Micky was greeting the guests as they arrived, and he was pretty sure there were too many of them. He had invited people he knew, as well as nosey neighbors. So why were the senior citizens coming in as well. Oh, they must be here for Yolanda. She wanted to show off her grand disciples(?). Then there were the neighbors that seemed to have multiplied… Oh, that was Mrs. Doderson, she seems to be glowing now… and then there was the endless kids. Ah, these were all the kids from the orphanage. Micky retreated from all of this to his friends he’s picked up on his adventurers.

Everybody had brought a something or other food related. Micky had several things laid out including stew. All of which would go out onto the table to have a who’s who of what’s brought be judged and then smeared into each other’s face, figuratively of course. There were many things brought out, but Micky made sure to bring out the other things that had been given to him ahead of time.

Micky made sure to make the rounds but he wasn’t able to approach the table with Mrs. Yolanda and her guests. There were many and varied customers here. From the clearly old, but beautiful women that have skin and bodies that looked like they were just on the verge of twenty. And yet from their hair and their style and mannerisms it was clear that they were more ancient then the dirt they were standing on… Was that killing intent? Hmm, best not to mention age around these folks, or even think it. On the other hand there were the ones that were clearly wrinkled, their hair was white and thin, if they had any, and they looked as if they were a wisp or a dried tree about to light up by the slightest spark. The last group also contained some of the apparently youngest, though the groups were verified and mixed from what Micky could tell.

There were of course gentleman as well. These two had young and old in a similar fashion, and were mixed into the elder crowd in different ways. There was one old man, that looked like a shota. Micky had to actively shew the kids away from him, as he was afraid for their safety. Any old man that ran around with the body of a child was bad news. Then there was the salt and pepper dapper gentlemen crowd, what characters these were.

Of course that was just one small section of his guests. He also had his neighbors, yet another challenge. These were the people that Mrs. Dodderson had ensured were invited. Although it seemed like Micky was in charge of the invites, unlike with the old folks Yolanda had invited, Micky was pretty sure there were even more than he had started with inviting. On the other hand, Mrs. Dodderson seemed to be in her element, dancing around from guest to guest. Some of which were least ranked nobility, some of which were merchants, or rich adventurers, and some of which were the prominent people of the town.

This group was even more varied, if somehow less eccentric than the seniors. There was this white skinned red eyed vampire looking dude, that was an actual vampire, as in the race, not the monster. He was in a group with three other monstrous looking fellows. Then there were those that weren’t even close to human like the naga, or dragonkin, or centuars of various types. He was pretty sure that one of them might have even been a sentient slime, though that might have been squishy making the rounds. He had also seen several that were eccentric in other ways, like the one nearly screaming about monster rights. Or at least that’s what it seemed to be. He was a human that was renting a house nearby, another adventurer type. There were several of those as well. Then there were the ultra posh that were as gaudy as possible. They wanted you to know every dollar they had in store, and it seemed as if they were wearing it.

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Then there was another group, this group was the friends of Micky and Prin, as well as a few small aquantences of Mrs. Doderson. This group was the third largest of them all. Which was weird in its own right.

Of course the fourth group Micky found to be the oddest. There were a large group of beautiful women his own age, and a few men. They all seemed to be very chatty and had varying backgrounds ranging from near to none, to very interesting, to people that knew people that knew Yolanda, Mrs. Doderson, or the kids. Another oddity was that they were all single.

Then Micky finally came upon the last group, waves and waves of children. Apparently his kids had made good upon their promise of bringing all the kids at the orphanage, even some that seemed to have been out of it, or on the street were around. Micky could see the matron was smiling from ear to ear. She couldn’t have been more ecstatic to show off her wears. Micky on the other hand, just ignored her. He had other more important people to attend, like that cute naga over there with the big rack…

Micky had long since moved the party to the back yard at this point, the house seeming to wish to burst at the seems as people walked in and around. Micky was more then happy to walk around and chatt. He hadn’t had the opportunity to talk to people in what seemed like forever. He was starting to wonder if he was becoming a hermit.

The matron was wondering around. She couldn’t pass this opportunity up! It seemed that her recent patron, was also the golden goose. Originally so many nobles or artisans would be a rarity. But now she had more then she had ever seen before all at one party. She would have to do her best to rub elbows and introduce wears…

She started talking to a group of prospective and was really excited to talk about a pair of young brothers when they had suddenly left her. She felt the coincidence odd until she realized that the group was looking at the red marks that were hidden under the cloths of the children. That wasn’t good. She understood that the people though the children were unruly if she had to cane them that much. And it was kind of true, if she didn’t cane so many children all the time she would never be able to get things done. But the problem was that these people couldn’t think that.

Then there was the cloths that she had bought for them. That turned out to be the biggest waste. She had bought the kids nice cloths even if plain. But even the nice if risque dresses that she had purchased were not enticing the prospective adopters here. Of course it couldn’t, these people were nobility and merchants. They could afford to purchase all these clothes ten times over. On the other hand, the sexy dresses and clothes that she had purchased seemed to have backfired even more. There were plenty of kids getting offers to be adopted sure. But these were the smart ones, or those street tramps that the brats she pawned off on that other noble had invited. She often kicked out the unsold children over twelve, at that time they could make their own way, and she didn’t need to feed the ungrateful basterds.

But it appeared that no, she had been wrong about her marketing all along. People like this, places like this, she needed her wares to be cute, endearing, smart, talented, and desperate and in despair. It seemed that many of the street tramps in rags were getting offers and invites. It may have also been because the owner of the residence had given them a quick bath as well, since he couldn’t have them stinking up the place. No, the high ticket items were not selling here. Despite all the time she had taken in making sure that they were trained and educated properly she knew nothing of noble etiquette and couldn’t possibly help th little girls and boys navigate the upper crust.

The nobility didn’t even seem to be interested in the young workers that she had ready to become slaves. They didn’t need any for the mines, and if they did they would already ask. No, they were looking for the smart and the skilled ones. This was something she had been highly discouraging, since the smart ones would run away, and were usually willful. No she needed to change her statigy entirely. The first thing that she needed to change, she had to get rid of the cane and find something that would cause the appropriate amount of pain without leaving marks!