TOYLAND

[JilaCosa]

Wistfully, Jila looked around her rooms at the Scooby's new home ,taking in all the bits and pieces that gave them what flavor they posessed, musing all the while, caught in contemplation somewhere between what was and what is. She sighed ever so lightly. They really were quite nice, as suites went anyway, Still... unlike her previous space, in all the time that the gang had lived here she hadn't quite managed to do anything to truly mark these rooms as her own, you know, give them that unique something that practically shouted 'Jila's space' without so much as making a sound? If she could just....

Again she couldn't help it as her mind flashed back...The books, the tapestries, the knickknacks from the other lands that she'd loved so dearly, were sadly, all gone. Worse ,there wasn't much to be done for it, not by her, nor by her friends, not by anybody. Reality could really be thorough at times. Not to mention pesky! Wish as she might.... all that was left was to simply make do. Trouble was, all those furnishings and drapings, and other items she missed... they didn't matter half as much to her as the dolls she had made to represent her friends. Those she missed badly...very badly.

She sighed. There had been too many things to bring back and too little time to get them all when the gang had raided the old mansion. Oh she was sure that there was plenty of room in Rae's Bag of Holding, but the dolls seemed an unnecessary treasure in that raid. Not something that need prioritizing.

At least at the time.

And anyway, Jila marshalled herself everything is replaceable.

A hint of a mischievious smile and memory crept in with the next thought. Especially if you know how and where to look, and the means to get there. Half the fun was in the making you know! Those were VERY fond memories in deed!

With a mental shrug she returned to the present and with out much forethought began to hum. It was something she'd been doing quite a bit of lately, often without realizing it. In fact she didn't even know that she was humming a particular song at first until it suddenly clicked in place and she realized she knew it. Trouble was she couldn't remember any of the words, well, except for the first line, but sometimes those were just enough...

Toy Land, Toy Land, lala, lala, lala, la, la, lala, lalala, lala, lala, lalalala

She paused with a figurative furtive glance at nothing in particular. Toy land? hmmm Maybe? ...she wasn't sure why she'd never thought of it before but if she couldn't have the originals maybe she could replace them? Maybe she'd been looking at this all wrong? Maybe....A few excited thoughts made the rounds some falling right into place and other simple broadening her smile. Why not? was the conclusion that kept coming to mind. She COULD do it.!

And ToyLand was the answer!

As for the next logical problem? That was even easier. It was a solution that even had a name and the means.... Ragnar and the Longboat.

Feeling a little more upbeat than she had in a while,"Kids!" Jila exclaimed, turning to the little gems that also made up much of the best part of her life. "Lets go tell Pixie you need to stay with her for a little while. Mom has a special errand to run!"

Jila grabbed her adventure bag as the chorus began. "Can we come? Can we come?""Where're you goin' this time, mom?" "Can you bring us back something?" Somehow all the statements and questions from the kids chimed in sounding seperate yet blended together as only kids can manage. She couldn't help but smile. Perhaps one day when they were older she WOULD take them with her, a thought that made her smile even more. But for today.

"Not this time....ToyLand I hope... you know I always try..." ...a myrid other answers to a myrid other questions. Finally she grinned, hugged both kids and sent them running for their things. With suprising energy and a new bounce in her step she finished her own packing, helped the kids with theirs, escorted them to Pixie's with a brief explaination ,then ran through the Mansion heading to where the Longboat was docked.

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

"Ragnar!" Jila yelled as she ran up the gangplank. "Ragnar, are you in there!"

THUD...CLANG...."FRELL!!" Ragnar bellered as the wrench slipped once again and he rammed his hand into the piping. "WHAT???"

Ah, there he was!

Bounding up with nary a pause ,Jila headed in the direction of the griping voice and mumbling sounds, and upon arriving paused long enough to do a little wincing when she noticed Ragnar's bloody knuckles. Ooops! "I'm sorry, Didn't mean to disturb your train of thought. Just wanted to know if you could take me somewhere." Spoken somewhat a bit faster than norm for her but hey.

"What's wrong with Geradan?" Ragnar quipped and frowned as he wiped the blood from his hand.

"Still recuperating from Reality Land." Glancing at his hand once more. "And you know you should be wearing gloves when you're doing this. Let me help." Jila grabbed the first-aid kit from the shelf and took out some gauze pads and tape, and then sat on the floor with Ragnar to bandage his hand.

He watched for a moment. "Take you somewhere?" he asked cautiously.

Jila glanced up. "It won't take that long really. I just want to get some more dolls."

He tried not to roll his eyes. Dolls? But that was silent.

"Why can't you get those in town." Ragnar watched Jila tape down the gauze. He wasn't gonna fall for this nonsense this time, nope, not gonna...not!

"I've already checked in town. They're all out." Jila ripped off another piece of tape not looking anywhere but at Ragnar's hand already having some idea about what he was thinking. "Because of the holidays. People are already doing their holiday shopping. And you know I wouldn't ask but I miss my dolls. Especially the ones of Drum, Six, IQ, ghost, and Wizmick. They help me to remember what good times we had with them." Jila slid her finger carefully over the last piece of tape to make sure it stuck. "Please?" Jila looked Ragnar straight in the eyes...then her face changed ever so slightly...she'd been practicing her puppy dog look!

No, not the eyes. Ragnar whined to himself and squirmed a bit. Damn woman. She knows I can't tolerate that.

Why couldn't Scoobettes ever play fair!

[KaraS]

Kara sat on the edge of her bed and thought. The holidays were coming up and there were presents to be bought.

She looked around her room. It was comfortable enough but lacked personality. There was a bed, a dresser, a desk with her computer on it, a bookshelf with a few books on it and a small arm chair. A small boombox and a small stack of CDs were on a small table in the corner.

Pathetic really, they'd been here for a year and the place had no personality at all. But then they hadn't really spent much time here.

And she knew the others rooms were similarly boring.

Perhaps both problems could be attacked simultaneously.

Kara put on the magic black leather long coat with pockets of holding that Sword had given her for Christmas several years ago. Then she fished around in the back of her dresser drawer. Yep, there was the pirate gold she'd stashed there. She put it in her pocket.

Now, where to shop? The local stores were limited in the merchendise they carried and, let's face it, dull. She needed someplace exciting to shop, someplace with atmosphere. But where?

QVC Land? Maybe. But how to get there? Maybe Ragnar could help with that?

Kara made her way down to the longboat only to find that Jila had beaten her there. But hey, shopping is always more fun with friends along.

[JilaCosa]

"Am I interrupting anything?" Kara grinned as she walked into the room.

"Naw." Jila patted Ragnar's arm lightly as she let go of his hand. "Just trying to keep Rag in one piece." A grin spread over Jila's face as she got to her feet. "I was just asking Ragnar if he could take me over to ToyLand to do some shopping."

"So what'd you get for an answer?"

"I haven't yet." Jila looked at Ragnar with the puppy eyes again. "Could you? Please?"

Ragnar shut his eyes tight, shook his head once, and tried not to visibly squirm. He opened his eyes and noticed Kara's attire. "Going somewhere Kara?"

"Well I was going to ask if you could take me someplace to shop," Kara looked at Jila and then back to Ragnar. "But since you're already taking Jila I'll just hitch a ride."

Just then Ragnar heard footsteps across the upper deck. Who now?

[chryse]

"Hey Ragnar? You down there somewhere?" shouted Chryse and she worked her way down to where the Scoobs had gathered.

"Hey Chryse, what's up?" asked Kara.

"I could ask the same of you guys? What's going on?" asked Chryse.

"They," Ragnar, pointed to Kara and Jila, "want to go shopping," said the Viking wearily. "What do you want?"

"Funny, I wanted to go and shop too," smiled the elf. "Anywhere in particular?"

"Toyland," smiled Jila.

"Ah, excellent choice! I can pick a good number of things there myself," grinned Chryse. "Can I hitch a ride too?"

"Well, Ragnar hasn't actually said yes yet...." said Jila.

[RagnarRB]

And I'm not going to either!

The above ,of course, he wisely voiced silently in his mind. What? did some one hang a 'TAXI' sign on the side of the boat somewhere when he wasn't looking?

It wasn't Christmas yet but he was feeling a touch Grenchy just the same.

He folded his arms across his chest and looked at the three, giving them his best scowl. Yeah that should work....

....right.....

[Sandworm]

"Hi, Guys! Wassup?" asked Sandworm, strolling up to the group. "I heard some commotion out here... sounded like a wrench bashing smeone's hand into a pipe..." He stopped short as he saw Ragnar's bandaged hand and scowl.

"OK, so my hearing's too damn good. Not my fault." he said.

Once again, he looked at the group, noticing they all seemed ready to leave. "How odd", he thought.

"Where is everyone going?"
"Toyland," the Scoobettes responded in unison.
"Interesting. I was just thinking that life was boring. And also there's that whole thing about the inside of the mansion being bare that I heard Kara talking to herself about in her sleep..."
He glanced over at Kara.
"Close?"

Kara did not reply. Her expression was unreadable.

"Thought so. But Rag does not look like a happy bunny about this trip, right?"

Rag scowled again, and glared around.

"None of the others are here yet. If I were you, I'd take the opportunity while you can and run!" he said to the Viking. "But I'll hop along too. After all, Jila does not have a doll of me yet."

Jila turned and smiled.

"Nice hearing there, Sandy," she said.
"I try," he said, and bowed.

[KaraS]

Kara gave Ragnar her best puppy dog look. Her lower lip started to shake. She looked like she was about to cry.

"Ppplease." she whimpered. "Oh Ragnar, please take us shopping."

Tears started to form in the corners of her eyes.

Ragnar looked at her in alarm. He backed up a step.

Kara winked at him and gave him a big grin.

He looked even more alarmed.

"Oh come on Rag, the longboat has been mothballed in here for months. Don't you want to get her out on the open ocean? Get the wind in your hair and the spray in your face as she dances across the waves? GO somewhere?"

"Go somewhere with stores." Chryse added. "Where we can get some presents for you."

"Somewhere with hot cider and Christmas cookies." Jila added.

Ragnar looked undecided.

[Sandworm]

"Come on, guys..." said Sandworm. "Ragnar is a big, brave warrior. You can't "puppy dog eye" him into submission. He's probably seen more puppy dog eyes than you can imagine on the battlefield."

Sandworm looked at Ragnar.

"Right, dude?"

[JilaCosa]

"Dealt with it before he has," Jila spoke softy and winked at Sandy. "But when it comes to us girls he melts."

"C'mon Rag." Chryse cajoled the angry looking Viking. "The Longboat looks like it could use a trip at sea."

"Please Rag?"

Ragnar growled softly. He hated it even more when they ganged up on him.

[Sandworm]

"Yeah, I know," said Sandworm softly, wishing he was a telepath. "It was reverse psychology..."

[RagnarRB]

Ragnar looked at one, then another, and another, and another, then back around again.

Eggnog and cookies didn't sound so bad did they?

Suddenly all the ladies began to pout up and fake sniffle in unison blast it all! Sandworm of course took up watching some invisable something in the corner.

Ragnar closed his eyes and let out a heavy sigh.

He just knew...."Alright....I'll take you shopping...But I'm not carring all the packages this time! And none of those funny Amazon Barbie dolls! I promised Emram I wouldn't do that to him again....and...."

He didn't really think they'd pay much attentiion to the ground rules but he tried to name as many as he could think of anyway.

There was only one place worse than a packed mall at Chrismas time...Toyland!

[Kayde]

"No handing me packages. No saying "Wait, wait" when I say lets go.
No dragging me to more than one port."

Ragnar was making his point, one finger at a time.

"Watcha doin?" Kay asked, jumping onto the deck, surprisingly enough, or not, dressed in jeans, a sweater and her fleece jacket, with good walking shoes and a back pack looking ready to go......

"Hm....Let me guess. Just thought you'd do a little shopping, and wanted to know if I'd take you. Hmmm?" Ragnar said to her with a raised eyebrow.

The others were grinning. "Oh. I see I'm not the first one with that idea." Kay said chuckleing.

"Nope." Jila said with a wide smile. "Ragnar was just agreeing to take us to Toyland."

"Thanks!" Kay said, giving Ragnar a hug and sticking her backpack inside the doorway so the weather and water sprays wouldn't get to it. "That's a great place to go!"

With a big sigh, Ragnar continued....

[Sandworm]

"Umm... Guys, I hate to remind you, but last time we went to Toyland, Rag, Emram and myself ended up... slightly..." Sandworm looked at the other two. "...Inconvenienced. We are taking measures against that this time, right?"

Sandworm shuddered as he remembered the scary attack of the barbie dolls on that train...

[KaraS]

"You'll be fine Sandworm." Kara sighed. "Just try not to flirt with them and they won't get all worked up like that. You can keep out of trouble by helping us carry our packages."

"But I wasn't...." Sandworm started to protest, but Jila dragged him down into the cabin to do a quick protection spell so the sea spray wouldn't hurt him.

"Hm, I wonder if anybody else wants in on this shopping trip?" Chryse mused.

"I think Rae and Sunny are otherwise engaged." Kara sighed. "But hopefully they can join us later."

"All aboard who's coming aboard!" Ragnar yelled and prepared to take the ship out of the dock. He raised the sails and prepared to weigh anchor.

Kara scanned the dock one more time, just to make sure there was nobody else there who wanted a ride...

[JilaCosa]

Jila climbed the mast to the crow's nest as the Longboat pulled away from the dock. As a general rule she left this place for Rae, mostly because she wasn't crazy about the height factor, but this time was different. Jila felt that she'd been shut up in the Mansion for Way Too Long and the view from the top of the mast and the feel of the blowing wind seemed just what she needed.

Suddenly Jila felt a large disturbance in the air right in front of her face and then the feeling of being strangled. "What the...???" She yelled as her body stiffened and then relaxed. Jila chuckled, shook her head, and then raised her hand to scratch the small scaly head by her ear.

"You all right up there, Jila?" Kay's question carried in the wind.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Jila felt a little wierd as she looked over the side of the crow's nest down to the deck. Why, she couldn't tell. She could look toward the ground from Geradan's back just fine, so why was it so eerie to look down from here? "Pandora just caught me off guard. I think she's afraid she'll turn into a collectible again."

"I wouldn't either." Kay smiled and shook her head.

Jila looked out over the sea again. The sun seemed to shine brighter than it had for months, and the reflection off the water was like millions of diamonds. Soon a soft melody joined the wind and the waves. Chryse's flute.

Perfect Jila sat on the small bench Rae had left and leaning over, crossed her arms on the top edge of the wood in front of her. We couldn't have picked a more perfect day.