TW: homeless children, sick children.
Pac is thirteen, and Mike is finally asleep. His best friend got sick a few days ago, the pair having been caught out in the rain. Pac had avoided the worst of it, only to be up all night anyway, keeping track of Mike's fevers.
It broke last night, but then they had had to run - the owner of the cafe they were sheltering behind had returned from her holiday, and released a pair of dogs to scare them off. Thankfully they did not get close to either child, but the running and the searching for another place to sleep had it return.
Maybe it would be better, to try and beg there way into the keeping of another orphanage?
... Pac takes four seconds to remember why that is a bad idea.
Mike whimpers, sweating more than their water supply allows for as he shifts under stolen blankets. Pac brushes his forehead, and gently, mentally shushes him.
Pac is thirteen, which means that Mike is eleven, which means that Pac has to be the one to look after them both.
The dogs? He would have fought them. When they steal? Pac is the distraction, the one starting a showpiece of a fight as Mike scoops up the bags. When they are sick?
When they are sick, Pac pretends he does not feel his own fever, and dedicates himself to looking after Mike.
He isn't really sure what to do, but he knows someone is supposed to watch people with fevers when they sleep. They don't have enough water to waste on wetting a rag, like people do in books, but he puts one on Mike's forehead nonetheless. Mike gets the blankets, and the cushion they found lying in a puddle, and the driest spot under the overhand. Pac, meanwhile, has scraps of fabric, and cold concrete, and a very sick best friend.
It is very hard to stay awake, sick and exhausted as he is from days of looking after Mike. He would give him the world - has given him the world - but it is very hard to keep his eyes open.
Pac needs to do something, else he will fall asleep. And he is not sure why that is bad, but he knows that it is.
... One of the bags they stole was not a bag at all, but a sewing box.
Inside are threads, and needles, and buttons, and little scissors and offcuts of larger pieces of fabric.
Really, Pac should use them to fix their clothes, or save them for when things are even worse. He remembers just enough of the right classes to know that both he and Mike have growth spurts still to hit, and that will mean needing to lengthen their clothes.
But...
Pac is thirteen, and Mike is eleven, and also in the sewing box are a couple of small glass circles, like teddy bear eyes.
Pac looks at the missing button on his coat, then looks at Mike, sleeping and distressed and reaching for something that is not there.
Pac picks up the fabric, and begins to sew.
Sewing is not one of his greatest skills, but Pac knows a little about it; when Sister Isabela has been in charge of discipline, she had tended to making him help her with repairs rather than the usual punishments. Pac had been in trouble a lot, and so he had learnt to fix many things - clothes and buttons and electrical sockets and plumbing and all sorts. He had not been allowed to help fix the gas stove, but he had been made to watch it happen.
Fixing things is not quite like making things, but... but Mike is eleven, so Pac has to look after him, and the books he learnt to read from say sick children are supposed to cuddle toys.
Pac thinks it might be wrong - even before his parents hated him, he did not get to cuddle toys, and the Nuns and the Priest certainly never gave them any. Still, he has no water to make the rags wet, and he needs to steal some energy drinks in the morning and force Mike to drink them, and it's late and if he does nothing he will fall asleep too.
So, he grabs the scraps of fabric, and the needles, and the thread, and does his best.
None of the scraps are the right shape, and he is scared to cut them. Working fabric in 3D is very different to flat, but Pac does his best. The head is two approximately round shapes stitched together, with bits poking out for ears. It has a body and two arms and two legs, even if all of the limbs are different sizes and the stitching stretches a bit too much. It is a patchwork of colours - and an actual patch where some of the fabric tore, Pac does know how to patch things - stuffed not with proper stuffing but instead the remaining fabric scraps.
It is an ugly, ugly thing.
Pac, desperate for some way to help, tucks it under the blankets with Mike anyway.
In feverish sleep Mike clings to it, and clings to Pac's sleeve too. In the morning, still sick, Mike holds it even tighter when Pac has to go.
Pac comes back to their camp with a bag of stolen energy drinks, and a few sandwiches grabbed from the same rack, to find that Mike has named her Alegria.
Alegria does not survive the winter.
But two boys do, and that is what matters in the end.
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Worldbuilding questions to get the creative juices flowing 36
Theme: Toys
How do toys differ across ages? What toys are there for available for adults? What toys are available for infants? Do teens and children play with the same toys?
Where do most children's toys come from? How do these toys reach children? How do parents learn about toys?
Are toys made by family members? Local toymakers? Companies? A mixture? Is there cultural significance behind particular toys?
Are toys commonly mass produced? If so, what are these mass produced toys like?
What are most toys made out of? Are materials commonly used on toys? How does society view toymaking?
Is it acceptable in society for lots of play? Is society harsh on children's lives? Do children get a lot of free time?
Do toys differ among gender norms? How do toys differ among subcultures? Are toys from other societies popular here?
How does culture affect toys? How does politics affect toys? (Action figures of soldiers in propagandist style, animal inspired cultures allowing children to only play with toys that represent their species, etc).
What type of toys is counted as cute? What's the opposite? Is there a defined difference in the society?
Has a certain toy or toy franchises become ingrained in the local culture? If so, How and what is the effect?
Is collecting toys common? Is it done among all ages? Can collecting toys pay off?
Are there card games? Do video games exist? Do board games exist? How does the existence of any of these affect culture? (Especially video games)
What games do children play that don't require toys? Are sports equally as popular?
If there isn't a lot of toys what else do people do for fun?
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#KellyToy #KellyToyPlush #KellyToyFurryGreenDragonWithCuteWingsPlushAndTags#DragonPlush #MonsterPlush #Flow #Plushies #PlushPals
This is a Kellytoy Furry Green Dragon With Cute Wings Plush and Tags.
This plush is super soft and round but I noticed this plush only has two tiny feet in the front and not in the back.
This plush is really cute and I'm calling her Flow.
The hang tag does have been and creases but can still be read.
This plush is 12 inches from the face to the tail tip and 7 inches from the top of the head to the bottom of the plush.
I know there are other styles of these plushies that is a colorful unicorn, a cow one, and a pink pig one also a person made purses from these plushies which is pretty neat.
These plushies don't seem to have a easy to look up name so you can't easily search them up and these were claw machine exclusive which makes them even more rare since claw machines rarely pick up plushies also the seasonal change to the plushies really reduces the encounter of seeing this plush.
I noticed the grocery stores I went to this plush and the colorful unicorn plush was missing either by someone winning it or was taking out and replaced with plushies I'm not interested in.
I wonder what happened to the old plushies at a grocery store claw machine once they get swapped out?
This plush can wear both toy glasses.
This is a very cute plush and I'm keeping this little friend.
The complete set plush version.
All are rare but the Cow and the Dragon are the rarest.
Images not mine but link is there.
Completed the collection of the round fuzzy Kelly toys : r/Collections (reddit.com)
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