It was cold. Not to mention that he was soaked to the very core, and unsurprisingly angry. How or why exactly he was nearly killed - in fact, he had just scraped death - by a waterfall was entirely beyond him. Aside from the fact that a quite pesky Lorax admitted to putting him in the river, the Once-ler was happy he had survived. It took a great amount of work to retrieve his bed and get it back in to his home, but by the time it was all over he was more ready than ever to sleep. And sleep he had as well. Exhaustion took him over quickly and lasted throughout the night. He had even failed to noticed a plethora of forest animals taking residence in and on his bed, along with various other places around his small pop-up cottage.
He had, however, noticed in the morning. With narrow, frustrated blue eyes he scanned each surface of the room. There was not a single inch that had not been touched by some furry, feathery or scaly beast.
"-are they doing here?!" the Once-ler incongruously growled questions at the small, furry orange guardian which had decided it was best to sleep directly next to him in his already too-small bed. The tall, lanky entrepreneur was already concocting a tense headache and he had not even been awake for more than a few minutes.
'There really is no escaping these assholes is there?' he thought while truthfully examining the damage which had been done to his household items, and, in retrospect, his household. It was going to take a lot of sanitizing before he was happy with the place. Not that he minded much; his mother - just the thought of her made him shudder - would always make him clean their family's messes. It would make him feel useful at best, and that was something.
At least his feelings were coming back. It would take a while, but...it was a start.
After a bit of a free show for the inscrutable creatures which had so rudely invaded his home, the Once-ler was ready to sell his flawless product; the Thneed. With his first made wrapped carefully around his neck, which displayed one of its universal forms of a scarf, he yanked his guitar in to his grip and slammed the door shut, leaving that sea of faces inside.
The trip down to the village was just as his lengthy travels before; a pleasant day, the sun shining, the air clear and easy to breathe. He almost did not want the journey to stop, but he knew he had a mission; sell this thing and make a purpose for himself. And so, it was with optimism and grace(or at least as much grace as his insufferably long legs would allow him to contain) that he trolled to town square and set up his stand.
The streets were heavy with populous. It seemed to be such a small town from the outside, but there were so many residents and that intimidated him. A small voice inside his head told him to turn back and give up; to accept defeat; to realize his mistake and asses it properly. For a moment he almost considered listening to the cruel tone which he knew all too well, but by an inspirational glance at the beautifully crafted artifact around his neck, he knew he could not give in so easily. That was the simple way out, and he was tired of taking that route.
He was tired of being weak.
"Alright Melvin," he murmured to the young mule while stroking its muzzle, "I'm going to sell my Thneed today. It's time for me to change the world, single-handedly. Are you ready for this?"
The animal simply stared back at him, huffing in disapproval. He ignored it and whipped around on the balls of his feet, staring at the sign he had constructed and the space he cleared under the gazebo to host his demonstrations. With one hand on his breaking acoustic guitar, he sighed heavily and sucked in his composure.
"Let's do this, Oncie."
He is coming.