Heartwarming character development for Baxter and Arnold.
“Baxtew wan Awnowd hewp?”
“Nu! Gu way dummeh Awnowd, Baxtew twyin’ tu fink!”
“Hee hee ou su funneh Baxtew. Awnowd gunna gu wook at teebee, teebee hab wotsa pwetty pitchews!”
The happy go lucky Fluffalo sauntered across his playroom. He was so happy to have his best friend Baxter over! He hadn’t seen Baxter in so many forevers. He’d been so excited to tell him about having babbehs!
But that was a week ago. Today Baxter’s daddeh is coming back for him. Arnold has little heart hurties because bestest fwend is leaving, but Daddeh told him Baxter would come back real soon! And besides, his special friend arrives tomorrow! He has so much to do!
Baxter, meanwhile, is on the verge of cracking a puzzle he’s spent the last three days on: Disengaging the lock on the babygate trapping him and that dummy Arnold here. Dummy Arnold! He doesn’t even know he’s a prisoner! Baxter will show him. Then Arnold will really like Baxter instead of just pretending.
Being a Fluffy, Baxter basically has to talk in order to think.
“Dummeh nu-waww waww am meanie an dummeh… Su hao Baxtew twick?” That’s why he needed Arnold gone, he was a distraction. Truth be told, he’d kind of grown fond of the big lunk. He’d been annoyed by his antics in the past, but Baxter had to acknowledge that Arnold was more fun to play with than regular fluffies. Regular fluffies always whine about Baxter playing too rough. Dummies. Always trying to make Baxter slow down and never letting him give them much deserved sorry hoofies! But not Arnold.
Arnold was much larger than Baxter. Unlike smaller fluffies, Arnold never told Baxter he was playing too rough! And when Baxter got really mad, when he couldn’t stop stomping and jumping and gritting his teeth and making a loud “hnnnnnnnng” sound, Arnold would pick him up by the neck scruff and flip him through the air onto his big strong back.
Baxter stopped. He looked around behind him at the beautiful playroom where Arnold lived. He loved daddeh’s apartment, sure, but it wasn’t anywhere near as grand as this. But the feeling Baxter felt wasn’t jealousy or envy or anger.
It was regret. Regret that he’d spent the last three days trying so hard to leave such a nice place. He started to tear up, but he caught himself. He shook the tears off and puffed his chest out.
“Dummeh Awnowd! Bestes’ Baxtew nu wan pway wif dummeh doow nu mow. Du…du Awnowd wan pway stacky bwocky?” Arnold perked up and whirled around. “Onwy if Baxtew pwomise make gud stompies su bwocks faww down an Awnowd can make stackies again!”
The two abandoned their solo pursuits, and for the first time in a long time, Baxter didn’t feel like he needed to pretend he wasn’t enjoying the simple pleasures of watching a friend stack blocks.