Writing Competition - 6th Birthday Party

[Opsinis]

Writing Competition: 6th Birthday Party

Elements the Game is a six year old little kid (human boy or girl). Does this kid invite a cute little abomination to play with? Are the parents of this kid a Mindflayer and Seraph?
Does the extended family include zanzarino and willng3 and Treldon? Does the kid get a little Arsenic to munch on?

YOU WRITE THE STORY of Elements the Kid 6th birthday party!

A few things you need to know:

• The kid must be a 6 year-old human. Male or Female. Any other family is up for grabs.
• One submission per person
• Minimum word count: 300 words, there is NO maximum count
• Submit your story in this thread
• It is mandatory that you have fun

The winner will receive a cute little trophy that is good I promise.

Additionally, we will be testing a form of expert panel for this competition. The public vote will be weighted as 70%, and the final 30% will be the three COs, each adding the equivalent of an additional 5% to their two favorite submissions.

You have no time left!

[Higurashi]

Spoiler for A birthday in the ethereal realm:

I still don't remember how I got here... to a land of immortals and gods... but I do know I feel more at home here.

"It's the ascended thought-cloud."

I turn around to see mom.
"Part of the Aether, right?"

She nods with a smile.
"And the other part is...?"

I ponder for a second.
"The energy thread!"

"That's right. One holds the consciousnesses of the universe and the other is the weave upon which all matter is able to persist."

"For a limited time."
Dad enters my room.
"And today would have been your 6th birthday, Eleasar."

"Why did you pick that name for me anyway? There is no god, after all."

"God is just a word sentience uses to label what they hold sacred in the universe, son."

"Oh... and all living things are part of the sentience."

They both nod. My 6th birthday means it's time for my initiation. I will take part in the quintessence so that I can stay anchored to the universe. When I was mortal we used to call it immortality, but you can only become immortal when you've left your material form behind. The alternative is undeath, and nobody wants that.

I step up to the window. I'll never grow bored of the view of the Anchor nebula. Clouds of colors I wasn't even aware of before. I can see beyond the stars and galaxies there if I try really hard, but dad warns against it. He says sentience only comes here to anchor themselves to reality and that no one can live near the rift. It leads to boundless chaos and threatens to unravel sentience. That to let that go for the promise of never-ending ecstasy will destroy your individuality. I'm not sure what it all means yet. He likened it to the end of a funnel where everything just opens up in all directions and there's nothing to hold on to or any way to get your bearings.

Mom puts a hand on my shoulder. We leave the building, made of imagination as it is. The walkways on the sides of the stairs to the altar of quintessence are riddled with all kinds of sentience. They told me I was lucky they had two formerly human minds to adopt me. They say it can take a lot longer to take to a pair of mind flayer mentors. They're not evil at all, though. Mom has told me they're just misunderstood and dad mostly agrees although he mumbles a lot when we talk about it.

There are a lot of Phase spiders and recluses here, so close to the rift. They're the purest forms of sentience apart from the sparks, but they're misunderstood too. Mom told me predators tend to be, but they're one half of the balance of the universe. Without destruction and consumption, there would be too much construction and production. They tend to gather when energy does, and with so many Psions here to initiate a large group of sentience, I'm trying to rationalize it like that. They're still really scary this close up though.

I take the last step of the stairs. The altar glows bright and blue, it's so bright... I look up to the Psion and he nods. I scoop up some quintessence and drink eagerly. It tastes like blood. Ugh... something is happening to me. It feels like a current going through me... oh god, my eyes. What am I seeing? This is the energy thread? It flows everywhere... it's so pretty. I turn around and see mom and dad. They're like moving streams, like living flames of their souls. My own hands... I'm all flowing. They smile.

I am Eleasar, they tell my mind directly. Never forget that, my son. It's very, very important.

I look out toward the boundless chaos. It twitches and twists, reaching its tendrils. Now I understand why.

[serprex]

Spoiler for Hidden:

So soon what, so young, yet ripe, ice cream cake is melting, everybody's leaving, what's that on the door, I know, no I don't, who are these people here? They don't know why I am how I am, nor I, now here, soon there, maybe, or maybe still here, I'm a toddler in a child's body, but treat me like I have a decade, time enough to know better, but not time enough to do better. Tuck me in tight, I might slide out, slip away in a few years, be different, forgotten, drinking under moonlight, swearing at figures in darkness, I AM NIGHTMARE, fear me, detest me, leave me alone, why am I still here? Time moves on, this isn't something to delight in, life changes, but death will still be inevitable. There's no light at the end of the tunnel. It's a fluorescent tunnel, you have to squint to see, but the earth glows beneath your feet, beneath it a fire burns, these are things any child knows by age 6, wet from baptism, but faithless, innocent, free like the wind. There is no order in finding new punctuation, it's a naturally occuring order, it is a rejected order, it propagates, outwards into space, into the aether, little pockets of gravity try to keep it bound up in a little bottle, but supernovas happen every day, no big deal, just like birthdays, this birthday is too young, influenced by ads & product placement, oh well, all well, there's still time to not appreciate the yolk parents bear for their preprogrammed decisions. Creators must create, but it wears away their soul, so that they're left an atheist, no longer believing there ever was a soul. Only left to suffer amongst their creation, their life's time invested in toys, toys for toys, ad infinitum, as ad infinitum as entropy's propagation, dizziness now, I must return to rest, go back to bed, day is over, stomach ache, too many sweets, cherish all of you, who too will die, but hopefully before the birthday child

[Christopaz]

Hope you guys like it! (And guess who the PoV character is)

Spoiler for Le short story:

Of Forgotten Motivations

"Happy birthday... Happy birthday.. Ha-ppy Birth-day..... too.... you!!" Everyone in the birthday party sang with great excitement.
The birthday boy squealed, saying,"THIS IS THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!". He is wearing his favorite costume. A king costume he used in a play in his school. Instead of wearing the conical birthday hat, he wears a huge paper mache crown.

Her mother pattted his head, "Now, now, blow out the birthday candles so we can get to the exciting part: the presents!"
Everyone gathered around the table where the cake is placed. The birthday cake is simple. It is a rectangular chocolate cake with white icing, "Happy Birthday!!!" inscripted in it's surface. A single candle which takes the shape of the number 6 is placed in it.
The boy thought of his wish, I wish to great ruler! Like owning a huge, huge, magical kingdom! , then proceeded to blow out the candle. Once the candle was unlit, everyone applauded.
The mother leaned down and whispered in the boy's ear, "What is your wish?".
The boy giggled and whispered back, "To be a king!". Her mother chuckled then patted his head again, "Oh, you."

The boy immediately went to the living room. The living room is packed with people. People of all ages came to greet him. His grandmother, uncle, cousins, even far-flung relatives who he never met. What's most important (in his eyes to say the least) at all is the huge pyramid of presents awaiting for him to be opened!
The boy immediately took the present nearest to him and read it's card.
"Happy Birthday! Hope you love this toy! Love, Marsha"
The boy unwrapped the gift furiously. The content of the gift is an action figurine from one of the cartoon shows he liked.
"Woosh! Megaboy! The supreme evil fighting cyborg! Nanananananan!". He imagined his favorite cartoon hero flying over skyscrapers during the night, chasing some villain.

Eventually he got bored with it so he took to unwrapping another gift, he caught something strange, weird even. A single child, similar to his age, wearing a white shirt and blue trousers is looking outside the window.
The birthday boy got confused for a moment. Ever curious, he slowly approached the child and tapped his shoulder.Hmm, must be a new relative, I must meet him and play games!, he excitedly thought.
The child turned around. The birthday boy quickly noticed that he is wearing a circular yellow necklace with a strange symbol, like a flat 8.
The strange child grasped the birthday boy's shoulders and  said to him, "I'll show to you the future." The child's eyes start to flare bright white, slowly consuming the background until everything is blindingly white. The birthday boy instinctively covers his eyes with his arms.

~~~

After he noticed that it everything starts to dim, he stopped covering his face and slowly opened his eyes.
He finds himself in a room, brick walls filled with no decoration, windows and walls absent. He sees a hooded figure, about twice the height as him, wearing the same necklace as the child he saw in the living room.
The boy panicked, his arms twitching and teardrops start to form from his eyes. "Mommy! Mommy!" The birthday boy shouted.
The hooded figure spoke in a gentle voice, "Don't worry, child. You will be sent back. But I have to show you some things first. It will be my present for you in the birthday party."
The boy sobbed for a bit before returning to his composure, "Yes, mister. Where is the present?" He looked around the room, there is still nothing.
The hooded figure said, "It is right behind me, dear child, take a seat.". The hooded figure moved sideways, showing what seems to be a colored TV with a seat right in front of it.
The boy hesitated, "I don't know, mommy told me to not be so close in the TV or else my eyes will burn."
The hooded figure said, "Don't worry, child. It is not a TV, but a computer. Come closer."

The boy hesitated again, but curiosity got the better of him and sat in front of the "computer".
The boy asked, "What is this flat thing with so many buttons? And what is this... circle thingy?"
"It is a keyboard and a mouse. You'll understand in the future."
"Why am I in the future, mister..? Do you have a face?"
The hooded figure made a strange noise, like an off-put laugh."Call me George Orwell T. Peterson. I am here to grant your birthday wish, though not in the way you expected to."
The "computer" flickered into life. It's screen shows the word ELEMENTS and Username: ____________ and Password:____________
The boy's eyes gleamed, "Oh! I get it! This is a video game! Mommy always wanted me to buy one but it is too expensive."
The screen changed. On the top right corner shows a word Level 3 and on the bottom left is the word Ghost. Both have green rectangles with 100/100 near them. Other symbols are shown on screen, a purple skull symbol, a red fire symbol, and the flat 8 symbol, totalling up to 12.
George spoke, "This is the game called Elements. It is a card game where you own cards that you can play on the battlefield. The goal is rather simple: reduce your enemy's life to 0."
The boy looks at the list of names he saw on the bottom right corner. "Are these the ones? Moota tion..? Nova, Nova,Flesh Spider, Skeleton, Sh... something cat, Skeleton. So cool!"
"Indeed."

One of the cards, Nova, disappeared from the list. The number besides the 12 symbols have changed all to 1.
"The card Nova gives quanta to all 12 elements. It is useful for decks using many elements but can be unnecessary for decks using only one element."
The boy got confused by the George's message. He realized this and said, "quanta are used to play your creatures, like those spiders and skeletons."
The boy said, "Kwantas are so cool! Are there knights in this game? Oh I wanna see them!"
"Yes, there are knights in this game, very noble at that!"

"There is a little problem in this game though, let me show you." George continued.
The screen changed again, to a black background filled with messages. The top left corner says ELEMENTS chat.
The boy saw one of the messages in the screen.
[01:03:15]<Zblader> Zanz was last seen October 2014.
The boy got shocked, "2014? that's so faaaar. And who is Zblader?"
George replied, "This is called a chat system. People from around the world who play the game go to this place and talk about it."
The boy stared at the screen in awe, "Like a super-telephone!" The boy then continued to read the messaged. One thing he noticed, is that the people are talking about "zanzarino".
The boy asked, "Who is 'zanzarino'? Is he so important?". The screen started to scroll down, showing more messages about the person named zanzarino.
"Yes, he created the game, all those cards sprung to life due to his hard work and dedication, but as you can see the people are quite saddened."
The boy asked again, "Why is that?"
"Because he neglected it. No more cards are being made, and with it, the community around the game started to dwindle. The people here began to wonder where he went, as he left without a trace!"
The boy snickered, "That's so bad for him! Leaving his cards and people like that! If I were him! I'd make more cards and help the community, like a good king!"
The chat stopped. The screen slowly flickered then return to its original blank state.
"It seems the time is up, did you have a good time? What do you think of the game, do you like it?" George asked.
"It's so cool! I want it! Can I bring it back home, pretty please?" The boy clasped his hand, begging.
"You will have it in time." George said. The boy groaned for a bit, disappointed he can't bring back the game.
The room start to shake.
"W-what is going on?" the boy said nervously.
"I think it is time for you to go back home." The hooded figure replied.
The room shakes again. The corners start to glow black, consuming everything, starting from the corners of the room.
"I will leave you a note one child. One favor I ask of you is please remember it... remember your obligations."
"Goodbye mister--"
~~~
"Hey! What are you doing here?" Her mother tapped her shoulder from behind.
"I was... ugh.." The boy tried to remember. Vague memories spring up about a hooded figure and the word ELEMENTS.
"Is something wrong, honey?" Her mother noticed that her son is zoning out yet again.
The birthday boy snapped back into reality, "Oh I'm fine mom, I'll get back to unwrapping my presents."
"Okay sweetie, I'll talk to some of our guests. Love you!" Her mother kissed him on the forehead before returning back to the kitchen.

The birthday boy realized he had been holding something. A blank piece of paper, it read, "Please come back. Don't leave us. Don't forget the game."
The boy shrugged his arms, crumples the piece of paper and throws it away before returning to his merry mood and unwrapping his presents.

[JonathanCrazyJ]

Spoiler for My Submission:

Perfect

The Oracle awoke. That tends to happen when a six year old is using your belly as a trampoline.

“Ellie… oof…“ he grunted.

“WeeeeeeeeeEEeeeee!”

“E, please…”

“Bouncy Bouncy!”

“Just… stop…”

“Bouncy Fatty!”

“ELEMENTS, THE, GAME!!!”

Ellie sprang gracefully from his newly bruised gut and landed on the floor, sulking magnificently.

“Don’t use my middle name.”

“Don’t call me ‘Fatty’”

He watched the amusing conundrum faced by all grumpy children. It’s somewhere between a giggle and a tantrum, a pathetic sort of facial juxtaposition. He saw her laugh momentarily, then remind herself that she was only part-way through a very important sulk. In the end she resigned herself to rolling her eyes, and pointedly crossing her arms.

“Fine. Please don’t use my middle name, though. “The”. It’s so ugly.”

“You know that’s my first name?” said The Oracle.

“Duh. Aren’t you going to say Happy Birthday?”

“Happy Birthday Ellie. Are you looking forward to your party?”

“YES! Maybe I’ll get some new toys! I’m bored of all my old toys. I haven’t had a new toy in aaages.”

The Oracle felt a pang in the pit of his stomach. And not because of the bouncing. The poor child.
He steadied himself. “Well… just remember to be thankful for everything you already have. The most important thing is that all of your friends still love you. They still want to play with you – you’ll see at the party!”

“I know, but even my Shards are old now. And Shard of Freedom is broken. But it’s ok. And you’ll keep on taking care of me, won’t you? Until daddy comes home?”
“Always” he ruffled her twelve-coloured hair, hiding his regret.

************************************************

The party was as expected. Loud. All the children played the usual games, “Trials”, “War”, “Brawl”, “Trials” again. They all seemed to be enjoying themselves immensely.
The Oracle was actually quite pleased. He knew some of E’s oldest friends wouldn’t be attending the celebration, but there were some new faces in the crowd. That was the wonderful thing about Ellie, she just had that aura about her. The Oracle knew that whatever happened, someone, somewhere would still want to play with her.

Several hours of laughter, cake and vomit later, The Oracle was chuckling to himself as the kids argued, as always, about their game of “War” when he heard a little tap on the door.
He knew nobody else had heard – they were too concerned about the various sizes of their Vaults. Everyone was here. This game of War was full, auctions were over, and The Oracle didn’t have any spare fortunes for another party-bag. And yet – the door…
There was no need to disturb the children, anything interrupting “War” never went down well, and if there was one thing The Oracle didn't want, it was for Elements The Game to have a tantrum – the last time that happened she broke her PvP1 and it took months to convince her to fix it.
The Oracle stood up subtly (and subtlety does not come easily to a man of such girth) and made his way to the door.

************************************************

“Oracle… I had such a good t-time” Ellie yawned, toothily.

“I’m so glad you did – who won that last war?”

“Oh I don’t care, it was fun though”

The Oracle smiled. He knew she didn’t care who won, she just liked the attention.

“Oracle…”

He saw tears in her twelve-coloured eyes.

“Wh-what is it E? Please don’t cry, you’ll never sleep if you summon a nymph…”

“S.. sorry… I tried so hard all day. I was good wasn’t I? I tried not to be sad, and I wasn’t, I was happy with my friends, but… s…sorry… I really thought daddy would come.”

The Oracle blinked back his own tears. “He… he did.”

“WHAT?”

“Look… just listen to me. I didn’t want to do this now, but I will. You have to promise me to just listen.”

She glared at him. He took that as yes.

“He came to the door. You are always asking me why he left, and I asked him the same thing. I wasn’t going to let him see you unless he was coming back for good –"

“I WANTED TO SEE –"

“NO you didn’t. Remember how sad you were when he left before!”

There was silence. An eternity of silence.

“Fine. Why did he leave?”

“He said… he made you. He nurtured you and you grew. So popular, so strong. He gave you more and more and more to do and play with, spent all he could on toys and shards and… He said he didn’t know how to make you any better than you already were. He said.. he had no more to give you. But every day you wanted more, and your friends were there too, and as much as he gave you all to do and play with, you were never happy for long. He left because… he left because he was proud of you. He left because he thought you were perfect, and because you would never have believed it yourself if he was still here.”

“I’m not… I don’t… I still need…”

“No, you don’t need anything. He’s right. You are perfect.”

Once he had finally coaxed her to a tear-streamed sleep, he waddled downstairs. Zanzarino was waiting, anxiously leaning against the Elemental Wheel in The Oracle’s room.

“Did you tell her? What did she say?”

The Oracle sighed. He was tired, and still had cake in his eyebrows and vomit in his sandals. “I told her. I’m not sure what she said, it was mostly just screaming. Why couldn’t you have told her yourself? Said a proper goodbye?”

“Because it was a lie. I don’t want to leave her alone. I’m not satisfied with her being just perfect. I want her to be the best person in the world. But for me to finish her, to give her everything she needs, I need to be better. She needs more, but I don’t know what she needs. So I want her and her friends to be happy with all she is and all she has now while I work that out. I just hope that when I do… when I come back… she still wants me. That they all still want me.”

“Zanzarino, my friend… you created me too - ”

“ - I did, I’m sorry - ”

“ - and I can honestly say we would take you back in a heartbeat. The heartbeat of a Horned Frog on Adrenaline. Go. Think. Learn.”

Zanzarino glanced at the ceiling, above which lay the sleeping birthday-girl. “I’ll come back…”

“I know.”

[dworthy]

Seems logically consistant to me. Keeping an idea in your head for ten hours is also quite difficult, but I couldn't pass up the chance. When my creativity is coming, anything can pop up. This is my result and submission.

Spoiler for Hidden:

Six years ago, a link was formed between reality and mathematics, like one of many accessed by a counting machine. This one led to a child, who chose a human form, and who you can play with using his toys. Since that realm has an infinitude of dimesions, our minds can only think of them as cards. Therefore, that is what game seems to be, of cards. Sometimes, the creator of the link, known as zanzarino, expands the link slightly in order to give us more ability, more cards, and new things to look forward to discovering, known in the network of couting machines as an update. The child often tries to adjust the cards as it sees fit, but it usually likes the way the game plays. Fearing for the safety of the human-like child, zanzarino asked some guardians to help. In the network of counting machines, they are known as moderators. They protrect the child from those who wish to cheat their way into his recognition. Those discovered to act in that way are not seen by the child again. Since anyone who's heard of the game and has a counting machine can reach the child, there's bound to be some suspicious characters. The human-like child is also growing smarter, as now it has its sixth birthday, if you can call it that.
Sadly, since zanzarino has not been seen for months, the child must party without its creator. Its friends try to make it up by writing stories to it and telling it of many ideas for new cards. However, since the child is part mathematical and part human, its imagination is abysmal. It cannot visualize new ideas without the help of zanzarino, and so as long as zanzarino is missing, nothing changes. Although the friends may think of new games to play among them, which they call War and Trials, the human-like child still has had no creativity. Everything it knows, either zanzarino or the players have taught. Mathematics has no inspiration. The only hope is that zanzarino returns, or passes on ownership of the child to someone else in the reality. Until then, the child be like the world of mathematics, eternal and unchanging.

[Zawadx]

Just under a day left; be sure to get those entries in!

[Aknelo]

It has been a really long time since I have sat down and attempted any sort of creative writing, so I apologise in advance.

Spoiler for I really should have thought of a title...:

Elements was excited.  It was her birthday in a few days.  She was going to be six years old.  Now she needs to put up fingers on both hands to show how old she is.   That was very old.

And there was going to be birthday party!  Elements loved parties.  There was always music and games, competitions, talking, laughter…  and of course; presents.  Even more than parties, Elly loved presents.  It didn’t matter if they were money donations (because they always went into her guardians’ care) or if they were weapons or spells.  It was all the unknown of unwrapping something, which was a lot of fun.  It was like the having a Chaos seed – you just didn’t know what the outcome would be.  Sometimes you’d be able to have a pretty good guess, but sometimes, you really didn’t know.

At least Elements knew who was coming to her party.  This year, her Uncle Oracle was coming.  He always gave the best presents.  Like the year she was two and she got a cat; she named it Schrödinger. He was really clever.  Tricky to find when he didn’t want to be found, and really clever at getting himself out of near-death situations. 

This year Elly was hoping for a pony.  Or even better, a Pegasus!  She’s bigger this year, she can look after a bigger animal now.  Elly had wanted a Pegasus for ages now.  Such majestic creatures of Light.  And they could learn tricks!  Elements had read about one that could Dive.  It would be up in the air flying around, and then could go into a steep dive, straight at the ground really, really fast, and then at the last moment, land delicately and softly on their hoofs.  Elly couldn’t wait until she got a Pegasus.  She had already tamed a Dragonfly and she wanted to team them up together.  Dragonflies seemed to bother Pegasi a lot less than horseflies. 

Elements twirled and danced around the house in excitement, checking everything was ready.  She wanted to have the most fun ever at her party!

The food was set out, including plenty of pieces of birthday cake for all who would turn up and wish her a happy birthday.  There was even enough to spare if Otyugh dropped in. 

She dashed outside to be sure there was enough space for everyone to play her favourite games.  Wars, Brawls and Leagues needed a lot of time and space to be played properly, so that’s why she asked for an entire field to be cleared.  Her guardians had done a great job organising the space, because there was even an arena – perfect! 
Inside there was room for parlour games like Mafia and Vending Machine.  Hopefully something for everyone to enjoy.

Of course, there was also the veranda where lots of people could just mingle and chat.

Elements put on some music and heard the lightning bolt sound of the doorbell – hooray!  The guests were arriving!  Elly ran to the entrance and found the Nymph Queen and her sister the Dark Nymph removing her cloak.  Elements looked up at them in awe.  All the Nymph sisters were so tall and regal and powerful.  Especially Nymph Queen, because she had the power to summon all her sisters when she needed them.  Elements was still working on summoning Forest or Fire Spirits effectively.

Next came through the door the Pharaoh with his Scarab swarm, closely followed by Anubis carrying an Eternity with his crowd of Mummies and Skeletons.  No sooner than Elements had closed the door when the lightning of the bell rang again.  Standing at the door were the Iridium Warden and Crusader, while behind them the Gravitron troop.  Mercernary, Salvager and Fire Eater were being led by Armagio.  Now they were a talented team, throwing around momentum and acceleration and juggling black holes.  Always good for entertainment and a good show.  Especially when they combined their powers in a party trick and pulled out a Chimera – they were truly unstoppable then!

The bell rang again and again, and Elements let more and more guests arrive.  She looked around and saw the entire house and fields outside were full of people talking and discussing game strategies, or helping themselves to cake.  But Elements was starting to get a little sad.  Her Uncle the Oracle still hadn’t turned up.  Elements went to find her guardians and see if they knew anything, but all they could tell her was that he’d be ready sometime after 7am GMT.  Elements sighed and went to find something to cheer her up.  She half-heartedly used her new Shortbow on some spare Relics sitting around, but she was really just waiting for Uncle Oracle.

The day went on, most guests left.  Soon only Firefly Queen, a handful of Ash Eaters and her guardians were left.  Elements curled up around Schrödinger and tucked into a piece of cake.  She must have dozed off, because next thing she knew, she was being shaken awake:  Oracle was here!  She ran up to greet him, with his big beaming smile on his face and went to throw her arms around him.  But before she could, he stepped aside.

And standing behind him, was Zanzarino. 

Elements stopped dead in her tracks for a moment.  Zanarino?  Her dad?  Her DAD!!  He’d been away for so long, she’d forgotten what his voice sounded like.  Elements hurled herself at Zanz, and she could still feel all his love and care and dedication flowing from him into her.

Zanz knelt down to Elly’s level, looking her in the eye.  He explained that he couldn’t stay long, that he had other projects that were still taking his time away from Elements, but he would be back as soon as he could.  Elements sniffled into his sleeve, nodding her head that she understood.  Zanzarino went on to remind her that he has complete faith in her guardians.  There were a lot of people entrusted with her care and education. 

Elements smiled.  She understood.  She knew that Zanz would be gone again for a long time.  And while Oracle didn’t bring her a Pegasus, this was better.  Way, way better.

It was the greatest birthday party she’d ever had.