Is it Any Wonder? [Finished]

[Kari Muffin]

Fleur snapped out of her haze when she heard her brother's voice. She jumped a bit when she turned to face him, wincing slightly at the pain in her leg. She glanced over at her brother and what he had brought back with him. Her ears perked a bit as her eyes lit up. "Thanks Shelby!" she said in reply.

Carefully she picked up one between her paws. She didn't want to be greedy when he had done so much for her, and she didn't want to eat too much when they had a seemingly long trip ahead of them. The little rabbit gave a careful nibble, a smile forming on her face again.

Maybe this wouldn't be that bad? Maybe this would go smoothly and they wouldn't get in big trouble? Then again.... she was bleeding. And she had been running around despite being told otherwise.

She shook it off and continued to nibble.

[Lucca]

Shelby had to wince in concert with his sister as she jumped on her bad leg. Oh goodness, he really hoped that didn't make it start bleeding again. He couldn't quite bring himself to look; the thought made him feel faint again. So he kept his eyes fully focused on her face as it lit up, and he managed a smile, though his voice was quite a bit shakier than he could have wished. "N-no problem, Sis!"

Large ears panned forward as Shelby carefully nibbled another sprout of watercress. They'd just eat a bit of this, and then...then they'd go back to the Warren. But he couldn't think about that right now. He couldn't afford to. He needed to look out for his sister, and on that note...he really did need to make sure she hadn't inadvertently opened her wound again, because the trip up the hill would be so much worse if she was already bleeding.

"How's your leg feeling?" he asked, after several unsuccessful attempts to force himself to look at the limb in question.

[Kari Muffin]

The rabbit was thoroughly enjoying her meal, and completely missed the fact that her brother was upset. Then he spoke again, snapping her out of her mild distraction. Her ears perked upwards as he spoke.

She wiggled her toes for a moment before leaning forward to put her full weight on all four of her legs. She winced slightly but took a few steps anyway.

"It stings a bit, but i think I'll be okay to walk. Let's just take it slow." She said as she looked down at her leg. It was a little pink around the bandage. Perhaps from not cleaning the blood off completely? Or maybe it was just the reflection of flowers? Both thoughts weren't particularly pleasant. She shifted for a moment to look at the bandages a bit better. "I'm ready to go whenever you are."

The sooner she could get back to the warren, the better.

[Lucca]

It was already stinging again? That couldn't be a good sign. It meant the slight numbing affect of the leaf had already worn off...or that it was a serious enough wound to be more painful than the leaf paste could help. Either way, they really should get back to the Warren and get it bandaged properly. Shelby's ears went back, and he hopped to his feet, abandoning the rest of the watercress. They'd already eaten most of what he'd picked anyway.

"Y-yeah, nice and easy..." He moved until he was right next to her, their shoulders touching, though he made sure not to let any of his fur brush against her wounded leg, squeamish about getting blood on himself. "You can lean on me, if you need to," he offered meekly, and chanced a look at her leg. Yeah, it definitely seemed to be bleeding again. They had to get back and face the music.

Forcing himself to focus on the slow but steady climb to the exclusion of any distracting thoughts, Shelby began the walk.

[Kari Muffin]

Fleur appreciated everything her brother did for her. And in this moment she wasn't quite sure what to do. She gave him a slight lick on the cheek in thanks. "I can walk on my own. It doesn't hurt that badly. Like I said... just a slight sting." She put on her brightest smile. Might as well be brave considering they were going to be yelled at over this. Hopefully she could take most of the blame rather than her brother.

It was a seemingly long walk. And right before they arrived the little Doe had to take a seat. She glanced down at her leg. She was starting to feel it a bit more. "I really hope they aren't too mad. We've been out for a while.... and I've probably missed a lesson by now...."

She shouldn't stall for this long, but she could just hear her mother's voice scolding her. Her ears drooped even more as she stared at the not too far away door.

[Lucca]

Shelby gave Fleur a sharp look as she declined his help. It seemed odd to him for someone who could be such a little drama queen to refuse help. Maybe she was actually serious about taking responsability? "Okay, if you say so..." His ears went back, and he stayed close to her during the walk, just in case.

They took it slow, but by the end of it, his sister was showing signs of pain again, and Shelby felt a rising panic building, which he tried to ignore for the sake of remaining calm. He wouldn't have been too shocked to see a bloody trail behind them, and so it came as a bit of a relief that while the makeshift bandage still looked a little pink around the edges, he couldn't actually see any blood. While Fleur sat down for a minute, Shelby stayed on his feet, shifting positions restlessly in place.

"Oh, they'll be mad all right. Let's just hope it's one of the Leverets that's gonna find us first and not..." He gulped. "Mom."

---

It shouldn't necessarily have even come to her attention that one (or both, she wasn't yet sure which, though she suspected the latter) of her children was shirking lessons, but she'd happened to be chatting with one of the Leverets about tea when the message had come in.

Ignoring all protests that she shouldn't have to worry about it, Seena had immediately set out on a search for her children, and determined in short order that they weren't anywhere within the Warren's walls. Which meant they were outside. Again.

She wanted to laugh. It reminded her so much of when she'd been young. Then, she'd always resented the fact that her own Leveret guardians (who she'd always known much better than her own Mother-Doe, that Warren being considerably bigger and stricter than Heike's) had always scolded her for it. Now, she understood why they had.

She hopped towards the entrance to the Warren at a quick clip.



((ooc: I had to? XD;; It seemed appropriate, anyway.))

[Kari Muffin]

Fleur nodded in agreement. After she decided that she had rested long enough she finally got up and edged towards the door to the warren. She didn't want to face what was coming. She knew her mother was going to be angry if she found out, and she knew that the leverets were going to be angry to begin with.

She opened the door carefully poking her head through to see if anyone was there.

And she froze where she stood.

Fleur stood awkwardly as she watched her mother come down the hallway. "M-Mom! Is something wrong?" Hopefully her brother would stay behind her and not enter the hallway. He could always sneak around to the back entrance or something while she stalled. Her ears drooped a bit as she tried to think of a way to explain things before her mother saw what had happened. Nothing was coming to mind.

[Lucca]

Shelby was, luckily, a step behind his sister when she opened the door...so he had a warning of who was on the other side of the door, and he felt his heart quicken in anxiety. Ohmanohman, this was -bad-. He carefully edged around Fleur, trying to sneak into the Warren without being seen...maybe if she were distracted enough, he could make it...

Seena was quite surprised when, before she could lay a paw on the door, it opened, and her daughter's head poked in, ever-so-meekly. The words out of the younger Doe's mouth, however, were less than satisfactory, and a frown turned Seena's pretty features.

"You should know exactly what's wrong, Young Lady," she said in a firm, but calm, voice. "Are you aware what time it is? Your lessons were meant to begin over an hour ago. Or did you think the tutor would perhaps overlook your absence amongst all his other students?" She raised a pointed eyebrow, the sarcasm clear in her voice. After all, Fleur was the only young Doe in their Warren, and the classes were, therefore, quite private.

"Well, no use you sitting in the doorway all day, come in," she sighed, gesturing with a paw. "And Shelby, don't think you're getting away with shirking lessons either."

Crap. Shelby froze, already halfway across the hall. Did Mom have eyes in the back of her head? How did she -know- this stuff? He thought he was being sneaky!

[Kari Muffin]

The little doe remained frozen as she stared at her mother. What was she supposed to do? What was she supposed to say? Her ears drooped even more as her mother noticed Shelby. This was just getting worse by the minute.

And then her mother wanted her to come in fully. A small sound escaped her as she stepped forward. What was her mother going to say when she saw her wound? "It's my fault that Shelby is late. I uh... didn't mean to take so long but when we went out I did something stupid."

Fleur hobbled forward to show her mother of the "stupid" thing that she had done. "Please don't be angry at Shelby for my mistake."

Hopefully that would be enough. Hopefully her mother wouldn't yell or anything like that. The young Doe bowed her head as she slowly nudged the door shut.

[Lucca]

Fleur had said she'd take the full blame for what had happened. She'd given her word. And yet, hearing her actually do it, hearing her actually say those words...it was enough to catch Shelby's breath in his throat as affection for his sister rose up in his young heart. Of course, he still knew he'd get yelled at...if not by Mom (and that was a big if!), then by the other Leverets once they found out about this. And he knew they would. Keeping secrets in a Warren as small as theirs just wasn't possible.

He stayed quiet, head low to the ground in submission, waiting to hear the verdict as Fleur fully stepped into the hall.

Seena's frown deepened at her daughter's words, though she did very briefly glance at her...son as his name was mentioned. She would have to inform her daughter -again- of the proper use of lunch breaks i.e. eating lunch, not gallivanting around outside...but that thought dissolves with a shocked gasp as she catches sight of the injured leg.

"Oh, Fleur...come on, we need to get that looked at." She moved behind the little Doe, nosing her towards the infirmary, and shooting a glance at Shelby with a twitch of her ear to let him know he needed to follow. "Now please...tell me how in the world this happened. What exactly did you do?" Seena managed to keep her voice fairly even despite the frustration at her delinquent children burning just beneath the surface.

She had a feeling it was a result of the girl running again and getting tangled up in her ears and leg feathering. She'd had similar problems when she was younger, though she had liked to swim more than she liked to run, and Fleur's ears were rather longer than she remembered hers being at that age...such pretty things, lop ears and Selkie fluffs, especially on a Doe, but a bit inconvenient on a clumsy child!