A faint glimmer wafted on the chilly breeze toward the barrow from the Edge of Faerie. As it came closer it was revealed as the spectre of a middle aged man with wire rimmed glasses and a serious loss of hair, sporting beard and mustache. He sighed and closed his eyes, enjoying the piano and viola, wishing he had remembered his french horn, but thought better of it considering he was so out of practice. Better to read one of my overwrought poems, he thought.
"Greetings, Esty, Tigerlily, Immy, Lal, and Celuien! Happy Birthday to the Downs!" He was glad the group was still small when he got there, for he was really quite uncomfortable in large crowds, especially in such close quarters, as his hearing was not too good at all. He was intrigued by the med student, Nichole, and hoped to see more of her at the Downs.
He floated to the table and filled out a nametag scrawling the Greek word for Little, using modern lettering. It is my real name after all, he said to himself. Then he scrawled "LMP" in the bottom right just because it felt better to have it there. He suddenly remembered the gift in his pocket, and pulled out a couple of spectral stencils he had ordered special for the occasion. One was a picture of a round door on which was scribed, "Home is where a Hobbit is", and the other was a Dragon staring back at the viewer with one red eye open. He placed these and an ink pad and stamper on the name tag table.
He sniffed the air, pleased with the warm fragrances and the homey feel. Then he went over to the musicians and began to hum in harmony with the tune the viola played, in a pleasant tenor voice; humming because he really wasn't that quick of wit to come up with words on the spot; and he wished that he had memorized one of those ditties by the Subcreator of Middle Earth. Ah well. Always wishing for more than he should. He settled to enjoying the music.
Another ghost in a white dress came in just as he did, whom he had not noticed at first; she pulled out a violin, enriching the music. LMP smiled and continued humming.
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