[PRP] To give is better than to keep (Wisp + Spica)

[zippedsiren]

Coming home, Willow Wisp was trotting along very proud of herself; her horn was lit up and a pair of beaten up tennis shoes hovered in front of her, held up by magic. She had spent the better half of the day roaming about in the forest of Phonyland, just enjoying nature. While on this excursion of hers she found the shoes tied together and tossed up over a tree branch. It was a curious sight to her, Wisp was sure that trees didn’t need tennis shoes, and it’s not like they made a good Christmas ornament for forest trees. But whatever they were doing there, Wisp had decided that the playground rules still applied and it was finder’s keepers.

The shoes were just the latest addition to her secret stash of found treasures. She couldn’t wait to get into her home and add the shoes to her collection. Wisp was just at her door when she heard a familiar voice call her.

Astraea Pandora

 

[zippedsiren]

Turning to see, Wisp beamed a big bright smile at the white alicorn, “Nana!” The little unicorn always enjoyed seeing her soft-spoken grandmother, but now was exceptionally fortuitous as she could show off her newfound item.

“I’m not sure exactly what they are! Some kind of footwear?” Wisp had never seen tennis shoes before, and the seemed much more odd compared to her the fancy shoes her parents’ owned; they had rubber bottoms and where made from a red canvas.

“I found them dangling among the bare tree branches in the forest. Aren’t they wonderful? There’s a bit of an odor emitting from them, but I think that gives it character.” This little unicorn was very fond of things she felt ‘had character’, much like her and her kin. “It’s perfect for my collection.”

Astraea Pandora

 

[zippedsiren]

The young brown unicorn nodded gleefully, “I’m amassing treasures that I’ve found.” Wisp was the more benign of her siblings, without an interest in the dark arts. She had her own peculiarities though; she seemed to always be finding an assortment of things in the strangest of places and bringing them home to be part of her collection.

Wisp lead Spica into her home, and with a twinkle in her eye offered to show off the collection. “I have it in my room! I’ll show you.” The unicorn scampered off ahead of her grandmother, and up the stairs to the bedroom she shared with her sister, Nevermore.

Upstairs, Wisp went straight to fairly plain, wooden toy chest and began to pull things out from it. Rather than toys, the chest was nearly filled to the brim with items that the young phony deemed to be her ‘collection’, with its most recent addition of the stinky shoes. She began to shatter the items about to best show them off. There was all manner of things: a wooly hat, a mismatched set of mitten, a bowling ball, a ragdoll, a pocket watch, a tea cup, small coins, an ugly sweater, candles, an old patched backpack, and an empty bottle. The vast majority of the items were not made for young unicorn phonies, and it was like very likely that Wisp had no use for them at all, other than to be part of her collection.

Astraea Pandora

 

[zippedsiren]

“I preserve them!” Wisp announced it, like keeping things stuffed in a box was akin to being in a museum. She lightly patted at the bowling ball, proud of its size and heft but unable to move it herself without magic. “They were all lonely, so I brought them home to live in the box together. They’re much happier here than outside, and safer.”

She looked at her collection and was proud of the items she gathered. “Sometimes I take them out to look at, they’re beautiful.” The teacup had a light floral pattern, though the glaze was cracking. The ball shiny enough she could see her big yellow eyes reflected back at her. All the items were a little worse for wear, but for Wisp they were lovely, interesting pieces that had stories behind them and, she was sure that the objects had feelings too; it was important to compliment them.

Astraea Pandora

 

[zippedsiren]

Sew? Wisp looked confused. Her she was showing off her pride and joy of collection, and her grandmother wanted to sew or knit? “No, I don’t think I know how to sew. Or knit. But there might be something around here, somewhere, if that’s what you’d rather do.”

Wisp noticed Spica taking the dress off the doll, which really only confused her more. “Or did you want to play dress up? We could play dress up, if you want.”

Astraea Pandora

 

[zippedsiren]

Obediently, Wisp clambered up onto the stool next to Spica and used her magic to submerge the doll into the water. There was no way to argue with the logic that maybe a doll would be happier if it was clean. Wisp just nodded and did was she was told. “I suppose so.”

As she washed the doll, Wisp considered what Spica was saying. It was true that Wisp didn’t really use any of the toys or other items. “Do you really think they get bored in the box? I tried to make it cozy… but I guess they might like coming out more.” Wisp felt a pang of guilt, like she might be neglecting the objects’ feelings by not playing with them. As much as she loved every item she found, Wisp knew that there was no way she would be able to properly play with all of them, and some were much to big to take outside on woodland adventures. Finished with washing the dolls, Wisp toweled it off and presented it back to Spica.

“They can only go to really, really, reeeeaaaally good homes.”

Astraea Pandora

 

[zippedsiren]

Obligingly, Wisp lept down from the stool to go fetch the other items to clean them up. She was estatic when her grandmother said to leave the bowling ball, that was her absolute favorite. “Are you a wizard mind reader Nana? The ball is my favorite of all the collection. Did you mean I can keep that one?”

With a big grin. Wisp returned shortly a trail of items floating in front of her, lumped together by unicorn magic. All but the ball.

Astraea Pandora

 

[zippedsiren]

“I knew it,” Wisp thought to herself, of course her grandmother was a wizard, it all made perfect sense.

As time passed, Willow Wisp observed each object carefully as the two cleaned and carefully fixed them up. She mentally noted what she enjoyed about them and what she felt would make each object ‘happy’. For most objects, it simply a matter of getting used. “Well, the doll, that one is easy. A girl, or a boy, who’d cuddle and play dress up with her would be best. Pocket watches are for gentlemen. Tea cup for someone with tea parties. I guess someone who goes outside a lot in the cold might like a hat or a sweater. “

The more difficult items to figure out a home for were the candles, backpack, coins, and the bottle. Studying each item more carefully, Wisp used unicorn magic to turn them over in the air so she could inspect them better. “Where do you want to go, little things?” Wisp knew that the objects in her collection could not answer her, but it was comforting to try and ask them anyways, as if speaking outloud might help an answer come to her. “Hmmmmm… I guess this backpack would be nice for a school kid, or a worldly traveller. And candles for someone who needs light or romance in their life. But these…” Wisp floated the coins to her grandmother, “I don’t know about these? Or the shoes…”

Astraea Pandora