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It was movie night in the manor. Everyone was excited, talking about what movies would be played tonight. Only when they got in, the tv was broken. No one seemed sure as to what happened. Just a large crack in the screen. There were mutters about who would do it and what to do now that movies weren’t an option. Shipping was fast, but it wasn’t that fast.
While planning, some bots wandered off. No point in standing around. Others made plans and separated into groups, leaving the rest of them alone. Looking the broken tv over, the bots were plenty upset. A night with everyone was something they all looked forward to. Especially those less inclined to join in on more wild pursuits.
“We could tell ghost stories,” suggested Peruke, a small bot that looked little more than a wig with googly eyes and a mustache from Hatchworth's collection. She was sitting on the back of the sofa with a book no one was quite sure how she was reading.
There was plenty of excitement about that. Lilac suggested making a blanket fort for everyone that was left. Which would still be a lot of blankets. There was a lot of ground to cover and everyone had their own ideas about how to dress it up. Even if there wasn’t so many of them left, there was no way it would be a small and simple fort.
A cheer and bots took off for all the blankets and pillows they could find. There were multiple linen closets around the manor. Or at least when the manor thought they needed them. Though Arborus and Juke stayed behind to move the furniture around to get the most out of the space and give them walls to hang blankets over.
Butterfly went with Showa to the sewing room. Was it cheating to use rolls of cloth instead of actual blankets for a blanket fort? Maybe. Was that going to stop her from doing everything she could to make the best fort for everyone? Never.
“They can go a lot farther!” chirped Butterfly as she picked up a roll of red satin. “We have a lot of bots to cover.”
Showa giggled and picked two more. A yellow and blue roll. “We can make the whole room a fort with these! Should we grab some scissors?” She asked, walking over to the table.
Butterfly winced and hurried over to grab her arm. “Probably better not. It’ll be easier to pick up if we can just roll it back up again.” And Butterfly wouldn’t have to worry about cloth being wasted if it was all cut up. After prom, Annie had been very particular about her getting any more. Mostly about not getting anymore. Butterfly would cry if she ran out of material to make clothes for everyone with.
“Good plan!” agreed Showa with ease. “This is going to be so much fun. I love a good ghost story. Especially the true story ones!”
Butterfly squeaked at that. True story? She hoped they were no truer than Norman being a ghost, maybe. “I’m sure it’ll be fun. But all I know are some old legends, I don’t think they’ll be as much fun.”
“Those should be fine,” encouraged Showa while they walked back to the lounge. “They can be plenty scary!”
There were piles of blankets and pillows, as well as a few stray stuffies, around the room when they finally got back. Butterfly worried they may have ‘borrowed’ things from the bedrooms again. Hopefully, they wouldn’t get in trouble.
Lifting up the rolls of fabric, she smiled as she showed them off. “I thought this might be a little easier.”
There was laughter as Arborus and Juke came over to take a roll each. Other bots were already making a start with blankets to try and cover everything. Nothing was safe from being a fort support.
“Now, I do believe this might be cheating,” teased Juke with a chuckle as he stepped away to start unrolling the red fabric. He planned on draping it between a sofa and the tv stand.
Only Butterfly’s foot was tangled in a bit of the hanging fabric when Juke gave it a bit of a tug. Letting out a yelp, her arms flailed as she tried in vain to stay on her feet. Closing her eyes, she waited for the sound of breaking porcelain. Luckily, the sound never came.
Seeing his friend fall, Arborus quickly dropped the roll of fabric. Worried she’d break he reached out to grab her before she hit the floor.
But Juke got their first. Still holding the roll of fabric, he reached out and wrapped an arm around her waist, and pulled her to his side with a soft clank. “Careful now,” he chided with a grin. “We can’t have you cracking on us now can we?”
Smiling softly, she nodded. “Th-thank you, Juke. I’ll be more careful.” Stepping away when he let her go, she brushed out her dress and tried to put herself back to rights. When she saw Arborus puff a sigh, she smiled for him wider to reassure him she was fine. He always looked after her.
“Porcelain is a ceramic material that is highly valued not only for its impermeability but for its translucent sheen, making it a good surface for art. One of the key ingredients in Porcelain is bone china, which is so named because the entire country of China was once a skeleton,” chimed Peruke. Who was now nesting on a pile of pillows.
Looking at her arms, Butterfly wasn’t sure she believed that. Though Peruke did seem to know a lot and she was always reading.
Showa leaned closer and stage whispered. “Are you really made out of bones, Butterfly?”
She puffed a small cloud of steam at that. “Of course not! Or at least, I don’t think so.” She should know if she was made from bones, right? He wouldn’t have gone that far, surely. But she supposed she didn’t know the difference between the types of porcelain either.
“Come on, let’s get this fort finished,” chimed Arborus, wanting to change the subject before Butterfly worried herself over something better left alone. Picking up the cloth again, he started to lay it over a chair and started across to a sofa.
And the mood quickly shifted back to making a fort to tell stories in. They were laughing together and trying to cover the room in blankets and fabric so everyone could fit inside. They had to get more chairs to put in the middle of the room. For support for all the blankets and to keep them from drooping too much as they were strung across the room.
“You know what we need,” said Juke as he stood up from getting a blanket to stay still on the sofa. “Music!”
“Oh, I can do that,” chirped Butterfly excitedly. Though when Juke gave her an odd look, she withdrew a little. “But I guess you don’t want music box music, huh?” That might be a little boring for building a fort and telling stories.
Opening his jacket a little more, he showed off the record player in his stomach. “I can play music for us, so we don’t have to stop.” Never mind they were stopped anyway.
Seeing the record player, she grinned. Someone else that played music! Butterfly turned a little and showed off her wind up key. “Me too! But I can only play the one song.”
While the records changed, Juke’s eyes went wide, and he got excited. “DAP! But you don’t have a speaker.” Stepping over, he looked her over briefly. Seeming to see if she was hiding them somewhere.
She flustered and took a step back. “Uh, no? I don’t need one. I’m not electric. It’s just a music box.”
“Oh! That’s why you’re porcelain! Like those little boxes.” He laughed at that and nodded. “Very cool!”
“I mean you can play lots of songs. That’s got to sound better than a music box.”
Juke grinned widely. “Thanks! I like it,” he said and gave her the finger guns. “But music boxes are pretty cool too.”
Showa laughed and nudged Juke’s shoulder. “Come on, you two. We’ve almost got it finished without you!”
Which made Butterfly puff more embarrassed steam. “Sorry! Come on, Juke. Maybe you can play music for the stories?” She offered while they helped put on the finishing touches of the fort.
Blankets, fabric, and pillows were strewn across the room. It looked more like they just hung things up, so the whole room was a fort. But there was a large opening by the door to get in and out. Someone had snuck in fairy lights to brighten the place up. And stuffies were arranged for everybot to have something soft to hold, even if some would refuse. At first.
While the others carefully crawled in, Arborus held a blanket back to keep the entrance open. “Come on. There’s a lot of stories to tell,” he encouraged. He wasn’t sure he would like ghost stories, but he hoped it’d be a fun time all the same.
Inside was full of pillows and soft things. A perfect place for Butterfly. The lights danced and twinkled off shining metal, wood, and porcelain. A little place with just a little bit of magic. At least until someone pulled out a flashlight to start a tale of scary stories.