"C'mon."
"No."
"C'mon."
"No!"
"C'mon!"
"I said no!"
Buzz stopped working on the "rocket" that had a missing blaster, (or rather a plastic cup) as he heard the commotion from the bottom of the bed. Looking over the edge, he couldn't stop himself from smiling as he saw the two western themed dolls squaring each other up in a standoff, parroting words to each other as the cowgirl… was holding a large wad of tinsel above her head.
"No!"
"Come on, it's just a little!"
"Listen, this is getting old, I said NO! Now put the darn thing away before anyone sees it! Where did you even get that anyway?"
"Don' matter! And I know you told me no! And I said COME! ON!" and with that the cowboy doll was bombarded with the blinding glitter of the tinsel as it was chucked straight into his face like a baseball, knocking him to the ground with an audible thump. Buzz covered his mouth to avoid having his laughter be noticed. The commotion was drawing quite a crowd now as the rest of the gang stopped what they were doing in order to watch. Though, this only seemed to annoy the cowboy further.
"For crying out loud, Jessie, what part of 'no' is so difficult to understand?!" Woody protested, spitting out some rogue lametta from his mouth and picking himself up, glaring at everyone laughing. Every time...
Fixing his hat, he put his arms akimbo as he faced his adopted-sister, who stood grumpily in front of him, armed with more of the shimmering mess, which she could somehow hold over her head despite her mere 11 inch height. Woody partly hoped that Bonnie would come through and see this, just so she could take the darn thing away from her.
"I just wanna put it up over the bed!" The redhead cowgirl whined, jumping a few times in annoyance, "What's so bad about that?" She added with a huffy pout. Woody rolled his eyes with a smirk. He couldn't resist that face... But he still wasn't going to let her do that. Up on the said bed, he could just see Buzz sitting atop with his feet dangling, laughing at the spectacle. Despite Woody's desperate glances, he was obviously not going to get involved. This entertainment was too good to miss.
"Nope. Sorry Jess." Woody temporarily removed his hands from his hips to raise them apologetically before putting them back. Jessie let out an annoyed squeal, and jumped again.
"Why NOT!?" Throwing the tinsel onto the ground, Jessie stomped her foot, "Yer such a Scrooge."
"If making sure you don't get stuck behind the bed for a day and night like last time, then yes I AM a Scrooge." Woody smugly grinned and flicked the top of his hat at the cowgirl, who rolled her eyes and turned herself away slightly as she noticed the other toys trying to hold their laughter. With a number failing. Not this story again… He had embarrassed her enough with it already!
"Thatwasthreeyearsago." She grumbled as she kicked the tinsel at her feet, still acting huffy. Woody chuckled, keeping his hands on his hips, swaying them slightly as he intended to continuously pester Jessie until she gave in. It was the only way, really.
"And who still doesn't like being on the bed alone?"
"Stick yer head in a rattler's nest. Confounded deathtrap almost squashed me..."
"And wouldn't let go of me for almost a week?" He laughed, remembering her clinging to and practically riding on his back like a baby raccoon after that incident. And once Woody was able to shake her off, she had instantly latched herself onto Buzz... who was surprisingly more tolerant and didn't complain.
"It was dark and cramped, I got spooked!"
"And didn't wanna sleep next to Andy?"
"It could've happened again!"
"And wouldn't-?"
"Woody, stop!" She squeaked, finally showing submission, pulling her hat low over her eyes. The cowboy instantly shut up, knowing if he kept prying he'd just get her wound up again. And a tightly wound Jessie with no outlet would be mayhem for everyone involved.
"Alright…" He put his hand on her shoulder and grabbed the brim of her hat to push it up away from her face, "Sorry, Jess. Didn't have any other choice." He said before playfully flicking the hat from her head.
"Ya told that story yesterday, I don' wanna hear it again!" Jessie grumbled as she picked the hat up, placing it delicately back onto her head. Everyone already had a right good laugh at her 'misadventure' that year and she'd rather forget about it… though Jessie was never good at forgetting. Darn long term memory… why couldn't she be like that fish they saw in that movie the other day who could hardly remember her name?
Woody shook his head and put his arm around the cowgirl's shoulder, squeezing it slightly in a playful manner, taking the shimmery stuff from her grip.
"C'mon Jessie, put the tinsel away." He said in nicer tone.
"But I wanna-"
"Look, I know you're excited but try to calm down. Besides it's too early to start getting wound up about this." He pointed at the calendar looming above them on the wall. Jessie sighed at looking at the date: the 30th of November.
"Yeah, most of them are still sleeping off the effects of Thanksgiving!" Hamm, the piggy bank quipped, shuffling his way towards the duo, "It'll be Saturday before they start thinking about Advent."
The other toys nodded in agreement, leaving Jessie feeling a little deflated. She looked around at the other toys, who had all started talking about Advent, with Rex (again) freaking out about the potential for being replaced, with Woody assuring him (yet, again) that Bonnie wouldn't want another dinosaur.
"Besides, your owner made her promise to look after you!" Trixie the triceratops piped in as she walked up to the still worried Rex.
"Exactly!" Woody smiled, "It'll be fine, Rex. You do this every year!"
"I know but I can't help it! What if she forgets and we get thrown out-?"
"Shush!" Woody hissed, side glancing at Jessie, who was picking up the tinsel to (hopefully) put it away, and thankfully didnt seem to have heard Rex say that.
"Oh sorry, Woody..." the sheepish T-rex mumbled, rubbing his tiny hands together. Trixie noticed this and gave Rex a playful nudge with her tail.
"Hey, Rex! I bet you can't beat me at Mario Kart!" She suddenly piped in before running towards the game console.
"What? No, wait!" Woody sighed in relief as Rex went to follow her. His eyes were drawn back towards Jessie, who was still holding onto the tinsel but didn't seem that interested in it anymore. She kept picking at it and was generally quiet. Woody couldn't help but worry about Jessie at this time of year.
Despite the care that Bonnie was giving the gang, and while everyone else was very happy there, Woody was aware that Jessie was finding it more difficult to adjust to the change than the others. She was happy to be played with again, of course, but it was probably still quite a shock to be in a new place with a new owner and new toys to get to know. She wasn't good when it came to changes. And the fear of abandonment was still there. Even after many happy years with Andy and her new family, Woody knew that the deep set fear was still present in the cowgirl and chances were, it was never going to go away. She still suffered from continuous nightmares, which would occasionally become night terrors. It got so bad sometimes up to the point where they'd have to force her awake to stop her from screaming, though usually, that would only frighten her more.
They always got worse at this time of year.
"Jessie?" He put his hand on her shoulder, causing her to turn around with a confused grunt.
"Are you alright?"
Jessie messed with the tinsel in her hand and sighed, "Sorry I threw it at you." she said in a sheepish tone.
"It's alright. I know that Christmas means a lot to you. And it has been a while since we've celebrated it." Woody smiled, taking the tinsel from her grip. The cowgirl nodded at his statement, also smiling.
While all the toys seemed to look forward to Christmas, Jessie always seemed to be particularly excited and anxious around that time. Woody remembered how she would count down the days until the 1st of December, fly around the room while yodeling with excitement as the decorations brought down from the attic and would get the other toys to help put them up while Andy was at school, all while playing all the Christmas songs she could find. She'd play and sing all of them, but the song "In Dulci Jublio" by Mike Oldfield was by far her favourite and would play it any chance she got, and even managed to make up a dance for it, a type of lively jig. To Woody this particular song complemented Jessie's personality perfectly: lively, cheerful and full of life and spirit. And while Jessie's antics did annoy the toys the first year, they quickly got used to it. Seeing her so excited and happy about something, Woody and Buzz couldn't help but be happy with her, and her positive energy and festive vibes quickly rubbed off on the others. Christmas was already a happy time for the toys, but Jessie's cheer made the holiday even more wonderful.
Though, Woody could still sense some anxiety in Jessie this time. But he understood why, the gang had spent the last three christmases in the toy chest, and since Andy was in his room for a lot of the time on his laptop, they couldn't put up any decorations or play any music. And he knew that had a harsh effect on Jessie. She would go totally silent and withdrawn. No yodeling, no singing, no dancing... nothing at all. Just sitting in the corner of the box curled up in a ball and facing the wall of the toy chest. And it got worse with each passing year. Both Woody and Buzz knew it was because of her being trapped in a small, dark box for goodness knows how many years and she was afraid that she'd have to go through that again despite how much Woody, Buzz and the other toys would try to reassure her that wouldn't happen.
So Woody was glad to see her this excited for Christmas again, though probably not this early. Besides, it wasn't like the humans were getting excited this soon, right?
"Bonnie!" The voice of Mrs. Anderson suddenly called, causing all the toys to freeze and drop to the floor as the door swung open and the woman appeared. She looked around the room before noticing the tinsel that Woody had dropped. Picking it up, the woman put it in her pocket before disappearing again. Lying on the ground, Jessie could hear Mrs. Anderson call a few more times before finally getting a response from outside. Jessie's curiosity got to her and she swiftly climbed up onto the desk to look out the window, closely followed by Woody and Buzz to check out what was going on. The little brunette girl was skipping around happily in the front lawn, humming a little song she probably made up.
"Come on, Bonnie!" They heard Mrs. Anderson call, "You'll need to look at what you're going to wear tomorrow!"
"Coming, mommy!" The little girl chirped as she disappeared from view.
Woody and Buzz exchanged confused glances.
"What are they doing tomorrow?" Buzz asked the cowboy, but before he could respond with an equally puzzled "I don't know." they heard Buttercup speak up from below.
"Oh, it's just the Christmas market. They go to it every year." The unicorn explained, perching himself on the bed.
"A Christmas market?" Jessie's eyes lit up, "Have any of you been?"
"Oh yeah." Buttercup chuckled at her enthusiasm, "Bonnie always goes with Mason, and they usually bring a couple of toys. She'll probably want to take some of you this year, since you're new."
Woody noticed Jessie's increasing excitement and decided he should nip it in the bud before she started bouncing off the walls.
"Wait, why are they having it now? Andy used to go to those things, though his mom wouldn't him take any of us, and it was always in the middle of December!" he asked, "Besides, they aren't that special, I mean you have some stalls, some rides, and those old arcade games that hardly worked."
"I dunno what market you're referring to, Woody but this one is particularly special." Trixie turned away from her game (Presumably giving Rex an easy win by the sound of his excited shouts), "It's further away but it is huge! There's so much to see! There's lights, games, roller coasters, food, people playing music, dancing and lots of great stuff!"
"Yeah but why is it so early?"
"Because it's so big! It goes from tomorrow right up until Christmas Day. Last year they had so many arcade games, Bonnie and I spent practically the entire day playing them! But there is so much more! And they go there several times, not just today. So everyone has a chance to go!"
Jessie's eyes positively glistened with this news. She was jumping slightly on the spot as Trixie described it all. Woody opened his mouth to say something but -after some thought- shut it. Seeing Jessie this excited, he couldn't bring himself to try and say anything against it. It clearly made her very happy and he didn't want to dampen her spirits again.
The sound of Bonnie's singing caused a chain reaction in the toys. Everyone instantly froze where they were, and Woody, Buzz and Jessie all jumped from the window and onto the bed where they originally were.
Both Bonnie and her mother spent a good number of minutes, looking through all of the little girl's clothes, looking for something to wear. They eventually settled on a lovely little red dress and her fluffy white jacket.
"Right, so who are you bringing this year?" Mrs. Anderson smiled at her daughter as she started skipping around her room. Jessie's heart was beating faster than any drum as she watched her, praying that she would be picked. She had to be! It had been so long since she had experienced anything like this! Please…
"Hmm… Ooh, Woody and Buzz!" Bonnie grabbed the pair, showing them to her mom, "They've never been!"
"No, they haven't. Do you think they'll like it?"
"Woody and Buzz are always up for an adventure!" Bonnie chirped, making Buzz and Woody "high-five" each other.
Jessie's heart sank like a rock. She sighed and shut her eyes. Well… she guessed she could still put some decorations up when they're gone. And Trixie said they went more than once so… she'd just have to wait… But she was so tired of waiting. She had been waiting for too long. Waiting to be played with, waiting to be taken out of storage, waiting for Woody to show up so they could go to that museum in Japan, waiting to be loved… She didn't want to wait anymore.
But, maybe it won't be long. Maybe tomorrow or something-
"Wait!" Jessie was jerked out of her distress as she felt herself being yanked from the bed by her leg, forcing her to suppress a surprised yelp from escaping. Thankfully Bonnie turned her the right way up, holding onto her in her hand.
"Jessie needs to go too!" She proclaimed.
"What? No, leave Jessie here. You only need two toys, she can come next time!" Bonnie's mother said in a firm tone, and -for the second time today- Jessie's heart sank. Maybe not…
"No, she needs to!" Bonnie protested, shaking Jessie, which in doing so made her feel rather sea sick, "Woody's her brother! He'll miss her!"
"Well take Jessie but leave Buzz for another time."
"No!"
"Why not?"
"Buzz is their best friend, he'll worry about them! And Woody will too if he stays behind!"
This debate went back and forth for a number of minutes, and the constant shaking for emphasis left all three of them feeling pretty dizzy and queasy.
Mrs. Anderson sighed and shook her head with her arms akimbo, looking at her little girl who was giving the biggest puppy-eyes she could muster.
"Bonnie.. If I let you take all three of them, can I trust you to be careful and not lose them?" She asked her.
"Of course, mommy! I'll watch them like a statue!" Bonnie puffed her chest out proudly and saluted at her mother, who chuckled at her daughter's antics.
"...Alright, you can take them."
"YAY!" Bonnie cheered, throwing all three of them into the air.
Once they had left, Jessie sprung up from the floor, grabbing a still dizzy Woody and lifting him in a tight hug.
"YEEE-HAAAAAAAW!" She cheered as she spun the dazed cowboy around in a blur, too caught up in her excitement to notice him trying to wriggle from her grip.
"Woah, easy, easy! Jess stop it! I'm gonna throw up!" He cried, causing Jess to drop him onto the ground with a 'thump'.
"Oh-Oh sorry!" She tried to pull him onto his feet, only to have him stumble about like a drunk, struggling to regain his senses.
"Ah… it's alright, Jess… ugh." And with that he dropped back onto the ground like a rock. But he couldn't stop himself from laughing a little. He hadn't seen Jessie this happy in ages. He saw her run off, almost doing front flops on the way.
Maybe celebrating wasn't a bad thing after all.