At Nafriton Residence Hall, Aayla prepares a few little distractions for the gremlin neighbors living in the basement. Ever since Headmaster Marin granted her permission to stay here, she's found several locked rooms in the dormitory. However, she still has five keys left. This means that there are still five places that she doesn't have access to where the gremlins could be hiding.
The only good thing about spending days in the basement fending off gremlins to prepare for the school year was that Aayla got a good grasp on the gremlins' usual tricks. She also found a couple of spots where they could be hiding. There was no way that the gremlins would let the party pass peacefully, so she'll generously provide them with a little entertainment to keep them busy.
The only things that gremlins love almost as much as chaos are shiny objects, sugar and games. Those little jinxes are surprisingly very prideful and picky, especially Mayhem. He cannot stand to lose in any possible way. So, Aayla came up with a wonderful idea. Between Dormi's help, Ramona's wisdom, several late nights with way too many cups of coffee and some of the junk from the lost and found, a brand-new game was born on Tellus.
The wonderful, flashy game of Gremlin-style color memory! While not very exciting by Terran standards, it should be a smash hit with the gremlins. The board looks like a misshapen flying saucer, with several mismatched buttons along the edges and a glass dome in the center. The goal of the game is to press the buttons in the order that they light up. Aayla and Dormi made those lights as flashy as possible and added some fun little extras to keep them busy.
The best part was the bait inside the glass dome. After several centuries without any sugar, the gremlins went wild for the stuff. Dormi went all out and baked the chocolatiest, most sugar packed cake that Aayla had never thought possible. Aayla could feel herself getting cavities just putting it into the game board. The gremlins would never share.
To get the treat in the dome, the player had to successfully copy enough colors. Of course, the full number of colors needed to be correctly copied numbered into the hundreds. The gremlins would take at least a few days to solve it.
As Aayla walked down the stairs into the basement, she carefully balanced the game in her hands. Aayla carefully examined the walls as she slowly walked deeper into the basement. Several minutes later, she saw the faint outline of a door. Aayla stopped and put the game down onto the floor. After a couple of minutes running her hands over the wall, her hands touched a small hole.
She took a key ring out of her pocket and tried three keys before finding one that fit. When Aayla turned the key in the lock, a creaking sound echoed throughout the hallway and part of the wall turned into a door. Darkness emanated from the room.
Aayla grabbed the game, then walked into the dark interior. Lights along the floor and ceiling flickered to life, revealing a wide-open room with several large, bright squares on the cushioned floors. Something wet occasionally dripped down onto Aayla. She looked up to check where the leak was coming from.
The drip wasn't water. It was gremlin drool. The whole pack of gremlins slept upside down like bats on the ceiling. They grumbled to life at the sudden glare coming from the lights. Aayla placed the game in the center of the room, pressed the start button and ran out. She left the door slightly open behind her, and peaked through the crack.
A sleepy, irritated gremlin walked up to the game and furiously slapped it. The game immediately began flashing. Even more furious, the sleepy gremlin kept slapping it in rage. Honestly, it's rage and ineffective slapping was highly comedic. Eventually other gremlins joined in. They slowly congregated around the game and figured out its rules. Then, they noticed the cake. The wonderful, chocolatey, fluffy goodness in the clear glass dome.
The screeches intensified before they were cut off by a loud shriek. Mayhem had been disturbed by the noise and light. He and his grumpy entourage walked to the center of the crowd as regally as gremlins could. With a tiny snort, Mayhem slapped a button after the flashing stopped. Instantly the entire board lit up in a red color and chimed in failure. The other gremlins began laughing at their leader who couldn't even get one button right! Irritated, Mayhem tried again with a bit more success and a few more jeers from the others.
Aayla closed the door and silently crept out of the basement. The gremlins' rowdy gaming session was left far behind. When the basement stairs closed behind her, Aayla collapsed to the floor. She really didn't know how the gremlins would have reacted if they had discovered her in their nesting grounds. Fortunately, the game should keep them occupied for a while as well.
After resting for a couple of minutes, Aayla picked herself up off of the floor. Distracting the gremlins was the hard part. The rest should go smoothly.
**********
The rest of the party decorations did go smoothly. It's amazing how much you can get done without a thousand screaming fluffballs literally bouncing off the walls. Aayla finished the decorating, and Dormi was on track to finish with the cooking by the time that the party should start. For the countless time today, she peered through the dining room doors again. Students had slowly started to come back for their classes and chatted happily throughout the lounge.
Aayla went over her checklist for at least the tenth time. Wall decorations? Check. Table Decorations? Check. Tableware and utensils? Check. Drinks? Check. Food? Almost check. Music? – The soft opening of a door interrupted her thoughts. *Sigh* Some students are probably impatient for free food.
"I'll be with you in just a minute! Please wait outside until – Oh! Headmaster Marin, what a pleasant surprise!"
"Hohoho, I'm not here for free food, Miss Glowery. I'm just checking in on how the first day went and to hand over a few absentee helpers."
Grinning like the Cheshire cat, Headmaster Marin stood by the door with a pair of repentant boys. Well, one of them seemed repentant. The other shamelessly smiled as brightly as usual like he hadn't left most of the work to Aayla for the past couple of weeks.
'It's about time that those two showed up,' Aayla grumbled to herself. What good are two helpers if they don't show up?
"Hello Aayla! What's for dinner? The smells from the kitchen are fabulous," Chris cheekily grinned then suddenly yelped in pain as the headmaster pulled on his ear.
"And what do we say to the person who's been taking care of all of your work while you two have been playing around, hmm?"
"Thank you, Miss Glowery."
"Ouch! – Yeah, thanks!"
Headmaster Marin released Chris's ear. Daaren studied the decorations curiously. He had never seen a style of decorating like Aayla's. Vibrant streamers, garlands, paper fans and paper honeycomb balls decorated the walls and ceiling. While the tableware and table clothes were elegant and a bit solemn, the table decorations themselves were festive and bright. Arches of vivid bubbles curved over the doors. Overall, the style was lighthearted and a bit mismatched.
"Where did you get these decorations from? I've never seen anything like these," Daren asked while poking at a paper fan on a nearby wall.
"Oh, just here and there. Some I've made, and the others I got from the basement. Anyways, Dormi will take care of most things, so just keep everyone orderly and play along as things go. Oh, and you'll need to speak a bit to welcome everyone. Nothing too serious. A simple welcome will work."
"What about the gremlins? We've heard from Deputy Ramona that there's a colony living somewhere in the building."
Chris nodded along to Daren's question. He was also interested in how Aayla was planning on handling them. There was no longer enough time to catch them all, and gremlins were notoriously difficult to stop from crashing large parties.
"Let's just say that they should be occupied this evening. And hopefully for the next few days as well."
"If the only issue is some gremlins, then you boys should be able to handle it. You three enjoy yourselves. I look forward to the report about your first activity of the school year."
With that final comment, Headmaster Marin promptly left. As soon as he did, Aayla furiously glared at the boys.
"Where have you two been?! I had to get everything ready for this party by myself."
The tables and chairs stomped vigorously in protest.
"With Dormi's help of course."
The furniture calmed down and straightened their backs with pride. Even the curtains seemed to swell with glee. Chris scratched his head awkwardly.
"Sorry about that. We had some… family business to take care of. We'll make it up to you later."
"Fine. Just open the doors to let the students come in. The party will officially begin in a few minutes."