The Queens Terrace

The bundle stopped streaking, instead rolling to a stop. It was a dishevelled Ivy (Allie’s younger sister) with slobber running down her cheek, thick mascara everywhere and faint red blobs all over her face and body.

Furby stared at her in awe. The princess and her sibling shared a sisterly glance.

Blinking solemnly, Furby asked, “Are you real?”
“Who, me?” questioned Ivy.
“Who else?” Allie teased.
Ivy nodded. “Duh I’m real! You are the dumbest and the grubbiest thing, ever! My aunt Jess, well my late aunt Jess, she had this grimy table. It was despicable, ya hear me! Comparing it to you; you’re so grubby, and you are - listen to me - you are GRUBBIER than it! In fact, you’re the grubbiest person , no, object here!”
That was a total lie. In fact, Ivy was the grubbiest one. Just as Allie was about to speak, Ivy continued.

“And you know what? You are simply a total FUR-FREAK!”
Allie opened her mouth to speak once more, but this time it was Furby who was quicker.
He frowned first, then inquired. “Was that a compliment?”

Ivy snarled and clapped her hands meaningfully. “Get over here, Fortin.” she screeched.

From behind Ivy Fortin leaped.

Fortin was a black Furbian, owning pink ears and a sharp beak. He wasn’t as ‘first wheel’ as Furby, indeed he mostly felt like the fifth wheel of the group. But he was brave, braver than Furby. He didn’t know about Allie; was she brave? He knew Ivy wasn’t brave though, she was simply ruthless. Fortin was brighter than Furby, and he loved being around Allie and his fellow Furbian. All in all, Fortin loved his life; he was content.

In his rather dramatic voice, Fortin made sounds with his vocal chords that sounded faintly like a song.

“I am a ver-eeeeee huga-loveable woy, yeah I’m For-tin chock a block of great, great joy, waltz out to play with moi…fuzzy fam-i-leeeeee!”

Both Ivy and Allie grunted. Almost immediately, Allie said in her elegant tone, “Pardon me. Perhaps my stomach is having a little rumble.” and brought a gloved hand to her mouth. It was really quite funny, had Ivy not glared at her maliciously.

Furby sniffed in obvious embarrassment. “You got the words wrong.” he informed his fellow Furbian.

“Oh, did you notice?” Fortin asked, quite surprised.

At this Allie raised both hands to her mouth and stifled a giggle. A few moments after the sound came out, she let her hands drop.
All but Ivy had indeed noticed. Allie was fluent in every single song her family knew, Furby actually sang the song himself and Fortin had just sang the song. Ivy never really made an effort at these sort of things. True, she would jeer and mock at it for a laugh but…she never really tried. . . well, at anything besides gory stuff like. . . drawing pictures of people murdering one another. Her idea of immense fun was insulting and mocking people, making people weep and sob and everything related to that. She despised the song the Furbians shared, for it was too cheerful for her; she liked people and such melancholy better.

Ivy announced with great snobbiness,”Fortin, you are dumb.”she snorted, as if this made a big difference to her point. Her hair swished around her as she snorted, and a waterfall of hair came tumbling into poor Fortins face.

Furby smiled (as always) but Fortins beam dipped for about a moment. Allie always picked up on the little things, and she noticed this. She gave him a comforting cheek twitch, then mimed beating Ivy's head with a hammer. Fortins smile once more became a grin, but this one was more mischievous than the one before. Ivy narrowed her eyes at this and bent down to pick up a nearby flower. She straightened the petals almost lovingly, then pulled them all off in one big swipe of one of her meaty paws. Ivy then threw down the helpless looking stem, and stepped on it until it was a small mole-hill of dust.

Fortin scratched behind his right ear. His smile froze, settling into a worried looking frown. Knowing Fortin, Allie knew there must be a reason for this. “Who are -” he began, but Furby interrupted him with enthusiastic chatter.

“Shh.” hushed Allie, giving her pet a fond pat. He turned and beamed at her.

“Who are…”Fortin began again, but this time his confidence failed him. He stared curiously at Ivy.
The only thing Allie could catch her doing was yawning. She was impatient too, flinging her hair this way and that way as her masses of boredom threatened to overcome her.

“Who are you and you and. . . you?” Fortin asked - almost timidly, Allie thought, like he was afraid to speak - in a worried tone. Ivy tutted, tossed her hair and took in a sharp intake of breath. “You, Fortin, are gullible. It’s no wonder I visualise you being carted to the mental asylum.” she cackled. Allie gasped.
“You can’t just say things like that and mean it!” cried Allie.

Ivy ignored her. “Well, I’m Ivy. I am very. . . Ivy-like. You know me…” she ended the sentence with a swift swish of her hair. “Allie.” Ivy continued, her large eyebrows knitting together as she pointed at her. “And you know Furby.” Ivy said in a vicious tone. She finished her sentence with an unnecessary hair flick.

“No. Behind you.” Fortin said as if Ivy were dumb.

Allie turned first - still elegant - then swiftly froze (all elegance forgotten), and trembled. Furby followed suit.

Ivy was laughing as she turned around. She saw the beasts and swayed almost as if she were in a faint, but there was still a hint of a grin plastered on her face. But that wasn’t unusual, Ivy loved all gory things and all sorts of terrifying beasts.

Furby - positive as always - said, “Least we’re not covered in their slobber.” A peek at Ivy. “At least the majority isn’t.” He added helpfully.

“You know words like majority?” Questioned Ivy.

“Who doesn’t?” Responded Furby.
Allie interrupted their chatter with a shrill, unladylike scream. Then she cried, “Wolves!”

A moment, then she added, “Run!”