Of Bonfires and Teddy Bears
"And so the girl was trapped in the car with the escaped lunatic! In the morning all that was found of her was some teeth and a femur. With the flesh barely hanging on."
Everyone audibly swallowed, as the redhead finished her tale of the lunatic of the lake. The very same lake they were currently in the middle of. Mabel thought it would be cool if most of the town youth to have a big camping night on Scuttlebutt island, and actually managed to make it into a real party. Wendy and all her friends thought it'd be cool, Candy and Grenda loved the idea, and Pacifica managed to convince her servants to keep quiet about this to her parents when they came back from the alps. Although right now Mabel was clutching one of her stuffed animals in fear.
"Welp it's time for bed everyone!"
"But we could still-"
"See everyone in the morning!"
With that Mabel had crawled into her tent and zipped into her sleeping bag.
Soos had stopped to look at his watch.
"Whoa dudes, it's 2:30. Mabel's right we should head in if we want to wake up and be ready for the boat at 7."
Soos ended up being an unintentional chaperone for the trip, as Stan wanted to make sure his grandkids wouldn't get too mixed up in whatever those other teens were doing. They may be turning 14 soon but dammit they weren't ready for whatever those sixteen year olds were doing. Soos had taken this role very seriously as he separated any boys and girls getting too close by "Making room for Soos". Robbie and Tambry were not amused.
"Phft. Whatever."
Robbie, Tambry, and a few others stayed up; though everyone eventually turned in by the next hour.
During his attempts to sleep Dipper could swear he had heard something… but brushed it off as the wildlife, mostly so he could actually sleep. Still his body seemed hard pressed against resting and by 5 in the morning a very reluctant 13 year old had to answer nature's call. Taking care of it, he realized there was still an hour before they would start packing up and considered returning to his nice, cozy- wait is that Pacifica?
Sitting on one of the logs around the now distinguished campfire was a somewhat disheveled and groggy young heiress. A rare sight to be sure.
Dipper decided to quietly walk up to her like one would a frightened animal, knowing that he could very well scare her off accidentally. His footsteps were heard of course, but Pacifica was already aware of who it was as she heard him waking up. Immediately she decided he must be hungry and offered him what she'd been munching on.
"Hey Dipper, want a granola bar?"
He eyed it tentatively before muttering a "thanks"; taking it from her hand and sitting down on the ground next to her. Unwrapping it he took a bite and swallowed before asking:
"Didn't get much sleep last night?"
She responded with a light, playful kick in his back and a "humf" as he exhaled a bit in jest. He then stopped to get a better look at her face and the bags under her eyes, he hadn't seen her like this.
"Seriously though, everything alright? Was camping too uncomfortable?"
"It's fine Dipper, just couldn't sleep."
"Why though?"
Pacifica's face scrunched up in a look of deep thought before:
"I had a nightmare." came out in a soft mutter.
There was a subject he was familiar with, especially when one of the scariest monsters you've ever faced was a dream demon.
"Oh. Is it okay to ask what about?"
She looked at the ground in front of her and kicked away a pebble in the dirt.
"You know it helps when you talk about them with someone but if'd you'd rather-"
She saw him awkwardly trying to help and couldn't help herself, he was being so sweet and kind. It was actually pretty adorable. Wow, she must be deliriously tired.
"Alright, I'll tell you. Probably due to lack of sleep or the fact that you can keep a small secret, which you WILL keep. Got it?"
Dipper nodded.
"This is going to require a bit of a story, would you mind?"
He immediately shook his head no and leaned back onto the log, he was ready for this.
"It was my third birthday, and although my parents weregoing to throw me a big party to celebrate; they had their own party to get to. So instead on my birthday they said they were taking me somewhere as a surprise."
A tiny Pacifica in pigtails was wriggling in her seat looking out the window.
"When are we going to be there?"
*Ring Ring*
"Sorry Daddy I mean may I ask how much longer it will be?"
Preston quietly took a sip of his morning coffee, he didn't did look at the child for a moment just staring off looking distant. Her mother on the other hand was gazing into a mirror, admiring her makeup and smiling to herself.
"Dad-"
She shut her mouth as soon as she saw his hand headed towards his pocket. She already knew, a few more rings of that and she probably wouldn't get her surprise. She didn't get surprises that often, her Mom and Dad told her things beforehand and taught her how to be polite or who was important. Today was her birthday though so it had to be something nice.
The limo stopped and a butler opened the door for them.
"The mall?"
"Yes, Pacifica your surprise is in there." Her mother spoke whilst putting on a pair of sunglasses.
The little girl stepped outside and got into the walking position she had learned. She would be in front of her parents and walk slowly, yeah that was it…
The Northwest clan then proceeded to make their way into the shopping center with a servant in tow. The mall was weird today, there was usually more people. She was still confused until she heard the nice music.
"We'll be opening up soon folks! There's just the matter of one, VIP we have to take care of." A young lady announced as she stood in front of-
"Teddy Bear Factory?!"
Before the Northwests had the opportunity to reprimand their daughter the young lady took notice and walked over to the trio, bending down to speak with Pacifica.
"Hello there Birthday girl! Are you ready to have a ton of birthday fun?"
Her little eyes shone with excitement and replied with a happy yes. The lady then pulled out a lovely little birthday tiara for her to wear and she held her hand as she led them all into the store.
Pacifica's eyes darted all across the room, there were so many different little outfits, accessories, and colors. In the meantime Preston had been discussing details with the employee and then demanded that all the bears be lined up before his daughter for her choosing. Everyone stopped stocking and began grabbing the display bears on the wall and placed them in a half circle around the birthday girl.
"All right Pacifica, now you get to make the very first bear of the store. Which one do you like?"
It may have been the Teddy Bear Factory but there was all kinds of animals, in different colors and patterns. She started walking around the stuffed animals looking them over, as well as touching them to feel their fur. Then she saw it, the one she wanted.
"That one!"
She pointed at a soft looking white bunny with button eyes.
"Oh the Spring Time rabbit? That's a cute one."
She picked out the skin from a large barrel and took it to the stuffing machine, where she picked out a little velvet heart and stuffed it deep inside the bunny rabbit. After being stitched up she was told to look around and get any clothes she'd like for her new friend and to think of a name. Grabbing pajamas, dresses and bows for her bunny she thought of a name whilst dressing her.
"Hoppy."
"That's a great name for a jumpy little bunny."
She typed it into a small computer and got a birth certificate with the name printed in large letters.
"It looks like Hoppy's all set to go home with you now. Have a beary great birthday Pacifica!"
She curtsied for the nice lady that helped her out and her and her family went on their way. Preston did scold his daughter for being too friendly with the common folk, but the heiress was still happy with her little fuzzy friend.
So much so that she slept holding "Hoppy" close to her heart that night.
And the next night.
And for a month straight.
Until she was seven.
During those four years; Pacifica loved the stuffing out of Hoppy, dressing her up for special occasions, buying more and more clothes and accessories, and of course taking her to bed every night.
She held her whenever she was punished or yelled at, she was someone who would never be upset or disappointed like her parents. She was also something to hug, Pacifica really didn't get hugs from anyone since it was considered improper. During the last year though she noticed that her Mother asked to have the toys removed from her room, she was getting too old for them in her opinion. So she hid Hoppy and her clothes under a old floor board underneath her bed, to make sure that her favorite toy was safe.
It didn't last too long though, one night she had put her down for a second while she went to the bathroom. A butler had picked it up and was going to return it to her room when Preston who was walking by noticed it in the servants hands.
"PACIFICA ELISE NORTHWEST!"
She found herself in front of her very annoyed father who tsked at her.
"Now Pacifica, didn't your mother tell you to throw all your toys away."
"Yes."
"Then what were you doing with this hm?"
"I was just-"
"Disobeying orders. Disobeying orders is what you were doing young lady!"
"But-"
"How many times have we told you to not refer to posteriors in conversation?!"
"I know but-"
"See! You did it again! What did we tell you about disobeying orders?!"
"I-I-I…"
"Now you're mumbling and crying?! A Northwest never cries! That's it young lady you are grounded for two weeks!"
She gazed towards the ground too ashamed to look at him.
"Now, what to do about this…"
His eyes locked onto the fireplace. Pacifica pleaded at him with tear stained, but it was of no use.
He chucked Hoppy into the fire, all the while Pacifica tried and failed to hold in all her tears and sobs. That earned her another week of being grounded but she couldn't stop herself, one of the few things that gave her comfort in this world was now ashes.
Pacifica stayed quiet for a few seconds afterward while staring at the ashes of the bonfire. Dipper decided to wait until she spoke again, he knew how attached someone could get to their favorite toy. Mabel had taught him that much.
"That's what I dreamt about last night, the night that he threw her into the fire. If I had to guess what caused it, I guess your sister's stuffed animal being near the bonfire brought it back. I know it's kind of dumb to-"
Dipper climbed onto the log and looked at her straight in the eye.
"No it isn't. A lot of people have certain things they really like and it can be traumatic if you lose them. Heck if my sister was here she'd probably be bawling her eyes out."
"But isn't it-"
"There's nothing wrong with having a stuffed animal, heck every girl's room I've ever seen has a bunch of those on her bed."
"Wait. What girl's rooms have you been seeing?" she raised her brow suspiciously at him.
He blushed immediately.
"Not like that! I just have a couple cousins, and some of my friends have sisters, and sometimes I watch movies with Wendy at her place-"
She started laughing at his attempts to explain himself.
"Slow down, I was just messing with you, you big dork."
Dipper sheepishly smiled and the two burst into laughter.
"See don't you feel better talking about it?"
She looked at him in the eyes.
"Yeah, I have to admit I'm feeling better."
He smiled warmly at her before she turned away a moment:
"It would've helped if I still had Hoppy though. All I have left is her velvet heart, I found it a bit charred but intact when the fire was put out. It's better than nothing though."
She turned to see his concerned expression and hugged him, taking him by surprise at first till he caught on and hugged her back.
"Thank you Dipper… and thank you for not laughing or brushing my story off."
They were like that for a moment just sort of holding each other comfortably till...
"Make room for Soos!"
The two were then forcibly pushed apart by two big hands on their foreheads. Soos then sat down between them.
"So dudes, what were we talking about?"
The two young teens fumbled a moment before declaring that they were talking about how to best pack away all their gear and look at the time they needed to get started.
As they bolted off towards their tents and started packing, Soos smiled to himself.
"Sorry little dude, but my work here is done."
A week or so passed after their camping trip and Pacifica was now in the process of getting back home after a day of traveling to visit some dignitaries her parents wanted to impress, and getting scolded in private for messing up for the umpteenth time. All she wanted to do was go scream into her big-
She froze. Right there on top of her bed was the one thing she wasn't expecting at all today.
A fluffy white plush bunny from the Teddy Bear Factory was waiting for her, certificate and all. Except there was one thing out of place. A note.
She picked it up and began reading:
"Dear Pacifica:
After I heard about Hoppy I couldn't help myself when I saw this in the window of the Teddy Bear Factory. So I went in despite a few weird looks and brought back Hoppy 2.0! Unfortunately she's not complete just yet. She's missing something important, maybe you can figure out what it is? Also don't worry, your family's staff knows not to mess with her in anyway. So your secret is safe!
Take good care of her! From, Dipper"
She looked at the bunny to see any signs of incompleteness, realizing that her back was slightly open. She went to the old floorboard under her bed and pulled out the old burned heart and stuffed it inside the bunny.
She pulled the string and it closed up immediately, snipping the extra string off she was now complete.
She once again pressed the soft bunny close to her heart and shed a tear.
Who did this dork think he is, and when could she kiss him?