"Oh Good!" The Rabbit rejoiced as Sara fell onto her butt and into a patch of soft hay that just seemed to be waiting for her.

"You're here! You made it. I didn't think you would. I didn't think you could! But you did!" He seemed genuinely happy about the idea that Sara had actually managed to follow him all the way into the forest.

From her vantage point, Sara could see that there was a small table with three seats. The table was white, and round and it sat in a clearing surrounded by trees. In front of each seat was a tea cup.

There sat a squirrel-like creature in one of the seats. It was snoring a small, soft snore. It's ears were perked up, but its head was slouched down to one side.

"That's the Dormouse" The Rabbit informed Sara. "He's sleeping right now."

Sara stared at the squirrel mouse. Was it also a toy? Or a proper animal?

Then she turned towards Peter Rabbit. "You thought you'd lose me?" she asked, getting up. "How does this work anyway?"

"Work?" The Rabbit asked, seemingly confused. "Oh, Oh! You mean the Tea Party? How does the Tea Party work? Yes, yes. Now I see. I do. I do see now."

"Well, you have to take your seat. Next to The Dormouse. And then we have to wait for Mr. Toad to come."

Sara looked at the Dormouse. It was more of a squirrel than a mouse. It looked like it was stuffed. But not like a stuffed animal. Not exactly. Peter Rabbit looked like a stuffed animal. The Dormouse-squirrel had more of the appearance of a deer's head that was in hunting lodge. The fur was real, but somehow fake.

Sara brushed herself off. "I meant the rings," she explained irritably. She struggled with the phrasing. "How do they know where to take you?"

The squirrel-mouse kept snoring softly as Peter Rabbit responded.

The Rabbit leaned in as if he was trying explain to Sara. "These are the ways that we move from one place to another. Through tunnels and rings. Its important to keep moving from one place to another. If you don't have a place to go, then you don't have a goal. If you don't have goal, then you don't have anything to look forward to! That means there isn't anything fun to think about. And that means no happiness. And that is sad."

"The rings and tunnels and roads and other works: They're all part of the dreaming world. They are things that we make and things that link us from one dream to the next. They're real. But you have to make them."

"But they can take you away from the the real world. They can take you to dream worlds. Those worlds are real too. But just not real the way you think about real."

The Rabbit sighed.

"We all here wish we were real the way you are real."

Almost without noticing, Sara sat down. "Did you make the rings?" she asked. "Or... what's on the other side? Can I make them?" Not that she knew what for, exactly. Just... something.

The Rabbit took one, fake, plush paw and served Sara some tea in her tea cup. Then he served the Dormouse who continued to snore. And finally, he served himself. Before answering Sara he raised the cup and drank. But since he was only a stuffed animal, warm tea tricked out of the cup and touched his felt face, dripping down his chin and onto the table and his chest.

He didn't seem to notice

"I didn't make the rings. The Dormouse made them. He makes the rings so that we can travel to different worlds and avoid the bad things that might come. He's the only one of us that knows how to make them. The problem is, that's all he is good for. If he's not making the rings then he's usually sleeping. Take a look at him now." The Rabbit said, gesturing with his cup towards the Dormouse in the adjacent seat.

The Dormouse kept snoring softly, one paw on the side of its face, smushing it slightly and exposing a weave of tightly threaded fabric that kept the seam of his plush face on the right side together.

The Rabbit sighed in exasperation and with more than just a bit of sadness.

"He's been that way ever since his encounter with The Tattooed Lady. She's a great demon-witch that is covered with Tattoos. She came into one of our worlds and we barely escaped. She marked the poor Dormouse though. She marked him with a terrible tattoo of some kind. We've looked everywhere for it. We really have. But the problem is that we can't seem to find it. And the Dormouse is too sleepy to look for it himself." The Rabbit looked over the Dormouse the way a friend might look at someone in a coma who is the hospital.

"Yes. The Dormouse is the only one who knows how to make the rings and the only one who knows what is on the other side. He told me once that the other side very much depends on what it is a person is looking for. But he didn't explain what that meant.

Mr. Toad thinks we are living on borrowed time. Because if the Dormouse doesn't get better soon, then we won't be able to build any more rings. If we don't have rings, then we won't be able to escape when bad things come. I don't know if you can make rings or not. Only the Dormouse would know that."

Sara tasted the tea thoughtfully, only sort of paying attention to Peter Rabbit's words. She got the gist of it, though, she was pretty sure. "This witch isn't from around here, is she? Where's she now?"

Sara took a sip of the tea. It had a taste of banana, cherry, and strawberry. There also might have been hints of orange, lemon, or cinnamon. Letting the tea settle, the after taste came into focus. The tea was bubble gum flavor.



"Oh no, no." Peter Rabbit corrected. "The Tattooed Lady is not from around here. This is the place were everyone should be happy!" Peter Rabbit said to Sara with a bit of genuine joy to offset the dour tone the conversation had taken from talking about the Witch.

"She's from a place that is chaos. She is from a place that has fallen into greater chaos. She is from an evil place. But there is a greater evil that has destroyed her home. And now she is seeking a new place. That is why we are here! Because this place is safe and happy! Does that answer your question? Oh! And how is the tea?"

"Really strange," she admitted, then took another sip. "Weird. Never tasted tea like that before. Where did you get it?"

It certainly sounded like the Witch was somewhere in this happy fun land now...

"The Tea?" Peter Rabbit repeated the question. "The Tea is bubblegum tea. We made it here from the roots and the sprigs. It takes a while to make. There is a large pot not far from here that we put all of the sprigs and roots in. Then we mix it together with flax seed and cook it." Peter Rabbit expressed with a level of pride.

"Mr. Toad should be here soon. And then we can truly have a complete tea party. But I really am enjoying this wonderful conversation with you. Even if the Dormouse is his sleeping self as usual."

Sara looked at the dormouse again. Was there any tattoo visible to her?

The Dormouse slowly snored, its dreamy, soft buzz. There wasn't any tattoo that was visible on its body. No ink on its fur pelt. Nothing that would indicate that it even had a tattoo.

"We can't find it." Peter Rabbit said after a while, as if answering Sara's unspoken question. "We can't find the Dormouse's tattoo. That's why he's stuck like this. Its such a tragedy! He's unhappy and worse than unhappy, sleepy-unhappy. How can you be unhappy in a place that's supposed to be all about fun and happiness?"

"If you can see it, why do you think it's there?" Sara probed, a tad bewildered.

"Mr. Toad saw it" Peter Rabbit confirmed, and he told a story to Sara about how Mr. Toad was driving along in one of his many cars and how Mr. Toad isn't supposed to drive any cars because he wasn't allowed.

"But its hard to keep Mr. Toad from driving. But that doesn't matter. He came upon the Dormouse who was collapsed in the middle of the road."

"That's when the Dormouse said 'Tattoo' before he fell into a long sleep."

"So he didn't see it either?" Sara asked, after taking another sip of the weird bubblegum tea. "He just heard him say it. So maybe the dormouse just saw a tattoo." If it was magic, who was to say it didn't work like that?

"Well..." Peter Rabbit said, conisdering what Sara said and stammering before giving the whole thing up.
"Oh, poo! It doesn't matter" The Rabbit was both pleased and playful in his response to Sara.


"None of it really does. It's just more fun to have fun that worry about details or take on too much responsibility. Don't you think that's true? " The Rabbit asked, pressing Sara on what she might think was important.

It's not like she ever had to do any of those things. Except maybe at school? But she usually didn't at school either. "Yep," she agreed blandly. She was curious about this new monster, but... she guessed it didn't really have anything to do with her. "So what do you do here, aside from having tea parties?"

Peter Rabbit bounced a little in the chair at the question. "We play games. We eat candy. We drink tea! We stay up all night! And then we do it again and again!" Peter Rabbit rejoiced.

"Hullo! come on, you fellows!" came a voice from the side of the garden. It was a toad. He he cried cheerfully on catching sight of them. "You're just in time to come with me for a jolly—to come for a jolly—for a—er—jolly—"

The toad, arrayed in goggles, cap, gaiters, and enormous overcoat, came swaggering down the small garden steps from the hill above, drawing on his gauntleted gloves.

His hearty accents faltered and fell away as he noticed that Sara was at the table, and his invitation remained unfinished.

Sara stared at the toad. By this point she was largely unsurprised by its (his?) appearance - only some minor details were different from what she had expected. "Joyride?" she attempted to finish.

"Joy ride?" Mr. Toad inquired. "Joy-ride!?" And then with a feverishly loud and intense voice:

"JOYRIDE!"

"Oh no! You ought not to have done that!" Peter Rabbit observed. "Mr. Toad isn't supposed to be driving!" The last sentence was said with a playful warning, as if Sara had broken some kind of rule, but that the Rabbit was also somehow made giddy by the idea.

Sara rolled her eyes, then trained them on Toad. "What are you waiting for?"

Mr. Toad and Peter Rabbit looked at Sara. Then at each other. Then they looked at the Dormouse. Then they looked back at Sara.

Then they said at the same time:

"The Dormouse! He's still asleep!"

"The Dormouse! He's still asleep!"

Harrumphing, Sara went to give the Dormouse a little shake. How sleepy can he be, really?

The Dormouse tried to wake up and its eyelids fluttered a bit when Sara shook it. The long lashes blinked, the whites of the eyes became visible. And then, its face started to slide down the small paw that was holding its head upright.

Slowly, slowly the head slid down. And with it, the mouth opened slightly into a half-yawn. The Dormouse let out sound "burhggh." It was hard to say whether or not the sound was a yawn, a grumble, or some kind of sniffing sound.

Whatever the sound was, the Dormouse retracted its head and shifted its body slightly. It licked its lips, adjusted its neck and then continued on snoring a soft, nearly-silent snore.

Sara tried to pick up the Dormouse. She had all sorts of questions about it, but she was sure they wouldn't be answered and she wasn't sure she really cared.

"That's it! Pick him up! What a marvelous idea!" Peter Rabbit beamed.

"Careful!" Mr. Toad warned, though Sara could tell that perhaps Mr. Toad was excited by the fact that the Dormouse had started to move and shift in her arms.

OOC: Sara Rolls 'Dexterity' with the following results

0 Successes: Sara Drops the Dormouse!

1 Success: Sara struggles, but manages to keep hold of the Dormouse

2+ Successes: Sara maintains control of the Dormouse and the Dormouse wakes up.

22:16, Today: Sara failed (no successes) using 3d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((3,2,3)).

Surprised by the movement and distracted by her hosts, Sara dropped the critter.

The Dormouse fell suddenly from Sara's arms. It's small body twirled in a half-semi circle. And then...

Crack!!

The small critter's head slammed against the ground, head cracking like an egg. Blood spattered across Sara's face and hands. Some of the Dormouse's blood even sprayed into her mouth.

Peter Rabbit and Mr. Toad took a step back, the front of their clothing showered with red gore from the Dormouse's brains.

"My Word!!" Mr. Toad yelled, a hint of shock in his voice. An equal part strange humor.

"You've killed the Dormouse!" Peter Rabbit yelled in surprise. And then, he started to laugh hysterically.

Sara blinked, then looked between the two toy creatures in a state of obvious bewilderment. She could taste the animal's salty blood in her mouth. This was weird, really weird... as was their reaction.

"Did I?" she asked, composing herself and attempting to look nonchallant. "Maybe it was already dead."

"Already dead! Already dead!" Mr. Toad bellowed, as if it was the funniest thing that he'd ever heard. He leaned backward to laugh a hearty laugh before leaning forward and slapping his knees with one, webbed frog hand.

"She..She..she..she..she..she" He stammered with laughter, not able to get the words out.

"She..said...the Dormouse, was ALREADY DEAD!" He finally shouted, unable to contain the genuine laughter, and breaking out into a laughing fit.

Peter Rabbit meanwhile was already on the grass, laughing hard. He rolled over to his side, smearing the Dormouse's brains and gore all over his now-matted fur and staining his vest a crimson, blood-red.

"you..you..killed the Dormouse! By...Accident!" Peter Rabbit laughed, kicking his furry bunny feet in the air like a bicycle as he clutched his stomach. He was laughing so hard that occasionally he would say 'ow!' or 'ouch!', the pain of constant laughing hurting.

Sara's shock quickly gave way to irritation, and then to anger. They were laughing at her! And possibly not just right now. What was with that cutesy toy act? And she let them string her along...

She tried to kick Peter Rabbit.

OOC: Sara Rolls Strength + Brawl -2

09:35, Today: Sara rolled 1 success using 1d10 with the World of Darkness nWoD system with a target of 8, rerolling 10s ((9)).

The kick landed square in Peter Rabbit's side, driving the wind and all the laughter away and lifting the stuffed animal into the air. He tumbled three or four feet before landing on the grass a few feet away from the table.


"Ughhhf!!" he jolted.

He wasn't laughing now. An neither was Mr. Toad.

Still fuming, Sara made for the trees. Going through there, or maybe through some more of those rings, would probably get her somewhere more interesting than this lame, stupid bubblegum tea party!

"Wait! Where are you going!?" Mr. Toad yelled after Sara as she made for the trees.

Peter Rabbit's rolled over to his side and yelled after Sara


"No!! Not the rings! You don't know how to use them! You could end up anywhere!" he warned

Sara just kept going, not about to let them stop her.

Sara jumped through the rings, and felt a strange sucking feeling as they pulled her into another world.

OOC: Sara Joins Thread

Sara: The Twilight Lands