"I'm just your toy, aren't I..?" "Please don't sound so sad, I still care about you..." //one on one with @Painted-Iris

_{(holy fricking shit, swim-)}

Upon hearing the door open at the front of the apartment, Ellie returned to where she had been left. Just to be safe. She heard the woman who owned her hum in the other room and smiled. Her singing was always so lovely. And that said something as her ears were sensitive to pitch and sound. Then again, she was heavily biased.

(whaaat, that's what you get when you watch too many horror movies)
(Rosie is going to be apologizing so much afterward tho)

Rosie looked at the time, her humming coming to a stop. She'd need to go soon. She let her jacket fall to the counter, coming into the bedroom to change into her suit. The office was always so formal, just how her father liked it. She lit a couple of her candles before she started, enjoying the warm good and the scents she'd picked- warm apple pie and vanilla ice cream. It reminded her of home, when she'd have a feast with her few friends at a party. They had always been cut short by her father's episodes, but she wasn't going to think about that at the moment.

(yayyyy angst!)

Ellie enjoyed the sweet scent that filled the air. She remembered the exact same thing, though it wasn't as vivid for her. She would always have been tucked away somewhere or in another room. That was okay though. After Rosie was dressed, she cast a quick look at the woman. She really was all grown up. If she didn't already know where Rosie had been forced to work, she would have been more happy for her. She looked so professional… The elephant might have had to wipe an imaginary tear after seeing her like that the first time. That was… until the woman came home, more than upset.

Rosie straightened her jacket some, looking in the mirror. She had a grim look, something that wasn't unexpected with where she was going. It wouldn't be a far stretch for people to think she was going to a funeral. She did her hair up in a tight bun, looking around before finding her glasses. She didn't need them all the time, thankfully, but she did need them in the stark plain colors of the offices. At least she wasn't in a cubicle. Slipping them into her pocket, she blew out the candles gently and glanced around once to make sure she has everything.
The candles had brought her right next to the bed, her gaze falling on Ellie a moment. There is was again, that bittersweet smile that hadn't been there before. Rosie reached out and gently patted Ellie's head, sighing some.
"Wish me luck," she mumbled softly, pulling her hand away and turning to leave.

As soon as the woman turned, Ellie did just that. She mouthed a "good luck" as she had been told to. She knew Rosie would need it. She mistook the smile as one directed at where she was headed. It was quite hard working where she was. It was even worse as she knew the woman was working under her father. That cruel and despicable man. If she could, she would have stood up herself and told him what-for. But she couldn't. Her job was comfort. And she was doing a good job at it once again. She got Rosie to smile, at least for a little while.

Straightening her jacket one last time, Rosie was gone for the day again.

When she got home, it was much later than normal. She already had drying tear tracks, but she seemed to have gotten over whatever it had been already. She went straight for her room, taking her glasses case out and opening it. The address broke, clean in half. She didn't have the time to get a new pair, so she started looking around for some tape to fix them up. She lit the candles too, needing something to calm her.

(Also, I'm ready for the reveal whenever, so once you're ready for that just give the go ahead yes I intend to have it before we go to try to give Ellie away because ~drama~)

(omgggg)
(but yeah, I'm kinda ready whenever too ehehe)

Ellie had begun to grow worried. She hadn't been this late coming home in a long while. The elephant had stood up and begun to pace back and forth on the bed. Traffic maybe? No, it would have only been a little later. This was hours late. As Ellie began to think the worst, she heard the door open to the apartment. She hurried back to her original spot, somewhat relieved. Her gut feeling had been right upon seeing the faint lines of old tears on Rosie's cheeks. Darn it. What did that man do today? Stars, he had probably been mad over the way his daughter had talked to him on the phone yesterday.
The elephant internally sighed. Tonight was probably going to be one of those nights again. A mix of angry screaming and tears. That would be okay though. She was there to comfort Rosie. As she always would be.

(perfectttt I've got it all set up already~)

Rosie was growing frustrated that she couldn't find the tape, feeling like she had looked over it already but still not actually seeing it. She was mostly just frustrated in general, but she liked to think it was just about the tape. She puked her jacket off, tossing it towards the bed. A sleeve caught one of the candles, but Rosie didn't hear it fall to the bed. Unfortunately, the flame wasn't out, slowly starting to latch itself onto the blanket. Still, Rosie didn't notice, and she might not until it was too late.

Ellie watched at the flame grew. Rosie would notice. Rosie would notice. The fire's long tongues lapped greedily at the cotton comforter. Soon enough, it grew from just the edge and towards the center. Panic filled her chest as she began to slowly scoot away from the fire. It felt so warm as it longed to envelop her soft and very flammable form. Ellie shook where she lay, close to the edge of the opposite side of the bed. She had two choices. Make herself known, or make the risk of falling off the bed and be left behind in the fire.
As the embers grew closer, the elephant realized she didn't have a choice.
"ROSIE!"

Rosie had just caught a whiff of what was going on, the smoke confusing her as she turned to look. That's when Ellie called out. Rosie was shocked, to say the least, but she obviously didn't have the time to process. She ducked under the table, grabbing her emergency fire kit. She ripped it open, pulling out the fireproof blanket. In a moment, the fire was being smothered, Rosie focusing all her attention on that for now. She didn't really have the energy to deal with this and haunted talking toy at the same time, so she didn't.
She would be dealing with that soon enough, and she'd seen enough horror movies to know what she had to do.

Ellie stayed where she was, hoping Rosie might have thought it was her imagination. Okay, probably not. Rosie was too smart for that. The bed shook as the woman began aggressively patting down the bed with the fire blanket. The elephant had to do what she could to both stay away from the flame as well as not get knocked onto the floor. Well, that didn't exactly work. She had been close to the edge already, and the bed moving around made her tumble down the comforter and onto the floor. It was a harder landing than when she had fallen on the rug yesterday.

Rosie soon had the fire completely out, breathing heavily from the sheer panic that was beginning to set in. Her house had almost caught on fire, and her toy just fucking spoke to her. She had seen Ellie falling off the bed, breath catching in her throat. In a moment, Rosie was silently grabbing the metal baseball back she kept by the bedside in case of intruders, taking small, hesitant steps to peer around at the elephant on the floor. She didn't say anything, looking terrified with a pale white face and wide eyes.

Ellie fought the temptation to stay still. To stay silent. But again, Rosie was too smart to not know what she heard. She wanted to move, rub at the spot where she landed, but that also wasn't wise. The elephant was not about to give the woman an excuse to hit her. What was she to say? 'I've been alive this whole time, looking after you since you were a child?' Of course not. 'Do not be afraid?' How could Rosie not be after all these years since they last spoke? Then, she had an idea. She began to recite one of the old fairy tales she used to tell. Whenever Rosie was so worked up from crying, the elephant made up new and happy stories on the spot to calm her down.
"Once upon a time, there was a beautiful maiden most knew as 'Darling.' She did in fact have a proper name, but preferred this one as it made her feel special. It had been given to her by one of her dearest friends by the name of Rosie. The two often had adventures together, laughed all day, smiled through the night. One day, the two sat underneath their favorite tree and watched the clouds pass by. Darling had even remembered to bring a bag of sweets for them to share as they watched the sky… Upon one of the chocolates having one left, the two were such good friends that they split it in half, giggling to themselves. There were horses, hot air balloons… even an elephant…"
Ellie had to keep from giving a sad smile. She had added herself into the story in a way all those years ago, just to make Rosie smile. Ellie had always been shown favoritism. Stars, if she ever met Darling again, she'd have to thank her for the lack of jealousy between them.

(I imagined it from this:)
(Ellie: Once upon a time, there was a princess named Rosie-)
(Rosie: No… not about me. Those aren't true. One about someone else…?)
(Ellie: If that's what you want. Alright… I've got another story I can tell you. Once upon a time, there was a beautiful maiden most knew as Darling…)

(eee)

Rosie hadn't come any closer, as if she was waiting for Ellie to do something. She wanted to believe she'd heard it all in her head, that the stress of the day and the fire had freaked her out too much. She was completely ready to just… forget everything that had happened. Then, though, Ellie started talking again. She stiffened, grip tightening on the baseball bat. Toys aren't supposed to be able to talk.
Still… Rosie felt the tug of her memories as she inadvertently listened to Ellie. She… she remembered this. Whenever she was upset, she… She'd make stories like this while holding onto Ellie. But… no, those weren't the memories, that's what she interpreted them as. The memories were of Ellie doing it, like she was now.
The story was having the same effect as it had so long again, slowly calming Rosie down from the panic and fear of before. She set the baseball bat on the bed, slowly making her way to where Ellie had fallen. Kneeling down, she moved to pick Ellie up, her hands hesitating before actually touching the elephant.
"E-Ellie..?"

(Ellie looked up and asked the question that had been on her mind a while. "Why is it you don't enjoy stories about yourself?" Rosie looked down at the elephant with a sigh before snuggling into the toy further. "Father makes it all about himself. I don't wanna be anything like him. He hurts people…")

Ellie nearly stuttered in her story telling seeing Rosie's grip tighten on the bat. Then, she saw he woman's fear melt away. Oh thank the stars that this was working. If not… she didn't know what else she would have done besides… no. Not that. That probably would have made Rosie cry if she remembered that.
Upon being picked up, Ellie hummed. "Yes…?" she asked hesitantly, her form still mostly limp. The elephant didn't want to spook Rosie too much.

(I- oh jeez, that hit me right in the heart…)

Rosie looked to be on the verge of tears anyway, but there was a small smile on her lips.
"I-it's been a long time since I've heard one of your stories…" The woman chuckled weakly, unable to keep herself from pulling Ellie into a hug. She shuddered done, leaving against the bed and curling around Ellie like she had when she was younger. A few tears slipped down, but Rosie was still smiling as she hugged Ellie close.

Ellie spread her arms as wide as she could to embrace the woman holding her. "I know… I… didn't want to say anything since you probably forgot I could speak and… well, it never seemed to make you believe I wasn't still there for you," she explained softly. It was then that she could hear the tell-tale signs of tears. "Please… no need to cry. I'm here. I'll always be here," she whispered, both comforting herself and Rosie the best she could.

Rosie sniffled some, rubbing her tears away with one since as she smiled still.
"I… I didn't forget," Rosie said quietly. "I just… Well, I guess I just stopped believing this was real." Rosie looked… Genuinely relieved now, even if a few tears kept escaping.
"I'm so sorry…"

Ellie shook her head quickly. "No, no. Don't be. You've had it harder than you should have to deal with. I'm… actually proud of how strong you've become," the elephant added, nuzzling closer to Rosie. The woman had her own apartment, had good grades still, and managed to work with her father somehow. Well, with was quite generous of a word.

"That's no excuse, Ellie." Rosie's weak smile dropped just a touch as she pulled her head away to look down at Ellie. "You know, you're a big part of why I was able to become this way." Rosie put her hand on the back of Ellie's head now, so much like when she was younger.
"I don't think I would have made it if I didn't have you and the others to help me."

Ellie felt honored to hear such words from the human she loved so dearly. "Somehow, I think you would have. It would have been in a different way maybe, but I believe in you," she hummed, easing into Rosie's gentle touch. "I'm also the way I am because of you. I couldn't just let you cry alone all those years…"

Rosie couldn't keep the soft smile off of her face as she and Ellie talked. It had ages, and it felt so good. It let her forget who had given Ellie to her, why she had felt so s as looking at the elephant before.
"That does sound right," Rosie said, happy to be holding Ellie in her arms like this. "We're affected by everyone we interact with, after all." Rosie giggled some, calming down most completely. "Thank you for being here for me for so long…"

Ellie gave a small laugh in return. "Thank you for being so wonderful to be around," she replied in turn.
It was funny how the thanks was phrased. As if Ellie had the ability to leave Rosie. No. She could never. In the relationship of toy to human, only the owner could leave. It was what most began to fear as they were tossed aside, kept in attics, or handed down. It's why older toys lost their smiles.
Ellie couldn't have ever left Rosie. She owed her happiness to the woman. It was all she could give. And like a fool, the plush toy believed it would last forever.

Rosie couldn't help but rub her fingers through Ellie's fur, a small hum of content coming out. She wasn't thinking about how looking at Ellie made her gut drop and her teeth clench from the memories, or how the elephant had come to be a kind of mother figure to her. How now that she knew the truth about her mother, she couldn't bear Ellie for long.
For now, all she was thinking about was how good it was to be talking to an old friend.
"It is easy enough, with someone like you as a role model."

(requested boop)

( @Painted-Iris-will-try-and-be-on-more the requested tag)

(Hhh)

(I've reread everything aha, let's do this)

Rosie couldn't help but rub her fingers through Ellie's fur, a small hum of content coming out. She wasn't thinking about how looking at Ellie made her gut drop and her teeth clench from the memories, or how the elephant had come to be a kind of mother figure to her. How now that she knew the truth about her mother, she couldn't bear Ellie for long.
For now, all she was thinking about was how good it was to be talking to an old friend.
"It is easy enough, with someone like you as a role model."

Ellie let her hands come up to her cheeks. "Stop, you'll make me blush," she said before eventually leaning into the woman's touch. Ah, she could get reused to this. Everything would open up again. They would talk like they used to. Maybe not play little games like before, but they could be together still. Maybe watch a movie again, like the night before. Keeping a good sleep schedule of course. That would be best.