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 Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 5:24 pm
Quote: Prompt 7 (Snowbunnies): Winter seems to bring out the cutest of all rodents; this isn’t the first time that small, white rabbits have infested Destiny City. They’re small, rarely larger than a guinea pig, and have large eyes and wiggling noses. They are always pure white and seem to show up whenever there’s snow. They aren't menacing or evil, they're just everywhere. They seem strangely domesticated; they are sweet, curious, and friendly creatures that will eat anything you give them. They always seem cold to the touch, and when they shake, little snowflakes sprinkle off of them. While they seem to be social creatures who seem to appreciate anything warm and will cuddle up to steal body heat, they are too skittish and fast to be kept for pets. They can show up just about anywhere, either alone or--often--in pairs. They tend to wander off on their own without any trouble, but if you surprise them or try to catch or hurt them, they may bite. Their little teeth are enough to break skin, but after one bite they run away. The bite itself isn’t bad, but the effects are a bit unpleasant: 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. 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… Most experiences with the bunnies are perfectly pleasant, you just have to worry about them burrowing. There are holes peppering Destiny City, and with the fresh fallen snow it can be impossible to tell where they are hiding. The holes range from small holes to several feet deep, so can be a minor inconvenience to a potential hazard. On the bright side, sometimes you wind up covered in bunnies looking for warmth from their sudden guest. On the other hand, there are a rising number of trips to the hospital for twists and sprains. The bunnies always leave with the snow, so best to enjoy them--or avoid them--for as long as you can.
One second he was making his way down the sidewalk, heading home after a few brief errands. The next second, he was face planting into the snow.
“Ow,” he said, then muttered a string of curses in Russian.
He looked up and found several bunnies gathering around. They stared at him curiously, all twitching noses and beady eyes.
“You’re lucky you’re cute,” he told them.
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Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 6:08 pm
“I think I like the bunnies,” Ren said to Misha as he hurried up his steps so he could offer a hand to him. “Every time they come back, I run into you.”
Okay it wasn’t the best in terms of pickup lines, but he was pleased to see the young man again. The last time they just didn’t follow through with contacting each other. Ren had just started his duties in the Negaverse, so it was a little difficult to keep up with people. For Misha, Ren was sure he was busy with his social media.
Ren had been out and about, not doing anything in particular, just clearing his head. A lot had happened in the past few months. Sometimes he needed a moment to process everything.
“Are you okay?” he asked, aware that they’d had a very similar run-in last winter. “You don’t look like anything is broken. Otherwise I’d offer to carry you. Instead, what about coffee again?”
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Posted: Fri Dec 31, 2021 6:20 pm
From the bunnies, Misha looked to the man offering his hand.
At first, Misha didn’t recognize him. Sure, he looked familiar, but lots of people looked familiar in little ways. His voice was recognizable, too, but in a way that Misha knew he hadn’t heard it in a while. It took several moments of staring before his brain finally caught up and remembered where he knew this man from.
“Oh!” he said, then smiled bright to cover his momentary confusion. “Hi! Ren, right?”
Misha took the offered hand and clambered back onto his feet, brushing some snow off of his leggings. The bunnies scattered at the movement but didn’t go far, watching like the very concept of human interaction fascinated them.
“Sorry, it’s been… kind of a busy month. I’m so out of it!” That was a bit of an understatement, but it wasn’t like he could tell Ren what he’d been up to. “Coffee sounds good! Might get my brain working again. How’ve you been? I know we kind of lost touch there for a while. It’s been a crazy year, huh?”
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 9:41 am
He offered a warm smile to Misha when he took his hand and got back to his feet. He glanced around at the bunnies, making sure they weren’t up to anything nefarious. “It had been a pretty crazy year. It’s good to see you again though. Are you well? How is your video channel?”
Ren had glanced through it of course. At least when he had the chance to. It was a cute source of entertainment, but not really something he would like and subscribe for each video. Not that he even had time to do that.
“I’m good,” he answered Misha’s question, glancing him over to make sure there were injuries from the bunnies. “Just keeping busy with things. Avoiding the fabled Destiny City monsters as best I can,” he added with a laugh. But anyone who lived there should be well acquainted with the monsters that appeared every so often.
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 10:20 am
“Some of those fabled monsters might make for a good video, though,” Misha said. “Might get some interest back on my channel. I’ve been pretty slack with it recently.”
Maybe a month wouldn’t make too much of a difference in viewership. Misha had no idea. At most, he didn’t think he’d lost too many viewers, though his lack of activity meant he hadn’t been able to gain a lot either. He’d tried to record some videos over the last few weeks, especially with the holidays offering plenty of opportunities, but his heart just hadn’t been in it. The mission seemed more important. He could worry about his online presence later.
Or he was seriously ******** himself over. At this point, did it matter?
“Have you ever actually seen one of the monsters?” he asked as they began to make their way to a nearby coffee shop.
A few of the bunnies followed, hopping along in their wake.
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Posted: Sat Jan 01, 2022 10:50 am
“I’ve seen a few, yeah,” Ren answered, again thinking it was pretty uncommon for someone living in the city to not at least come into some kind of contact with either youma or the otherworldly creatures that appeared.
Once they reached the coffee shop, Ren reached out to hold the door open for Misha, offering him another warm smile as he let him enter first.
“My treat. For not contacting you. And also because I want to,” he added, because he definitely liked to throw around his money, even if he didn’t openly flaunt it. “Do you want anything to eat? I don’t mind if you’re hungry,” he promised, looking at the selection of scones and little snack packets in the display window.
“Were you around during the fourth of July? There was a giant monster that I could have sworn would attack the city, but I guess a group of magic wielding people decided to stop it. I could see it from the rooftop I was celebrating on,” he added to explain why he knew there was a monster. And it had nothing to do with the fact that he was in the intelligence branch of the Negaverse.
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Posted: Sun Jan 02, 2022 10:17 am
“For real?” Misha said with audible surprise, gazing up at Ren with slightly widened eyes. “Not gonna lie, I really thought the monster stuff was a long running joke or something. You know, like that city in Germany people pretend doesn’t exist.”
He paused to scrutinize Ren, like he was suspicious of him. “Are you sure you weren’t drunk? Or high? Or are you trying to see if I’d actually fall for it. I’m not that gullible, you know.”
Despite all the rumors that spread around the city, most people seemed content to remain oblivious or even willfully ignorant. Of course there were some who delved into the conspiracies and seemed more knowledgeable than the average citizen, but they weren’t usually taken seriously. Every time Misha mentioned some of the strange things that happened in Destiny City in a video, people accused him of making things up.
It was probably for the best. The less people that were aware, the better.
“You’re funny,” Misha decided, returning Ren’s smile. He ordered a vanilla latte and some sort of cream cheese pastry, since Ren was being so generous. “That rooftop party must have been pretty wild.”
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Posted: Sat Mar 05, 2022 8:36 pm
Ren showed Misha a charming smile, “I promise I wasn’t drunk or high. I wouldn’t pick you as someone to be gullible, either.” Even if Misha didn’t believe him, it didn’t matter. He’d been there to experience the strange monster first hand. Along with a lot of other White Moon and Negaverse and that grumpy Dark Mirror Prince he had the pleasure of talking to.
“Oh yeah, very wild. We were all trying to decide what it was. Looked like a lot of people were trying to fight it too. Can you imagine trying to fight monsters? Maybe it was just a production and I missed any advertisements for it,” he shrugged, because that seemed like a reasonable explanation.
He ordered his own coffee and slice of lemon cake, and found a quaint little table somewhere in the corner of the room, so neither of them would have to have their back to the door. For some reason, Misha didn’t seem like the type to like people sneaking up on him.
“This work?” he asked, holding out the chair for Misha to sit, because it was only polite. “Next time I see something crazy like that, I’ll be sure to send you a message. Or try to get a better video of it so you can use it for your channel.”
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Posted: Tue Mar 08, 2022 2:10 pm
”Monster In Destiny City Part 2! Not Clickbait,” Misha joked.
He figured the safest way to play this was to pretend as if he found the entire thing amusing. Maybe Ren really believed what he saw. Maybe he was making things up. Maybe he’d heard something from someone else. Maybe he had connections…
Misha sat in the offered chair, took a sip of coffee, and scrutinized Ren over the top of his cup.
“It had to have been fake,” he decided. Either Ren would deny it and offer more proof, thereby providing more information about his sources for Misha to mull over, or he’d agree and they could turn the conversation elsewhere. “Maybe it was some crazy light show. Destiny City trying to live up to its weird reputation on a holiday when everyone’s out watching tacky light shows.”
At least a monster was more interesting than all that red, white, and blue, star-spangled nonsense.
“Besides, magic’s not real. It’s all sleight-of-hand sort of stuff.”
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Posted: Sat Jul 30, 2022 8:21 pm
“I think that has potential,” Ren teased back.
He liked Misha, there was no denying that. He didn’t know him very well, but he wanted to at least talk to him more. Maybe get his thoughts about the magic is not real theory.
Ren took a seat across from Misha and leaned across the table, swirling the contents of his cup with one hand.
“Maybe it was some crazy light show. Next time Destiny City plans on doing some kind of event, we should meet up again. Even better than just a message, yeah? Try to get first row seats. We can place bets on if magic is real or not. You can use that as your next title. ‘The magic of Destiny City: Real or Fake’,” he teased before taking a sip.
Misha’s response of giggles hopefully meant he was making a good impression.
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