[Gift] Collection Perfection: Prompt

“Hey, Mckenna?”

“Hmm?” Mckenna responded without turning their head, engrossed in stirring the contents of the steaming pot before them. The rain pouring down outside rendered both them and Eden unable to continue their usual farmwork and chores; instead, the two opted to relax in the warm farmhouse and prepare a simple meal of instant Shoyu Ramen. Besides the loud bubbling of boiling water and Mckenna humming a quiet tune, the soothing sound of raindrops and the occasional boom of thunder added to the cozy ambiance.

The sound of Eden tearing the seasoning packaging open disrupted the silence between the two. Gently nudging Mckenna to the side, he jumped up onto the stepping stool and dumped the contents into the water, watching the dried vegetables slowly rehydrate upon submerging. The blonde bun raised an eyebrow when he noticed his partner looking back at him with curiosity, awaiting the rest of his question. He sighed, then continued speaking.

“Have you ever considered that you might have a problem?” The question seemed to have caught Mckenna off guard. They took a step back as the wooden chopsticks they were once holding clattered against the side of the metal pot. “Eden, what makes you say that!? I’m perfectly alright!” The brown bun let out a mock offended gasp and switched off the heat, letting the bubbling come to a stop.

“It's your ramen addiction, Mckenna.” Eden scowled, grimacing when he gestured toward the countertop. Indeed, it looked like a post-apocalyptic wasteland with various ramen packages strewn about with little care. “Do you want to talk about it?” 

“Look, it’s not a problem!” Mckenna argued, raising their hooves defensively. The noodles in the pot sat abandoned as the two continued to bicker, backing away from the stove. “You hoard so much, I won’t even be surprised if you have another collection, worse than your ramen pile.” The blonde bun replied bluntly and pointed up to a cabinet above them, held closed only by an old, broken broomstick.

“No, I..!” As if to disprove Mckenna’s claim, the cabinet behind them burst open, snapping the poor broomstick fully. The bun standing under it was showered with dozens upon dozens of Shiitake Shoyu ramen cups; they let out a shrill squeak before they were completely covered. In a moment, they popped their head out of the pile, rubbing a sore spot on their head while Eden reached forward to help pull them out. 

“...Case in point. No wonder you grew those horns in.” The blonde bun responded, earning a somewhat playful smack on the arm from his annoyed friend. Slowly, he helped Mckenna out of the instant ramen rubble, pulling them into his chest in a small, protective hug until they could stand on solid ground again rather than balancing on ramen cups.

Even though Mckenna’s bangs somewhat obscured their vision, they could easily sense the judgment in their partner’s eyes. With a defeated sigh, they crossed their arms and huffed angrily. “Fine.” They grumbled. “I’ll admit it, you’re right about one thing. This isn’t my only collection, maybe I do have a problem with collecting-” “Hoarding.” Mckenna shot Eden an irritated glare when he corrected them, earning a dry-sounding chuckle from the pride bun before he nudged Mckenna teasingly. “I’m just messing with you. Though I am curious to see what else you keep.” Eden admitted, looking around the kitchen and not directly at them. “Given you have so much space here… your collections must be what else is taking up room.” 

He was right, the farmhouse was indeed quite spacious, too big for just two residents, originally one. Surely there had to be a reason why Mckenna got a two-story farmhouse built in the middle of their land, and it was most likely to collect whatever they pleased. Eden briefly glanced at their horns: long and sharp, just like any other greedy bun in Burrowgatory, which explained their draw to collecting things.

After pulling the beige apron over their head and tossing it onto one of the bun-sized chairs, Mckenna led Eden out of the kitchen, despite him protesting against leaving their lunch behind. “You started it, Eden. You brought it up!” Mckenna retorted, listening to their partner grumble behind them as he followed them up the stairs. “Lunch can wait. Besides, it shouldn’t take too long. I just want to show you two of my biggest collections, we can just look at them and then head back down.” “Can’t it wait until after lunch?” Eden cut in. “Sorry, no can do.” The brown bun replied with a shake of their head, resulting in another groan coming from Eden before they finally arrived at a door, at the end of the second floor’s corridor. 

Eden gazed at the door with wide eyes; he recognized it as the room he had been actively avoiding. On the day Mckenna hired him, they had forbidden him from entering this room in particular. Since then, the pride bun has been suppressing his curiosity about what lay on the other side, just so that he would not break his now partner’s trust. Mckenna turned to face him, a confused expression on their face as they gently nudged the door open – it was never really locked. “Yes, I didn’t want you to judge me back then. I keep all of my collections here.” They pushed the door further so that Eden could step in as well. “This is a lot to take in, so I hope you’re not judging me right now, either.”

The room was wide and much grander than the rest of the farmhouse. If Eden didn’t know any better, he would think he was transported to a different location. “This looks like a museum.” He said, not looking at Mckenna and taking in his surroundings instead. For someone who wasn’t all that expressive, the look in his eyes conveyed a sense of admiration, amazement, confusion, and a hint of fear as he tried to process everything. Many cabinets were tightly aligned against the wall, with additional wooden shelves in the free space above them, each containing different kinds of toys.

“You have got to be kidding me.” A particular cabinet caught Eden’s attention first and he immediately headed towards it, with an embarrassed Mckenna following right after, their face buried in their hooves. “I told you, your instant ramen obsession is a problem.” The blonde bun repeated and gestured to the cabinet in front of him. It was full of ramen-themed toys, ranging from small figurines and keychains, placed carefully in their clear plastic display cases, to larger plushies that barely fit on the shelves. There was even a large bean bag at the base of the cabinet that looked suspiciously like a bowl of Shoyu Ramen, with the accompanying quilt with a flat image of ramen just printed onto it. There was even a Uniqor plush that poked its head out from under the covers. “This looks silly, but also kind of cozy… honestly, such a ‘you’ thing to do.” Eden slowly bent down to pick the plush up, holding it away from his face with disapproval, as if it was made of toxic waste. “I don’t like that this guy looks like a block of tofu cut to resemble a Uniqor. It even has olives for eyes, ugh, creepy…” He grumbled while turning the plushie around in his hooves. Mckenna quickly snatched it back, hugging it to their chest and patting its head, which earned them an exasperated grunt from Eden.

“Don’t be mean to my Baby Beancurd!” “Of course you named it, too.” Eden rolled his eyes as he watched Mckenna playfully rocking the plush, with disgust on his face. “Still…” His attention was back on the shelf and he looked through the other items placed there. He still found it absurd that their boss, who stayed in their bun form more often, could maintain the pristine state of the items in their collection, even the ones out of reach. “It amazes me that you have so many ramen-themed trinkets, Mckenna. Have Burrowgatory’s Records contacted you for your ‘most amount of ramen-themed items owned’ award yet? You’d have that one in the bag.”

The next thing he found himself staring at was the wooden shelf closest to him, filled with trinkets and toys of the tofu-Uniqor amalgamation Mckenna called ‘Baby Beancurd’. “This is actually from a collaboration between Shiitake Shoyu and ‘Sprinkle and Confetti, Magical Uniqor Princesses’!” Mckenna explained and proceeded to do one of the signature poses of the characters, finding amusement in tormenting their friend like this. Eden cringed at both their antics and the absurdly long name of the cartoon he was forced to watch on occasion, it was one of Mckenna’s hobbies which he was unwillingly pulled into. They turned away, ignoring him sticking his tongue out at them, before he went to pick up a box with a hand crank to the side. 

Examining the item, Eden began winding up the hand crank until yet another plush of ‘Baby Beancurd’ popped out of the box, like a badly made jack-in-a-box. Eden’s ears were immediately assaulted by the crunched but recognizable chime of Shiitake Shoyu’s theme song that played in the background of every commercial that they have ever filmed. “This is crazy, Mckenna.” He grumbled as he fumbled it, struggling to close it to shut off the repeating jingle. Finally slamming the lid closed with much struggle, Eden let out an agitated huff and put it back on the shelf. He nudged the other bun, who already set aside the plush so they could help put everything else back. They did not seem to mind the disturbance, but it was clear that they wanted each item to have a particular place.

“Enough about my ramen merch. It's time I show you my other favorite collection, my pride and joy!” Mckenna then turned around to the other side of the room, much to Eden’s horror. It was Mckenna’s Uniqor plushie and figurine collection, ranging from the commonly seen colors to ones he recognized from that cartoon with a painfully long name. Once more, Eden had to do a double take at the amount of items Mckenna had collected over the years. “This is the oldest collection I have. It started with a plush here and a figurine there when I was growing up. Andafter I settled down on the farm, I only gained more for my collection.” They explained bashfully and stepped aside, allowing Eden to take a closer look.

Mckenna’s collection included both store-bought products as well as handmade crafts. Eden picked up a white Uniqor from the toy pile; it was a crochet plushie, with a lot of care put into making it. “Got this one from Peter at the Toy Fair.” Mckenna explained, watching from the side as Eden turned the plush in his hooves. “I think he enjoys plush making as much as he does designing clothes for Velveteen.” They commented and Eden nodded, admiring the plush. “I see. Perhaps it’s another hobby of his. I’ve got to say he’s very talented.”

Setting it down shortly, Eden continued to browse.“You seem to like Uniqors a lot, maybe I’ll consider helping you look for one. Surely you’d be thrilled to have one, given your fascination with them and all… maybe I can get Hutch to give me some insight.” He thought out loud an amused snort, turning to look at Mckenna right as they placed their hooves on his shoulders, trembling with excitement. “That would be great, Eden! It’s always been my dream to own a Uniqor someday!” 

They took a moment to calm down before nodding towards the door, still bouncing on their hooves. “Come on, we can look through more of them later- wait, hold on…” They paused at the sight of some disturbance amongst the pile. They lifted one from the top to see none other than Ebi, their Impup, with the leg of one of the plushies in their mouth. “Ebi?! How did you get in here?! I told you you’re not allowed up here!” Mckenna scolded them instantly. Ebi immediately leapt out and away from his owner’s hooves, still dragging along a rose-colored Uniqor covered in sparkling, gold and silver sprinkles. “HEY! That’s my limited edition Sprinkle plush! It’s expensive!” They exclaimed, motioning to Eden to join the chase around the room.

While on the run from the buns, Ebi leapt through a doorway with a thin blue curtain in place of a door. Despite being rather observant, Eden was surprised he had only now noted another secret room for Mckenna’s already secret collection. Them yelling for Eden to catch the plushie thief spurred him to enter the room without a second thought, failing to notice Mckenna hesitate on following him in.

The moment Eden went into the secret room, he stopped dead in his tracks at what he found inside. He knew how much of a collector Mckenna was and how they could be a little obsessed with him, but this was something else entirely. The small, unassuming room was more akin to a closet and mostly empty, except for a table and the star of the room: a huge bean bag bed, big enough for two dolls to lie down comfortably. Strangest of all was what was on the bed: three body pillows and a familiar plush that Mckenna bought recently during the Toy Fair, spread out for Eden to see. 

Shifting into his doll form instead of awkwardly climbing onto the large bed, he sat down to get a better look at each item. One was a bun-sized body pillow of his bun form, and the other two were of his doll form, one of which had him in a rather suggestive pose. “Oh, come on. My chest isn’t that big.” He muttered to himself, staring down in absolute bewilderment, unable to decide how he felt about this discovery. He soon noticed Ebi in the corner of the room, looking rather smug with his ‘prize’, and Mckenna who finally walked in, then immediately tried to back out. Unfortunately for them, they met Eden’s judgemental yet intrigued stare from atop of the bed.

“Listen, Eden, can I explain over lunch? How about we just leave–” They chuckled awkwardly and nervously waved their hooves in front of them, only for Eden to scoop them up with one hand like a misbehaving imp, which added to their embarrassment.

“No, no, lunch can wait. Tell me about this collection. I’m listening.”