[B] B is for Bunny (Wild Carrot + I Always Come Back)

[Toshiful]

Carrot knew she was sulking. It wasn't that she disliked problems. She'd just been chewing over this one a while and the available paths just weren't want she wanted. Warren had been a good sport about everything.

Carrot just didn't like having, hm, restricted access. Or unpleasant conditions on what was normally a fairly pleasant function.

The discovery of a certain flower had taken the swamp a good leap forward. Before that, kin had used a system of asking for a stand-in. Often a relative, or someone whose coat looked similar. It had all been well-meaning. But since the discovery of the flower, Carrot didn't know anybody at all who had done things that way. So, perhaps the system hadn't been very good after all.

Carrot might have suggested it just to see some buck attacked.

She didn't think the process should need any bucks at all. If only there was another kind of flower.

[Baneful]

A shadow flitted, too long, close by, and pulled away from the others.

Will stepped forth, wreathed in tendrils of shadow. He was incredibly fond of bunnies, and this one had caught his eye immediately when she'd shown up.

"Evening." he said, blood dripping from the open wound on his chin, ears attentively inclined towards Carrot. "Love the ears."

[Toshiful]

Carrot swivelled both her own ears towards the voice. There were all sorts here, but the way the squirming tentacles blocked out all light was new. The buck's mouth looked messy, freshly fed or freshly injured, but his voice was charm itself.

Like her, he had long ears, and a short tail. Not the same ears. His were flatter, rounded, and slightly floppy. It wasn't a total rarity, but it was uncommon enough.

"Good evening," she said, "At least you aren't admiring my tail. Out hunting carrots?"

[Baneful]

"You have a perfect tail, but I'm interested in it only for its aesthetic" Will said smoothly. "And no, not quite carrots. Hunting for exceptional kin who might have wishes I can grant."

He took a theatrical bow, leaning into an extended hoof.

"A patron of a sort. And I am very inclined towards kin of a very particular shape."

[Toshiful]

The bow and fluid movements matched the voice, if not how ragged, strange, and bloody the other kin looked.

To Carrot, it almost seemed like two distinct pictures - no, with the shadows, which didn't seem kin at all, three - all overlapping.

"That's lucky," Carrot said, "I didn't recognise you as a star at first. But you must be something of the sort, if you want wished on. Well, dear Star. I have someone who likes me a lot. And I like her a whole lot too. And we'd like to have a family."

[Baneful]

This earned Carrot a very broad, incredibly toothy grin. Though Will looked like a rabbit, his teeth certainly weren't the teeth of anything lapine.

"It just so happens I can help with that." he said, smooth and pleasant. "Of all the creatures, in all these lands, I am one who can see you and your love flourish without compromise and plentifully."

He looked away briefly, thinking about something else for a moment.

"It was a gift given to me once, and so I give it to you." He extended a tendril to her, leaving the distance for her to choose if she touched it or not.

"It won't earn me a lot of fans in high places, but I have never really been one to care all that much about the rules."

[Toshiful]

"Plentiful and without compromise. Yes," she said, "Exactly so. A large family. And us as ourselves."

The Star offered her one of the shadowy bits. The non-kin part. It made sense that would be for the wish-granting, if anything was. It was odd. She looked at him curiously. There was so much about him that said danger, but she wanted to trust him anyway. In the end, she decided she liked him. And that she would need outside help for all of her wishes.

She inclined her head forward, and touched the offered tendril gently with the tip of her nose.

[Baneful]

There was a sudden jolt of deep, unnatural power that seemed to crackle through her body like lightning. In an instant, the shadows around the other kin dissipated, knocking him back from her as though he'd been struck too. It seemed to drain him, the wounds across his body seeping fresh blood, and he moved to sit, coughing once.

"Hah." he said. "That's rougher than I thought."

But he shook his head. "I don't care. No one tells me what to do. Enjoy your family."

[Toshiful]

Carrot felt the jolt, a feeling she'd never had before, something strange traveling over all of her, crawling over his skin and deep in her muscles and guts. Something exciting, like getting a surprise or a gasp of fear.

And then the Star crumbled, coughing and looking weak and tired, for a star, but determined.

Could it be true? There were all kinds of strange things in the world. If so, it was a very good gift.And it hadn't looked easily given.

She leaned forward to give him a peck on the cheek. "Thank you," she said.