Archive of Our Own

Another day at the Restoration HQ and it was a particularly lazy one for Surge the Tenrec and Kit the Fennec.

Both were presently in their room and laying in their respective bunk beds. Boredom had gripped both of them something fierce and yet they had little motivation in them to snap out of their lethargy.

After a little more time though, Surge sighed heavily before she rolled over and hopped down from her bed and down to the floor below. Then, she looked to see Kit laying down on his bed and decided to take a seat next to him.

"Still bored outta your mind, huh, Drippy?" She asked him.

Kit let out a sigh and gently nodded. "Yeah..."

"Hmm..." Surge simply uttered before stroking his head. "I feel ya. Dunno what to do about it though."

"Me neither," Kit agreed in kind. "In fact, I'm so bored I cannot figure out how bored I really am."

Surge couldn't help but laugh over that comment. "I dunno if that made a lick of sense, but I think I agree anyway."

"Maybe the boredom is such that it's making me make less sense." Kit humorously mused.

"I suppose anything's possible." Surge said following another laugh.

Seconds later, their shared musings over boredom would be interrupted when they heard the door being knocked.

"Huh, who could that be?" Kit wondered, sitting up and looking over at the direction of the door.

"Don't got a clue." Surge said simply, drawing her attention over there as well.

They both waited for a few more seconds before the door was knocked at second time. This time, it was accompanied by a voice.

"Hello? Anyone home?"

"Oh, what do you know, it's the boss lady herself." Surge said upon recognizing that voice belonging to Jewel.

"Really? What would she be here for or wanting?" Kit curiously asked.

"Again, don't got the faintest idea, Drippy," Surge replied with a shrug. "Could be some pretty serious biz though if she's the one coming over to us."

"Like what?" Kit asked in another variation.

"Kit, I. Don't. Know," Surge once again said with extra emphasis and then sighed afterwards. "I think we just gotta let in her and see what's up."

"Hey, if anyone's there, mind hurrying up already?" Another voice suddenly spoke up from the other side of the door, this time belonging to Lanolin. "This thing's rather heavy!"

"Huh, make that two boss ladies who are here," the tenrec corrected. "Or a boss lady and a bossy lady if ya will."

After chuckling yet again, Surge sat up from Kit's bed and made her way to the door; the fennec also following along. She opened it and saw both Jewel and Lanolin before her.

"Ah, Surge, Kit, hello!" Jewel said cheerily before briefly looking over her shoulder. "All right, follow me, Lanolin."

The beetle fluttered on inside the room right past both Surge and Kit while Lanolin followed behind who can be seen carrying some kind of large wooden box in her hands.

"Uh...you're just gonna barge right on in without stating why you're here?" Surge inquired to them slightly annoyed.

Surge looked over to Kit – who was also looking at her totally confused – and simply shrugged her shoulders.

In any event though, Surge shut the door before she and Kit continued to observe the beetle and sheep duo in their task at hand.

"I suppose we can place it right here just to the side of the couch." Jewel said, pointing to that particular spot.

Lanolin simply nodded and did exactly as Jewel suggested.

"Whew, finally..." She said, wiping her brow. "This thing was heavier than it looked."

"Hey, are either one of you gonna let us in on what's the deal here?" Surge asked, her annoyance rising bit by bit.

"Oh, well...this is just a special delivery of sorts for the two of you." Jewel responded.

Surge's eyebrow rose up. "Special delivery? From you two?"

"Actually, no, it's something Tangle has said that she had been meaning to give to you guys, but she is...a bit tied up at the moment – no pun intended – and she asked if I could be of some assistance," Jewel answered in more detail. "I have been meaning to owe her a favour anyway, so me plus Lanolin after I asked her for added help to take up the task on Tangle's behalf."

That explanation left both Surge and Kit rather lost. They looked at one another for a second before turning their confused looks over to the sheep.

"Hey, I don't exactly get it either," Lanolin said equally puzzled and casually shrugging. "I was just brought along to bring everything over here."

Surge let out a laugh. "Lemme guess: you got dragged along because Mintie ain't got the strength to do it herself?"

Lanolin folded her arms. "Hey, you try picking this up yourself and see how quick you are to mock her. It was admittedly a heavy piece of work, but nothing I couldn't handle with some effort."

"Hey, who said I was mocking her?" Surge argued back. "I was just takin' a shot in the dark there as what's going on. Who knows, maybe she could do it all on her own, but asked you for help and you went along just to have an excuse to show off."

Lanolin scoffed and rolled her eyes. "That's a pretty big stretch of a theory for you to present."

"Ha! Is it though?" Surge continued, grinning at the same time. "Plus that sounded like you were bragging just a second ago."

"No, no, I was not." Lanolin emphasized following an annoyed sigh.

"Okay, okay, I think that's enough out of you two," Jewel said, nervously laughing and ushering Lanolin over in her direction. "Anyway, we should be off on our way because we still have quite a bit of business of our own to attend to. Enjoy whatever you guys have gotten!"

After saying that, she showed herself and Lanolin out of the room and closed the door behind them.

Now alone again, Surge and Kit were still filled with a ton of questions over everything which had just now happened. They looked at each other and appeared to intuitively to say to the other how at least one of those questions will be answered.

"All right, so...might as well see what we got." Surge simply said following a sigh.

She went over to the box, crouched down and lifted open the lid. When she did so, it showed her and Kit a whole bunch of toys within.

"Oh, uh...wasn't quite expecting that," Kit said in surprise. "And it's quite a bit of stuff too."

While Kit observed the contents with curiosity, Surge on the other hand walked off for a bit and began pacing back and forth.

"Okay, so much of this isn't making sense. For one, this is coming completely outta the blue. Why and for what reason though?"

"Uh...Surge?"

"Like seriously, what's the point? Toys? I mean...really? Seems kinda patronizing if you ask me."

"Surge!"

"And furthermore, why couldn't Little Miss Lame-ur be here if this was all her bright idea? Was she really as tied up as Mintie claims she is? In fact..."

"Surge!" Kit interrupted, going over and placing a hand along her back. "I'm curious about all that too, but...I think you might be overthinking things and getting a bit overworked here..."

The tenrec paused and took a deep breath. "All right, all right, fine, you might be right. This is all kinda weird, but I mean...it's free stuff after all. Can't totally gripe about that too much if you were to think about it in that way."

Afterwards, she noticed that Kit continued looking inside of the box with curiosity and potentially keen intent.

"You wanna play with them, don't ya?" She said.

"Uh...maybe?" Kit answered after a pause and adding a nervous laugh. "I mean, if that's all right with you."

"Eh, knock yourself out," Surge told him with a casual shrug. "Dunno exactly why you think you need to ask my permission to do that though."

"You sure?" Kit asked apprehensively. "I-I guess maybe what I was trying to say at first was...you won't find that weird or dumb that I'd be playing with kid's stuff?"

"Drippy..." Surge began saying, approaching him closer and putting her hands on his shoulders. "I dunno how to break this to ya, but...you're a kid. Why would you think I would see it as weird or dumb for a kid to play with kid's stuff? It's what you should be doing! Hell, technically speaking I'm still a kid...kinda, sorta."

"But..."

"Kit, you just got done telling me to not overthink things and now I'm telling you to do the same," Surge emphasized to him. "Relax! Have fun! Be a kid! In fact..."

She turned around, grabbed the box and with a bit of effort pulled it over closer before sitting down on the couch.

"I kinda admit now I wanna take a look at what's in here myself," she said next. "Maybe I'm desperate because it's been a helluva boring day, but hey, better to do at least a little something anyway rather than lazing around and waffling on about how bored I am. If it helps liven up things here, then so be it."

Encouraged a little further by Surge's own intrigue over the toys, Kit sat down next to her on the right side and observed as she started rummaging through the box.

Right off the bat, one thing that drew her attention was a small red rubber ball. She took it into her hand, squeezed it a couple of times and tossed up in the air a few times.

Then she got an idea as she looked around the walls.

"Heh..." She laughed, then looking to her left. "I think I know of a way to make use of this."

Surge stood up from the couch and approached one of the walls of the room. As she did that, Kit scooted over towards the toy box to get a better look at the contents.

Standing just a few feet away from the wall, the tenrec tossed the ball forward to the floor so that it bounced off from there, ricocheted off the wall and back into her waiting hands.

She repeated this action several times in the span of a few minutes; increasing how hard she tossed the ball gradually.

At one point though, Surge threw the ball so hard and combined with her aim being somewhat off, it ended up whizzing right past her. Immediately afterwards, she also heard a clattering noise from behind.

Surge looked over her shoulder and saw that Kit had since been sitting on the floor with a set of building blocks; some which looked scattered about with the ball close to them. It didn't take long at all for her to put two and two together to assume the wayward projectile must've knocked something down he had built up.

"Ooh, uh..." Surge said with an awkward laugh. "My bad, Drippy."

"Oh, n-no trouble," Kit promptly said to diffuse the matter. "Just an accident was all."

Smiling in relief, Surge headed over in Kit's direction and picked up the ball. However, she then decided to sit down next to him to see up close what he was working on.

"Got like a little town goin' here?" She wondered.

"Eh, maybe," Kit answered somewhat unsure. "Just building with the flow I suppose."

Surge simply nodded. "Hmm...cool."

So cool apparently that the tenrec decided to put the ball to the side and got herself some blocks as well. Though unlike Kit who had some degree of intricacy to his block creations, Surge opted for making a simple tower of blocks stacked one on top of the other.

Then after that, she grinned deviously as she took a hold of the block at the very bottom and gradually pulled it until the rest of the tower collapsed.

This simple pleasure caused Surge to laugh and right away she built another tower. This time around though, she swiped at it to knock it over. Then she built three smaller towers side by side and did the same swiping motion to knock them down one after another.

The amount of fun she had over building and knocking down block towers didn't go unnoticed to Kit. Curiosity got to him and next thing he knew, he too built a separate tower and knocked it over for his own amusement.

He turned to see Surge also having noticed him doing that. She couldn't help but smile and laugh, with Kit also doing the same.

"Like big sis, like little bro, huh?" She said along with giving him a quick ruffle of the hair.

Right away after she said that, Kit's smile got a little bigger and soon he became overcome by a fit of giggling.

"What's so funny, Drippy?" Surge wondered, also giggling slightly as well.

"Oh...whew..." He said after taking a breath to settle down from his giggle fit. "It's just...I guess I'm still getting used to being referred to as your little brother is all."

Surge smiled once more and drew him close towards her with an arm around his shoulders. "Well, that's what you are to me...little bro."

Again, that made Kit go through another fit of giggling; one infectious enough for the tenrec to also join in on it herself and in the process playfully give him a bit of a noogie as well.

"Okay, okay," Kit said in between the giggles. "I'm good, I'm good, big sis!"

"There we go; that's what I wanted to hear!" Surge happily declared, letting him go and giving his back a hearty yet affectionate rub.

After all of that, Surge took another gander in the box and next thing she had pulled out from it was a plastic toy fighter jet. Another quick glance made her notice the presence of at least a second toy of that same variety as well. Seeing this gave her another idea.

She grabbed the second toy jet and placed it right by Kit's side. The latter did take note of it as well as the fact that Surge was whizzing around hers right around his head and making whoosing noises.

Eventually, a playful grin formed on Kit's face and he met Surge's request by picking up the second plane and sure enough, they began playing in a mock dogfight between the jets.

For the next minute or so, they engaged in that while making all sorts of sounds of jet engines whoosing, gunfire exchanges and missiles being launched in the process.

By the end though, it was made so that Kit ultimately was the victor in the exchange. If anything else, it gave Surge an excuse to pantomime her plane into an exaggerated downward spiral and crashing it right into one of the block towers she assembled minutes earlier complete with an emphatic "boom" out of her.

"If you gotta go down, then it's worth going down in an honourable blaze of glory!" She declared oh so proudly.

"Is destruction of property really that honourable though?" Kit slyly asked.

"You asking me of all people if I have issues with property destruction?" Surge playfully retorted. "The one who just a minute ago kept building up and knocking down her own block towers? That one?"

"Well...true," Kit agreed, grinning a bit. "Silly me for expecting any extra decorum out of you even during playtime."

"Ha-ha, decorum! You're a real comedian, Drippy!" Surge said before mussing around Kit's hair once more. "Creative too for comin' up with a fancy sounding word like that!"

"But, uh...it is an actual word though," Kit clarified following a mild delayed laugh. "It means like exhibiting what would be considered 'proper' behaviour and all."

"Oh..." Surge said, but then she creased up into some laughter again. "Well, like I ever am or want to be all primp and proper anyway. I'll be who I want to be, thank you very much."

"Um...sure, of course," Kit agreed with little pause and then a smile. "You be you, ma'am. I wouldn't want it anyway else."

After that exchange, the fennec shuffled around Surge and looked inside the toy box to find something else while the latter continued to mess around with the blocks.

She was so focused on that it took another minute or two to realize she hadn't heard a peep out of the fennec.

She looked next to her and noticed now that Kit had a stuffed toy fox in his hands. Curiously though, all he appeared to be doing was just staring at it like he was totally lost in thought.

"Drippy?" Surge inquired to him.

Despite being addressed by the tenrec, Kit did not respond as he kept staring at the fox.

"Hey, Kit!" She called to him a bit more forcefully.

By that point, he did snap out of it and glanced at her.

"Yeah?" He said.

"Uh...you all right there, bro?" Surge wondered, patting his back a couple of times. "You kinda zoned out for a second or two."

"Oh, that..." Kit said upon realization, then he looked at the fox again. "S-sorry, it's just...something felt familiar about this."

"Huh? What do you mean by that?" Surge curiously asked. "Like...I dunno, what?"

"It's like...like...uh..." Kit tried to get out.

But he couldn't quite finish his thought. Instead, he started feeling overwhelmed to the point of his breath getting shaky and his eyes misting up a bit.

"Kit?" Surge said, worry becoming apparent in her voice.

She reached over again to place an arm around the fennec's shoulders. He put the fox to the side before taking a second to wipe his eyes and let out a deep breath.

"Oh...s-sorry, Surge..." Kit said, sniffling slightly. "I-I...that came out of nowhere..."

"Hey, don't sweat it too much, Drippy," Surge assured him, briefly bringing him close to her. "What the heck was that all about though anyway?"

"Uh, well..." Kit resumed in trying to explain things. "As I-I said, something feels familiar about this toy. Like...I might've had something like it before."

Based just on that alone, Surge was starting to realize that Kit might've been recalling something about his past; specifically prior to when he was brought together with her under Starline's maniacal purview and experimentation.

Furthermore, it did kind of worry her as to what if anything he may be vaguely recalling if how he reacted just a minute earlier was any indicator.

"So, um...you all right though?" She asked. "'Cause it must've dug up a bad memory or something like that if it made you act like you just did."

"N-no, no, it really wasn't...or at least I don't think it was," Kit said with a shake of his head. "I can't say with absolute certainty about what it could've been, but...maybe my reaction was just based around being amazed at being able to remember anything at all from the past if just vaguely."

He stared at the fox some more, then a small smile formed on his face.

"And...that makes me...kind of happy in way."

Then, he hugged it close against him and the smile got bigger.

Though she was still sort of confused about the whole context of what Kit was referencing regarding any memories of his, the fact he was still happy over remembering something nonetheless and that the toy itself was clearly giving him happiness was a heartening sight for Surge to see. She also smiled and couldn't help but chuckle too.

"Glad it makes you happy, Drippy." She said, patting the fennec's shoulder.

While Kit continued to be occupied with that, Surge once again fished around the box to find something else. In that process, she felt her hand brush against an object with a smooth plastic feel to it with a little soft hairlike texture too. Whatever it was, it piqued her curiosity and thus she gripped onto it before pulling it out.

Upon now being in possession of the object, the tenrec realized that it was a feminine looking doll in a what appeared to be a summery sundress.

"Pfft, get a load of this thing." Surge said out loud rather unimpressed.

Yet as she continued to give it a look, she suddenly felt an odd sensation coming over her. Next thing she knew, she gasped a little as if a small revelation had struck her.

"Surge?" Kit said, having noticed this reaction out of her. "You okay?"

"Huh?" Surge muttered, shaking her head and facing the fennec. "Yeah, just fine..."

"Y-you sure though?" Kit followed up with, sounding more concerned. "You sounded a bit...taken back or something like that. Seems kind of worrying."

Surge sat for a moment and then sighed. "Well, if you insist...I gotta say that this doll thingie here made me feel...I dunno what to call it, but like...something felt strangely familiar about it."

Right away, Kit had a feeling over what may have caused that.

"Hmm...maybe you felt that way because you might've had something like that before just like I how reacted with this toy?" He suggested, gesturing to the fox toy. "As in you could remember having a doll like that in your past?"

"What, really?" Surge said dumbfounded, then she waved her hand dismissively. "No, no, no, there's no way I would've played with something like this when I was littler."

"Y-you sure about that?" Kit wondered.

"Duh, of course!" Surge answered confidently, gesturing her hand up and down the length of her body. "Do I look like the kinda gal who'd play with such girly junk like this?"

"But...how do you know that for sure?" Kit pressed her more. "I mean, I only know you as you are now, but maybe you could've been a whole lot different before I met you. Would you have reacted the way you did unless there was a slight chance you could remember playing or having something like that at a younger age?"

Surge seemed primed to retort, yet she paused, looked down and pondered for a moment. Kit's theory did remind her of how sometimes she did wonder how much of her current personality, look and such was based on her prior life before she and Kit were brought together via Starline, how much was brainwashed into her by the latter's doing, and how much could even be cope and pushback to all she had been through.

She glanced at the doll once more and sighed.

"Eh, I'm still not entirely sure, Kit..." Surge said following another brief moment of pondering.

But then she stroked the doll's hair lightly and again there was something within her as if it reminded her of a vague portion of her past life.

"And yet...I can't exact shake the feelin' of familiarity entirely either," she continued. "And...I gotta be honest, I'm...not totally complaining either."

From the corner of her mouth, a little smile formed and she even patted the doll on its head with her finger. As that was happen, Kit also smiled and was happy to see her find some joy in this instance.

Then after all of that, Surge suddenly felt another realization coming to mind.

"Y'know, I just thought of something else," she began saying. "If we were even vaguely able to remember something of our pasts because of these toys...then perhaps this must mean Starline wasn't able to completely wipe our minds clean."

"Y-you think so?" Kit asked. "Like maybe he never fully finished the job?"

"Yeah, maybe," Surge said following a nod and then a self assured grin formed across her lips. "Either that or we're just tougher than his best efforts to scramble our brains to his likening could ever dream of accomplishing."

"Huh?" Kit said a little surprised as he also tiled his head to the side. "R-really?"

"I like to think it that way, sure." She reaffirmed.

The fennec took this theory into consideration. Regardless of how much validity there may be to it, he did like how Surge presented it.

He gave her a confident smile and then extended out his first.

"You know, I like that way of thinking too." He said with more assured tone in his voice.

The tenrec laughed and readily bumped his fist. "Ha-ha, there ya go!"

Not too long after they came to that agreement, their attention was drawn to the sound of the door being knocked.

"Who could that be now?" Kit wondered.

"Don't got a clue and don't know why," Surge said with a shrug. "How 'bout you get it this time, Drippy?"

"Uh...s-sure thing, ma'am." Kit said following a hesitant pause.

The fennec made his way up to the door and opened it. Much to his surprise, it was now Tangle who'd be gracing he and Surge's place with her presence.

"Oh, uh...hi." Kit said

"Hi there, Kit!" She cheerily said, then she looked over at the tenrec. "Heya, Surge!"

"Huh?" Surge muttered as looked over to see the lemur at the doorway. "Oh, so the one behind all this decides to make her presence known."

"Heh...so you have gotten everything, did ya?" Tangle said somewhat anxiously.

Next, she looked to Kit and gestured to see if it was all right for her to come in. He affirmed that by stepping to the side and allowed her entry further inside.

"So...this was all your idea?" Kit asked as he also followed her.

"Actually, it was also partly Whisper's idea if at least in an indirect kind of way." Tangle admitted.

"Huh? Squinty had a hand in this?" Surge said kind of surprised.

Tangle grimaced slightly over the tenrec's less than tactful nickname of her friend, but nevertheless brushed aside for the time being.

"Yeah, but again perhaps not by complete intention. I was saying to myself out loud what I should with them and she just out of the blue suggested that I give them to you guys," The lemur expounded further. "I think she was being kinda sarcastic, but honestly I took the suggestion to heart and figured I'd give a go and hope the two of you would be receptive to this offer."

She paused for a couple of seconds and took a better look at the toys which were scattered about on the floor.

"And at least it does appear you've both got a good amount of use out of them." She noted.

"Yeah, guess you could say that," Surge affirmed. "May as well ask: were they yours or used to be yours or something like that?"

"Eh...they may have been under my possession, but actually they were like leftovers from a toy drive me and some of the gang took part in long before you guys came here," Tangle answered. "But anyway, let me also quickly apologize for the roundabout way of getting them here. I was kinda busy with other stuff and I do appreciate both Jewel and Lanolin for their help."

"Eh whatever, but I do gotta ask the million dollar question here: why though?" Surge asked. "Like I mean...what was the whole point of this anyway?"

"Ah, well..." Tangle began saying, chuckling mildly again. "Like I just said, those toys have been taking up space in my closet for a little while now and I was struggling to find a use for them. But eventually like I said with Whisper's indirect help, it lead to the idea of giving them away to you."

Just as soon as she got finished saying that, something suddenly came to mind.

"Hmm...actually, thinking about more now and this may sound kinda silly, but maybe you can see getting these as sort of a thank you and reward for being helpful and good sports ever since you guys arrived here. You've probably surprised most folks who likely weren't too keen on you both coming here because of your...previously established reputations shall we say, which truth be told I was kinda in that camp myself."

The lemur paused before showing a little smile.

"But hey, you've met or even exceeded expectations and again, perhaps you've earned some kind of token of appreciation even if I'm willing to admit it may not be too much or even just bit maybe...I don't know, kiddish for your tastes? I was kinda worried you'd feel about this, but it looks like I didn't have much reason to worry about that and...and I'm just kinda rambling now, so I'll stop while I'm ahead."

After Tangle had said all of that, there was a period of silence. Part of the reason was how both Surge and Kit were in fact internally heartened to how they've seemingly earned the trust and respect of most of the Restoration that at first neither exactly knew what to say.

"Well, uh...thank you," Kit said breaking the silence. "And thanks for giving us the chance to earn your trust."

"Yeah, we're a couple of charmers Drippy and I," Surge said cockily, resting a hand on Kit's head. "You give us the chance and we can show ya we're up to par and beyond."

After making that statement, she took a moment to walk away for a bit almost like she was taking something of a victory lap. While that was occurring, Kit felt Tangle gently pulling him over to the side.

"Hey, is it just me or is there a doll sticking out of her pocket?" She asked him.

The fennec glanced over and just about noticed said doll just about poking out from the tenrec's pants pocket.

"Uh-huh, yeah, it looks like it." Kit said after a nod.

"Oh, okay then. Certainly wouldn't have expected that," Tangle said, then she noticed the fox toy in the fennec's arm. "Heh, I see you have a little friend of your own as well."

Kit wondered what she meant by that and only then did he realize that he was holding on to the stuffed fox toy in his left arm.

"Oh, uh...yeah," Kit affirmed as he briefly looked down at it and smiled. "It's actually kind of makes me think I had something like this in my past."

"Aww, well that's cute!" Tangle said with a beaming smile, then she turned more inquisitive. "But I gotta wonder why she has that doll with her in the first place."

"Probably because just like in my case, she might've had something similar to it in her past," Kit answered. "At least that's what I figure when talking with her about it."

"Really? I would've never guessed for even a second that would be something she'd have an interest in," Tangle said in surprise. "Guess there's a bit a girly girl side tucked inside her and beyond that punky shell after all."

Even though he probably shouldn't have, a bit of laughter escaped from Kit. Him doing that plus the preceding conversation with Tangle was likely the impetus which caused an exaggerated throat clearing sound coming from the tenrec and drew both of their attentions to her.

"Hey, I'm right here within earshot, so I can clearly hear you two gossiping about me!" Surge said, arms folded and her eyebrow arched, though there was also a faint curl of a smile on the corner of her mouth.

"Heh-heh...of course, sorry, my bed," Tangle said sheepishly before clearing her own throat. "Anyway, I don't have much else to get out there, so I shall be on my way now. Glad everything got here all safe and sound and that you guys like them! I'll see myself out and catch ya later!"

Just like that, she walked away, left through the door and closed it behind her. At the very least though, Kit did go up and make sure that the door was locked.

"Well, this has all sure as hell been an...odd one of a day to put it one way." Surge said plainly.

"I mean...I won't disagree, but...better an odd day where something of note happened than a boring day, right?" Kit said, ending with a small awkward laugh. "Plus it was fun too."

Surge though it over for a second, then she too couldn't help but chuckle as well.

"Yeah, sure, I guess," She said, smiling as well. "Clearly you got some fun out of it all and...I gotta say that applies to me too."

Kit smiled. "I'm glad to hear that...and sorry for the small bit of talking behind your back that you overheard."

"Eh, don't sweat it, Drippy," Surge told him, resting her hand along his back. "Kinda figured the way I reacted meant I wasn't taking it too seriously."

"Ah, okay then," Kit said. "At least I'm glad you didn't take much offence to it."

After settling that, both of them then looked around and realized the mess of toys on the floor before them.

"Guess we gotta now put all this stuff back. Wouldn't want to have either of us step on, trip over and get like a block stuck somewhere you don't want it to be if you ain't careful." Surge said drolly.

Kit laughed a little. "No, wouldn't want that, ma'am."

With their next task at hand, both got to work on putting things away.

During the cleanup, Surge also couldn't help but notice Kit was still holding on to the toy fox with one of his arms at the same time like he'd really taken it up as companion.

She chuckled to herself briefly before glancing back down at the doll, pulled it out of her pocket and give it another look over.

"You really do like that doll, don't you?" Kit suddenly spoke up.

Surge turned to the fennec's direction and noticed the smile on his face.

"I dunno...maybe?" She replied ambivalently. "Kinda like how you seem to be getting attached to that little fox dude you're have with you?"

Kit nodded. "Yeah. And if that doll has any attachment value for you and makes you happy, then that's all that matters, right?"

It probably really was as simple as that. With another chuckle, she smiled and nodded in the affirmative.

"Yeah, you're pretty right about that." She said assuredly, putting it back in the pocket shortly after.

Several hours later and as the late evening had arrived, Surge finished up her pre-bedtime routine and was just about ready to hit the hay.

On the way to her bed, she passed by Kit who was already fast asleep in his bed and she also noticed he had the stuffed toy fox firmly embraced in his arms.

A smile curled on her lips and she couldn't help but chuckle ever so quietly. She felt the urge to get over closer and pat his head for the sake of it, but he already looked so cute and cozied up as he was that she resisted and chose to leave him be at this time.

"Sleep well, little bro," She said barely above a whisper nonetheless. "See ya in the morn."

She climbed up to her bunk bed and got herself settled in.

But just before she went to sleep, Surge reached underneath her pillow and pulled out the doll from earlier on which she stowed it shortly after she and Kit wrapped up putting everything else away. She laid it down just a few inches away from her basically for the sake of having a little extra company with her.

It would've seem unlikely before given her initial denials over playing with such things at a younger age prior to her and Kit coming together, but yet here she was taking some extra solace in it and didn't feel the least bit ashamed.

Because just like Kit had insinuated earlier in the day, if she did have an attachment to it and brought her happiness to whatever extent, then that's all which matters in the end.

In a sense, it's much like how Kit had a similar effect on her in terms of fulfillment.

And considering all they've both been through together, the simplest of happiness was always going to be a welcoming sensation to take in and cherish.