The Hunt for the Jester - Prologue c

Alright, alright, that's enough fanservice. On with the more serious story from now on, promise.

I admit, I could have ended this chapter at prologue b with an additional paragraph or two to round it off properly, but I didn't. And not just because I thought I was being funny (although I admit I did have fun writing this chapter) but because I wanted to give a better idea of what Minnie was like when not on best behaviour. So if part a was setting the necessary backdrop for the party and slowly getting back into the swing of things, part b was setting up her declaring the party her friends and them accepting it.

Even so, when I look back at my last version, everyone was a little out of character (and Yangus almost non-existent). Which is bad when you consider one of them is my own creation and I of all people should know better.   To be honest, of all of them, Jay is probably the most in danger of still being out of character, considering he's making snarky comments and jokes in front of and to Princess Minnie; ordinarily he'd be on best behaviour and painfully formal. My excuse is that he's even more uncomfortable with playing dress-up, and he's trying his best to act normal since Minnie said that's what she wants.
Similarly, Angelo should be smoother with his flirting, but I just can't seem to write flirting well - it either comes off as sappy, overblown or awkward. I suppose that actually describes a lot of flirting quite well, but it doesn't come off as natural when I read it, so I scrapped it in favour of something to put down. I feel a little bad for Angelo though, as I feel like I'm cramping his style.
I also feel bad for Jess - her temper is usually this bad, but I seem to keep having her blow up and chucking fireballs around. Which actually isn't canon (I checked, and except for one small picture in the epilogue and her horrible first meeting with the party, she isn't like that at all - I think it just crept in with excessive rewrites). Part of this rewrite is trying to tone down that part of Jess' personality I introduced, but here it stays as the scene kind of falls apart without it. And I hope I've made it more reasonable as Jess being way out of her comfort zone and Angelo continually prodding her buttons when he should know better. Just to confirm - the fireballs she throws at Angelo are not the same she throws at monsters - they're deliberately given little magical power, so they don't burn and hurt no more than a pillow being thrown at you. Anything more is not okay. After all, it's not okay for Angelo to throw spells at Jess when he's angry with her, and it's not okay for Jess to throw spells at him either.
Finally, Yangus is still a bit quiet, but that's mainly because he's too busy laughing at everyone else. And he got a few more lines, so he's happy.

Anyway, this bit is mainly to show a few new costumes - they'll be returning later, so this explains where they came from when they have no money - and finish introducing Minnie properly - she'll also make a return later. For now though, I hope you enjoy the craziness, and I promise to get on with plot from now on - we're nearly fifty pages in, after all!