#rivervale_lodge

A pair of tiny doors on the stairwell which nobody ever seemed to have noticed before burst open to the sound of trumpets.

Da duh da dum!

Vali looks up from his coffee

A gilded banner unfurls. "Happy Birthday Your Majesty!"

"Birthday?" He blinks

A dignified puppet appears at the unexpected balcony and waves to the kingdom below. He wears a purple and gold crown on his white hair, and sports a magnificently curled beard and moustache.

Vali kens it.

A chimera!

"How do you do, Ladies & Gentlemen? How do you do? Lovely, lovely, thank you for the fine birthday greetings.."

A smile, "Your majesty. How goes the land of make believe?" A toast with his cup. He wishes childlings were here.

"Oh, a perfectly beautiful day!" King Friday XIII proclaims.

"It is rather pleasant yes. Good work on the weather, your majesty. "

"Oh ho ho! Thank you! We must have a perfectly sunny birthday, young Vali!"

"Oh, one moment, your Majesty" Vali gets an idea, and darts into the kitchen. A moment later, he returns with a single cupcake (He'll apologize later to Sally Mae) with a small lit candle

The tiny king beams. "What a kind and thoughtful thing!"

"Well, we should do the song, so.." Ahem A look where trumpets "With our without back up." And he sings "Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you! Happy Birthday, King Friday, and to your kingdom too." Then holds up the candle for the puppet to blow on "Make a wish"

He laughs and claps before blowing out the candle with a puff.

It is not apparent at first - but that night, a trolley appears in the dreams of the Lodge, carrying the trolls to the Land of Make Believe for a most wonderful birthday party. No matter their real seeming, they are all childlings there.

And that is a wonderful gift.

"Oh ho ho, thank you, young Vali! I shall see you later!" And with another fanfare, the king heads back inside the stairwell/balcony.

Vali watches the show vanish, and taps the walls to a tune, "Please wont you be, oh please won't you be... won't you be... my neighbor"

(End Scene)

"Colton....." she murmurs in her sleep, gasping and turning in her bed, covers tangled.

"You really need to get up" A voice says

"Yessss...." A lengthy, breathy moan.

"Now wouldbe good. you're attracting the attention of Adam's shoulder devil"

Flopsy?

Flopsy's HERE?? NOW?? Her eyes snap open and she startles upright.

"Morning," Floppsy says "Sorry to trouble you, but Nabuni's been through a lot and I was afraid she was going to come in here and muse you"

Sylvi's breathing hard, and she can tell she's blushing brightly. She's impulsively clutched the sheets to her body, covering up what she recently felt was nude.

"She fuels best from.. certain dreams"

She looks around wildly. "Where...where is she???"

"On the other side of the door." Floppsy says "I wouldn't let her in"

Sylvi's eyes are still wide, but her breath is calming down as the dream begins to fade. She shoves her rumpled hair back from her face. "Good. She's...she's powerful."

"Oh, we're blaming her for that mmm?" Raised brow

tilted ear.

She blinks at him. "Flopsy! That's...I..." Then a pout. "Whose side are you on??"

"Yours, of course, yes, she's powerful that fiend." He nods looking totally as if he believes her.

She tosses a throw pillow, aiming right between the ears, then untangles herself from the covers and gets out of bed.

He ducks "Well. I tried."

A shaky breath as she puts on her robe. "That was...um..."

"Nabuni is half starved, sorry about that. " The rabbit says "Turns out she was ordered away from Adam, AND told not to possess anyone. Guess which two ways she gets glamour?"

Brushing hair is calming...yes... "Those are her choices? Oh, boy. So that...wait...that means..." A bemused expression. "I wonder who Adam has those kinds of dreams about."

"I dont' know, she won't talk. Now she also possesses people where she lets them do what they always wanted to do.. some sort of restriction on how far she can take them... but well, he yelled at her, banished her... she realizes now she should have told him WHY she posseses folks But ..ah, when you had that dream I thought best to intrude"

"So...she didn't make that happen? That was...um...all mine?" A new round of blushing.

"It's possible she could have influenced you... as a catalyst. "

"She was starving so... " A sigh "it's complicated"

A long pause...and she tightens the tie on her robe. "You said she's on the other side of the door?"