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

What the Fluff

[edgar_sawtelle]

Edgar's dreaming.

He's running through the woods near home, trying desperately to find someone. Or something. The moon is full and high, but the woods are unnaturally shadowed and he can't see more than a few yards in front of him. There's rustling in the undergrowth as he runs, now to his right, now behind him, now somewhere ahead and to his left. He's sure it's Almondine, but he can never catch a glimpse of her shimmering white in the leafy darkness.

He hears her whimper, though, and claps his hand to his leg without breaking stride, calling her to him. There's something in the woods - or someone - and fear for her floods through him like cold water. The rustling starts again, this time just ahead of him, and he darts toward it.

Almondine whines, high and long, and the woods darken around Edgar. He squints, trying to see, but the trees are fading, pulling away from him. He feels himself rising out of the dream and slowly becomes aware that Almondine is standing over him on the bed. She's staring down at the floor beside the bed, her tail held low and swinging gently back and forth. Whatever she is sensing or seeing, she doesn't consider it a threat, and Edgar feels the tension that followed him out of the dream ease slightly.

Reaching over his head, he clicks on the lamp on the bedside stand, shutting his eyes against the brightness for a couple of seconds. As he opens them again, he pulls himself to sit up in the bed without moving Almondine. She glances around at him as he shifts and lets out another short whine.

/What is it?/ he signs, even as he leans over to see what has caught her attention.

There are three rabbits - three large, very fluffy rabbits - huddled calmly on his floor. Edgar blinks at them. They wiggle their noses at him. Almondine, unable to contain herself, gently jumps off the bed and the rabbits scatter like fireworks. The closest two - a dark gray one with light speckling, and a caramel-colored one that is slightly small - dart under the bed. The largest one - a white, extra fluffy specimen - bolts for Edgar's desk and is followed by Almondine.

Concerned for the rabbit, Edgar throws back his covers, prepared to dash after her. Remembering the two rabbits huddled under his bed, he slows himself mid-motion and slides out of bed in a smoother, less startling manner. By the time he steps across the room, Almondine is on her stomach in front of the desk, head on her paws, tail fanning the floor behind her as she stares longingly at the rabbit huddled against the wall. Edgar
drops to a knee beside her.

/Careful,/ he signs in front of her face. /Gentle./

She whines again and rolls her eyes up to him. Edgar ponders - Almondine has never really dealt with other animals besides the puppies, so he isn't sure how she is viewing the rabbits. He decides to test it.

Cautiously, he reaches under the desk. The rabbit doesn't start or skitter away at his initial touch, so he slowly and deliberately wraps his hands around its middle, lifts it out from beneath the desk, and stands with it in his arms. Almodine rises as Edgar does and sits in front of him, eyes on the rabbit. Getting a more secure hold on the rabbit, Edgar frees one hand and signs again, /Gentle./

Then he squats and presents the rabbit to Almondine.

Almondine stretches her head forward and softly sniffs the rabbit. To Edgar's surprise, the rabbit tentatively sniffs her back, looking far more curious than scared. Going with a gut feeling, Edgar sets the rabbit back on the ground. It hops to Almondine and the two engage in a mutual sniff-and-greet. As Almondine sinks down into a lying position to get closer to the white rabbit, Edgar notices the other two emerge from under the bed. They join their fellow in circling Almondine before all three nuzzle up to her sides and look for all intents and purposes as if they plan to never move again. Almondine, for her part, looks as content as Edgar's ever seen her.

Edgar shakes his head in amusement. At least he doesn't have to worry about Almondine trying to eat their guests. Yawning, he gets dressed for the day.

When he goes to leave his quarters, he encounters a hurdle. Almondine doesn't want him to go without her, but she also doesn't want to leave behind her new charges. She whines at him as he stands beside the open door, waiting for her to precede him into the hall.

/What is it?/ he asks. /We're going to find out where they came from./

Almondine looks down at the rabbits, who are still hovering near her even though she's now standing. Bending her head, she starts to nose them toward the doorway. They hop forward without any urgency, but manage to move in the general direction of the door. With only minor herding, Almondine gets them into the hall and Edgar closes the door behind his menagerie.

His first instinct is to find the resident animal expert, so he heads off toward Daine's quarters. Almondine trots at his side, and trailing behind her are their three rabbits. Almondine checks on them with occasion glances over her shoulder, and the rabbits huddle around her whenever the group comes to a halt.

Edgar's first sign that this is a bigger problem than he originally thought is when he turns the first corner in the hallway. There are at least seven rabbits hopping around this stretch of hall, and he sees at least one person standing in the doorway to her quarters, arms full of rabbit, the expression on her face a mixture of bemusement, delight, and irritation.

Edgar looks down at Almondine. Their rabbits are ranged around her like escape pods.

/I think we need Daine./

[rae_of_sun]

On any given day, interacting with Spike is pretty low on Sunshine's to-do list. Actually, it's not on the to-do list at all, it's on the to-avoid list. But after her visit to the base, it occurred to her that if there were rabbits in her apartment, there are probably rabbits in his. And unlike Sunshine, Spike might actually eat the creatures. Okay, so she approves of his non-human diet, but there's a difference between getting blood from the butcher's and eating some defenseless rabbits that the rift just dropped into your apartment for reasons unknown. The rabbits are having bad enough days as it is without that.

So at a quarter to nine, she knocks on his door. It's not a very polite knock, but whatever. He's not a very polite person, so why should she be on her best behavior? She's just going to rescue some bunnies and get the hell out.

[stronglikebear]

As someone who's more or less signed on to help with anything and everything the rebels need done, Yuri has suddenly found his list of titles expanding to include 'rabbit wrangler.' He's not particularly good with animals, but not particularly bad with them either outside that time of the month when an animal the size of a rabbit would remind him uncomfortably of food. Ideally he'd be herding them in the direction of the communal room that has been established as a rabbit holding cell until they can figure out what to do with the sudden influx of leporidae, but Yuri is no sheepdog and he quickly found that strategy to largely result in rabbits slipping past him and sprinting back the other way. Right now he's laboriously catching the rabbits one or two at a time and carrying them to where they need to go. Unfortunately, that room is rapidly becoming inundated with captured rabbits.

[watchesthebeans]

Aglet awakens to the sounds of something moving about softly nearby. For a few moments he lays in his tiny bed and listens, thinking it sounds like Jennifer's rifling around on his shelf --but what for? Fully awake, he abruptly sits up to look in the direction of the sounds, ready to tell her off for invading his space (probably to try to steal the things he rightfully borrowed), and stops and stares when all he sees is an enormous plush toy on the other end of his shelf.

"What...?" he mutters. Then the fluffy thing reaches out its neck and takes a chunk out of the papier-mâché wall enclosing most of the front of the shelf at this point, and Aglet shrieks and bolts from his bed, going straight for the escape hole he carved in the back wall of the bookcase without Jennifer's knowledge. From there he takes the secret ladder of handholds to the top shelf, where he crouches, shaking, amongst the knickknacks.