Oh my twitchy witchy girl, I think you are so nice...

[curiously_cora]

Throughout Coraline's short life she had always been underestimated or overlooked. The Other Mother had thought it would be easy to sew buttons on her eyes, to kill her and to keep her forever. The Other Father had thought she wouldn't hurt him to escape. The Other Mister Bobo thought she could be seduced by the idea of being able to do anything

Comments

[spd_green]

Bridge had a busy day today. He'd done most of the planning for his date with Polly in advance, and set things up so he could just go home and get ready, but he still wanted to make the most of the party. It was for Coraline, and he liked Coraline a lot, so it was only right to have fun at her party.

Making the food had been easy and now, thanks to Ric appearing yesterday, there were tunes to be played in the background. He didn't have any CDs for the robot dog's CD player, but he had uploaded a bunch of music into his mainframe, just for such an occasion. Master and dog grooved through the party, Bridge's moves much smoother than Ric's but both looking like they were having a good time.

[curiously_cora]

Coraline had finished bouncing. Bouncing plus food had led to feeling sick. And whilst Coraline didn't mind crying (because it was her party and she could cry if she wanted to), she didn't want to throw up. So she'd started to help with the planting so the garden would be beautiful and perfect and growing. Like at home. She was distracted however from her current task by the cat hissing at something before making a beeline for Coraline before climbing up her back and flattening itself against her neck.

"Stop that you, no claws." Coraline said reaching round for the almost feral, haughty looking thing and pulling it down into her arms. Coraline soon saw what had caused the hissing though. "Hi Bridge! You brought a friend. The cat doesn't like dogs but he'll get over it the big wusspuss."

[spd_green]

"Hey Coraline!" He smiled as he gave the girl a little wave, then repeated the movement, only smaller, for the cat. "I thought maybe the cats would react differently to a robotic dog, but I guess not. I've already told Ric that he needs to be on his best behavior though, so he won't be chasing him. Will you Ric?"

Ric looked from Bridge to Coraline and shook his head emphatically.

[curiously_cora]

"I wouldn't chase him even if you were allowed Ric, the cat helped me defeat the Other Mother and she was quite fearsome. He's quite brave for a wusspuss," Coraline said with a smile as the cat made a face at her. Even for a cat, the cat was quite intelligent. Well, speaking cats usually were. "Can I pat him? Did you make him? Is he from the future? Or from space? He's... brilliant!"

[spd_green]

"Yes, no but I upgraded him, yes, no just Earth, and thanks!" Bridge rambled off the answers to all Coraline's questions with a cheerful, proud smile like any good pet owner. "He likes when you rub between his ears," he informed her, and Ric wagged his tail and barked happily.

[curiously_cora]

"Wow, you're really cool Ric." Coraline said putting the cat down on one of the tables who leapt off and ran inside where there weren't so many humans or dogs to contend with. Coraline bent down to touch him, admiring the robotic dog whilst she rubbed him like Bridge had said she could between the ears. He was so different to Miss Spink and Miss Forcible's dogs and definitely much cooler. "He's not very sociable. He used to be able to talk but only sometimes. I wish I had a robot dog, I think even my mum would like one. She hated anything that made a mess or brought mud in."

[spd_green]

"Oh, Ric can still make a mess," Bridge told her, eyebrows up for emphasis. "And he's not mud repellent. But he's better than a real dog because he doesn't shed or get fleas. How did you explore back home without bringing mud in?"

Coraline's mum couldn't hate her, so he assumed Coraline must have been mud-free. Which wasn't her usual state around the island.

[curiously_cora]

"I didn't, I mean I wasn't allowed out when it was raining. I had to explore inside." Coraline said simply. Her mother was quite firm on that and no matter how hard she tried to distract her father or annoy him into letting her go out- he never disobeyed her mum. Just like the Other Father really. "But when the rain stopped I'd go out in wellies and get really muddy and then mum would use That voice and daddy had to take me to have a really long bath."

[spd_green]

Bridge's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, I know that voice. But I like baths, so I really wouldn't mind. They're best if you have a bath book though! Makes time go by faster."