Disclaimer: The characters of Xena, Gabrielle, and Cyrene are the property of MCA/Universal and Renaissance Pictures. This is just a work of fan fiction and not intended to infringe on the copyright of
"Xena: Warrior Princess".
The characters Little Xena and Little Gabrielle were used with permission of Lúcia da Ascenção deNóbrega lunobrega@uol.com.br. If you have not seen her drawings or cartoon connection on The Australian Xena Information Page http://ausxip.com/lucia/index.html , I recommend it!
Violence: None
Subtext: Sorry not in this one. This story was for my granddaughter and is suitable for all ages.
Authors notes: I just wanted to say thank Lúcia for letting me write for her girls.
Special Thanks: Hey Murphy!!! I hope you like this. Thanks so very much for telling me a little bit about yourself and allowing me to include you in the story. Folks, if you would like to see any of Murphy’s work, it can be found on MaryD’s site: http://ausxip.com/bards2.html#murphy
I’d love to hearing from you. Please feel free to send me your comments good or bad.
A Letter to Lu: Little X&G go to Murphy’s
A Little Xena and Gabrielle Story
Letter #3
By Susan A. Rice
Dear Lu,
Well Sue just stopped by and picked up the girls. How she manages to move around the country holds down a job, write and keep up with Little Xena and Little Gabrielle is beyond me. I thought taking care of two little girls would be a breeze but I’ve discovered that it’s not as easy as it sounds and it gives me a whole new appreciation for what some moms go through.
Lu it was priceless. I’m a very tall woman and as I have told Susan in the past,
there is nothing small about me. The girls both stood back and looked up and up and up.
Little Gabby’s eyes were opened wide. Little Xena could be heard muttering, "Not
so big."
I showed the girls around my home. I don’t know if I ever told you this Lu, but one of my prides and joys is my garden. Susan had asked for a picture of it a few times and one of these days I will send her one. Well anyway, it was beautiful. Um, did I just say was. Well there were a couple of accidents in the garden today. Who knew that Little Xena was really that sensitive about being called "cute"? I mean, we all joke about it, but boy… or should I say girl…
We were just walking around the garden and the girls were amazed at all the flowerbeds. I’m telling you, it was amazing. We were out cutting flowers to bring into the house. Well, at one point the girls picked some of the flowers and were putting them in their hair. Well, Little Gabrielle was putting the flowers in their hair; Little Xena was letting her. I smiled and said, "Oh how cute." Then clamped my hands over my mouth.
Well, Little Xena heard that. "Cute?!? I’m a warrior! Warriors are not cute!"
Little Gabrielle giggled and said, "Ah, but with all those flowers in your hair you look soooo…"
"Don’t say it," said Little Xena.
I was watching them. I could tell that Little Gabrielle was about to burst out laughing as she watched Little Xena walk away, muttering, "Warrior… Not Cute." Well Little Gabrielle could not hold it in anymore and laughed at Little Xena’s antics.
Finally Little Xena said, "I’m a warrior! See!" and with that she pulled her chakram and it went racing about the garden. Now then, I saw the look on her face as soon as she let it go and I heard the "Uh oh" that went with it. She then said, "I think I made a mistake."
Well, I don’t have to worry about going around and cutting flowers anymore. That thing moves way to fast and really sharp. Don’t worry Lu; it snowed here this weekend so they were goners anyway! But the BEST part about this was watching a little black streak come flying out of the back door and toward the girls, barking her little head off. Yep, it was my dog Murphy making a beeline for Little Xena. Just as she was about to catch the chakram, Little Murphy snatched it out of the air. Lu, LOL, Little Xena’s eyes were as large as saucers. That dog loves Frisbees.
As soon as she realized that Little Murphy was alright she walked over to her and tried to get her chakram back, but my little girl was in play mode and off she went, running as fast as she could. By the way, I sent you a picture of my three dogs; they are all Miniature Schnauzers. Murphy decided to play keep-away with the chakram and the chase was on!
They were all over the backyard and at one point I thought Little Murphy was trapped and about to loose her prize when I saw her dart straight for Little Xena and right through her legs. Finally Little Murphy let Little Gabby catch her. They were having a tug of war with the chakram. Well, finally Little Murphy let go and Little Gabrielle tumbled over backwards. She was smiling as she handed the chakram back to Little Xena.
Little Xena stated that she needed to get the dog slime off her chakram, so I brought the girls in side for a bit. Little Xena got right down to work but Little Gabby looked a little sad. When I asked her about it, she said that she left her scrolls in Aunt Sue’s car and she had nothing to write with. Well, I had paper and pens but she was not really comfortable with the pens. She looked so sad; then I remembered the finger paints we have for my nephews to play with. I gave them to her and she said she would try. I left her alone then to take care of Handsome and Sweety Pie.
I let the birds, cockatiels, out of the cage so I could clean it out. They are good kids and usually stay in the room, but not this time. Seems that they had to explore the house today. Well, the next thing I hear is Little Gabrielle talking from the other room. I finished cleaning up and there are the birds sitting in front of her.
"Hey, maybe one of you could help me," said Little Gabrielle. "I need a quill and you both look like you have a few. I mean, I know it is not a big quill like I’m used to, but it would really help me out here. You see, these finger paints are fine, but they really just won’t let you write real well, yah know?"
Handsome cocked his head to the side as Sweety Pie squawked at Gabby. Little Gabrielle got closer to the two birds and said, "I only need one feather from each of you. Would you mind? Just one tail feather."
I swear they understood her. They both turned around and fanned out their tall feathers for her, like they were giving her a choice. She clapped her hands and said, "Oh, thank you!" Then the fun stated. When she went to yank one of the feathers out of Handsome, he let out a big squawk. The next thing I saw were my birds darting around the room. They were making such a racket. Poor Gabby jumped up and took cover under the table.
I heard Little Gabby, "But you said it was alright… I’m sorry."
Meanwhile, Little Xena sat in the corner as she watched her friend try to reason with the birds. Little Xena finally let out her war cry and the birds fled the room, but not before loosing some much needed feathers.
Little Xena walked over to the feathers that were on the floor, picked them up and handed them to Little Gabby as she crawled out from under the desk. I left the girls then as they talked quietly, I thought it would be a good idea if I found my two feathered friends and get them back in their cages.
OK, I learned an important lesson about raising kids. You cannot leave them alone for a few minute without having them get into mischief. Sue warned me, but, come on, they are just kids… OK, I was a kid too, yep, should have taken the warning to heart.
Little Xena decided to explore the house that evening and found Jaws. Now, Jaws was a little Beta, with the attitude of a great white shark. Get the picture. His markings are blue and purple. Now some people call Betas Rumble fish or Fighting Fish and with his attitude, he definitely lived up to his name. Your girls have reformed him!
Seems Little Xena and Little Gabrielle found him and lifted the lid off of his tank. It was at that point that Jaws decided to spit water at the girls. From what Gabby told me later, the water hit Little Xena right in the face. Little Xena informed Jaws that if he did that again she was going to use him for practice. Well, Jaws being Jaws was up for the challenge. This time, he jumped up out of the water and squirted Little Xena again!
"OK! This is war! And in war, you need a Warrior, and that’s me!"
Jaws just continued to swim around in his tank with that attitude of, "Yah, and whatcha gonna do about it warrior?"
"Hey Gabby, remember when you asked me to teach you how to "Fist a Fish" but all the other fish in the river were too big? What do you think about practicing on this one?"
Well Lu, let’s just say that Gabby learned how to fist a fish and my Jaws is now afraid of blondes.
I have to admit Lu, the girls are something else when it comes to playing with my dogs. After the initial craziness with Little Murphy, I introduced the girls to all of my dogs. Let’s see, there are Chloe. She is 8 years old and has a white beard. Little Murphy is 5 and barks a lot. Then there’s Gabby; she is the baby.
I introduced the furballs to the girls and Little Gabrielle was excited. She had a dog named after her just like me. It was the funniest thing to watch. She was on the floor playing with all the dogs, as was Little Xena. She suddenly stopped and walked over to me.
I was sitting in one of the chairs and she just climbed right up into my lap. Lu, that was one of the best moments of the visit. Little Gabby looked up at me, gave me a kiss on the cheek and said thank you. I was surprised and asked her what that was for. She said she never had a pet named after her before and hugged me close. I returned the hug; it felt wonderful.
Now Lu, I was not expecting the next question at all… Why didn’t I name Chloe after Xena??? Oh no, now how do I get out of this one. So I informed Little Gabrielle that I sort of named my dog Gabby after Little Xena too.
"Really," said Little Gabrielle, "How’d ya do that?"
"Well," I said, "her show name is Conquering Warrior Princess."
Little Gabrielle jumped off my lap and started Dancing…. "Yah, Gabby conquering the Warrior Princess. I won, I won!" Oh was she excited. Little Xena looked at her friend and smiled.
That night, when I tucked the girls in to sleep, Little Gabrielle was holding Gabby like a stuffed teddy bear. I’m surprised Gabby allowed it. She fell asleep quickly.
Little Xena climbed into her bed in typical warrior fashion, a loud "AYIAYIAYIAYIA" and a flip. Wow, talk about height! Those Gymnasts have nothing on this kid. Lu, you really need to get her into the next Olympics! Anyway, she snuggled into her bed and said her goodnights.
I left the room and was sitting in the living room with my dad and we were watching television together. Little Murphy was asleep on my dad’s lap. Then I heard this little voice, "Murphy Come."
Suddenly my Dad’s best friend is awake and leaping off my dad’s lap. She took off for the bedrooms. About a half hour goes by and I sneak off to check on the girls. There are the Gabbies sleeping nose to nose with each other. On the other bed, Little Xena was lying on the bed with Little Murphy sprawled out on top of her, both sound asleep. Do I wish I had a camera at that moment, oh you betcha. Talk about cute…
Well, the girls are off once more with Susan. I wonder whose house they’ll be visiting next. Lu, thanks for giving me the chance to spend a couple of days with your girls. It was great fun, but I still don’t know how you and Susan do it!
Murphy
***************
Well I hope you enjoyed this! I’d love to hearing from you. Please feel free to send me your comments good or bad. ricesue@mediaone.net