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Talia had awoken slowly, which was a process she was wholly unaccustomed to. Her fickle states of rest were typically interrupted harshly, by nightmare or by the results of her circumstances; regardless, the slow fade to consciousness as her mind sluggishly scrambled to familiarize itself with her surroundings was an entirely foreign concept to her.
Yet it was a concept that she partially welcomed, for the reason that it gave her the smallest semblance of peace—something that she had learned long ago should not be taken lightly in a place such as Hell.
After taking a moment to collect her bearings, her hands subconsciously reached for her plush; unintentionally, she found her mind drifting off back to the day she had managed to acquire such a priceless possession.
Talia had been walking into the newly-opened store, what little money she had managed to procure hidden securely within her grasp. She had sighed softly as she heard the little bell jingle as it announced her entrance, raising her unoccupied hand ever so slightly to wave at the demon behind the cash register.
She had partially expected the individual, whom she assumed by stature was female, to simply flip her off or remain silent as most others did. She was beyond surprised when the girl raised a hand eagerly in reply with a bright grin plastered upon her face; Talia found a smile of her own working its way onto her lips, a warm, fuzzy feeling formulating within her chest at the small, unexpected display of amiability.
Talia stuffed the money into her pocket, grabbing what groceries she had originally came for; remembering the necessities before shifting her focus to items that could be considered secondary. It didn't take long before she deemed her checklist officially crossed off, preparing to pay for her items at the front of the store.
As Talia was walking past one of the clearance shelves, her eyes caught on a seemingly random object. She turned her head slightly to see the little flash of yellow that had caught her attention, and nearly stopped in her tracks when she saw a small plushie of a yellow Labrador Retriever, its large, amber eyes seemingly locking with her own.
Its appearance was so painstakingly similar to Talia's actual dog during her years up on Earth—down to the very color of the plushie's eyes and the ways in which the fur stuck up slightly at random spots—that she nearly teared up on the spot. Taking a shaky breath to push down the lump that had formed in her throat, she forced herself to walk past the plushie and towards the front of the store; as much as she wanted it, her expenses had needed to be prioritized, and it would've been nonsensical in her eyes to waste money on something that wasn't absolutely indispensable.
