. Here, Bunny and Ketzio are both the same age -- that being 11 -- their backgrounds have been re-imagined and the setting is now in the 90s, which we're very enthusiastic about drawing in that time. We do hope you enjoy the slight change in procedure, this is an entirely new canon, and, just to be clear, the other Bunny and Ketzio stories won't stop. :)
All favorites and comments are greatly appreciated!
Bunny (left) and Ketzio (right) (c) Gothbunnyboy and Ketzio11
Thick mist poured in from the western coast that lazily crept about the roads of Clamsburg, spilling over the empty early morning streets and then slowly up the dry golden mountains that cradled the port-side town.
The town had a duality with which the traveling mist was indifferent during its journey. The main stretch was a lavished beachside paradise; a testament to tourism, and yet the fog passed directly into the other side. It was the flaw of a pristine jewel. It swept beside the clutter of substandard apartments near train tracks and, as it went, the fog passed the small apartment of a 10 year old grey english lop named Bunny. He had risen early just to watch the morning gloom pass from his window.
Bunny sat on his knees in his closet-sized bedroom; his chin resting on the cold window frame. His knees buried themselves deeply against an old twin mattress and he watched intently hoping it would start to rain. "Just one more time, before the summer... please?" his mind begged.
Beside him, on the bed, his clothes and a few small things had been neatly packed in his backpack like his parents asked and it felt like it would be ages before he would actually get going. His family had been well-intended but they were facing eviction and so Bunny would have to live with his great aunt for a while.
He could hear his step-dad stirring in the other room with the muffled alarm clock and the very faint rumble of voices. Bunny sighed, knowing that this might be the last time he could enjoy his room and fell back onto his bed. He was only partially aware of the turmoil going on around him anyways and the idea of losing his bedroom and not seeing his family only slightly distressed him.
He fished up his Game Gear from under his mattress and began to play; waiting to finally be chauffeured in the old truck and carted away from Clamsburg. Sadly, it did not rain.
Oh well. Maybe it would rain at his aunt's house.
~~
Aunt Sunny, who was infinitely delighted by the similarity between her name and Bunny's, was a small, plump, and very joyful rabbit. She had long wispy greying ears and tiny dark eyes hidden behind magnifying glasses. Aunt Sunny had an almost-cartoon-like resemblance to a stereotypical grandma. She was a very wealthy woman as well, by a trust fund or something, Bunny really didn't understand, but knew one thing: her money meant her home was large and inviting. The one-story bungalow ranch house even had a backyard jacuzzi and pool.
In addition to the accommodations, Sunny absolutely adored children, though her sensibilities where as old-fashioned as she was. Kids, in her mind, still enjoyed mild games of tiddly wink and lovely things like sewing and reading. Even if Bunny wasn't the archetype of what she remembered of children's behavior -- she enjoyed him greatly and welcomed him into her home.
Oddly, for the first few days, Bunny had talked very little and ate even less. He showed no desire to go outside or want to do anything other than stay hidden. He was perfectly content watching TV and playing the video games he brought. This was what he did most days anyways considering his neurotic behavior. He rarely got along with kids, and the rare times he did, Bunny would drive them away with his 'contagious loneliness' -- or at least that's what his mom would call it. There was this perpetual raincloud hovering above him that was a buzzkill for most potential friends.
Aunt Sunny worried constantly that he might be missing his family and friends back in Clamsburg and, indeed, he was stricken with his typical loneliness and depression. It didn't help that his awkwardness would most likely drive away any of the few kids who lived in this neighborhood -- that is, if he would ever catch a glimpse of any of them. It seemed that this entire neighborhood was filled with retirees and other trust-fund beneficiaries so, whenever Bunny stared out of the living room window, he would only see the elderly, over-dressed for just a casual day, slowly trudge their way towards their cars to go off wherever. Bingo, perhaps.
Two days of isolation and Bunny's aunt finally had to bargain with him.
She strolled into the living room, that he had sort of claimed as his own, despite there being three open guest rooms that he could choose from. For some reason, he took the most comfort in the living room. It felt less scary and more familiar. It's not like anyone could tell though, apart from a comforter on the couch, the room was immaculate.
"Bunny, sweetie, what would you like to do today?" She cautiously approached. "Why don't you go outside? It's a lovely day."
"That's okay Aunt Sunny, I'm fine..." He smiled halfheartedly.
"C'mon, don't be so glum chum. You've got a whole summer to have some fun~ I know! Why don't you go out to the backyard to swim?" She waited a few moments to gauge his reaction.
"I dunno."
"Well, we can make some ice cream! I know a certain Bunny who would love to try carrot cake flavor." she nudged him playfully. "You know, you're pretty lucky -- we didn't have that many flavors when I was your age... just strawberry and dinosaur eggs."
Bunny hid a shy giggle as he rolled his eyes, he looked like he was coming out of his shell slightly before he clammed up quickly. "I don't really want ice cream."
Aunt Sunny's attempts at cheering him up proved to be a losing battle, though, and she had to force him to go outside even if neither of them knew what he would do to pass the time. The nearby yards were too manicured for a little boy to be running around in and, besides, he wasn't much of a runner despite his species. Still, if it made her happy, he would go outside and just read his comic books.
She let him know that she was going to be taking a nap. Bunny, of course, found it odd that she was doing what little babies would do: nap. He hadn't taken a nap during the day in years and it made him almost feel above her.
Bunny rested under the old orange tree at the center of the front yard that bore no oranges. The branches loomed over the dividing brick wall that led into the neighbor's yard. He gripped the edges of a video game themed comic book; holding it close to his face to defeat the sun's glare. He kept an immaculately organized stack of comic books, protected from the dirt and grass by an old folder, next to him mostly focusing on sci-fi, horror and video games. Super hero comic books, however, none to be found. Other than the calm, somewhat chilly brisk breeze; Bunny could hear a virtual absence of life being far away from the hustle and bustle of the cities. Everything here was so foreign to him -- not hearing constant distant roar of cars along with the occasional man screaming for no reason. This neighborhood was too quiet and he turned up the volume of his game to distract himself.
The hedges surrounding the old orange tree made Bunny feel comfort in how it isolated him. He felt safe knowing that whatever old person walked out of their house to go get the mail or whatever wouldn't immediately peer over at him and question what kind of growing boy would spend this lovely day just sitting down and playing video games. Though, he couldn't shake off the feeling that someone was watching him.
He would periodically rest his device on his lap to scan his surroundings -- specifically behind the base of the tree he leaned upon and, satisfied for the moment, returned to his laziness. Leaves and debris began to pile on his straight, black hair. He would brush it off just to have some more immediately replace it, until, he started to hear a very faint sound of stress that he couldn't quite pinpoint. More and more debris fell on him and he, while putting his comic down out of path of dirt, swatted at his hair as he then heard what sounded like a violent snap of one of the tree branches along with a high-pitched yelp of fear.
Bunny saw a figure slide into view on his peripheral and he jumped back; quickly noticing, however, it was a snapped tree branch flaccidly plopping onto the grass. He heard a nervous chuckle come from above him; looking up to see a cat girl, about his age, clinging onto the base of the tree for dear life -- avoiding a 6 foot fall. The first detail he noticed about her were the large oval glasses that obscured but complemented her golden eyes and, nextly, her odd mishmash of uncoordinated clothing: with a purple striped jacket, a Dalmatian shirt and blue gym shorts.
"Wha..." Bunny started before the cat lost her grip; twisting her body around in mid-fall with her back-length ponytail losing its form and blasting against the wind in several directions. She ended up landing on her hands and knees; tucking and rolling forward to try dampening the force of the fall. Her coordination and grace, even while falling off of a tree, impressed Bunny until she landed flat on her behind with her upper body jolting forward awkwardly.
"Ow." was all that escaped her lips as she shook her head; a shine of liquid resonating off of her right knee as Bunny realized, behind the caked dirt from the ground, she was bleeding.
He attempted to recall health and safety tips from his school back in Clamsburg but he had a hard time figuring out if he should give her CPR or something. She seemed to have been breathing so that was probably unnecessary. Bunny, however, felt he had to do something because his parents always hammered in how infections could lead to amputations and whatnot. He didn't much want to imagine this girl with one leg.
"Yikes, I'm sorry." the girl apologized sheepishly as she seethed in pain; wearing her shame and embarrassment on her sleeves. "I was uh--" she frantically shot her golden eyes in all directions; seemingly trying to think of something.
"You're bleeding." Bunny stated absentmindedly; transfixed on the fresh incision that started to overrun the caked dirt on her knee's fur.
"...wha? Oh, right." she poked at her knee a bit and winced; fighting back tears and clenching her teeth. "That's alright." she stood up and patted herself off; particles of dust poofing off of her gray and white striped body. "It's not that ba--" she tried to brush off the dirt from the scraped area but recoiled in pain.
Bunny leaned forward; clutching her hand gently and leading her into his house. He felt it was his duty, or something, to make sure that she didn't get an infection from her cut -- luckily she didn't mind being led into his aunt's house and came willingly.
"Aunt Sun--?" Bunny called from the living room but shut his mouth when he remembered that she was taking a nap. Guess he was on his own for this.
Bunny led the quiet girl into the front bathroom which queerly had carpeting. He prompted her to sit down on the counter and she did, very meekly, as she looked off somewhere else while Bunny hurriedly took a few rolls of toilet paper and dampened them a bit; telling her to try wiping off the dirt around her wound as he went off to get some neosporin and bandaids.
Before he left, he caught a fleeting glance of the girl staring back at him with an inquisitive expression.
After a while, he scampered back into the cramped bathroom with a load of towels and a first-aid kit. He set the heavy box down, opened it, and threw the towels over the sink with a very stressed determination to his breathing.
While the left knee was scraped a little bit and was no big deal -- the right knee was cut pretty deep and Bunny was surprised that she wasn't crying right now. He totally would have been. The injury was cleaned up and Bunny began to play doctor but spewing a bit of the neosporin on the afflicted area, dabbing it around the girl's knee with a cotton swab, and placing a band-aid over it. As he worked on her injury, Bunny picked up on the delightful scent of graham crackers and honey. He'd probably associate that scent with her from now on... or it would just be a memory of him performing rudimentary first-aid on a girl in his aunt's bathroom.
He would briefly look up to see the girl peering down at him with an odd expression; lips slightly parted and eyes squinted. Perhaps that was just how she dealt with pain.
"Okay," Bunny wiped his forehead and shook his head; slowly rising to his feet with a satisfied grin. "All done." he spoke softly; extending his hand to help her off of the counter.
She took his hand but didn't rise. The cat remained seated and awkwardly glared back at him for a few moments until they both let go simultaneously. "Uhh, thanks. It wasn't really that bad, though." she finally spoke.
"Oh... uh... I'm sorry?" Bunny felt a little embarrassed at her mixed response. His heart fluttered as she stopped being his 'patient' and started just being a girl again. There was this phantom warmness lingering from when he guided her into his bathroom. "Just wanted to help out, I guess."
"I think it was super nice." she hopped off of the counter and stood opposite to him -- barely an inch taller. "Sorry for breaking your tree."
Bunny felt the room shrink as she stood in front of him; suddenly the bathroom felt incredibly cramped and a bit more intimate than he was used to. "Huh... what were you doing up there anyways?" he didn't want to question her but he needed something to say.
She recoiled a bit and laughed to herself; avoiding eye contact as she sighed in defeat. "I was... uh... well, you're a new kid and there aren't many kids in this neighborhood," she explained. "I also sorta wanted to show you that I could climb trees. Not so good, though."
"You're a cat." Bunny pointed out timidly and with no humor. "I thought you'd be more... good at that."
She pouted; resting her hands on her hips and thought about it for a moment. "Okay, Mr. Rabbit," she declared as she snatched up his hand. He, once again, felt a surge of immature lust when their hands connected. Without so much of a squeal, she drug him outside back to the orange-less orange tree with the one snapped branch. Sneering at him, with a look of confidence, she pulled him in with a hand over his shoulder. "If I climb to the top of that tree in less than 30 seconds, then you have to be my friend."
"Your friend...?" he chirped stupidly.
"Pinky promise!" she gave him a big, toothy grin in which he noticed she was missing one of her upper front teeth. And, to his little heart, it was the cutest smile he had ever seen despite its glaring flaw.
His immature mind was immediately stricken by this cat girl.
"S-sure." he quietly agreed; basically having nothing to lose.
"Time me!" she assumed a running stance with her tail twirling like a helicopter rotor before stopping, standing up, and looking back at him with a sly and attractive look of self-assurance. "By the way -- if I fall, I'll do whatever you want for the rest of the day. Except dishes." and with that, she returned to her running pose.
Bunny stood there, shocked, kind of wanting her to fail now even if he didn't even know what he would ask her to do.
"...hello?" she impatiently called him back to reality. "I said time me!"
"Oh, sorry!" Bunny cleared his throat. "Go!"
With that, she dashed forward and leaped over the base of the tree without a problem. Bunny was amazed at her dexterity as he basically forgot that this was the same girl that clumsily fell off the tree a little while ago. He noticed, by accident, how flexible she was as she maneuvered around the branches and progressed more and more northward. He kept reliving mental images of how her back curved and how her t-shirt would lift slightly to reveal her bellybutton.
It could have been 10 seconds or it could have been 10 minutes but, by the time she shouted "Alright! What's my time?" he had completely forgotten to count down anywhere passed 25.
"Uuhm..." he put his hands behind his back and awkwardly stretched with his mind raging at him as to how he should reply. Either way, he had no idea. Perhaps he could ask her to show him her bellybutton again but... ahh that probably be weird of him to do, he thought. "...you did it super fast! I hardly got to even count!"
"Hah! I knew it." she boasted as she victoriously wiggled around on the tree; coming dreadfully close to losing her balance and falling again. She gripped the tree with all her might as a look of shame crossed her face. "Uhh... heeey... you wouldn't happen to have a ladder or anything, would you?"
"Oh, right!" Bunny enthusiastically shuffled into his aunt's garage, opened the garage door, and emerged clumsily holding a ladder 5 times bigger than himself. He plopped it against the side of the tree and the girl took that as her cue to hop down towards the ladder, but, instead, Bunny started to climb up there as well with a funny little look of determination.
After all, this was how the firemen did it... right?
"You uh..." she giggled. "... you didn't have to climb up with me, you weirdo."
Her giggle at his expense was like a knife through his sensitive heart as he, once again, felt very silly in his actions.
"Ahh, it's okay," she called to him as she climbed, cautiously, right beside him. "That's really funny -- but that's really sweet of you too. My name is Ketzio, by the way." she leaned over and pecked him on the cheek.
Bunny nearly lost his balance on the ladder as he could feel it slowly leaning away from the tree. Ketzio grabbed one of the bars and pulled it back; laughing at his loss of coordination. "...Bunny." he responded finally with absentminded blankness; presumably lost in his thoughts.
"Bunny?" she parroted. "Oh my gosh, that's like if my name was 'Kitty'!"
"Yeah..." he still seemed lost in his own world with his coffee-colored eyes slowly twitching and a streak of red appearing on the grey fur of his face.
"So!" she was obviously trying to keep the conversation flowing. "I saw you were reading comic books down the--" a bit of bark snapped off of the tree and plummeted a whole 12 feet. "--probably not the best place to talk, huh?"
"Yeah..." he shook his head; trying to bring himself back into reality. "Yeah! I was reading comic books." it also seemed he disregarded the second half of her statement.
She rolled her eyes, smiled and looked at him. "Super hero comics, I bet."
"Yea--uh--no." he almost lied; scared that, perhaps, she liked super hero comics herself and he might have been offending her now.
"Woo!" her eyes lit up. "Thank gosh. My older brother is so annoying with his super hero comics -- I figured all boys read them. They're totally the worst! But I do like comic books! Just... not those kinds."
Bunny was dazzled by how much he felt like he was connecting to this girl. He had never felt this sort of shy anticipation to every new thing she was going to say. The only time he had ever felt anything close to this was towards a pink hedgehog in one of the video game themed comic books he read. But, this was a real girl.
"I love the scary stuff, mostly!" she bared her teeth as if she were a monster herself. "Monster comics and stuff like that!" she looked him over. "Do you?"
"Do I wha?" Bunny felt like he was put in a spotlight.
"Like horror comics?" she leaned in with a condescending look on her face; expecting him to admit to being too afraid of them.
"Yeah, I do." Bunny replied earnestly; centering himself once again. "I have some of those comics in my collection. Mostly vampire stuff."
"Vampires!" Ketzio squealed. "I love vampires!" she pulled back her cheeks to show off her fangs. "I bet I could be one if I tried~ All I'd have to do is bite your neck." she playfully leaned forward as if she were actually going to go through with it, but, they both ended up losing their footing and struggled to avoid the long fall down. "Right... the tree." she chuckled. "Let's uh... let's climb down first."
~~
A few somewhat shivery steps led the little cat girl to Bunny's aunt's house. Bunny wiped his feet on the doormat and Ketzio eyeballed him awkwardly; moving in to copy his odd movements. She tended to just waltz into her own home with whatever the hell on her shoes.
"Don't worry, I'm sure my aunt won't mind you coming in." Bunny stated as he held the door open for his new friend.
"What about your parents?" Ketzio inquired as her nose crinkled from the sudden blast of what seemed to be everything being coated in pinecone air freshener. "It'll probably be weird if I just wa--"
"No, no." Bunny waved his hand as he led her to the living room. "It's just me and my aunt. She's nice -- but just really, really ooooold."
Bunny plopped down on the carpeted floor in front of the large CRT TV smooshed between cabinets and shelves. Ketzio fiddled a little bit with one of the doilies that littered every bit of furniture in the room as it seemed that she was waiting for something -- but instead just received a very quiet Bunny.
"Wait... this is your room?" she dropped the doily.
"Kinda." Bunny shrugged; feeling slightly judgmental eyes on him. He rubbed his arm timidly and realized that he never really had a satisfactory answer to that question. "Well," he pointed at the hallway opposite the front door. "My aunt's room is waaaay down that hall. So, technically, this room is farer away from her. And she snores pretty loud." he rolled his eyes. "I like my privacy."
Ketzio giggled in response; folding her arms together as her tail lulled about carelessly. Bunny felt that nervous shyness again -- but he didn't quite know what it was that set him off. All she did was giggle... really cutely. He gestured wildly to the one beanbag chair amongst the elderly furniture, "Have a seat!" he squeaked.
"Why thankyou, kind siiiir." she said in her best 'royal' accent; badly performing a curtsy and approached the beanbag chair with no real grasp of high society. She dropped on the chair and it responded by slowly consuming her backside. She wiggled and stretched anxiously to get into a more comfortable position with her shorts bunching up her thighs slightly.
Bunny was kind of relieved they had dropped the whole 'privacy' subject so easily but he still didn't quite know why that stirred something in him -- until he noticed how far her shorts were riding up her legs. It felt like he was back to square one; gawking at her as she climbed the tree and he felt a little ashamed.
"Hey!" he tried to force his eyes away from her legs; mustering up anything as best as he could. "Err... so, could you tell me some stuff about you?"
She stopped struggling and tapped her chin; still stuck in an awkward position on the chair. "For startsies -- I'm a cat." she meowed. "But, also, I have a 'really' normal home-life, a bunch of friends, and my older brother treats me good." Bunny detected a massive amount of sarcasm coming from her. "Yep, everything is good." and, with so little of a pause that it could have been misconstrued as the same sentence, she sighed and continued. "Ahh... no, no, those are lies. It's opposite day." she flailed her hands around weakly.
"Wha?"
"What about you?" Ketzio dodged the subject. "Your aunt's house is nice and all. Tell me stuff about you."
"I have a white tail." he said matter-of-factly with an index finger pointed northward. "That's about it. Oh! Uh... I like video games... and comics and rock music and horror movies."
Her eyes lit up at the mention of horror movies and she clamped her palms together. "You like scary comics AND scary movies? Oh gosh!"
"I don't know if you're making fun of me or not." Bunny attempted to read her odd inflections too deeply.
"No! I think that's awesome!" she squirmed out of the chair and crossed her heart to prove that she was telling the truth. "I always ask my older brother to rent scary movies for me but he never does." she pouted. "Like, how many times can he rent that stupid skateboarding movie? Blech."
"Well, uhm--" Bunny started.
"Like! We get all of these rentals and I only get one if I'm lucky." she interjected; flailing around angrily as it sort of looked like she was venting steam. "It's always like 'ooooh, you can just watch your brother's movies' and his movies are so boring! Uuugh! Who the heck wants to watch someone skateboarding? I don't even want to ACTUALLY skateboard! And he's not even good at skateboarding so it's really annoying tha--" she suddenly stopped dead in her tracks as her cheeks radiated red.
"Why did you stop?" Bunny asked; sitting down on the carpeting cross-legged directly in front of her giving his best psychiatrist face.
"It's just..." her tone was uncharacteristically timid and it caught Bunny off-guard. "...whatever, it's fine. I'm surprised you didn't take a nap while I was doing the talky thing."
"I haven't taken a nap during the day since I was in kindergarten." he smiled. "And, besides, I think it's more fun to listen anyways."
"You're probably the only person I know who says stuff like that." Ketzio bumped the tops of her shoes together; smirking from under her forelock. "That's super cool of you."
Just as that familiar comfortable discomfort began to rear its head, Bunny felt forced to spit out the first thing on his mind to keep it at bay. "Are there fun things to do around here? I'm still new here."
The brisk breeze outside momentarily turned into a howling noise through the air holes of the living room's windows. "Whelp," Ketzio rested her hands behind her head and tried to recline cooly but ended up sinking more into the beanbag. She nervously giggled. "Welcome to Foxenwood -- the worst place ever!" she whipped her hands up in a grand way. "The only fun stuff we have around here are... uh... well, there's a movie theater place not too far away and a stupid skate-park next to it. Uuuh... there's also a YMAA or whatever -- but that's just for old people to work out. Ooh! There's MY favorite place," she paused for dramatic effect; crawling out of the beanbag prison and shot her face right up to Bunny's. "Redwood Plaza!" she made lackluster hype noises.
"Why is that your f-favorite place?" he backed up slightly; not knowing how to deal with Ketzio being so close that she was blurred out.
"Well, for startsies," she leaned in near him once again; a bit too close for comfort for Bunny. "It has BookSquire! That's a place where we can get comics and all sorts of cool stuff."
It meant a lot that she actually read comic books. He so rarely found people who were even remotely interested in the things he was.
"There's also Rojo Vista," it looked like Ketzio was starting to vibrate in excitement as her glasses perpetually shifted diagonally and slipped down her nose. "It's a little store that has a bunch of candy and soda and things like that. It also, like, has beer but that's for grownups so pfft."
Bunny was starting to get a little comfortable having Ketzio's nose just a few inches away from his. He didn't back up this time, but rather, attempted to consciously halt the twitching of his nose.
"And then, finally, there's the movie place!" she swiped her bangs and pushed her glasses up with one expert movement. "That's the place where we go to rent movies. Plus, we don't need a membership to rent which is cool. There's a clothes store next to that and..." she mumbled the next part, "...a porn store or whatever."
"A porn store?" Bunny parroted loudly with genuine innocent confusion just to have Ketzio cover the entirety of his loud mouth with her hands.
"Are you trying to get us in trouble?!" she whisper-roared. "That's a bad word!"
"...sorry." Bunny responded with his voice barely coherent through her palms.
She released him and sighed but stayed in his personal space. "Yeah, those are all of the best places to go. Like, there's an arcade somewhere but it sucks and it's too far away to walk to."
"Are there any parks?" Bunny asked; a little intoxicated from the smell of honey and graham crackers from her hands.
"Well... I dunno," Ketzio stared up at the white, asbestos-ridden ceiling. "There's kind of two. The closer one is boring and has no swings or nothing and the other one is way too far away but it does have--"
She stopped as the sound of footsteps grew louder from the hallway. They both scrambled back; trying to regain their composure of innocence. They were aware of the fact that being so close to each other was a little embarrassing.
"Oh?" Aunt Sunny approached with her hands clasped together in delight. "Who's this?"
"Hi, Aunt Sunny -- this is--"
"Ketzio." she interjected awkwardly with a hint of fear. "My name is uh... Ketzio. Would you like me to go home? I'm sorry for coming in without asking."
"Well, aren't you sweet." Aunt Sunny concealed a yawn. "See, Bunny, I told you going outside would be fun. You made a friend so easily!"
"Aunt Sunny... uugh... shush!" Bunny hid his face in shame as the older rabbit let out a wheezy chortle.
"Well, I'm going to make myself some afternoon coffee and I'm going to get me back to my room because there's a special on about the wonder of the 40s." she shuffled eagerly into the kitchen. Bunny smiled; still adoring her charming enthusiasm.
He glanced back at his new friend to see her nervously staring a hole in the carpet. She radiated fear in such a tremendous way that it rubbed off on Bunny. The guilt on her face was heartbreaking.
It honestly looked like she would burst into tears at any moment.
He didn't know what was wrong but his adolescent mind immediately connected the saddened face to needing a hug. He extended his arms outward and wrapped them around Ketzio without really thinking. He knew that if he hesitated for even a moment, he wouldn't do it -- and this felt like something he was supposed to do.
"What's this for?" Ketzio sniffed.
"I. Don't. Know." Bunny mumbled and started to release his grip just to have her rest her forehead on his shoulder; stopping him.
"You're not supposed to let go so fast." her voice was muffled by his shirt and, despite still sounding a little shaken, had a little shine of command to it. "Your aunt is scary."
"...really?" Bunny pictured his aunt with a glowing aura of rainbows and sunshine. He didn't quite understand but he held her tight nonetheless.
Bunny felt weird for harping on that delightful smell of graham crackers and honey but now he felt like he would associate it with her touch. It wasn't the same as hugging his mom or Aunt Sunny -- it was more like hugging the stuffed animals he used to have when he was younger. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she was the same size as him -- he didn't know.
~~
They stepped out onto the enclosed patio room in the backyard to catch some fresh air. Bunny opened the mini fridge in the corner as Ketzio stared at the pool out the many windows. Bunny could tell that she was a little less shaken -- especially now that she saw the pool. Her eyes lit up like saucers the moment she saw the cement hole in the ground. Bunny approached her slowly; offering her a soda which she somewhat rudely snatched.
"Oooh, you guys actually buy the good stuff." Ketzio studied the soda can intently. "We only get Surge. It kinda tastes like bleach."
"How do you know what bleach tastes like?" Bunny asked with a small smile; opening up his can of root beer.
Ketzio shot him a displeased glance; narrowing her eyes then cracking a little smile. "You never got confused with bleach and milk? The big containers look kinda the same." her sarcasm was noted as she took a long savory sip of her own root beer. "Hey!" she continued; shifting her tone. "Have you ever tried a Raven's Revenge?"
"What's that?"
"Uuuuh... only the best thing ever!" Ketzio shot her arms out in a grand way. "They're these, like, plastic tubes full of awesome powder that's kind of like sugar but more just sugary... sour and all that."
"A powder, huh?" Bunny thought about it. "You mean a pixie stick?"
"Noooo!" Ketzio huffed. "A Raven's Revenge! 'Pixie stick' sounds stupid."
"I haven't had one, then." Bunny played along; predicting that it was just going to be a regular tube of sugary powder... like a pixie stick.
"I have some money from my allowance left over -- wanna go get some?" she hopped up and down in excitement. "Plus! I also have enough to, maybe, rent a movie--" her eyebrows furrowed and she looked off at the pool again; cutting herself off. "--if you want to."
"I thought you needed to be an adult to rent a movie." Bunny recalled walking a few miles to the closest movie rental place in his old home just to have them turn him away.
"Well, the owner knows me and my family so it's fine." Ketzio nodded. "But yeah! Do you uh... wanna go?"
"Sure!" Bunny didn't know the proper way to react. Was he being too excited? Too aloof? Too weird? He didn't know, but, he was too busy being transfixed on the prediction that this was going to be so much fun. "Let's g-- oh wait, I have to ask my aunt."
Ketzio recoiled at the mention of Aunt Sunny. "Would you mind if I waited here, then?" she asked; rubbing the back of her arm as her energetic tail became flaccid and plopped down next to her ankles.
Bunny nodded and offered her a small pat on her shoulder before dashing inside and leaving her to her own devices for several moments. When Bunny exploded back into the room, practically hopping with joy, she knew his aunt agreed.
"So, what did she say?" Ketzio sheepishly inquired; hoping that his body language wasn't because she declined.
"Well, not only did she say 'yes', she gave me 20 dollars!" he flashed it in her face in triumph.
Ketzio dug into her own pockets and pulled out 7 dollars. "Uuuh... you lead, then."
"But I don't know where we're going." his ears twitched. "I'm uh... new here... remember?"
~~
After a long afternoon, they finally emerged from their final destination: the video store. Bunny carried a large bag full of everything they had bought and/or rented: candy, a movie... candy. The movie was PG-13 too! They were very lucky to have gotten passed the teenage clerk's eagle eyes. They both, also, carried their own fountain sodas. Ketzio chose a Sprite and Bunny, feeling like it would somehow impress her, chose a Sprite as well.
Ketzio smiled brightly and Bunny couldn't help but feel an intense attraction to her and her attitude -- especially that missing tooth. It somehow made her flawed smile perfect combined with her freckles and that heart shaped marking around her left eye. He found it particularly jarring when her smile vanished behind her lips and her face showed concern and sadness.
"Hey..." she meagerly started. "...how come you paid for everything? I was supposed to buy... I dunno... something, you know."
"Wha? It's fine -- you're a girl." Bunny pointed out the obvious.
"...yeah?" she looked down at her own clothing. "I am... right?"
"Well," Bunny blushed; setting his bag down and realizing how silly he must have looked right now. He didn't much know how to continue his train of thought. "It's... not like I earned the 20 dollars so... yeah."
"That makes sense, I guess." Ketzio mumbled; her voice mostly drowned out by the sound of passing cars. She breathed in slowly, regained her composure, and pointed towards the small brick wall that concealed an empty planter. "Let's sit down for a little bit."
Bunny nodded and hopped up the chest-high wall with one quick and agile movement; leaving his bag near his feet, placing his fountain soda down next to himself, and finding a comfortable spot atop the perch. Ketzio remained still; looking wrapped in thought.
"You coming?" Bunny leaned forward; prepared for her to change her mind and for them to continue walking. It was getting dark afterall.
"Could you help me up?" she asked as she shyly avoided eye contact.
"Wha?" Bunny couldn't help but snicker a little. "What do you need my help for? You climbed a tree earlier!"
Ketzio's ears drooped. "Yeah, but..." she froze for a moment before enthusiastically pointing at her band-aid. "...I hurt myself earlier, remember?"
"But that was before you climbed the tree." Bunny stated.
"Well.. uh..." she feigned a whimper. "...it's starting to hurt now."
"Oh! Then sure -- come here." Bunny took her soda and placed it out of the way upon the perch, hopped down, and as Ketzio neared the wall, he was a little clueless on how he was going to help.
"Just push me up a bit." she said as she placed her hands on the flat surface of the wall.
Bunny, before thinking about it, positioned himself behind her before letting his anxiety get the best of him. He timidly grabbed her by the waist; his fingers wrapping around the soft but slightly bony shape. The tips of his index and middle fingers squeezed against her inner hip where it became noticeably softer and, as he retained a calm demeanor on the outside, his mind was screaming nonsense at him that he couldn't even decipher. His thumbs met the base of her tail, finally, and Bunny held that position for a while as Ketzio waited for him to lift upwards.
It felt like he sat there, grabbing at her hips, for over 10 minutes but the strangest part was how Ketzio didn't much question it. She just stared at the wall, her expression hidden by her hair. Bunny finally took the initiative and did what he was supposed to do: attempting to lift her up.
His entire body rocked forward as his little stick arms couldn't handle weight similar to his own yet. He found himself somewhat grinding against her as he put all of his body weight into pushing her up atop the wall; his pelvis making full contact with her backside with enough force to even feel the indent. He found himself stuck in time once again with his heart pounding in his chest; the two of their bodies interlocked in a rather precarious position.
Bunny's sensitive ears picked up a little yip of a noise coming from Ketzio and, all at once, his heart halted. Something clicked inside of her, however, as she climbed the rest of the way on her own -- leaving a slight lump in Bunny's shorts that didn't previously exist. He quickly tucked it away before she turned around and sat upon the perch.
"Thanks for the help!" she said through giggles.
"Uh... n-no problem." Bunny's legs felt weak and he wondered if she noticed his protrusion. He hopped back upon the wall and made himself comfortable next to her; so close that their shoulders were practically touching.
"So... when you were helping me up--" she started; her voice drilling a hole in Bunny's smitten heart.
"Hey!!" Bunny threw his pointed index finger in the direction of a store called 'THE TOY BOX' at the end of the strip. "Is that the porn store?"
"Eh, yeah?" Ketzio laughed. "At least there's no one to get us in trouble because YOU KEEP SAYING THAT WORD."
"What? Porn?"
She shot him a deadly glare.
"Oh..." Bunny raised his hands in partial defense. "...sorry. How about I just call it the P-store?"
"Oh my gosh..." she rested a palm to her shaking head. "...that's so much worse."
They both chuckled for a bit, then, were only left with awkward silence and the sound of wind blowing cans and paper around. Ketzio so rarely saw these roads so devoid of life.
She decided to kill the silence herself as she turned and studied Bunny's face intently.
"Whoa... is everything okay?" Bunny couldn't decipher what expression she was exhibiting at the moment. A sudden, chilling thought filled him with dread, however, as he imagined that perhaps all of this was a cruel prank. Perhaps this 'perfect girl' was going to laugh in his face or something -- come to think of it -- he couldn't quite believe everything that happened today could have possibly gone so well. All of this must have been a cruel j--
"You know, I'm really good at choosing friends." she stuck her tongue out at him; leaning a bit closer to Bunny. "You're a good find!"
That look of fright on the young boy's face slowly morphed into confusion, then finally, joy as he gave the widest smile he could muster. With his face bright red, he couldn't help but feel silly for thinking all of this was a prank. Silly him.
"You know..." Ketzio pointed at his buck teeth. "...I never noticed you had braces."
"Oh!" Bunny's joy immediately fired back down to insecurity in one second. "Is that bad?"
"I think it looks good on you." Ketzio nodded. "Whenever I see other people with braces, it's kinda gross. Your bunny teeth make it look cute."
Well the story component seemed secondary to the artwork we produced; so it felt more appropriate to hype the art component - the stories are bonus content for anyone who cares to read -
Well the story component seemed secondary to the artwork we produced; so it felt more appropriate to
Awwwwwwwwwww that is just so cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute giggles.💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💗💕💗💕💗💕
Awwwwwwwwwww that is just so cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute giggles.💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💕💗💗💕💗💕💗💕
Wow! This is an awesome idea. :D Very interesting reading about these two love-struck cuties in such a different light... but equally rewarding. Plus I can TOTALLY relate, being a '90s-raised youth myself! 8)
You guys have seriously given me a reason to smile wide and with heartfelt adoration today. <3 God bless you both! ;3
Wow! This is an awesome idea. :D Very interesting reading about these two love-struck cuties in such
This is such an adorable story. :3 I'm already liking this new universe, not that the other one isn't just as cute and adorable. It's fun to see artists re-imagine their characters in a different way and share that love and experience with those that enjoy the art and stories that come along with each tale in a picture.
I can't wait to see more of this new universe and see what else happens in the other one. You two are so cute together and make the most beautiful art. Thank you for your beautiful work. :)
This is such an adorable story. :3 I'm already liking this new universe, not that the other one isn'
Okay, I was reacting to the pic and the setting before. Now, having read it, I love it! I look forward to more, if there is! Also, RAVEN'S REVENGE! I've never heard anyone ever mention RR before, that was awesome n__n
Okay, I was reacting to the pic and the setting before. Now, having read it, I love it! I look forwa
This is my uuuhh....third time going to this picture, never read it the first two times cause i cried from the pic alone...i think there might be something wrong with my emotions or somethin'
This is my uuuhh....third time going to this picture, never read it the first two times cause i crie
That shirt raises some interesting questions about morphology in your world. Is KISS human or merely some strange fictional animal? Is Bunny the Lavender Hill equivalent of a furry?
-That shirt raises some interesting questions about morphology in your world. Is KISS human or merel
