[Hana] Bun's Best Friend

“Turnip, you prick! Get back here!”

If Rabebes had mouths, Hana could imagine that it would be sticking its tongue out at her right now, but all she could see were narrowed eyes that were leering at her. The message was loud and clear though: the rabbit did not respect her, and the feeling was mutual.

The little guy had actually been living with Hana for maybe a few months now, having been passed to her by a friend of a friend that she couldn’t talk her way out of, even if she knew next to nothing about taking care of imps. From there, she learned that imps actually didn’t need to be taken care of, per se (they didn’t need to eat, sleep, or breathe, after all), so the Bebe became something more like an annoying shadow than anything else. Turnip had been more in her face at the start, seemingly demanding things (food?), but the bun wasn’t keen on spending for it. Carats were tight, and again she felt like he was roped into this out of guilt more than anything else. Why go over the bare minimum? At least here the Bebe was safe and had a roof over its head.

Of course, Hana figured after some time that this imp was used to more coddling than the bun was willing to give. After unsuccessful pestering, Turnip seemed to get the memo of just doing its own thing. However, in recent weeks it had been acting out again, knocking things over and running around suddenly, making Hana lose her footing and shout in surprise. The dastardly imp seemed to be having fun with it too!

So today, after ranting about it to the friend that was responsible for her dilemma, she decided she was going to cave: it was time to put in more effort.

And that started off with treats, because after being basically ignored for a number of weeks, she was told that she really had to start somewhere with rebuilding their relationship (why was this already sounding like such a chore? She wasn’t wooing another bun!) But she was too nice to kick it out, so…

That was how the current situation came about: Turnip managed to swipe the treat bag from Hana and was now running for its life, hopping and dashing through furniture, seemingly mocking her the whole way (that was the bun’s interpretation). The Rabebe ended up underneath the couch; somewhere she couldn’t reach even in her doll form, so she crossed her arms tight and pouted.

“You can’t even open that bag without my help, you know.”

It was mostly silence that met her along with some rustling and crinkling of paper and plastic. For perhaps a minute or two, neither party moved. After that, Hana let out a heavy sigh.

“Come on, Turnip. Be a good imp and I’ll give you a treat.”

There was a pause before she saw two white eyes staring from underneath the cabinet. The Rabebe then came out fully, bag in hand. It even sat in front of her! Pleasantly surprised, she followed on her promise, gently taking the treat bag, opening it, and then presenting the sesame biscuit to the imp. The imp took it and nibbled on it, very much happy with the food. She patted its head, even if there was some dust on it.

“I’ll try to be good from now on, so let’s start fresh, okay?”

Turnip looked up at her and somehow seemed to understand, letting out a little squeak before continuing to eat. Hana smiled, thinking that this might not be so bad after all.