"Calm down."
Dollface's breath came out as shaky as her body and whimpered like a puppy.
"Calm down." Ciel repeated.
Dollface's puppy whimper escaped again. He softened his grip.
She could feel his rings release from her thin, boney shoulders and rest cold, even through her school uniform.
She always thought school uniforms and rings for men were funny ideas.
Men who wore rings, even a simple wedding band, usually lost that particular finger in a columbine or other mind-bogglingly loud and large piece of farm equipment, meaning Josten's made bank on chains.
And school uniforms were equally unusual and frivolous concepts as well.
Wouldn't they get ripped to pieces in workshop classes or 4-H afterschool activities?
Never mind the stains!
You'll never get that cheap burger patty dripping with even cheaper ketchup tossed at you removed from the collective memory of the shirt's many fibers.
"Wren," he said, firm, "Open your eyes, I'm not going to kill you."
"Ya sure?"
She could hear her father roll his eyes as he sighed, "Why would I?"
Dollface tried to remember the feeling of how Laura had listened to all the wonderful things Dollface had to say, and opened her eyes, pushing herself from Ciel.
"I do believe that is quite enough sir." Sebastian calmly remarked, door open and waiting.
"Yes, I see." Ciel let go of his daughter's shoulders, fingers splaying.
Dollface followed them to the room…
...It was massive.
"We're in an apartment, right?" Dollface turned to look at them.
"Yes." Uncle Sebbie nodded, "Top floor, includes three lofts, a kitchen, dining room, servants quarters and enough bedrooms for your parents, your sister, any guests, and I."
"That's…" Dollface said, looking around the room, "Impressive, honestly."
"I've never been in a place with so many rooms."
"This one's yours." Ciel said, turning to leave, "I have to finish a few things across the city."
Dollface sat on the floor.
Pink carpet.
It matched the striped bed sheets on the gold wire frame bed and the heavy curtains on the window.
Or was that a door?
Dollface couldn't tell from here.
It would look perfect, like home, if she could find her teddy.
The golden toy would probably like sitting on such a nice bed.
Uncle Sebbie stalked around the room, large, beakish nose almost like a compass as he strutted.
"We have a nice stereo over here, try not to play it too loud when you're father is home, which is never, your closet, a makeup mirror if you feel so inclined, hair stuff, shoes and an entire rack of Black Label Rabbits."
Dollface looked up at him.
He was dizzyingly tall.
"Wait, isn't this just m'room taken from home?" Dollface asked.
"Well, yes." Sebastian said, "What gave it away?"
"Th'rabbits." Dollface said, "I've got an entire shelf back home, with sixteen rabbits exactly."
"Ah, so you see." Sebastian said, strutting like a bird to the slatted closet, "We managed to get most of your clothes in here, as well as shoes."
"But I live at St. Godiva's, shouldn't m'stuff be there?"
"No, not at all. Most weeks, you're there, but on breaks and the occasional weekend, you're here." Sebastian said, adding, "With us."
"Did they…" Dollface started, face turning down, voice lowering and deepening to its natural pitch, "Did they ever-"
"Find them?" Sebastian said, cutting her off.
Dollface nodded, bear's head sitting next to her. She brushed at its matting fur with her fingers covered in rings, trying to stay hopeful.
"No." Sebastian said, "They didn't."
"Oh."
"The most your father got out of it was suing for seventy-five thousand dollars for stealing his patented design." Sebastian said.
Dollface stood, bent over to grab the suit head by the ear and sat on her bed. Sebastian followed.
"He wanted to do so much more." Sebastian said, sounding almost sad, "He wanted justice brought down on the heads of the guilty and wanted some closure for those parents."
"Did Afton really stalk those kids for that long?" Dollface asked, looking to Sebastian.
Sebastian nodded.
Dollface looked at her shoes.
Then she counted her rings.
Three stackable ones given to her by Princess because she didn't like how they looked, a friendship ring from Izzy, one from Wolfie, two from Dolli Mae because they were too small, and one each from Thorne and String Bean.
Nine rings.
A stack of three on one hand, the corresponding ring finger adorned with a cheap heart bought three summers earlier and a pair of rings on her middle finger.
The rest were on her other hand.
She sighed.
"When's the last time you preened?"
"What?" Dollface looked up at Sebastian.
"When's the last time you preened?" He repeated.
Dollface blinked.
"I suggest you do it sometime soon." Sebastian said, "And it's best to do it before your sister gets here."