Teenage Rebellion [Finished]

[The Jenn]

Thirteen years old, wingless, and full of a rebellious, bitter nature, Chaitali approached the edge of the Wood that several people had warned her, both directly and indirectly, never to go near. None of them had ever bothered to give her a reason beyond 'because I said so', with the exception of her mother, whose reason she hadn't listened to so she honestly couldn't remember what it was. Still, when you said something like that to a just-teenage girl with everything to prove, you were pretty much inviting trouble.

The place looked daunting with all of those trees, light thinned several yards in by the thick canopy that began so close to the boundary. She figured it couldn't be nearly as bad as everyone seemed to think it was. They all talked about 'strange' and 'dangerous' creatures living inside of it, which probably just meant 'interesting' and 'different' so far as she could guess.

Drawn forward by curiosity and a naturally pugnacious nature, the feline took one step beneath the shaded trees, then another. Nothing leapt out to grab her, to scare her away, to drag her off into the dark places. She smirked and took another step. Just as she thought, there was nothing at all to fear. Puffing her tail out slightly and holding her head high, she entered the Wood.

[Nathalia]

Her footsteps would crackle lightly over dead leaves carpeting the ground, sunlight coming in through the greenery in small patches, looking similar to spotlights.

The trees were mostly birch, their odd, flaky bark peeling in places, though the gray shine of willow bark could be seen in a few places, meaning to step lightly as there could be a hidden river or stream.

There was an odd absence of sound and even the light seemed to flitter oddly through the canopy, making anyone who would look up feel slightly dazzled for a few seconds.

In the underbrush off to the far left, near the very edge of the forest is an odd patch of white among the brownish green foliage.

Further investigation of this stark contrast to the landscape would reveal the body of a dead rabbit...Tulgey and a doe. Her shining silver mane spread around her head like a halo, an expression of bliss on her face. She appears ancient, her body as thin as a rail, red eyes still open but wrinkled around the edges and the skin of her body looks saggy and loose.

Her front legs are pushed out in front of her as though reaching for something...something about her pose, makes her happy expression, even frozen in death, appear somehow...sad...

[The Jenn]

Not that Chai had been to all that many forests, but this was certainly a weird one, what with the almost complete lack of sound. She couldn't hear any birds, there were no loud insects, and the only things that seemed to make any noise were her paws lightly crackling through the dead leaves. She glanced around and saw nothing but the trees, glanced up and saw no birds - but got a nice, unexpected face full of surprisingly brilliant sunlight until she took another step and it was instantly gone - and the place seemed even weirder.

Was this 'weird' feeling the only reason people were discouraged from coming here? She smirked and shook her head in mock-disdain, pushing her unease to the side and replacing it with something stronger and louder that would chase away the doubt. It had always seemed to work before.

Something tugged at her peripheral vision and she turned her head, catching a flash of white. In the greens and the browns, that was an unexpected color. It wasn't any kind of white that moved, though, just one that stayed where it was on the ground. She took a few steps closer, obeying the laws of curiosity rather than of prudence, and suddenly stopped when she realized what she was looking at. A body? Just... sitting there?

And that was no ordinary body, she realized suddenly. That... that was a Rabbit. Her tail poofed out a little bit as the voice of unease got even louder in her head. It was like finding a decrepit old unicorn lying dead in the forest. This was just the kind of thing that didn't happen. Rabbits weren't real! She always thought people were making up stories of them. She'd never seen one, and even though some people insisted they were real, others just thought they were full of bologna and paid the 'fairy tales' no mind. That was what she'd always done.

But there was a dead Rabbit. It was sitting in front of her. Cautiously, she took a tiny step back. It didn't move, so she took a tiny step forward instead. It also didn't move. Now she could feel the touches of curiosity poking at her again so she took one small step forward after another, eventually just walking over to the body and staring down at it. Yep. That was a Rabbit. She'd caught and eaten enough rabbits to know what a Rabbit looked like. She paid the expression no mind, seeing it as nothing more than an oddity.

Very, very hesitantly, she reached out one paw and lightly touched one of the female's front legs, just a cautious poke.

[Nathalia]

"I would very much prefer that you do not touch her again, my dear..."

A low voice cautions, ringing in the silence behind the feline. Even though the words had not been spoken loudly, the silence seemed to magnify them.

"She was placed in a rather...certain way, if you will."

The sound of the footsteps were audible now, though he took means to keep himself as quiet as possible, on the leaf carpeted floor this was difficult even for those whose powers allowed the to walk with effortless grace.

It was a Rabbit. A Jack, not that this would mean anything to the feline standing before him. He was very tall, and obviously of the Wood, his red eyes scrutinizing her as he moved around her, in an attempt to herd her away from the body. Once near enough, he knelt down and reached out to the corpse. Very gently, he moved her front paws into a position that more suited him, regardless of the fact that the Card had barely poked the body...he had to make certain.

"I'm sure you'll forgive me, my Melanie would have appreciated not being disturbed until I had left, you see."

He glanced down at the corpse with a small smile hovering at the edges of his mouth.

"She was beautiful, wasn't she? My Melanie..."

The Jack's voice had dropped, become softer and lower as his eyes moved slowly over the body one last time. He then turned to the Card with a slight, formal bow, pulling a pocket watch from his jacket as he did so.

"Now, if you'll just follow me, my dear. We're a bit late."

[The Jenn]

Hearing a voice, a cold, chilling voice behind her, Chai's tail fuzzed up even more and most of her hackles raised. First she found a dead Rabbit, then she went up and - for the sake of morbid teenage curiosity - she poked it, and then a smoothly urbane spoke up behind her in a low, slightly scolding tone. What the hell?!

She whipped around and stared at the Rabbit, a biped unlike her and the doe. She had no idea what that meant to Rabbits and could only tell by his voice and something about him that he was male. Otherwise... well, he was a Rabbit. Which she hadn't thought existed before today, just now. But apparently they did. Should she tell anyone? Probably not. They would never believe her. Besides, it was none of their business and she didn't feel like sharing something this important with anyone else. It wasn't any of their business.

"She's, ah. Really pretty, actually. Just kind of old." With a slow blink, she opened her eyes to make sure he was still there. Yep, he was. She blinked again, this time taking a moment to digest it. A dead Rabbit and a live one. And they apparently knew each other. Rather well, if she was 'his' Melanie.

And they were what? Late? "Um... I don't even know you, Mister Rabbit. Like, at all. And I really shouldn't even be here. So, um, I think I'd better just leave now..." Cautiously, eyes on him, she took one step back, just to see if she could and if he would do anything.

[Nathalia]

The felines' face was strained with confusion and apprehension...appropriate, but not at all suitable to her. The White Rabbit, could not help but wonder what sort of character was she? What had pushed her into the Wood, why was she here, what was her deeper meaning? He would dearly love to know...

Ah! Questions and uncertainty. Easily answered, and why not?

"Old...yes, she does appear old, though she wasn't this aged a few moments ago...it was her choice, my Melanie. She was a brave one, and very determined when need be. She would have stayed by my side forever had she been able, I know it...but bodies sometimes fail, even where our hearts do not..."

His voice had grown soft again, though he did not turn back to look at the corpse, merely regarded the face of his watch.

"As for hardly knowing me, that is of little matter. I will introduce myself, then you shall know me and we can be on our way."

"He made an elegant leg, and gave her a formal bow, one arm crossed in front of his body, the other behind.

"I...am the White Rabbit. Now that you know me, perhaps I could get to know you. Follow me, please."

He then turned his back away from the forest edge and began to walk off, ears swiveled back and tuned for her movement.

[The Jenn]

Chai just stared at him, watching his every move like a hawk. She couldn't decide if she was more intimidated by his sudden appearance and strangeness or more curious about just where he would take her. Where did Rabbits live, anyway? She'd never been one to listen to fairy stories of Rabbits and Dragons and who knew what else people told babies. But apparently... Rabbits did indeed exist. And one had just introduced himself to her as a color. Weirdo. Had she paid more attention to the stories, she would have recognized his name and perhaps been afraid.

His manners were extremely crisp and proper, which might have meant that he was important like the members of the Court who used such language, or just that he wanted to be important like all of the sycophants and courtiers who followed them around. She couldn't really tell. He was a Rabbit, after all. Maybe he didn't even follow Court rules, since she didn't even think Rabbits could have a Court. They weren't Cards at all.

Regardless. Should she introduce herself? Should she follow him?

He was being polite so far. Maybe it wouldn't hurt. "I'm Chaitali. Chai," she told him after a moment, bobbing her head in a vague approximation of something like the elegant bow he'd offered her. "It's, um. Good to meet you."

She watched him walk off, his pale tail flicking as he went, and narrowed her eyes. Choice time. After only another breath's hesitation, she turned away from the body of the dead old Rabbit, the dead Melanie, and followed him into the Wood. It couldn't be that hard to find her way out again later, right? "Is your name really a color, or do you just call yourself that? And what do you mean she wasn't that old. You really aren't making a lot of sense. Where are we going?"

[Nathalia]

"And so it is also good to meet you, mistress Chai..."

He murmured, listening to her small paws crunching after him. He was fortunate in deed that the feline had not stumbled across him ten minutes earlier than she had...he did not relish the thought of another bearing witness to his grief...or his Melanie's undoing. It had been her dying wish, he would never have had it witnessed by any other but himself. His Melanie...just as beautiful and loving as his dearest Charra and his Lila had been.

His Does, his precious loves, they came and went, often without recognition...but some, these three; they were something he would remember for all the eternity he called his life.

The Jack placed his own pocetwatch back inside of his jacket and drew a much smaller, and more intricate, silver one from the pocet of his breeches.

Melanie's watch. She had loved it so, he could almost hear her voice now...singing softly in his study, counting her minutes left with her love.

Her life.

Her White Rabbit.

"As the color is, so is my name."

"He said with a small nod, glancing over his shoulder finally, now that the corpse of the Doe was long out of sight.

"And she was not as old as she looked, some things are not what they seem, you will learn this throughout your life, mistress Chai. Somethings can appear to be what they are not in reality."

He led her further into the woods. Moving in a variety of directions, doubling back slowly without appearing to, and getting her as lost as was physically possible.

After an hour of this, they would come to a small hill, a willow atop it, leaning over a stream on the other side.

Leaning in, the Jack would grab what had appeared to be a weathered gray part of the tree's root, and twist it, revealing it to be a doorknob, and pulling open the side of the hill. Inside it was dim, the roundish apperature leading off down an oak paneled hallway lined with a deep maroon carpet.

"Welcome, Mistress Chai, to my home."

[The Jenn]

The weird Rabbit couldn't be more obscure if he tried, could he? Chai sighed and listened to him with half an ear, more interested in the Wood around them as they went deeper and deeper. They seemed to walk for a very long time and she didn't notice his subterfuge, just following along behind him.

Some of these trees were really enormous, big and leafy and blocking out a lot of the sunlight she was used to seeing at this time of day. She lived in the City most of her life, not in any place with trees, especially not trees like this. It was really quite the sight, but she couldn't help feeling put off by it all. Didn't they have any buildings anywhere? A town, or even a village? For how long they were walking, you'd think there would be something besides trees, trees, and oh look, more trees.

Finally they arrived where they needed to be, apparently, the first stream she'd seen in the Wood. She watched with a skeptical eye as he practically 'opened' the side of the hill. "You live underneath a tree?" she asked dubiously, then shrugged and took a few steps forward. He was weird, but he seemed pretty harmless so far. "Nice carpet, though. Never thought I'd see somebody living underneath a hill."

[Nathalia]

"Under a tree? More under the hill itself but yes, I suppose, under the tree is indeed true as well. Come along, Mistress Chai."

He walked in behind her, closing the obscure door. This brought into effect the torches lining the hallway, throwing shadows on the walls, the earth around them radiating a slightly damp chill.

"Please follow me, I'll take you to my study, we can have some tea there and settle in for a nice chat."

"His footsteps were nearly soundless in here as compared to outside crunching through the leaves. Even the felines' own footsteps would seem muffled by the hard packed earth. After a short journey through the tunnel, the walls changing from earth to being covered in small stiprs of pale blue wallpaper, they came to an opening on the left side. This opening exapnded to reveal a comfortable looking sitting room, a desk at the far end and two chairs, a poof, and a fireplace at the other. The walls were lined with painted portraits of Cards and other Rabbits, their faces often slightly quizical, embarrassedly happy, or in two cases...terrified. On the Rabbits' desk was a stack of papers, untidy but clearly in some sort of order.

Along with the papers were three small, frmed pictures. each depicting a pretty female looking Rabbit. One of them was clearly the Melanie from out in the woods, thoguh she looked much younger and happier here.

The Jack moved over to the fireplace, stoking it and getting a small flame going before moving over to his desk and sitting down.

This room was much more comfortable, brighter and cozier than the chilly halls.

"So, mistress Chai. Please, have a seat. the tea should be ready soon."