Marissa Duell
August 05, 2020 5:14 PM
Happy Birthday, Valentine. by Marissa Duell
Marissa knew that other people could find her tendency toward careful, deliberate, thoroughly planned-out action could frustrate other people, sometimes, but even most of those people would acknowledge one thing: if Marissa was given time to plan out how to do something, the something almost invariably got done. There were few things that made her happier than watching a plan come together – a plan to make something good happen, that was, like a birthday party.She was not entirely sure that her plans for Valentine’s twelfth birthday counted, as she could not really have a full party under the circumstances, but she had thrown herself into them anyway. First she had felt out the little friends at the school, and organized the actual gift delivery with Valentine’s Head of House. That done, she had given Andrew and all the extended family hard deadlines by which to bring their gifts and cards for Val to Marissa, so she could see to it that everything arrived on time; she had not worried about the collection part very much, assuming they all knew by now that to ignore the deadline would incur Marissa’s extreme displeasure, and never mind that the worst Marissa’s extreme displeasure could usually do was give someone lousy handcreams in unappealing scents for Christmas next year. She had checked several times on the baker and the florist, and double and triple checked with the post office about their deadlines and the rates they were going to charge her. A file folder of lists and receipts began to fill up.
By the end of it all, she was fairly sure a few people were frustrated and annoyed with her, but it was worth it: on the night of February 13, she was able to go to bed with nothing much on her mind but misty-eyed thoughts about how big Val was getting, confident that even as she did so, a small battalion of elves were probably busily arranging Val’s presents for her to wake up to.
She had not placed her trust poorly. When Valentine woke up in her dormitory on the morning of February fourteenth, there were flowers in a vase on her nightstand, along with a huge birthday card, a long letter from her parents mainly on the topic of how happy they were to have her, and a substantial box of cupcakes. Around the foot of the bed were the wrapped parcels procured by Valentine’s mother, father, and other family members. There was no way to know for sure how the rest of the day would go, but it was set to begin, at least, on a high note.
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Marissa Duell
Happy Birthday, Valentine.
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Valentine Duell
August 05, 2020 6:51 PM
Mama is the best! Papa is okay too. by Valentine Duell
Valentine woke up and lay in bed in her roommate-less room on a sunny morning in the middle of February. She stared at the wall as the last vestiges of sleep left her. One thought coursed through her brain 'It's my birthday! I'm twelve years old now!' She started to smile, but then it dropped. 'And I'm at school, far from Mama and Papa. Did I tell anyone today was my birthday?' She considered the question as the wall stared blankly back at her. She didn't think so, maybe she had mentioned it to Bonabelle at some point? What sort of birthday was this going to be? She couldn't go around telling people now... it would sound like she was demanding presents and things. Maybe she could find Lavender and Bonabelle and have a Valentine's Day party! Great... that didn't sound self-centered at all either.She sighed and rolled onto her back to stare at the ceiling. Maybe it had some answers for her. Nope, same ol' ceiling up there. She let out another sigh and decided she should probably get up and get ready for the day. Whatever kind of day it turned out to be, hopefully there would at least be an owl from Mama and Papa during the breakfast delivery. Maybe she could drop some hints to people? It was her birthday and she wanted it to be a little special.
Something colorful caught at the corner of her eye as she sat up. Her head swiveled and her heart skipped a beat. Flowers? A beautiful vase of flowers sat on her nightstand! There was a card next to it as well and a box! That hadn't been there last night! She would have noticed it. She reached for the card and saw a letter adorned with her name in Mama's handwriting with it. Valentine also noticed the plethora of parcels and cards stacked all around the foot her her bed.
This was Mama's work, she would have known it without the letter on the nightstand. Her smile wouldn't stop if she had wanted it to, tears of happiness pricked at the corner of her eyes. As much as she wanted to dive into unwrapping those presents, she steeled herself and started with Mama and Papa's letter first. That proved to be a mistake. She missed them so much, and it was her birthday, and the letter held so much of them and it was all she had of them to hug. Happy tears rolled down her cheeks and the letter was crushed to her chest.
After a few moments she recovered, wiped her eyes and looked over the pile of presents. Then she grinned. Picking up a small one on top, it was labeled clearly 'from Mama'. She tore open the paper and extracted a small box, from within she pulled a silver necklace with a heart shaped pendent that sparkled purple. It was beautiful and she put it on without a second though. Her third thought however reminded her of something Mama would want her to do. She dug around a moment for some paper and a quill. She jotted down quickly, 'Heart shaped pendant - Mama'.
The rest of the pile was sorted out, with careful notes taken. Books and headbands, new paper and ink from Mama. She'd use that to write back tonight! Papa had given her a new set of shiny dice... He'd found some to match the pendant Mama had gotten! Also anther Pathfinder book! Now her players could be Catfolk, Yoski or Tengu! Pop and Aunt Paige had gotten her a camera, a photo album and a book on photography! She tried to rearrange the pile to as close to it's original state as she could and took a picture. Mama would want to see what all her hard work looked like. It didn't make a picture right away though. She looked a the book a moment and saw that getting the pictures out might take a little work. Maybe Professor Brooding-Hawthorne could help her with it!
Aunt Jhonice's was easy enough to pick out without reading the tag, it was wrapped in the society pages of the newspaper. It contained a very nice leather-bound journal and fancy quill set, there was also a map of all the 'good spying places' she had found at the school when she had gone there. There were lots more, and she carefully jotted them all down on her list. This was going to be a fantastic day! She was going to need to find Lavender and Bonabelle and share cupcakes with them, and take some more pictures, then write home and thank Mama and Papa for everything! Also write out thank-you cards to everyone. That would be the most fun part. Yeah.
She got herself dressed and ready for the day, making sure she had Mama's pendent around her neck and one of her new hairbands in her hair. That was when she noticed it, there was a package that she had missed. It had gotten almost pushed entirely under the bed. She pulled it out with a smile that faded as she looked at it. The package was wrapped in plain brown paper and didn't have any tag on it. Maybe it was on the inside. Valentine pulled the paper free and opened the generic cardboard shipping box. From it she pulled an old, worn stuffed jackelope toy.
"Ms. Bunhorn?"
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Valentine Duell
Mama is the best! Papa is okay too.
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Valentine Duell
August 06, 2020 5:06 PM
Birthdaze by Valentine Duell
Ms. Bunhorn? Val was almost certain that this was her long lost toy, but she only had very vague memories to work with. She hadn't seen the toy since they'd moved back to Georgia after all. Honestly, she'd forgotten all about it until Professor Marsh had introduced them to their pets this year. Had Mama found it somewhere? No, she would have surely mentioned it, or put a tag on it like the others.She looked at the plain box and plain paper again, but they offered her no real clues. The only other person that she could think of was.... Aunt Giselle! Had Aunt Giselle gone back to Greece and found her? Or, had Aunt Giselle had her all this time? Did this mean that Aunt Giselle was coming home again and so didn't need a reminder of her family anymore? Or... Val felt a chill run through her and her stomach sank, did it mean that she wasn't coming home again? The empty face and large glassy eyes of the stuffed jackelope did not reveal any answers.
Oh no! She was going to be late! She still had to find Bonabelle and Lavender and figure out when they could meet up to eat cupcakes! She gave Ms. Bunhorn a quick cuddle and set her on the nightstand next to the flowers. From which she also could not resist taking another deep sniff. Mama was the best! Then she grabbed her school supplies, complete with new journal, quill set and dice and was out the door.
A moment after the door to her room slammed closed, Ms. Bunhorn tilted slowly forward and flopped to the floor next to the bed. There was a soft clink sound as her left eye popped out and a perfectly spherical glassy orb that swirled with blueish-grey mist rolled unseen under the bed.
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Valentine Duell
Birthdaze
1490
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