Upon Pris' Bed

[B.D. Adams]

During the course of every year the human body ages and though this is a continuous process there is only one day out of the year that the aging is acknowledged. This is their birthday. The concept of celebrating the day of your birth seemed rather meaningless to Benjamin after he had effectively lost his humanity and so he only gave it thought when someone's birthday effected him.

Such as the one that belonged to Pris. This particular occasion had been on her mind for some reason or another and the thought of it had come through to him. She was seventeen now. He only had to wait one more year and then the ethical restraints that he held himself to - yes, even he held himself to some form of standard - would be null and void. He hadn't seen her since he gave her a gift to use for Halloween, figuring that after all she experienced that night seeing him was better left alone. So what could he grace her with after being nearly non existent from her life for the past month?

He was not much of a sentimental man and it wasn't often that he considered the wants and needs of others. What he preferred was practical and logical and some of which he offered her before she turned down. What to offer.

Benjamin waited until the school day was nearing it's end before he opened a rift into her room at the Tel'Ranaemyn Inn. As soon as he stepped foot in there his skin began to crawl and his fingers flexed at his sides to still himself. It was always difficult to maintain his composure in the Inn, especially when there physically, so he always made the visits short and when necessary. He could have done what he wanted without being in her room but the overall result would have been different.

He looked around until he caught sight of her bed. It was the perfect place. As he walked to her bed he made sure to disturb some of the items around the room and cause them to 'point' in the direction of the bed, they were to serve as visual indicators that something was different. Upon reaching the bed he pulled out three oil pastel crayons from his pocket – cerulean, canary, and alizarin crimson. They were the first things that she ever gave him. The colors were placed side by side on top of a 20x17 sheet of laid pastel paper. Added was a note card with her name on it. The note read:

"Draw what you would like to have and it will be given. Happy Birthday."

There were no added tricks or stipulations to the items; nothing that would happen to her if she used the items. It was as the note said and there was no name. He hardly thought it was needed. Benjamin knew that she did not see things the same as others, even that she did not draw things the way that others did. Perhaps this would bring about interesting results.

His work accomplished, Benjamin vanished from the room.

[Guest]

it wasn't until after eight o' clock on pris' birthday monday that she came back to the apartment she and dommy shared at the tel'ranaemyn inn. the first thing she did when she closed the door behind her was to let loose a great big yawn. the day had started very early for pris, well before school time. pris had woken donald up at 4:26am, so he could be awake in time for the very start of her birthday - 4:28. the fact donald indulged her and lavished both presents and affection on her despite her waking him up well before any sun or rooster was up was why he was her most precious duck. she had spent those three hours with him before school at the height of birthday joy.

she had far less birthday joy at school. but she didn't expect to have any birthday joy there because she didn't tell anyone there it was her birthday. only lumie knew, and he had already planned a party for her in the tardis for afterschool. there were special birthday potatoes, and presents that included a potion lumie bought from archer that let pris be a kitsune again. the potion had a twelve hour effect, so pris still had her two fluffy fox tails when she came back to her room. one was purple with a green tip, and the other was green with a purple tip because lumie had finally given pris the fur dye he'd brought for her from the avon lady, and they'd had a lot of fun playing with it. along with those two tails, she had the rest of lumie's kitsune powers. besides animal senses she could turn completely into a fox, become invisible, and speak telepathically. thankfully lumie had not yet thought to teach pris how to shoot lightening from her tails.

when pris turned the light on to the bedroom area a little shriek burst from her lips. "no," she told her easel that was pointed in the wrong direction as she pointed her finger at it. "no, no, no, no, no" she added emphatically as she pointed at the other items in the room which had all apparently decided to move while she was gone. while pris' erratic gaze probably seemed hopelessly unfocused to most, in actuality her intake of visual information was incredible down to the smallest changes. she was an artist. she knew when there were changes in the landscape around her. changes in the landscape meant changes to any potential portraits.

"oh." her eyes had caught up with her finger, which was pointing accusingly at the bed. now she understood all the moved objects, when she saw who had come home. cerulean, canary and alizarin crimson. behind her pris' two tails flicked with short upward jerks, a show of curiosity. "you've come home. are you going to whisper whisper to me all poof's secrets? i know about his poofing secrets. we could trade." yes, she was bartering with her old pastels in a quiet voice as she crept over to the side of the bed. one never knew when a deal could be made, even with inanimate objects. and since they'd lived with benjamin for three seasons, pris' imagined they had all sorts of stories to tell. as she picked up the card with her name on it, her green eyes darted away from it momentarily to look at her three unresponsive pastels.

"the silent treatment. don't be sour. it's my birthday," pris stuck her nose up in the air with a regal sniff at the three uncooperative colors. then, she made a great show of turning her attention away from them, and to the card in her hand. when she read the words, everything changed. her eyes got big and wide, she rocked her weight between her right foot and her left so quickly it was almost like a hopping dance, and her tails were now swishing with great excitement. that excitement squeaked out of her softly at first and then louder, louder, louder, like a tea kettle boiling to its whistling point. "ohhhhhhhh," it began. "oh! oh! oh! oh! OH!" she tossed the card over her shoulder with a victorious whoop, leaping onto the bed and landing upon it on her knees.

"i can do it!" she squealed down to the three colors as she pressed her palms flat against the comforter. the only response the pastels gave her was to roll off the piece of paper and towards one hand. "yes. yes yes yes." pris nodded, snatching the colors up as she inched forward toward the paper. she had interpreted the roll of the pastels towards her hand as their agreement with her plan. ever since benjamin had given her the power to be him for halloween and what had transpired at school as a result, pris had been doing a lot of thinking. about her. about poof. about her treatment of poof. about his treatment of her. the more she thought about it, the more connections her eccentric brain made. these connections had lead to decisions, and these decisions had lead to wishes and wants. but pris hadn't known how to go about those wishes and wants - until now.

because for her birthday, benjamin had given her the opportunity to get just what she wanted. the now seventeen-year-old wasted no time. holding the colors in the crook of her thumb and forefinger, pris began her art making by turning the paper benjamin had provided her horizontally and folding it twice. this made three sections of paper, with the middle one slightly bigger than the other two. pris needed those three panels because she was going to draw him a triptych - a three panel painting. she wasn't going to ask for three presents, rather she was drawing a beginning, middle and end for her request. for even though pris knew she had some apologizing to do for her behavior towards benjamin all these months, she was by no means a foolish girl and she knew that when it came to poof her wants had to be defined very clearly or else...things happened. her two fluffy fox tails wagging happily behind her, pris got to work.

the first panel was ironically the most vague. it had no specific location. the background was a murky blend of colors that could be any number of places depending on where one was standing when they looked at it and how they chose to interpret it. it was a blurred backdrop because to pris the location was not the most important thing. what was important was that in that first panel she was standing there, with her black hair streaked with red, orange and blonde tips just like it was now, and benjamin was standing in front of her. pris positioned herself in the drawing so that most of her was faced forward - that way whether or not she had tails was up to interpretation. which meant that whether or not this drawing took place tonight or another day in the near future when her hair was still its current colors was also up to interpretation.

in this first panel pris and benjamin were going through a transformation. benjamin wore his usual pants but the clothing on his upper half was different - a white tuxedo coat, a white shirt, and a bowtie (a challenge with only three colors!). on his hands were white dress gloves and his left hand held a top hat. around his midsection where benjamin's usual clothes ended and these different fancy clothes began there seemed to be some sort of whirlwind. it was pris drawing what she thought benjamin's poofing power might look like if it was visible. a similar transformation was happening with pris, with a similar whirlwind around her. her hair was half curled and half pinned up in the drawing, the other strands sticking out all over the place in the process of being changed. her stockings were striped as she so often wore (and wore tonight) and on her feet were her favorite shoes, her red mary janes. there was a dress taking shape on pris' body that was clearly a ball gown of some sort, which seemed to be made of a fabric that was an iridescent rainbow of pastel colors. these details were what she felt was important for the beginning of her birthday wish.

the second panel had a clear location, and there were many other people. everyone else in the second panel was dressed in elegant clothing. these people, many of them were dancing. some of them were grouped together and talking. there was a gathering of musicians to one side in the far corner of the background. all these people where in a place which had chandeliers and walls that were not just painted one color but were covered with either fancy detailing and engraving or ornate wallpaper, it was hard to tell. the floor looked to be marble, and the ballroom depicted was expansive and lavish. at the center of this panel she put herself and benjamin, and they were dancing together. the costumes that were taking over their bodies in the first panel were obviously compete, and pris had elbow length white gloves and lots of sparkle jewels in the form of earings, necklaces, bracelets and rings. even her dress seemed to have some sort of jeweled effect in this panel, and on her feet she had glass slippers. benjamin, of course, looked very dapper in a white tuxedo and seemed to be enjoying himself. pris spent a lot of time on the small details of benjamin's expression - especially his eyes and the shape of his smile. she put love in them and maybe even a little softness, and make sure the wolf and the slyness she often saw in them weren't there during their dancing. she desperately wanted the effect to be genuine, and not forced. the result was that he looked quite handsome, dashing. she also spent time on her own expression, trying very hard to give herself earnest eyes and eager lips caught right in the middle of speaking. pris was even leaned towards him, as if she was trying to emphasize with her posture the importance of whatever words she was speaking at the time of this panel.

in the final panel, benjamin was no longer there. the location was clearly donald blake's room at the inn, a place that pris could render with meticulous detail. considering the play of light and shadow that pris' drew into this panel, it was either night or at the most just as dawn was coming. the focus was on donald's bed, for there he slept with pris at his side. in this panel she was no longer wearing the gown, though her hair was still pinned up in its fancy curls and she still had on her sparkles. only the thin straps of whatever she was wearing could be seen as she was otherwise covered and nestled in blankets with her cheek resting on donald's shoulder. in the drawing her eyes were drooped and heavy, but she was not quite yet sleeping. instead those tired eyes were fixed on the sleeping donald and there was a very specific pucker shape to pris' lips - the shape her lips made when she uttered a satisfied, "purr."

together on the piece of paper benjamin provided, these three panels told a story. she wanted benjamin to be face to face and for him to poof them into proper fancy clothes. then she wanted him to take her to a cinderella ball where they would dance together, because to pris it represented one of the many things she did not let him do for her when they first met - she'd declined his offer to take her to the valentine's day ball in his poofed taxi. and at the end of the evening, she wanted to be somewhere that she was always happy and safe - having a sleepover with her most precious duck. pris' way of communicating through the drawing that she wanted to make it through her night with benjamin 'okay'.

it was a lot to draw, especially with only three pastels. by the time pris threw the them down on the bed, it was after nine o'clock and all that was left of each color was a tiny nub. as the girl sat back on her knees, she looked at the ceiling as if that's where one had to look to communicate a message to benjamin. she said only one thing, with pleased calm. "ta da."