***
Day 1
(In the picture above, Idina and I chatting it up on She's new pale green bedspread. She got it for Christmas. Isn't it cute?)
I
spent some time alone on the bed with She’s computer, (thank goodness She
didn’t take it with her) fixing speller errors on my older posts and the like.
Though I might have missed a few. Idina was with me at the time, and we were
having an Elsa-to-Elsa heart-to-heart about Olaf and if I myself will ever try
dating. Idina, I was learning, often liked to talk, but about things that really... no one else wanted to talk about. Like dating, when really it was a careful subject to trod upon.
Idina asked, and I replied, “If I ever find a guy around my height, who
likes me for who I am, then maybe. And even then, that’s probably a miracle.”
“I wouldn’t worry,
Elsa. She collects dolls, and when the right one comes along, you’ll know. Why,
when I met my Olav, it was love at first sight. There was no other doll for me
but him.” said Idina, giving me relationship advice in her tiny French accent.
Oh, did I forget to mention that Olaf and Idina are dating now? Yeah, it happened almost instantaneously. The day after Christmas, the two of them got so tired of each-other's painfully obvious flirting that the both of them came out to ask each-other to be boyfriend-girlfriend at the very same time. I would consider this cute, but I was also a little bitter about it. Olaf and Idina had known each-other, what, barely a day, and now they were holding hands 24/7? All I got was a friendly handshake from Steve on Christmas Day. Keyword friend-ly.
But as I felt someone's eyes on my face, I looked up to see Steve looking at me. He was sitting with his legs crossed on the dresser among a gathering of other dolls like the other Marvel characters, listening to Nessa blab on. Apparently it was a very involved story, because she was being very expressive with her arms, waving them about constantly. Steve smile-laughed at me and rolled his eyes, and then making a "gabbing" motion with his hand. I smile-laughed and rolled my eyes back at him, then shyly turned away and pushed a stray curl behind my head.
“How sweet.” I said, though not really sounding like I meant it. My mind, of course, was on other things. I pretended to work again, backspacing a
few words on one of my blog posts that I regretted a second later. "I mean, it’s nice of you too
to do that for each-other. You guys are really the only couple I know, and
you’re doing a pretty good job with keeping your relationship going.”
Idina
blushed in gratitude. I knew that it had been the right thing to say. “Thank
you, Elsa. It’s hard, but Olav and I make a good team, I sink.” I think Idina was blind to my interest to Steve, which I wanted to keep it that way as long as possible. Nessa had caught on to everything in my life pretty quickly, but I didn't mind too much, because, and I'm sorry for my favoritism here, but I trusted Nessa a bit more.
And was dating really that hard? Well, I guess I didn't know yet, because a doll about a week or something old had more dating experience than I, with more than a two months now in She's house. But maybe... I took another glance at Steve, who was laughing at something one of the guys said. But maybe that wouldn't be for long.
Because I had the idea planted into my brain since the moment we met- I needed to make a Doll's Life Files of this guy. Secretly selecting the "new post" button on my Blogger home and angling the laptop in such a way so that Idina couldn't see, I typed the title in as, "A Doll's Life Files: Steve." Who knows? If I had enough time, maybe I would do one for Nessarose and Idina, too. With another look over at Steve, I saw him glancing over his shoulder at me, too. I waved at him, and he waved back. Yep, definitely not for long.
Because I had the idea planted into my brain since the moment we met- I needed to make a Doll's Life Files of this guy. Secretly selecting the "new post" button on my Blogger home and angling the laptop in such a way so that Idina couldn't see, I typed the title in as, "A Doll's Life Files: Steve." Who knows? If I had enough time, maybe I would do one for Nessarose and Idina, too. With another look over at Steve, I saw him glancing over his shoulder at me, too. I waved at him, and he waved back. Yep, definitely not for long.
***
Day 2
Took Magneto for a walk. It was just me with the key-chain, since everyone else gave their own excuses for not coming with me. Olaf and Idina had a date, (not even their first! It was like their third or fourth or something) Benny and Napoleon spent time in the library, Dorothy and Bell were probably in the basement doing whatever, (I haven't ever thought to explore the basement yet, but hey, six more days here alone) and Nessa was too busy trying to flirt with Loki, who wasn't taking any hints. Actually, no, Loki is smarter than that. He knew exactly what Nessa was trying to do, and he just pretended to not get anything. So it was just Magneto and I for the walk.
I surprisingly learned a lot about him. We talked about what he knew about the ceramic nativity set from my eleventh Christmas post. It turns out that he had met Mary, Joseph, and Jesus the first year that he was found, and they helped him with his anger management issues and learning self-worth after being a rejected doll for years in his previous home. It actually made me feel even sorrier for Magneto than I already had. He had a rough life until now.
There was so much more of the house that we can explore now that all the humans are gone. Magneto and I went into a bunch of other rooms, but there were mostly all empty. No dolls and no humans. It was actually a depressing feeling, like the realization that even though you may be free from your humans, you are also alone in a house that isn't even rightfully yours.
After exploring all that we could, I was tired, but Magneto stayed up past the humans' regular bedtime and talked with the nutcracker brothers. They're always doing that, probably because they're all males, or maybe that they've been here the longest, and therefore had more secrets to share. I didn't know. And it was none of my business to bother them.
***
Day 3
Today we dolls upstairs found it only polite to go downstairs and check on Bell and Dorothy, since we didn't see them at all yesterday, and there was no humans around to stop us from doing so. But it looked like they could take care of themselves just fine. They were in the basement all of yesterday because they were searching through boxes of childhood items for just the right things, which they presented to us shortly after we arrived. Amongst these things I recognized the doll-sized painted porcelain tea set that held our servings of ginger soda at Thanksgiving.
It was decided almost immediately that we all have a doll reunion, a picnic of sorts by the back door, where the sun was bright enough after such a miserable dark wintery week to shine through the glass and leave a rectangle of light on the floor. Dorothy and Bell had already done most of the setting up for us, with Bell flying over to the kitchen to steal small amounts of food, and Dorothy setting each placement with a plate, a teacup, and paper squares cut out of a napkin.
The food was gathered and we all dined like royalty. For smelling, we gathered some English muffin and squares of dark chocolate, which were both rich and wonderful. Idina and Dorothy, obviously being the dutiful "housewives" of the bunch, organized a way for us to have drink, too. We found a smallish mug in the cupboard and filled it halfway with water from the fridge, then warmed it in the microwave for a minute and thirty seconds. We were making tea for the very first time.
It was today I learned that everyone has their own tastes when it comes to tea. Dorothy wanted a simple Chinese white tea, while Bell pointed out that the same kind in green tea had the strongest smell. The nutcracker brothers argued that the autumnal one with orange peel and spices was the best, while Magneto said that he did not care for tea at all.
Steve, Olaf, Idina, Nessa, Loki, and I all stayed quiet and waited for the others to pick a flavor out for us, since we had never had tea before and it was obvious that they knew more about this than us. The result was a slow vote, but when that didn't work, it came to a round of Eenie-Meenie-Miney-Moe with the teas She had the cupboard, which I guessed was a human decision-making game. It was a classic black tea with bergamot, Earl Gray, that won. I learned that I loved tea. I wondered what it would be actually like to taste, but no matter. We all enjoyed our Earl Gray, English muffin, and dark chocolate of Hershey. Whatever that name means.
***
Day 4
For some reason, I slept during most of the morning, and my friends were kind enough to let me. I don't really know why I had trouble falling asleep the night before, and why I needed so many hours in the morning to make up for it. But I really missed She, so maybe that had something to do with it. The morning was a bit better, when I realized that I was not completely alone in this house. The excessive sleep felt great, though.
When Olaf and Nessarose grew too impatient, Idina sent them to bounce me awake around 11:00am. They gave me some tea and English muffin for breakfast from the day before, and we started on with a new one. Unfortunately all of us were really at a loss for what to do. I think the weight of She's absence had finally sunk in halfway through her time gone. All of sat around quietly in our thoughts, busying ourselves with menial tasks as if in distraction. We missed She, but we were also bored out of our skulls.
Benny and Napoleon found an old deck of cards in the Guest room and they were challenging Steve and Olaf's team to a game of five card draw. And when they weren't doing that, the nutcracker brothers stood stiffly, polishing their buttons and hat chains while Olaf and Steve went milling around, gravitating towards Idina and me respectively. Nessa and Idina whispered hair care secrets to each-other, (which I found odd, we're dolls, does it matter?) and Loki and Magneto were sitting on the dresser quietly (though sometimes loudly) arguing as to what the best Marvel movie was. I sat on She's bed, surveying them all like a queen of a kingdom of misfits, She's laptop booted up and ready to go, while staring at everyone like, "Come on, guys. Do something interesting. I don't have this blog for nothing." Because I don't think you as my readers really care about us standing around in She's room being quiet.
Finally, Nessa scooted over to me and motioned towards me in a way I knew that she had a secret to tell. I leaned my ear closer to Nessa and she whispered inside, "I think that Loki's really upset. We need to cheer him up somehow." I looked over to the dresser in disbelief. Loki didn't seem all that upset. Well, actually, he did, but not in the way Nessa meant. He and Magneto were getting to the climax in their argument, with louder voices and furrowed brows, and I think Magneto was winning.
"Why is he upset?" I asked Nessa, still not getting her full message.
Nessa looked me straight in the eye, meaning business now. "She's been gone for four days straight. Trust me, he's miserable."
I was surprised that Nessa had picked up on Loki having a crush on She so quickly. It had only been her first few days at the house, and already she knew. Maybe it was her girlish intuition? And if she was certain, then why did she keep pursuing him? Again, none of my business right now, (though for the blog, perhaps it could be later) so I just went along.
"Um, okay, what do you think we should do, then?"
"I already have a plan," Nessa said with a smile that scared me a little. "Hey everyone?"
Apparently all the dolls were so caught up in their thoughts that only Olaf turned to look at Nessa from where she was standing next to me on the bed.
"Hello?" Nessa called again. "It's me, Nessa... I'm up here on the bed!"
Still no one turned their heads in her direction. Nessa muttered something under her breath about how it sucks to be exactly three inches tall and stuck her fingers in her mouth, letting out a sharp whistle. At last, the whole's room's attention was on her.
"Um, well, it seems we may have hit the dead spot in our week, with She being gone and all" Nessa began. "So I have an idea that will bring a smile to your faces. We could all have a Marvel Movie Marathon! What do you say, guys?
Well, I guess Nessarose knows Loki better than I ever did, because his face brightened immensely at the thought. Steve and Magneto looked pretty happy, too.
So Napoleon, Benny, Olaf, Idina, Loki, Magneto, Nessarose and I all gathered around She's laptop on the softest spot on the bed as we tried finding some Marvel movie to watch. We even called Dorothy and Bell up from downstairs to watch it with us as a thank-you for the picnic/tea party yesterday.
"So what's the occasion?" Loki asked happily as Nessa took control of the laptop.
"I think it's time us Disney folk educated ourselves on our new company." Nessa replied simply, gaining an appreciative nod from Loki.
We spent the rest of the day and most of the night "educating ourselves" with heros, villians, and monsters as our teachers. We watched the firsts of every and any movie we could find. Captain America, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, X-Men, and finally, The Avengers. We watched everything and anything we could get our noses into that night.
By two or three o'clock the next morning, we were exhausted. Loki was curled up on She's pillow with Nessa sprawled out next to him. Steve fall asleep sitting down, and Olaf slumped down over him. Napoleon and Benny lay near separate edges of the bed, stiff as boards (I guess they were made of wood) and sleeping with their eyes open, always alert. Dorothy dreamed peacefully with Toto in her lap and Bell snoring loudly beside her. Idina held my hand to try to keep the both of us awake, but the method was failing.
"So, Idina," I began, drifting off. Magic danced in front of my tired eyes. "If I had to pick one guy to date... probably Thor."
"Loki's brother?"
"Nah, nah. I meant Tin Man. Err... Iron Man. Tony Stark, whatever."
"And why did you pick him?" Idina asked. She, too, sounded really sleepy.
"Because we both have glowing body parts."
Idina giggled and squeezed my hand softly once more before we both fell asleep. Of course that was a lie. Captain America all the way, baby.
The next day, we all slept in. Again. But can you actually blame us for being lazy this time? We were staying up past the decent times of the night, just to watch some movies on She's laptop. Now that I think of it, that sounds pretty lazy, too, though a night of fun left us all exhausted.
I finally forced myself awake at around eleven o'clock, finding everyone else was already gone, and I was laying in a mess on She's bed. The laptop, still open, was now dead. Haphazard piles of candy wrappers trashed the comforter, and speaking of the comforter, it was half on, half off She's bed at this point. It was really weird, because I hadn't remembered anyone having any candy last night. Was this what a party hangover felt like?
I didn't bother to head downstairs until an hour later at noon, spending the time by myself in order to properly recharge from last night and not looking or feeling like a bear that just came out of hibernation. It was admittedly difficult.
When I came downstairs, it was another round of arguing what we were going to do that day. Dorothy, Bell, Idina, and Nessarose all wanted to have an outdoor picnic. But Napoleon, Benny, Loki, and Magneto all fought back with logic and said something about it was still winter, therefore freezing cold and not at all comfortable to be playing outside. Just as they had said so, Steve and Olaf came up from the basement carrying a few smaller-sized board games.
Happily, we played those for about an hour, skipping lunch completely, but we didn't care. In fact, we kept going back to the basement to get more board games. It was like, oh, what do the humans call it, a Family Fun Night. Yeah. Only during the middle of the day.
But halfway through a fearsome competition of "Don't Break the Ice," (one of my favorites, of course,) the phone rang throughout She's house and all of us tensed up and froze. The humans were always home to answer the phone, so we never had to worry about this happening before. All of us exchanged nervous glances. We were sentient beings, capable of answering the phone. But doing so would break The Code of Dolls. It was rude not to answer and then later pass on the message, but talking to any human would, again, break The Code of Dolls. Sometimes life was unfair.
After a few more unspoken words between each member of the group, Olaf got up from his spot. "I'll get it!" he announced, bouncing over to the counter where the landline phone lay on the receiver, still ringing away.
"Olaf, wait, no!" someone hissed.
Realizing what disaster may come of this, I ran after the anxious snowman just as he had climbed into the counter and pressed the phone against his ear.
"Hi I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" he said into the phone. All of us froze.
"Hello sir my name is Candice and I work for the Apple Store in downtown and I was just calling to ask you if you would like to purchase anything from us today you see all of our electronics are fifty percent off because we're having an after New Year's Sale at the store?" The woman spoke very quickly without even stopping or taking a single breath. She also ended her sentence in a higher octave of voice, as if forming a question.
"Umm..." said Olaf, looking at me for support.
I yanked the phone from his hands and struggled to hold it to my mouth. "Um, no thanks, Candice, we're quite good."
"Are you sure because we've got a special offer on the new iPhone 6 and if you buy one today it comes free with an Otterbox case of your choice in color?"
"Yeah, uh, no thanks. But maybe we'll talk to you later, okay?" I said, trying to find the right words.
"Oh, okay. Thank you for your time, ma'am. Have a good day." said Candice somewhat sadly.
Olaf took the phone away from me again. "You too love you bye!" He yelled, before slamming the phone back down the receiver, looking pretty proud of himself.
The rest of the dolls stared up at us on the counter, a mixture of confusion, awe, and panic on their faces. But when the phone remained quiet, we all shrugged it off and had a good laugh, then went back to playing our board games for the rest of the day. I think all of us were just relieved, because that phone call could have ended horribly.
"Um, well, it seems we may have hit the dead spot in our week, with She being gone and all" Nessa began. "So I have an idea that will bring a smile to your faces. We could all have a Marvel Movie Marathon! What do you say, guys?
Well, I guess Nessarose knows Loki better than I ever did, because his face brightened immensely at the thought. Steve and Magneto looked pretty happy, too.
So Napoleon, Benny, Olaf, Idina, Loki, Magneto, Nessarose and I all gathered around She's laptop on the softest spot on the bed as we tried finding some Marvel movie to watch. We even called Dorothy and Bell up from downstairs to watch it with us as a thank-you for the picnic/tea party yesterday.
"So what's the occasion?" Loki asked happily as Nessa took control of the laptop.
"I think it's time us Disney folk educated ourselves on our new company." Nessa replied simply, gaining an appreciative nod from Loki.
We spent the rest of the day and most of the night "educating ourselves" with heros, villians, and monsters as our teachers. We watched the firsts of every and any movie we could find. Captain America, Iron Man, the Incredible Hulk, Thor, X-Men, and finally, The Avengers. We watched everything and anything we could get our noses into that night.
By two or three o'clock the next morning, we were exhausted. Loki was curled up on She's pillow with Nessa sprawled out next to him. Steve fall asleep sitting down, and Olaf slumped down over him. Napoleon and Benny lay near separate edges of the bed, stiff as boards (I guess they were made of wood) and sleeping with their eyes open, always alert. Dorothy dreamed peacefully with Toto in her lap and Bell snoring loudly beside her. Idina held my hand to try to keep the both of us awake, but the method was failing.
"So, Idina," I began, drifting off. Magic danced in front of my tired eyes. "If I had to pick one guy to date... probably Thor."
"Loki's brother?"
"Nah, nah. I meant Tin Man. Err... Iron Man. Tony Stark, whatever."
"And why did you pick him?" Idina asked. She, too, sounded really sleepy.
"Because we both have glowing body parts."
Idina giggled and squeezed my hand softly once more before we both fell asleep. Of course that was a lie. Captain America all the way, baby.
***
Day 5
I finally forced myself awake at around eleven o'clock, finding everyone else was already gone, and I was laying in a mess on She's bed. The laptop, still open, was now dead. Haphazard piles of candy wrappers trashed the comforter, and speaking of the comforter, it was half on, half off She's bed at this point. It was really weird, because I hadn't remembered anyone having any candy last night. Was this what a party hangover felt like?
I didn't bother to head downstairs until an hour later at noon, spending the time by myself in order to properly recharge from last night and not looking or feeling like a bear that just came out of hibernation. It was admittedly difficult.
When I came downstairs, it was another round of arguing what we were going to do that day. Dorothy, Bell, Idina, and Nessarose all wanted to have an outdoor picnic. But Napoleon, Benny, Loki, and Magneto all fought back with logic and said something about it was still winter, therefore freezing cold and not at all comfortable to be playing outside. Just as they had said so, Steve and Olaf came up from the basement carrying a few smaller-sized board games.
Happily, we played those for about an hour, skipping lunch completely, but we didn't care. In fact, we kept going back to the basement to get more board games. It was like, oh, what do the humans call it, a Family Fun Night. Yeah. Only during the middle of the day.
But halfway through a fearsome competition of "Don't Break the Ice," (one of my favorites, of course,) the phone rang throughout She's house and all of us tensed up and froze. The humans were always home to answer the phone, so we never had to worry about this happening before. All of us exchanged nervous glances. We were sentient beings, capable of answering the phone. But doing so would break The Code of Dolls. It was rude not to answer and then later pass on the message, but talking to any human would, again, break The Code of Dolls. Sometimes life was unfair.
After a few more unspoken words between each member of the group, Olaf got up from his spot. "I'll get it!" he announced, bouncing over to the counter where the landline phone lay on the receiver, still ringing away.
"Olaf, wait, no!" someone hissed.
Realizing what disaster may come of this, I ran after the anxious snowman just as he had climbed into the counter and pressed the phone against his ear.
"Hi I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!" he said into the phone. All of us froze.
"Hello sir my name is Candice and I work for the Apple Store in downtown and I was just calling to ask you if you would like to purchase anything from us today you see all of our electronics are fifty percent off because we're having an after New Year's Sale at the store?" The woman spoke very quickly without even stopping or taking a single breath. She also ended her sentence in a higher octave of voice, as if forming a question.
"Umm..." said Olaf, looking at me for support.
I yanked the phone from his hands and struggled to hold it to my mouth. "Um, no thanks, Candice, we're quite good."
"Are you sure because we've got a special offer on the new iPhone 6 and if you buy one today it comes free with an Otterbox case of your choice in color?"
"Yeah, uh, no thanks. But maybe we'll talk to you later, okay?" I said, trying to find the right words.
"Oh, okay. Thank you for your time, ma'am. Have a good day." said Candice somewhat sadly.
Olaf took the phone away from me again. "You too love you bye!" He yelled, before slamming the phone back down the receiver, looking pretty proud of himself.
The rest of the dolls stared up at us on the counter, a mixture of confusion, awe, and panic on their faces. But when the phone remained quiet, we all shrugged it off and had a good laugh, then went back to playing our board games for the rest of the day. I think all of us were just relieved, because that phone call could have ended horribly.
***
Day 6
Day six went by faster than any of the other days, which is saying a lot, considering the amount of sleep we've all been getting, and on day six we all got up at eight o'clock. (I was still completely exhausted, but I didn't feel like sleeping in till noon again.) I think that we were probably all getting to that stage where "no humans" were becoming the norm for us.
We were all craving the scent of food again, So we decided to have another one of those experiments. this time, instead of a tea party, it was a picnic. We all wanted to have the picnic outside, and the conditions looked promising. It was windy and the sky was kind of gray, but there was no snow or ice out on the back deck and the temperature wasn't so bad as it was yesterday. Besides no one was around to prevent us "borrowing" food again.
Bell, as always, gathered the supplies from the kitchen while Loki, Magneto, and Steve helped to set out a lovely little cloth handkerchief on the deck. They put it just so that we could be close to the back door just in case of a sudden downpour. The handkerchief just kept blowing away so that someone had to go chase after it, and we all glumly decided that we would not be staying outside for very long.
But we were still going to have this picnic as long as we could, so we all got our own jobs to help in setting up. The Marvel boys were finding and setting rocks onto the tablecloth to hold it down, Bell flew around and got food from the kitchen, as I said before. Dorothy and Idina set the picnic table and making it pretty with some winter flowers that were surviving under the deck where it was warm and damp. Napoleon and Benny polished the plates and silverware, and Olaf helped Bell serve the food and pour the tea (which we made again, it was so good the first time) into the tiny teacups, only spilling a few droplets here and there.
What was my job? I had the task of cutting up a human-sized paper napkin into a doll-sized one. What fun.
But that wasn't all. When I was finished with the napkins, I became something Idina called a floater, in which I floated around helping other people with their jobs. I ran after the flyaway tablecloth more than once, arranged the winter flowers into a bouquet in the cream bowl for the tea which we never used, and cleaned up after Olaf's tea spillages.
When all of that was finished, every doll pitched in to help make the actual food for our picnic. Bell picked up an array of foods and now we had to figure out what on earth to do with it. We had ham lunch meat, a slice of American cheese, two slices of bread, and a pat of Irish butter. Idina knew what to do, so we took everything Bell had collected and somehow came out with doll-sized ham-and-cheese sandwiches with butter. We chose a sandwich each and chose a spot on the picnic blanket, able to enjoy some delicious-smelling sandwiches and a few rays of the sun. Nessa, Loki Steve and I somehow grouped up during the picnic (of course, Nessa and I were not complaining at all) and we all agreed that these sandwiches were one of the best things any of us had ever smelled. Times like these I wish I could eat.
What was my job? I had the task of cutting up a human-sized paper napkin into a doll-sized one. What fun.
But that wasn't all. When I was finished with the napkins, I became something Idina called a floater, in which I floated around helping other people with their jobs. I ran after the flyaway tablecloth more than once, arranged the winter flowers into a bouquet in the cream bowl for the tea which we never used, and cleaned up after Olaf's tea spillages.
When all of that was finished, every doll pitched in to help make the actual food for our picnic. Bell picked up an array of foods and now we had to figure out what on earth to do with it. We had ham lunch meat, a slice of American cheese, two slices of bread, and a pat of Irish butter. Idina knew what to do, so we took everything Bell had collected and somehow came out with doll-sized ham-and-cheese sandwiches with butter. We chose a sandwich each and chose a spot on the picnic blanket, able to enjoy some delicious-smelling sandwiches and a few rays of the sun. Nessa, Loki Steve and I somehow grouped up during the picnic (of course, Nessa and I were not complaining at all) and we all agreed that these sandwiches were one of the best things any of us had ever smelled. Times like these I wish I could eat.
***
Day 7
We dolls were well aware that tomorrow was the day that the humans would be returning home. So today was our last full day of freedom. You would think that we would be pressured into getting as much fun in for the day as possible, but quite the contrary. We were all relaxed and carefree, with not a single plan for the day ahead of us. And that's just how I liked it to be.
"Let's do something interesting." Magneto suggested.
"Alright, what in your opinion is interesting?" Benny asked. I think all of us were just surprised that Magneto actually wanted to do something.
"We're going to have a Fun Day." The key-chain decided. A Fun Day? Now this was definitely out of character for him.
"Um, Magneto... buddy! You okay? You need to lie down for a bit or something?" Nessa joked, casually putting her arm around Magneto.
"I'm fine," he huffed, pushing Nessa's arm away. "Just because you guys think that I'm always in a bad mood doesn't mean I can't snap out of it and have fun every once and a while."
He did have a point. Plus all of this would end tomorrow. Why not just... um, let it go? For once?
"Well, that's because you always are..." Nessa's voice trailed off as Loki gave her a harsh look, signaling to stop talking. Instead she covered her mouth awkwardly, faking a yawn.
I turned to Benny and Napoleon, the ones out of the group that knew Magneto best, but they just gave me a shrug in return. They weren't sure where there was coming from, either. But it's not like any of us were complaining. Magneto wanted to have a Fun Day? Fine, then we were going to have a Fun Day.
"Eet is alright wif me. But... what is a Fun Day?" Idina asked. She acted like this was a foreign concept to her, but really, it was to the rest of us, too, and not just a newbie thing.
"Well, what's the one thing we haven't done yet that would most definitely break The Code of Dolls?" Magneto said. For some reason, he was looking in my direction.
Idina gasped dramatically. "You don't mean-!" she also looked at me. In fact, everyone was looking at me.
Olaf made a weird little squealing noise in his throat. "Ooh, I get it!"
"What? I don't."
"Elsa," said Steve, as his smile grew. "Use your powers."
"Oh..." I said, returning the smile. "That actually gives me an idea."
***
Our Fun Day started off with a blast. Of ice.
We decided that it would be best if we did this downstairs, the one place in She's house that did not have carpeted floors. The living room, being as big as it was, was also the best option. Then it was time for the magic to start.
Everyone gathered around me, like I was the centerpiece to a table that held a meal entirely consisting of sandwiches and chocolate fondue. A centerpiece that could create ice and snow at will. It was almost a perfect recreation of the finale scene in Frozen, only I was missing my Anna, but I didn't care. The others' excitement was pushing all the sad thoughts away, and there was nothing I could feel but utter happiness.
There was Benny, Nepoleon, Dorothy, Bell, Nessarose, Idina, Loki, Magneto, Steve, and Olaf. They surrounded me in a circle, barely able to contain themselves, they were so excited.
"Are you ready?" I asked.
My friends cheered in reply. I took a quick glance out the window for inspiration. It had snowed overnight, I guessed because of those gray clouds from yesterday. In fact, it was still snowing, with big and pretty flakes coming down from the white sky to the white ground. The trees were so bare and covered with snow already that they appeared to be sleeping. Just as winter should look like, but maybe a little less drab. I could fix that.
With one swift motion, I was able to flip on my switch and stomp on the floor with one foot at the same time. Thick, blue-tinted ice (the same color as my glowing hands) spread out from under me. It slipped under the crowds' feet, and moved up to the four corners of the room, then ricocheted off the walls into a brilliant swirling pattern. The ice reached the ceiling, where it bounced off the fan and then exploded into a zillion tiny snowflakes that felt like freezing kisses whenever they landed on your face. To a human, finding this in their living room would be freaky. But to us dolls, it was magnificent. Everyone oohed and ahhed at my creation, but Idina and Nessa, who were newbies and therefore had never seen me do anything like this before, were the most awestruck.
Knowing that my work here was done, I sighed happily, then skated off to the side of the room to watch the Fun Day take place. Olaf was teaching Idina to skate in the middle of the rink/room, (glide and pivot, and glide and pivot) while Dorothy and Toto were playing around in a snowbank. Napoleon, Benny, and Steve were engaged in a round of ice hokey using a penny as a puck and some kabob skewers as the sticks. Magneto was cheering and jeering the different teams on the sideline. Bell was forming a ton of snowballs for a fight later, a mischievous look in her eye. Nessa pretended to fall on the ice to try and catch Loki's attention. It only worked a few times.
It was all very beautiful. But I relapsed and thought about the end scene to my movie again. Right now I, as Elsa, should be pulling around an Anna around on the ice. I secretly wished now, more than ever, that She had an Anna doll my size.
I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't even notice when Nessa came over and stood at my side.
"Hey, Elsa." she said, casually, a little winded from skating around and falling down so much.
"Oh! Hi, Nessa. Where's Loki?"
"Evening out the boys' hockey game." She pointed to the side of the icy room, where the hockey game now had two players per team, the nutcrackers on one side, and now Steve and Loki, the Marvel boys, on the other. I smiled to myself as Steve swung his hockey stick, sending the penny-puck flying into another snowbank and scoring a goal for his team. He was pretty good at winter sports. Or maybe he just appreciated the season as much as I did.
"How nice of him." I commented, but I wasn't thinking about Loki.
"Yeah," Nessa shuffled her feet, her tall black boots making a scraping noise. "He's being nice, but I'm... not. At least not to you. Sorry I've been abandoning you for Loki, Elsa. Because when it comes down to it, he's just a guy that doesn't notice me most of the time. But you... well, you're the closest thing I've ever had to a sister."
These words were strong enough to melt my heart. Even though I hadn't really noticed abandoning me for Loki at all this week. In fact, she had only just arrived to She's house a few days ago. Too early for her to actually abandon me for Loki. But oh well. If she felt that way, that was fine with me. I bent down to pick Nessa up, and then wrapped in her a bone-crushing hug.
"Aw, thank you, Nessa. That was honestly so sweet," I said sincerely, then I put the ornament down so that she could catch her breath from our hug. "Now, come on, let's not be party poopers at our own party. Let's go skate!"
With a wave of my hand, I made Nessa a pair of ice skating blades that connected to the bottom of her boots. Yes, they were ice skates made of ice for skating on ice. It only makes sense, right?
So Nessa and I were able to reenact the finale to our movie, and though it wasn't quite the same, it worked fine for me. I created ice-ice skates for myself and we zoomed around on the ice rink, each of us, I'm sure, trying to impress the guy of our choice. We also tried not to bump into anyone on our way.
"Thanks for the ice-ice skates." Nessa giggled, skating backwards. As it turns out, she was actually quite skilled at. Even I couldn't skate backwards. In fact, sometimes it was difficult for me to skate forwards. And don't even think about spinning or turning around.
"Oh, no problem." I replied, stumbling a little and holding out my arms as not to fall onto the four-inch-tall Nessa.
"They work like a gem. But you do realize that this all has to disappear before she comes home tomorrow, right?" said Nessa.
I stopped skating for a bit, standing right in the center of the ice rink, the heart of everything. I knew it was the center because it was the very spot I had stood to create all of this before, where a large purplish snowflake had formed underneath the rink. I saw the icy blue room, with a snow bank in each corner, and gorgeous tiny snowflakes still falling from the ceiling. I saw a frozen floor in which Nessa's and my ice skates had already cut clear paths through it, sharp and precise as knife blades. It was the biggest and best thing I had ever created with my powers by far. Everyone was having fun, looking happier and more carefree than I could ever remember seeing them. Did all of this really have to go? I never wanted it to end.
"Yeah, I understand," I bent down and grabbed Nessa's hand and started spinning her around the room with new-found finesse. "But let's just leave in the moment for today, okay?"
There was Benny, Nepoleon, Dorothy, Bell, Nessarose, Idina, Loki, Magneto, Steve, and Olaf. They surrounded me in a circle, barely able to contain themselves, they were so excited.
"Are you ready?" I asked.
My friends cheered in reply. I took a quick glance out the window for inspiration. It had snowed overnight, I guessed because of those gray clouds from yesterday. In fact, it was still snowing, with big and pretty flakes coming down from the white sky to the white ground. The trees were so bare and covered with snow already that they appeared to be sleeping. Just as winter should look like, but maybe a little less drab. I could fix that.
With one swift motion, I was able to flip on my switch and stomp on the floor with one foot at the same time. Thick, blue-tinted ice (the same color as my glowing hands) spread out from under me. It slipped under the crowds' feet, and moved up to the four corners of the room, then ricocheted off the walls into a brilliant swirling pattern. The ice reached the ceiling, where it bounced off the fan and then exploded into a zillion tiny snowflakes that felt like freezing kisses whenever they landed on your face. To a human, finding this in their living room would be freaky. But to us dolls, it was magnificent. Everyone oohed and ahhed at my creation, but Idina and Nessa, who were newbies and therefore had never seen me do anything like this before, were the most awestruck.
Knowing that my work here was done, I sighed happily, then skated off to the side of the room to watch the Fun Day take place. Olaf was teaching Idina to skate in the middle of the rink/room, (glide and pivot, and glide and pivot) while Dorothy and Toto were playing around in a snowbank. Napoleon, Benny, and Steve were engaged in a round of ice hokey using a penny as a puck and some kabob skewers as the sticks. Magneto was cheering and jeering the different teams on the sideline. Bell was forming a ton of snowballs for a fight later, a mischievous look in her eye. Nessa pretended to fall on the ice to try and catch Loki's attention. It only worked a few times.
It was all very beautiful. But I relapsed and thought about the end scene to my movie again. Right now I, as Elsa, should be pulling around an Anna around on the ice. I secretly wished now, more than ever, that She had an Anna doll my size.
I was so wrapped up in my thoughts that I didn't even notice when Nessa came over and stood at my side.
"Hey, Elsa." she said, casually, a little winded from skating around and falling down so much.
"Oh! Hi, Nessa. Where's Loki?"
"Evening out the boys' hockey game." She pointed to the side of the icy room, where the hockey game now had two players per team, the nutcrackers on one side, and now Steve and Loki, the Marvel boys, on the other. I smiled to myself as Steve swung his hockey stick, sending the penny-puck flying into another snowbank and scoring a goal for his team. He was pretty good at winter sports. Or maybe he just appreciated the season as much as I did.
"How nice of him." I commented, but I wasn't thinking about Loki.
"Yeah," Nessa shuffled her feet, her tall black boots making a scraping noise. "He's being nice, but I'm... not. At least not to you. Sorry I've been abandoning you for Loki, Elsa. Because when it comes down to it, he's just a guy that doesn't notice me most of the time. But you... well, you're the closest thing I've ever had to a sister."
These words were strong enough to melt my heart. Even though I hadn't really noticed abandoning me for Loki at all this week. In fact, she had only just arrived to She's house a few days ago. Too early for her to actually abandon me for Loki. But oh well. If she felt that way, that was fine with me. I bent down to pick Nessa up, and then wrapped in her a bone-crushing hug.
"Aw, thank you, Nessa. That was honestly so sweet," I said sincerely, then I put the ornament down so that she could catch her breath from our hug. "Now, come on, let's not be party poopers at our own party. Let's go skate!"
With a wave of my hand, I made Nessa a pair of ice skating blades that connected to the bottom of her boots. Yes, they were ice skates made of ice for skating on ice. It only makes sense, right?
So Nessa and I were able to reenact the finale to our movie, and though it wasn't quite the same, it worked fine for me. I created ice-ice skates for myself and we zoomed around on the ice rink, each of us, I'm sure, trying to impress the guy of our choice. We also tried not to bump into anyone on our way.
"Thanks for the ice-ice skates." Nessa giggled, skating backwards. As it turns out, she was actually quite skilled at. Even I couldn't skate backwards. In fact, sometimes it was difficult for me to skate forwards. And don't even think about spinning or turning around.
"Oh, no problem." I replied, stumbling a little and holding out my arms as not to fall onto the four-inch-tall Nessa.
"They work like a gem. But you do realize that this all has to disappear before she comes home tomorrow, right?" said Nessa.
I stopped skating for a bit, standing right in the center of the ice rink, the heart of everything. I knew it was the center because it was the very spot I had stood to create all of this before, where a large purplish snowflake had formed underneath the rink. I saw the icy blue room, with a snow bank in each corner, and gorgeous tiny snowflakes still falling from the ceiling. I saw a frozen floor in which Nessa's and my ice skates had already cut clear paths through it, sharp and precise as knife blades. It was the biggest and best thing I had ever created with my powers by far. Everyone was having fun, looking happier and more carefree than I could ever remember seeing them. Did all of this really have to go? I never wanted it to end.
"Yeah, I understand," I bent down and grabbed Nessa's hand and started spinning her around the room with new-found finesse. "But let's just leave in the moment for today, okay?"
***
Day 8
The day that the humans were to come home, nicknamed "She's Homecoming Day" came much too soon for the other dolls and I. We had all had a wonderful and amazing week together. If only it would last forever. But we missed She, whether some of us realized it or not.
At seven in the morning (the first time that I actually woke up early that week) I crept out of the Room She Lives In and downstairs as not to wake anyone. Of course, I wasn't the only one who was up and about. Loki, Benny and Napoleon patrolled the hallways to make sure that everything was in the proper place the humans had left it before coming home. Nessarose, Idina, Olaf, Steve, Magneto, Bell, and Dorothy were still asleep, and wouldn't wake up until around 7:30 or 8:00. Which meant I had the house basically to myself. And after after a week and a day full of activity and doing nothing but, well, everything, a little alone time for me was welcome and needed.
On my way to the living room I passed Benny strolling down the hall connecting the dining room to the parlor. I stopped, thinking that he wanted to say something to me, but he nodded slowly and sadly. No words had to be spoken. We knew what I had to do.
The living room was just as we had left it the day before. Blue rosemailing patterns were still laced upon the walls, and the snowbanks and piles of snow that I had created where in the same places, though fiercely played in. The only thing that had changed was that the snowflakes were no longer falling from the ceiling, probably because I had turned off my switch the night before getting ready for bed. It was amazing that nothing else had melted.
There were even still marks on the ice from the boys' hockey game was held, and the penny that had been their puck. There were the scuffs where Olaf was teaching Idina how to ice-skate, and also where Nessa started pulling me across the rink to help Bell in a snowball fight against Dorothy and Toto. I sighed. So many good and happy memories from yesterday. And now I had to take them all away. What was I, a rock troll?
I started with the floor. Turning on my switch again, I stood over the purple snowflake that lay under the ice, and placed down the same foot that had brought it into being... and it slowly vanished. I touched the walls with my hand, and the icy blue rosemailing shrunk down into nothingness. I walked past the snowbanks, trailing my hands in the air around them, and they all melted quickly as soon as I had passed them, not leaving a trace of water on the ground anywhere. I looked around the room and sighed again. One couch and a chair. A ceiling fan and hardwood floors. Not any bit of snow or ice to be found. Back to normal.
Or, at least, as normal as it can get around here, with a house full of living, talking dolls, one of them possessing magic powers. That was normal alright.
"Elsa?" a small voice said behind me.
I spun around, and there was Olaf, for once not being followed around by Idina.
"Oh, hey, Olaf. I didn't know that you were awake." I replied, looking down sheepishly and tucking a strand of white-blonde hair behind my ear. "Just cleaning up from yesterday. How's it going?" I was trying to keep things cool and casual to balance out all the emotions I was really feeling.
Olaf waddled up next to me. "I just got up a second ago. But are you okay? 'Cause you look like you're kind of sad or something."
"Oh, Olaf, don't you worry about me. I'll be fine. You should probably go wake the others, though. We don't know what time She will be home."
"Nessa is already doing that." he replied, then looked around the room to prevent more forced and awkward conversation.
I busied myself with wringing my hands and making sure all the snow was gone from room. Of course it was all gone. And I knew that already.
But then Olaf ran up and hugged me, just out of the blue. I wasn't expecting such an act and I was a little taken aback, refusing to hug the snowman back.
"Elsa? Olaf? I just finished my patrols. The house is completely clear and ready to go." Another voice said, and my attention was turned to the doorway to the living room, where Loki stood. He had a pretty big grin on his face, obviously the happiest about She's Homecoming Day. "Are you guys defrosting down here or is it free hugs day and not one told me?" he joked.
"Elsa's depressed." Olaf mumbled, clutching my side.
Loki's smile faded into a concerned expression. He looked at Olaf, then at me. "Why are you depressed?"
"I'm not depressed," I insisted. "I'm just, er, um, well, you know. It's She's Homecoming Day and all. And I, well, yeah." Great, job, Elsa. But it wasn't really my fault. I always found it difficult to describe my feelings with words, since feelings aren't words themselves. They're feelings.
Loki, now completely and utterly confused, started walking towards us. "Well, I'm not much of a psychiatrist, and I hate being hugged-"
"Oh," said Olaf. "Well, nevermind, then." He finally let go of me.
I suppressed a laugh, in spite of everything.
"-But I think I can sort things out for you. What seems to be the problem?" Loki asked, finishing his sentence.
Thankfully Olaf knew me well enough, because right now, I couldn't speak for myself.
"It's been a long week," he began. "For all of us, but especially for Elsa."
"What? I didn't do anything different." But I was secretly glad that my work was appreciated. It had been a busy week for me, hadn't it?
"Sure you did. You took Magneto for a walk around the house on day two when everyone else didn't want to. You were the last to go to bed when we had that Marvel Movie Marathon just to make sure everyone else was okay. On day five you helped out with the picnic even though you were exhausted. And the biggest and best of all, you turned the living room into a winter wonderland on our Fun Day!" said Olaf
"Yes," I agreed, blinking rapidly to keep my tears at bay. I was suddenly aware that I was being hugged again. "And now it all must come to an end."
"Oh, Elsa, don't be sad. All things are temporary. But we should all be glad that She is coming home today. She's our human, and without people we have no purpose."
"Wow, deep stuff, Olaf." Loki commented.
"Don't worry, Elsa. It's not like She's going never going on another vacation. Then we can do whatever we want while She's gone again! We can have all sorts of parties, and picnics, and play board games again, and maybe..." the snowman gazed up at me with his big black eyes. "Maybe you could make the living room all snowy again? I really liked that."
"Sure thing, Olaf. Any time She's not home." I patted his back, feeling much better about everything now. I was having mixed emotions about all of this anyway. I wanted She to return because I missed her. But I also wanted more freedom to do whatever I wanted, even though we had already done really everything there was to do in a span of one week. Maybe She's Homecoming Day was really for the best. Like Olaf said, without people, we have no purpose. We're dolls. Without our humans, we're just inanimate, or animate, in our case, objects. After all, She would have to leave again eventually, and then we dolls could have a life again outside of our humans.
"Everything's going to be alright." I whispered, more to myself.
"No matter what happens." Olaf added, who had heard me say that.
I put my arm around him and we both kind of spaced out, looking towards the fireplace, the most noticeable thing in the living room. I could feel Loki inching closer to me on my left.
"So, uh, the room looks nice." He said, trying to change the subject.
"Mm-hm." I said.
"Yep." Olaf agreed.
"...Yeah..." Loki muttered, trailing off.
"Oh, just join us already!" Olaf said, noticing that Loki clearly wanted to be a part of our group.
"Alright, but no hugs." he stood closer by my side, as I felt the warmth of friendship fill the gap in my heart I never knew needed filled. The two first friends I had met upon being found by She, (in fact, our finding days were all in the span of three days) flanked me on both sides once again. The other dolls, as much as I loved each of them for their own ways, old or new, nothing matched these two. It was good to be with the original trio for once. We had been through so much together, and I think now, somehow more than ever, had grown closer. It was really nice.
We had lives outside of the humans, but without them, what were we do to? None of us on earth could see the future, humans nor dolls alike. But one thing was certain. Everything was going to be alright, no matter what happened.
Waiting for She,
Queen Elsa
