Stuffed Animal Sort of Childhood [Finished]

[Kari Muffin]

Viola hugged one of her favorite stuffed animals making sure she wouldn't pop its head off like the last time. She had plenty of stuffed animals that she loved and had accidentally broken in her sleep. However there were two that she was particularly fond of and didn't let anyone touch. This was one of them, and the other was being approached by her sister.

Lani knew full well she wasn't supposed to touch Siggy. How many times had Viola whined about it. It was one of two things that she didn't want her sister touching. Vio didn't touch things she wasn't supposed to. Lani did. All the time. The snake watched as her sister slowly crept forward, hiding behind piles of toys and things that filled the nursery they shared.

Don't you dare. Viola thought as she watched her sister hold out her paw.

There. she touched it, and was just about to pick it up with her mouth. Vio bounced out from her hiding place of an army of stuffed animals. "DON'T TOUCH SIGGY!" Vio hissed as she tumbled forward in a heap.

[The Jenn]

Stepping forward quietly, Lokelani reached out one tentative paw. So close, Vio's precious little Siggy was so close, and wouldn't it steam her sister to come back and find slobber all over him? She touched him, just a tap, waiting to see if she heard a squeal. Surely Vio would squeal at the violation if she was still in the nursery, wouldn't she? No noise was immediately forthcoming. Smirking, she reached forward with open jaws to pick it up.

The sound startled her into an actual yelp and she jerked back, falling on one of her wings and letting out a pained whine. There, that was it. Her sister had surprised her and made her go and hurt her wing. That was just it! She stood up and growled a little, wings fluffing out and feathery tail standing out.

"Oh yeah? How come? Says who?" Weren't small children obnoxious?

[Kari Muffin]

Vio actually was going to ask her sister if she was all right. It was a bit late for that now. She had already growled a response at her. Vio hissed again as she tried to puff up. She wasn't intimidating like her sisters. All she could really do was be cute.

"Daddy gave Siggy to me and me alone! You aren't allowed to touch it because it's mine!" Viola would have stomped her feet if she had any. She didn't like sharing everything with Lani. Two things, all she wanted was two things to call her own. She didn't want anything else. "You can have any other stuffed animals! You just can't have Siggy and Dori!"

She glared at her sister. "I'll tell Daddy on you! He said you shouldn't pick on me!" It was an idle threat, of course, but Viola hoped that her sister wouldn't think it was.

[The Jenn]

Lani bared her teeth in an indignant growl. "If it's in this room, it's mine too! Or did you forget we share?" Her sister was always going on about sharing and here she wouldn't even share the stupid Siggy. Not that she wanted to do anything to it besides slobber it up and then watch Vio have a fit later on. After Daddy went to the trouble of giving her sister a special doll, she figured it was only right to make sure she marked it too. Never mind that she'd gotten her own present a week before.

"I don't want any of the other ones. I want that one." Sort of. Just so her sister couldn't claim it as hers and only hers, anyway. "And since I'm the Queen of the room and you're only the Jack, you need to listen to what I say. Like when Father tells Dymphna to do something, and then she has to do it no matter what! Cause she's a Jack!"

[Kari Muffin]

Vio stared at he for what seemed like a long moment. It was probably only a fraction of a second. No. Lani was not going to get away with this. Vio was sick and tired for being treated like the baby. "NO! That's NOT FAIR AT ALL! You get to have EVERYTHING I have and I don't complain. I only want TWO THINGS in this whole room and you have to take it away from me! Just because you're A Queen doesn't mean you're the boss of me!"

Viola shook her head, trying to hold back the tears. She shouldn't have yelled at her sister. It would only make things worse. It wasn't fair though. She always got everything she wanted and Vio was left with... well not much. She looked down at the floor now, she just didn't want to see her sister's angry face.

[The Jenn]

As soon as her sister stared her in the eye and started yelling, the reasonable side of Lani's brain switched off and the 'rawr, you BITCH' side switched on. How DARE her little crybaby sister yell at her? And over something like this!

"Oh yes it does," the pup growled, the feathers on her wings fluffing up and her neck-fur hackling. "And unless you're able to take it back, that means anything that used to be yours stays mine until I decide to give it to you!"

And now to get meaner. She saw the hint of tears glistening unshed in her sister's eyes, held back stubbornly. As soon as Vio started getting worked up, she turned into the easiest target there was. "For all I know, Father and Daddy only put you in here because you were too much of a baby to take care of your own things! They know what a little crybaby you are. Everybody does! Crybaby!"

[Kari Muffin]

"I'm not a crybaby!" Viola looked up at her sister with a slight hiss. There was no way Father or Daddy would think that! There was no way... well there was a way. Vio shook her head and moved closer. "Just... I just want Siggy. That's all I want." She choked back her tears. She wasn't going to give up so easily.

Then Vio's eyes widened. She might be able to get Siggy if she could leap far enough, but... that would probably make Lani angrier. She wasn't very fast, and Lani could easily grab him and jump out of the away. The deer-snake was caught in a fix. "It's just not fair. Why am I the baby? Why do you pick on me?" She felt a tear slide down her cheek. This wasn't going very well. "You're always going to be better than me. Why can't I just have Siggy?"

And there they were. The tears were spilling over and she was crying. In vain she tried to choke back the tears, but it didn't work.

[The Jenn]

Those tears were triumph! "You can't have Siggy because I say so," Lani sniped, teeth still bared, then grabbed the stuffed animal quick in her jaws and made a dash for the door.

Oooh, she was so angry! She could barely even think when she got that angry. The only thing on her mind was to 'win', to make her sister cry and hurt for yelling at her, and then run away with the doll to prove she was 'right'. Whatever the argument had been in the first place. Sharing? No... that was just something she said...

It didn't matter! She had the doll and she Won and she was Right. She hit the door hard, swinging it outward, and sprinted off down the hallway. That her parents and uncle and Dymphna had thought to install a lockable swinging door for the two handless children was awfully thoughtful, and incredibly convenient in times like these.

[Kari Muffin]

"NO!" Viola cried as her sister bolted out of the room. She couldn't catch up with Lani. She knew that. She let out a cough to cover up here tears, even though it was useless. She sniffed hopelessly and slithered over to her other prized stuffed animal Dori.

And she let out ever single tear until she thought she had gone blind. She sobbed there, squeezing her patched up Dori as she was laying it a pile of stuffed animals. Lani was mean when she wanted to win. There was nothing Vio could do to stand up against it. She whimpered and squeezed Dori a bit tighter. Lani was so very mean to her. What had she done to deserve it? All she wanted was Siggy. It was a gift from Daddy. She had gotten a gift too! Why did Lani have to have both?

"Dori? Am I really that useless crybaby like Lani always says I am?" she sobbed between the few remaining tears.

[The Jenn]

Lani ran with her prize until she saw the staircase going down and paused at the top, panting around the stuffed doll from the spring and waiting to see if she could hear anything. Her sister's anguished cry when she left had certainly been heard. It gave her extra impetus to run faster, get away before her sister even tried to catch up. As if she could!

She dropped the now-wet doll to the marble tile and it made a sound halfway between a soft thump and a damp spleck. She looked down at it, her breath slowly evening out. She didn't really want the doll. It was Vio's and she had no interest... beyond making sure she could take it when she wanted to. And winning. And-

...hurting her sister. She hunkered down a little, the tiny flame of guilt licking at her mind. She'd only wanted to watch the other girl get a little bit upset. She hadn't intended to start a row like that. She wouldn't have even done it if she thought her sister was still in the room. And now she'd gone and made her cry again, and it made her feel bad.



Footsteps below, quiet padding things, alerted her to someone coming up the stairs. She stood back up and assumed a glaring expression, anything to hide the uneasy, guilty feeling nibbling away at her. With steps like those, it had to be her half-brother. Sure enough, his golden muzzle peeked around the corner, followed by the rest of him. He stopped in surprise when he saw Lani sitting at the top, wet doll at her feet. Giving her a confused look, he moved up to the top and stopped next to her. He and his sister were only a few years older than Lani's litter, so they still lived in a nursery on the utter floor as well.

"Isn't that Vio's new doll?" he asked, voice only puzzled. Nevertheless, she bristled at the implications her mind pulled up. Which were true, even if he hadn't even hinted at them.

"Just cause it's hers doesn't mean I can't have it!" she snapped vehemently.

The feline leaned back, startled, ears twisting around to rest backwards and away. "Oh. Well. That's... not very nice. She'll probably be sad when she finds it missing." A sullen 'hmph' was his only response and he sighed, looking away. "You're not a nice person," he finally murmured. "I don't know why she even wants to play with you sometimes." Leaving her staring, he shrugged and walked down the hallway to his own room. She didn't have an answer.