At first Octavia was indeed frightened of her new surroundings and of the new people she was with. But very soon, once she saw the true personalities of Alastor, Moxxie, Millie, and Loona, her fear vanished. Moxxie and Millie practically fawned all over her, welcoming her to one of the most delicious breakfast meals she had ever had. Her little mouth watered as she watched Millie crack eggs into a bowl and whiskedthem together while Moxxie put a pat of butterinto a frying pan.
"Would you like a cheese omelet to go with your muffin?" Millie asked her.
"Yes please, ma'am." Octavia replied politely.
"With bacon?" Moxxie said.
"Yes please, sir."
Moxxie brought cheese and a slab of pink bacon out from the fridge. He proceeded to slice up the cheese and pour it along with the melted butter into the egg mixture. After that he placed three tasty, salty slices of bacon into the pan.
"What would you like to drink?" Moxxie asked her.
"Could I have some orange juice please?" Octavia requested.
"Of course."
"Thank you."
"My goodness, you have wonderful manners." Millie remarked as she whisked in the cheese and butter. "Most people nowadays hardly ever remember to say please and thank you."
"And by most people she means Loona." Moxxie said.
"Oh shut up!" Loona growled.
"Now Moxxie, we've been through this." Millie said. "She can't help but be a little testy, she's permanently stuck at the age of fourteen."
"Yeah and uh...Tell me again why you made her that age, Alastor?" Moxxie asked the tall figure pouring himself a mug of strong, black, coffee.
"Because I wanted a better understanding of the female teenage mind." Alastor answered. "Watching them from a far can only get you so much information, I needed insight to their personalities and wants. So I constructed a teenage girl doll, added in a few bits of stray hair from teenage girls that Louis brought me, then added my own special features for amusement, and voila! My own expert on teenage girls! It worked, a little too well unfortunately. Gave her too much angst."
"Well can you blame me? I'm going through puberty yet I'm not anatomically correct." Loona said. "Anyone would be pissed off in that situation."
"Sorry Loona but I couldn't give you..." Alastor blushed a little. "Those parts, I don't know what they look like."
"How could you not know? You spy on a teenage girl almost everyday."
"Not when she's undressed!" He said aghast at the very notion. "I maybe a creep and a stalker but I'm not a pervert. My mother raised me better than that."
"Well you could have at least given me boobs."
"What for? You're never going to breast feed."
Loona shot him a death-glare.
"Okay why don't we change the subject?" Moxxie suggested. "Remember there is a little one present."
"And what's with this crap about understanding the 'female teenage mind' ? We both know the real reason you made me. It's because you've got a crush and you don't know how to talk to girls."
"Watch it Loona." Alastor warned. "I made you and I can break you."
"Oh please, like you could ever scare me."
"Well we'll see how brave you are after I've broken you down and rebuilt you into a toaster."
"You can do that?" Octavia asked him surprised.
"I could have it done in just two days."
Millie chuckled quietly and pour the yellow egg mixture into the frying pan. A few minutes later she took the bacon from under the grill and put it on a plate. Then she slipped the cheese omelette from the pan onto the plate, flipping it as she did so, letting it fold itself into a perfect omelette shape. She placed the breakfast plate in front of Octavia and Moxxie added on a mixed-berry muffin on saucer, a glass of freshly squeezed orange juice and a mug of frothy hot chocolate.
"There we go." Moxxie said. "Nothing like a nice, hot, home-cooked breakfast to really start the day off."
"And after you eat we can play some games or draw a picture or we can read to you." Millie said. "We can do whatever you'd like while you're here."
Perhaps they were being just a little overindulgent, but the poor dears just couldn't help themselves. You see it had been decades since they had the pleasure of playing with a child. Nothing in all the world could have made a toy happier than to engage in games and activities with children. It was the highlight of their existence and Moxxie and Millie had been without it for such a terribly long time. Was it any wonder why they were so excited with Octavia staying here?
Of course Alastor was indeed still a child when he first found them but at the time he was struggling with trauma and survival far too much to even consider play time. In fact one could say the day he came into Levana's world was the day his childhood ended. Luckily though, toys like Moxxie and Millie didn't exist just to solely play with children and have fun all the time. They exist to protect children and be their friend. So that's what they were to him, even if he didn't play with them.
Nevertheless Alastor was grateful to them for taking him in and keeping him safe all these years. And he often proved his gratitude by fixing them up, replacing their old parts with new ones, making sure they were always in good condition. When he found them long ago, they were in pieces, torn apart by Levana because they had successfully resisted being corrupted by her. No matter what she did to them, no matter how bad she twisted them up, they never abandoned their original purpose to love and protect a child no matter what.
"It's because Issac made us specifically to love his nieces and nephews." Moxxie had told Alastor once. "He created all his toys to make a child happy but some he designed just to entertain children and others he designed to love them."
"And Levana just can't destroy the love one has for a child." Millie had added. "Human or toy. She could twist and corrupt the ones made just for entertainment, but never the ones made for love. So she destroyed them. Moxxie and I are the only ones left."
She had destroyed them because once she realized she couldn't bind them to her will, she knew they'd risk everything to protect all children from her and she couldn't have that. But at least two of the toys built by love managed to escape and to this day were still trying to help children however they could.
"I like to play tea party." Octavia said. "And I like to read books about stars."
"Well we can certainly do all that and more." Millie said.
"But I think we should probably find some clean clothes for her to wear." Alastor said. "Loona, after breakfast take her into your room and help her find some suitable clothes."
"What? Why me?" She complained.
"Because you're the only one here with clothes of this century. I also expect you to watch her whenever Moxxie and Millie have to patrol the area."
"I'm not a babysitter."
"You're the one always saying you want to be a real teenager, well this is what many real teenagers do. They babysit."
"Ugh!" She groaned. "You owe me big time for this Alastor."
"Don't I always?" He smirked underneath his scarf.
Breakfast was absolutely perfect. Just the thing Octavia needed after such a scary night and a rather strange morning. She ate everything on her plate and drank both the juice glass and the coco mug empty. Afterward she followed Loona into her room and once inside, Loona carefully closed the door and made sure no one close by to hear her. When the coast was clear she suddenly turned all bright-eyed and giddy.
"I can't believe you actually made it all the way over here and in one piece. You're tough for a six year old. So tell me, what's it like on the other side? What's it like to ride in a car? Or to go to a movie? Or to a throw huge house party?"
"Huh?" Octavia looked at her confused.
"Well maybe you're a little too young to throw a house party but you've been in cars and to the movies right?"
"Yes."
"So what was it like?"
"Fine I guess. Don't you know?"
"Yeah right. Nobody drives cars in this place and we don't have movie theaters. Just regular theaters that are so boring or just too disturbing for even me to like. We also don't have malls. Do you go to malls? Are they really as cool as people say?"
"I don't know. Why are you asking me all this?"
"Well I'm not like most toys made around here. I mean looking after kids is fine as a hobby but I actually want to live like kids do. I want to drive cars, go to malls, movies, and wild parties! I want to get a tattoo and piercings and deface public property! And I want to meet boys and girls! But I can't cause if Levana ever finds out I exist she'll recycle me or something. God, you have no idea how frustrating it is to have to be stuck in this place all the time."
"So you're not really all mean and angry and full of teenage angst?"
"Well the latter part yeah, but I really do like kids. I just don't want Al and the love birds out there to know."
"Why?"
"Cause if they think I care they'll rub it in and ask me to do more around here. Besides I've got my own goal in life, and that's trying to figure out how I can be real."
"Like Pinocchio?"
"No not like Pinocchio. There's no blue fairy around here granting wishes or some musical cricket giving me advice. Not that I'd actually take advice from a bug. Like seriously, what does a bug known about being human?"
"So if there's no blue fairy, what are you going to do?"
"Well there is a way. Levana hasn't been alive all these years just by living in the same body."
"What?"
"Never mind. Point is one of these days I'm going to figure out her little secret and when I do, I'm getting out of here."
"What about Alastor?"
"Well he'll probably think I'm crazy for trying to do this and he'll advise me not to, but if I can pull it off without getting ripped to pieces he won't object. After all, in way he shares my pain. Cut off from the world, forced to watch it go on without him. Sometimes he actually feels guilty that he made me."
"Why?"
Loona was about to explain but then she remembered she was talking to a six year old. Very few children that age could understand such a complex subject.
"It's not important." Loona approached her wardrobe and opened the doors. "Alright so, how about I find you an outfit and you tell me what's going on in the outside world? I mean you probably don't know much given your age but you gotta know something."
Octavia shrugged and started to tell Loona all about her life and what she did everyday. All the while she was trying to learn everything she could about her new friends and this strange new world she was in.