2007-06-03: DEAD PINK BUNNIES!

Starring:

Daphne_icon.gif Laurel_icon.gif

Summary: Laurel is home from vacation, and Daphne returns her bunny. It dies.

Date It Happened: 3 JUNE 2007

DEAD PINK BUNNIES!


Laurel's Apartment

SO LAUREL IS HOME. And Daphne has to get over to her friend's apartment as soon as possible, for /secret reasons/ involving her rabbit. It's amazing, it's phenominal, it has nothing to do with the fact that all Lucky's white fur spots are dyed pink for some reason, even if they /are./ See, Daphne got a little bored while Laurel was away, Between making sure she was compensated at work for sick time, and going back to the doctor to make sure her 'concussion' wasn't killing her, she's had a bit of time to kill, and Lucky happened to be the willing (and now partially pink) subject.

BUT THAT'S NOT ALL.

The rabbit is calmly tucked in her arm, nose twitching tolerantly as she knocks on Laurel's door. Normaly people would put their rabbits in a cage to transport them, but, in the case, at least, there's no need.

—-

PINK!? That poor rabbit. Tucked under the arm is also a bit disasterous in nature.

As always, the day after a trip is spent doing a few things. One is unpacking, which she spent a whole half hour doing, and the other is sleeping. Which is what she's been doing for the rest of the hour. Laurel has suitcases laying open on the bed, and a few out in the living room with items she's brought back from the British Virgin Islands. Decorations, books, the works.

But the packing has been left mostly undone, and when the knock sounds she rebounds into awakeness by falling right off the couch, which is where she laid down for a nap. "Ow!" might be heard from outside.

Scrambling to her feet, she makes her way to the door rather tired, doesn't even bother to look before she opens the door and looks outside. It's obvious she either just woke up, or has killer jet lag. A few blinks later, a look at her rabbit, and she actually starts to close the door. As if she thinks she's still dreaming and better go back to bed.

—-

Pink, yes. It's just food dye, thoug, so it'll come out eventually. Though what possessed Daphne to dye the rabbit pink in the first place is still up to debate, and it's something that not even she would be able to answer. Honestly.

"Laur, hey, how was the trip?" Daphne's voice doesn't sound like it used to, and it probably never will, but it also sounds a lot closer to American than it did when Laurel left. It's getting a lot easier to fake the accent without really thinking about it, and to that end, she's happy. Of course, once in awhile, her pronunciation is off, but that can't be helped. Seemingly oblivious to the fact that her friend's just rolled off the couch, the vet-in-training just /beams./

"I think Lucky gained a little weight. Sorry. Hey, I have to show you this, it's so cool. She's the only rabbit I've ever gotten to do it, and I have no idea /why./ I mean, with talking— voice commands. It's awesome. I bet she'll do it for you, too." Pause. She can't do it in the hallway o the apartment complex. "Can I come in? I won't stay long," is added, because she can see that Laurel looks tired, and /probably/ wants to sleep for awhile. "…Seriously, though, you have to see this. She's so smart, Laur. Maybe it's 'cuz she's a rescue, I don't know."

—-

"…are her spots pink or am I still asleep?" Laurel asks, though she stops trying to close the door, holding it open and looking at her friend with the strange voice. It's a lot closer to how it'd been, but right now it just seems like part of her dream. For a few moments, she just gives her head a shake, before opening the door more and motioning her in with the free hand. A free hand that reaches up and pinches her own cheek. Yeah, she's awake.

"Yeah, yeah, come on in— I'm not completely unpacked, but the bunny room is made up for her still," she says, giving a small yawn before she closes and locks the door behind her guest and her pet. "Sorry— I was taking a nap, the flight was long." Luckily the time zone isn't too terribly off. Not like she went to New Zealand, though she may request that sometime.

"What do you mean smart? What can she do?" she'll follow her friend to wherever she decides to put the bunny down to demonstrate. Rabbits can be trained?

—-

Daphne glances down at the rabbit, still smiling. "Yeah, I dyed her pink," she replies. Seemed like the right thing to do at the time. "She's pretty now. Aren't you, Lucky?" And at this point, she enters the apartment, stepping into Laurel's living room, where she sets the rabbit down on the floor. It's okay, she won't get anywhere she's not supposed to, at least not while Daphne's around. "Did you take lots of pictures? I mean, besides what you were supposed to. Looks like you got a tan." She's being awfully talkative, but it's for a good reason. She's /practising./ It gets kind of boring talking to herself at home for hours.

There's a lot to ask about the trip, and those questions will come in time, but at the moment, she runs her hand over Lucky's back, pausing to scratch between the shoulders, then looks up at Laurel again. "Okay, watch this. Lucky, play dead."

And she flops over on her side.

"I was trying to teach her how to roll over, but this is really as far as we got. I don't think she can quite figure out how to get all the way round on command." So, yeah, she can train this rabbit, at least. Remember the synchronised-swimming penguins at the zoo? This is kind of like that, only on a much smaller scale. "I mean, I can do it if I— " Without saying a word, she instructs Lucky to roll the rest of the way over. It's easier to add a visual to the command. "But she plays dead. So, uh."

Yeah.

"That was pretty much it."

—-

"Yeah, a couple rolls a film and a bunch of memory cards worth," Laurel admits, rubbing her hands over her face so she can more adequetely prepare herself. Indeed, she has a tan. Looks like she got at least a few days on the beach to spend, though she didn't lose any weight. "Should've seen the food they had at the resort. It was divine. Took pictures of that too." Though that'd been required for the brochures, so it works, right? Right.

"And I got you something…" she adds, moving over to one of the bags as she lays the bunny down and picking out something from inside. A stuffed iguana, from the looks of things. She keeps her eyes on the rabbit though as she rolls onto her side and plays dead. If she hadn't been a rabbit owner for a while now, the sight might really freak her out, but it already freaked her out the first five times she saw it, but Lucky got up just fine every time. But the idea that she can do something /so cute/ on command…

"That's cool, Daph… Here, have an iguana," she adds, passing the stuffed iguana over. It's rather large. "Couldn't get you a real one. I'd've been arrested in customs for helping an illegal immigrant. So a stuffed one'll have to do." It's a plushie, not an actual stuffed iguana.

With the present given, she kneels down and waves her hand near Lucky, "Lucky, hey, get back up so I can test… I can't believe you dyed her pink." She adds on, grinning at her friend, before she decides to test the theory. "Lucky? Play dead."

—-

Laurel and her cameras. Then again, Daphne can't really say mch, since she has OVER NINE THOUSAND animals in her possession. "You're just trying to make me jealous, aren't you? Next time, you're taking me." Daphne figures they owe her for trying to suspend her before asking any questions. Granted, she wasn't really brain damaged 'til after Natalie screwed up her head that last time, but she couldn't /read./ Staying home was /important./

"A plane ticket to the Bahamas?" Daphne asks hopefully. She wants to be a photographer… They get all the fun vacations, even if they have to work through them. Seriously, taking pictures in a tropical paradise really wouldn't be a bother /at all./ Still, she laughs when presented with the iguana, standing up and giving Laurel an odd look. "This is adorable," she says. And she doesn't even have to keep this one in a cage! "I think if you brought back a real one, it'd fight with the one I already have, so— You didn't have to, Laurel. I would have been happy just looking at your pictures." Beat. "And, you know, being jealous over them."

As her friend kneels to test this new trick, Daphne puts the iguana on her head and leans against the wall. "Of course I dyed her pink. She's got white spots." As if that explains EVERYTHING. Sure. And, on command, after looking up at Laurel and processing this information (And, notably, without any prompting from Daphne) she flops over on her side again.

—-

"That, and they're a protected species," Laurel explains, smiling at the cute little iguana. "Nearly extinct. But they kinda run free on Guana Island, which is where I was. They used to follow me up the hill to the resort every morning when I'd leave my cabin. I got about fifty pictures of the one I kept running into." And yes, her poor friend can be jealous. "I'll invite you along, sure. I could totally take you as an assitant, and even pay you— but who'd take care of all of our animals? Got a friend in the Zoo who could do it? Or maybe ask that guy you said could talk to animals?"

Sounds like an idea, you know? Anyway… And then… Lucky flops onto her side. And there's a hint of a excited squeak in Laurel's voice, almost a squee.

"Good girl," she says happily, looking around for the nearest snack drawer and standing up to walk over it to, pulling it open and grabbing a papaya tablets that she bought. With it in hand, she returns to the 'dead rabbit' and holds it out. "Welcome home, Lucky," she says, waiting for the bunny to flip upright and take the papaya tablet.

"I don't have any of the film pictures developed yet, but I can show you the ones on my computer, if you have enough time."

—-

Sad that there are so many endangered species lately. That they have to be protected at all is really sad, but it's hard to balance human and animal life and keep them both happy. As it stands, what they have are zoos, and while that's not the best situation, at least it keeps species alive. It's a sad compromise. "Reptiles don't talk too much to me yet. I'm getting better at it, though. It's just… they speak differently." That is a good question, though… Who /would/ take care of her little zoo? "Well, either someone from work, or my parents." She doesn't know Lachlan well enough to let him into her house unsupervised just yet.

Daphne can't help sharing Laurel's excitement. "Isn't it cute? Shadow won't do it. He barely comes to his name, though, unless he wants something." As Lucky stands up for her treat, Daphne crouches back down near the floor to give the rabbit another scritch, the iguana falling off her head as she does so. "Yeah, I have time. I mean, if you took ten thousand pictures, maybe not, but I can stay for awhile, at least."

—-

"Hopefully your parents can handle it. You got a lot of animals, you know," Laurel says with a grin, before she retrieves the fallen iguana and hands it back to her friend, stepping over to the door leading to the bunny room. As usual, it has a tall childproof block to keep the bunny from getting out, with natural unfinished wood, so chewing on it will be okay. She opens it, and steps inside, filling the rabbit food bowl and shaking it, "Come 'ere, Lucky, come on smart girl. Smarter than that boy rabbit, aren't you? Yeah— come 'ere." She has to call the rabbit the old fashioned way, but with her friend around, there might be a nudge in the right direction.

Once the rabbit hops her way inside her room, the food bowl is put down so she can eat, and she's locked inside with the bunny-proof gate, and she gestures her friend back towards the office. "I won't make you look at a thousand. Though I probably have that many. That's what I get paid for." She can at least show her personal folder of pictures. They've already been sorted on her laptop.

—-

It's not too many for her to handle, at least! Sure, it's a lot of time cleaning cages, but she's got a system now! Half the cages one day, half another day, litter boxes and back yard on the third day. It works, even if it means a couple hours a day /after/ work cleaning up after the animals. She doesn't mind it at all, though. "Well, I think anything is smarter than Shadow. Snails, infants. Mayonnaise." Yeah, not the brightest bulb in the box, but he's /cuddly./ And when you're talking about rabbits, that's really all that counts.

Thus ends Lucky's short stay with Daphne. Nice rabbit, asks a lot of questions, but she's a cutie. "I'll have to come visit her again sometime soon," Daphne notes, though that shouldn't be much of a problem. And so she follows Laurel to the office for picture viewing. "If you make me too hungry with the food pictures, I'm calling for a pizza. Fair warning."

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