PIP/Krampus/In with the New

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"Hmm," said Krampus, "I'm thinking something a little more professional... maybe even clinical. Individual rooms, like a doctor's office. Then I can cater each room to a particular child to most effectively convert them into elves. But for the main areas I like a clean, orderly aesthetic. White marble and stainless steel, I think. Yes, that would do nicely. A reception area would be nice as well. I need an elf to man that station twenty-four hours a day in case I'm needed. I want to keep the three of you as my personal assistants; so we need someone else for that job.


"We need to start keeping records as well. The former Krampus might have liked to fly by the seat of his pants; but I find that highly inefficient. The better records that we keep, the easier my job will be converting the children. I'm going to have enough trouble dealing with the former Krampus's backlog without having knowledge of the children that I'm dealing with. Speaking of which... the store room is this way right?" Krampus walked toward the far end of the cavernous building, with Gold, Frankie, and Myrrh following close behind.


"I'm guessing that was rhetorical, boss?" said Gold as she struggled to keep pace. "Myrrh, go give the construction elves their orders. Frankie, go hire some staff; three shift receptionists and some clerks. I'll stay with the boss." The two tiny elves peeled off in different directions while Gold continued following Krampus.


Krampus came at last to the far wall, and opened a pair of large doors. Within were row after row of shelves all lined with soul orbs containing children waiting to be converted into elves. There were hundreds of them. Some were past failures that former Krampuses had returned to orb form after unsuccessful attempts at conversion. A great number of them were simply a backlog from the former Krampus. He seems to have spent far too much time on a few children, and left most of them as replacements for those that he broke... like a child with too many toys. Krampus was becoming angry again. He took a long, slow breath, and looked over the possibilities. There were children as young as one to as old as fourteen in every combination of gender and ethnicity. He wondered where he should start.


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