Event: the Bother with Bunnies

[applesaucemod]

On the morning of May 6th, 2013, the citizens of Rift York will awaken to find themselves with a new and unexpected roommate. Or two. Or five. The good news: these new roommates don't eat much, they're quiet, and they're pretty adorable. The bad news: no one asked for their homes to be overrun by Angora rabbits.

The rift isn't in the habit of giving people what they ask for, though, so you're just going to have to deal with these bunnies everywhere until the evening of May 8th, when they will disappear as mysteriously and suddenly as they arrived. In the meantime, you might consider them a goodwill gesture from a rift that isn't always so kind. The rabbits seem to be most heavily concentrated in areas where rifties are staying, after all. While Manhattan at large might not appreciate the full extent of the bunnypocalypse, the rifties will find the creatures quite difficult to avoid.



Feel free to post your character's reactions here, or to make your own entries under the event tag. The event will be running for the next two days in-game, or through January 19th in real life. As ever, backdating is allowed and encouraged.

Comments

[watchesthebeans]

"Jennifer!" Aglet's voice probably doesn't carry all that far when he's not literally shrieking in terror, but he's giving it his best try. Maybe if he had his phone...but he's not about to go back down there to use it. Gulping air, he creeps to the edge of the shelf and peers down, meaning to try to get a glimpse of the fluffy thing. "Jennifer! There's a -- a thing!"

[jennifer_strange]

"Quark," the Beast repeats insistently, rearing up to put its paws on the bed. If Jennifer had been starting to drift off again, that succeeds in waking her fully.

"Paws off," she says, voice no less stern for all that it's still a bit muzzy with sleepiness. The Quarkbeast looks mournful, but doesn't actually hop back to the floor until after Jennifer's sat up and flicked on her bedside lamp.

A quick sweep of the apartment reveals absolutely nothing unusual or out of place, and she squints up the side of the bookshelf as Aglet's squawking belatedly registers. "There's a what, now?"

[watchesthebeans]

"A thing!" repeats Aglet, lifting an arm to block the sudden bright light. "It's hairy, and it's eating my wall -- I think it's a possessed teddy bear or something!"

In this world? Not entirely out of the question.

[jennifer_strange]

Jennifer has just enough time to wonder if she's still dreaming - or if perhaps Aglet was - before she hears a faint rustle from his shelf, followed by the distinct scrape of teeth through papier-mâché. The Beast pads over to the front of the shelf and briefly rears onto its hind legs, tail wagging. "Quark!"

"Okay, hang on…" Jennifer slides out of bed and grabs the nearest blunt object to hand, a flashlight she keeps near her pillow. Whatever's up there, she'd like to think it isn't that dangerous. Otherwise, it would have gone for Aglet and not his wall, and the Quarkbeast would seem more upset about having it here. Clicking on the flashlight, Jennifer shines it at Aglet's shelf. For a moment, she frowns at the mass of white fluff, and then she blinks in surprise as a distinctly rabbity nose pokes itself out so it can take another little chunk out of the wall. Well. That explains why the Beast is so interested.

"I think it's a rabbit," Jennifer says, stepping a bit closer to the shelf. "It's sort of hard to tell with all that fur, though."

[watchesthebeans]

"...Rabbits can't climb," Aglet points out. Trust him on this, he knows all about which animals can climb and which can't. Turning over and lowering himself onto his belly, he shimmies to the edge of the top shelf and puts his head over the side to look down, ready to jerk back if it turns out he's within reach of a fuzzy monster. He startles when it sticks its nose out for another nibble, Aglet immediately fixating on the flash of teeth revealed by the movement. "Stop that!" he squawks at it, feeling hysterical.

[jennifer_strange]

"It can't have come from the floor," Jennifer agrees, flicking off the flashlight and setting it on one of the lower shelves. Even if it could have climbed up so high, she doubts the poor creature would have made it off the ground at all with the Beast after it. Probably best not to mention that, though.

She reaches out and carefully lifts the rabbit off of the shelf. It's lighter than it looks - it really is 80% fluff - and she tucks the creature into the crook of her arm and gives the Quarkbeast a quelling scowl when it starts to heave itself onto its hind legs. Where is she supposed to put this thing? She doesn't really want to shut either it or the Beast into the bathroom on the off chance that the Beast attempts to chew through the door. Fortunately, she's already taught the Quarkbeast that counter surfing isn't allowed, so after a moment's thought, she carries the rabbit over to the kitchen and dumps it in the empty sink. "No eating," she says sternly to the Beast.

[watchesthebeans]

Yeah, no, definitely best not to mention that. Aglet has enough fear of the Beast without her confirming that it would be perfectly happy to devour a live rabbit. He already believes it can and would do that, but he might be on the brink of allowing her to convince him her pet doesn't have it in for him.

"It doesn't even look like an animal," comments Aglet, staring at what looks like a fluffy football in her arms. When it wiggles it becomes a little more obvious that it's a living thing, but otherwise it's more hair than anything. As Jennifer sets the thing down, it belatedly occurs to Aglet that he doesn't have any visible means of having gotten up to the top shelf, and he eyes her slightly uneasily as he stands and brushes himself off. "Do you think the rift sent it?"

[jennifer_strange]

"Could be," Jennifer says. Glancing up at Aglet she adds, "Wouldn't be the first time." Maybe her flat is some sort of hotspot for the sudden appearance of small, living things. She'll have to talk to ROMAC about this, because if so, it might be better for future arrivals if they moved. The Quarkbeast wouldn't pose a danger to the tiny and obviously humanoid, but anything that looks too much like a fluffy bunny would probably be toast. That's if she and the Beast were here, of course; if it was just Aglet, then any new arrivals would just have her terrified flatmate to contend with.

Meanwhile, the rabbit has its paws up on the edge of the sink, and the Beast is sniffing the air with interest (though it has the decency to look guilty about it). Sighing, Jennifer plucks a bit of scrap metal from atop the fridge and sets it down on the floor. "There's a good boy," she says, giving the Beast's spine a brief scratch as it transfers its attentions to the new snack.

The rabbit can probably have some vegetables, so she opens the fridge… and starts visibly. "Oh, for--" she reaches in and lifts out another rabbit, this one larger than the first and apparently no worse for wear for having spent a few minutes in cold storage. From the looks of things, it's already had a nibble at some celery stalks. "I'm going to have to search the whole flat." She sets the second rabbit in with the first, filling the sink with fluff. Then, she plunks the celery in with them. Hopefully that will at least keep them busy and less inclined to hop out.

[watchesthebeans]

"What?" calls Aglet, who had been sidling back toward his emergency escape route. He rushes back to the edge of the shelf to peer in that direction, and just sees Jennifer setting another rabbit in the sink. "What are you going to do with them?" he asks, staring in fascination at the fuzz lumps currently devouring perfectly good celery.

Then he remembers that he was going to get off the top shelf before she thinks to ask how he got up there. Watching to see what she does, he waits for his chance to dart to the back of the shelf and make his way down unseen.

[jennifer_strange]

Besides keeping them out of the Quarkbeast's reach? Jennifer shrugs. "I'll figure that out once I know how many I'm dealing with." Hopefully there aren't too many more tucked away. She doesn't think any more will fit in the sink.

Fortunately for Aglet, she's too preoccupied with the thought of the rabbits to comment on him being on the top shelf. Even if she hadn't been distracted, though, he might not have gotten much more than a raised eyebrow out of her. She knows he knows how to navigate the apartment, and getting up one shelf is a far less staggering feat than getting to the kitchen.

She checks the freezer, first, and is relieved to find it rabbit-free. Sighing, she bends down to start checking the cabinets closest to the floor. "Let me know if you see any from up there," she requests. He probably has a better vantage point for spotting any atop the fridge or kitchen cabinets.

[watchesthebeans]

If he knew she thought that highly of his athleticism, he'd take a moment to be proud. As it is, he feels like he mostly just hears about what a sneak and a chicken he is. He's about to turn and climb down when she makes her request and gives him a chance to do something important. Instead of climbing down, he stands tall and starts looking around the flat.

"I don't see -- oh! Behind the bananas, on top of the fridge! Stop it before it eats all our bananas!"

[jennifer_strange]

It takes a certain amount of skill to be a sneak in the first place. But putting a positive spin on his twitchiness isn't so easy. She tries to be understanding - he really is tiny, after all - but she's running out of sympathy for his continued fear of the Quarkbeast (not least of all because every time Aglet squawks about being eaten, the Beast gets such a look of mournful resignation on its face that it breaks her heart a little). If he can get over his fear of her, it shouldn't be that difficult to extend the same courtesy to her pet.

Or pets. They seem to have rather a lot of them all of a sudden. Smothering a groan, Jennifer clambers up onto the counter top so she can reach the one on the fridge. "If this was Zambini Towers, I'd say it was a spell gone wrong," she says as she carefully deposits the rabbit next to the sink and climbs back down.

[watchesthebeans]

Fear keeps small creatures alive...not that Aglet would put it that way, or admit that he's afraid of anything. Fear of discovery kept him and his aunt safe for his entire childhood; a Bean of all people can't tell him that he's wrong to show a little caution around things that can definitely kill him.

"Maybe the rift just likes us," he proffers facetiously, sweeping his gaze over the apartment again. Not spotting any rabbits, he takes the opportunity to nip back to his ladder and climb down to his own shelf.