[FIN] Room for Improvement [Kari]

[Lucca]

Seena stirred as Heike moved around on the bed, blue eyes slowly fluttering open. Her ears and whiskers twitched as she returned to consciousness only slowly, fighting and clawing her way out of the most restful sleep she'd had in a while. She could almost sense that they'd slept in, but when she sat up, blinking around, and ran a paw over her mane, she saw Heike still sitting there, and smiled a bit tiredly.

"Good morning, my Jack," she murmured, fishing for her brush on the bed side table. She ran it quickly through her mane, knowing that they had all manner of important things to attend to today. And, yes, she would insist on helping him, now that she was fully rested. Not to mention that she did still need to have that talk with Shelby, as she'd promised him. The thought made her sigh quietly to herself. Nothing about this would be easy, but at least after getting more rest it seemed possible to face.

[Kari Muffin]

"Good Morning, Seena," Heike said with a cheery note in his voice. The rabbit slipped off the bed and started walking towards the door. Grabbing his proper clothing as he went, as well as his clothing. "After I fix myself up I'll meet you in the dining room. I'm sure someone is waiting to make us breakfast."

And before he'd stop in the dining room he'd have a little chat with Shelby. Hopefully he hadn't left the guest room, since the White Rabbit only knew how the other leverets in the warren would react. Speaking of which they seemed to be short by several leverets last night.

When he was prim and proper he slipped out of his bathroom and did a quick check around the warren before going to the guest room. He was alarmed to find that, yes, several leverets were missing. The already small warren was smaller. Just what he needed right?

Lightly he knocked on the guest room door. "Shelby are you still in there?"

[Lucca]

Seena gave Heike a small lick on his cheek before the Jack left for the door, and then she nodded. A good breakfast was always the start of a productive day, so the Doe wasn't surprised that was the first order of business. She ran the brush through her mane a few more times and then slipped on all her jewelry before hopping towards the Warren's dining room to wait. She, too, had noticed the strange disappearance of some of the Leverets. Hopefully none of them had met the fate of her poor children.

Shelby finally gave up on sleeping and attempted to go look around the Warren and try some chores, but just as his hand was reaching for the door there was a knock on it. Though the knock itself was quiet, it was unexpected enough to make Shelby squeak. He cleared his throat, trying to ignore his rapidly beating heart. "Uh, yes! I'm here!" Was he in trouble for sleeping in? What time was it? Shelby found himself wishing the guest room had come equipped with windows.

[Kari Muffin]

The Jack opened the door so he cold speak with the young leveret properly. It was still a shock to see him... so strange. The rabbit half wished it had been a dream.

"Nadja is going to bring you breakfast in my study. I will meet you after I have a little chat with the rest of the warren. It seems that we have several leverets missing for one reason or another." Heike didn't choke back the sigh that bubbled up. He didn't need this on top of everything else that had happened. "But yes, I will meet you in my study. Feel free to start looking for books that you might think would help you."

He gave his son a small smile before making his way to breakfast. Everything would be in order, he would have a nice chat with the Does, and things would get solved somehow.

[Lucca]

Shelby nodded slowly, ears drooping a bit. Right, the rest of the Warren still hadn't seen him like this. Certainly, Shelby understood his Father's wishes. He wished it had all been a bad dream too, and he'd wake up as his old self, next to his sister. He'd tell her his nightmares, and she'd laugh and say he shouldn't get so worked up over a dream...

Shelby shook his head. "I will." He watched his Father-Jack's back until he left, and then slowly made his way to the study. He'd never been the best at reading or research or any of that. That was his Mother's area of knowledge. Still, he skimmed the book titles while waiting, and wondering if the rest of his life was going to be like this. Hiding from other Rabbits, tucked away in some corner of the Warren...

Seena greeted Heike as he came in and nodded to the chair beside her. A grand breakfast was already laid out, but Seena had been waiting. She was only drinking a cup of tea, expecting he would get there soon. The Doe tried to look cheerful despite everything that had happened, wanting at least a little peace...though her thoughts were far from peaceful, and if she knew her Jack, his mind was already on other things as well.

[Kari Muffin]

Heike returned to the dining room looking a bit troubled. Of course he was thinking of nine million different ways to handle the situation. What could they ultimately do to make Shelby happy and not alienate anyone in the warren? Would he have to find a card that could do magic to properly fix his son? This entire situation was impossible and beyond him.

Breakfast was in front of him though. He gave Seena a chipper greeting and briefly explained that Shelby was in the study and what he intended to do. He took a sip of his tea shortly afterwards and then went to eating breakfast.

During the meal he silently debated with himself on how to explain things to the rest of the warren. He could just put it off longer, but he figured the sooner the better. And if he said it was only a temporary situation everyone would be happy... with the exception of Shelby certainly.

When he finished his meal he excused himself to talk with the rest of the warren.

[Lucca]

Seena nodded to Heike's explanation, and offered to help search the books again in a tone that made it more a statement than an offer. This was the kind of situation that she refused to let her Jack face alone. That would be the case no matter which of the Leverets it was, but the fact that it was her son, doubly so. She watched his face during the meal, knowing he was deeply troubled over everything. She offered what support she could while they ate, staying close to him and making a few attempts at conversation.

Of course, when he excused himself so abruptly, Seena was less than pleased. Part of her wanted to be there for moral support when he told the rest of the Warren...but the smarter part knew that wasn't a good idea in case some of them had adverse reactions and decided to take it out on the mother of the object of their fears. Instead, the Doe made her way to the study to wait for him, and to speak to Shelby about what had really happened.

When the door opened, Shelby was amusing himself by messing with one of the quills on his Father-Jack's desk, but he immediately tried to look busy as he heard the study door open. Upon seeing who it was, he wasn't sure how to feel, but Seena explained things and calmed him until Shelby felt better. Then, as he'd promised, Shelby told Seena as close to the full story as he really knew. His Mother-Doe, for her part, listened with insterest, ears perked, and nodded slowly along.

[Kari Muffin]

It went poorly.

Well. It went far better than he expected, as he always assumed the worse. His Does did take things well, though they clearly were far from thrilled about the situation. Did that make him a horrible Jack? Were they going to leave because he was trying to help his son? There had to be a solution that made everyone happy.

He spent a little alone time with each of the Does before departing to his study far later than he intended to. Before entering he brushed his hair back in place and straighted his casual jacket.

"I apologize for being late," he said as he walked in and greeted the Doe and the leveret. "I have a few particular books that I think might help." He walked across the room and pulled several books off the shelf.

Getting down to business was what they needed to do. He put the books down on his desk and offered one to each rabbit, giving the thicker and more advance reading to the Doe since he figured she would be able to handle it. As much as he loved his son, he wasn't fond of the idea of trying to feed him potentially dangerous knowledge after his already traumatizing experience.

[Lucca]

Shelby was obviously nervous about how long his Father-Jack was taking. It was long since the time he'd finished his retelling of the unfortunate events that had gotten him in this mess, and there was still no sign of Heike. He began to pace a bit, long limbs making it more awkward and cramped than he remembered. Seena tried to calm him down, of course, but deep down she was also nervous. What if the news made some of the other Rabbits so angry they insisted on leaving the Warren or something equally as bad? She calmed herself with thoughts of how wise Heike was and how much he understood the right way to run a Warren.

She calmed her son with a lesson. Shelby complained a bit, but it gave him something to do to take his mind off things. By the time the door finally opened, the Leveret had managed to perform the delicate task of lighting a candle with his new hands. Shaking off the match, he turned almost in unison with his Mother-Doe as the two turned to smile at Heike.

"It's quite all right," Seena said, and hopped over to take the proffered book. It was a curious looking volume, thick and heavy, and it smelled that lovely, musty smell of old books. The Doe was instantly absorbed in reading it. She'd never gotten her paws on a book about such advanced magic before. If there was anything that could help her son, it would surely be in here.

Shelby took the book offered to him with a meek nod and a weak smile. He opened his mouth to ask how telling the rest of the Warren about his condition had gone, but the question died on his tongue. He had a feeling he didn't want to know. Time to read instead. Shelby was not a very fast reader, and he'd never enjoy it the way his Mother did, but this was for a good cause. Specifically, him not being such a freak.

[Kari Muffin]

The Jack was silently grateful that neither of the other rabbits had asked him how things went. He didn't want to explain. Instead he pulled a few more volumes off of his upper shelves and started skimming though the odds and ends that could potentially fix the horrible situation they were in.

There had to be a mix of magic that could result in a quick fix for his son right? The more he looked through the books the more hopeless it seemed. An answer wasn't going to be right in front of him, and even if he was capable of inventing a spell on his own, what would happen if he got one simple thing wrong?

The continued notion of Cards kept popping in his head. Maybe he could try to have another chat with the Queen of Spades, though the Bird didn't seem to know anything about rabbits there were plenty of cards that had horrible mutations right? Surely some of them could get fixed.

"Have either of you found anything interesting?"