Side story: Purple Rabbit Plush

My first owner was a girl in pigtails, careless with her things. We were at a park, sand and dirt found its way into my fur, the small ribbon about my neck became smudged and lost its sheen. A small boy, saw me and snatched me from the girl. She cried when it was time to go, but the boy had left disappearing from her. He never went to the park, and never took me outside like she had.

He refused to relinquish me when questioned by the tall adult matrons.

"I found her." He insisted, refuse to cop to his theft, the first the man would ever do. They disciplined him, a sharp cane yet when he didn't break, and no one claimed it to be theirs. I was allowed to be kept. Unlike the girl he cared, clumsily picking the sand from my fur, gently wiping me clean with a rag. I slept with the boy, even as his feet came to dangle over the bed frame.

As he grew, he moved me to a shelf, and I had a view of a barren room filled with beds. He still took the time to brush me free of dust. In time other small things joined me, a neckless, a coin, a watch, a small pouch of leather. I could not tell what significance these held.

I came to be in a box, a smaller space when I saw light again, but a single bed, and a place just for me to sit. It was lonely there, but others seemed to notice him more. He had people come and ask him questions, a tall human gave him guidance. He chopped at his own fur one day, looking…it was best to pretend that you didn't see.

On his own small bed, he met lips with a wiry thin girl, with wild blond hair. He blushed for days after that.

His face became scared one day, the hands the brushed me bore wounds on knuckles and once again I didn't know what to think.

Boxed again, this time into a place I never imagined. Sleek walls, real carpet, a bed that was longer than his legs. He even had a small self just for me. Women came and went but none stayed. I missed my friends the watch, baggie and ringy. The view was present, no longer a rundown courtyard, but city streets.

His tall man is here today, there's tension in the air and I don't know what is wrong. My owner doesn't talk to me as he uses to. After the man leaves, I'm spoken to.

"It's a risky job that the boss wants. He believes in my skills, and I want to do right by him. The chance of exposer is far greater, but this could get us recognized by the guild." He sighed before turning his eyes to me.

"I'm going to do this, getting a branch is worth the risk." I had not seen such determination in years.

I waited. Men with shiny buttons and tin came, but they did not stay.

I stood vigil. A landlord came and barred the door.

Summers passed.

When would he return?

The door opened forever later, there was the man who stole me as a boy. He was older, far older than he should have been.

"Good to be home, five years was steep since they didn't find anything but I'm mostly ok." I heard the voice and felt the time melt away.

"Good news is I got better jobs." Indeed, he did, in no time the fancy city streets became a wonderful estate, with its own small courtyard. Even still he kept my shelf. Occasionally a woman and a small child made themselves known. The took good care of me, even brought a new ribbon for my neck. The small girl showed the same reverence as my owner, happy to have a companion of her own.

"Can you believe it the vice leader, I made it all the way there." I had been moved to the front room, sat to rest on a mantle, cozy over the fireplace. My newest friend was frame, which held a picture of the young growing girl.

"Not bad for someone who was a poor orphan, I think my girl wants to be a magician. Do you see her face that glows with each little trick you do?" The women who was now my mistress smiled. Despite that none of the little boy remained, the happiness was felt.

Other things began to fill my mantel, and eventually my time at that home was done. Salt and pepper had moved me to a small cubby, under a thick wooden bar. There was noise here, a rabble. Occasionally a small child would appear and play with me amidst wooden tables with glass candles. I enjoyed the noise.

Owner stopped leaving for long times, and I heard him speak, guiding those who were now smaller and younger.

Soft gentle peace filled the man, unlike his frantic childhood, an endless chase that had finally concluded.

Until she appeared.

Unlike the others I could feel her coming. The usual monikers didn't apply. A snake waiting to strike, a wolf in the clothes of sheep. A monster under a bed.

Meaningless.

Terror personified, a horror from the great beyond would be more apt.

I could hear the unchained malice in her heart, yet when she growled, things were muzzled appropriately.

I was swept up, with papers and maps that I made my burrow on. For a moment my owner looked surprised, as if he didn't clean me regularly and make sure I was comfortable. It had been fast, as fast as I had seen my owner move when he lifted a purse.

It seemed that just I had been stolen once I had been stollen again. There was a complicated smile on my owner's face. He seemed to realize that our time was done, and I was off to new frontiers, the small girl human had grown big, and he had held on only because it was the object that had decided his life's path.

Despite the nightmare that was holding me she kept it light and gentle.

Her place was barren and for a few hours I had a home on a small desk. Then I was in a sack. It was cramped, but she wrapped me well.

I heard clomping for days on end, as myself and the bag I was in bounced against the short hair flesh of Trixie. Somedays are cool and we rest in stables, others the hot sun and the harsh stone road.

Rarely, does my new owner look at me, its than, at nights where the stars glisten in the black ocean that I see her.

She is in pain, doubt plagues her, as she wonders if she's capable of resolving her burdens.

"I honestly didn't mean to take you. I just thought that once I found her, it would have been nice to have something to give Harmony. I'm hard on her all the time, strict because otherwise she won't learn or grow."

She bushed some of the dust and dirt that was part the course for traveling from my fluff.

"I'm afraid that even if I find her, something terrible will still have happened. I mean she is just the kind of child to get swept up in someone's pace, then end up brushing their hair. What kind of monster makes a princess do servant work?!"

I was clutch tight as the worries of this, women, girl really spilled out.

"I think you will like her; she's got more natural girl charm than a brute like me besides…All my moves that work on people will rip the stuffing out of you, so you don't have a choice. "

Girls should not say such scary things with a smiling face. I slept in someone's arms for the first-time years.

"Please be patient, ill find her…and you two can be together" It was mumbled as she fell asleep and the next day, I was gently returned to the saddle bag.

I was looking forward to meeting the girl who could soften such a demon.