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"'You. Are. A. TOY! You aren't the real Buzz Lightyear! You're a--you're an action figure! You are a child's play thing!'

'You are a sad, strange little man, and you have my pity. Farewell.'"

Why Joshua had decided to introduce Oliver to Toy Story out of the hundreds of animated movies out there was beyond Thali. The elf had once been fond of the film; the story line was well written out, and the characters were well played. In fact, until recently, Thali would have enjoyed watching it with Oliver.

Until the shadow had found a particular line and decided to play it repeatedly once he had learned to use the rewind button.

"'You. Are. A. TOY! You aren't the real Buzz Lightyear! You're a--you're an action figure! You are a child's play thing!'"

Thali's ears twitched in irritation as she heard the sound of the VCR rewinding. When the marathon had first started, she had thought the suffering was worth it, to hear Oliver's laughter. No longer. The sounds, the voices of the actors, that one line, they had become an annoyance.

Thali poked her head into the living room from the kitchen, where she had been thinking this over. "Hey Oliver, want to make some cookies?" she asked hopefully.

The shadow didn't bother to look over. "Ver," he said, with a shake of the head.

"Want to play outside?"

"Ver." It was too hot to play outside, what was his host thinking?

"Watch Lion King?"

Oliver paused, removing his eyes from the television screen. "Oli?" he asked.

"Lion King's better than Toy Story," Thali promised. "I'll make you some popcorn, if you watch it with me." She watched as Oliver pressed stop on the VCR, and smiled.

"Oli, me!"

"You're impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Thali was arguing with her husband as was the usual. It had been happening less often as of late, but now, with Ben insisting that she rest and take it easy, things were in an uproar. Meaning a certain elf didn't want to listen to him, having the predictable stubborn tendencies of a pregnant woman who wanted to remain active when bedrest was prescribed."I don't need to," the elf insisted. "I'm fine. I slept twelve hours last night. If you make me sleep any more, I'll be sleeping my life away." Of course she didn't need to. Couldn't Ben see that she was fine? Couldn't he see that she needed to be kept busy? Couldn't he see that she was bored after doing puzzles with him every afternoon for a week?

But as Ben looked at his wife, he could only see the fragile form that was so much in contrast with her personality. Her spirit was fiery, but her physical form--it looked like it could be broken quite easily; even though the man knew his wife was physically strong--when it came to hitting people. Maybe it was average elven stature, or maybe she was delicate, he didn't know. "Rest," he said firmly. "For me. For the baby."

Thali paused in her protests, as her husband had known she would. He felt a small jab of guilt at having to use the baby in order to keep her healthy--but it would be worth it if the baby made it to term, right? They had already lost one already. Ben knew his wife expected to lose this one too; he knew she believed she was unable to bear children without assistance--but as long as he made sure she rested, ate well, and kept calm, they were sure to be fine. He hoped, anyway.

"Fine," Thali relented with a sigh. Men. They thought they knew everything. "Not because you're telling me to rest, though," she added, so her husband wouldn't make the mistake of thinking she was being obedient. She settled down on the living room couch, pulling a pillow to her chest.

"Of course not," Ben muttered. When did she ever do something for the sake of listening to him? All at once, he cringed. He glanced around the room, groaning. "Not now..." Thali really needed to teach her shadow to knock. Or at least know when he wasn't welcome.

Pop! Oliver was sitting on the couch next to his host. He studied her with his beady yellow eyes, before making a decidedly concerned sound. "Ver?" he asked, scooting closer to her. "Li-ver?"

"I'm alright Oli," Thali assured her shadow with a smile. "Come to rescue me? Ben's about to bore me with another one of his activities. We'll probably end up watching some car race by the end of the evening."

"Olilili," Oliver said, shaking his head to show he wasn't understanding. Car races? What were those? What were cars, for that matter? And why did his host's mate want to watch them anyway? "Oli?" he pointed to the television. Maybe they could watch Spongebob instead! Or maybe Looney Tunes!

"I'd like that," Thali agreed. Anything was better than what Ben wanted to do; even if she had no idea what the shadow meant. Putting the pillow aside, she pulled Oliver into her lap. "Go on, Ben. Entertain us."

Sometimes not even shadows knew what was going on, and that was saying something. Sneaky little buggers that they were, tending to appear when you least expected it, or wanted it. Sometimes a shadow just didn't understand a host's behavior.

That was Oliver's trouble. His host was behaving badly. He had tried scolding her, but the elf seemed to find it amusing. He had tried expressing how he felt by drawing on the walls, while Thali had expressed how she felt it was a shame to need to wash off such a "pretty" picture. Why did she find everything he did so funny? How had she changed so much in so little time? And why?

At times he thought she'd finally give him the desired response, only for her to laugh at him. The shadow showed his frustration by stomping. To his surprise, that seemed to do the trick. Stomping was something Thali had experience with. She had gone through countless tantrums which involved stomping, due to each of her five children.

"What is it, Oliver?" she asked.

"Oli! Ver ver ver ver-li- ver!" the shadow lectured, shaking his finger at his host, in case his message wasn't clear.

Thali appeared puzzled, a lopsided expression, neither smile nor frown, making its way across her face. "Are you mad at me?"

Oliver nodded. Of course he was mad at her! She wasn't behaving properly! She deserved a time out. Why wasn't she obeying? She generally attempted to comply with his requests--

"Why?"

The shadow blew a loud raspberry in response. He knew he shouldn't have, he knew he had been taught better manners. He also figured that it wasn't his host's fault that she hadn't been intelligent enough to--never mind. She was a good host, most of the time. She even attempted to understand him, it was a failed attempt, but Oliver admired her for trying.

Thali frowned. "Well?"

"Oli, ver! Ver!" Oli shook his head at his host. Surely she knew why he was upset. She had to. She knew everything.

"Oli, if you don't tell me why you're upset, I won't be able to fix it."

Oliver looked at her doubtfully. "Oli?" he asked. "Oli li?" Would she really fix it if he told her? If he did attempt to tell her, would she understand? Somehow he doubted it.

"Really," Thali assured him. "What's wrong?"

The shadow took his host's hand, and before Thali realized where her tiny companion was leading her, she found herself in her bedroom. Oliver pointed to the bed. "Oli-ver-ver-ver-li-ver," he said in his sternest tone. Now his host was cornered. She would have to do what he said.

"...Ben's convinced you too, huh?"

"Oli?" The shadow tilted his head. Didn't she understand that she was hurting and needed to get better? Didn't she know that resting and eating some kind of clear stuff out of round things made people better?

"I'm fine. I don't need rest."

"Ver!" Oliver jabbed his finger at the bed, moving in front of the door. He wasn't about to let her leave; he would make absolutely certain that his host got better from this unusual sickness. The sickness that made her eat strange things, things the shadow himself wouldn't touch. "Ver-li-ver-lioli-ver."

Thali sighed. She thought, no she knew, her husband had put their shadow up to this. "Alright," she grumbled. "I'll go to bed. Under protest, mind you," she added, flashing the shadow a teasing glare as she sat on the edge of the bed. "Well, come on," she said, patting the comforter. "I need someone to keep the monsters of Snoresville away."

Note to self-

Oliver's requirements updated. Focus on ORPs.