Sock Bunny: The Beginning

[Amber Jacobs]

It had been six months since she had come to Hammel and Amber had been a lot of places through the building. She'd been in the halls, on the ceilings, on the walls, in the stair wells, through the different classrooms, even some that weren't hers but she went on her exploration days with Binny stuffed in her shirt or her backpack. And she had seen and met a lot of people. A lot of superheroes just like her. Well, not just like her but with their own powers and stuff.

But, there was this one. This one guy. He didn't seem too happy. There were a few people who seemed unhappy but he seemed pretty angry along with it. Oriel. Kind of like the bird. But he didn't fly, and she never saw him singing, she didn't know what his power was. Maybe he couldn't fly because he wasn't happy? Yes, she had watched Peter Pan probably one too many times, but she wasn't going to stop watching and she wasn't going to stop secretly hoping Peter Pan was real.

But yeah, she had seen him all of at least four months. Oriel, not Peter Pan. And, she had started on a project. Her mother had her doing hobbies to help with her hyperactivity anyways, so this was good, right? It took her a few months due to her not being able to pay attention for long or sit still, but at last it was done! A bunny! Sock Bunny! Sure, the eyes were a little crooked, and the tail was bigger than she meant it to be, but it was a bunny! Bunnies were the happy, so it had to help him, right? Right!

And so she went on her journey. She searched through the halls, braved her way through the cafeteria, then she spotted him in the courtyard. She'd taken a play break in the middle of all the searching so it hadn't been exactly on purpose but there he was! Up in a tree, sitting there like he did in trees sometimes. She should have known. Duh.

Amber smiled and pulled the sock bunny out of her backpack from where he had been keeping Binny company and then zipped the bag back up before tucking Sock Bunny by the arm in the side of her belt. After making sure her backpack was good, she wriggled out of her shoes then went to climbing up. It was a little hard to reach some of the branches so she had to do some sticking on the way up. When she reached the branch near him, she sat, letting her legs swing a little, and then she took Sock Bunny from her belt and held it out towards him.

"It's for you." She told him.

[Deleted]

How was Oriel feeling today? He searched within himself for the answer.

Oriel was….hungry. Again.

Damn, he was going to get fat at this rate. The only thing keeping him from it was probably his morning runs. Or dance practice. He’d stopped doing those for a while there. A long while. It was more important for Oriel to stay in and cuddle with Phoenix for the longest time. With that as not an option anymore, Oriel was desperately looking for outlets for his building stress. And boredom. He was bored, mostly. And tired. Always tired.

Hence why he’d started taking afternoon naps again. And because he was working. Wow, that was a miracle or something, though the hours were iffy. Mostly weekends. And picked up when the Globe Theater had a show going on. But slowed down to almost nothing when there wasn’t.

Oriel wanted the season to pick up again. It was supposed to next month and at the end of this one, but that was still weeks away. And Oriel was bored now!

He’d bundled up a little more today. The days were getting colder to the point where Oriel couldn’t ignore it anymore. The tree he was in had lost nearly all of it’s leaves, removing the brush which he would normal hide behind. But he was okay with that. The chill air felt good on his face and he looked up to the cloudy sky, wondering when the first snow would be.

Oriel closed his eyes. He was supposed to be sleeping. And he felt his tiredness start to take over, little by little. He must’ve heard the sound of someone nearby, maybe of someone climbing up towards him, because he remembered thinking that there was someone there. But it wasn’t until the girl had finished her climb that he bothered to open an eye and glance towards her. Her and….what was that she was shoving at him? A sock?

For him? Oriel was confused. He’d been confused by people a lot lately. And now there was some little girl he’d never met or paid attention to before climbing up his tree and giving him what appeared to be a sock in the shape of some animal or something. Oriel shifted and sat himself up more upright and stared at the sock. “Whazzit?” he asked, clearly still half asleep.

[Amber Jacobs]

He might have been sleeping, she hadn't been sure. But sleep hadn't stopped her before when she had been on a mission. Yes, a mission, because superheroes had those, and she was one even if it was just a superhero in training. Even when she had just used to pretend to be a superhero, she'd gone on little missions whether they were little errands her mother had put her on or top secret ones she did for pretend. Sometimes her grandmother would be asleep during them but she still got the job done and saved the world.

He wasn't all the way asleep though, or he hadn't been asleep in the first place, because before long he had one eye open and was looking at her by the time she held the Sock Bunny out towards him. She smiled even bigger than before when he sat up and looked at her present to him, her squirming a little from barely contained excitement and in turn causing the branch she was on to quiver slightly.

"It's a bunny, silly." She giggled out when he asked her what it was.

"I made it just for you. Maybe he'll help you find your smile." The girl told him before reaching the Sock Bunny out further.

"Pleeeease?"

Amber gave a delighted "squee" when he finally accepted the bunny then a gasp and a giggle as she almost fell only to be stopped as she stuck her hand onto the tree and stopped herself halfway. With another giggle, she sticky crawled her way around the branch again to be in a sitting position once more and went to swinging her feet and watching him with a smile like nothing had happened.

"He doesn't have a name yet, I left that for you. But I made sure to pack him full of happy while I was making him." She explained.

[Deleted]

A bunny….riiiight. Oriel stared at it, wondering why she was shoving some dirty sock in the shape of a bunny at him. He blinked slowly, scrutinizing the ball of fabric through tired eyes. She woke him up for this?

And aside from that, who was this kid?

….though the more he looked at it, the more Oriel had to admit that the dumb bunny was pretty darned cute.

His smile? Oriel sighed, his shoulders slumping in resignation. “Fine…” he mumbled, reaching out and taking the sock from her hand. His lips twitched slightly in her delight. Heh…she was so happy over such a silly little thing. Kids…they were so simple, weren’t they? Was Oriel ever so simple…?

Well, maybe….actually, Oriel was still pretty simple like that wasn’t he? he thought as he instinctively curled his arm around the sock bunny, holding it close up to his chest. Now that he’d accepted it, Oriel knew exactly where it was going. On display somewhere in his room…and quite possibly in his bed every single night. He really knew himself well, didn’t he?

Oriel jumped slightly when the girl fell from her branch, his eyes following her down as she grabbed onto the branch in a strange manner and pulled herself back up like it was nothing. Okaaay, then. Well, it wasn’t that much of a fall, but seemed like she could take care of herself.

He decided to ignore it, showing his apathy with a big yawn. “…mmm….a name?” he echoed, still somewhat groggy. Oriel looked down at the sock. Another slight smile reached his lips as he thought over potential names for the sock…and realized that there was only one which would suit it. “Steve,” he declared, holding the sock in his arms again and lifting his chin proudly. Yes, Oriel had the best naming sense.

[Amber Jacobs]

There was a twitch. It was at the corners of his lips. Oh! The bunny was trying to work already! Amber felt an excited happiness bubbling up inside of her and only just barely contained it. She squirmed from the effort, actually. She felt even happier when he had accepted the bunny to where he hugged it. It had actually been part of why she had almost fallen, the excitement. He didn't seem to get too worried though when she got herself back to be sitting on the branch rather than toppling over off of it. And whether it had been intentional or not, it had made her a little more confident in herself.

Her eyes practically glittered as she looked at him with expectation, joy, and a good dose of sugar rush when he seemed to be thinking over a name for his new bunny. The fact that he was further accepting her present was making her day better and better. She almost gasped when he gave another smile even if it was a small one. Her mission was a success! The bunny was bringing out his smile! YAY!

Her own smile was almost taking up her whole face when he dubbed the sock-bunny by the name of Steve.

"Steve's gonna be your friend forever, I just know it." She told him joyfully while kicking her feet from the overflow of energy she had.

She didn't kick wildly or anything like that, just quickly and causing the branch to tremble a little from the fact she was bouncing a little too.

"Oh! Name! I forgot!| She suddenly exclaimed.

"I'm Amber." She said, finally introducing herself.

Just because she knew his name, it didn't mean that he knew hers, after all.

[Deleted]

Oriel didn’t know where this kid had come from or why she thought that she could just walk up to Oriel and be a happy-little-perky-ball-of-sunshine, but he wasn’t complaining. Normally, Oriel didn’t like girls who were that bright and bubbly. Dumb girls, you know? They bugged the shit out of him. But kids…kids were alright. One might be surprised to learn that Oriel actually liked kids. After all, he was one once. Well, he still was one. Sometimes.

Like right now. Even more so since he was fucking tired and still groggy from his siesta that didn’t quiet reach it’s peak. No wonder he was out of it.

Oriel smirked. “Yeah…I’ll bet.” Steve was going to be a fiiiiine companion. In his haziness, Oriel was already thinking of ways he could use Steve….in his room…late at night…

No…he couldn’t use such a nice gift for something like that, now could he?

Phoenix would get jealous.

“Amber,” he repeated with a shallow nod. Oriel pressed his eyebrows forward, questioning. “How old are you?” he asked. And why do you have the balls to approach me when no one else will?

[Amber Jacobs]

Candy. It was about time for some, wasn't it? Amber wasn't complaining. Nope, not at all. Almost feeling giddy, she turned on the branch some so she could stick both of her feet against the trunk to anchor herself. Then, she shrugged off the straps of her backpack again before setting the bag on her lap. She was in the middle of getting the outer most pouch unzipped when Oriel said her name, causing her to look at him with a soft "hm?".

Her age. It was a question she wasn't a stranger to. In fact, she'd been asked about how old she was a couple of times. Most people assumed she was a couple of years younger than she really was due to how childish she acted and how she wasn't growing up too fast. Though, having just turned thirteen didn't make her a grown up just yet though, so that was good. Amber didn't want to grow up. She was trying to stay a kid as long as she could. Maybe Peter Pan would come by and take her to Neverland. Though, would that really be okay now? She was supposed to be here at Hammel... Hmm... Well, maybe she'd break that rule and go with him anyways. After-all, she had originally learned how to sew so she could make pockets and stuff.

"I had my birthday last week, I'm thirteen." She told him with a big smile before pulling out a clear plastic resealable bag with assorted candies.

"Try not to say it too loud though, I don't know when Peter Pan stops thinking of kids as kids." She added even as she rummaged a bit in the plastic bag.

"Do you like M and Ms? Or Skittles more?"

It was rude not to at least offer to share, after all. Her mommy taught her better than that.