Early noon next day.
The birthday party is in full swing. Everything had been taken care of to assure the smallest guests will have continuous entertainmaint; a ball pit, a bouncy castle, and even a (tragically unfunny) clown, cracking jokes to the children. Fortunately for Quips the clown, these youngsters were easily amused.
There were some whispers of a possible stuntmen performance , but this was only a rumor, for now.
"You're really spoiling her, Benson! In a good way, I mean", said Skips, overlooking the festivities with his boss.
"I know", Benson proudly proclaimed. "Nothing will be too much for this little angel"
He fondly held Stella up in his arms, squishing his glass cheek against hers. Fatherhood had made him a different man. Something of a Jekkyl-and-Hyde figure. While towards his employees he was still the serious boss and park manager, his expressions and voice would often significantly change when his little daughter was in his line of vision. Not rarely had the park workers been cringing in secondhand embarrassment behind Benson's back, when he was cooing at Stella, doting on her the way he did.
Stella, being a shy little two-years-old, held on to her father's shirt for comfort. Oh yes, he was wearing a shirt today. And a painfully corny one at that. "Dad of the birthday girl" it said. Once again making the other men wonder "Who is this guy, and what did he do to Benson?!"
"When do I get pwesents?" the small, magenta gumball machine asked her father, in that soft tone of a shy child that felt a little intimidated by the large number of people.
"First we'll get the birthday cake, pumpkin. Presents come after"
"Otay!"
"Dude, what is that thing?!"
Rigby was having a look at the birthday cake him and Mordecai were meant to bring out of the garage, and into the party. As gorgeous as the cake itself was, the strange wooden topper ruined the complete image.
"I know, right!" Mordecai agreed "Skips carved that out and... I dunno, he said something about "precautions" or whatever, but ugh! Looking at that thing just pisses me off! Who does that to a child's birthday cake!"
"Lucky for Stella, uncle Rigdad knows just what to do!" Saying this, Rigby replaced the strange wooden miniature totem with a Huggstable cake topper.
"Dude, Huggstables? Really?" Mordecai cynically replied.
"What? The kids love it", Rigby assured his blue jay buddy.
As much as he despised the Huggstables, being a father himself now to a little raccoon-mole hybrid daughter, he learned the hard way what children prefer. He lit the two small candles that were located in the purple figurine's hands.
"... – which is why it is very important for any child to blow out the special protection candle on their second birthday", Skips was conversing with Muscle Man, who had no less than five little Muscle tykes standing around him.
"Bro... so, what happens if a child is hit with the curse?"
"How do I explain...", Skips wondered out loud, "I suppose the child would become kinda like ..." his face looked in the direction of the Death family, who were also present. Looking specifically at "baby" Thomas.
With that, Muscle Man knew enough, remembering his ordeal years ago.
The two men heard the birthday cheers, and made their way to the big birthday cake reveal.
Today's gonna be A-Okay!
'Cause we're celebrating your birthday!
Happy Birthday Stelly-bean,
Celebrating your birthday!
And with that, the jay and the raccoon carefully but excitedly placed the cake onto the table, in front of the birthday girl.
The child's eyes gleamed with joy, her mouth agape in awe of the sweet spectacle before her. Benson too felt the happiness radiating from his little sunshine. He strongly considered giving everyone a raise for making this birthday perfect.
From a short distance Skips could tell something was different about the cake. His eyes widened in horror upon realization that his hand-carved protection candle had been replaced with some disgusting Huggstable trinket.
In dramatic slow-motion he saw the gumball-child inhaling deeply. He rushed toward the table, yet everything felt to be slowing him down.
"Don't blow it!" he cried.
But Stella's breath had already extinguished the candles' flames.
And then... nothing happened.
He had stopped right on time, before launching himself onto the party table. The yeti received multiple bemused looks.
"Ummm...", Benson tilted his head, "Are you okay, Skips?"
"Wha-.. WHO changed the candle?!" Skips roared.
His head automatically turned to Mordecai and Rigby, eyes glowing with accusation.
Rigby squeaked, "Ummmm... I …-"
"You've made a HUGE mistake! Don't you understand that candle was there for a reason?! On the day of every child's second birthday, their soul becomes highly vulnerable to corruption!"
"Corruption?"
"It is said that the evil that is within all of us accumulates, and finds its way to the untainted soul of a child, tarnishing it..
"That's a pretty wild way to describe the "Terrible Two's" all kids go through, Skips", Starla protested, holding her oldest daughter in front of her.
"Little Pegatha here has thrown some tantrums too when she was Stella's age, but I wouldn't call her "corrupted", the mother of six looked at Skips as though he had just insulted her entire family to her face.
"Haha.. right, so... Who wants cake?" Benson interrupted in hopes of de-escalating a possible fistfight between Starla and Skips.