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 Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 10:04 pm
Quote: Speaking of those rabbits! If you get bitten, for roughly two days after the bite, the injury is cold and the victim will feel random, cold, shooting pains. Their core body temperature will drop and they will often be sent into random fits of shivering. Eventually, these symptoms disappear--and so do the bunnies. Perhaps you, or someone you know, have the unfortunate luck of being attacked by one of these strange little bunnies. Good luck! No medicine seems to help, and no amounts of blankets or hot baths can soothe the chill. You're just going to have to deal with it and hope it gets better...
Of course to any passerby who glanced over, he must have looked ridiculous. He was clearly too old to be playing pretend, but his loathing and what might have been interpreted as fear of the rabbits seemed to be very authentic. If anyone seemed too curious, Jack attempted to appear like he was just messing around, but in truth, he didn't know how he was going to make it past the monsters and in home in time for dinner. He would have loved to power up and leap over them all, but being out in the open on the playground gym made him too visible. He groaned softly to himself, too proud to even consider calling someone to help him escape the fluffy nightmares.Unoderi ((Please let me know if there's anything I need to change!))
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Posted: Thu Dec 15, 2016 10:36 pm
There were times in life Caelum wasn't sure to enjoy them or be genuinely concerned for the state of another. However, here—here he was at a crossroads. When he caught the sight of the familiar face, he felt inclined to go over and say hello. Yet in this case, well, he was laughing his a** off. He could heard well over the sea of snow hares surrounding Jack.
"Oh man, this is rich, just rich," he managed through his laughter, cheeks rosy from the cold and mirth. "I thought you were playing pretend or something, but—holy crap—there's so many of them. How the hell did you get there?"
Enjoyment faded from his tone, seguing into something genuinely curious and concerned. "And are you okay? This'd be a s**t time to be bleeding out or something."
Some snow hares had taken notice of him, but were genuinely ignored as they sniffed at his boots. The boy had seen them around town and, at first, thought they were pretty cute. When they became such a citywide pest (evidenced here) though, he was quick to dash away that opinion and only think of them as some odd youma. Weak, small youma, but youma nonetheless.
Kitomyx this works fine! 
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 1:13 pm
At the sound of laughter, Jack draped himself over the railing of the gym and cast Caelum a deadpan stare as he waited him out. But the pink-haired boy's sudden change in demeanor from amusement to concern caused the red-head to raise a brow.
"Is this funny to you, or serious? Make up your mind," he grumbled, waving his branch half-heartedly. "And where the hell did you get 'bleeding out' from? Your assumptions escalated quickly."
He ran a hand through his wild hair and huffed. "I'm fine. For now. I just don't know how I'm going to get down. I was walking along, minding my own business when I suddenly noticed these fluffballs following me and it gave me the creeps." Jack gestured with his stick at the rabbits trying in vain to get up the slide. "I looked for higher ground to escape them and found myself up here before realizing they had the entire place surrounded. And now I can't get down."
Hazel eyes widened and he pointed at Caelum's feet. "Be careful! Those little monsters will sneak up on you when you're not looking!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 2:46 pm
Caelum allowed himself one amused snort before his tone turned serious again. "It's serious, I'm serious," he said. "And you can't blame me for going overboard. You see some serious s**t in this city."
He didn't go into the exact detail of what, but his averted glance and small tremble pointed to something. Even though he loved it, his senshi side had its detriments.
The boy glanced left and right, and then ran a hand through his own pink locks. "So they just came out of nowhere?" Caelum said, trying to wrap his head around this. "This is the most I've seen in, like, one given location. They must really like you, or like, you're carrying food? Do these things even eat food?"
To dash away Jack's warning, Caelum lifted a foot and kicked away one that dared to get close. It poofed in a spray of snow. "Nah, I'll be fine," he said, unaware of the militia building up behind him. "These things are like snowballs. Can't hurt a fly unless you get socked in the face with one."
Then one landed in his hood. Caelum looked over at it and blinked. Then another, and then another, two more, three, until the boy was overtaken by the bunch behind him. Suddenly, he was also running. Forward toward the jungle gym. Stamping at buns and leading them into the sea with him.
"M-make room, make room!" Caelum cried, rushing up the jungle gym stairs. "They're coming!"
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 8:16 pm
"Then you shouldn't have laughed in the first place," the older teen muttered irritably. "These may not be glowing poinsettias, but they're still suspicious as heck."
At the question he was posed, Jack shrugged. "They're white, so they blend into the snow and I don't hear or see them until they move. And no, I'm not carrying food. Maybe they're bloodthirsty." He eyed the long-eared mammals nervously. "It's unnatural for them to be so brazen around other creatures, too. Especially humans."
"No, don't - !" He cringed when Caelum kicked one of the rabbits, unable to do anything to stop him. "What if they get mad and start getting more hostile? Dude, have you ever tried picking on chickens in that one Ocarina of Time game? That's what's gonna happen if you don't cut that out!"
But his warning seemed to be in vain. Right before his eyes, the strange little critters began to gang up on Caelum until the pink-haired boy was headed for the playground gym Jack was stranded on.
"Hey, don't bring them here!" he complained, but Caelum was already rushing up the steps. Jack came forward to beat back the ones he could reach with his branch. "And then there were two," he murmured sourly. "Way to go, genius."
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 10:37 pm
Caelum rolled his eyes as he lay splayed out on the jungle gym's floor. "Oh, shush," he said. "They're normally not as bad as this. It's gotta be your fault. Seriously."
When he pushed himself up to sitting, he felt something wriggling in his hood, and reached inside to pull out another one of the hares by its ears. He tossed it into the sea as if it were a tasteless fish, and then sighed.
"Man, this sucks. Just sucks." He got up and leaned over the railing of the jungle gym, considering their situation. "There's seriously a lot. Not as bad as the poinsettias, but they're still a pain in the a**. Have you thought of anything? Y'know, to get yourself out?"
Caelum had one idea, but it all centered around him powering up as Cadmus. Something he wasn't keen on doing in front of another person, let alone somone he just barely knew.
"That branch." He pointed at it. "Can't you keep swinging it and clear a path to freedom? Or are you seriously afraid of them or something?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:11 pm
"What do you know? Have you encountered these things before? Or are you talking about normal rabbits?" Jack questioned, retreating a bit after he'd fought the worst of them off the gym. "You're the one who kicked one."
He couldn't help but yelp and then laugh as Caelum found another in his hood before throwing it back among its brethren. But at the pink-haired boy's complaining followed by his question, Jack became annoyed again. "Man, if I had, do you think I'd still be stuck up here?!"
"Here." He tossed the branch to Caelum. "If you're so brave, you do it. I don't want to get anywhere near these things. Especially after seeing how quickly they submerged on you like that."
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Posted: Fri Dec 16, 2016 11:31 pm
"O-only just recently," Caelum shot back, glancing around. He wasn't going to admit that all of his encounters were when he was Cadmus. "I mean, it's impossible not to walk two feet in this city without encountering them. So I've seen them, that's all. Seriously."
He grunted when the branch was tossed to him, and almost felt inclined to toss it back. Turning it about, he said, "I totally would, but I don't know if I can beat off that many. Maybe I should just bap you on the head and throw you to the wolves. Er, rabbits. Use you as the distraction and then get myself out of here."
Caelum posed it as a serious idea, but then laughed. "I'm only kidding, I wouldn't do that. If we had some fire, though, I could probably clear a path easier by lighting this up." He quirked brows at Jack. "You wouldn't happen to have that lighter still, would you? Odd question, I know, but I can't help but ask."
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 5:42 pm
The Romano student sighed and gave Caelum a shrewd look like he dared him to do as he threatened.
"Cae, you and I never got to properly talk after that incident with Jeremy. I get that. But as someone who gets threats from bullies on a regular basis, please don't insult me by underestimating my abilities or doubting my intellect. Even if it seems stupid, I do everything for a reason."
He stuck his hand in his pocket. "As it happens, I actually do have that lighter. This was the winter jacket I had on that night, so I kept it in my pocket after that whole incident." Retrieving the device, he flicked the sparkwheel to summon a flame and held it out to Caelum. "The branch, please."
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 5:59 pm
The smile on the boy's face waned come Jack's words, and suddenly, he felt undeniably guilty. He handed over the branch without a word, averting his eyes as his stomach relished in what was said.
Turning back to Jack, his mouth open and closed twice, before he said, "S-sorry. I didn't mean, like, I wasn't meaning anything by that but like... But..." He was running a hand through his hair something fierce, having mussed up his mussed up locks even more. He really hated offending someone unintentionally. "I didn't know."
Trying to turn his intention back to the situation at hand, he said more seriously, "Think it'll work? I mean, they'll melt, but it's all I'm betting on right now."
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 9:36 pm
Whatever seriousness had shone in Jack's features melted into his full-on grin as he clapped Caelum on the shoulder. "Hey, relax. I know you didn't mean it. And how could you know? I'm just telling you for future reference so you don't question me if I start acting in a way that might not seem to make sense."
He held up a finger matter-of-factly. "Like that whole thing with Jeremy. You know why I gave him such a hard time at the botanical garden? So he'd make sure not to fault you for what we did since, even though you were the one who did the pushing, it was my idea."
Waving a hand, he added, "Not that I normally go out of my way to keep other people from getting in trouble because of me, but you seemed like a person I could do future business with, so I didn't want to ruin your opinion of me right away."
"And see?" Jack spread his arms. "I was right. If you hated my guts still, you probably wouldn't even have stopped to ask me what I was doing up here." The teen nodded toward the rabbits. "As for them, of course it'll work. If you cover the front and I watch our backs, we'll escape these things in no time."
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Posted: Sat Dec 17, 2016 11:41 pm
"Ah, you—"
His lips parted in surprise, before fixing into a small frown. "Seriously, dude? You didn't have to do that. I would've taken a lecture, since I still did something that time. Jeremy sounded like a d**k, but he came to be an okay guy, and you're okay too. I wouldn't think ill of anything you did. Though I see what you're going with there." Caelum cast eyes out to the rabbits. "Trouble follows you like a fart."
Reserving his comment of 'heroes always help' to save face, the pink-haired boy ran one final hand through his hair and said, "Okay, lets let bygones be bygones for now and survive this first." He scanned the sea of snow floofs, looking for the thinnest ebb in the tide, and pointed it out leading from the jungle gym to the adjacent sidewalk.
"If we make a dash through those trees, we should make it through," he said, cocking at the area with his chin. "On three, we run?"
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Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 8:35 pm
"I know I didn't have to, but you were freaking out so bad about getting in trouble with the police even before he came along." He snickered. "If you thought he sounded like a d**k, I'd love to know what you'd think of some of the other guys I've met. Jeremy just sounded like a typical, concerned adult to me. Annoying, but they mean well."
Jack snickered at Caelum's claim about not thinking ill of anything he did. "You sure about that? Because you seemed pretty angry with me when I pretended to play innocent and asked why I should get kicked out because of you." He grinned, shaking his head. "You were just so transparent, though! Stammering and saying 'it was just a small spat' - he was never gonna buy that if you kept acting all worried. I had to distract you somehow."
At the remark regarding trouble following him, the high school freshman shrugged . "What can I say? I like to keep it around. Life gets dull too easily otherwise."
"...I wonder if a carrot would do anything in this situation," he muttered, surveying their numerous enemies. When his red-eyed companion gestured toward the most likely path to freedom, Jack nodded. He put the lighter to the branch, hoping it wouldn't be too damp to light, but not too dry to burn up too quickly. Luckily, the flame seemed to catch, but he knew they had to act fast lest the fire died or caught on to something else. They couldn't stop in the middle of their getaway to re-light it, nor would they have time to stop, drop, and roll.
Since Caelum had been the one to suggest the count, Jack assumed the other boy would start it. "Ready when you are," he informed him, standing with his back toward his peer.
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Posted: Sun Dec 18, 2016 9:44 pm
Caelum harrumphed, his bottom lip jutted out in testament to his actions. "Y-you can't blame me, geeze," he said. "It was a spur of the moment thing! It's not like I cause a ruckus or whatever on a daily basis. It just seemed fun then, because I was in a pissy mood. Like trying to vent. Or something. Explaining it is hard." Or more like he couldn't come up with a concrete reason for his actions.
Instead, he tried to focus fully on the moment at hand. Right, they were close to death waging war against a cute, relentless sea. Cue the dramatic music when the branch was lit aflame.
"Okay... One... Uh... One-two... One-two-three!" Caelum shouted, dashing off at the mention of three whether Jack was ready or not.
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Posted: Tue Dec 20, 2016 8:37 pm
"Still getting all defensive," Jack noted, amused. "You don't learn, do you? But it's kind of endearing you're so easy to read. You don't have to tell me you don't do that stuff on a daily basis; it shows." He pat Caelum on the back consolingly - or perhaps patronizingly. "No need to hurt yourself trying to explain. You felt the need to act out; it happens. You just weren't used to dealing with the consequences."
He tilted his head, casting his pink-haired peer a strange look as he repeated his count a few times before 'three' was finally said. Taking the cue, he tried to keep up while making sure the rabbits at their back were kept at bay with the branch on fire. They didn't need any of the things sneaking up on them or pouncing from behind.
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