14th December, 1888 — Padmore Park
Magical Gingerbread Competition
@"Percival Adlard Jr." Lily Huddleston

Gingerbread men in small gingerbread houses are far from being a cause for concern. But in one corner of the park, at the very edge of the festivities, a full-sized gingerbread house had been constructed to delight the eyes of the party-goers.

Only the wizard who enlarged the house forgot to check whether there were gingerbread men inside…

Quite without warning they emerge from the structure and begin to meander through the event, ten of them the size of full grown men and without control of their gingerbread bodies they begin to knock into everybody, sending men and women flying to the ground.

The best place to hide and wait for them to become tired or subdued is inside the magical gingerbread house itself but who knows how long that might take…

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Known side-effects include: chronic ridiculousness, immense satisfaction, itching, uncontrollable laughter, burning, deep regret, despair, shock, horror, incidental dismemberment, joy, and death. Use at your own risk!

Padmore park was especially festive today, nothing like the silent atmosphere this portion of the park normally had. Children were dashing around decorating cookies with and building gingerbread houses. Their merry voices chiming with excitement as the crisp white snow crunched under their boots. From the street hoofbeats from a carriage clopped steadily on their way.

Percy found himself smiling, glad that Cat had convinced him to join her and the children on their venture. He’d watched Connie and Fred decorate their cookies and had enchanted Fred’s in the races. Connie had delighted in putting red frosting on the gingerbread house they made before Cat took them home for their nanny to put them down for a nap. They had all had such a wonderful time that after their departure Percy decided to take a look around, watch for a few more minutes before he headed home.

His breath came out in icy puffs in the frosty air as he neared the large gingerbread house that had been put up as decoration. A star sat at the top of the house, winking down at them in iced delight as Percy watched, leaning on his cane. The door opened and out lumbered a giant blue frosted gingerbread man, followed by another in red, and another, and another.

Suddenly the gingerbread decorating turned from a jolly Christmas card to chaos as screams erupted around them. Enchanted Gingerbread Men. At least it wasn’t a troll. Percy didn’t think he could handle a second encounter with a troll. His mind was already trying to roll with ideas to get the gingerbread men contained when he noticed a young lady trapped by two of the things. It’s arms swinging toward her. She looked vaguely familiar, but Percy couldn’t place her. But he wasn’t about to leave her alone with the things.

Nowhere as nimble as he had once been, Percy went as fast as he could for the lady, swinging his cane at the thing’s breaded legs to distract it. “This way Miss!” He called, holding out a hand for her, if he could try to get her to safety then he could come back and try to help with the enchanted cookies. But first thing was first. Get at least one person out of harm and work from there. The gingerbread house seemed as safe a bet as any for right now.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

When Lily had decided to be part of the Magical Gingerbread Commpeition she had not imagined that it would culminate in her beting trapped between two of the horrendously large gingerbread men. This was going to put her off of gingerbread for the rest of her life! The place had been full of festivity and now it was full of chaos. Ugh, just her luck, really.

A man came to her rescue and he did look familiar but at the moment her mind was on other things than placing him. He was swinging his cane which only made his actions all the more noble to her. What a hero! The current situation was surely a reason to forgive the familiarity that taking his hand would suggest. So she grabbed his hand which reminded her of an incident she had experienced years ago as a student.

"Oh, thank you so much!" She said before wincing in pain as her ankle twisted beneath her. Because of course that would happen. She really did have the worst luck.

  

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The young lady’s hand took his own as they started to dart toward the gingerbread house. Adrenaline raced through his veins as he fumbled to keep his cane, wand, and the lady’s hand all from falling. They were almost at the house when the young lady stumbled. “Are you alright?” Percy asked, watching to make sure none of the gingerbread men had noticed their hasty escape.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

"I'm quite fine," Lily said, wondering if her rescuer was fine as well. He had seemed to be fumbling a bit as they had moved and she couldn't blame him one bit. "Please stay here with me," she pleaded, feeling quite out of her wits about the entire situation. The silver lining seemed to be that the gingerbread house seemed safe enough for a moment, large enough to house the both of them quite safely.

  

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Safely inside the gingerbread house, Percy felt he could catch his breath. The door swung shut behind them, a quiet thud seeming safe rather than ominous. It was dim in the house, the candied windows doing little to let the light in, but perhaps that was for the best with rogue gingerbread men striding around. She’d be safe here while he ventured back out.

Wishing for better light to assess if the young lady was truly alright, Percy had no better option but to nod. “I’m glad to hear that.” At least he didn’t need to worry about her injuries. Not so true it seemed of her. Although her next words made him worry. “Of course.” He nodded as if that had been his plan. If the lady was in distress he should make sure she was alright before charging back out there. Cat and Lissy would skin him if he didn’t.

Gesturing toward two candy cane chairs by a gumdrop table, Percy had to wonder at the detail that had gone into this house. “Why don’t we sit. Give you a moment to catch your breath.”

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Lily's nerves were fried to the core. She got into a lot of mishaps but never had she been under attack by giant gingerbread men before! Who would even do that? She couldn't really stand on her ankle as well, the pain getting increasingly unbearable to stand on.

Thus, she was especially grateful to see that there were chairs in the house. "Whoever made this thing deserves to win," she opined as she hobbled a bit towards one of the chairs. It was a relief to get off of her ankle.

  

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Looking around at the house they found themselves in Percy was inclined to agree with the young lady. “They certainly do. They’ve put quite the amount of detail into it.” He pointed to the icing lined curtains on either side of the candied panes of window.

As the young woman made her way to the table though concern wrinkled Percy’s brow. It looked as if she were limping. “Are you sure you’re alright?” It was probably impolite but concern had the question popping from his mouth, “It looks like you’re limping.”

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Lily smiled as the man agreed with her assessment. "Most people only decorated the exterior. This one really went the extra mile." The curtains, the interior decorating made with candy - it was all quite impressive.

"Yes, it hurts to walk. I'm pretty sure I might have sprained my ankle," she said. Lily had sprained her ankle enough times in her life that she hadn't even thought to mention it.

  

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"They were even considerate enough to supply furniture." Percy added to her assessment. Although he did rather wish they hadn't included inhabitants as well. Gingerbreadmen didn't make for particularly pleasant guests. "I wonder if they thought of giving tours." He added idlely, trying to distract himself from the fact that he was in instead of helping. Not that he was much help these days what with the cane and all...

Most young women of good standing would not have thought of what the injury was but simply that they were hurt, he was impressed by her medical knowledge and calmness in the situation. It was a bit forward and seeing as he was not a healer he felt rather awkward, but his training and his inclination to help won out. "Would you like me to look at it? You certainly are handling it well but sprains are not something to be over looked."

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

"I would have, had I been them," Lily said when the man wondered if the creators had thought of giving tours. They probably hadn't planned on the gingerbread man attacks though. Unless they were especially devious pranksters.

"If you would, that would be a reassurance," she said. It was always better to be safer rather than sorry. Besides, it would take her mind of the predictament they were in.

  

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Slowly, Percy knelt down in front of the woman. Getting up was going to be rough, he knew from experience. Hoping to distract her from the injury and the fact that he most especially should not have offered to do something so very forward, Percy returned to their earlier conversation. "And if you had planned this what else might have you included?" His hands brushed away her skirts in a business like fashion. He took her boot in his hand and looked up at her as his other hand probed the spot, watching for her to wince or any other signs of pain. "Does this hurt?" He asked moving the ankle around in a circle.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Lily tried to think of what else she'd have included in a large gingerbread house. "A nice little sitting room, perhaps," Lily said. She did like spending her time there when it came to her own home. She winced a little as he probed at her and began moving her ankle in a circle. "Yes but not as bad a break would," she said, a little knowingly.

  

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For a lady dressed as fine as this one Percy was sure that a one room home wouldn’t exactly be her design. But as far as gingerbread houses went he thought it did a remarkable job.

Surprise filtered on his face, “Have you broken an ankle before?” He shifted back on his heels, letting her hems fall back around her shoes. “Luckily it doesn’t seem broken this time.”

Percy glanced out the window, “It looks like most of the danger is gone now. We can try to our luck, if you think you will be alright on that ankle.”

  

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Pretties from Lady <3

Lily smiled and waved off the fact she had broken an ankle before. More than once before, in fact, not that she was such an oversharer. "Yes. I tend to get myself into mishaps," she confessed with a light flush to her cheeks. It was something she was a little too used to, really. Lily glanced out the window at the mans words and nodded in agreement. "I think I can make it," she said as she tried standing again, managign it albeit a little wobbily and favoring her good side.

  

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The pink tinge to the young lady’s cheeks was enough to keep Percy from pursuing the topic. Although he was curious as to the severity of such mishaps if a broken ankle was something she seemed nonplussed by.

“Here,” Percy offered her an arm to steady her. “I’ll help you.” And with that he led her out of the gingerbread house and away from any giant cookies that might give her another mishap even worse than her current predicament.

  

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Pretties from Lady <3