VI. CATCHING THE EYE
"I absolutely adore the beauty of strawberries! They glow red like a precious Ruby! Just the sight of them fills me up like eating them by the dozens!" Ruby bounced around her home in excitement trying to recapture the beauty of the twin-tailed elegance she was graced to see the other day.
"Pshhh. Calm down, sis. You don't even know anything about that creature. What if it's a beast preparing to destroy our village?" Her brother Ryan was concerned with his sister. She is not one to wait and see things through, but to jump with great haste towards the simplest pleasures of the eyes. Admiring the surface level is al she knew. Depth from experience is something he hopes to teach her someday.
"Don't be a Neggy-Nancy, Ryan!" She made a loud stomp from feeling insulted by her brother. "You always tell me to slow down! It's like you don't understand me at all! Beauty waits for no one; if I don't hurry and capture it now, who knows when it'll fade with the passing of time?!" Nothing got Ruby riled up as not getting what she wanted when she wanted. From her strawberry rose hand mirror, to being able to get a new banana scented scarf every winter, her family is large, and yet, they were able to somehow afford to gifts Ruby pined after.
Although Ryan too had many things he wish he could hold in the palm of his paw, he understood that there is work to be done. The cost for those cravings would be an exchange of his time and energy to receive those desires. With all the heartache he's trekked through over his young adult life, he couldn't help but worry for Ruby's brashness. He knew experience to be the best teacher, and wondered if he should keep his mouth quiet and let Ruby go off into her own fantasy. After all, firsthand contact will beat anything his words could ever say. "Just make sure you are ready to be taught, sis." Ryan quieted down as he felt he had nothing more of substance to say that wouldn't be in one ear and out the other quicker than he could blink.
Ruby is growing weary of his brother's lecture. She puffed up her soft rabbit cheeks and as kindly as she could, and kind wasn't exactly the tone of voice she had seasoned with her lips since she was born, tried to unravel the meaning of her brother's words. "That's awfully cryptic of you, Ry. I'm at home right now, not at school. Keep the boring lessons in the classroom. I don't need you of all people to be assigning me homework. Ugh. Thank the lord the rain's stopped. I can just walk out from you breathing down my neck and get some fresh our outside. Later." She let out a soft scowl, but shared a piece of a chocolate strawberry with Ryan before raising her hand to hurry out of the house and into the family garden where her mom and dad were laying on the cool grass to enjoy the fruits of their labor.
She noticed the carrot fields were in need of watering as her dad's daily bucket of water is yet to be emptied. It's already just before noon. Is he slacking off already? It's about lunch time. I'll just get to it myself so they can afford to buy me those new carrot slippers. The one with a cute leafy tail from behind. It will look so cute on her every morning when she wakes up. As she nourished the growing carrots in the garden, she made eye-contact with her parents sitting in the shade. When her dad made eye contact back, she slowly made way towards them.
"Momma? Papa? I know you guys work so hard every day, so I took care of the carrots. Take some rest, okay?"
Her father let off a loud sigh, and let go of an almost silent toot.
"Eww! Dad! Manners!"
Her father wasn't embarrassed in the slightest. With all the hard work he does as a farmer to even be able to afford to raise his family with all their little toys and doodads to keep them entertained, he deserves to let off a little poof without having to explain himself. "You should try it. Keeps you relaxed like your Pa here."
Ruby blushed with the brightest red cheeks from the embarrassment that is her father. "Thank the heavens no one is here to see me die from embarrassment, Papa! Momma!" Ruby always felt the need to direct all her troubles to her momma when she felt that her papa is being far too childish for his age. At the very least, her mother acted her age, or so she thought.
"Ohhhh, Bunnneyyy, no need to be such a drama queen. That's my job when your Papa does something disappointing." She bounced up and down with excitement to see her daughter so full of energy today after her being so fear driven the night before. Just like her usual self she thought. I hope whatever scared her the other night won't be coming back. Her mama wasn't the type to be around fear easily. She had her legs jump around to shake off all the anxious energy.
A loud yawn came passing by as seeing his wife expend all that energy drained him of his. "Which never happens because I'm just such an amazing husband and the world's greatest father, right dear?" Ruby's papa didn't do well with fear either. In fact, he never really had space for any emotion, hence his gravitation for diffusing the situation with awkwardness.
Ruby's mother fell silent for a moment has her bouncing slowed to a crawl. An empty glare is being thrown at her husband. She is never one to directly communicate her troubles, but her husband is too much of a dunce too realize her disapproval when he wouldn't catch on to her subtle hints to what she wanted, not that it crossed his mind that he actually ever did anything wrong if he wasn't being told so. Even then, he still will not be able to know something is wrong even when told as directly as possible. "...just tell me what's on your mind, and I'll make Papa get to it later when he's done being a sleeping ball of toots."
Ruby gave a twirl in her bounce as she could no longer contain her excitement of what she saw. "The twin-tailed flame! I must know what it is! It was like a red bunny-dog with two glowing embers flowing behind it!" Ruby grit her teeth so harshly that it felt like she had her feet bitten into the ground like a true planted in fine soil. While her feet couldn't leave the ground, her head hasn't hit the floor since laying her eyes on the Twin-Tails. "I must befriend it! It has no choice but to have me as its companion! I'll be the best friend to the fiery little thing that everyone will admire me for once!"
Ruby's mama had a face of concern when she looked to her husband. His eyes were disinterested in the whole conversation, as usual. The only thing slipping in-between his ears to get to his head is a tasty cake where he'll eat the entire thing in one sitting. Her mother knew when Ruby gets like this, there's nothing stopping her from being hyper focused on her target.
Feelings of awe in her nostalgia reminded her of when Ruby was only three years young during a shopping trip at the illustrious Wolves' Den shopping mall. Ruby had become fixated on a ruby red playground slide with pansy floral markings on it just outside the storefront. During the whole trip, she would constantly nag and even try to drag her mama by the arm just to go on that slide. Not even just to play on it, but to get everyone in the store to look at her. "Aren't I just the most beautiful rabbit in the world?" Ruby would exclaim. As they were leaving the Wolves' Den, she begged for one on her own. Crying would ensue with every no she heard. She even went as far as to try and lifting the giant slide with her tiny arms to take it home, but only to the amusement of the staff and patrons in the entire mall.
"Now Hunnie Bunnie, this isn't some toy we're talking about. I don't think this Twin-Tail wants to be tied down like that. I'm sure it has its own wants and needs just like yourself. Smother it too hard and you'll suffocate it until it runs to someplace where it could get a breather from you. Isn't that right, sweetheart?" She turned her attention back to her husband. Once his silence became too much, she gave a rough nudge to his tail with her feet to pay attention and contribute to her daughters tunnel vision. This isn't some object she could obtain after all, but an actual living, breathing being she wants.
"Huh? Uhm, yeah. Sounds like slavery to me." His wife's eyes widened at what just came out his mouth to their own young daughter. How could he not have any tact at a time like this? How rude. Is this the idiot she truly married? What does that say about her taste in men? What do the villagers think of her knowing she let this idiot wife her up? "J-just stay safe at home, and we'll get you those new carrot slippers you've been asking for. Your birthday is just around the corner, Bunnie." She knew she didn't quite have the words to convince her daughter to drop the issue, but she knew she just had to at least try after the disaster that left her husband's mouth.
"Moooooommmaaaaa. I'm not a little kit anymore! You don't have to plan my life for me. I can do that myself. Just you watch. I'll show everyone I can do amazing things on my own. I'll make Twin-Tails think it's crazy for not wanting to spend time with me!"
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