The Christmas adventure had a great impact on the furbies. Most coasted through the rest of that winter, blissfully remembering their experience every time it snowed, and especially when Jessica let them outside to play in the trees.
For a few weeks after Christmas, Kitri and Toby were especially effected, but very differently.
Kitri seemed more laid back, due to her frequent daydreaming about the night she stole the show up at the North Pole.
Toby seemed almost traumatized by the event, and was rather hesitant to leave the house and go with Jessica to work when she asked him to.
Jessica, for her part, knew nothing of what had really gone on with the furbies that Christmas, and couldn't figure out what was up with these two, but she could tell something had changed.
She reasoned that Kitri was finally settling in and settling down, and perhaps the winter season was having a similar effect on this furby as on herself.
Jessica couldn't figure out Toby's withdrawn behaviour. Before the break, he had been more than willing to go anywhere with her, now all of a sudden, he would make himself scarce, or suddenly seem almost scared whenever Jessica wanted him to go along to work, or wherever there was bound to be more people.
But Jessica wouldn't just let him hide at home and not go anywhere with her. She made a point of insisting he join her on at least one week day at work.
And he had to comply, no matter how anxious it made him to face another noisy, crowded public place. He couldn't find it in himself to give Jessica a flat "No, I'm not going today" or come up with a good reason for it.
Kitri actively encouraged this, saying the only way to help this kind of anxiety was to face it head on.
Back in January when Brielle was handing out candy, apparently she had received a bunch of it for Christmas and it was more than enough to go around several times.
When she gave two gummies to Jessica, one of them was then given to Toby, who gave a purr of delighted surprise.
Jessica thanked Brielle, and watched Toby blissfully chow down.
"So, will you come to work with me again next week?" she asked him.
"I'll consider it." was his reply.
Jessica chuckled and grinned at him.
The next week, Jessica brought something for Brielle in turn, and Brielle thanked her and gave her another candy. She split it with Kitri, who came with that time.
Toby was rewarded with another candy as well the next time he went to work with Jessica.
The rest of the time, there was no shortage of volunteers accompanying Jessica wherever she wanted to take them.
Sundown even went to work with her once, and was pleasantly surprised at someone complimenting how cute he was.
As the winter wore on, Jessica remained in good health, though she had anxiety over various family members who were having some concerns.
The furbies all did what they could to help Jessica get through those anxious times, and when there was good news, they celebrated right along with her.
The evenings were full of more fun and games. usually after the combat training session with Kitri or Toby in the basement, (who was in charge depended on which one went to work with Jessica and which one stayed behind), they would all come back up to eat and then put on a little show for Jessica, or just hang out and play games.
One night, they decided to act out "Charlotte's Web" a favourite childhood story of Jessica's. It was a story they were familiar with, so it was just a matter of who was in the cast and who would be part of the audience.
"Hmmm, okay, Sundown, you're Avery."
"What? isn't he a bit of a brat?"
"Not enough to be dislikable, and I'd like to see you in a comedic role." said Jessica.
"I wanna be Charlotte!" said Peekaboo.
"I thought Sybil should have that role." said Jessica.
"Awww." Peekaboo protested.
"Not that you wouldn't make a good one, it's just that it's a pretty big part." Jessica explained.
So?"
With a heck of a lot of material. Don't worry, you can be Charlotte the next time we put this play on." said Jessica.
"How about me?" asked Dmitri.
Jessica laughed. "You definitely aren't cut out for that role."
Everyone laughed.
"Not her," Dmitri retorted through his own laughter, "I mean is there a suitable part for me in this?"
"Yeah, you could be the rat." Toby teased.
"Argh, you're really asking for it!" said Dmitri.
"How about Floyd? He's got the longest tail of all of us." Polly suggested.
Floyd herumphed. "Do I look like a rat to you?"
"I rather like the idea of Dmitri as Templeton," said Jessica, "so we have Dmitri as the rat,"
"Argh."
Jessica laughed and continued, "Sybil as Charlotte, Sundown as Avery, Ducky as the old sheep,"
"Baaaaa." said Duckling.
There were a few chuckles in response.
Jessica continued. "Kitri as the goose,"
"Cool cool cool," said Kitri, showing she was right for the role.
"Buck as Uncle, Toby as Wilbur,"
Toby's initial smile faded quickly when Jet teased.
"Hehehe! Guess what, Toby, you get to be a baby pig."
"So?"
"So when Fern saves you, she gets to give you a bottle.
"Uh, what?" Toby winced, eyes going wide. "We're not doing that scene, are we?"
"Yep, we are." said Jessica. "It's one of the cutest, tenderest scenes in the whole thing."
Toby squirmed and looked at Jessica. "I'll do that on one condition - only if you are Fern, otherwise, - nooooooo deal."
"Oh come on, I was actually thinking Peekaboo could be Fern," said Jessica.
"Hee-hee-hee yeah!" Peekaboo said.
"She can if she wants to, but I ain't being a baby for her." said Toby indignantly, backing away.
"Okay, we could have you and Dmitri trade roles. You be Templeton, Dmitri be Wilbur. Either of you could do both roles well." said Jessica.
"Heh, I could go for that." said Dmitri.
"Ha ha, baby Dmitri!" Jet teased.
"Shut up, you." Dmitri said, and stuck his tongue out at Jet.
Jet laughed.
"Watch it, Jet, I could always put you in the role." said Jessica.
Jet gulped and went silent.
Jessica added, "But this time, you're going to be the hired man."
"Whew." said Jet.
Toby grimaced. "What a choice. Humiliation - or - I get to be a scummy character."
"I know, Templeton's not exactly the model of virtue," Jessica began, "but - "
"I'll say," said Toby, looking at Jessica with a pinched expression as if he'd just stepped in something really disgusting, then he did a snarly imitation of the character, "'Why should I worry about Wilbur?' and later when he's asked to help save Charlotte, it's 'What's in it for me?'" Then he shifted back to his own ticked off voice "Yeah, how about a little arsenic with your next payment?"
"Whoa, Toby, chill out." Kitri said, smirking.
He stuck his tongue out at her.
Jessica burst out laughing. "Oh, come on, now, it's not that bad, really. He's still funny and endearing in his own way. And he has a few food preferences in common with you sickies," Jessica grinned at Dmitri and Toby.
Some of the others snickered.
Jessica continued, smiling sweetly, "And when it comes to that, I'll make it worth your while."
Dmitri and Toby looked conspiratorially at each other, then back at Jessica.
"And we can always do this story again with changes in cast. I'll be Fern next time, but for now, it's Peekaboo's turn.
"Okay then, I'll stick with Templeton," said Toby, muttering "I sure don't look the part, though."
"Neither do I look mine, but that's sort of beside the point, isn't it?" Dmitri said, grinning impishly.
"Good. And that's fine, we're just doing this for ourselves, not trying to win any look-alike contests" Jessica said. Now, why don't you all go do a bit of rehearsal, and come back when you're ready to put this on for us? Oh, and minor characters still up for grabs, you can sort them out during rehearsals. The father, the mother, and the farmer etc."
"Will do, come on, guys!" said Kitri, and she lead the way back down to the basement.
While they were rehearsing, Jessica put together some simple home-made props she thought would be good for the show, some string and a few notes for Sybil to make up the writing in the web, a box trough, for Dmitri and Toby, a small bowl-shaped basket nest for Kitri, etc.
So that evening ended with a nicely done show. Jenny was chosen to be the narrator, and everyone did their part excellently. Sybil's final scene was surprisingly touching, and Dmitri's performance was outstanding. Even with his gruff voice and strange appearance, he still pulled off Wilbur's innocent and gentle attitude. The best scenes with him were near the beginning and end.
Jessica smiled tenderly When Peekaboo, as Fern, fed Dmitri as Wilbur, with a tiny eye-drop bottle. Peekaboo and Dmitri had come a long way since the days when she had been so afraid of him.
Any time Dmitri cried during the play, Palestina squirmed and showed signs of concern, nearing distress, and she needed to be reassured it was all play acting. This was especially true during the scene when Duckling, as the old sheep, told Dmitri that he was destined to be killed, and Dmitri's part called for hysterics.
Despite his dislike for the part, or perhaps because of it, Toby did a very convincing job as Templeton. His expression showed real displeasure to go along with Templeton's attitude, which ranged from slight reluctance to near tantrum mode whenever Charlotte or Wilbur asked him to help them out with anything. But he was particularly impish whenever he could find humor in his part. The look on his face when Sundown as Avery, accidentally broke the rotten egg Templeton had stowed away was devilishly gleeful. Of course, they didn't use a real egg for that, especially not a rotten one. Jessica signalled them when she wanted the break with a cough, she told Sundown that plan well beforehand.
Toby was great at the fair scene too, when coming back after a night of glutting, swaggering in during a serious conversation between Dmitri and Sybil about Charlotte's deteriorating condition.
"I'm back," he said after a well-rendered belch.
"No kidding." said Dmitri, rolling his eyes.
Tina laughed out loud.
Toby heaved a satisfied sigh as he flopped down into the imaginary crate with Dmitri and Sybil. Then he proceeded to tell them amid loud hiccuping about his fun night of gorging.
Sybil's line of "You ought to be ashamed of yourself, it would serve you right to get a serious case of indigestion!" and her cross expression, earned her several nods from audience members, including Jessica.
Toby stuck to his part, giving Sybil a "Don't have such a conniption over it, at least I had a good time." look and said "My stomach can handle anything."
The other scene where Dmitri shone was when he cried over Charlotte's death. He pulled it off so well and so pitifully that Jessica said afterword that she'd wanted to take him in her hands to comfort him.
When the play was over, Tina asked Jessica if they could leave that and the other really sad parts out next time. Jessica had to explain to her that the story just wouldn't work without them.
The next night, they did The Wizard Of Oz, with Misty as Glinda, Jenny as the Wicked Witch of the West, Holly as Dorothy, Duckling as Aunt Em, Jet as Uncle Henry, Floyd as tScarecrow, Toby as Tin Man, Dmitri as Cowardly Lion, and Buck as the Wizard.
Once it was clear that Jessica's spirits were on a steady rise along with her physical state, the furbies became less cautious around her and went back to more of their exuberant games and activities, even when inside the house. They were still mindful not to break or disturb anything Jessica warned them about.
Even with that, Dmitri still managed to get himself in trouble.
Most of the furbies, except for Holly and Brittany, loved it when Jessica picked them up and made like a seriously wild carnival ride.
Holly was not afraid of heights, hanging upside down, twirling etc. as long as she was the one in control. She tended to get anxious when Jessica so much as lifted her too high into the air, and would beg not to be shaken.
Brittany remained the oddest furby about play. No amount of shaking, spinning, moving up and down, or turning upside down could faze her in the least. She still only laughed when tickled if she had told Jessica to tickle her first. She remained the calmest, even-keeled of the lot, almost placid. Still, she did show appreciation when something pleased her.
Toby didn't pester Jessica to give him a wild ride too often, but he had learned early on how to provoke her into giving it, without getting himself into serious trouble. So sometimes he would come up to her when he could see she was doing nothing, and say "Bor-ring."
Back on the day of his arrival, first time he tried this, Jessica reacted with "I'll just fix you for saying it is boring around here!" and shook him up. Since then, it had developed into this sort of game.
Kitri sometimes got this sort of a rise out of Jessica by calling her "Baby".
But Jessica was not always predictable when she reacted. Sometimes she gave the furbies a good shaking up, but other times she would just grab and yank their tails.
Holly and Jet tended to panic when their tails got pulled, and Toby could get unexpectedly quite cross, so Jessica avoided giving them that treatment as much as possible.
Dmitri hadn't forgotten that when Kitri burped in Jessica's ear once, it earned her a wild carnival ride on 'The Jessica'. So now that things were going well, he started trying his luck to see if burping at Jessica would get him more rides.
To his delight, it worked for several times.
But one night, he'd done one two many, and landed in some trouble, which he never saw coming.
Dmitri jumped on Jessica's shoulder and burped in her ear.
"Oh, you!That does it!" Jessica grinned wickedly at him and gave him a shaking-up he wasn't likely to forget.
Dmitri squealed and howled with laughter, and couldn't get his breath back. Up, down, around, Jessica shook and whirled him, holding him tightly in her grasp.
"Help!" Dmitri laughed helplessly. "Help! Help!"
"Give it to him, Jess!" buck cheered.
Toby, wanting to be next, looked longingly on, unable to get near Jessica for fear of being walloped by her wildly swinging arms.
Jessica transferred Dmitri in mid-spin from one hand to another, and she even started tossing him from hand to hand, once she was sure he was too disoriented to move on his own.
Dmitri's laugh faded to silence, then after a few seconds, he made a loud gasp for air and laughed so hard that he almost sounded as if he was crying.
Finally, Jessica slowed down as she went into the kitchen with Dmitri, though she still shook him around.
The other furbies followed, watching and chortling in amusement.
With a free hand, Jessica opened a telephone desk drawer and tossed Dmitri in. Then, she quickly and firmly shut it.
"Oh, hahahaha, Dmitri's in big trouble." Sundown gloated, landing on the counter right above where Dmitri was trapped.
"Watch it, Sundown, I do have more than one drawer if anyone else acts up."
"Oops." Sundown jumped and scurried across the counter toward the stove, ran across that to another cupboard, and finally leapt on top of the fridge.
"Hey! Let me outa here! Help! Help!" Dmitri cried, it now dawning on him where he was. He also started banging on the inside of the drawer with his beak and horns.
"Will you deliberately burp in my ear again?" Jessica asked.
"No!" Can I come out now?"
"Not yet."
"argh! Jessica!" Please?I wasn't trying to annoy you for real, I'm sorry."
"Don't worry, Dmitri, I won't lock you in there all night."
"I wonder what's all in there anyway." asked Misty.
"Open the drawer and find out." Dmitri prompted.
"Uh, nice try, but no. Not now." said Jessica.
But this must have given Dmitri an idea. He could be heard moving around in there, until he eventually was heard eating something. "Mmmm-hmmmm!" he said, sounding like he'd really found something great to snack on in there.
"Now I really want to know what's in there." said Misty.
"Remember, Misty, this is Dmitri. What's good to him might not be to you." Kitri snickered.
"What in the world? You better not be eating one of my erasers." said Jessica, and walked back to the desk to open the drawer and see what it was Dmitri had found.
Jessica wasn't careful enough, however, and when she opened the drawer to peer in, the opening was big enough for Dmitri to barrel out yelling triumphantly, "Jailbreak!" He let out a wicked laugh as he leapt and scurried well out of Jessica's reach.
"Dmitri, you little brat!" Jessica exclaimed.
"Hahahaha! Genius!" Toby chortled.
When Jessica hurried over to where Dmitri headed to, he bolted.
Jessica chased him out of the kitchen and into the living room. Then she turned to leave.
"Phew." But Dmitri's relief was short-lived.
"Oh, wow,you're really in it now, Dmitri," Polly said when she caught sight of Jessica coming back in with the bug net.
"What? Yikes!" Dmitri ducked behind the recliner.
Jessica approached, and kicked one leg in behind it as well, trying to flush Dmitri out.
It worked, but Dmitri climbed up Jessica and then before she could net him, he sprung off her arm and landed safely a few feet away on a coffee table.
"Argh! Jessica growled. "Okay, this is war! Get 'I'm, guys!"
What followed was an extended chase with furbies flying all over the place, Jessica still trying to use her net. Dmitri narrowly escaped Polly, only to get in the way of Buck. The two of them struggled, Dmitri trying to get away, Buck trying to hold him fast.
Jessica saw her chance, and netted them both.
"Hey!" buck exclaimed.
The two furbies nearly got free of the net, and they would have if Jessica hadn't been so quick on the draw. They almost had the bottom high enough to squeeze through when Jessica grabbed hold of Dmitri through the mesh, then lifted the net to release Buck.
"Argh!" said Dmitri.
"Thanks, Buck." said Jessica.
"No problem." Buck grinned, and scuttled away.
So Jessica tossed Dmitri right back in the drawer and did not open it until time was up, no matter how Dmitri pleaded or ployed. Jessica forbade anyone else from trying to open it as well.
When she finally released him, she put him on her shoulder. "Now, will you do that again?"
No. But Jess, you've probably figured out by now that when it comes to subtle hints, sometimes I'm a bit of a bonehead, so - "
Jessica chuckled.
Dmitri grinned at her, taking her laugh as a sign that she wasn't raving mad at him. Then he continued, "But I didn't get you were seriously annoyed until you locked me in there. You know how mad Toby gets when you pull his tail or give him a rude awakening out of a nap? makes it clear as a bell 'Hey, cut that out!' or something like that.So if I do something that annoys you, just pretend you're Toby and tell me off. I'd rather you did that than lock me in there again."
Jessica grinned. "You got it. By the way, did you really find something to eat in there or - "
Nah, I was just pretending. I was hoping to get Misty's curiosity up enough so she'd just open the drawer without thinking, or when you weren't looking. My plan turned out even better when you opened it yourself." Dmitri laughed gleefully.
"Oh, you!" Jessica took him and gave him a shake and whirl.
Dmitri chortled.
That night, everyone went to bed with no hard feelings, but from then on, Dmitri knew better than to deliberately burp in Jessica's ear for any reason.
A couple of nights later, Jessica proposed they try their hands at a number of projects. Jessica said it was likely that the big meet with Beth and Hannah and the other furbies could happen as early as mid spring, though more likely in late spring or early summer. That would give everyone a chance to work up a show for them. So there was plenty of time to toss around ideas, try different things, and figure things out.
Jessica also had some good news.
"Hannah's new site is being constructed, and she showed me a rather interesting link on it. So, apparently we have one less pasta creep to worry about.
"Did Jeff die?" asked Sundown.
"No. You're still going to get him. Ticci Toby is the one who is clearly out of our sites. Hannah says he won't be showing up and we won't have to worry about him at all.
"yes!" toby exulted, hopping up and down.
Don't any of you think for a moment that means we can slack off on our combat training." said Kitri.
There were several groans in response.
Jessica laughed, then continued. "Now, we're only sharing ideas, but I thought that for a show, we could each do one favourite song, and something Beth and Hannah like, now that could be a song or a few from a musical or series they like. This would get us into considerably heavier material than what we have been doing, but I don't think it's impossible. If the Muppets can try their hand at "Les Mis", do it badly, and still get re-shared on Facebook, I don't see why we can't do it somewhat better since we have a few pretty good singers among you, and I know where to get words and music tracks."
Oh, man, I could really get into that." Toby beamed.
"I'm sure, and I could put you into one of a few parts, I just can't decide which. But Hannah also likes "Phantom Of The Opera" and - "
"Yes!" Misty exulted. "I love that musical too! Especially "All I Ask" can I sing that one?"
Jessica laughed, pleased with Misty's enthusiasm. "Well, I had thought Sybil could be Christine if you guys decide you want to try this one out."
Misty's smile faded, but only a little, "Well, I'll still enjoy just listening, too." she said.
Tell you what, Misty, if we don't end up doing a few select scenes from "PhantoM" as a feature in our show, you can sing that as your favourite song contribution. How's that?"
Misty brightened up again. "Sounds great!"
Jessica smiled. "So, favourite songs of yours, think on it and get back to me with your submissions. I'll be showing you more of what I find out Beth and Hannah like, so we can get more ideas. We might feature a few scenes from a musical or series, and we might not; maybe we'll just do a number of songs we know they like that aren't related to anything. But we have tons of time to brainstorm and figure it all out."
Sure enough, the following day, they tried a few scenes from "Phantom". Sybil was assigned the role of Christine, Jenny as Carlotta, Misty as Meg Giry, Buck as Raoul, and and either Jet or Toby as the Phantom. Jet had the looks, but Toby had the voice, so Jessica would have to decide based on which one could give the most compelling performance. Until that decision was made, the two would trade off on different nights they went through it.
They all had fun with it, and Jenny and Sybil started calling each other Christine and Carlotta in jest outside of their roles. This drove Brittany up the wall because of her inflexible, exacting attitude. According to her, you were called by the name of a character when you were putting on the show, but that was supposed to stop when rehearsals were over or the curtain was down.
In mid February when there was a birthday party for a couple of Jessica's relatives, Kitri jumped at the chance to go with her.
It was a nice enough day, so Jessica let all the other furbies out the door with her so they could play outside while she and Kitri were gone.
That night, something was a bit off with Jenny.
To start with, she came in, looking disheveled, and she never bothered to do anything about it. That was unusual. Up to this point, Jenny always kept her coat looking shiny, new, and absolutely tangle-free.
That night, she inexplicably couldn't seem to remember a thing about the role of Carlotta, so any part of "Phantom" involving her couldn't be done.
When they retired for the night, Peekaboo came up to Jenny, "What happened to your ear?"
Nothing." Jenny said dismissively and scurried away to another part of the room.
Sundown quietly observed, saying nothing, but he also noticed something was off.
Jenny seemed to recover her memory of the Carlotta role over the next few weeks, but she still didn't do it nearly as well as she had the first time she tried, nor with anywhere near the enthusiasm or humour.
By early March, Toby had enough pleasantly surprising experiences at Jessica's work and incentive to keep going with her that he got over his anxiety. So one day, he planned to go to work with Jessica without being asked, as he used to do along with Kitri or anyone else before getting so overwhelmed at Christmas.
It was going perfectly, Jessica knew she had a little pal in one of her jacket pockets, but didn't know who. Toby wasn't going to reveal that until they arrived at work, but that plan got ruined when Jessica wasn't careful enough about getting into the car.
She hadn't moved quite far enough away from the car door, so that when she shut it, the door slammed against Toby.
"Aaaaagh! Ouch!" He screamed something in Furbish that Jessica guessed was probably not fit to put into English, and growled with extreme displeasure.
"Oh, sorry!" Jessica put her thermos in the cupholder, but abandoned starting up the car in favour of taking a few moments to console Toby.
She'd never heard any other furby get this dangerously angry except for Kitri months earlier, and she was very close to losing her nerve. It didn't help matters that Toby continued growling and hissing. But she went ahead, gingerly reaching a hand in to help him out of the jacket pocket.
He didn't try to bite her, and once Jessica got him free, she held and gently petted him.
It took a while for Toby to subside, but Jessica persisted until he stopped growling, hissing and glaring. Then the flaming look was gone, but he still didn't purr.
So Jessica put him on her shoulder and started the car. Maybe the motion would relax him. Soon, she was on her way to work.
During the drive, Toby hopped off her shoulder. Jessica kept her eyes on the road, thinking nothing of it until she heard him eating or lapping something up and purring.
What that turned out to be was spillage from Jessica's leaking thermos. She had over-filled it, and the motion of the car made the brownie fudge flavoured coffee run out a little and down the side.
When Jessica arrived to work early, she parked, then picked up Toby and held him up so that he'd get even more of the spillage that he couldn't reach by himself.
"This stuff is great. You can over-fill your thermos any time." he said.
Jessica laughed. "There, does that make up for the slam?" she asked.
"m-hmmm." he purred.
"Works out well for me too, now I don't have to worry about getting it on my hands."
Toby had the outside of the thermos cleaned up very quickly, then Jessica put him on her shoulder, then opened the thermos and drank a little to keep the leak problem from continuing.
Work went well that day.
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