One hundred forty-four.

March 27th. The gleaming ballroom. It is abandoned, quiet . . . peaceful.
Too peaceful, if you asked some.
Too peaceful, if you asked Them.

There was a crack of lightning despite there not being a cloud in the sky. Clouds never mattered. Screw clouds. Lightning would hit regardless of weather. Lightning did as it wanted, and so did Disaster. And so, against the better wishes of The Majority, the deity known more commonly as Disaster entered the ballroom without previously having walked over to it.

The flamboyant deity clicked his leather heels on the ballroom's flooring. He really shouldn't have been here, especially how things ended up last time, but . . . he couldn't help it. He loved darling Entropy too much to just leave him alone, today of all days especially.

One hundred forty-four . . . A drop in the bucket when one was immortal, but it was momentous never-the-less. They couldn't properly celebrate in the asylum, anyways-- that was a good hundred birthdays gone to waste. He need to make that up.

You need to leave, The Others warned him from above. Disaster merely shrugged it off, though, unfurling a large white banner (where did that come from?) that read, simply, "HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMBROSE!" He doubted the boy would want others to know of his age. Most of the time, the darling merely ignored the age.

Disaster hung up the banner by hand and with care, smiling at his handy work. With the banner where it was (back of the room, hung up just at eye-level), no one could miss it. Ah, the satisfaction of a good deed. One thing left . . .
The deity disappeared with a snap, reappearing several moments later with an Ambrose in-tow.

"WHAT THE HELL!" the red-head violently questioned, struggling out of Disaster's grasp. That wouldn't do at all.

"Darling, you have to sit down," the deity pouted, summoning a convenient chair and binding Ambrose to it with some duck tape. Ah, duck tape: solved most-everything.

Ambrose glared darkly. "I'm warning you--!"

Disaster was genially surprised by this statement; what on this Earth could the boy do to him? Still, he couldn't have the darling upset, so the deity explained his motives.
"You're getting a birthday party. I can't stay, sadly," he frowned, giving a side-long glance to where They were always watching, "but I'm sure some other people here will eventually find you. There's cake in the cellar," he added, as if that would help smooth things.

"'Birthday'--?" Ambrose repeated, still not understanding. Why the hell would they celebrate such an unimportant date? Sadly, though, the doting deity couldn't stay and chat; with a flash of lightning, Disaster disappeared, leaving Ambrose all alone with the cheerful banner hanging over his head.

Walking through the halls without direction, just seeing if there was anything to do or anyone she knew to be bored with. Nope, still nobody. Esha wasn't happy in the least at the lack of anything to do.

She passed the ball room at a dull pace swinging her walking pole around at a lazy pace so she wouldn't bump into walls or raised tiles, which were surprisingly uncommon in the school. Which made her wary that if she got complacent, she would finally find one and trip over onto her face.

Esha got a bit nervous as the heat of the castle suddenly dropped as she moved to a less used corridor; Everything was about the same temperature. She was almost hissing in frustration as her stick hit a wall that she never knew was there.

Exhaling to herself as she came into the ballroom (she guessed it was that by the size and general shape) and saw a small heat temperature on the far side of the room, as small as a mouse and barely there, but she would just shoo it off the chair and put the seat back to the rest of them. Not touching the sitting part of it though, mice were incontinent and generally carriers of disease Which I don't need she thought to herself.

On the approach to the chair she , she had no method to get whatever it was off the chair. Maybe just tip the chair. Wait...What? a spider. Stuck on a chair. Esha had a confused look on her face, having never seen that before. Who had enough time to catch spider and stick it to... She started looking around the back of the chair for the end of the tape, to unravel it. "If you bite me I will catch you and trap you in a glass and put you beside a window" She warned it while picking at the end. Talking to spiders now?

Abenzu had only thought to be in the ballroom and because of that thought, it had been. On the ceiling, having a nap, which probably sounds impossible, but for Abenzu it wasn't to amazing. Though it had nearly fallen off due to the flash of lightening that just grabbed it's attentions. Awake, and curious, it had looked around only to see a very extravagant person.

This person did a few things that really seemed interesting. Even hanging up a banner looked as though it was something important, though it wasn't something Abenzu could read. In the end the biggest thing the person did was disappear and reappear with Ambrose, it's not so trusted roommate and tied the boy to a chair. Abenzu almost laughed at that but it wanted to see if anything else would happen.

Few more minutes of waiting, Abenzu learned it was Ambrose's birthday and now there was a girl. It decided now would be a good time to come down. It let go of the ceiling and dropped. Unfortunately, it was just above the girl, and not wanting to hurt her, it changed into a lovely little sunhat complete with ribbon and drifted down. For a moment it's floaty fall seemed as though it was going to land on Ambrose's head instead but Abenzu's hat self sung in the air back the the girl's hea and nestled crookedly in her hair.

If Abenzu had a face in it's hat form, it would have looked both distressed and yet wanted to laugh again. It wanted to tell the girl to leave Ambrose tied but, being it was his birthday, it thought that'd be to mean, though Abenzu did feel quite envious that Ambrose knew of his birthday. Something was on Abenzu's mind though, and it just had to ask. "Ahmbohs~ huu wahz mahjik paason? Won huu goh puf." It had quite forgotten it was still a hat and even that the girl was there, it only wanted to know who the flamboyant person was.

Ambrose watched carefully as a girl he had never seen before walked towards him in, well, an odd manner. Was she blind? She seemed to see well enough, evidently, as the girl moved in closer. Why, oh why, did it have to be a female to find him first? She would scream at the giant spider, most likely hitting him with her handbag in the process, and--

The boy blinked what seemed like to anyone who didn't know his name his eight beady eyes. What? This girl actually had some nerve. Finally, some variety!
"I would like to see you try," Ambrose couldn't help but grin, casting his eyes up at the girl as she began to untie him--

Ambrose watched in horror as the sunhat with a face floated down to rest neatly on top of the new girl's head. That face . . . Ambrose thought he lost the little monkey. It was Abenzu's words, though, that made Ambrose genially nervous. Did it see? Did it know?

"There was. No magic person." Ambrose glared at the monkey-hat. Hopefully, Abenzu knew this glare (and what it brought) well enough to shut up about the matter. "You were imagining things."
Leon, Richard . . . Enough people knew about Them. The last thing he wanted was for Abenzu to know.

While getting the end, the spider talked. She was surprised and grinned to her self while picking at the tape. "I have heard that tarantulas have very sensitive hairs covering them..." she trailed off, letting him figure out that she would tickle him until he said sorry. The best thing was that it would only require a light stroke, and that he was tied to a chair.

A hat floated onto her head and she looked up from the tough silver tape, and it started talking. She looked up and straightened it on her head, she was sure it was a a student- it just talked. All she got out of the sentance was magic person, and poof because she wasn't anticipating the strange, slightly childish use of language.

She kept picking at the tape, but still paying attention to the spider's harassed sounding reaction, his response was a little harsh though. It was only a question.

Abenzu mentally pouted, though it couldn't be seen. It didn't like his answer, it may not see like everyone else but that doesn't mean it's blind. Not only that but it heard the person, it's ears never lied to it either. It tried to shake it's head, but remembered it was meerly a hat at the moment. "Noh...Abenzu saa wat Abenzu saa and hurd wat Abenzu hurd. Ihs ur bursdei."

Abenzu it mentally scowled but forced a cheery voice, " Hapii Bursdei, Ahmbohs." It squeaked when the girl straightened it on her head and poofed back to it's Gnommish self. It stood from her shoulders and looked down at Ambrose. "Yu ah yiir ohldr....ahn yu knoh ur bursdei...I noh knoh main soh yu luhkey."

Sensitive hairs or not, the duck tape ripped across Ambrose's skin, although he never flinched. This woman was interesting, to say the least-- not many brushed-off a 'talking tarantula.'
"I wouldn't know . . . The name's Ambrose, by the way." Now that that was fixed . . . He focus turned towards Abenzu.

"You heard and saw nothing," the redhead determinedly glared, the italics slipping into the last word before he could catch himself. He cleared his throat before continuing: "And why the hell are you talking about 'bur'--"

'Birthdays.' As soon as Ambrose was able, he turned around towards the banner, fixing his stern look now towards the words. Damn Disaster. He had to get that accursed message down, or people would flock to him like flies. He didn't need celebration, he didn't need any cake. He needed peace.

The boy got up from the chair (which disappeared conveniently as soon as he left the seat) and walked over towards the birthday banner, pulling out one of his plastic forks. How to do this . . .

Esha rolled her eyes, she still had to learn how to talk to tarantula. "I was going to say that It painful to tear the tape -Y'know never mind- I haven't had much experience in talking to spiders. None actually." she stood and picked up her cane "Why were.." She gaped as the spider turned into a boy, she should have known everything in the academy was somehow not what it first appeared like. "you tied up in the first place?" She continued.

She watched him deny everything to the *hat, If he wasn't hiding anything. Huh..that was strong guilt. Yeah he was hiding something but Esha wasn't going to pry. "So how old is the birthday boy?" She asked mischievously. She didn't realize the chair had vanished into thin air and couldn't read the writing on the banner. He wasn't going to tear it down was he? Hey, maybe he didn't like birthdays.

The stone woman loved birthdays, but was glad her's wasn't close. It would probably just depress her with how she was feeling of late about her age and her lifespan.

(*Is Abunzu currently a hat?)

(Abenzu is the 3 foot some inches, 8 pound rainbow monkey you see in the picture Esha)

Abenzu flailed it's arms. "Ai noh ihmajnn iht. Paason rihlii thair." It materialized a beanie hat into it's hands and tossed it at the red haired boy. "Stahp bean uh 'hoqu'" The beanie was actually pretty fashionable, a navy blue with an odd gold embrodery of a foreign language. Abenzu actually meant it as a present and was forming the design in it's head before Ambrose had denied it. Now it was just a tossing item, though Ambrose could still keep it or even Esha. The Gnommish words were a luck charm Abenzu's Mother, Xiim, had taught it.

It finally remembered it was standing on the girl's shoulders and it moved so it's face was just above hers. "Hai pretii paason, Ai ihs Abenzu, huu aar yu?" It gave her an innocent smile.

Ambrose ignored the woman's first question, not wanting to admit any truth to Abenzu's story. Silence was his best defense. He frowned at the phrase 'birthday boy,' though.
"Why should I tell you?" he asked-- the woman barely knew his name, and now she was asking for his age? That wasn't the entire reason, of course, but it was the one he would use.

The red-haired boy shot a glare up towards Abenzu as the hat was thrown, throwing the plastic fork into the hat and lodging both 'weapons' to opposite side of the ballroom. He didn't spare a second glance at the head piece.
"I am not a hoqu," he told his roommate adamantly, knowing well enough what that word meant. "And, for the last time . . . There was. No one. There."

Ambrose continued to glare, not towards any usual person but rather towards himself. Damn italics. Feeling the need occupy himself once more, the boy pulled out yet another plastic fork from his pocket and tossed it at one of the held-up corners; instead of cutting through like he wanted it to, however, the utensil merely bounced off.

Nice try, darling.

The redhead's full attention was now on the banner. How to remove the eyesore. . . ?

Rolling her eyes at him ignoring her question...Maybe the circumstances as to how he found himself taped to a chair were embarrassing. "Not one for birthdays, eh?" She loved birthdays, how did one mark the years passing if not for that one time of year where there was cake and presents?

Not seeing well wasn't serving her well in this situation because all she could see was slithers of heat going fast and rebounding onto the ground. The heat from Ambrose's pocket had just given then enough to bee seen by her but the banner was barely there and all she could see was a blank banner, not being able to see the words.

Esha turned her attention away from the annoyed red head and turned towards Abenzu who was standing on her shoulders, giving him a warm smile, to stall for a second while making sure she had decoded what he said right "Hello Abenzu, I'm Esha" She liked the compliment, she hadn't been called pretty in a while.

She headed towards the hat on the wall, and pulled the fork out, not moving too quickly as to surprise or accidentally dislodge the person on her shoulders. She thought it was slightly rude of him to turn down a gift like that but didn't say anything.

Abenzu frowned. How many times would it take before Ambrose would stop saying it was going insane or something. It knew it saw someone other than Ambrose and the new Esha person. It may not have complete assurance in it's eyes but when it saw colors like that it doesn't forget. It sat on Esha's shoulders, it's head resting on hers, and let out a frustrated sigh.

At least it learned one thing, the Esha person's name. Abenzu was happy with that. It was also interested in Esha's sudden action to rescue the hat from the wall. Abenzu let out a happy chirp, "Ehja laik hat? Wahs fohr Ahmbohs, baht Ambohs hoqu." It said 'hoqu' and looked to Ambrose, sticking out it's rainbow tongue at the red-haired boy. "Ehja cahn has hat ihf Ehja wahn. Hat lahkii with chaam ihn iht." Abenzu smiled at Esha that innocent smile again.