little Christmas pants off. She was dying to ask if the freedom the woman had been talking about before was from Santa but she didn't want to interrupt Felix's attempt to build a rapport or sound silly.

Sighing, Violet moved to crouch in front of Mouse, slightly putting herself between him and the Nisse, with her back to the woman in a way that she hoped seemed more non-threatening than dismissive. She took hold of the garland and started to try and unwind it from Mouse.

"Hold still, you've gotten yourself well and truly tangled in this..." She murmured soothingly, trying to draw a little of his attention so he might seem less menacing.

Elliot stops flying in circles and lands on the sidewalk beside the small Nisse woman. "Wow! You're almost as small as me! Hi, I'm Elliot. I'm a Nature Fairy. That's a very pretty tree, don't you think?" Despite the tense atmosphere, Elliot is talking in an extremely friendly tone. He seems to take no notice of the threatening remarks of Julian or the attempts at friendship made by Violet and Felix.

Julian blinked at the responses of his companions, but realized they'd not been clued in to the full extent of what was going on, "...My apologies...you all don't realize that these Nisse may have in their possess a staff belonging to the Troll King. They might also have the missing Troll Prince in their custody....I mean...these threats are because that staff is capable of great harm...the city itself is in danger. And we need answers now!" The researcher turned back to point an accusing finger at the captured Nisse, "Now tell me what you know."

Mouse looked at Violet and whined slightly.  Laying on his belly, he passively resisted her attempts to remove the garland.  It seems he has taken to his new, festive look.

He looked at the Nisse mournfully,  his ears and tail down,  He hadn't meant to scare her and he certainly wasn't going to eat her, no matter what Julian said.  He whined mournfully in her direction before simply laying there with big, sad dog eyes watching the proceedings.

Gremian didn't say a word after the Nisse was cornered. He quickly looked at Mouse to make sure he was okay. Gremian was happy to see Violet taking care of the mutt. He focus his attention back on the Nisse, ready to jump on her if she move.

When Julian mentioned the staff, he showed his sharp teeth. "Did they really stole something from our kin? I almost had sympathy for her."