Chapter Text
Friday. The Ides of March.
Winter begat Spring. Ever and always.
As the Earth turned, Spring would beget summer. Summer Fall, Fall Winter.
And in three months and a day, on Sunday, June 16, a very special, national holiday would come and go. An occasion to celebrate that one special man in everybody's lives.
The King's birthday.
High in the Tree Fort, Maya tapped at the calculator, glancing up now and again with a neutral expression -- half rehearsed, half genuinely apathetic. On the table in front of her, plans. Invitation lists. Spreadsheets. Plans that had been worked, and re-worked, and re-reworked, for six whole months.
Six turbulent, hyper-eventful, spine-twistingly infuriating months.
"Fireworks!" King Xavier declared. "Big yellow ones!"
Mhm. Visible in the daytime. Okay, that would be $43 above allowance, but...
"Ooh! And candy! All of it!"
...But everything had to be perfect. This tournament needed to be, perfect. Better than the wet dud last year. And the one before that, and the one before that.
And maybe, she smirked...
Maybe... on the off-chance that little capital-C Creepgoblin, Craig of the Creek, just happened to sneak in at just the last--
*bvvvt!* *bvvvt!*
Suddenly, the King flipped out his PineApple XX. And lit up in a genuine, non-sociopathic grin.
"Power Punchers HD Ultimate Remix!! It came!!" He dropped everything, zipping away and down the spiral staircase. "Need it Need it Need it Need it!"
The line of dust dissipated on its way down the spiral staircase and out the front gates. None of the merchants, or even the Acorn Guards, paid any mind.
Maya facepalmed with her calculator hand, buttons mashing against her face as she pulled her eyelids down with the monitor. And she growled that fatal, fatalistic growl that only she was allowed to growl.
Down below, The Blur, The Arm, The Squashinator and her steed, tapped their fingers dejectedly.
At this rate, the 13-year-old man-baby was never even gonna show up.
None of them would.