[NPC] Rest and Restraints

If being honest, Anna had acquainted herself with Shibani mostly because of the bright red ropes that bound the bun. Pleasure aside, she was actually more curious about the material and strength of the ropes – if they could be used for craft just as well as recreation and where to purchase such fine quality materials. The pale bun had admitted that he wasn’t the one purchasing these, but he was happy to show the other bun the rest of the collection that Dan had on the shelf.

She would raise a figurative brow at this before realizing that he meant Dan the mochi maker. She hadn’t talked to him much other than purchasing the rare mochi (either for herself or friends), so to introduce herself so that she can be excused to the back of the shop was something she did not expect. Nonetheless, it only took a couple of praises for his mochi to puff him up and put him in a good mood. It appeared that while Shibani could put the prideful bun in a good mood, he also very much appreciated compliments from strangers. 

Shibani’s spot in the shop was hard to miss – it was covered in white pillows, fully obscuring the wooden floor with soft, plush padding. To the left was a low shelf that had bundles of rope. Most were in shades of red, but there were some other colors as well. Maybe Shibani’s favorite color was red? Or was it Dan’s favorite color? Whichever the case, Anna couldn’t help but unravel a bit of the rope and pull on it. Now that she thought about it a bit more, this rope was certainly not the same as yarn or string. Still, it would make for good support to hang pots and wooden boards, if it was capable of hanging buns without snapping, moreso in their doll forms.

When she turned around to ask more about the ropes, however, she found that Shibani was already nestled in the pile of pillows. Curled up and eyes closed, the pale bun looked so peaceful that it made Anna feel a little jealous – her sleep looked light in comparison. It turned out that he was still awake, though, opening one eye sleepily and beckoning her to join in. She furrowed her figurative brows and asked if it was okay for her to lie down there, but Shibani reassured her that she was definitely not the first bun to nap with him (questionable? But he sounded sincere and chill about it, so maybe it was just good old fashioned cuddling).

Finding that ‘no’ didn’t seem like an option here (not so much that Shibani was insisting, it was more of that it seemed rude to refuse), Anna let out a soft sigh and placed the bundle of rope back in its rightful spot before climbing onto the pillows. Navigating through them was difficult, but it didn’t take long for her to plop beside Shibani; her whole body feeling like it was resting on a cloud. Ah, this was nice, actually…her bed back home did not compare to a horde of pillows. She considered changing her bed into a pile of pillows as her mind was lulled to take a nap. When she turned to face Shibani, lo and behold, he was already sleeping away. Thankfully her schedule today was pretty flexible, and hopefully this nap wouldn’t last too long.

Closing her eyes, Anna let her mind wander and fall away. In the murkiness of her dreams, she saw pure white clouds and taut red ropes, stretching downward past what she could see.