Oh look, a quest! Round two (now with results!)

THEN I'LL GO OUT BACK AND I'LL GET MY GUN
I'LL SAY "YOU HAVEN'T MET ME, I AM THE ONLY SON."
He didn’t see any movement in his immediate vicinity, but he did keep hearing a faint humming of some unknown nonsensical tune. It was rather irritating to say the least. But he would ignore it for the time being; he had more important things to accomplish at the moment. He hooked his front legs over the lip of the box and began to pull himself over it (vaguely he realized that his legs were an absurd green color). Munroe had no other choice but to make the estimated foot drop onto the plushy carpeted floor beneath him.

He jumped with a poorly executed tuck-and-roll maneuver and ended up landing on one of his sides. All of the air in his lungs whooshed out and his side ached terribly, but he was at least free of his rectangular prison. His relief was short-lived when a sudden high-pitched screech rent through the air and he was suddenly unable to control his limbs as if he had been put under some kind of body-binding curse.

He was now imprisoned within his own body.

The source of all that earlier humming and the following horrible scream revealed itself to be a young girl. Cascading blonde curls adorned her head beneath a dainty golden tiara and vivid blue eyes gleefully took in the sight of the wonderful new addition to her toy collection. Princess Nerissa would not be completely satisfied until she owned a real life pony, but she would make do with this lovely offering in the meantime.

At first glance, Nerissa appeared to be a sweet and adorable little girl. But Munroe didn’t trust that malicious gleam in her eyes or the wicked tilt to one side of her mouth. All the dimples in the world couldn’t completely hide the cruelty hidden within Princess Nerissa. The largest feeling of foreboding rose up inside his chest and he could not contain his pained attempt at a whimper. He desperately wanted to be back home safe and sound with Ima right about now.

“Did you come to play with me, pony!? First let’s do something about that awful hair. Why did mommy and daddy pick out such an ugly colored pony too? You look like puke or smelly baby poop. Maybe I can fix that too!

Princess Nerissa leaned down with her sticky little hands and Munroe tried to futilely brace himself. He was unprepared for the tight, squeezing hold she kept on his torso, especially after he had just taken a rather solid impact to his one side. Although he was frozen, relegated to a mere statue really, he still felt the intense pressure on his sides and he struggled to burst free of his caged self to no avail.

She briefly set him down on the delicate gold and white dressing table while she began shift through various drawers until she found what she had been looking for – a pair of scissors she had hidden after taking them from the junk drawer in the kitchen. This was Nerissa’s favorite barbershop tool to use on all of her most favored toys. She also located her assortment of colored permanent markers for later cosmetic surgery.

All Munroe can do is lay there in horrified silence, unable to even twitch in discomfort.

She began her obnoxious humming once again while she picked both the scissors and her beloved pony up in each one of her hands. Hazel eyes stared indignantly at the floor while large chunks of blue-black hair fell carelessly downwards in a mocking fluttering little dance. Nerissa gasped as the scissors slightly slipped from her loose grip and scratched into his plastic skin which left behind an obvious mar to his previously unmarked body. Both his mane and tail have now been cut to match the big, ugly American Doll from earlier. All that remained were sad little tufts of shorn hair aligning his neck and rump – a brand new haircut via Princess Nerissa.

She then picked up a neon pink permanent marker and started to draw squiggly lines and an assortment of shapes upon his entire body. Munroe supposed that his haircut wasn’t enough humiliation for the day. He hated her constant touch; he had always shied away from strangers his entire short life. Only Ima had been allowed into his life and only Ima could handle him with the familiarity that this child had the audacity to instigate.

He hated every minute of this awful experience and he hated Princess Nerissa with a burning passion. Munroe thought that this was the most hatred he had ever felt for someone in his life. Distrust and wariness was of his nature, but hatred was a facet he had yet to venture into. He wanted to hurt this child in revenge for himself and all the other battle-scarred toys in the toy box prison. He even included Miss American Doll in his thoughts of revenge; he was certain she was only that much of a bully due to her own abuse from the so-called lovely princess.

“The pink only made you uglier! How could that even happen?” Nerissa wailed over her failed attempt at covering his green skin. She didn’t understand why it hadn’t worked; pink was her favorite color after all. Pink fixed everything. She looked at him in disgust before carrying him into the attached bathroom. Nerissa turned on the hot water in the sink and plunged the bedraggled-looking toy beneath its scalding spray. She vigorously tried to rub the permanent marker off of Munroe’s skin but it hadn’t been named permanent maker for just any reason.

Munroe was drowning. His sides hurt and his lungs were on fire. He was still frozen, unable to close his eyes to protect them from the burning stream of water. He felt as if his skin was literally melting beneath the onslaught of heat and roughly scrubbing hands. Luckily, his water torture was cut short when Princess Nerissa became distracted by a sudden thump in her bedroom. She hurriedly left the sink to investigate this strange noise.

A fluffy white poodle had knocked over her tea tray which had held an assortment of sweets and a cup of hot chocolate and was currently gorging herself with as much sweets as possible. Nerissa screamed and threw the closest thing she had at the stupid dog, which just so happened to be Munroe. He went flying through the air, weightless but full of suppressed fear and adrenaline. Maybe this would give him an opportunity to make his escape from the devil in disguise.

He hit Georgette with a resounding thud and fell once again on the same side he had damaged earlier. The poodle wasted no time in becoming distracted by this missile and quickly snatched Munroe up by his head. But Princess Nerissa was having none of that. She would not allow the stupid dog to deprive her of her new favorite play thing. She rushed over to Georgette and grabbed a hold of his supposedly puke-green torso – a tug-of-war ensured. Poodle and princess fought valiantly but ultimately it would result in a tragedy.

Munroe’s head was encased in sharp canines which pushed into his hollow plastic body viciously. But his body and head felt like they were being slowly pulled into two and the pressure was agonizing. He screamed but the only ones who could hear were the toys in the box prison; they huddled in fear with their ears covered and their heads filled with guilty thoughts of thank goodness it wasn’t them this time.

His agony ended with a resounding pop.

His head remained in the gleeful Georgette’s mouth.

His body was held in a disbelieving Nerissa’s hand.

Now he felt distant and detached. An underlying ache remained unmovable within his soul, but his sense of touch was now divided between two separate pieces. This somehow dulled his pain to a manageable level and Munroe felt as if he were floating in a void of denial. He honestly didn’t even want to acknowledge what had just transpired.

Princess Nerissa was furious and finally managed to steal her toy’s head back before running to her Mommy frantically. Angry tears rolled down her face as she screamed for her mother. “Look what Georgette did, Mommy! Fix it! Right Now!” Her mother took in her darling girl’s tear-stained face and cooed soothingly to her little princess. She took Munroe’s broken body and attempted to repeatedly jam his head back onto his body. Finally, his head seemed to pop back on, but it was rather stilted and lop-sided and Princess Nerissa decided he was much too ugly to begin and not worth her precious time anymore.

She flounced off in disgusted huff which left Munroe abandoned by the little terror.

With his head reattached, his senses seemed to have realigned and his pain is full-frontal once again. All he can do is close his eyes in exhaustion as mommy dearest carelessly tossed him into the nearest trash can. For her, he was one in a long line of broken and discarded toys to be thrown away. But Munroe will never forget that feeling of heartless abandonment. Life seemed to be taken for granted when it came to these odd beings. It was different for a toy. No matter how roughly mishandled they were, all they had to live for was the child they had been gifted to. Their only goal in life was to please their child.

But Munroe had been abandoned by his master.

It was like being abandoned by Ima.

Now he had no one who loved him in his life.

He was only good for keeping the shredded paper, dust bunnies, and rotting table scraps company.

MUNROE
-- and now I am sure my heart can never be still

I call her the devil
cause she makes me wanna sin

“Ummm… what now?” Shaytan turns to look at the yellow man, but he is stiff and lifeless again, arms and claws stuck holding up the lid, eyes gazing blankly out at the room. Fuck. She is all alone. She is all alone and she has a feeling that the thing across the room (the giant thing with golden curls which is brushing, brushing, brushing them) is not going to be so nice.

Why else would the toys want to stay asleep?

Unfortunately for Shaytan, the yellow man in his frozen state, cannot hold the toybox lid open. The top snaps shut, flinging the yellow man back into the darkness and pushing her forward, off her precariously balanced plastic forelegs and slamming her abdomen onto the rim. She squeals in surprise and pain, but apparently no one can hear her anymore. No one can hear her scream… but someone did hear the sound of the lid falling shut and flies around, eyes wide. “Who’s there?!” Nerissa demands impetuously, eyes narrowing in the sinister way that only a spoiled, demon child can. “Sebastian, is that you? I TOLD you, you aren’t allowed in my room unless I say so! Especially on my BIRTHDAY. And not during the party!” Shaytan holds oh-so-still, not realizing that as she is plastic, the girl cannot see her breathe.

It is futile. Nerissa sees Shaytan and in a heartbeat, her demeanor changes. The girl’s crazy eyes go wide with excitement and she squeals in joy. “Ooooh! You’re the perfect pony for my pretty pretty princess!” Nerissa fies from her seat and grabs Shaytan, yanking her fully ou tof the toybox. Plastic can’t bruise, but if it could, Shaytan’s knees would be hurting. Her hands are hot and tight and Shaytan feels like she is suffocating in their tight grasp. Not to mention the sudden realization that she is afraid of heights… while traveling a great rather quickly and a great deal above the floor. But her mouth won’t open so she can scream, and in that moment of Oh god oh god ohgod ohgod I can’t breath I can’t move Imgoingtodiehere, Shaytan imagines that her heart has burst from pounding too hard, and she loses consciousness.

For all her murderous tendencies, it appears Shaytan is more of a coward at heart.

The pretty pony isn’t out for long; she wakes to the sound of ”CHAAAAAARGE!!!!, and finds a Disney Princess barbie perchd precariously atop her back. Luckily, she isn’t the one charging - no, it is a buff, muscular, man in army fatigues who has the honor of running full force into a chipped and one-eyed T-rex. The dinosaur roars, according to Nerissa, and the two toys slam together with a resounding CRASH! Nerissa hits them together a couple of times for good measure, and then delivers a killing bite from the jaws of the T-rex. It is so violent that Ken’s head pops off and goes rolling away. She can’t hear the moans and groans of the toys, but Shaytan can. She can hear Ken faintly pleading for the girl to stop, and she can hear the T-rex apologizing profusely, and she can hear the Princess praying that she isn’t next.

Unfortunately for Shaytan, they are indeed, next, as she realizes from Nerissa’s narration… “But it seems that the Princess’s pony is magical, and it is brave! And it decides that it must save it’s precious Princess from the very scary dinosaur! ROOOAAARRRR!!!” Uh-oh. Shaytan doesn’t know how to fight! She can’t do anything except kill the bunnies and mock fight her brother. She’s going to be decimated by the T-rex! And of course, Princess is no help. She’s too busy alternating between praying and worrying about Ken to offer any advice. Nerissa makes Shaytan buck Princess off anyway, as the ‘loyal, brave little pony attacks!’

The dinosaur comes at her with tiny little stubby arms and lots of teeth and headbuts her, sending Shaytan (in Nerissa’s hand) head over heels into the air. It leaves a dark green scuff on head. Shaytan lands hard, but bounces back, neighing and challenging the T-Rex she runs back up to it, and climbs up its front, just to jump on its head. The ‘jumping’ chips a bit of color off the bottom of her hooves. Apparently it must do the trick, because the T-rex suddenly falls over, and Shaytan is prancing over its dead body while Princess decides she must give Pony a kiss, because he was so brave during the fight.

Whether or not Shaytan is supposed to turn into a Prince, we’ll never know, because of a well-timed interruption.

“Nerissa! Come see what Mommy made you for your birthday!” A pleasant voice echoes up the stairs, and the girl stops what she is doing. “Oooh! Mommy, did you make cupcakes?!” she yells back, dropping the toys to the floor. In her haste to get downstairs to some scrumptious cupcakes, she flails a bit, and kicks Shaytan one way and Princess the other. Shaytan ends up under the bed, completely hidden by a pale pink bed skirt. Oh thank god, she thinks, it’s over. She won’t find me here. I can escape later… But every scuff and missing bit of paint is a wound, and perhaps it would be better for her to rest awhile… recover her energy.Yes, she thinks, little yellow man’s words echoing in her head... you’re small… maybe Nerissa won’t find you... It was dark, like the toybox. Dark equals safe in Shaytan’s poor, deluded mine. And with that, she nods off to slip, the adrenaline of everything that happened before slipping away, which leaves her absolutely exhausted.

Shaytan doesn’t know how long she’s slept (the light is the same under the bed - dark and cool), but she is once again woken up by terrible monstrosity of a noise! She can’t hear Mommy’s voice over the deafening rumble, but if she could, she might hear, “Just a quick clean before your friends get here, Ris. I’ll be out in just a second!” No, then she might welcome the massive, long tube that is violently shoved under the bed and catches her hair. She screams as it yanks her backwards, dragging her mane and tail in and upward, and begins to friction burn away the layers of her head. The beast now thunders in a more high-pitched manner, and the smell of burning rubber makes Mommy stop the machine.

“Alllllright… what do we have this time?” she mutters to herself as she bends down to see what small toy the vacuum cleaner has tried to gobble up this time? Suddenly, Shaytan sees nothing but blinding daylight again, as the vacuum is turned upside down for inspection. “Aha! - NERISSA!” she demands towards the door, “NERISSA! What did I say about your small toys? Come here and put them in the box.” Meanwhile, her sharp, neatly filed nails are pulling at Shaytan, trying to disengage her and her mane/tail from the vacuum roller. She yanks. Hard. Every tug frees Shaytan up a little, but it comes at a price - she can feel the strands of hair being tugged out one by one, or sometimes in several clumps. It is excruciating. Mommy, however, is hell bent on getting the toy out of the vacuum, and doesn’t have any time to run downstairs to get the sharp (adult friendly) scissors to cut the pony out. A final, vicious yank pulls everything out - and now Shaytan is left with a gaping hole where her tale used to be, and an empty line that runs from her forehead to the base of her neck. It seems to Shaytan as if she might poop her innards out, but only after her head spits in two from the jagged dagger of pain that is cutting into her.

She is no longer the pretty pony.
Now she is no longer useful to Nerissa.

Mommy hears the sound of the doorbell and places the hairless pony on top of the bed and exits the room with the vacuum cleaner in tow. The guests are arriving and there is no more time to clean - the children won’t care anyway, it’s just something for her peace of mind. While the party guests are arriving downstairs, Shaytan is involved in a struggle of her own. On the very same bed that she’s lying on is a ratted old stuffed animal, and when Mommy is gone, Shaytan makes an effort to communicate with it. “Please… please help me. I can’t… it hurts so much…” The bear makes a shushing, soothing noise (he is good at this, he ‘comforts’ Nerissa every night), but does not move. “Don’t worry, little one… it’ll all be over soon. Be happy you have the easy way out. ”

He was speaking from experience. Was it not better to get death over and done with in one fell swoop? Rather than linger through the years, slowly growing old and fading away, watching all your fellow toys die horrible deaths and break from old age? He would see it all, and he would never be able to help any of them. In the end, he might be put up in the attic as an old keepsake, a fond childhood memory - and there the moths and mice would come for him, and he would be forgotten.

Yes, Shaytan’s ending was better.

”No…” she groans, struggling to stand through the splitting pain, “No end. Not yet.” Where was Straia? If this is the end, she has to tell Straia that she loves her. She has to do something about the Dale rabbits. she has to…

The door bursts open and Nerissa enters again, this time followed by another girl, who is also dressed as a Princess for their Princess Party. She is in mid-sentence, saying “- and I want to show you my new magical pony who beat the monster!” It takes a moment of her searching on the ground before she looks elsewhere, and finally spots the maroon colored Shaytan atop her pink comforter. “There it - OH NO!!” Nerissa rushes over, and grabs her pony, turning it over and over in disbelief that it is now mane and tail-less. Olivia, her friend, pipes up. “I don’t see what’s so magical about it. It doesn’t even have a sparkly mane like mine…” Nerissa sighs, knowing that Liv is right. “Yeah, I know… well… what do you want to do now?”

Olivia’s face lights up with a very, very bad idea. “I know… My brother was seeing how hot is has to be for things to melt for his science class. Let’s see if this pony melts!”

“Oooooh. Yeah! Our mommies are outside. Let’s see if we can sneak into the kitchen.” They giggle and grab hands and Shaytan is once again subjected to her fear of heights… which is only a small, small ordeal compared to what is going to come next.

Shaytan is quivering inside when they tie a piece of string around her plastic neck. The gas stove clicks on and she is dangled above an open flame. It isn’t long before her hooves start to turn dark and smoke and twist into something unrecognizable. The pain spreads up her hind legs and Shaytan doesn’t even try to stop screaming, because no one can hear her. If someone had been able to, they wouldn’t have known that her cry for her own mother was the pinnacle of her pleading. It is a slow and agonizing death. Unfortunately, it isn’t until Nerissa and Olivia set off the fire alarm that the Mommies come running back in. By this time, Shaytan is half a smiling, twinkly-eyed, twisted hot lump of plastic, recognizable only by her face.

Shaytan

and every time she knocks
I can't help but let her in