"What a dreadfully eventful day this was. Who knew cruises could be so exhausting." Julienne bemoaned as she and Barty headed back to their royal suite, which was, of course, on the uppermost floor of the hotel.
Her husband wholeheartedly agreed. "Quite right, dear. All the shuffleboarding..."
"...and the sunbathing."
"Yes, and holding our cocktails unassisted." Barty shuddered at the horrendous memory. "I think we're in desperate need of a vacation from this vacation."
"Splendid idea, Barty." Julienne perked up and waved a brochure. "I think I know the right place."
"Now that's what the doctor ordered." Barty concurred. That cobra seemed like a credible medical expert, so Barty had little reason to doubt his advice.
Julienne's mirth waned. "Have we reached our suite yet? This is getting tiresome."
As she says that, we zoom out to reveal two brown lemurs with bellboy hats carrying the royal couple on a sedan chair.
"I loathe saying this." Julienne huffed. "But always lording over the commoners has its drawbacks."
"Easy now, dear." a concerned Barty patted his wife's hand. "That's just the fatigue talking."
The two servants collapsed as they reached the door of the royal suite, crushed under the chair, while the aging prince and princess got off.
"We're here...your majesties..." the bellboy in the front muttered before getting his head crushed under Barty's feet and Julienne used it as a doormat to wipe hers.
"You're right, Barty." a sullen Julienne sniffed as she was led by her hand. "I must be more fatigued than I thought."
"All the more reason to embark on our vacation at the first opportunity." Barty concluded as they reached the door.
They then just stood there with expectant looks, as the female ringtail cleared her throat and tapped her foot impatiently until the first bellboy pulled himself free and opened the door for them.
With an indignant huff, Julienne walked past him, followed by Barty, who sent the servant a disapproving look.
"You might be a moderate improvement over the simians, but you can forget any tips, my good man. Have a nice day." he said stiffly before joining his wife inside, only to be surprised by the sight in front of them.
They saw a giant banner saying "Welcome Back Mommy And Daddy!" and their room was filled with balloons, bouquets of exotic flowers, and a stack of presents in the corner, one big enough to fit a grown lemur inside.
The sight of free material possessions helped improve the couple's mood. Neither noticed a disgruntled Maurice walking up to them.
"Welcome back, your majesties." Maurice droned and blew on a party horn. "I hope your cruise was to your liking."
"Look, Barty. Gifts." Julienne did a small hand clap while eyeing the presents. "How delightful."
"Yes, gifts." Maurice's tone turned urgent. "Speaking of getting stuff. Did the receptionist give ya any envelope-"
"Uhhh...I hope one of them is the new gold-encrusted scepter I never explicitly asked for." Barty told his wife while holding up his old one. "I mean, look at it? This ratty thing is almost a month old."
Julienne gasped and covered her mouth. "A month old? Barty? We have an image to maintain."
Being ignored once more, Maurice scowled. "Um...excuse me?"
"Barty, did you hear something?" Julienne looked around, making the aye-aye fume. Part of him was convinced they only did this to annoy him.
But before he could get a word in and be ignored again, the giant gift box was kicked open, and Julienne leaped out, landing on his knees as party music played off-screen.
"Surprise, mommy and daddy!" he exclaimed while playing with pom-poms. His parents looked befuddled for a second before growing satisfied smiles.
"Ah, son. We were hoping to see you." Barty started, making Julien squeak with joy and his eyes turned googly.
"Awww...you do not have to continue wracking yourselves with worry." Julien approached them. "As you can see, your beloved son is in perfectly healthy shape, despite my perilous time in the jungle, almost becoming bird food and almost getting beheaded by the Bonehead Fossa."
Julienne and Barty exchanged mildly confused glances, as if considering asking their son what he was talking about but deciding that it was not worth their time.
"Riveting." Julienne started. "But we need you to-"
"Oh, I know how much you are needing me." Julien smiled broadly, before lifting a finger. "And do not be believing the slanderous news claiming that I was endangering children to cower up my screw-ups. That Xixi always majorly exaggerates her fake news stories."
His mother looked annoyed at getting interrupted.
"Well, we're glad you had fun..." Barty replied absentmindedly. "...whatever it is you were doing."
Julien finally seemed to get the memo. Maurice grew uneasy as he saw his king's smile falter.
"Wait? You mean you don't know that I was taken by an eagle, spent a whole night lost in the jungle, and was almost killed several times by my kingdom's number one enemy?" he asked in a joking manner.
"I don't recall being told such." Barty shrugged before remembering something more important and pointing his scepter at his son in an accusing fashion.
"But I do recall an angry mob complaining about you running around and pulling childish pranks on them. That's not true, am I correct?"
Julien started sweating. "Well...maybe there is some minuscule grain of truth to that? Me and my new friend Keke were just having a little fun?"
Barty's eyes widened, while Julienne made another gasp and covered her mouth. "How dreadful. Such unruly behavior does not befit a king."
"Tisk, tisk." Barty pulled back his scepter and shook his head in disappointment. "And we thought you were improving as king. How could you be so careless, son?"
"Yes." Julienne's brow dropped into a scowl. "Have you ever considered how such behavior would affect your image as king, and more importantly, mine and your father's bragging rights?"
Julien chuckled nervously while his heart shattered into a million pieces. But a little harsh criticism was understandable coming from those who care most about you the most, right? They were concerned about his image as king.
"Oh...well. That was just...eh...a one-time deal. A little lapse in judgment on my behalf." he admitted while drumming his fingers. Maurice gave him an annoyed look.
"We should hope so." Julienne huffed and folded her arms.
"I promise, on my honor as the former Prince of Pranks, that I will leave the joys of pranking to the next generation, I already trained a protege." Julien swore an oath.
His parents still looked unimpressed, prompting Julien to scramble and grab the nearest present.
"Hey, Big Pappa?" he offered his father a small box and opened it, causing it to illuminate the older ringtail's face. "It's that new, gold-encrusted scepter you never asked for but I assume you wanted!"
"Marvelous." Barty perked up and threw his old scepter over his shoulder and into the hall, hitting a bellboy hauling heavy luggage in the head and knocking him out cold.
"Perhaps we were a tad too harsh on the poor boy." Barty considered as he admired his new scepter, making his son all giddy. It was rare for him to receive such glowing praise from his parents.
Seeing his reaction, Maurice looked aside sullenly and shook his head.
Julienne, on the other hand, remained unmoved. "And I don't suppose one of your presents is a brand-new jewel I never asked for either?" she asked while holding her hand up and showing a huge jeweled ring she was suddenly wearing.
"You cannot expect your dear old mother to wear this moth-eaten thing any longer? For goodness sake, it's almost a week old." she said with abject horror while Maurice shielded his eyes from the blinding shine.
"I...no." Julien deflated but tried to save face.
"But I promise ya, mommy. I'll find you the shiniest, newest, most expensive jewel I can find in no time..." he chuckled awkwardly and pressed his hands together"...I...just might need some time to do it."
"Tardiness and forgetfulness do not befit a king either, Julien." his mother said harshly.
Fed up with this, Maurice cleared his throat. "Excuse me, your majesties?"
"Oh, were you here this whole time, Mark?" Barty finally looked at him.
"Did you, perchance, get an envelope at the reception?" Maurice quickly asked before the royals could talk over him again.
"What envelope?" Julien raised an eyebrow. His parents looked equally lost.
"Um...the one containing confidential government secrets." Maurice lied and rubbed the back of his head. "As part of the royal family, Princess Julienne and Prince Barty are entitled to know."
Acting quickly, he pushed Julien farther away from his parents and whispered to him. "Y'know...'bout Karl and Timo's project to get rid of the penguins. I don't think you ever told your parents 'bout it."
Julien tried to think and realized Maurice was right. "Oh...eh, good call, Maurice." he replied in approval before tapping his smaller companion on his head.
"You're on your way to being forgiven for your egregious accusations against the king." he said with a patronizing smile before moving past the crestfallen Maurice.
"Well, at the risk of spilling any confidential secrets to unwanted eavesdroppers, I am sure once you're clued in on the content of the envelope..." Julien told his parents "...you'll see what a magnificent job I can do handling major public dilemmas at a time of-"
"We didn't receive any envelope at the reception." Barty said simply, making Maurice freeze up in terror.
"Ya didn't?"
"And unless it involves our mango allowance, we can certainly wait." Julienne said dismissively while looking at her fingernails.
"Speaking of our mango allowance." her mood improved as she handed Julien her brochure. "Be sure to reroute our monthly shipment to this five-star resort on Mauritius for the next..."
She paused and turned to her husband. "How long do you presume we'll be staying, dear?"
"Oh, probably six months at least." Barty said goodnaturedly. "We'll consider it at some point after we arrive there?"
"Yall leaving?" Maurice gulped and looked aside to see Julien processing the information.
"Indubitably." Julienne nodded. "We simply need a break after our tiring cruise."
Trying to maintain a smile, Julien assumed the best possible scenario. "Oh...you mean you'll be leaving like... in a week or so?"
Barty considered. "No. I think we'll be departing the day after tomorrow."
Growing fearful, Julien tried to do the math in his head. "But...but the day after tomorrow is like...before this week ends?"
"Oh, Barty." Julien laughed poshly and waved her hand. "Why procrastinate for so long? I say we leave tomorrow at the time of our choosing."
His mind racing, Maurice hastily addressed Julien. "Excuse me, your majesty. But...I have to go somewhere!"
He bolted past Barty and Julienne and down the stairs in a mad hurry, but none of the royals seemed to notice.
"Superb idea, Julienne." Barty was quick to agree, much to their son's horror.
"We're familiar with all the local attractions here. Why stay? There's absolutely..." Julien winced.
"...undoubtedly..." Julien choked on a suppressed sob.
"...no good reason to delay our departure besides one good night's rest." Barty sufficiently crushed his son's spirit, as blissfully oblivious as ever.
With dread in his eyes, Julien blurted, "Okay...okay, maybe you guys are laying on the act of cluelessness a tincy bit thick now."
Julienne looked at him. "Oh, you haven't left to inform your mango shippers? Didn't I say tardiness and forgetfulness shouldn't be associated with a ruler?"
"I know, mommy. And of course I will take care of your precious mango shipments, and take your parental wisdom into account." Julien tried to appease them.
"But... you don't have to pretend like you won't stick around long enough to maybe attend one very special festivity in my glorious kingdom."
His parents very clearly didn't have the foggiest clue what that "festivity" in question was.
"Hmmmm...unlikley." Barty responded after some thought. "We've attended enough of your...for lack of a better word, parties for our liking."
"Yes, so hurry along now." Julienne shooed him towards the door. "We'll be busy having dinner while the servants pack all of our belongings, including the new ones you so graciously bequeathed us with."
Again, hearing something akin to a praise, Julien felt his heart leaping, blinding him to the fact that was being led out of the suite.
"Aw shucks...it was the least I could do for you guys." he gushed.
"We know, Julien, so keep your chin up and... have a nice day." Barty nodded, ready to close the door.
"Yeah...wait?!" Julien sobered up and turned around sharply. "B-but...but...don't you think that by leaving tomorrow, you'll be forgetting something important?"
"Not to worry." Julienne assured him. "All the luggage we brought along will require a separate ship for transport, so you and Manfred will be the ones making sure nothing gets left behind."
"But, mommy-"
"Quite right, and here's a list. To make sure nothing gets overlooked." Barty offered him a scroll before pressing his scepter against Julien's chest.
"Now...get going."
"And for Frank's sake, stop calling me "mommy"." Julienne added while turning her back on Julien. "It's so...juvenile."
Julien whimpered at the harsh remark and turned to his father for support.
"But, dad-"
"See you in while, old boy." Barty pushed him out and the door was promptly closed, leaving Julien all alone in the hall, crushed and confused.
Breathing heavily and drumming his fingers, Julien tried to rationalize what was going on.
"Man...my folks are even more dedicated to feigning ignorance than I am..." he laughed to himself nervously "...going as far as planting horrible seeds of doubt in my mind."
"Pfftt...leaving tomorrow my booty!" he tried to convince himself as he searched for the elevator. "They think they can pull one over on me, but I'm too foolish to be fooled."
"You know they totally forgot about your birthday."
"Shut up, common sense!" Julien snapped at himself as a sifaka walked out of his room behind him. "I am in no need of advice from you, you fat loser!"
"Real original. You already called your conscience fat. And you know your entourage is right."
Julien growled and slapped himself before yelling, "Oh, that's it! You and me are so not talking now! Enjoy your stay at the loser longue in the darkest, most remote corner of my mind with he-who-will-not-be-named!"
"And you were a total jerk to Maurice by rubbing his tragic backstory in his face just to feel better about yourself."
"Ughh! Take a hike, conscience! You know you are dead to me!" Julien lamented to himself while the sifaka slowly walked back into his room and slowly closed the door and locked it.
"You know both of us are abstract things that you cannot get rid of or shut out for long. Unless you really are crazy." his common sense taunted him.
"Oh, dem's fighting words!" Julien lost it and started banging on his head, inevitably getting dizzy and stumbling towards a long spiral staircase and falling down it, hitting his head on every second step.
"I explicitly told ya to send a very special envelope to the royal suite, why isn't it there yet?" a furious Maurice complained at the reception desk.
"Lemme see..." the bored receptionist, a crowned sifaka with a bowtie, droned as he searched for any notes on his desk. "Ah, there it is...eh... the head of security dropped by and demanded to search through it for safety reasons or somethin'."
"Karl?" Maurice blurted. "But why...when was he here?"
"About ten minutes ago?" the receptionist lamely pointed at the front door and a confused Maurice rushed towards it, passing by the bottom of the staircase just before Julien came tumbling down.
"Ow! Yow! Dow! Ow!" his fall finally came to an end as he plopped into the lobby, dazed and bruised, with his crown landing next to him.
"We hope you enjoyed your stay, dear sir and/or madam. Come again soon." the receptionist droned without even looking at him while reading a magazine, as Julien rose to his feet and straightened his back while catching a glimpse of Maurice through the window.
"Why's Maurice in such a hurry?" a curious Julien followed him while picking up his crown.
"Where did that fool go?" Maurice scrambled to find the fanaloka as he searched the jungle. "He can't seriously be-"
"Looking for this?" a familiar baritone spoke.
He turned around and found Karl leaning against a tree and holding a small note while sporting a disapproving look.
Maurice felt a chill run down his spine. "Karl? W-what are ya thinking?" he asked nervously.
Karl answered by throwing the note up, and following a left swipe and then a right swipe from his claws, the note was reduced to confetti.
Maurice gasped and rushed to pick up the shredded pieces. "Karl!? Why would you do that!" the aye-aye panicked. "I needed to slip this in to remind Julienne and Barty to-"
"And now it will slip their minds for good." the fanaloka shrugged. "As it was meant to be."
Arriving on the scene, Julien watched them while hiding behind some palmettos. Something told him that this was a private conversation that he wasn't supposed to hear. Which meant he absolutely needed to hear it!
But why would Maurice think about giving his parents a secret letter telling them what they already knew?
"This is really getting old, dude."
"Shut up!" he hissed inwardly. His common sense was a busybody to rival Tammy.
Maurice rose to his feet and glared up at Karl. "What were ya thinking, man? I told ya 'bout my plan and ya agreed that we should go through with it."
"I lied." Karl admitted. "If I had told you my real thoughts on the matter, you wouldn't have shared your plan with me, thus hindering me from sabotaging it. You forced my paw."
"Why would you sabotage it?" Maurice asked in a pleading tone. "Now Julienne and Barty are planning to leave tomorrow for some fancy-schmancy resort and King Julien will have no other choice than to accept the cold, hard truth."
"Good." Karl looked pleased by the news. "This means this tomfoolery is ending sooner than later. If you're not strong enough to do what needs to be done, Maurice, then I will. If you enable King Julien to continue indulging in his delusion, you'll just trap him and more importantly the rest of us in this vicious cycle."
Maurice grimaced and lowered his ears. "But...I only wanted to help 'im, I really did. But he jus' wouldn't listen to me when I tried to talk sense into 'im."
"What's new there really." Karl pointed out. "If he won't listen to us then surely he'll listen to his own eyes. Once his parents fail to show up at his birthday party, he'll no longer be able to ignore the blindingly obvious."
Julien was completely dumbfounded. How dare his own royal entourage think such horrible things that go against his own and totally not biased and deluded viewpoint?
"Idiot, you already knew about ALL of this. They haven't been subtle about their misgivings." his common sense chastised him before he could jump out and give Maurice and Karl an earful.
"And then he might do something even crazier in retribution?" Maurice pointed out. "You jus' saw what a temper tantrum by 'im can lead to?"
"I'll have one of my fly drones follow him." Karl shrugged. "And you know better than anyone how to keep him in line, which should be easier without his leeching parents keeping you distracted."
"You don't know 'im like do, Karl!" Maurice lamented. "If he's convinced that he's right, he'll go to insane lengths to keep that facade."
"Maurice, every man has his limits when it comes to personal delusions. I should know." Karl pointed at himself. "I've spent years convincing myself that King Julien was some crafty, enlightened genius, but following a great personal tragedy and an incidental conversation with a crotchety old lemur, I finally came to my senses."
Maurice was at a loss for words, starting to understand what the fanaloka was getting at. "So ya want to do the same with King Julien? Have 'im reach his lowest point in order to finally shatter his delusions?"
"More or less." Karl nodded. "It's called tough love, Maurice. It would do you good to implement it more often. As you can see, I've been better off ever since I had my epiphany, and I have no doubts that King Julien will be as well."
Maurice sighed. "Like acting less childish?"
Karl considered it. "Theoretically, getting over your mommy and daddy issues should correlate with a spike in maturity."
"I'm not immature!" Julien was furious. He had half a mind to jump out and tell Karl what a big, fat liar pants on fire he was. "He's doing it too! Projecting his own parental issues onto me!"
Maurice slumped his shoulders, looking defeated. "Karl...I wanna agree with you, I really do. But maybe..."
"Maybe what?" Karl cocked an eyebrow. "You're not seriously wanting to drag this out even further?"
"Well...no, but I think King Julien's parents do care at least a little bit for 'im?" the apologist aye-aye tried to rationalize and made an appropriate hand gesture. "They have occasionally shown concern for 'im, like the time Uncle Julien fed 'im gecko milk that made him hulk out into a savage beast and..."
Karl groaned and rubbed his forehead. "You do realize that just makes it even worse for him? It's one thing if you're parents don't care one ounce about you, call you a disappointment at every turn, and turn a blind eye every time your brother ties your legs to a branch and uses you as a punching bag..."
Maurice grimaced. "I'm guessing you're not talking hypothetically?"
The fanaloka scoffed. "Trust me, those were some of my fonder memories with Bruce growing up BUT..." he raised his finger "...whatever meager fondness King Julien's parents might have for him only make the sting all the more painful. Those small acts of kindness are like lures that always drag him back into their clutches."
"I didn't think 'bout it like that?" Maurice looked aside sadly. It seemed that whatever course of action he took, he was only hurting his best friend in the long run. "What are we supposed to?"
"Simple, we let nature take its course." Karl said firmly. "It's already in progress. It happened with me, it will happen with him."
"It will not happen to me! I'm not delusional!" Julien barely contained his anger.
Maurice sighed. "I guess there's nothing else left to do? King Julien oughta see reason soon enough then, and I guess I'll give him a shoulder to cry on. It's the least I can do after upsetting 'im so much."
"See, Mo-Mo cares about you so much, he's even willing to enable your delusions just so you won't be sad."
Julien stood there silently, considering the words of his conscience before angrily banging on his temples with both fists. "Shut up! Shut up! Just shut up already!"
"You can do that." Karl agreed before rubbing his chin. "Maybe once I get rid of the penguins and he gets over himself, King Julien will grant me a vacation, so I can finally track down Bruce and avenge Chauncey?"
"Traitors! All traitors, just thinking of their own stupid needs!" Julien ranted inwardly and stormed away, wanting to get as far away from his backstabbing entourage as possible.
Meanwhile...
For once, Horst had the right idea. Using her cute face on them had done its job, as well as a "homemade pie" she had just grabbed from a bakery as a token of camaraderie between neighbors. They were even gracious enough to invite her for dinner at their table.
But as Keke had feared, these dotting drips were insufferable, making her long for the time she and King Julien were chased around by Bone-Fossa and Gladys.
"Awww...aren't you just the most precious thing, I could just eat you up, yes I could. Oh, yes I could." Dorothy cooed while pinching both of Keke's cheeks affectionately, exposing all of the latter's teeth.
"El deseo de matar está aumentando." the kinkajou thought, as a means to keep herself calm until her cheeks were free from Dorothy's merciless grasp.
Trying to maintain a polite face, Keke glanced slightly under the table to see the cue card she was holding up with her tail.
"I'm... very glad that you like my present, dear madam." she said in a stilted manner.
"Oh, it's delicious. And please, just call me Dorothy." Dorothy laughed before humming happily after taking another bite with her fork. "But I gotta ask, why does this pineapple pie taste suspiciously like raspberry?"
Keke didn't have a written response for that, so she improvised. "Ehh...it's a secret ingrediente?"
"Oh, that explains it." the mongoose lemur bought it and pinched Keke's cheek again. "Wouldn't wanna be too intrusive. But I can tell ya, with such baking skill and such a darling face, you'll make a great housewife someday."
Keke shuddered through her teeth. Dorothy was painful to be around, but she still couldn't hold a candle to her husband.
"...and I still sometimes worry about how the other guys might perceive me. I know one should be comfortable being themselves, but I always feel like my friends are snickering behind my back about my unconventionally manly interests, and it hurts my feelings sometimes, y'know? I don't want to spill my heart out or anything, but whenever I try to talk to someone about my feelings, they always conveniently have something else to do that they remembered just now, so I have no other option but to sit at home and stuff my face with melting ice cream that has been left in my fridge for Frank knows how long. I know it's not very healthy, but when you feel such raw emotions, you sometimes don't make the most sensible choices..." Ted prattled on while holding a cup of tea.
Keke could certainly give him some advice about how to deal with his troubles, but she had a hunch that both he and Dorothy would likely keel over and lose consciousness if she said it out loud.
But for all her tone-deafnesses, even Dorothy didn't seem to be completely oblivious, as she leaned towards Keke and whispered, "Don't mind Ted. He can be a bit of a chatterbox sometimes."
"Eh...si, but..." Keke nodded while peeking at another cue card. "...I don't mind their "insert character flaw here" at all."
"Oh, you didn't even notice?" Dorothy laughed, misinterpreting the girl's response. "I envy you then. But between you and me...he does have a...wilder side. He calls himself "Snake"."
"Snake?" Keke cocked an eyebrow, halfway interested.
"Oh, yes." Dorothy got all giddy. "That part of him is a lot more exciting, but I always have trouble finding a way to turn him on."
"What's that woman doing?" Mary Ann asked incredulously as she lowered her binoculars. "She's talking to an 8-year-old?"
"Oh, don't worry." Horst whispered to her as they hid behind the palmettos. "She's referring to Ted's crazy southern badass split personality."
He paused and mused about it. "Then again...it might still be dirty?"
"Nice day for spying on others, isn't it?" the two jumped as a familiar smug voice cut in.
They turned around and saw Tammy watching them with folded arms.
"We weren't spying, honest!" Horst said fearfully but Mary Ann had prepared herself for this and retained her cool.
"No, we wouldn't want to encroach on your favorite pastime, Tammy." the fossa smirked.
"Scoping out your next potential meal then, are we?" the obese lemur smirked back, thinking she had the advantage.
"No, we're helping Keke integrate herself with the neighborhood. We're just making sure she's emotionally ready to socialize on her own, as any concerned guardian should." Mary Ann replied and offered Tammy her binoculars. "Be our guest."
"As if I would ever do such a thing." Tammy shoved it away and moved past the couple, only to see Keke indeed sitting at the table with Ted and Dorothy. Her eyes narrowed suspiciously.
The two adults kept talking without a pause but the little girl was squirming in her chair.
"Don't you have a garaje that needs cleaning?!" a frustrated Keke suddenly blurted, startling the three eavesdroppers. "Or an attic? Or a clogged-up toilet? Really just anything away from this table?"
Ted and Dorothy paused, blinking. Keke caught herself and giggled innocently. "Just in case you're overworked and could use a break. I wanna be a good vecina."
"My, that's very considerate of you." Dorothy smiled and turned to her husband. "Maybe she could relieve you of garage duty today, Ted? What do you think?"
We cut to pitch-black darkness before a bamboo garage door opens, revealing Ted, Dorothy, and Keke. The kinkanjou's jaw dropped at the sight of it. How could such a huge and stacked garage fit in the tiny bamboo hut?
"You're a real lifesaver, kiddo?" the brown lemur whispered to her with a grateful smile.
Keke had reservations when Dorothy put her hand on the former's shoulder. "But you don't have to strain yourself if this is too much work for you, dear. Ted can do it like usual, while you and I can continue our female bonding session."
The other two gulped, and Keke weighed out her options.
"I think I'll clean the garaje." she chose the lesser evil, causing Ted to sigh in relief and wipe his forehead. Tammy watched them with an incredulous expression.
Seeing it, Mary Ann smiled smugly at the former. "I don't think your "supervision" will be needed here."
Tammy huffed. "She's going to try something any minute now."
"Yeah, keep dreaming, sister." Horst shot back and he and Mary Ann fist-bumped.
"MOOORT!" Julien called out as he was climbing up the baobab tree leading to his plane. "Will ya get your tiny booty over here and tell Maurice and Karl that your king is right about everything!"
Once more, he was only met with cricket noises. The ringtail barred his teeth and his left eye pulsated.
"Rrrrrrrrrr...where in Larry's pits is that little trash goblin?!" Julien ranted to himself, his feet itching for a good kicking, only to realize how alone he was. Maurice, Karl, Masikura, they were all against him, and even his biggest and most insufferable fanboy refused to aid him now.
Who was left now? Timo? As if. That tenrec couldn't wait to escape from Mom-Bot's smothering thumb and shut down her programming for good.
Without anybody to act as a yes-man, Julien had no other option but to consider what his entourage had been telling him all this time, no matter how hard he tried to block it out. With a defeated sigh he leaned against the thick branch of the baobab, slowly slumping down, and wrapped his arms around his knees.
"Did mommy and Big Pappa really forget?" he mused despondently. "Could it be that this isn't an elaborate ruse to completely convince me that they have forgotten so the surprise could be all the more surprising?"
He wanted to believe that the latter was true but maybe...just maybe, if the former was the case, perhaps he should devise a backup plan to spare himself the heartbreak, a.k.a delude himself again.
"I'll...I'll just do what I did the first time my parents returned?" Julien rambled desperately. "I'll use my royal authority to keep them in my kingdom til my surprise birthday party I'm not supposed to know about has passed."
"No...then they'll be cross with me?!" he was having reservations. "No...I'll just make something up to make them think it's dangerous to cross the ocean and that they need to prolong their stay. Maybe if they spend time with me a little longer, it will... like jog their memory? But what, what lie would do the trick?"
"Perhaps you're the one who needs to jog his memory?"
"Who said that?" a startled Julien looked around only to see Masikura manifest in front of him.
"Oh, it's just you, Masikura." Julien addressed her with a cross look and pointed to his left. "If you're wishing to be a smack-talking traitor again, Maurice and Karl are at the hotel."
"Actually, I was looking for you."
Julien humphed. "I told you! I don't want any of your stupid counseling sessions."
"I would hold that thought, your majesty." the chameleon smiled cryptically. "This one is quite different from the last one. I think you'll find it quite...intriguing."
Julien made a mean face. "Can't you hear with your nonexistent ears? The answer is NO!"
Masikura widened her eyes and pointed at him. "Do you have something on your forehead?"
"What? What is it?" Julien's pupils rotated up, trying to view his forehead.
That's when Masikura's tongue shot out and Julien's eyes started bugging out.
With dubious consent, he was going on a trip down memory lane.