#WordGirl Secret Santa 2019 | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

newsiegirlscout · 5 years

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Curiosity’s Cat

Alright! Merry belated Christmas to this year’s lovely Wordgirl Secret Santa, @hibiscusangel15! The prompt was “Tobecky”, and I hope it’s as sweet a peppermint romance as all can be!

Proofread and edited by a very tired brother who wouldn’t get out of bed this morning and was thus subjected to listening to the live reading of all my fanfiction. Enjoy, and happy holidays!

Soft piano music played from the radio perched on the McCallister coffee table, a well-worn book with pages held by a bookmark emblazoned with a gear design and embellished with ribbon beside it. Claire hummed softly in the kitchen, stirring cinnamon and nutmeg into steaming hot cocoa. In the living room, perched precariously on several dictionaries and a chair on wheels, a young boy stretched on his toes to place the gleaming star on top of the tree....just a few inches, now.....

“Tobey, love, do be careful!” Claire scolded softly, bringing in the silver tea tray to rest on the table. Reluctantly, he brought the star to his side again, only to note the tray’s impedimenta with bafflement.

“Mother, last I checked, there were merely the two of us, yet you’ve prepared three mugs of cocoa here. Who, may I ask, is the third for?” he asked, though the confusion did not inhibit his immediate claim of one of the black-and-white biscuits from the tea tray.

“Sirius, a bit of reason never hurts. Last I checked, Mr. Starsoldier doesn’t quite share your predilection for cocoa, does he?”

The blonde’s face flushed cherry-blossom pink as he quickly pushed his plushie robut companion behind one of the throw pillows with his geometry-socked foot and sipped his steaming cocoa with as much refined dignity as a fourteen-year-old possibly could have, burning his tongue and dotting his nose with butterscotch syrup and whipped cream all within about fifteen seconds of each other. She shouldn’t have, but Claire couldn’t help but giggle.

“His name is Mr. Starslayer, and he--I mean, it!--couldn’t possibly, because his internal circuits aren’t coated, his joints aren’t hydraulic, and hot fluid stains aren’t machine-washable. So, no.”

“Hmmmm...” she said playfully, tapping the candy cane hooked the rim of her mug against it in thought, “Then perhaps it could be for Nova?”

The mechanical cat purred from the hearth and arced her paws towards the warmth from the tray--a clever trick, to be sure, but one that had been programmed in the long wait after midterms before the rest of the class period was over. Nimbly, she lept to the davenport and settled on Claire’s lap in response to the name recognition, settling happily into sleep mode once his mother laid a hand on her back.

“She’s a cat, mother, she’s far too fussy. Now, pray tell, who is arriving so suddenly?”

There was a tap at the window behind the boy as a familiar countenance appeared with a grin.

“Hello, common folk!” chirped none other than Becky Botsford.

###########################################################

The boy’s heart froze in his chest, the dictionaries he was sitting on unfortunately taking that very moment to fall off-kilter, toppling the chair, the volumes, and the lanky but still hopelessly inept Tobey McCallister III.

“I couldn’t resist!” Tobey’s beloathed classmate giggled, giving a thankful curtsy as Mrs. McCallister took her coat, “Thank you so much for having me over--is, is Tobey okay?”

“Peaches and cream, my dear.” grumbled the coffee table, a bruised arm appearing just far enough to retrieve the steampunk mug of cocoa as Becky laughed and stepped over on light feet to the tea tray.

“Ah, make yourself comfortable, love--there are marshmallows in the sugar bowl, cream, and, ah, you can’t have seen Chez McCallister until you have one of these biscuits--Tobey and I made just about all of these, he absolutely insisted only perfection.” the woman said, beaming with a perfect knowledge of how much the comment would embarrass her son.

“Thank you! And these are positively ambrosial....why, Tobey, I’d save some for you, but I’m afraid these rose spritz ice cream cookies are going to melt...” she retorted playfully as the boy genius finally sighed and sat up opposite her on the rug.

“Well, then, Miss Becky Botsford, to what do I owe the pleasure?” he said, nabbing one of the aforementioned sweets.

“Tobey,” his mother cut in with a soft glare, “Your friend here has found herself with an excess of activity and few places to carry out such.”

“But your brother made the cut, I presume?”

“He’s at his friend’s house.” she said, smile unfaultering, “My parents needed time to wrap and hide Christmas presents for our treasure hunt tomorrow, and we usually go to the Heaslip’s together, but the most coincidental thing is, as soon as Violet found out that you were mostly by yourself for Christmas Eve too, she caught a cold! A really super-contagious one! That Johnson, thankfully, hasn’t caught yet and isn’t transferable to either the homemade cookies or fluffy unicorn mittens she gave me. That’s funny, huh?”

“As ignominious it is that your mate has clearly thrown you for a foxglove, I suppose I could appreciate the company.” he said softly.

“Perfect!” she said, resting her cocoa on the table, “It took me a little while--an “absolutely last minute” sort of little while, but I brought some ideas for games that I think everyone here will enjoy and are entirely compatible with the unconventional three players, and of course I’d always listen to any of your ideas!”

Claire McCallister rested her empty mug on the coffee table and stood up wearily, buttoning her jacket and snagging her briefcase from the door.

“Ah, these shall have to be two-players, I’m afraid.” she said, ruffling her son’s hair and stepping to the door, “It’s rather last-minute, but some people really can’t keep themselves out of trouble on Christmas Eve, and the office called. Absolutely no stealing snogs while I’m gone, you both hear?”

The scarlet mess of what had once been Tobey McCallister stuttered as the door fell shut and his classmate merely looked over the book’s description from the coffee table.

“Awww, hey, is this The Wild Robot? I think TJ was reading that a little while ago...”

“And what of it, Botsford?” he said, sipping his cocoa.

She looked up with soft sparkling brown eyes and giggled. Not that Tobey cared, that is. “Hey, no need to be embarrassed! It’s always the story that really matters, anyhow. Speaking of which.....” she said, shaking her bookbag.

“Ah, yes, the games!” he said with a poorly disguised lilt of enthusiasm, “What is it, now, Ticket to Ride? Scrabble? Mouse Trap? It’s only sporting to warn you, though, ‘tis an honor fine to lose to a McCallister!”

She cuffed him on the shoulder playfully, laying out game sets on the table one by one, none of which were recognizable, or, for that matter, branded.

“Prepare to eat crow, my good sir, for ‘tis an honor perhaps finer to lose to a Botsford!” she retorted in perfect Elizabethan English and with a loose imitation of her friend’s accent to boot. “This one, I thought would be a fun one to start with--I mean, if you’d like? I made it ages ago, but I’ve never had a proper opponent. It’s called Curiosity’s Cat, and it goes like this....”

*****************************************************************************************

The game should not have been nearly as fun as it was, the two had to admit, once the puzzles were solved, the cards shuffled, the case finished, and, of course, the laurels of candy wreaths and good cheer bestowed.

“Now, I have to wonder,” Tobey mused, his wreath perched rather like a flower crown, “Did you make these yourself as well, Miss Botsford? They are absolutely resplendent.” His delighted gentle grin could warm even Rhyme’s frozen heart--not that our now-speechless heroine noticed or cared in the slightest of course.

After a flustered few seconds (”What’s the matter?”, Tobey teased, “Curiosity’s Cat got your tongue?”), Becky’s nerves defrosted enough to respond, “Yes, but satisfaction brought it back.”

“Ah, shame, I was hoping I’d finally found the compliment to silence a rather loquacious blatherskite.”

“That simply wouldn’t do, Mr. McCallister, you’d have to talk only half as much as usual to fill the room with two people’s worth of conversation. To answer your question, yes, actually, I did!”

“In a last-minute’s sort of little while, I presume?” he hummed, turning it over, “Ooh, are these candied hibiscus really edible? I haven’t had the sort of thing since Bristol!”

“You’ve never been to Bristol.” she said flatly.

“Exactly.” he said, pulling one of them off the tightly-woven bands and letting the light saccharine taste dissolve on his tongue, “So it only serves I’d miss them all the more. And I must say, my dear, these are absolutely ambrosial--that is to say, heavenly, scrumptious, and practically perfect in every way.”

He laughed softly, tapping her on the shoulder and leading her to the kitchens, “So it’s only fair that deserves at least a cup of tea, wouldn’t you say? Best vanilla-jasmine blend you’ll find here or anywhere, a la McCallister.”

“Tea? I call a perfidy.” she responded, starting a round of a silly and longer-running game of wits between the two as the kettle began to heat and the boy started to look through a variety of spices and blends in the cabinet.

“You speak with intellectuali-tea, though it’s surely with a malady.”

“That’s with respectibili-tea, though only in a rhapso-tea.”

“Well, that, love, is a tragi-tea, for our anfractuosi-tea.”

“To that we have a reme-tea.”

“And so ends”, he said, pressing a hot cup of fragrant tea into her hands, “Our proso-tea.”

At last, the door opened and the very exasperated Mrs. McCallister hung up her coat. “Hello again, my darlings--ah, that tea is for me, I presume?” she said, playfully giving an attempt at lifting Becky’s teacup to which the girl giggled and gently tugged hers back.

“Mother, Becky doesn’t have to go so soon, does she?” the boy protested, noting the extra car outside as she poured herself a cup with cream and sugar.

“Ah, I don’t suppose you accidentally enjoyed yourself, did you? Don’t worry, your friend will be over again soon enough.”

The girl curtsied as she packed her bags again and set her teacup in the sink. “Thank you for having me--I accidentally had fun, too. Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas to you as well, Becky Botsford.” he said as he walked her to the door, stopping short just a few centimeters from the step as she tapped his shoulder and looked up to the top of the doorframe.

“Technically, your mother is here now...” she whispered at a pitch a mouse would need to be quiet to hear.

“I’m sorry, what was that?”

And, bouncing lightly to the tip of her toes, she silenced him with a kiss on the cheek.

#tobecky #wordgirl #becky botsford #tobey mccallister iii #claire mccallister #theodore tobias mccallister iii #mwah!#wordgirl secret santa 2019 #secret commentary let's go #first off: appreciate tea puns #based off real banter #two: violet and johnson are siblings #three: tobey was ACTUALLY BRITISH #BRITISH BLOOD BORN IN AMERICA THE ENTIRE TIME #MWAH HA HA #I also hope it's okay I borrowed Nova--Hibiscus's awesome cat!#whoooo!!!#merry christmas hibiscus!#thanks for all and I hope you love it!

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hibiscusangel15 · 5 years

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And Two-Brains Got Away!

Hey @newsiegirlscout! So sorry it’s late, but here’s your Secret Santa gift! You asked for either Tobey having family fun with his mother or Tobey and Two-Brains bonding, but I decided to write a fanfic covering both at once! :D

I hope you had a lovely Christmas and have a very happy new year/decade!

Thanks to @void-apocalypse for hosting the gift exchange, too!

Tobey’s life was always full of last-minutes. Last-minute plans, last-minute cancellations, last-minute, well, everything.

It’d been this way as far as he could remember. This constant unpredictability might have fazed some people, but never him. At least he could construct his robots in peace while she was out.

So when his mother suggested they go out and get a nice Christmas tree right on Christmas morning, Tobey wasn’t at all surprised.

The tree lot was barren save for a few ramshackle bundles of sticks that hardly qualified as a “tree”. That didn’t stop the overexcited salesman from trying to push one onto his mother, though.

He sighed, and the crisp winter air spooled out before him like a puff of smoke. What a foolish endeavor. Didn’t the salesman know who he was even talking to? There was no way his mother would shill out a penny for a pathetic twig like that.

Tobey eyed the enormous pine tree by the salesman’s cabin. It had a massive trunk nearly as wide as it was tall, and the tree was tall enough to rival even his robuts’ heights. Not a practical Christmas tree by any means, but it was by far the best option here.

“Pardon me, Mr. Salesman,” Tobey piped up right as the man showed off yet another pathetic excuse of a tree. “But would you be willing to part with that one over there?”

The salesman hardly glanced over at the towering pine before he burst out laughing. “Ol’ Piney’s been there since before I was born! Family’s tried fer years to tear ‘er down, but ain’t nobody’s been successful yet!”

“So if I were able to take it down, would you let us bring it home?” Tobey pressed.

The salesman roared again. “Persistent lil’ feller, ain’t ya?” He wiped his nose and looked up at the tree once more. “Tell ya what. If you can somehow cut Ol’ Piney down, I’ll let ya have ‘er, free of charge!”

A wicked grin split across Tobey’s face. “‘Free of charge’, hm?”

His mother narrowed her eyes. “Tobey? What are you plotting?”

Instead of answering, Tobey dug a remote from his pocket and pressed a sequence into it with a needless flair. The ground rumbled as something massive approached closer...and closer.

The few crows that had settled on “Ol' Piney” scattered away just as one of Tobey’s robots strolled casually down the street up to them. The shady salesman sputtered out a few incoherent syllables as the robot stooped to pluck Old Piney up like a flower, roots and all.

“You...You cheated,” the salesman wheezed, pointing an accusing finger at him.

Tobey nearly burst out in maniacal laughter. What a sore loser.

“You never specified how I was to take this tree down, my good sir. I thought using my robut would be fair game.” He blinked innocently up at the two adults staring down at him.

Much to his surprise, his mother started to laugh. A lot.

The sound was infectious, and soon, the two of them found themselves laughing all the way back home again.

Claire wiped at the tears rolling down her cheeks. “Oh...Oh goodness, Tobey! You really showed him!”

“Serves him right for trying to peddle mere twigs to a lawyer and the world’s most formidable boy genius!” Tobey huffed.

His smug guise soon dispersed into childish giggles when his mother ruffled his hair. “Tobey, your mischief has proven to be rather valuable this time, so I’ll let the use of your robots slide just this once.”

They leapt up in their seats when the robot set the tree next to their house with a resounding boom, garnering even more foolish laughter from them both.

Most of their day after was dedicated to decorating their new Christmas tree. It had been some time since he and his mother had been downtown, but Tobey would bet that their tree was far superior to the shrub in front of City Hall.

At last, his robot daintily placed their enormous Christmas star on top. Tobey held the switch to his mother, and she flipped the heavy lever “On”.

A gentle flood of light washed over their yard like light snowfall. Not bad for having set it up just that day.

Claire wrapped an arm around her son’s shoulders, her eyes gleaming with a keen pride. “Merry Christmas, Tobey.”

“Merry Christmas, mother,” he whispered as he settled against her.

After watching the lights dance along their tree for a few moments longer, the two headed inside to stir up some hot chocolate and pop some kettle corn.

Last-minute tree. Last-minute cocoa. Last-minute present exchanges.

Yes, some people might not appreciate the rushed nature of it all. Tobey McCallister, however, couldn’t imagine a better Christmas with his mother.

It was perfect.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Or at least it was until someone knocked insistently on their front door.

They exchanged glances with one another, but it was clear from the puzzled looks on both their faces that neither of them were expecting anyone.

The door burst open as soon as his mother unlatched the last lock.

“Merry Christmas!” Doctor Two-Brains and his two henchmen yelled. Two-Brains was dressed up in a horrid Santa suit while the two henchmen flanking him had put on green hats with jingling bells on the end of them.

Claire put a hand over her heart. “Oh my!”

“Ho ho ho and etcetera.” Two-Brains rolled his hand as if he couldn’t be bothered to introduce himself properly. “I heard that a very naughty boy lives here! I’ve come to give him a lump of coal!”

The henchmen giggled to themselves as they fished out a large black lump from the red bag their boss toted around. The “lump of coal” in question was in reality just a poorly wrapped gift plopped right onto his lap. Tobey even saw the end of a ray gun poking through the wrapping but decided not to say anything about it.

“Oh, how...thoughtful…” Tobey mused as he caught his mother’s stern eye. Once he managed to tear off all the crumpled wrapping paper, Two-Brains cackled like he had pulled the greatest prank known to villain-kind.

“Did I say lump of coal? I meant ray gun!” Two-Brains-Santa said. “Naughty boys get lumps of coal. Evil villain boys, on the other hand? They get evil villain accessories.”

There was a metallic switch on the side of the ray that said “Shrink” on one side and “Grow” on the other.

Two-Brains flopped onto the couch next to him, moving the switch back and forth like he couldn’t contain his energy. “Just flick the switch, aim, then bam! Make your robots travel-size for easier transport! Flip it back and blam-o! Fifty-foot robots in the blink of an eye!”

He swept his arm out in front of him as if he could picture the scene.

“Now Tobey, what do we say?” his mother prompted.

Tobey resisted the urge to roll his eyes. “Thank you, Doctor Two-Brains. I’m sure this will actually prove useful to me in the future.”

“I don’t appreciate your sarcasm, but you’re welcome anyway, kid. Aaaaand I got your mother a little something, too, since she’s been very good this year! Almost too good considering how many times I—I mean—renowned villain Doctor Two-Brains ended up in jail.”

Claire blinked when he handed her a gift card to her favorite tea place in town. “Oh! Why, thank you very much! I’m sorry I couldn’t get you anything. I didn’t even know you would be stopping by!”

She threw her son a questioning look, but he just shrugged. He certainly didn’t invite them over.

“This was all a surprise my henchmen and I planned for this year! We got gifts for every villain in town! In fact, Tobey was our last stop, and I gotta tell ya, I am exhausted.” Two-Brains ripped off the fake, itchy beard and fanned himself with his Santa hat.

“Oh! Well, the least I could do is offer you and your henchmen some hot cocoa!” Claire said as she rushed off to do just that.

The henchmen’s eyes brightened. “We love hot cocoa! Thank you so much!”

“It’s my pleasure!” Claire spooned hot chocolate into some chipped Christmas-themed mugs. “Would you like marshmallows?”

“Yes, please!”

A hush fell over the McCallister living room as everyone sipped their delicious cocoa. Considering most of the people there were villains Claire McCallister had sentenced to jail several times, it was unbearably awkward.

“So...cozy place you got here,” Two-Brains began just to lighten the tension.

“Thank you,” his mother said.

“Surprising lack of robots.”

“My room’s full of them,” Tobey replied.

The small talk only fueled the awkwardness even more.

Two-Brains drummed his fingers on the arm of the couch and looked all around, hoping a topic would simply appear out of thin air.

Charlie whispered something in the other henchman’s ear and he smiled.

“Hey, Boss!”

“Yeah, what?”

“Me ‘n Charlie were wondering...since we didn’t get the chance to go caroling at the other villains’ houses...could we sing a few holiday carols here? For Tobey and his mom?”

Again, Tobey and his mother exchanged questioning glances. Just how well could they all sing together anyway?

“Eeeeh, I don’t know….” Two-Brains took Tobey’s shrink ray, switched it to “Grow” mode, then shot it at a wheel of cheese he fished out of his pocket.

“Aw, c’mon, Boss! This could count as your Christmas gift to us!” his henchman begged. Charlie nodded silently along.

Two-Brains jumped at the chance like the cheapskate he was. “Alright then, that’s your present! No take-backs!”

His henchmen giggled to themselves. “Could you...Could you sing that one you made up about WordGirl?”

Tobey sat up straighter in his seat. “A song about WordGirl, you say?”

His eyes darted to the floor when everyone turned to look at him. “I-I mean, boo, a song about WordGirl. Must be a rather boring song.”

Two-Brains snorted. “Nah, I think it’s one you’ll like. It goes a little something like this!”

The doctor took a deep breath, cleared his throat, and began, “Dashing through the snow, in a van made out of cheese, o’er the streets we go, laughing all the way, HAHAHA!”

Despite the inherent ridiculousness of the lyrics, Tobey and his mother couldn’t help but stare in awe at how well Doctor Two-Brains sang. One would expect that his singing would sound just as nasally and near-grating as his speaking voice. Not this beautiful operatic melody before them.

“C’mon, everybody now!” the doctor urged, throwing his hands up in the air.

His henchmen joined in with a low baritone. Charlie waggled his finger to the beat. Even his mother chirped along: “Jingle bells! WordGirl smells! Two-Brains got awaaaaay! Oh what fun it is to steal a great, old, big cheese wheel! Hey!”

Just as they were about to go into the second verse, Two-Brains nudged Tobey’s shoulder. “Don’t you wanna sing along?”

A rare nervous expression flashed across his face for a moment before he replaced it with feigned boredom. “Not really. It’s a rather silly song.”

“Uh, yeah, it’s supposed to be! The holidays are always full of silly stuff like this! Don’t be such a curmudgeon.”

His face flushed. “I...I’m not a curmudgeon!”

“Then sing along with us, kid! C’mon!”

Tobey made a show of rolling his eyes, but eventually joined in anyway. If they chanced a look outside, they might have caught sight of Tobey’s robot peeking in with a wide smile.

“And Two-Brains got AAAAWAAAAAAYYYY! HEY!”

Their voices and warm laughter floated through the window into the winter night.

#Tobey McCallister #Claire McCallister #Doctor Two-Brains #WordGirl #WordGirl Secret Santa 2019 #my fanfiction

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void-apocalypse · 5 years

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It's that time of year again, folks! The gift giving holidays are just around the corner and that means Secret Santa season is here! Now after much thought, I've decided to host it again (despite my shotty internet connection and slow phone).

(information below)

I will be accepting any form of gift you guys are able to offer. Whether it’s art (digital or traditional), fan fics, and even songs!

RULES (very important!):

-NO NSFW!! For obvious reasons.

-Shipping is allowed as long as it’s not incest or pedophilia/underage (this includes extremely huge age gaps too, even if you draw an adult version of the child character. It’s still a no-no).

-Wordgirl OCs are allowed, but I’d have to figure out how to go about keeping the gift a secret, and not spoil who requested it.

-PLEASE do not give yourself away, or give any hints what you’re working on or what you want yourself for the secret santa. We want everything to remain a secret before it’s time to share the gifts. This is a secret santa after all!

-Please finish your gift before the deadline (which will be decided once everyone has been paired).

-If you want to join and sign up, please do so BEFORE DECEMBER 12th! That’s the official sign up deadline. There'll be a 24 hour grace period for any last minute sign ups (so the latest is the 13th, after that I won't be accepting anymore entries). If you did sign up but something happened and you're no longer able to participate, please let me know so I can take you off the roster! Things happen, so it's perfectly understandable.

Also, it’s SUPER important if you put a lot of love, time, and effort into your gift! If you want to receive a gift someone worked extremely hard on and put a lot of effort into it, think about how they’d feel about getting a gift with just as much time and effort put into it too! I know we can get really busy this time of year, but putting in that extra effort in your gift makes it even better!

You also MUST MESSAGE ME YOUR GIFT once you’ve finished it, so I can know that you’ve done your part, and that no one will be left empty handed! No one wants to be left with nothing for Christmas!

Here’s the sign up form (which you must fill out completely and either send me a direct message, or submit it into my submission box):

*Tumblr username: (your blog URL)

*Your specific request: (whether it’s a character, ship, platonic relationship, ect)

*What form of media and what you’re okay with receiving as a present: (like if you’re okay with receiving art, stories, ect, as a gift)

*What you’re okay with doing: (like certain characters, ships, OCs, ect)

*What you’d prefer to not do: (anything specific that you are uncomfortable doing)

If you have any questions regarding this secret santa, please ask me!

Let's go!

#wordgirl #wordgirl secret santa 2019 #secret santa #void talks

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