"So, 'Jenny," Jessica said, quietly emphasizing the name as she looked at the black 1998 furby, "Why so quiet?"
Mark looked at her with a blank expression.
"You said nothing at all about Jeff threatening to kill us. Why is that?"
"None of you let me get a word in edgewise." he said.
"Not true," said Jessica, "There was a pause after our various reactions before I went on with the next phrase. There was a reason for that.."
Mark said nothing.
"Okay," said Jessica, let's play a little game and get some levity in here. It's called 'Funny Intros'. The way it works is you say your name, and then give a little description of yourself. A bit like what you see them doing on TV for Al Anon or other recovery programs. Who wants to start?
No one said anything at first, since they all seemed to be considering.
"Anyone?" asked Jessica. "Because I would like to go last, and I will do the intros for the little ones then as well."
"Are we doing full names, or just first or nicknames?" asked Jet.
"It's up to you." Jessica replied.
Jet nodded, and turned to wink at Toby, who grinned back.
"Okay, I'll start." said Kitri with a grin. She came forward and said, "My name is Kitri Fussby, and I'm bossy and vain."
There was a round of snickers, even Mark joined in.
"Who's next?" asked Jessica.
The furbies all looked around and shrugged. They hadn't planned out the order in which they'd do this.
"Want some directing?" asked Jessica.
The various reactions in the affirmative got a nod from Jessica, who then cued each one either by name or with a wave or point.
"My name is Sundown Furby, and I'm jealous - of Kitri." Sundown spluttered.
There was more laughter.
Next was, "My name is Dmitri Scoffby, and I'm an obnoxious pest."
The laughter was a bit louder, and even he couldn't keep a straight face.
"I'm Duckling Wittby, and I must've been a cow in a past life."
This was followed by uproarious laughter from everyone but Mark, who was getting a sinking feeling.
"My name is Sybil Loveby, and I keep forgetting I'm not Peekaboo's mother."
"I'm Floyd Funky, and my jokes are droll and corny."
Mark forced a wide grin, but he squirmed uncomfortably.
"I'm Toby Nerdby. Short for Beethoven Roderick, for those in doubt," he said as he glanced at Mark. "And I'm too rough at training and need to chill out."
"My name is Ocean Buck Twitby, and I'm a big mouth who never knows when to shut up." He ended on a burst of laughter with the others.
Mark was starting to realize this was not so much a game about the others, but an indirect confrontation with him over the gossip he had tried to spread among the friends to divide them. Discomfort mounting at the possibility he was being busted, Mark started trying to sneak toward the entrance and out, but Jessica saw this, and stood up to get him back with the others. "Oh, no, you're part of this two." she said as she quickly picked him up and returned to her chair and held him firmly on her lap.
"This is a dumb game." Mark protested."
"I don't know, everyone else seems to be enjoying themselves," Jessica said smoothly.
"Carry on everyone."
"My name is Holly Robin Boom, and I'm not as cute as I think I am."
"My name is Jet Blackmagic, and I sing awful."
"Ouch." Jessica murmured.
Mark squirmed in her arms.
Then came, "My name is Misty Amanda Snowball, and I'm unlikeable."
"I'm Polly Furby, and I don't know who my friends are and am not worth considering." She flashed a bitter glance at Mark.
"Don't look at me." he sneered, "I'm not responsible for your issues."
"Oh, but you are." said Jessica firmly. "Now it's your turn." Jessica tapped Mark on the side of the head.
"No. I'm not playing." he said.
"Very well, I'll do yours for you." said Jessica. But first, the furblings." Jessica raised her voice, trying to sound smaller. "My name is Palestina, not Christina, and I'm a spoiled baby." - "My name is Peekaboo, and I'm a pesky little spaz. - "My name is Brittany, and I'm too stupid to exist…"
At this, all of the furbies glared at Mark.
Jessica continued. "Do I have all of this right, uh, 'Jenny'?"
Mark didn't answer.
"Now for yours." said Jessica. "My name is Mark, and I've been pretending to be Jenny for the past couple of months, I cause trouble and I tell lies."
Mark's eyes and mouth were tightly shut.
"Busted!" said Jet.
Jessica continued. "And I have a terrible aversion or phobia about the idea of meeting Hannah and Beth." She lifted him up to face level and breathed in his ear, "Why is that, Mark?"
Suddenly, Mark got an idea. He opened his eyes again and said, "There is no other Jenny but me. You're just insane."
"Oh, really?" Jessica stood up quickly, holding Mark more firmly than ever. She marched out of the living room and down the hall to the bedroom. She opened the door and whispered, "Are the kids asleep yet?"
"They were," another furby answered, "But all that commotion startled Peekaboo awake."
"What's going on out there?" Peekaboo asked.
"Nothing, we're just reading some adult stuff you wouldn't like." said Jessica. "So, Jenny, can you come join us in the living room for a moment? They'll be fine here." Jessica indicated the young furbies.
Jenny nodded, and followed Jessica out.
"No other Jenny?" Jessica confronted Mark again when she sat down with him in the presence of everyone else.
"So Jenny, we're just finishing up with our funny intros, now how about you give us yours?" Jessica asked.
"My name is Jennifer Furby, Jenny for short. The past couple months are a big question mark because I was rendered unconscious for the duration. I would like to know how and why."
Mark was at a loss to explain this away. So, he fell back on something else, hoping to make Jessica feel miserable enough to forget this whole thing. "Job job job job." he said.
"Ah, yes, my job. Well, Mark, it's secure."
"But you said it was - "
"I said it was on the line. That was just a charade to test our theory about you. Turns out, it is correct."
"But you were sobbing in your chair."
"You didn't actually see tears running down my face, did you?" said Jessica. "You only heard me from under the blanket. You really thought I was crying."
"You mean you weren't!?" Mark looked ticked off.
This earned him acid looks from everyone.
"Then the one you should be grilling is Toby, he beat me up over it and it wasn't even true?" Mark tried to pull a victim act. He switched gears in a second, since this was clearly not working. if he couldn't be a convincing victim, why not turn this around to be about Jessica as the victimizer? "Hey Toby, you heard her, she lied to you!"
Toby rolled his eyes. "Don't even!"
Mark only kept going. "All that being upset and crying, she was just putting it on, and you bought into it, hook, line, and sinker! Aren't you gonna - "
"Mark," Jessica cut him off. "Toby knew it wasn't true, but he also knew you *thought* it was true. Your satisfied reaction to what you thought was my misery gave him just cause to get angry with you."
"You liar!" Mark shrilled.
"Look who's talking!" Kitri flung back.
"How does it feel getting creamed at your own game, pal?" Buck taunted.
Running out of ideas, Mark tried the indignant, self-righteous one whose job it was to shame the others. "You're a deceitful thing, Jessica, and Toby is a real bully! You had no right to treat me like that and he had no right to beat me up!"
Jessica's demeanour became suddenly very stern. "I had every right, Mark, after all the problems you've caused, somebody had to smoke you out somehow. and I don't expect you to understand Toby. True he shouldn't have let his anger run away with him, but unlike you, he actually cares about his friends. He doesn't like seeing them getting mistreated or taken advantage of, which is what you were doing when you thought I was in anguish over my job. But enough about that. Now, you owe everyone here, especially Jenny, an explanation for this whole rotten mess that started the day you breezed into this house!"
"Let me go!" Mark protested, trying to get away from Jessica.
"No!" she bellowed, gripping him even tighter.
There was silence.
Jessica sighed impatiently. "Okay, we'll do my intro now. My name is Jessica Marley Smith, and I am too soft to do anything about trouble-makers. Oh, really?"
"Bet he doesn't think that now." Misty whispered to Duckling.
"And it is in our best interest if I don't kick you out, Mark, why is that?"
"I never said that!" Mark exclaimed.
"Yes, you did, we all heard it." said Duckling. "When Sybil confronted you about blaming Peekaboo for Tina's accident, she said she'd tell Jessica, and that's when you said Jessica wouldn't kick you to the curb and it'd be in her best interest not to."
"Who asked you to stick your big beak into this, Quacker?" Mark snapped.
Jessica gave Mark a shake. "That's another thing you need to learn about us, we don't keep secrets around here. Now, if you don't want me to arrange for Hannah to come and get you tomorrow, you'll start talking."
Silence.
"*now*!" Jessica demanded.
"It doesn't matter. If you throw me out, or send me to Hannah's - you are being spied on at this very moment." Mark hissed, finally showing his true colors. "Because those nights I went out, I came back with bugs. Who knows what all Slendy has found out."
"Let's kill this basilisk!" Toby shouted, glowering and lunging toward Mark.
Floyd blocked him, and held him back.
Kitri stepped forward, looking ready to clobber Mark at any second.
"Toby, Kitri, hold on, settle down." Jessica admonished.
"Settle down? Are you kidding me?" toby raged back, struggling against Floyd's grip.
"Who knows what information is out there now, and we're supposed to calm down?" Kitri exclaimed incredulously.
Jessica didn't appear alarmed. First, she addressed Kitri and Toby. "Please, take my word for it, nothing has come of it. I thought it would be best if I didn't tell you about them before now."
Toby flared, uttering something in furbish that Jessica didn't understand, but whatever it was, it raised more than a few eyebrows.
"Cool it, man!" Floyd tightened his grip and gave the storming furby a shake.
Buck looked at Floyd. "He was only saying what some of us were already thinking."
"I'm just as unhappy as anyone over this," Floyd responded, "but it won't do to let our emotions get the better of us, not before we hear Jessica and Mark out."
There were more murmurs as everyone tried taking in what Mark had just revealed, and what Jessica had apparently been aware of all along.
"Yeah, what's up with your not keeping us in the loop about this?" buck demanded to know.
Mark saw this as another opportunity to cause trouble. "Yeah, all you fools have no idea, do you? She could actually be on Slender Man's side, seeing she's been keeping things from you."
This time it was Dmitri who lost his temper. He yelled something in Furbish at Mark, who grinned back with glee.
"All right everybody, shut up!" Jessica finally shouted over them.
All of the furbies were momentarily startled into silence.
Jessica continued more gently but firmly. "All will be cleared up in a little while. Please, trust me on this."
"We do." said Sundown. He had been with Jessica the longest by far, so if anyone could verify or refute anything Mark might imply about Jessica's character, it was him.
That seemed to settle everyone down considerably.
Jessica sighed, sending Sundown a grateful glance. "Thank you, Sundown." She frowned at Mark and addressed him next. " So, Mark... Your latest accusation is too utterly ridiculous to warrant any time on, so let's talk about your own motives. You are a Slender slave, of a sort. I thought as much. Your silence during our Jeff letter mangle was deafening. It said a lot about you. But that wasn't the first indication you were - "
"Oh please, you're really paranoid, you know that?" Mark retorted.
"Kill him!" Toby snarled again.
Jessica shot him a stern look. "Toby, enough!"
He glared up at her, then turned away sullenly.
Jessica turned her attention back to Mark. "And you are so wrong in your opinion of us, especially of Brittany." Jessica let go of Mark with one hand, making sure to hold him fast with the other. With a free hand, she reached into her pocket and pulled out several small devices. "She had the quick thinking to watch you plant them, then she removed and disabled them and brought them to me. Props to her for being the first to figure it all out."
Jessica let the devices fall on the floor in front of her for all to see.
The bugs looked chewed on and banged up.
"Wow!" Kitri grinned. "Brittany should get a meddle for this!"
"That's for sure!" Dmitri replied, pleased.
There were general reactions of astonishment and relief from the furbies. Even Toby seemed satisfied.
Mark's expression finally showed something he had never felt in any home. Defeat, and futile rage over it. But he soon tried another card. Appealing to Jessica's wanting to stop Slender Man, he said, "If I end up destroyed by Slender Man now, it'll be your faults!"
"You will not be destroyed by Slender Man."
"But - "
"So that's what you were planning to do with me, make me help you carry out Slender Man's dirty work!" Polly suddenly spoke in a choked sob,"I'm sorry Jessica, Mark told me he'd tear out more of my eyelashes and even worse if I told you!"
"Oh, you're gonna listen to that hysterical - "
"Enough, Mark, let her speak!" Jessica shouted forcefully, giving Mark a vigorous shake. Looking at Polly, she said in a much gentler tone, "Please, go ahead, Polly. Tell us what it's all about."
"Ever since Easter, Mark had been telling me I was supposed to go with him on his nightly prowls. He told me I was supposed to lie to you and say I was going with in order to spy on him for you. That was supposed to keep you from getting suspicious.
"Gah! What a slime!" Kitri blurted out angrily before she could help herself.
Other furbies reacted with hisses, disgusted groans, and dirty glances at Mark.
"I don't recall you both going out." said Jessica. "Unless you did it in the middle of the night while everyone was fast asleep." A severe edge crept into her tone.
"No, we didn't." Polly added quickly.
"Really? How come?" asked Jessica.
"Because the night he planned to start this was when the weather got so cold and you had your window closed again." Then Polly turned on Mark with, "And all this time, you were gonna make me help you plant bugs and spy on my real friends for Slender Man!"
"Traitor Mark!" Kitri hollered.
Dmitri came forward to investigate the broken devices on the floor. "They smell of evil all right." he said.
"How far were these nightly wanderings supposed to go from here?" Jessica asked.
Mark snickered. "Like I'm gonna tell you."
Jessica scowled. "So, now to the impersonation. Why Jenny? why pretend to be her?"
"Because we are the same color. I was supposed to go to a home with kids. Human kids, not furblings." Mark said. "First, I was at this goth girl's place, and she killed herself. By the way, her name was Jenny. Jennifer. What a lark! Man, that was interesting to watch, and then everybody grieving afterword was beautiful."
"Drop dead!" Dmitri burst out!
Floyd continued to hold Toby back.
"You are sick!" Sybil cried out, looking appalled.
Mark continued. "I was at her cousin's after that, but she abandoned me. Then I went to another home from there. And that girl ended up dying and her older brother killed himself; His name was Mark. He and I were best friends. I went to his friend's next, and tried getting them to kill themselves like I had done with the goth girl and then with Mark. I managed to drive him and his family crazy. That was golden! Even getting beat up by that kid was worth it all! I had all of their undivided attention every morning at 1:15!" He said, a nustalgic look in his eye. "But then they abandoned me. So I went around looking for new people to live with. Then I met Slender Man, and eventually Jeff. But Jeff was hardly at home, and when he was, he didn't care about me one way or another, he's too in love with himself and his looks. Slender Man promised me a home with anyone I helped turn into a proxy."
"Slave." Dmitri corrected with a scowl.
"I tried to follow any other black furby and find a way to take their place. I just never got in anywhere until ending up here. On the way to your place, I got in a fight with Polly, and I had her really scared too until Goody Two-shoes Misty came back from getting her drink and butted in."
"That was how I lost some of my eye lashes." said Polly.
"Then I found I must've gone to the wrong address because there were no little kids and no signs of them around here. So imagine my surprise when I saw a bunch of you furbies suddenly come out to play one winter day, and man, what pretty girls, some of you! Kitri," he wolf-whistled, "what a knockout!"
Kitri glowered, and the other furbies showed similar reactions of great offence and disgust. Jessica was angry enough to give one of Mark's ears a good yank, causing him to cry out.
"So when you gave me that backhanded compliment on my hair, you were coming on to me?" Kitri spat, motioning as if she was trying to wipe off something disgusting.
"Then what luck, who else should be here but Polly and Misty, those two silly chicks from the flight! I hit the jackpot!"
Misty glared.
Mark continued." But the best part was one of you was black as pitch. I knew I had to find a way to sideline her and take her place. I still had no answers about why there weren't any little kids, but figured maybe a sick kid who couldn't go outside lived here. Even better."
If looks from the others could kill, Mark would've been dead in a heartbeat.
"So I get in here and find out that you are all waging this campaign against Slender Man. Something he actually didn't know about."
"And you told him about it?" Jessica probed.
"I would have, but never met up with him when I went out at night and I was so hoping to."
Kitri's expression was pure rage as she listened, too angry to think of anything to say. She stared at Mark as intently as if she wanted to burn him up with her eyes.
"If you didn't see Slender Man, how did you get the bugs?"
"Slender Man and his proxies have a designated spot in every town or city where they keep their supply. I just went and took from the general storage spot in ours."
"Where?" asked Jessica.
"Nope, not telling."
Jessica scowled.
"Well, now that you know, if you let me out tonight, I won't be back to bother you ever again." Mark said, a sad tint in his voice.
"Don't pull that pathetic act on us, Mark, it's not going to work!" Dmitri said coldly.
"You're not going out tonight…" said Jessica with an ominous glint in her eye, "Or any other night."
Mark looked downcast, his plans, all ruined. A moment later, he got another idea. "Oh, okay, then I'll just stay here and be the worst houseguest you ever had, then maybe you'll change your tune!" he snarled.
"You're not staying here either!" said Jessica sternly.
Mark winced. "Oh, no," he mumbled, "Not with that Hannah stuff again."
"No, not there either. you're beyond all reform, you've done too much to try harming others, so I'm sure even Hannah wouldn't have you unless she was going to destroy you."
Toby broke free of Floyd and shoved roughly past several other furbies to join Kitri right in front of Jessica. This earned him some annoyed looks from those who got shoved.
"Hold on, Toby," said Jessica. "Now, Mark, anything to say to Jenny?"
"Like what? An apology?" Mark snickered.
"Jenny, have you anything to say to Mark?"
Jenny stood up straight as possible. She stared impassively at Mark. "Two months out of my life. Gone. Two months I'll never get back! And while you were pretending to be me, what did you all do that I would never do in a million years! Answer me that!"
"I don't owe you a thing, chica!" Mark retorted with a leer.
"Jessica, please," Jenny said, tearing up, "I don't care what you decide to do with him, just get him out of my sight!"
"Okay," said Jessica, standing up, furby held tightly under one arm, laptop in other hand, "Kitri, Toby," she directed.
They followed her to the basement and bounded down.
Jessica shut the basement door, not an easy maneuver since that arm was being used to hold Mark fast to her person, but she did it.
"Don't worry, Mark," Jessica said cheerfully with an impish grin, "you're not spending another night alone with Toby. This time, it's Kitri - and Toby."