bigapplesauce | Event: the Bother with Bunnies

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.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Peeta follows along behind Yuri, peering into the rooms he opens. He's never been in this area of the base before, so he's interested in what it might contain. There are enough open rooms that the rabbits - however many they wind up corralling - should have enough space.

The base is really a lot bigger than it needs to be. A few of these rooms have furniture, but most haven't seen any use except as storage space, if even that. There's nothing to prevent them from using it all as rabbit housing, at any rate, and Yuri leaves the doors open as he goes. The hall ends abruptly, and Yuri turns back.

"That's what I thought," he says to himself as much as to Peeta as they double back. "If we just block off the end of the hall, we're good."

Peeta knows for a fact that rabbits tend to be good jumpers, and he eyes the spool of wire as they approach it. "How high up do you think we need to block off? Do you think these guys jump very high?"

"Um...." Yuri eyes the wire as well. "Couple of feet? I think it'll be high enough if we just unroll it and put it across the hall. I mean, I don't think they don't climb." But the wire isn't going to be very sturdy just spooled out, either. This probably isn't the best of plans.

Peeta is thinking along the same lines. "Maybe if we cut two pieces the same size and then tie them together? That would make a sturdy gate, don't you think?"

Yuri gives him a relieved smile. "Yeah, that'd work. I got some zip ties -- I wasn't sure if they were going to be any use, but they'd work for that, at least."

Peeta takes the lose end of the wire and starts to unroll it. "Do you have snips or something to cut this?"

"...Uh." Yuri really isn't very well prepared, is he? 'Snips' is a funny way to put it, but it's pretty clear what Peeta means, and no Yuri does not have any snips.

"We're going to have to make another supply trip," he decides with a sigh. "Want to come with me this time?"

Peeta suppresses a smile. "Sure." He sets the roll of wire aside, laying it near the wall and out of the way, just in case anyone else - or any more rabbits - come down the hall.

The rabbits should be fine on their own, right? And anyone who comes by should have the sense not to let them out, which is probably Yuri's biggest worry in leaving them unattended. He gives a little nod and turns to go back the way he came. "Probably a good idea to show you where that kind of stuff is anyway," he decides.

"Has anything like this ever happened before?" Peeta asks as he falls into step beside Yuri.

"Like this? Not that I know of. One time we all forgot how to speak any languages, and we've had a couple times when a whole bunch of people came through in a day or two, but this is the first time it's been rabbits," admits Yuri. "I don't know what we're going to do with them. Kuiv's talking about eating them, but I kind of...don't feel right about that?"

Peeta blinks in surprise. They forgot how to speak? An influx of rabbits suddenly doesn't seem all that troubling.

While he's survived off worse, and learned not to be picky when food is scarce, he has to agree with Yuri - the thought of eating these rabbits doesn't sit well with him.

"Yeah, I don't know if I could eat them, either."

They're so fluffy, for one thing! And for another....

"They act like pets," Yuri says, voicing the thought he's been having since Kuiv broached the idea. "Like they're used to people because they belong to someone. Maybe I'm being sentimental, but it'd feel like a betrayal."

Peeta nods in agreement. "They're rifties, too, and we really shouldn't eat each other," he says with a crooked grin. "They can't help that they're rabbits."

"And I bet we could make some really nice sweaters if we shaved them all," jokes Yuri. Or is he joking? Hey, rabbits gotta pay their way, too.

"Huh." Peeta smiles, but the idea isn't without merit. "That isn't a bad idea. Maybe that's how they can pay for their meals."

"Yeah. Seriously, though, I think that's what they usually use this kind of rabbit for? It's in here." 'Here' turns out to be a supply closet; inside Yuri goes to a toolbox in search of wire cutters, then gives a little jump as a cream-colored rabbit, startled by the noise, bolts from behind a shelf and sprints for the door.

Peeta, acting on instinct, grabs the rabbit mid bolt, receiving a few scratches in the process. "Whoa, there. Hold on." He manages to tuck the rabbit against his chest so that he can run a calming hand down its back.

"These guys are everywhere," he muses as the rabbit stills against him. "Wait, are they guys or are they girls? Or" - a worrying thought occurs to him - "you don't think we might have a mix, do you? The last thing we need is baby rabbits."

"I was just in here," says Yuri, staring at the rabbit in amazement. Was that there before? Visions of undiscovered rabbits in remote closets flit through his head, and he gives a little shudder and makes a mental note to organize a search. "That's...oh man, that's a good question. I don't know how you tell. I mean, I guess apart from the obvious? Like turn it upside down and look."

"Uh." Peeta eyes the rabbit, which is still twitching in his arms, with an uncertain gaze. Besides all the fluff, he isn't sure if the rabbits will like being turned upside down. Then he remembers. "Daine! I bet Daine could just ask them, right?"

"...Why didn't I think of that?" Yuri rubs the side of his face sheepishly. "I should have asked her earlier -- I think she's been busy rounding a lot of the others up. It's kind of easier for her."

"Well, it's still a new thing to me. Not easy to forget people talking to animals," he says with a smile. "I'm sure she'll help us with sorting once we have them all rounded up."

Event: the Bother with Bunnies

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