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 Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 12:05 pm
Little Brother was busy feeling real pleased with himself, shooting Junie a grin of pure innocence. If nothing else, maybe Drift would send them both home and there'd be no more of this mucking about outside the Arbor! He had to admit, though, he was having just the best time mucking about. "Oh, uh," he said, quite caught off-guard by Drift turning to him for consultation. As far as Little Brother was concerned, he was not a good Adult and ought not have more responsibility than he needed. But he supposed, as the only other adult on scene, that he was obligated to help figure out what this strange situation was, now that they had stumbled across it. He hopped over to the tangle of tracks, reading them slowly, brow furrowed, until he finally looked up and into the Tanglewood. "I... Well. They have to come from in there..." he said finally, equal parts confused and surprised by the conclusion. "Do you think... someone's in trouble in there?"WC to here: 1017
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DarkHeartedSorrow rolled 2 20-sided dice:
15, 4
Total: 19 (2-40)
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Posted: Wed Dec 18, 2019 12:08 pm
 Forest was luckier than some, because he only felt a little stuffy and a little runny and a little achy. But he could still move and felt he could still be useful, so he didn't let himself stay confined to his burrow. At least, not for too long. He might have slept in just a little. When he finally graced the world with his presence he saw a small commotion happening and approached the rabbits. "What's happening?" As he said it, he noticed the tracks and squinted at them. "Intruders? Someone in trouble? They'd have to be in trouble if they were out there." He sniffled grossly and he stood up on his back legs to try to look deeper into the gnarled, dangerous looking trees as if he could see who had made them. wc: 135
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Einna Firekeeper rolled 2 20-sided dice:
11, 18
Total: 29 (2-40)
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Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2019 12:01 pm
Rosemary angrily tensed her jaw and adamantly REFUSED to be sick. This was unacceptable. She could not be sick. Her plan was to go talk to her weird parents and explain that she didn't want to be a part of this chaotic lovey dovey warren anymore and then she was going to head out on her own. She had been planning this for DAYS. Meticulous planning. Rosemary loved to plan and this was probably one of her best laid ones yet. She has everything she needed,. she had a route she was headed off on, but nope. Now she was sniffinf and coughing and sneezing and all around feeling just awful and she REFUSED to let it get her down. So instead she willed her body to keep working and made her way slowly out trying to look for someone in charge of this dumb warren so she could figure out how to leave. There were rabbits all over but a lot of them... weren't looking so great. What was happening? She approached one at the edge of the clearing and tried not to roll her eyes at the green dye on his side. These Arbor rabbits and their weird obsession with painting themselves. "Hi, do you know what's going on? Why are you staring off into the trees?" wc:219
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Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2019 1:40 pm
Forest rubbed his nose with a paw as he turned to the sudden voice. Clearly the little gathering was attracting attention, but he wasn't so sure that was a good thing. Even this doe looked under the weather, and he was concerned that they might attract even sicker rabbits out into the open cold. "Hey. There's some suspicious footprints here," he said, pointing down to the beaten down snow. "I reckon they're from someone, or someones, in trouble seeing as they came from the woods." He flicked and ear, contemplating. "I feel like we should try to see where exactly they went, but I dunno that many of us are in shape to face something potentially bad." He rubbed his nose again, as if proving his point. wc: 127 twc: 262
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Posted: Thu Dec 19, 2019 3:57 pm
She made a face at his dripping nose wiping and surreptitiously sniffed back her own snot, adamantly refusing to acknowledge that she was equally as gross. "Well... do we want to? I mean maybe whoever belongs to those foot prints is the reason we- I mean you all, seem to be getting sick." She shook her head and tried to open her eyes more, feeling that they wanted to close and knowing her body just wanted her to lay down. She looked blearily down at the ground and tried to see the foot prints he was talking about. "I mean I feel fine you know. I just don't know if I want to get involved in whatever... this is." She gestured around to the messy paw prints and woods, including the buck in her gesturing because did she REALLY want to be involved in any of this? She was planning on leaving today. Stupid runny nose, stupid cough, stupid headache. wc:160 total:379
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2019 10:21 am
Drift looked up at the looming woods along with Little Brother with a rising feeling of forboding. The Tanglewood sort of got denser and more... tangled in the direction the prints had come from, but that made no sense. No bunny lived in there... He had been at the Arbor a while now and no one even spoke of that forest or what was west of the fields around the Arbor. The founders had not even scouted that far, because rabbits just KNEW not to go there... but why? "I'm.. not sure, I really didn't think anyone lived in there." He responded to Little Brother as he stared hard at the forest, wishing he could see through the dense brush. Hearing other voices, Drift turned and was a little relieved to see a couple other Arbor rabbits approaching. He nodded at Forest, who was possibly a more reliable rabbit for an investigation than his young daughters and silly Little Brother. "Well if they were in trouble, or are hurt, they went away from those woods for a reason... I think Forest is right, maybe we should follow these prints and try to find them?" He looked around the forming group, and eyed his sickly daughter. "Perhaps you should go back to the warren Rosemary, Junie you too." He said to them, concerned it could be dangerous. "You can tell the others where we are going?" Junie was so excited, she nearly vibrated with containing it. This was becoming a REAL adventure, she was on a REAL patrol like a real grown up.
"Noooo papa I'm fine, look! I never felt better!" She took a big breath, showing her nose wasn't even sniffly, and hopped about excitedly. "Please, I am grown, I am coming with you!" She would not be sent away now, she would just follow again anyway, and she could see Drift knew it too.
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2019 10:40 am
Rosemary stared steely eyed at her father. "I'm fine." She turned away to sniff and forced her body to hold in the dripping goop from her nose, before turning back. "Let's just figure this out so I can get better and then get back to my schedule of departure." Rosemary made a face at her childish sibling. Agreeing with her sentiment, though not the way it was articulated. "I am certainly not heading back to the warren, now or ever again." Rosemary sat tall and concentrated on feeling not sick as she waited on everyone to decide whether or not they were following these dumb paw prints. wc:107 total:486
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2019 11:10 am
"I think we might want to," he said to Rosemary. "I wouldn't feel right if I didn't at least make sure they were okay. And maybe figure out how in the world they got through that mess of a forest." Forest gave drift a sympathetic look at all the defiance in the air. Now that his own kids were grown, he was bemoaning their sudden independence. Forest's expression said 'dude, kids right?'. But he also had concerns about going in too sparse on extra paws. He had a weird, anxious feeling about it all. "I'm no guard, but I'm happy to come along and do my best. Judging by these prints we can't really know how many there are, right? So maybe it won't hurt to have a few of us." He gave Drift pleading eyes, because he didn't want this to become a Thing. "Best case scenario, there was nothing to worry about and it was just a lost rabbit or two." Even though his gut said otherwise, he really hoped that was the case. wc: 176 twc: 438
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2019 12:44 pm
"Oh, rabbits live in there," Little Brother said to Drift in an uncharacteristically morose tone. It made him shudder to think of the buns that did live in the Tanglewood. "Horrible buns. Creepy little things." Vivid memories of a very unpleasant interrogation came to his mind. He could almost feel the fur being ripped out of his head. "If you guys are going in there, well, I'm..." ...not going in there? Was that right? Little Brother frowned mightily at the tracks. He was really wishing he hadn't followed Junie now. Silly little pranks, liable to get them all killed. "I guess safety in numbers is kind of a thing."
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Posted: Fri Dec 20, 2019 9:51 pm
Knowing not to push it with Rosemary, Drift just nodded and looked at Forest to break away from her glare. He appreciated the camaraderie he saw there and grimaced back in dad-look language for 'RIGHT?' But it may be helpful in the end to have more of them along, as he actually could not tell by the tracks how many rabbits might have come through. But Little Brother was making him nervous. He had only planned to go on a casual patrol and was pretty sure he wasn't leader material. Caper should have been the one to come out, he would know what to do. Going into Tanglewood did not sound like a great idea though. "Well, these prints seem to be leaving the forest... but they aren't heading toward the Arbor either... Maybe they are heading toward the meadow? The pool? Only one way to find out." He hopped forward with a lot more determination than he was really feeling, following the prints. "If you all are coming along that's good, I agree, safety in numbers." Junie stopped her bouncing around, happy there had been no further complaints from her father. Little Brother had seemed so amused before but now he had lost his playful look. That must be serious if even he was worried about bunnies coming from there. Trying to look as serious as possible, she fell in behind her father to follow the tracks. She tried to keep an eye out in case there were any clues to be seen.
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 8:38 am
What could they want? Little Brother glanced at the tracks again, wondering if they had been left by rabbits living in a particular warren in the Tanglewood. They better not be... expanding. The thought was truly terrifying, but he shook his head resolutely. No way. King Joxer was way too fat to make it all the way out here. There had to be a better explanation. And so, to put his mind at ease, he decided he would participate in this little recon mission. All he wanted was to know for sure that those tracks had been left by someone else. "We might as well follow them," he agreed. "Best for us all if we know who left them."He fell into step alongside Junie and shot her a careful sidelong glance. "Stay close, Junie. You never know how dangerous these Tanglewood buns might be. If we get ambushed, you should definitely run," he said ominously.
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 2:36 pm
Little Brother must have brushed up a little too close to a tangly bush. A lilac blur zipped out of it, screaming. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! DON'T EAT ME!!!" The blur was now cowering behind a rock, just the ears visible.
Were there other eyes in that bush? Or was it just a trick of the light? The rabbit popped her head up over the rock. "PLEASE! I'm not even a good looking rabbit! I wouldn't be tasty!" The head disappeared behind to rock again, ears still quivering.
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Hopscotch Shop Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 2:44 pm
Little Brother responded to the lilac bun's AAAAAA with his own very convincing "AUGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!" He leaped out of the way like a thing possessed, shocked that his errant comment about ambushes had come true. And... Who was trying to eat her?!?! He sat bolt upright, eyes very wide as he stared suspiciously into the bush. He was almost sure there was something else in there. Maybe she had led whatever was chasing her to them, and now they were all doomed. What a horrible way to die! "What's in there?! What are you running from???" he demanded, staring into the shadows of the bush as if he could discern more the longer he looked.
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 3:40 pm
Junie had stared wide-eyed at Little Brother, especially concerned that he was so SERIOUS about all this. It put her on edge. She was about to ask him just what sort of monster things were in the Tanglewood when they were AMBUSHED TO DEATH!
"EEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!" She let out an involuntary squeal and scrambled for cover, bowling right into Drift in the process. She had no idea what was going on, her only instinct was to hide. Drift heard the sudden noise of the blurry creature darting away and kept his wits about him, better trained for conflict in the field. He immediately crouched into a defensive stance, ears twitching, and tried to assess the situation. Then he was nearly toppled over by panicking Junie, and in the confusion, had no idea what the creature was babbling. It was definitely a rabbit though. With an effort he pushed Junie aside but held on to her so she did not run right into the potential ambush. "Hush! Stay STILL." He told Junie, then sat up a little to peer past the rock at the bushes. He could not tell but was pretty certain there were others...this was not like any ambush he had ever been trained for though? "Who's in there? What are you doing...?" He called to the bushes, trying to be authoritative but really just sounding confused at this point.
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Posted: Sun Dec 22, 2019 3:53 pm
In the dark cover of the bush, a single opal eye blinked at the shadow figures, as another rabbit tried to make himself one with the dirt. All of his foreboding feelings and terrible dreams were coming true, they were all going to die out here in the wilderness. The monsters had found them. Please let the end be swift...
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