fic: "Clockwork" (Borrowers: Arietty/Spiller, G)
title: Clockwork
author: fannishliss
rating: G
pairing: Arietty/Spiller
summary: Arietty and Spiller go on a Borrowing and make a surprising discovery! This story is for aililinnea who wondered what would happen if Pod ever met up with the action figure of Claude Rains. A light fluff piece following on from the verse of my Pod/Eggletina story, "Somewhere Between Sunshine and Dirt" .
Disclaimer: The Borrowers originally appeared in books by Mary Norton. This story follows loosely from the 2011 BBC movie starring Christopher Eccleston as Pod, Aisling Loftus as Arietty, and Robert Sheehan as the Dreadful Spiller. No infringement of rights is intended and no money is being made off this story.
===
Spiller and Arietty crouched behind the grating.
"Cor," breathed Arietty. "Just look at it all."
"Right?" Spiller retorted proudly. "Didn't I say? There's so much to Borrow, we'll be rolling in it for ages!"
"Is it right, though, Borrowing more than we need?" Arietty said doubtfully.
"Look at it this way," Spiller said, ever the pragmatist and philosophizing criminal. "Whatever Bean piled up all that stuff, how'd they end up with so much? They couldn't possibly need it all, could they? Whereas, we, on the other hand, are just making it more widely available to the local population. I like to think we're doing a good deed all around!"
Spiller had rigged a wagon for their sports car, ready to pile with Borrowings, and he'd just changed the batteries to make sure of a fast getaway. This day would live in the annals of Borrowing if he had anything to say about it, and with Arietty's Sense, he was convinced everything would go like Clockwork -- the highest term of approbation for Borrowing skill around these parts.
"So," said Spiller, "any Beans around?"
Arietty closed her eyes for a moment, listening and feeling with her Sense. Nothing. All was calm and quiet and ready for scurrying.
"Let's do it!" Arietty said.
Spiller had been at work for days before he'd let Arietty in on the take. Safe behind the grating, he'd filed off all the screws and replaced them at the top with well-oiled hinges. What had been a secure grating for the Beans was now a swinging door for Borrowers, and beyond it was a treasure trove. No other Borrower was as thorough and savvy as Spiller when it came to planning. He had the tools, the car, and the daring-- just the kind of Borrower Arietty had always dreamed of partnering up with. He needed her for the Sense she was blessed with, and Arietty thought he liked her too, even before he'd found out it was her own Dad had saved his life when he was just a baby.
Arietty and Spiller slipped through the grating, hopping the short distance down to the floor.
It was a Borrower's land of plenty -- a young boy's bedroom.
The floor was simply littered with Borrower treasures. Arietty hardly knew where to begin. She followed behind Spiller and shoved things into a bag as he directed. He was more than a bit of an engineer, so her bag was full of Legos and tiny bits of tech before she knew it. They made the run back to the grating, piled their full sacks on the wagon, and started over.
"Get into that box, Arietty, and get us some duds," Spiller said, pointing to a cardboard box.
"But this is a boy's room," Arietty said. Boys' toys usually didn't come with removable clothing.
"Could be shoes though," Spiller said. He was by far the more experienced Borrower, so Arietty didn't argue. With a running leap she grabbed the top edge of the box and hoisted herself in.
Action figures, ugh. All plastic. Some of them were smelly. Almost nothing really worked. But Arietty dug about, testing all the shoes. After a while she'd got three pairs of boots and one fairly nice backpack. It gave her the creeps, messing around with all the Borrower-sized toys, stacked haphazardly like plastic corpses.
She shoved one over to get at the next layer door, and gave a startled shriek. She heard the rapid scurry of Spiller darting for cover.
"Spiller, it's okay," she called out, "but you have to see this."
Spiller quickly joined her in the box and together they sat staring.
"Cor!" Spiller breathed.
"I know!" Arietty said.
The action figure was the spitting image of Arietty's Dad, Pod Clock.
The hair, the beard, the nose, the eyes, the cheekbones -- the Beans had replicated Pod in plastic.
"Why would they do that?" Arietty said, dumbfounded.
Spiller just shrugged. "Ours is not to reason why," Spiller said. "But I'm taking this head back to Town."
"What?"
"Sure!" Spiller laughed. "Why not? They can put it in Town Hall. I never heard of any Borrower being immortalized in plastic before -- it's too good to leave in the Beanpile."
"Maybe … the Scientist?" Arietty whispered.
The Scientist who had captured Arietty's parents was the Borrowers' greatest fear -- a Bean who believed in them, who wanted to expose their world to every Bean.
"Maybe. Whatever." Spiller didn't care for suppositions. He lived for the moment. With a wrench, he tore the figure's head off and shoved it in his bag.
"Spiller!" Arietty laughed, shocked despite herself at seeing her own Dad's head torn off.
"Arietty -- you know he'll love it!" Spiller teased.
"Yeah, yeah he will," Arietty admitted with a grin.
Spiller and Arietty loaded up the wagon with five more hauls, and the Beanpile in the boy's bedroom had hardly been dented. Arietty had even found a new action suit, which Spiller said fit her very handsomely, and Spiller had found a kid-sized soldering iron and a Swiss Army knife, which nearly made him weep with joy.
"Beans and Borrowers have always shared an uneasy coexistence," droned the Mayor a few months later. "Our existence depends on cunning, and on their incredible powers of denial."
"Long may they nap!" shouted someone.
"Snore, snore!" seconded someone else.
"But we have here among us a Borrower so great, that his presence is acknowledged even among Beans. Pod Clock!"
The head was mounted on a pedestal and Pod took his place beside it.
"The moral of this story is short," Pod declaimed to the crowd. "Borrow all you can and don't get caught!"
The crowd cheered, Pod bowed humbly, and Spiller squeezed Arietty's hand.
"Words to live by," he whispered in Arietty's ear.
"Yes!" she happily agreed. Arietty had always longed to Borrow, and now she had the perfect partner. Even her Dad had come out of hiding and rejoined Borrower society, much to the delight of her Mum. The future stretched out before her, a Beanpile rich for the Borrowing.
author: fannishliss
rating: G
pairing: Arietty/Spiller
summary: Arietty and Spiller go on a Borrowing and make a surprising discovery! This story is for aililinnea who wondered what would happen if Pod ever met up with the action figure of Claude Rains. A light fluff piece following on from the verse of my Pod/Eggletina story, "Somewhere Between Sunshine and Dirt" .
Disclaimer: The Borrowers originally appeared in books by Mary Norton. This story follows loosely from the 2011 BBC movie starring Christopher Eccleston as Pod, Aisling Loftus as Arietty, and Robert Sheehan as the Dreadful Spiller. No infringement of rights is intended and no money is being made off this story.
===
Spiller and Arietty crouched behind the grating.
"Cor," breathed Arietty. "Just look at it all."
"Right?" Spiller retorted proudly. "Didn't I say? There's so much to Borrow, we'll be rolling in it for ages!"
"Is it right, though, Borrowing more than we need?" Arietty said doubtfully.
"Look at it this way," Spiller said, ever the pragmatist and philosophizing criminal. "Whatever Bean piled up all that stuff, how'd they end up with so much? They couldn't possibly need it all, could they? Whereas, we, on the other hand, are just making it more widely available to the local population. I like to think we're doing a good deed all around!"
Spiller had rigged a wagon for their sports car, ready to pile with Borrowings, and he'd just changed the batteries to make sure of a fast getaway. This day would live in the annals of Borrowing if he had anything to say about it, and with Arietty's Sense, he was convinced everything would go like Clockwork -- the highest term of approbation for Borrowing skill around these parts.
"So," said Spiller, "any Beans around?"
Arietty closed her eyes for a moment, listening and feeling with her Sense. Nothing. All was calm and quiet and ready for scurrying.
"Let's do it!" Arietty said.
Spiller had been at work for days before he'd let Arietty in on the take. Safe behind the grating, he'd filed off all the screws and replaced them at the top with well-oiled hinges. What had been a secure grating for the Beans was now a swinging door for Borrowers, and beyond it was a treasure trove. No other Borrower was as thorough and savvy as Spiller when it came to planning. He had the tools, the car, and the daring-- just the kind of Borrower Arietty had always dreamed of partnering up with. He needed her for the Sense she was blessed with, and Arietty thought he liked her too, even before he'd found out it was her own Dad had saved his life when he was just a baby.
Arietty and Spiller slipped through the grating, hopping the short distance down to the floor.
It was a Borrower's land of plenty -- a young boy's bedroom.
The floor was simply littered with Borrower treasures. Arietty hardly knew where to begin. She followed behind Spiller and shoved things into a bag as he directed. He was more than a bit of an engineer, so her bag was full of Legos and tiny bits of tech before she knew it. They made the run back to the grating, piled their full sacks on the wagon, and started over.
"Get into that box, Arietty, and get us some duds," Spiller said, pointing to a cardboard box.
"But this is a boy's room," Arietty said. Boys' toys usually didn't come with removable clothing.
"Could be shoes though," Spiller said. He was by far the more experienced Borrower, so Arietty didn't argue. With a running leap she grabbed the top edge of the box and hoisted herself in.
Action figures, ugh. All plastic. Some of them were smelly. Almost nothing really worked. But Arietty dug about, testing all the shoes. After a while she'd got three pairs of boots and one fairly nice backpack. It gave her the creeps, messing around with all the Borrower-sized toys, stacked haphazardly like plastic corpses.
She shoved one over to get at the next layer door, and gave a startled shriek. She heard the rapid scurry of Spiller darting for cover.
"Spiller, it's okay," she called out, "but you have to see this."
Spiller quickly joined her in the box and together they sat staring.
"Cor!" Spiller breathed.
"I know!" Arietty said.
The action figure was the spitting image of Arietty's Dad, Pod Clock.
The hair, the beard, the nose, the eyes, the cheekbones -- the Beans had replicated Pod in plastic.
"Why would they do that?" Arietty said, dumbfounded.
Spiller just shrugged. "Ours is not to reason why," Spiller said. "But I'm taking this head back to Town."
"What?"
"Sure!" Spiller laughed. "Why not? They can put it in Town Hall. I never heard of any Borrower being immortalized in plastic before -- it's too good to leave in the Beanpile."
"Maybe … the Scientist?" Arietty whispered.
The Scientist who had captured Arietty's parents was the Borrowers' greatest fear -- a Bean who believed in them, who wanted to expose their world to every Bean.
"Maybe. Whatever." Spiller didn't care for suppositions. He lived for the moment. With a wrench, he tore the figure's head off and shoved it in his bag.
"Spiller!" Arietty laughed, shocked despite herself at seeing her own Dad's head torn off.
"Arietty -- you know he'll love it!" Spiller teased.
"Yeah, yeah he will," Arietty admitted with a grin.
Spiller and Arietty loaded up the wagon with five more hauls, and the Beanpile in the boy's bedroom had hardly been dented. Arietty had even found a new action suit, which Spiller said fit her very handsomely, and Spiller had found a kid-sized soldering iron and a Swiss Army knife, which nearly made him weep with joy.
"Beans and Borrowers have always shared an uneasy coexistence," droned the Mayor a few months later. "Our existence depends on cunning, and on their incredible powers of denial."
"Long may they nap!" shouted someone.
"Snore, snore!" seconded someone else.
"But we have here among us a Borrower so great, that his presence is acknowledged even among Beans. Pod Clock!"
The head was mounted on a pedestal and Pod took his place beside it.
"The moral of this story is short," Pod declaimed to the crowd. "Borrow all you can and don't get caught!"
The crowd cheered, Pod bowed humbly, and Spiller squeezed Arietty's hand.
"Words to live by," he whispered in Arietty's ear.
"Yes!" she happily agreed. Arietty had always longed to Borrow, and now she had the perfect partner. Even her Dad had come out of hiding and rejoined Borrower society, much to the delight of her Mum. The future stretched out before her, a Beanpile rich for the Borrowing.