[Gift] Collection Perfection

She could hardly wait. Excitement and anticipation had been building over the course of the last two weeks so much that the young bun felt ready to explode. It was an hour past noon now and she'd run out of things to occupy her mind. The house had been cleaned, laundry put away, and a few decorations had even been moved around. She sat on the couch, hands wrapped around a cup of tea that she'd even taken the time to breshly brew. A brand new package was due today and the expected delivery was set for that afternoon, but as the minutes ticked by she grew even more restless. Strawberry tipped tail flicked side to side as she took a sip of her drink. An idea occurred to her then as she stared into the faintly pink drink- what if she painted her nails? Granted, they were already her signature red, but between removing the old paint and doing something new, that was bound to take a while!

Freshly invigorated and determined to extend her patience, she abandoned the drink on the coffee table and rushed to her room to look through a small collection of nailpolish. In the end, she couldn't bring herself to stray away from the red, but she did decide to try her hand at some designs. After the initial bright red was laid down, she picked out a few nails to detail a few yellow seeds onto. Then came the challenge- attempting a few leaves on the middle one. Turns out nail art was about as difficult as one would expect. It turned out a little messy and didn't actually resemble leaves at all. But she wasn't going to give up! In the middle of trying to save it, there came a knock at the door. Fresita had been so caught up in her nail art that the sound caught her by surprise at first. Confusion was written on her space but for a moment before it dawned her on— the package!

As quickly as she could, she screwed the caps back onto the polishes and blew on the wet nails all the way to the door. On the other side stood none other than Ryder— a bun so familiar they had practically become friends.  No one knows her slight addiction to mystery boxes more than him. After all, he's the one stuck delivering them!

"Another package, Fresita?"

"How'd you guess?"

The two shared a laugh as she signed for it and let out a quiet squeal once it was in her hands. "You sound even more excited than usual. Can I ask what you ordered?" His only answer for the moment was an enthusiastic nod as she waved him inside. Technically, entering her home was probably against the rules of his job, but she gave him permission so surely that was fine... Right?

"So the other day I got bored and was looking through some stores, right? Well there was this one that had some really cute things! Like, there was this little ceramic tea set with apples and flowers and they even had some matching silverware for it. I was so tempted to buy it. Anyway, one of the employees mentioned something about having online exclusive stuff so I decided to go home and check it out before I bought anything and oh my gosh I'm so glad I did!" During her little story, she'd grabbed a pair of scissors and carefully opened the box. Inside was another, smaller box surrounded by paper packaging. The outside advertised a glass company that Ryder hadn't heard of before. Then again, he wasn't exactly versed in these things to begin with. As she continued telling her story, going on about how the item wasn't that expensive but she definitely wouldn't have had the money for it if she bought anything else at the store, she gingerly took out the object of much excitement. Inside was an adorable glass sculpture of a strawberry plant curled into the shape of a heart. At the base were a few other vines and leaves twisting around for extra flourish.

"Isn't it amazing?!"

Ryder gazed at it in earnest. The craftsmanship did appear to be spectacular and the coloring was both vibrant but translucent enough to display the beauty of the glass. "Ohh... That's really pretty. Another piece for the collection, I'm guessing?"

"Uh-huh!" With a wide smile, she walked over to a shelf in the living room and placed it in an empty spot on an otherwise crowded shelf. "Come over here! I got some other things too since you last came over! Like this here- I went to the toy fair the other day and found this giant stuffed strawberry! They had more so of course I needed to get two. And then this one right here is a plush too, but if you unzip it— it's a rabbit! Look, the ears have little seeds!"

Her friend could only chuckle as he listened to her go on about all her recent findings. He didn't mind, it was fun the way she got so excited about her collection of strawberry themes items. It ranged anywhere between clay models, a basket of crocheted berries, a few plastic toys, even a little stress ball! And now this glass sculpture was to be added to the mix. Truthfully, he really should be going. He was still on the clock and any longer would definitely make his remaining deliveries late... but in the end he simply lacked the heart to cut her short.

"And this one is also crochet!" She had just picked up what looked to be a flower pot with a strawberry plant and flowers blooming from it. "Turns out there's a ton of crocheted stuff. Actually..." she looked back to her shelf, "I'm probably going to have to rearrange this again so I can put them all together." A short pout crossed over her features as she thought on it. But just within moments she was struck with realization. "Oh my gosh! I'm keeping you here, aren't I? I'm so sorry, you're supposed to be working! Go go go! Get moving!"

Ryder laughed and tried to reassure her that it was alright, but she was already gently shoving him to the door and scolding him for not telling her to stop sooner. With a quick little goodbye, he was out the door, carrot shaped satchel in hand and a wide smile on his face. "It was good seeing you again, Fresita! I'm expecting even more by the next time, okay?"