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Well, to put it simply, Annelie moving around in a tree without a plan didn't really get her anywhere at all. When she looked back over her shoulder, despite her arms feeling tired, she ....was no where closer to the ground than not three minutes previously.

Oh wait, Ilmar was talking about a plan. She should stop and listen.

.....

Nope, he was just joking around. Jumping into a simple pile of snow? Annelie quirked her eyebrows at the absurdity --

Never mind, he was serious.

"Ilmar, I...." She wondered if it was even worth arguing about, seeing as he was pretty into piling everything up. Wasn't like she had any other ideas other than the ridiculous 'CATCH ME.'

Thin-lipped and a bit worried, she leaned over to try and gauge the snow pile that was to be her saving grace. "Just make it really deep --- AUGH!" And just as the fleeting thought of 'one shouldn't lean so far while sitting in a tree,' Annie found herself falling OUT of said tree and into the half finished pile of snow. Straight on her a**, and very narrowly missing her friend.

"....Ow."

"Yeah.... I'm ok... I'm just going to lie here for a moment," she exhaled, waving his hand away. It was almost like she was stuck in a bagel, or some sick joke of a chaise lounge that propped up all her limbs but kept her a** sunk into the ground. 'Stuck in a bagel' sounded like a better description. Too bad nothing was as soft as the bread-y delectable; she was going to feel this in the morning.

"Next time there are trees involved, you are going to be the one climbing them." She gave a sniff, head still laid back, the seeping cold of the snow actually starting to feel good on her backside. Looking up into th partial boughs of the trees, a light feeling of peace seemed to just float about her. Tranquility and all that jazz. Maybe she'd just lie here for longer than a moment. Maybe --

Wrrrrreeeeeeeeeeeeaaachhtt!

NOPE. NOPE, SHE WAS DONE WHAT WAS THAT SHE WAS DONE HERE. Attempting to clamber out of her bagel chair with absolutely zero dignity in the entire world -- skirts flying everywhere -- Annelie grabbed onto Ilmar's sleeve in some panic. "What was that!?"

Well there goes her support system!

Wide-eyed in some degree of terror, Annelie found that she had basically almost zero motor function. See, she was the type of person who either froze in moments of panic, and displayed the 'if I don't move it can't see me' state of mind, or she dropped whatever it was she was holding and ran like hell. In this case, since she had nothing to hold, and was already flat on the floor, Freezing Like A Moron was Ultimate Defense Mode. And it had activated hard core.

Even the mention of Lucky coming from beyond the Endless Etneral Abyss of Death didn't get to her, BECAUSE SHE WAS ALREADY SCARED BEYOND HER MIND. Wait, where was he going? Ilmar? Ilmar!?

"ILMAR." Oh hey, she could talk. "Wait... wait for me." Oh she was so pitiful, lying there covered in snow, wet, cold, about to be eaten by lord knows what. Eventually she found her feet, but grabbed her friend's arm again rather than her own weapon. Tactics, see: all she'd have to do if they were attacked was get anywhere before him.

"If some Terror Beast jumps out and attacks us, I'm using you as a meat shield."

"Oh yes.... nothing says Happy like the cries of the dying," Annelie scoffed as quietly as she could, though she continued to keep her grip on his shoulders. He was her meat shield, or if it made him happier he was her Nobel Meat Shield, but either way she intended to use him.

Bushes, scrub, and snow indeed. And trees. Lots of trees. Following wherever Ilmar went, Annie didn't dare venture near any of them, but rather just looked around all wide-eyed like a mouse. And when he went over to investigate one of said bushes? Oh hell no.

Annie let her protector go to protector-y things, and she held back some several feet. "I'm sure there's nothing in th -- AHHK!"

She lied.

As soon as Ilmarinen parted the branches, the caterwaul from earlier picked up again, and a light hued mass of fur burst forward, kicking and scrambling awkwardly in the snow and twigs. It screamed again, bug-eyed, and Annie gasped.

"It's a poor little rabbit!" Or well.... Poor BIG rabbit. It was definitely not of the tiny cotton tail variety. But either way, it was a cute and furry creature that all girls loved, and it needed help. Annelie rushed forward to try and subdue it.

"It won't attack you," she retorted, but this was no time to roll eyes, and she nodded all the same. Holding onto a huge rabbit was a difficult task though, and eventually Annelie found herself just hefting the animal into her lap and hugging half of it to her chest.

And well....apparently that triggered some sort of STAHP MOVING response from the animal, or the animal thought it was a gonner so why even try anymore. Either way, it stopped moving and screaming.

"Guess I can't be annoyed with you carrying that knife everywhere anymore, can I?" she said, somewhat good naturedly.

At the twang, Annelie hoisted the rest of the animal up and got to her feet. She could feel its heart going a mile a minute, and it still refused to move....but it hadn't died yet so hey that was good. That and it was nice to have a warm furry thing blocking out some of the cold.

"You think so?" she asked, quirking a brow and moving her head back to look at the animal again. She studied the thing, noting its pink eyes and light tawny fur. She'd never seen a wild rabbit this color before, or this big. It was a little skinny, but not in too bad of shape...

The rabbit, finally seeming to sense that there was a change going on around it, flicked an ear and sniffed more readily at the air. It then sniffed out to Ilmar before turning to wiggle its nose at Annelie's own.

Ok, it seemed to be OK around people. "Some idiot probably thought it'd make a good offering..."

There was really only one way to respond to a pun like that (or any pun of Ilmar's) and that was with the pinnacle of facial expressions: The Line Face.

And Annelie was good at it.

Very good at it.

She was done with this.

"Yup, I think it's time I took you home now, Ilmar." She hoisted up the rabbit again, who continued to sit stoicly in her arms. "Clearly all this fresh air has started to affect you... and I don't want to listen to vegetable puns all the way home." That and Annie was terrible at puns, despite being around someone who made them on a daily basis. Thus one-sided pun wars wasn't her favorite game.

But Annie didn't like living with only the consequences (despite that practically being her life's persuit)! Though she especially didn't want to have to deal with that stupid grin on her friend's face all the way back home either, yet with them being friends she seemed to be stuck.

Annelie Cox: Royally screwing herself over in life one bad decision at a time.

She hoisted the lazy pile of fur in her arms once more and turned, nearly over spinning on the ice before regaining her footing. Dignity....it was gone. But she still had her mind-reading abilities:

"We are not naming it Emergency Rations," she poo-pooed, knowing full well what Ilmar would have offered in the realm of Suggestions. "Nor are we choosing 'Basket Lining,' 'Wolf Bait,' or 'Posh Jackelope Decorum'."