OLD FRIENDS, NEW FRIENDS
by perletwo
My girl bursts through the door to my world. I heard her come out of the water room, but she didn't come in to put on her nightgown like usual. She's out of breath and she looks scared.
She hunts frantically through the things on the dresser, picking things up and throwing them away, muttering something I can't make out. Then she spots me up on the shelf and stretches up to get me, almost losing the towel covering her.
"C'mon, Mr. Gordo. We've got a very important job to do."
Job? That's what Girl calls poking people with the sharp sticks. I don't think poking them with me will work, Girl.
She runs, holding me tightly.
Running is fun. But I almost never see her this scared. It worries me.
"...another friend, one that will never leave you," I hear Yellow saying as we fly down the stairs. "Not like the girl. You know how they break." They do? Mine doesn't.
Then my girl turns me around so I can see what's happening.
Yellow is talking slow and softly to a big one with long black fur, hard and white like him. She has a hand wrapped around the new brown-furred girl's throat, pinning her to a wall, and the hand looks like it has claws on it that'd cut.
Girl? I think you need something better than me to poke this one with!
"Give her this," she says, and pushes me into Yellow's hands. His hands are so much colder than hers!
Yellow turns me around to look at him, then back to the black-furred one. "Look, pet. This is Buffy's favourite friend. He'll be yours forever and ever. He isn't pretty, like Miss Edith, but you can hold him and love him and he'll never break."
Oh.
Girl? Can he do that?
I look again at Brown Fur. Her eyes are wide like Teddy's, she's almost as white as Yellow and she's making little gurgling noises. I can see the dents the black one's fingers are making on her.
Okay. This is a *very* important job.
The black one takes me away from Yellow with her free hand, but doesn't let go of Brown Fur. "He's funny. He has the Slayer's love all over him. He'll be so sad to say goodbye."
I will be sad, Black One, but I'll be your pig now too. You can hug me and I'll take good care of you like I do my girl if you'll let Brown Fur go, okay?
That's funny. She's holding me up to her ear, almost like..."What's that? You'll be mine, now? Funny piggy."
She throws Brown Fur into Yellow's arms and holds me tight, and we run out into the Big Place with Twinkly Lights.
Oh my goodness the black one runs fast! Everything looks all blurry!
Then she takes me into a big spooky old house and we rest on a low sofa. It's very dark in here compared to my world.
"Sweet pig, sweeeet piiiig," she's crooning, rocking us back and forth. It's nice, but a little strange. She sits us back up and looks at me. "You're my new friend now, Piggie. My name is Drusilla, but my true friends all call me Dru."
I'll be your friend, Drooo. My name is Mr. Gordo, but Piggie is okay.
"Is it? Mr. Gordo?" she asks, and holds me up to her ear again. Drooo? Did you - hear that?
"Of course I did, silly pig. Do you like to sing? I used to sing to Miss Edith, but she went away."
I'm sorry your friend went away. Maybe she'll come back?
"I wish - I wish she would, Mr. Gordo. She always told me lovely things, I always knew I could count on her to tell me true things," Drooo says. She looks so sad, like she might cry. I hate when my girls cry. Don't worry, Drooo. I'll do everything I can to make it all better, I promise.
"Thank you, Mr. Gordo," she sniffles.
Drooo?
She stops looking far away and I can tell she sees me.
When my other girl held me close to her front I could hear her front go thumpythumpythumpy. Why doesn't yours?
"I used to go thumpythumpythumpy, Pig. Then I stopped." Her dark eyes go all funny again. "Angel made me stop. He didn't like the noise..." She giggles strangely. I don't like it. Angel? My girl used to call the dark one that came in through the window Angel. Could that be the same one?
"Ohh yes, that's moyy Angel, Pig. 'E was wild about your Slayer, 'e was," she says, brushing the fur on top of my head with one hand. "*I* knew she'd be sorry. Pretty name, pretty face, pretty voice, Angel 'as. But they all lie for 'im, 'cause all 'e does when 'e loves is lie. But she didn't ask me," she singsongs, "an' she was so sor-ry..."
Oh. I'm glad he doesn't come anymore. I like the yellow one better anyway. He makes my other girl laugh and smile and feel better.
"My Spike," she says dreamily. "Always so good and kind to me, 'e was. 'E made me a happy home for such a long time, just us and Miss Edith and the other dollies..." She's rocking again. "Now 'e's making a happy home with the Slayer and her pretty dolly. She an' Angel are always taking away my 'omes..."
I'm sure she doesn't mean to, Drooo. She's a nice girl. I don't know about that Angel, though.
Her eyes darken again.
"Ohhhh yes, Angel meant to take away my 'ome right enough. Did it, too. 'E took away my mummy an' my daddy an' my brothers and sister an' my uncles an' I think my old Nana too. Everyone just thought she went 'cause she was so old, but I knew better."
Drooo hugs me again, and I do my best to hug back. This is worse hurt than hugs maybe can fix, though, I think.
" 'E wanted me to have nobody left to count on but 'im, you see. An' then 'e went away too...I counted on my Spike for so long, but then I could see your girl all over him, laughing, calling to him...An' then there was nobody I could count on but Miss Edith, but I can't find 'er. So you see? I 'ad to take a dolly from the Slayer. She 'as all my dollies to play with. She can spare one!"
It's okay, Drooo. I'll play with you. You can count on me, I promise. I never lie to my girls either.
"Sweet pig. Lucky girls we are." She smiles, tickling my tummy. "Want to see something pretty, Mr. Gordo?"
She carries me over to a funny wall. It has a hole in it like my world does, but the hole goes all the way up and down to the top and bottom walls. She opens the door with the squares in it in the hole and takes me outside.
It *is* pretty out here. There's lots of plants with colorful things on them, and big stone dolls and a little water wall, and the Giant Twinkly Thing shines down and covers it all in a pretty blue light, and the plants make it smell sweet.
"Isn't this nice, Mr. Gordo? This is the night-blooming jasmine, it wakes up when I do," she giggles. "I don't know what this plant is, so I just call it Mariana. It likes it when I sing it to sleep just before the day starts. This is ivy, isn't it pretty? Reminds me of 'ome, it does..." She looks sad again.
Drooo?
She looks down at me.
Can you sing to me? Something sweet?
That makes her smile, and she lays me down in her arms.
"Aaa-las my lo-oove, you dooo me wrooong," she croons, turning around and around on the Big Place's stone floor in the blue light. "to ca-aast me off so dis-cour-teously...For I 'ave lo-oved you well and long, de-liiighting i-in your com-pa-ny...Greeen-sle-eeeves was all my joy, Greeen-sle-eeves was my dee-light...Greeen-sle-eeeves was my 'eart of go-old...And who-ooo but my la-aady Greeen-sleeeves..."
She pulls me up against her front again, still dancing slow around and around. "Your vows you've bro-ooken like my 'eart, Oh why did you so-ooo en-raap-tuure me?...Now I re-ma-aiin a world a-paaart, But my 'eart re-ma-aiiins in cap-tiii-vi-ty..."
A long time later the light gets brighter and less blue, and Drooo carries me inside and pulls thick dark cloth over the holes in the walls. She cuddles up to me on the couch and goes to sleep, cooing and petting me at first, and then she gets very very still and quiet, not at all like my other girl when she sleeps.
I wonder why Drooo can hear me talk, when other big ones can't? Is that why she misses her Miss Edith so much?
I feel so bad for Drooo. I know where everything is in my world and who belongs there and who doesn't. But Drooo's world changes around her all the time, nothing's ever the same.
But she scares me too, because she's like my girl was when she was little. Only Drooo's not a little one anymore, she's a big one, strong and monstrous like the ones my girl pokes with the sharp things. And she doesn't seem to know it. She's almost squeezed the stuffing out of me more than once.
I guess this is going to be my world now.
Sometime while Drooo sleeps I fall off the couch, and she wakes suddenly.
"Mr. Gordo?" She looks around, panicked, and spots me on the floor. I don't like the look on her face.
"Bad, bad pig you've been, trying to run away," she hisses. "Good pigs stay where they're wanted. Good pigs don't try to run away from their new daddies. Bad pigs have to be punished."
I'm sorry, Drooo. I didn't mean to make you mad, I just fell down....
"Ohhh, I know how *that* song goes, Mr. Gordo. Bad pigs always say they didn't mean to get away, but their new daddies know better and they punish them and punish them until they don't want to run away anymore..." Her eyes get kinda dreamy. Then she pulls a wide ribbon out of her dress.
"Bad pigs don't get to see how they're going to be punished," she hisses, and ties the ribbon over my eyes. The world gets very dark.
I can feel her start to hit me, lashing at me with something long and stringy that snaps at my fur. A bootlace maybe? It doesn't hurt exactly, it just makes me feel bad that my new girl is so angry with me.
She's hitting me with the stringy thing very slow, drawing it out, and then she pets me where she hit and croons to me before she does it again someplace else. After awhile she wears herself out and collapses, crying, on the sofa. Please don't cry, Drooo. I'll be good. I promise.
Is this how my girl's first dark one treated her? She said Angel was her new daddy, didn't she?
Yellow never hurts my girl. He wouldn't even hurt Drooo when she was going to hurt Brown Fur. I bet he never hurt Drooo before, either.
I'm so glad my girl has Yellow now. I'm so glad the dark ones don't come anymore. I don't want that Angel person to do to my girl what he did to Drooo.
But what am I going to do about my new girl? If Yellow couldn't make her all better, how can I?
Later the door to the Big Stone World opens, creaking slowly, and I see a shadow creep over the sofa we're lying on. Drooo stirs and sits up slowly. "Whaa - who -"
"I'm not here to hurt you," Brown Fur whispers. "I just - came to talk." Drooo stiffens and closes her arms around me tighter.
"I - I brought you one of Spike's bags of blood to eat. I hoped if I brought you some ready-to-eat you might leave mine right where it is...so we can talk. Okay?" She holds the bag out, and after staring at it a long moment Drooo snatches it out of her hand. Her face changes and she bites into the bag like an animal.
Brown Fur climbs up on the arm of the sofa, tucking one leg under her. "Okay?" she asks again, and Drooo nods.
"Spike told me all about you, Drusilla...about how Angel took your family away from you. I know you won't believe me, but I sorta know how that feels." Droo snorts.
"I do. I've never really known my Dad, he left when I was real little. I never see him anymore. My Mom always took care of us, always...but she died last year. I was so scared, and I felt so alone...I tried, I tried a spell to raise her from the dead. Guess I'm not much of a witch, though, 'cause what I got back...well, it wasn't really her, just a puppet that moved through the magic." Droo's eyes widen, and I can tell she's interested.
"So then Buffy took care of me, but it was hard, because all these weird scary people kept showing up and trying to either kidnap or kill me. They needed my blood for some kind of magic spell, see, I don't really understand it, but Giles said they only had one shot, everything would line up perfectly for the spell just the once. They almost did it too...but, but Buffy...she, she *died.* She let them kill her to stop the spell, so I could live." Brown Fur's crying now.
Oh my. So that's why my girl and our big one went away. I didn't understand, before. No wonder everyone cried so much when she was gone.
"You're lying. I just saw the Slayer yesterday."
"Yeah. Seems like our friends are better witches'n me. 'Cause they really did bring her back to life. Real life, not just - a piece of meat being moved around by magic. Only, she didn't want to come back. She was in Heaven." Drooo's grip on me loosens so much at that I almost fall again, but she catches me.
"So you see. Somebody goes and dies for you, you *really* want everything to be okay for them, you know? I *really* want to make everything right for Buffy. I wish I could make everything right for you, too, Drusilla, but I don't think anybody's that powerful, not even the friends that brought my sister back."
Brown Fur stops and takes a deep breath. Drooo can't take her eyes off her.
"So. I cut out of school right after my first class today and did the only thing I could think of to make things better for both of you." She rummages in her little bag with the long strap and pulls out a cloth bundle. "I found Miss Edith for you. She was at the train station, in the lost and found box. I think she got pushed up in the blankets on the train you came into town on last time." She unwraps it and there's a pretty dark-furred china doll, with a red ribbon tied over its eyes.
Drooo makes a high-pitched cry and reaches out for the doll. Brown Fur pulls it back. "But I want Mr. Gordo back. A dolly of yours for a dolly of my sister's, remember?"
Drooo looks terribly hurt. "But...but Mr. Gordo is my *sweet* pig! I like him. And he likes me, too!"
||Is that my girl? Girl? Where are you? I can't see you! It's been so long, I've missed you so much!||
Her eyes get big. "Miss Edith!" she whispers.
||Ohhhh my Girl!!!||
"Do we have a deal?" Brown Fur asks. Drooo looks from Miss Edith to me and back again, then kisses me on the snout. "I'm sorry, Mr. Gordo. I'll miss you, but Miss Edith needs me!"
They make the swap, and there's a tense moment when Drooo grabs Brown Fur and pulls her into her arms. But she just wants to hug, not bite. "You're a good dolly. Thank you for bringing Miss Edith home to me..."
"You're welcome," Brown Fur croaks, and then the door opens with a bang. "DAWN?!" Yellow one!
He gets very scared when he sees Drooo holding Brown Fur. No, Yellow! It's okay! I think she's holding Brown Fur too tight, but she doesn't want to hurt her!
"My Spike! Look!" She lets go and holds up Miss Edith. "The Slayer's dolly went and got Miss Edith for me! Isn't it lovely?"
"Yes, pet, very lovely," he says soothingly, easing me and Brown Fur away from Drooo. "I'm very happy for you both."
"I know, you're always so good to us, my Spike..." She starts humming and dancing around with Miss Edith, and Yellow's nudging us back to the door. "STOP!"
We stop, and Drooo steps up to us, Yellow watching her every move.
She drops to her knees in front of Brown Fur, so she's almost nose-to-nose to me. "Miss Edith and I want to say goodbye. Miss Edith, this is Mr. Gordo, he's the Slayer's special friend. He kept me company while the Slayer's dolly looked for you for me."
||Hello, Mr. Gordo. Thank you for taking care of my girl. She needs a lot of taking care of, and she's had nobody but me since Mispike left.||
Hi, Miss Edith. Drooo missed you an awful lot, she didn't mean to leave you behind. Don't be mad at her, okay?
||I'm not. She forgets things sometimes. But she usually remembers before they get away from her like this time. I always forgive my best girl. Don't you?||
Yes, I do. Drooo is lucky to have you.
"I certainly am, sweet pig," Drooo whispers, stroking the fur on top of my head. "You've been a good friend, Mr. Gordo, but I know you miss your old home, just like Miss Edith missed her home. You take good care of my Spike, all ri'?"
I will, Drooo, I promise. I'll miss you too. Will you and Miss Edith come and see me again sometime?
||Oh yes, Girl, let's!||
"Miss Edith and I would like that very much, pig. We'll have tea."
I've never had a T. Sometimes Yellow lets me have some of his Hot Shock Let though.
Drooo laughs, a nice laugh this time. "Chocolate it shall be then, pig!" Yellow and Brown Fur are looking at each other in amazement. Drooo gives me a last hug and kiss and turns away, Miss Edith gazing over her girl's shoulder.
||Goodbye, Mr. Gordo.||
Yellow hustles us out of there quick.
He yells at Brown Fur on the way. "Dawn, *what* were you thinking! NEVER scare me like that again!"
"I knew what I was doing!" she pouts. "It worked, didn't it?"
"That's not the point..."
They're still bickering when we go in the Big World with Walls, and my girl comes racing down the stairs to hug Brown Fur. "My God, Dawn, where have you BEEN?! The school called, we've been looking all over..."
My girl's eyes get big when Brown Fur explains, Yellow glowering over her shoulder.
The look of joy on my girl's face when Brown Fur gives me back to her shuts him up good, though.
My world is a good place.
It's good to be back.