What an unexpected, yet welcome, turn of events. Karl the fanaloka, once King Julien's greatest enemy, now sitting at the table with the other guests like he was an old-time friend of the lemurs. He was now sitting directly across from the lemur king himself, smiling from ear to ear. He was rambling on to Horst about one of his most recent genius mechanical creations, and although the Sclater's lemur couldn't really understand a thing he was saying, he kept listening and nodded along, the straw of his beverage never leaving his mouth.
Maurice and Clover were sitting on either side of their king. The aye-aye had a content smile on his face as he conversed with him. "I'm so happy to see things have turned out well between you and Karl after all."
Julien was also staring at the fanaloka with a beaming grin. "Yes, Mo-Mo. Turns out you were right, I did learn a thing or two about him." Then he looked at his short friend. "The craziest thing is, he's the one that came up to me to apologize, out of nowhere. He said he felt terrible for what happened yesterday and wanted to set things right. I mean, can you wrap your brainy bits around that? 'Cause I almost can't!"
"Indeed, Your Majesty. Who knew he had it in him? And by the way, does this really mean he's not going to cause any more trouble?"
"That's right. We already told you all, he's on the good side now - one less bad dude for us to deal with. There's still like..." he began counting with his fingers till he ran out of digits, "...a ton more, but it's a start."
"That's exactly what he wants you lot to believe. I'm still convinced he's planning something..." Clover hissed, her gaze not leaving Karl for even a second. She pointed her index and middle fingers at her own eyes, then at the fanaloka across from them to tell him I'm watching you. "And when he springs his trap, then he'll have something to be truly sorry for."
King Julien gave his bodyguard a pat on the back, then said, "Keep your fists down, Clo-Clo, you'll very soon learn he's a nice guy now. Maybe we can have for once a party where you don't end up punching someone? Just try and give him a chance, will you? Please."
The orange lemur sighed. She just couldn't say no to her king, especially when he said the P-word. "Hmm... fine, I'll try, but I can't guarantee anything! He does anything weird, and he's flying out the window."
The royal nodded wih mirth, "Well, that's an advancement right there!" As he said this, he glanced again at his ex-nemesis. Willie and Dorothy had joined Horst as they tuned in to what he was saying about his technological developments. They asked him all sorts of questions, which the fanaloka was more than pleased to answer, although they really only served to confuse the three lemurs even more rather than enlighten them.
King Julien picked up a mango, which he shared with his advisor and bodyguard as he chatted with them for a few minutes about trivial and inconsequential things. Then, after it had been eaten, he cleared his throat, as he had something important to say.
He picked up the smoothie cup sitting next to his plate, then stood up. All the chatter immediately subsided, and the king looked at each and every one of his guests as he spoke out in a loud, kind voice, "My peoples, before we begin our feast, I'd like to say some things. First off, thank you all for coming tonight, it means a lot, really. I can't even begin to imagine just how sick this whole night's gonna be with y'all here! Second, I'd like for us to share a..." he bent down and whispered to Maurice, a puzzled look settling on his face, "what's it called, that thing you do with your drinks to celebrate something special?"
"You mean a toast?" his advisor suggested.
"Yes, that's it! ...I think." Then he rose up once more to address everyone. "I'd like for us to share a toast. Well, three actually! One... to our nerdy and socially awkward guest, Timo," he looked at the surprised tenrec sitting to his left, "without whom none of this would've been possible – he's been of invaluable help all this time and we wouldn't be here tonight without him." Then he pointed his cup at the fanaloka sitting across the candle-lit table, whose eyes widened. "Another one, to Karl! Yes, that's right, you ex-evil dude over there! To our special guest and – more importantly – our new friendship. Here's to hoping it won't end up crashing and burning and will last forever! And last but certainly not least, to this super wonderful festivity we're all so deep into. To Christmas!" he added while raising his cup in the air.
At this, everybody stood up, cups in hand, then cheerfully chorused as they raised them, "To Christmas!" They then gulped down their drinks in one swift motion. Even Hector had done it (not as loudly or with as much enthusiasm as the others), but he was starting to appreciate the company.
And with that, all eighteen event-goers sat back down. Remembering something that had escaped him before, King Julien glanced over at the mystic lizard perched on one of the chairs not far from him.
"Oh Masikura, I just remembered – I thought maybe scaly psychic lizards don't dig fruit and all that, so I got you something different." He reached under the table and pulled out a jar of dead flies, which he passed over to her. "Think this will be okay? I had to do some... unfitting things for a king to get them, so please say yes..."
Masikura blinked in surprise, only for a smile to crease her green lips. "Er, yes, King Julien, it will indeed be perfectly suitable for me. I appreciate your... consideration." This effort on the king's part surprised the chameleon lady and everybody else; since when did he care about small details such as this?
With that matter resolved, Julien then pulled one of the bowls filled with pineapple slices closer, clapped his hands and said, "Okay peoples, we can now officially start our Christmas feast! Let's go at it, all this food ain't gonna eat itself!" he announced with great thrill, which was shared by all his peers.
"We're all gonna dine!" Willie happily exclaimed as he grabbed a kumquat and placed it on his plate.
Pancho gleamed over the expansive setting with malicious intent, his mouth watering. Those sliced pineapples were looking like the most delicious thing in the world right now. "Hell yeah man, I'm starving! This stuff sure beats the discarded banana peels and apple cores they serve you in jail!"
A dozen hands reached for the bowl of mangos straight away. The wide bowl of punch was passed around as the guests poured themselves some. The chattering resumed, and it soon filled the entire room once again.
Karl grabbed a blueberry, after Hector had ensured to be just kind enough to leave a few untouched. The fanaloka wasn't all that well accustomed to talking to people, but he seemed to be adapting quite quickly and with ease. Right now, he was embroiled in conversation with Xixi as they both shared a juicy watermelon meal.
"...So I said to her "who are you wearing for your date, girl?" and she literally told me to "go stick my stupid beak where the sun don't shine!" the toucan flapped her wings in an indignated manner, the neon bracelets slung around them bobbing around as she did so. "I mean, can you just believe that? Like, I know my job as a reporter is to stick my beak where it doesn't concern me and snoop around other people's business, but she was just so rude!"
Karl listened perceptively, even though the topic at hand – gossip – wasn't exactly the most interesting to him. At all. "Really? How impertinent of her to say that..." he said, taking a bite out of his watermelon slice.
Xixi wasn't even touching her food anymore. "I know, right? I just wanted to slap her right there and then! But I was late to a concert so I had to go. Oh, and by the way – would you like to do an interview sometime later? I'm sure your story of bad-guy-turned-good would be just great for my ratings – and my self-esteem! And it would also let the entire kingdom know you've changed!"
This enticing idea seemed like a great opportunity for the ex-villain to reach out to more people. "If I have the time," he replied, "it will be my pleasure to do it."
Nurse Phantom was roaming around behind the talking pair, and walked back to his seat after refilling two cups for himself and Butterfish. "Hey Karl, is that little bug of yours like your pet or something? You seem to be very attached to it," he told him, sipping through a straw.
The tiny cockroach crawled up to the fanaloka's index finger and was met with a candid smile from his much larger pal as he proceeded to explain, "Chauncey is my best friend and faithful companion; his loyalty to me is only equaled by our fondness for each other. I have always considered that my life only truly started the night I met him, all those years ago. We've been together ever since."
"Aww, that's pretty cute..." Pancho remarked through his pineapple-filled mouth. "But also kinda creepy. I mean, sheesh."
"I'm aware it is... unusual for someone to be friends with an insect, but that is how our destinies were always meant to be. It should be known that cockroaches are far more intelligent than we give them credit for."
"I dunno man, if I saw that lil' thingy crawlin' 'round me, I'd just squash it, y'know? No offense, man." Butterfish mumbled out of nowhere, shoving a handful of pok-poks into his mouth. The big man's crass comment made the fanaloka frown a little bit, but he was swift to forget about it. He had to remind himself that people weren't used to being around arthropods like Chauncey.
"Hey Hector, pass us that bowl of blackberries over there!" King Julien's voice soared from across. The black-and-white lemur picked up said item in his hand and dutifully leaned over to give it to him. He didn't grumble or jeer at him as he complied, which made the king crack a smile.
"Thanks!" he took the bowl, mixed a few berries with the mango on his plate, then turned to his royal advisor. "So yeah, I'm planning to install a new waterslide by the river, so I need you to start making the blueprints and all that technical and boring stuff I have no clue about."
Maurice let out a tired sigh. This was just a weekly discussion point for the aye-aye. "Your Majesty, don't you think we have enough of those already?"
The king reared his head back as he laughed. "Ha ha ha! Never, Mo-Mo! Waterslides are the one thing we can never get enough of! Without them, all those schools, hospitals and retirement homes we so direly need," he covered his mouth as he whispered, "which by the way, I think Hector's in good need of-
"I heard that! And may I remind you geniuses that Mort's older than me!"
"Would be for nothing!"
"Yeah Maurice," Mort peeped snarkily in his king's defense, "if King Julien wants to waste the kingdom's resources building a thousand pointless waterslides, who are you to say no?"
Maurice lifted a brow. "Um, I'm his royal advisor? Voice of reason among all the crazy people? It's my job to say no."
"Whatever. I'm just glad this night isn't turning out to be an epic disaster for us to fix," Clover said with a heartfelt grin as she poured herself some punch from the large bowl, which she then passed on to Tammy. She had by now stopped being concerned about Karl, and focused on the good time to be had.
Julien knew what she meant. "I told you it'd be okay. In fact, he seems to be making lots of friends, doesn't he? I'm gonna start feeling jealous of him!" he said while discreetly pointing a finger at their special guest.
The four lemurs watched Karl. Indeed, he seemed to be the life of the party right now. Everybody wanted to have a piece of information about his daily life, what he was up to, or his new plans for the future, or simply wanted to catch up with him on recent events regarding the festivities. The fanaloka looked much happier than anybody – Chauncey included – had ever seen him before. When Horst told him and the others a joke he always had up his sleeve when working at the clubs, he, along with the entire table, burst out into a rowdy chorus of hearty laughter; an incredibly rare occurrence for him.
The royal entourage wiped the tears off their eyes as their hooting settled down, and looked at each other with broad, warm smiles. Then they dug into the near-empty bowl of blackberries.
The mangos had been eaten. Most of the lychees and strawberries were gone, and the whole bowl of punch had been consumed. Flesh-stripped watermelon rinds riddled the plates. The candles had started to melt away as their little flames flickered about. The music smoothly played much like a whisper, and the chatter had died down as everyone listened to King Julien speak.
His Majesty was in the midst of telling everyone about a "recent" story that (in his own words at least), had totally happened.
"...And that's how I defeated the giant mega-gecko, all by myself. Me and my huge muscles," he flexed a flimsy arm to emphasize, "just bravely grabbed that thing and, well... you all can guess the rest," he casually remarked as he lay back on his chair, a boastful grin adorning his face. "Of course I could've shown it who's boss around here with my killer dance moves, but I figured that was just a little too much for the poor thing to handle..."
His guests stared at him with utmost attention; most with amazed expressions as they believed him, some others with a knowing glare that meant they knew he was telling them a tall tale.
"Whoa... and how did you escape alive if it ate you before exploding?" Tammy asked curiously. Others nodded their heads along to share their confusion, and Julien's eyes instantly widened, and his face went blank. In hindsight, he hadn't thought of that small detail while making up his story.
"Um, I, uh... " he scratched the table and played with his plate awkwardly, his mind coming up with all sorts of bizarre scenarios, each one more unconvincing than the last. Then he spoke when something that didn't seem too far-fetched to him finally came to his mind, "I called upon the Sky Gods and they provided me with short-term invincibility! Yeah! Then it was just a matter of – of walking away like a total boss... without looking back of course."
Maurice and Clover facepalmed in exasperation – the double smack being so loud that everyone turned to them. Mort was the only one who remained as entranced as before.
"Oh, I'm certain that dastardly mega-gecko trembled at the sight of your... prominent muscle mass, Julien..." Karl commented with an amused chuckle. He was of course, among the latter group that didn't believe a word he spewed, although the king seemed oblivious to his sarcastic – albeit playful – remark.
Julien thought it was time to proceed to the second portion of the event; before anybody else could debunk his absurd tale.
"Anyway, enough of my proofless-but-totally-true stories!" he exclaimed while rising from his chair so fast it almost toppled over. "Now that our bellies are all stuffed..." he strode toward the boombox and turned the dial up as far as it would go. Then he had the others blow out the candles on the table while he turned the remaining lights off, dipping the room into near total darkness, and let the disco ball that hung from the ceiling illuminate it with its colorful beams. "Let's turn up the music y'all! Time for what we do best: some good ol' booty-shaking!"
The guests cheered in unison as they proceeded to stand up and move away from the table and towards the bar and all around it.
"Awww yes, now we're talking, baby! This song's my jam!" Xixi shouted as she took off from her chair and glided to the bar. A dozen glowsticks flew throughout the room as she let her wild party spirit run free.
The music was now booming so loudly, even the walls themselves appeared to rumble and vibrate, if the disco ball swaying from side to side was any indication of it.
The electronic tunes filled the blissful air. The floor was in a moment crowded with dancing lemurs, whose thoughts didn't hold a single sliver of worry or concern. Even Clover was enjoying herself; she wasn't dancing, but lively bobbed her head and tapped her feet to the fast beat.
Karl didn't dance either (it wasn't his forte at all – never once had he even considered doing such an activity); he was just happy to stay in the sidelines with Chauncey, content to be here among everybody. He poured himself a drink and laid an elbow against the bar counter, watching the other guests shake it to the rhythm. He distracted himself talking to his beloved for a while when someone shuffled his way next to him. Looking up, his scarlet eyes fell onto the distinctive red-and-white hat sitting upon a silver head, which flashed like a rainbow each time the disco beams fell on it.
"Hey man, what are you doing here all alone?" King Julien shouted at him over the music, "Come join the in-crowd and shake that brown booty, like the rest of us!"
But Karl declined the king's offer, "Oh no, Julien, dancing is not exactly my specialty. I'd just look risible if I tried. You of all people should be aware of that fact."
"Oh well, suit yourself! You know where to find us if you change your mind though! Me and Ted are seeing who can outdance the other!" then he lowered his voice, coming closer, "He's good, but he has no chance against me. I have this one right in the bag!" Then he waltzed away and back into the busy crowd, where he seemed to blend and disappear among a multitude of darkened bodies. Grinning at Chauncey, Karl lifted his cup to his mouth. He shared the ringtail's sentiment.
There was though another guest at the party who shared Karl's dislike of dance, and would give him some extra company. He glanced through the dark and the swirling neon beams and saw the shape of Timo approaching and sitting down on one of the carved stools beside him.
"Hello there, Karl."
The fanaloka smiled. "Greetings, Timo. I see you aren't dancing either?"
"What, me?" the tenrec snorted incredulously."Nope! I hate dancing – or any activity that requires physical effort, for that matter! I'm just stoked to see I finally got someone of my same intellectual level to talk with!" he argued, giving him a friendly bump on the arm.
Karl smirked as he put down his drink. "Sounds stimulating. So, what do you have in mind? I'd also love to share some of my mechanical knowledge with someone who is truly experienced in the field."
A pleased smile parted Timo's lips. "Excellent! So, I was wondering what you thought about the intricacies of building a time machine! You see, I tried it once some time ago, but the results turned out to be... less than stellar, to say the least," then he added in a more timid tone, yet still loud so he could be heard, "In fact, I almost broke the space-time continuum before I shut it down. Maybe you'd be able to give me some tips so that it doesn't happen again and I don't destroy the entire universe by accident?"
Karl scratched his chin as he pondered the proposal. The reformed villain had delved himself into that notion in the past as one of his many schemes that never really came to fruition due to a lack of funding.
"Hmmm, time travel... a noteworthy and challenging topic indeed. Very well, I believe I can give you some useful advice."
And the two intellectuals engaged in a fruitful conversation that seemed to go on for what felt like hours. Whenever someone came around to relax at the bar or to refill their drinks, their faces would scrounge up in total confusion at the many alien-sounding concepts and words they employed. It was like a secret language no one but them understood – and they talked and talked like they had been good pals for years.
Meanwhile, King Julien had recently declared himself the winner of his dance-off with Ted. He was in the midst of boastfully accepting the congrats from his peers when he noticed the disco ball swinging with even more force than earlier. As he looked up he saw Mort's flashing silhouette, giggling as he danced around the wire without a care. How exactly he had gotten up there he didn't know.
His Majesty's face flushed with modest aggravation. "Mort, what the - get off the ball right now, you're gonna crash it! That thing's worth more than your entire tree stump!"
But the mouse lemur just kept laughing childishly. "I can't, King Julien! I'm too pumped to do anything right now!"
Then his foot slipped, and he fell. As he crashed to the floor face-first with a pained "oomph," his king and some others cackled before helping him up.
"Ha! That's what you get, buddy!"
Most of the dancing crowd then shifted closer to the Christmas tree sitting by the corner. Its blinking lights, along with the disco ball and Xixi's neon supplies, were the only things providing any sort of lighting to the spacious room.
"Okay, be careful now, we don't want to topple the tree over! It means a lot to me and the others - look out!" Maurice warned the raucous dancers, putting himself in front of the tall ornament to guard it. He even had to use his own body as a shield when Pancho, feeling light-headed after drinking so much, stumbled back and almost fell against it.
"Pancho, lay off the drinks a little bit and mind where you're going!" the aye-aye chided the red lemur as Clover pushed him off.
Stumbling forward and grabbing his head, he groaned, "Sheesh, sorry! I'm just... in the dark here, you know? Like, literally."
The lemurs continued to dance as normal for a while, after which Karl and Timo decided to join them – not to dance, but to be in their company. The tenrec and fanaloka inventors had seemed to have made very good friends.
King Julien's expression brightened even more (if it was even possible) as the two animals entered the spinning crowd. "Ah, so you did change your mind after all, huh?" he shouted at Karl in particular. "I knew you'd do it!"
Karl watched his step, as bodies bumped into him and shoved him sideways a bit. "I suppose so, but I'm not here to dance," he said when he came face to face with the king. "Mostly I wanted to contemplate your Christmas tree; I hadn't really taken notice of it before. Timo told me you constructed it with him."
"Exactly!" The king stepped aside to let access to the fanaloka. "What do you think of it? Beautiful, right? Me and the guys decorated it, all you see's property of the kingly squad!" he said, waving his arms around.
Karl eyed the pretty tree over with great admiration. He especially liked the twinkling lights and sparkly red tinsel wrapped around it. "Oh, I certainly see that. It has your... particular touches," he declared, pointing a clawed finger at the royal crown sitting on its top. He instantly knew it was the real one, but didn't comment on it any further. He then directed his vision to the little swords hanging all over it. "Hmmm, let me guess. Those extravagant sharp ornaments are Clover's work."
"Yep, they're! Good eye, mate! Crafted them myself!" said lemur girl cut in, and he nodded.
"And those odd... foot-shaped ones are more than obviously Mort's," he assumed.
"That's right, Karl! They're the prettiest, bestest ornaments ever! Wouldn't you say?" he smiled up at him, but behind his big innocent eyes, he caught something that told him that if he answered wrong, he'd regret it. The little guy was known for being unpredictable after all.
"Well... I..." he didn't know what to respond with, until Julien intervened.
"Mort, stop bothering him and go get us something to drink!" he ordered. When the small lemur vanished into the crowd, Karl felt a wave of relief washing over him.
The royal then flashed a grin as he recalled a particular moment of the night they had adorned the tree. A chuckle escaping his mouth, he pointed at the strip of tinsel, "Heh, I still remember when I threw the tinsel at Maurice's head – he looked like a clown in a woman's wig! You should've seen him, dude! Right, Clover?" he joked to the fanaloka, causing him, his bodyguard and the tenrec to laugh with force.
"Totally!" Clover affirmed in between her heaving. "You would've thought – he was gonna give ya a show for a circus or something!"
The four's lighthearted guffawing at the aye-aye's expense intensified even more. Even Chauncey excitedly vocalized something they interpreted as laughter.
Maurice simply crossed his arms and looked away in a grumbly manner. "Whatever..."
And right then, Mort came back with the drinks. "Hey, what are you all laughing about? I wanna know!"
After a few hours of wild and rambunctious partying, King Julien's guests had started to leave to head for their homes. The mood had settled down, the interior lights were back on, and the music had stopped.
The host himself stood at the doorway to say his goodbyes for the night.
"Spring breeeeak! Spring breeeeak! The party queen's goin' home for Christmas..." Xixi slurred wearily as she was dragged along by Ted and Dorothy. The toucan (as usual) had demonstrated zero self-restraint during the party and had guzzled one too many drinks. Her tired head hung low and her immobile feet dragged behind her, as she was too weak to even walk. In fact, she was hanging on to consciousness by a thread.
"Oh my, she seems to be up in the clouds right now, doesn't she? Ha ha ha! What a silly bird!" Ted laughed merrily.
His wife had a look of worry on her face. "Dear, this is exactly why I don't let you have any of that hard stuff when we go out. Look at her! She looks like a half-dead hobo!"
"Ah, she'll be fine tomorrow. Minus the headache of course," Julien snickered with a dismissive wave of his hand before adding, "Been there before, Xixi! Respeck! Just take her to her timeshare, she's got a long night to sleep through! But do it fast, 'cause someone is visiting the village tonight, remember?"
"Oh my doodles, you're right! I can't wait for the big jolly man to show up and give me a nice present – hurry up, Dorothy, let's go!" Ted urged his wife on with sudden haste. She simply rolled her eyes as both hauled the intoxicated toucan away as best they could. "Goodbye, Your Majesty! Merry Christmas!" they added as they left.
Then Pancho, Horst and Willie came out. "Bye bye, KJ! Hella nice party I gotta say! We set the dance floor on fire! Hooah!" the red lemur commented as he made a finger-gun sign at the king.
Horst nodded in agreement as he flicked his sunglasses down. "Damn right - that was one for the records, you snitches! I'm beat! And I just can't wait to see what Santa brings me tonight!"
"Hey, as long as it doesn't... harm you... I guess it'll be fine," Willie muttered with slight apprehension. He was of course, the one person who wasn't exactly at ease with Santa visiting his house.
King Julien pinched the bridge of his nose and sighed. "Stop it, Willie! Just go home and sleep, okay? That's a kingly order! I don't wanna see you up when I co – I mean, Santa comes later."
When the three left, Rob was the next to say goodbye. "Thanks a lot for having me over, Julie." He bumped a fist with the king. "I hadn't had a party like that in ages! I'm so excited to tell Dr. S what a good time he missed."
The ringtail smirked. "Sure, bud. Tell that creepy snake doctor that next time he should relax a bit off work. Too much of it – or any at all – is never a good thing. Especially when it involves illegal procedures that will probably get him arrested someday."
The old friends then did their special handshake (much to everyone's chagrin) and wished each other a merry Christmas before Rob left.
The farewells to the remaining guests went on like this for a couple minutes, after which only the king's entourage, Timo, and Karl remained around.
"Bye bye everybody! Be sure to go to sleep right away – you won't want Santa not to come to your house!" he yelled as he waved goodbye at the leaving lemurs. Karl then stepped in front of him.
"Well Karl, how are you feeling? Did you enjoy your time with us?" Julien asked him. "Maybe next time we can even do something at that big lair of yours! Those underground spaces look like they could host a ton of people! And think of the acoustics!"
The fanaloka had a grateful look on him as he replied, "I most certainly enjoyed myself a great deal, Julien. Thank you all for allowing me and Chauncey to stay – it has been an incredibly delightful night."
One he would never forget.
His partner chirped something at them, which caused him to chuckle, "Chauncey says the food; especially the punch, was lovely. Truly it was, wasn't it, my dear?" He then looked over the king's shoulder and nodded at the four animals behind him. "Au revoir, my friends. Until we meet again."
And with that, he turned and went for the ladder. When he disappeared and the five were left alone, Julien spun around and went back inside to meet the puzzled gazes of his friends.
"What did he say? Ourra – aor – nevermind. Anyway, the time has come, boys! You go on ahead while I stay to clean up a little bit," he added less-than-enthusiastically. "As we all know, somebody just had to go hard on the drinks and if I don't get this off it's gonna stay all sticky and gooey forever," he pointed at a big puddle on the floor by the dispensers. "I'd normally ask you, Maurice, to clean it up but I'm feeling generous. You're welcome."
"Gee, appreciated, Your Majesty," the aye-aye remarked sarcastically with an eyeroll.
"Okay, but try to hurry up, King Julien, we can't start our mission without you," Clover pointed, and the king nodded his response.
He had produced a mop from somewhere, which he used to scrub the floor. He kept his vision on it as he talked, "Yes I know, no mission can be complete without the KJ touch. Just go, a king mopping the floor isn't exactly the most flattering sight. I'll be there in five."
Everyone went outside, and Timo turned once more. "Er, the sleigh has been stored by my house at the Cove, King Julien. Meet us there whenever you're ready."
The royal gave him an absentminded thumbs up, his mind fully focused on getting rid of the dark red patch on his wooden floor. He heard the thump of his door closing as his friends left, and their footsteps faded away shortly after.
He was now all alone...
Man, this ain't a job for a king, Julien thought to himself as he shifted around and applied extra pressure with the mop. He looked over at the table and all the dirtied plates of food and glowsticks scattered around, and sighed. He wasn't looking forward to the boring clean-up he'd have to do eventually – and was beginning to regret his decision to not have Maurice do it in his stead.
...Little did he know, that meager task was far from the worst thing that would happen to him tonight.