"She's here," he said again, firmer this time. He pushed himself to his feet and waddled over on his stiff, jointed legs, reaching out and tapping Piper on the shoulder. "Come on, kid."

Piper looked up from her doodles with a frown and a raised eyebrow. "You know how long it takes Evelyn to get her things from the car, Bobo. I have a few more minutes."

"Piper…"

"I -"

Piper was cut off abruptly by the unusual sound of two car doors slamming, one right after the other. She perked up, head swiveling around to peer out the front windows as Bobo followed her gaze. There were two figures making their way towards the entrance. It was difficult to see them through the rain pattering against the glass, but Piper could tell, at the very least, that neither one of them were the person she'd been anticipating.

"Piper!" Bobo hissed, just as the bell on the front door jingled melodically with the turn of the knob. She yelped, a swell of panic jolting through her body as she scrambled to hide her things, only to watch in horror as her notebook got swept over the edge of the shelf in her frenzy. She reached out without thinking and quickly found herself tumbling after it.

The two items landed on the ground with dull thumps. Piper looked around in a panic, and when she took in the sight of the door pushing open, she relented and froze in place. She would have to pretend she had fallen in the night. Piper just hoped she'd be able to get her notebook back. She tensed as the footsteps grew closer.

"Ah, man," came a boyish, nasally voice from above. She couldn't see who or what exactly the person was from her frozen position, but they certainly didn't sound familiar. "Things're fallin' apart without her already, huh? C'mere, buddy."

The hands that came down to grasp her by the torso were gentle, careful, taking care not to muss up her blonde fur as they turned her around and brought her face-to-face with her new acquaintance.

That was when she felt it: it started in her cheeks, a soft heat blooming in them as she stared into a pair of pale blue eyes. Some sort of grey monkey was smiling fondly as he observed her, and the feeling seemed to spread to wherever his gaze shifted until finally her whole body was tingling with a calm, pleasant warmth.

"He was one of your grandmother's holy grails for a while, you know." A gravelly voice abruptly broke the spell Piper was under, and she winced inwardly at how she was being referred to. She reluctantly shifted her focus to the older wolf that had sidled up beside them, and she quickly recognized him as Evelyn's husband, Abraham. "Handsome, yeah?"

The monkey's smile faltered a little, but he nodded. "Very," he agreed.

"He's worth a lot, too." Abe chuckled as he patted the monkey - his grandson, apparently, though Piper had certainly never seen him before - on the shoulder. "If you're ever in a pinch…"

"I'll keep that in mind." Piper felt the warmth drain from her body as she was raised up and placed back on the shelf. The monkey held her gaze for a brief moment before turning back to his grandfather and allowing himself to be led away as they continued to talk. Piper couldn't help herself as she leaned forward to catch one last glimpse of the two before they disappeared into another aisle.

She squeaked a little when she suddenly felt a slap on her arm, and turned to see Bobo scowling at her. "What are you doing?!" he hissed, pulling her back into position. "You've gotten into enough trouble today!"

Piper couldn't bring herself to be annoyed or argue; her mind was abuzz with thought anyway, and it wasn't long before she started drifting off into her own inner world again.

Piper used to spend a lot of time dreaming about being new again. Not just new, but different.

She dreamt of being shiny and plastic, perhaps with a fancy screen on her belly with all sorts of functions to captivate even the most inattentive of children. She dreamt of being plucked from the shelf by small hands that would carry her off as she waved goodbye to her friends. It would be a bittersweet parting, but not one she would ever regret.

She'd almost had such a moment, once; a long time ago, when her blonde fur was brighter and softer and her painted green eyes still shone brilliantly when they caught the light. A little bunny girl had walked into Piper's aisle and squealed upon laying her eyes on the fox plush, face lighting up as her hands darted out to grab Piper by her front paws.

Something happened, then: it was the first time Piper had felt a truly loving touch, and it was everything she had hoped it would be. The girl's warmth was like nothing Piper had ever experienced before, and when the child brought her in for a tight hug, every heartbeat against Piper's cheek felt like it was exuding pure energy into her lifeless form.

"Daddy!" The girl spun around, bouncing on her heels and waving the doll in front of her father as he walked towards her. "Can I -"

"Not today, sweetie, I'm sorry." The hare gave his daughter an apologetic smile as he reached out to grab the doll. Something in Piper's chest stirred painfully as she made the switch from the girl's warm, eager grip to the older man's firm grasp. "We'll come back and get one on your birthday, okay?"

The pouting child took one last look at Piper as she was set back down on the shelf before sighing and turning away, obediently following her father down the aisle and turning the corner out of sight. Piper didn't know what a birthday was, or how soon the girl's would arrive, but she had a sinking feeling that they wouldn't meet again.

And she was right. Piper spent the next few decades bouncing around from home to home, being resold, auctioned off, traded away, never settling in one place for more than a few months; she was cursed, it seemed, to be a collectors' item, and never truly a toy.

Still, she knew it could be worse. There were toys who lived their entire lives never leaving the boxes they were packaged in, with tight, plastic ties around their wrists, ankles, and even their necks to keep them in place. Piper, at least, was free to move around when safely out of sight. And when she finally found what seemed to be a long-term home at the antique store, she was thankfully placed on a shelf with plenty of other dolls to keep her company. It wasn't too long before she'd also managed to acquire her notebook, which gave her something to doodle in when she wasn't daydreaming or conversing with the other toys.

All things considered, Piper supposed she was grateful. She was grateful enough, anyway, that she'd given up her old dreams of a better life, and instead spent her personal time musing internally about her current situation. This was her lot in life, she had eventually concluded, and she had to do her best to make peace with it.

But now, for the first time in years, Piper found herself struggling once more to not drift away into a vivid, self-indulgent daydream. Her mind was spinning as she sat in place, running high on her meeting with the person from earlier. It felt similar to Piper's first encounter with the bunny girl, only this time the feeling was stronger and still coursing through her hours later.

"Piper."

Piper's eyes flashed as she came back to herself, looking more startled than she usually did when she awoke. She shook away her previous train of thought, willing herself to focus on reality. Her nerves eased when she caught sight of Bobo, but only briefly; his expression was unusually somber, and it quickly brought Piper to full attention. "What's going on?"

"It's evening. They've left. Evelyn, she's… She passed away. Abe said it was unexpected." He paused to take in Piper's surprised expression, his own shifting from sad to confused. "You weren't listening at all today?"

"Ah… Not really," she said sheepishly. "I had a lot on my mind."

Bobo nodded. It wasn't unusual for a toy to occasionally go deep into their own mind when spending much of the day sitting still, but it seemed odd that Piper had managed to entirely tune out such a heavy series of conversations. "Well… Her grandson will be taking over the shop, it seems."

Piper's ears perked up in curiosity. "Not Abe?"

"Says he can help the guy get started, but he's ready to retire after that." He let out a sigh and leaned back against the wall. "I know she kept to herself, but I'll miss her."

Piper nodded, head swimming. Evelyn was gone. The old woman had mostly kept to herself, as Bobo said, and so Piper had never had much of a personal connection with her. Still, things were certainly going to be different without her; the idea of a shift in her regular routine was enough to get Piper feeling a little anxious.

Although…

"Her grandson," Piper said suddenly. "Do you know his name?"

"Oliver, I think it was? Something like that."

She couldn't help a small smile as she pondered the situation. The idea of change still intimidated her, but… "He seemed nice."

"He did." After a few moments, Bobo furrowed his brow and turned to stare intently at Piper. "You seemed rather interested in him earlier. A bit too much, I worry. He could've seen you moving, you know."

Piper rolled her eyes and nudged him with her elbow playfully. "Lighten up, old man."

"Oh, stop with that. I'm barely a decade older than you."

"Then you have no excuse for being such a stick-in-the-mud, do you?" She giggled, throwing him a wink before scooting over towards the edge of the shelf to peer down at the ground below. "Hey, did you see what happened to my notebook?"

"Oh, Oliver put it back up here before he left," Bobo said simply as he reached behind his back to pull it out and hold it towards Piper. She stared at it curiously for a moment before taking it and holding it to her chest protectively. "He probably thought it was an accessory you come with. It does match your eyes."

"Yeah, probably." She took a seat again, idly running a paw over the notebook's cover as her thoughts raced. "I wonder if he looked through it."

"Little bit, I think." Bobo said casually. "Heard him say something to Abe about how impressive the drawings were for what must've been a child."

Bobo was chuckling to himself in amusement, but it didn't deter the warmth from spreading over Piper's cheeks again as she absorbed his words. Oliver had not only enjoyed her drawings, but he'd thought a human child was responsible for them; which, perhaps, was not the greatest compliment for most, but for a plush like Piper who had only learned how to hold a pencil around 2 years ago, it was the highest praise she'd received thus far.

She beamed, hugging her notebook tightly to her chest before laying it down on the ground and flipping open to a fresh page. She'd never drawn a monkey before, but she was excited to learn how.