Fic.

[indianna_who]

I couldn't put all of it in one entry, and since Livejournal displays entries from newest to oldest, this means to get the story in order, I've placed the entries in reverse. This way you can scroll down instead of up the entries to get it in order.

Okay, here goes.

No title yet

By Indy and Kris.


Kill Joy

It was Christmas and Whobilation time once again. The Town Square was busier than a bee hive with Whos coming and going.

As usual, Indy was there, stuffing her face and interviewing people. Pippi, Capri, Ariel, and NT joined Misery Chastain at one of the tables and were visiting with her.

When Indy spotted them, she came over to their table.

pippi kidded her, saying that Indy could always be seen at the baker's table, or coming from there.

Indy laughed and told Pippi to shut up.

This caused several people to laugh, including Pippi.

"Of course, Pippi, what else would she be doing?" Misery said between sips of hot apple cider.

"And you too." said Indy, grinning at Misery, who had her own plate piled with a wide assortment of small samples..

Capri laughed at Misery's comment. "It's a Who-thing, dontcha know," she quipped. "can't help it, that one."

"True," Indy replied back to Capri, "So, you should fit right in!" She grinned and burst out laughing again.

Ariel laughed.

"Not in the same league as you," Capri shook her head, resuming eating.

Misery suppressed a giggle of agreement.

NT giggled.

"Well, that's kind of hard to figure, since you get to eat on the run so much." Indy retorted, all grins.

Pippi grinned, "Even Capri is outdone by you, Indy, you and Nimrod, and LJ can get rather scary."

"Scaredy-cats." Indy teased.

"Sensible," Capri grinned. "don't like stomach pumps."

"Me neither," said Indy, "That's why I never enter those stupid contests. I like to eat at my own speed and enjoy it."

But Capri's comment caught Misery by surprise. She held her nose, moaning. "Oh man...OUCH! Cider up my nose!"

Misery's predicament set off a collective gale of laughter from all her friends.

Ariel had to put her fork down to finish laughing before eating another bite.

Capri handed Misery a napkin and some water to ease the pain in her throat. "Thanks," she said gratefully.

"Any time." Capri said, grinning at the impact her quip had on her friend.

"And don't do that again," Mis added, returning the grin.

"Well, I've heard of people gettin choked up but this is ridiculous." Capri said, and burst out laughing.

That did it for Indy. She hastily swallowed the last piece of cheese bread and hit the table with her arm, convulsing with laughter.

Even NT was laughing hard enough to put her hot cocoa down.

Pippi and Ariel giggled.

"Capri, you are evil!" Indy said through some laughs.

"You are all too much." Pippi managed to get out.

Jennah announced herself over the mic, and stated that the contests would be starting at various booths, but in addition, there would be an open stage night starting pronto. All were invited to go up and sing or tell jokes and stories, show their talent, or nominate someone else, like friends or family.

Some young kids came up and volunteered a couple of numbers.

Jennah nodded and placed them at the mic.

"Joy to the world, the school burned down, and all the teachers too."

Jennah shook her head. This wasn't her idea of talent.

"Oh boy, here we go." Capri rolled her eyes. If she let's 'em have another go, they'll either sing 'the Rubber Cigar song or 'batman Smells."

"You know those too?" Pippi chuckled.

"When I was their age, I thought those ahem, masterpieces were the wittiest thing since the latest joke book that came out." Capri said, a little embarrassed. "They'll grow out of it too."

"Yes, when they're no longer in school.

"That's a horrible song, all the school and teachers burning down, don't they realize what they're singing?" NT objected.

"Afraid not, NT, most kids don't connect this kinda fire with suffering...only with no more school."

NT made a face.

As Capri predicted, the kids did the Rubber cigar next.
"We three kings of Orient are, tried to smoke a rubber cigar."

"Oh, good grief." NT rolled her eyes.

"And it doesn't even make sense. Orient 'are, tried' to smoke', they have the tenses all screwed up in that song." said Indy.

"I know," said Capri, "But when you're a kid, you don't sweat little things like that."

Indy laughed. The mental image of Capri running around singing those silly songs as a 10 year old was too much.

There was no real applause from the people, only a token effort out of politeness.

Then a teenage girl came up and recited "The Night Before Christmas"

That was met with applause and whoops from her friends and family.

She nominated two of her cousins, who came up and performed a hiphop number.

The audience responded with applause.

Then Jennah herself nominated Indy to come up and give her debunking of the Rachel Arlington chain letter for a laugh.

"Aw, man, Jennah," Indy pretended to be put out, but the grin was from ear to ear. "I'm eating!"

"Come on up, Indy!"

The croud applauded.

So what could Indy do? Laughing, she made her way up to the mic.

The croud laughed as she retold the debunk of the mushy sick kid chain letter and poem.

A young man took his place at the table in the mean time. He smirked at Indy's presentation.

Capri and Ariel looked at each other and laughed in unison during a couple of Indy's comments.

Indy herself was hardly able to keep a straight face by the end, seeing the effect her hamming it up had on the crowd.

Misery clapped and leaned towards Pippi. "Man, remind me never to send her a chain letter, even by accident!"

Pippi laughed out loud. "Oh, you're not the sort to do that anyway. But she sure takes it to task, doesn't she?"

"In conclusion," Indy announced when the laughing and applause died away, "I'd like to nominate somebody, a great friend of mine, Pippi Longstocking. Pippi, can you come up here and sing something? I've heard you do 'Oh Holy Night' it's awesome!"

"Oh, my goodness." Pippi blushed, but grinned, "Well, wish me luck."

Pippi went up, and with a background track Jennah had all ready, did her favorite Christmas song.

The young man who had enjoyed Indy's presentation now grimmaced at Pippi's, though the others appeared to be enjoying it.

Pippi did the carol with such tenderness and power, and it was greeted with a great deal of applause.
"That was beautiful!" Ariel said, misty eyed when Pippi was done.

"Right on!" Capri clapped and whistled.

"Thank you, all, and a merry Christmas." Pippi said, "Now, I'd like to nominate my friend, Misery Chastain, she has a beautiful singing voice. Misery, could you please come up and sing a carol or one of your favorites?"

Misery looked surprised. "Oh my!"

"Go on, she's right, ya know." said Capri.

Ariel and NT agreed.

So, Misery got up there and sang 'Oh come All Ye Faithful.

It was another popular carol, and Misery proved to have a very sweet voice as Pippi said. The crowd applauded.

"Jennah approached Mis, and Pippi, and told them someone wanted them to sing something together.

Both shrugged.

"One more, and that's it, somebody else needs their turn." said Misery.

So, Jennah gave them a few ideas for carols, and the words just in case.

Indy had been looking at the papers before Jennah had passed some of them to the other two, so they got the wrong words to the carol that Jennah had just put on.

Mis simply handed the sheet back to Jennah when they were done, the women got through it just fine without looking at any notes.

Again, the crowd applauded.

Jennah took the mic and announced that Sarah would play music for a while. This was because Jennah needed to straighten out the notes.

While Indy, Pippi, and Misery were away from their table, Ariel had gone to get something more to drink, Capri had left as well, and that meant only NT and the man, who's name was Darren, were there, and seemed to be in an argument.

"Whoville would be in a sorry state if you ran it, if people can't even say 'Merry Christmas' Daren." said NT, "What are you doing here if you hate it so much?"

"Yeah," piped up a Who from the next table, "Don't see him griping about holiday pay, right?"

"It's not the holiday," Daren said, "I find anything to do with Christmas extremely offensive. They should just call it xmas and be done with it."

"If there's one thing I find *really offensive*" retorted NT, mocking his phrase, "It's anti-Christian twits! I'm getting out of here, if a person can't even be who they are without getting yelled at!"

She stood up and turned to leave.

"Don't worry, I'm leaving too, since my feelings are meaningless to you and this bunch of people." Daren got up and started after NT.

"Don't let us keep you!" the sassy Who at the other table piped up again.

"Whine, whine, whine!" NT shot back at Darren. "Nobody made yu come here, you know!" She hurried away, and ducked into the little girl's room.


Unexpected Meeting

"Hmm, that's interesting, we cleared our table, guys!" Indy kidded, seeing no sign of NT, Ariel, or Capri.

"They're probably just getting more food," Misery mused.

In a moment, Ariel came back, "Where's NT?"

"I thought she was with you." said Indy.

"Maybe she's with Capri." Pippi said.

They scanned the crowd, looking for Capri, who was on her way back.

"Okay, well done you guys, and you go get 'em Indy." Capri said as she came back with a plate full of more goodies.

"Where's NT?" asked Ariel.

"Dunno, I guess she's gone t'get more food after all." said Capri.

They waited a while, but there was no sign of her.

NT waited a long time in the girls' room, and came out when it was getting congested with people, and enough time had passed that she was sure that guy would no longer be there.

She walked out into the hall and back in the direction of the banquet hall, feeling a little calmer. Indy didn't let people tell her what to do, why should NT? It was Christmas whether Darren liked it or not.

But before she got within sight of the tables, she spotted Darren standing there, waiting for her.

She froze for a moment, then turned back around to make a dash for it.

In her confusion, she opened a door into a stairwell rather than an exit.

Now, she floundered. Wasn't the exit there? She was sure they'd come in through this sort of door.

But maybe this stairwell would lead to an exit, in any case, with any luck, she could get away without him having actually seen her back there.

It made her nervous going down into the basement of a strange building, and it was dark. But she had to, there was nowhere else to run without being spotted.

But NT had hesitated too long, she felt a tap on her shoulder, and turned around, wide eyed. "Not you again!"

"He could tell she was upset, probably feeling indignant and annoyed at someone raining on her parade. But Darren had to tell this girl why he felt the way he did. Maybe it would make her see the light.

"The reason I hate Christmas so much is because I was tortured by some Christians as a child." he said to her.

"Those weren't Christians!" NT yelled back, eyes narrowing.

"They said they were. They went to church."

"They were liars. And going to church doesn't make you a Christian any more than walking onto an ice rink makes you a pro hockey player!"

"NT, please, those people..." and here, Daren spelled out a whole bunch of things that were done. "You shouldn't get upset then when people associate Christmas with that. Because that's your burden as a Christian."

"Bullshit!" NT shouted tearfully.

"I'm not bullshitting you, NT," he said. He started to pull back the sleeve of his long shirt to show her his wrists where the scars were. "That's where they drove the nails in."

"NT!" Misery was heard to yell in the distance. "NT!"

"I didn't say your story is bullshit, I said you thinking those basilisks were Christians is bullshit!* NT wailed, and pushed past him. "I'm a Christian and I'm not a sadist!! If I'd been there I would've done all I could to stop those sickos from hurting you like that!!"

She'd seen and heard more than enough. Out of the tight space of the stairwell at last, NT ran like heck. She couldn't see where she was going very well for the tears and the terrible dispair.

Darren hadn't upset anyone this much with his story before, he had received all sorts of reactions in the past. From Christians trying to convert him gently, to agreements with him, to others just dismissing it as in the past. But never before a reaction of this magnitude.

He watched her leave in wonder...maybe she was different, but she shouldn't be calling herself a Christian if she wasn't prepared to deal with the truth.

Turning, he walked off into the night.

"Where the heck did she go?" Capri said to Misery and Pippi. "did we check the restrooms?"

"I'm sure I did a minute ago," said Misery.

"I thought I saw her go in on the way back to our table, but that was ages ago." said Pippi.

"Well, let's check 'em again. Maybe if there aren't a lot o' people in there she'll answer, or come out." said Capri.

"Okay, let's go," Pippi agreed, and the three went off in that direction.

they checked the restroom again but there was no sign of her.

Then they moved down the hall toward an exit. There, they saw her running up ahead.

It took some serious legging it, but Pippi and Capri caught up with her, just before she ran out the exit.

Pippi caught hold of her, and at first, NT struggled, she wanted to just keep running.

"NT, what happened!?" Pippi asked.

"Nothing - just let me go!" NT said, but it was barely understandable through her tears.

Of all the people she could've run into, this had to be the worst, next to Darren again, or her own mother. For very different reasons.
NT didn't want to tell the others what Darren had said, and ruin their Christmas too.

"Did something scare you?" Misery asked, catching up with the others. She thought the girl looked more upset than scared, but it didn't hurt to ask.

"I'll go get Ariel!" Capri said, and ran back to find her mother.

Oh, no, the last thing NT wanted. Now she was scared. Scared Ariel would manage to figure it out somehow. It was bad enough Pippi was already here, and those two were so slick at getting anything out of anybody.

NT tried once again to get away.

Indy and Ariel were still looking for her in the banquet hall, when they spotted Capri.

"We found 'er, she's tryin t' leave, somethin's got 'er real upset." said Capri.

"What could possibly upset her here at the Whobilation?" Indy asked.

Ariel couldn't imagine what it could be either, so she and Indy followed Capri out to the exit where Pippi and Misery were still trying to get NT to stay put.

"Man, she's a - handful!" Misery joked. NT was slippery and kept nearly getting away until Pippi got a better hold on her.

"Thanks, I'm glad you found her. I was getting worried." said Ariel. She put a loving hand on NT's cheek, "What's happened, dear, what's got you so upset?"

NT shook her head and put a finger to her mouth.
She couldn't talk now anyway, not when she still couldn't quit crying.
And she was trying not to, ever since being caught, it just wasn't possible.

"I think we should maybe just go home," Ariel suggested."

"Sounds like a good idea," Misery agreed. Capri nodded.

"Yes, the place has already started to clear out anyway," said Pippi.

They walked back to their cars as a light snow began to fall.

"Merry Christmas!" Indy called as she got into her car.

"Merry Christmas Indy!" Misery called back. She was echoed by all the others.

All but NT that is.

No one noticed the Grinch lurking in the shadows. He had seen Daren walking out, looking rather supercilious just after the sounds of upset coming from inside the building.

Now he silently watched the sassiest reporter from KWHO and friends leaving. What was out of place was one of them was very distraught.

"Hmmm," he thought to himself, "What could've happened in there? Was that goofball boy and the grinchiest little who girl he'd seen in a while somehow connected?

They got home safely, but NT just retreated to her room.

When Ariel came up to tuck her in and then go to bed herself, she tried once again to get NT to talk about what was bothering her.

NT only clouded up again and shook her head. "I...can't." she managed to get out. "Too bad to repeat."

All Ariel could do was stay with her until she cried herself to sleep. She'd always been able to get to the bottom of things with her before, what in the world had NT heard or seen at the ceremony that was this bad?

Eventually, everyone else in the house had fallen asleep.

Mia's high pitched barking wakened NT from sleep. The girl got up, paid her a little attention, but felt as crappy as ever. She couldn't stay here, this place felt so closed in and she just needed to get away and figure out what to do from there until she was stronger...if that would ever happen.

Silently, NT got dressed, brushed her hair a little, stole out of her room, and quietly out the front door.

Now, the outdoors was a threat. It was so vast, and she was so small and insignificant. NT just didn't belong anywhere, and she couldn't turn back time to erase what had happened to Darren, though how she wished to God she could.

She started along the sidewalks, crossed some streets, aimlessly wandering around and crying off and on.

A soft sound like a music box attracted her attention down a darkened alley.

It was distant at first, but the sound became louder as she made her way down the alley, drawn to the music.

It also sounded slightly out of tune, as if it were broken.

There was a flash of little, reflective mirrors dancing partway up a wall, near the Dumpit-to-Crumpit.

And that caught NT's eye. This was too strange and cool not to investigate. And at least for the moment, it helped ease the pain a little.

The music box looked slightly battered, but still worked. It seemed to dangle in mid-air before her. It could have been attached to something - a string, perhaps, but it was too dark to see.

NT couldn't figure out what an old child's music box was doing out here, playing, and dangling in mid air. The mirrors were puzzling as well. She'd explore them next, but the music box was nearer.

So, when she was close enough, she reached out and tried to find the string or thread it was hanging from.

As soon as she tugged on it, a snare came down and grabbed her wrists, hauling her up off her feet, leaving her dangling against the wall.

She shrieked, but once the snare stopped moving, she quieted.

She didn't know how to get loose, and it was too far off the ground anyway. She knew that unless she could climb down without falling, she'd get hurt or killed.

She had no means of getting help but didn't really care at this point anyway.

Almost immediately, the Dumpit-to-Crumpit opened with a loud clang and a green, furry hand came out, grasping the side of the chute.
Another hand appeared with a battered-looking old telescope pieced together with a few broken parts.

The sound of cackling could be heard reverberating down the garbage chute.

NT narrowed her eyes at that.

The scope looked around until it focused on NT hanging there helplessly.

Once it spotted her it withdrew and more green fur appeared as the Grinch popped his head out of the can.
Grasping the sides, he hauled himself out rather gracelessly.

He cackled and chortled, snickered and giggled aloud to himself.

NT hissed back at him.

Rearing back at the hiss, he cocked his head at her. "What are you? A Who or a snoozlecat? Hiss? Hiss?"

"What do I look like, you garbage man?" she countered.

The Grinch put a long, furry finger to the side of his noggin. "Well, you look like a Who and sound like a Who, 'cept when you hiss...so what are you then?" He glared closer at her, almost within reach. "You better be something good, 'cause you're so small I should just throw you back!"

"Who cares what I am?" said NT irritably. "And you can throw me back if you want."

"Hmmm.....you aren't a typical Who, are you?" pondered the Grinch aloud.

NT tsked. I don't know why you're so interested."

"Because I HATE the Whos!" he snarled, baring filthy teeth. "they're so sickly sweet and oh-so-happy! Ugh!" He poked her with a finger. "but you..are different. You're bad-tempered - like me...And cranky and irritable...admirable qualities," he grinned.

"That's because I feel like crap, can't you tell?" she said honestly.

"Oh yes, I wrote the book on feeling bad, y'know," he said proudly, patting his own chest.

"Yeah, you look like you could have. Only you like being crabby. I don't. It just happens."

He went to the rope that held his trap in place. "Well, enjoy it while you got it, sister," he advised her, letting it down to lower her to the ground.

"You're right, though, there's nothing typical about me." she added.

"That makes two of us," grumbled the Grinch. "I'm lucky that Indy-reporter didn't make me a headline on her newstory."
He flung his arm out dramatically and waved it across the air in front of him. "Big green mutant, what-za-ma-callit takes over Oncler's factory...ugh, I would never get any peace after a headline like that!"

This resulted in a suppressed burst of laughter from NT. "Indy isn't your typical reporter, either, and I wouldn't call her sickly sweet. I wish I could be more like her." said NT. "She's tough."

Once down on the ground, NT worked her wrists out of the snares. "I wish you could trap whoever's responsible for torturing somebody I met at Whobilation tonight. But since you probably don't even know him, that's not possible."

"you would've liked Darren, though, he was crabby, like you. But he wanted everybody to stop saying 'Merry Christmas' that ticked me off, and he and I got into a fight. I tried to leave, and he..." she clammed up a moment, and then told him what'd happened.

"He even showed me where they hurt him. I saw the scars. But he's still wrong, those monsters knew nothing of Christ or Christmas, they were lying scumbags, and I'm not a sadist just because I believe in Christmas!" she said, wringing her small, ice cold hands.

"I wish I hadn't gone to Whobilation, and never heard of Darren and what happened to him." she said bitterly.

The Grinch thought about this, the wheels turning in his head.

"That was probably more than you wanted to know, I couldn't tell my friends or my mom. You don't like Christmas so I don't have to worry about ruining it for you. But them...Well, you didn't need to hear this, but I had to get it off my chest just a little." she apologized.

He sat on the lid of the Dumpit-to-Crumpit. "Well, since you aren't running off screaming in terror of me, I better give you some advice, kiddo. But only if you'll listen...I'm not going to waste my breath if you're going to ignore me," he said. "So you gonna listen, since I listened to you?" he asked her.

"Yeah." she said.

"If you cut yourself, when you heal over, you get a scab, right?" he began.

"Yes," she said.

"And why do you get a scab, do you know why?"

"Yeah, but please don't ask me to go into a long, scientific explanation."

"I'm not asking for a scientific explanation!" he said, rolling his eyes. "Okay, put very simply, you get a scab so the next time when you get cut in the same place, it won't be as bad, or it takes more to cut you."

"Yeah." she said again.

"Well...." he said, rolling his jaw around back and forth with the word. "he cut you in here," he tapped the space over her heart. "and it's gonna hurt and you're gonna brood but you're gonna find a way to get over it, and the next time someone cuts you there, it ain't gonna hurt as much." He snorted. "Take it from me, I KNOW."

She turned her head away to hide the fact she wanted to cry again, then turned back when she managed to fight it back. "Everybody says you get tougher with time and with age. Well, I haven't had much of either and it's like barely recovering from one thing when something else happens. Were you hurt badly when you were my age, or unable to prevent something terrible from happening?"

"I ran away before your age," he said carefully. "I was eight, and yes, I don't want to talk about it," he growled. "the Mayor won't get another chance to do that again." He turned away, snorting, breathing heavily, loathing the emotions that were seething to the surface with the memories.

He looked back behind him. "Life happens, kiddo. It doesn't ask you if you recover from something, doesn't ask your permission. If it did, would you say, 'Oh sure, I'm ready to get clobbered again'."

"Of course not!"

"If it did, I'd say that everybody oughta smarten up and stop being cruel or else. You were a year older than I am when the mayor did something? I won't ask." she said.

The Grinch cocked his head at this. "You're seven years old?!? What do I look like? A gullible Grinch?!? There's no way you're seven!"

"I'm going on 7 come February. I even have a couple of loose teeth to prove it." She opened her mouth and wiggled a loose front tooth that just happened to be ready to come out. She held it in her hand. The grinch could see that her teeth were in good condition with no filth or decay, and they were smaller than adult teeth should be.

"I'll probably lose the other one in a couple more days, my mom says."

He stared at the tooth, snorting in surprise.

She looked at the mirrors and started toward them cautiously. "Are they safe to look at or are they designed to grab some unsuspecting person as well?"

"Go ahead," he waved in okay.

She came closer and reached out to touch one of them.

"They're neat. I'll just look for a moment and then be out of here."

She admired them for a while, nodding and looking calmer than the Grinch had seen her.

"Thank you, Mr. Grinch, good luck trapping some really evil types. Though you won't get them with this kind of bait." She waved, turned and began to wander away.

"I wasn't trying for evil types," he called after her. "and it did work." He paused. "though I don't approve of anyone emotionally scarring anyone."

"Neither do I." she said.

He paused. "Ruining Christmas, yeah, that's fine by me...but what he did to you..."

"What they did to him was far worse." she said.

"Maybe something should be done about that," mumbled the Grinch. He shuffled off towards the garbage chute.

NT nodded, wishing she could do something about it, and went on her way.