Magic Box, Thursday, 4/07

[life_inshadow]

When Tara came into the Magic Box, she was only mildly surprised to see an old-fashioned black silk top hat sitting on the counter. It was a magic supply store; all kinds of odd things showed up from time to time. She frowned at the hat vaguely before she started reorganizing the display of crystals.

When the first rabbit appeared next to the hat ... well, that could have been a coincidence.

When she saw a second one, she started looking to see if Bobby had snuck into the store.

But when she caught the third one red-pawed as it crawled out of the hat ... well, that could donly be Fandom. She made a little rabbit playpen out of boxes and hoped Everything But the Monkey would accept a donation.


[OOC: Open Magic Box, thanks to icecoldfrost for the suggestion.]

Comments

[brat_inslayage]

By complete coincidence, Kennedy had just happened to decide on chicken caesar salad for lunch. Go figure. It was partly the coincidental-ness of it all that had her blinking when she caught sight of the top hat and the unexpected bunny colony, and laughed.

"Okay, and I thought I was totally past the idea of making rabbits-out-of-hats jokes when it came to the kind of magic you do."

She might as well get that joke out of her system now. The earworm, on the other hand.

[life_inshadow]

"It's not even my fault!" Tara protested, as she scooped yet another rabbit off the counter to drop into the cage. "I came in here and, bam, bunnies. At least it's an invasion of cute."

[brat_inslayage]

Plus at least nobody was reading random books, so the likelihood of surprise swordfighting skeletons was off the table?

"So no actual pulling rabbits out of hats for you. Check," Kennedy decided, eyeing the counter.

"...maybe I need to find somewhere else to put the food, then. If I'd known, I would've gotten extra salad."

[life_inshadow]

"Do we have to feed them?" Tara wondered, eying the multiplying (ha) group of bunnies with a jaded eye. "I m-mean, it's ... kind of cruel not to? But it's not like they're pet bunnies we got on purpose. And they look happy. Ish."

[brat_inslayage]

"Well, lettuce," Kennedy tried. "Eating that in front of them? Might be kinda mean. And I know they're just rabbits but I'm not sure I want to piss 'em off when there's more of 'em all the time."

[life_inshadow]

Tara made a face. "Did you read that book about the vampire bunny when you were little?" she inquired delicately. "They just sucked the juice out of veggies, but it was still kind of intense. And now you have me thinking about it."

[brat_inslayage]

"I did, actually," Kennedy admitted with a laugh. "My teachers got so many pitying looks on elementary petting-zoo field trips... Dad got a little mad after the third time that happened."

Except now she had to lean over and inspect the bunny enclosure. "I don't think these guys are much with the fangy, though. Should we just keep an eye on them while we eat, and share if they start to look suspicious?"

Don't talk about the rabbits that way, Kennedy. Long ears and all.

[life_inshadow]

Long ears and very threatening twitchy noses, Kennedy. Twitch.

"I like that," Tara decided with a smile and a total lack of awareness of the dread bunny threat. "The salad dressing's probably not good for them anyhow, right? So we can just wait."

[brat_inslayage]

Not to mention the hoppy legs... oooh. Scary.

"Also, chicken." Eyes sparkling with kind-of-dorky amusement, Kennedy leaned in conspiratorially. "They might get kinda offended. Maybe. Do rabbits and chickens get along?"

[life_inshadow]

"I have no idea," Tara whispered in return. "Honestly? I think they, um, might both be a little d-u-m-b."

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy slapped a hand over her mouth barely in time to muffle a snort of laughter.

"How 'bout we not test that theory and just have lunch instead?" she suggested. "Besides, they're cute. Maybe you have cuteness competition today."

[life_inshadow]

Tara waved it off, "I appreciate the compliment, hon, but if it's between me and something little and furry, the rabbit wins. But I'll take lunch anyhow."

[brat_inslayage]

"That's like apples and oranges of cute," Kennedy tried to argue, but only halfheartedly; it wasn't really worth debating anyhow, and unpacking the food seemed like a better idea. "This week feels weird for some reason. Or is it just me?"

[life_inshadow]

"It feels weird to me too," Tara agreed. "But I can't remember this weekend, so ... maybe that's it? Did things get weird again?"

[brat_inslayage]

Kennedy shrugged helplessly. "It's totally going over my head if they did, 'cause I can't remember either. Which, I guess, might be weird all by itself?"

[life_inshadow]

"Um, yeah," Tara said, actually looking concerned as she went to plop another bunny from the counter into the bunny pen. "I dunno. Should we ask somebody? I haven't been all that social this week, so I haven't."

[brat_inslayage]

"Do we want to know, is the thing," Kennedy mused. "I haven't even caught up on the radio podcasts or anything. Could be a place to start."

She gave the top hat a strange look. "Or we could get overrun by rabbits at some point..."

[life_inshadow]

Tara squinted at the hat. "I wonder if there's something I could do to make it stop making bunnies..."

She wasn't giving up on fretting about the weekend, but it was less immediate. The weekend wasn't threatening to escape a playpen and poop on a rare book anytime soon.

[brat_inslayage]

"Don't look at me, babe, that's so your department, not mine." Kennedy held up her hands. "Though whatever you do, I totally have your back."

She chewed on her lower lip, momentarily distracted by the incredibly pleading pick me up and pet me look she could swear one of the bunnies was giving her, and crouched to stroke its ears. "Crazy long shot, but we could try asking?"

Asking a hat to stop making rabbits appear. Apparently this was logical now.

[life_inshadow]

Tara's expression was half are you insane? and half why didn't I think of that?.

Still. Asking. She could do that.

"Hat," she said politely, "please stop making rabbits. We have enough."

It didn't feel like much of a spell, so she repeated herself in Latin, added "Hocus Pocus," and .... waited.

[brat_inslayage]

Well, on the first point, the answer was arguably yes.

"So far," Kennedy ventured after about two seconds, "so good. I think?"

[life_inshadow]

"It doesn't seem like it should be that easy..." Tara wavered, but opened her salad and took a tentative bite when a few more moments passed with no more new bunnies. "After lunch we should take the ones we have to the pet store, right? Put them up for good homes? Unless they disappear."

[brat_inslayage]

"Probably a good plan. Although I kind of want to keep one, now," Kennedy said with just a hint of the tone that had always gotten her her way. "If they just disappear I might be disappointed."

[life_inshadow]

Tara leaned over and poked her head over the playpen. "The black one?" she asked. "It, um. It looks like it wants to go home with you."

As if she could resist that tone.

[brat_inslayage]

"Well, we do have to stop by the pet store anyway," Kennedy said, perking up. "I could pick up supplies and stuff, and d'you think it'd get along with Mr. Moxy?"

Look, she knew how Tara could get about animals.

[life_inshadow]

"I don't know," Tara said, biting her lip. "Do cats like rabbits? They don't think they're, snacks or anything, do they?"

[brat_inslayage]

"...the only thing I can say for sure is Moxy doesn't like hedgehogs," Kennedy offered with a wry grin. "But still, he never tried to eat me."

Possibly the spines had helped with that, Kennedy.

"We can find out, though. Later. Assuming Bailey here--" yes, she'd already named the bunny-- "doesn't just go poof on us. Like the weekend apparently did."

...she was a little grumpy about that.

[life_inshadow]

"Well, you had spines," Tara pointed out, biting back a grin at the naming. "He looks pretty solid. No poofing yet...."

She sat back down and poked a fork into her salad. "If it was bad, people would still be talking about it, right? So it must have just been weird."

[brat_inslayage]

"I guess, yeah," Kennedy conceded, patting Bailey on the head one more time before she went back to her own food. "I mean, still not a fan of the not-remembering part but it doesn't seem like anybody's all messed up because of it, so. Just weird."