Sunday, December 21, 2014: Yule Morning …
Ashland, Oregon
Early to rise our adventuring trio headed out promptly to the Leaf and Dragon. Lady Etain dropped Sir Thomas Leaf off so he could go arrange the gifts Santa Clause and Lady Befana left last night. Lady Etain and Cian, the Prince of Endurance headed off to the market to gather supplies. Santa visited Prince Cian at the shop as the caravan was too small for the treasure trove planned for him this year. Nestled under the tree were presents galore while Sir Thomas Leaf set off to tidy the shop getting ready to open the doors. As the shop opened in came some customers, more lookers rather than spenders bewildering Sir Thomas as why they were even opening this holiday. When Lady Etain and Prince Cian arrived they gathered into the divination den and peered through the door Prince Cian curious what was about. In did he peer a bright Yule tree decorated with plunder and booty …. jolly rancher candy canes, matchbox cars, books, puzzles, crayons, blocks, trucks, and an inflatable pirate’s sword … all that a young Pirate Prince could want. He got very excited and nearly dove out of his father’s arms atop the table the gifts were displayed. Dove into the trucks with the blocks next off, he was already building a new palace where his cars could dock. Overwhelmed was he that when dad pulled down the stocking, he was quite scared off by the teddy bear peering out atop the stocking with a santa sippy cup in his paws, even as they emptied the goodies from the bottom of the sock fear rocked his eyes throughout. Confused, Mom and Dad dove into their stockings filled with chocolate and goodies galore whilst Prince Cian warmed up to his stocking of god cheer. Then off to greet customers wandering in quite curious as to why Santa arrived here early. It’s Solstice morn and that’s when Lady Befana and Santa Claus visit good heathen kids around the globe earlier than the mass populace. Then a second coming sometime as well on Xmas morning for double-plunder for Pagan boys and girls.
It seemed such a waste for the trio to spend their holiday in the shop this day. Hardly a sale or a customer walked through the door, and those that did were shopping around until later that evening. A few last minute stocking stuffer purchases took place and a gift or two as well, while downtown was bustling with shoppers galore, this poor little shop down off main was bypassed by many. The disappointment of such bad sales atop frustration Sir Thomas had with one of his friends made the day not so great. Recently one of his and Lady Etain’s friends came on to him wanting more than friendship. He thought he let her down lightly but it seemed to hurt her. She didn’t seem to understand since in the past he was poly. But he explained to her he wasn’t wired that way. He figured she was drunk that night of festivities. But she ended her attempted seduction with a threat to get between he and his love. This un-nerved him as she was a bit crazy with her recent ex, with some paranoia and delusions. She ousted her live-in boyfriend she was supporting into the streets of Ashland not so long ago and left him to be homeless sleeping in the bushes she said. She had a mean streak. She got into things with her landlord recently too, something about a noise complaint about her and him not wanting her boyfriend around the premises since he wasn’t on the lease. It seemed she made up some incident about the landlord and called the cops. She really had some psychotic episodes as of late. He decided it was time to severe the friendship as she seemed imbalanced. Luckily he and Etain were heading off to Ireland very soon and would not have to deal with her. Its a good thing she backed out on their offer to have her watch the shop for them while they were out of the country. He by far did not trust her after the recent interaction. As they were about to close their doors for the evening heading out to the Grange for a Winter Solstice rite and dance party, they came to the surprise that their car battery was dead. Awaiting triple A, it took yet another hour, and another rite was missed for the season. They headed off to Target for some last minute gift selections for gifts to bring across the great pond for Prince Cian’s cousins. A simple dining out feast for a Yule treat wore the trio out quite quickly. They headed back to their caravan for a winter eve’s nap and dreams about the Green Isle adventure to take place later this week.
