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Well, today was the day, and that was the last of it, thought Techi L as she dragged a tub of water into place. The games were set up (Bobbing for Apples, a Marshmallow Biting Contest, and a Craft Area for painting miniature cat figurines) and the children should be arriving soon. L normally disliked social gatherings of any kind. They were unproductive, somewhat destructive, and completely pointless, but she'd made a point of turning up for this one. After they were assigned to mentors, she didn't get to see the kids very often, and this was a valuble opportunity to make more observations. Of course, Techie Q, not her, was in charge of assigning them to chimera, but in L's opinion, there were just somethings that couldn't be left to other people.






The Spellmaster gazed harshly around the room. Unlike her coworkers, she had declined to wear any sort of costume, but the style of her black dress happened to match the slightly morbid decor anyway. Really, they were all so childish and the otherwise handsome Loremaster was wearing something eyeblindingly orange that clashed terribly with his hair. Even the ever-serious Techie L had splashed a bit of red paint (or was it real blood?) on her labcoat. Anyway, the party-goers would be arriving any minute and she had to prepare for the main contest.

She approached Catspaw, tapping the shoulder of his garish shirt lightly. "Call Quil for me please."









"Of course, Gloria." he replied, and within a few moments the enormous brindled pard was sidling up to them as if it had been her intention all along. She nuzzled on ear against the Loremaster's thigh and purred contentedly.

It was amazing, really, how she could always sense what was wanted of her. Research stated that chimera were bonded to their handlers in a way that enabled a sort of empathetic communication. His generation hadn't been properly bonded, so it only worked on way, but this new crop of his students should be able to sense their chimera partners the same way. There was a rumor, of a kind of magic that would allow a handler to have this connection with all chimera, but he hadn't found any more evidence to it than that.










She twirled her wand twice and Quil was suddenly a quarter of her actual size and white with a pretty saddle brown pattern and grey stripes. She fastened a collar with a pouch containing a wooden cat token around her neck and was off to find Ves and his chimera, Omarr.

Hyperactive child combined with a holiday that gave out free candy was never a good idea. Or, at least, that was what Kaden was telling himself. He was the only guardian with Caleb that night, as Riordan had stayed home to go trick-or-treating with Reese. While Reese had insisted upon dressing up as Nemo (which led to a long hunt for a costume for him), Caleb had not been able to be encouraged to pick something as harmless.

No, the young boy was dressed as a vampire, complete with fake teeth, cape, and white facepaint. The men had even managed to get the boy still long enough to gel his hair down in a Dracula style. Kaden gave in to Caleb's requests to match him and was thus also a vampire. They'd had to wait until Reese had left to get their costumes on, though, as Caleb had terrified his brother when he tried on the cape and teeth at home.

There was a wriggling lump at the back of Caleb's cape, where the material caught his wagging tail. The boy was tugging at his father's hand as they entered, looking around. Apparently, they were early, as no one else was around that was Caleb's age. The two waved at Ves and Caleb managed to tear his hand away to go give L's legs a hug.

Ah, the runaway. Most of the subsequent reports on Goldfur were still gathering dust somewhere in her "To Read" pile, but apparently he hadn't managed to get away yet. She received the greeting warmly, patting Caleb's gelled hair. He had been one of the nicer kids she'd dealt with, as well as being fairly easy to place and was remembered fondly. "Hello Caleb. How are you?"

Meanwhile, other people were filing into the hall and milling around the food table. It was probably time that she got some of the games started.

"Some nice fangs you've got there. How about testing them out?" she hinted, hoping that she could entice him to participate in some sort of structured activity rather than causing random mayhem as children tended to do.







Now for the final touch. People were arrving already, so she had to hurry. Vixeneye held her arm out and her chimera uncoiled himself from around her neck and walked along it, balancing easily. Sometimes, she wondered exactly how much of him was substance and how much was magic that he weighed so little. She twirled her wand twice and Weaver grew a little, his muzzle shrank and his tail thinned and his fur darkened from iredescent silver to a sandy gold. Quickly, she fastened a collar around his neck with a pouch that contained a wooden cat token and sent him off. Her portion of the preparations were complete.

Saiyori wondered how much whining Jessy would do when he returned his daughter to him later that evening. He also wondered just what form of revenge the orange haired man would take, when he realized that he'd been bested by the foul tasting cough medicine that also had a built in sedative. "You ready to go in?" He asked, looking down at the little girl beside him. She was swathed in white bandages and costume jewelry, a little female mummy dect out in al her plastic worldly possessions.

Glaceu adjusted the sky blue dress that was over the bandages and nodded, pushing up the single bandage that fell across the bridge of her nose. She watched her Kitty open the door and hold it for her. She strutted across the threshold like the queen she was imitating.

Ves smiled at Caleb and waves back. He thought that Caleb looks good at a vampire. Ves is still setting up his game and waits for the kids to come to him.

Caleb grinned, eyeing the container filled with water and floating apples. Psh, L obviously didn't know how well he excelled at games! This would be a piece of cake.

The boy knelt beside the bucket and eyed the apples for a moment. One floated near him and so he plunged his head in that direction, mouth wide open. Teeth met apple and the boy started to bite down, but the apple slipped from his face and bobbed back to the surface next to his ear. Frowning, he tried again, driving the apple under the water's surface. Caleb reemerged, his face dripping wet and no apple between his teeth.

Okay... so maybe it wasn't a piece of cake....

Ves thought that he would walk around the room and try to meet more of the guardians and kids as he would be teaching them in time. Smoothing out the wrinkles of his lab coat he was wearing for his costume and started to walk around the room and not too aware of things around him as he swayed his tail about.