Sorry I took so long to update this. You guys know how it is... I get so much work to do when I'm not drawing or writing stories, and it gets to a point where I get too exhausted to do much of anything. I mean, yeah I did post some nonsensical fanfictions before I got around to updating this story. Either way, hope you enjoy the fourth chapter (even if it might seem to be shorter than the first three).
Luna nervously wipes the sweat from her forehead since her older brother looks down at both her and the small rabbit. She's either gonna have to give up her newfound friend or deal with an upset Lane. The young introvert looks around a little as her breathing gets somewhat heavier, as she's hoping the current situation will change in her favor.
"What's it gonna be?" Lane asks sternly. Luna lets out a soft sigh and then starts with, "Lane? I really don't want to give him up. He looks kinda comfortable with... Me..."
"The thing is; I bought this rabbit and I had plans for him," Lane replies firmly while also staying calm. "I can have Gary be there for him since they're both rabbits. He can be a bit of a role model for him too."
The small rabbit gets more worried about the possibilities that could end up happening to him, and he looks at both Luna and/or Lane nervously. It also cannot be denied that he seems somewhat fearful to some degree. This doesn't go unnoticed as Lars sees the fear in the bunny's eyes, which prompts the young goth to finally say, "I have an idea, why don't you let the bunny decide on who he wants to go with?"
The two brunette Loud siblings think for a moment about the current predicament and the rabbit. It's obvious that they both want to keep him for themselves but in the end... The words from the young goth cannot be denied; it all depends on how the small rabbit feels. After a few seconds, the two siblings agree to it, and Luna gently places the animal on the floor.
"Come here boy; I brought you home from the pet shop," Lane says as he attempts to convince the rabbit. "We'll have a blast together! You, me, and Gary too!"
"Please little bunny, I would like to be your friend," Luna says calmly and quietly. "I won't hurt you, and I'll take good care of you."
The little bunny looked at both Luna and Lane, and he remembers the chaos the brothers were in when he was brought home. At the same time, he also remembers Luna's calming nature, soothing words, and her warm arms. It isn't much of a surprise as to who the bunny went over to; he hops directly into Luna's hands, making Lane a bit annoyed and jealous.
"No need to be envious, elder brother," Levi says to him. "Perhaps the infant lagomorph wants the carrot in Luna's skirt. That's what tends to happen within these types of scenarios... Or rather, a reference to a scene from a popular cartoon."
"Huh?" Lane says questioningly to Levi.
"I actually don't have any carrots," Luna says in response to Levi.
"Well, I hope you enjoy your new friend I bought," Lane says with some distaste in his words. "If anyone needs me, I'll be going hopping mad without him. Hahaha; get it?"
"Didn't you just tell that pun in the previous chapter?" Levi asks in response and in an unamused tone.
As this goes on, Leif becomes lost in his thoughts for a moment like he's forgetting something. Turns out he is, because a little while back he was outside trying to dig up some 'clean' worms for Walt to eat (which went unsuccessfully). With the thought of the other pets in mind, another idea pops up; Leif turns to go into the kitchen and back with the four pets in his arms. As soon as he returns, the young boy releases them from his arms so they can meet the newcomer.
"Leif, what are you doing?" Loki asks him.
"What does it look like, I'm getting our pets to meet the new rabbit," Leif replies to his older brother. "Here you go, guys. Charles, Cliff, Walt, and Geo? Meet Luna's new baby bunny."
The small rabbit- who's still in Luna's hands- turns around to look down at the pets looking up at him. Charles, Cliff, and Geo seem passable, but upon setting his eyes upon the canary, the small rabbit immediately jumps out of the girl's hands and makes a run for it. Despite being at a bit of a young age, he zooms across the Living Room floor like a tiny racecar toy and goes directly under the large couch. The fact that he went underneath it at such a speed took everyone by surprise a little. Straight away, Luna goes over to it and peaks under the couch in hopes to find the rabbit.
"Hey, what's wrong?" she asks in a calming voice. She peaks under the couch while bending over on her knees. Leif walks over to his older sister and makes a bit of an assumption as he says, "I think Charles might've spooked him."
The six-year-old adjusts his hat as he continues with, "I read somewhere that dogs tend to be nasty to small rabbits or something. I didn't know if that was true or not... Until now, anyway."
"That isn't far from the truth," Levi adds to Leif's statement. "Canines are said to be notorious for having some form of contempt for animals like the small rabbit, should there not have been any chances of the two different species getting along beforehand."
"So wait," Loni starts as his eyes widen a little. "You mean Charles might have a taste for rabbits, you guys?"
"Doubt it," Loki adds. "Charles gets along fine with the Cliff, Geo, and Walt. They're separate species, yet they get along well with each other. I don't see him going crazy at smaller animals anytime at all."
The chatter between the siblings makes the other three pets look directly at the pit bull terrier questioningly. Charles can only look back at Cliff, Geo, and Walt in a confused manner since he's never been on bad terms other animals/pets within this family.
"Maybe this new bunny had a bad experience with some other animal?" Leif says questioningly. After hearing what the mud-loving kid said, Lane immediately turns to his siblings and then says, "That's because he DID have an incident with some other animal. Not with a dog, but with a bird."
Lane's words caught the attention of both the pets and the rest of his siblings as they look up at him. Not only that but the attention Charles was getting shifts over to Walt. The canary is usually 'seen' as if he almost always has an angry expression, even though that's not always the case. Walt isn't always upset about anything, as well. Luna gets up from the floor, looks at her "comedic" brother and then asks, "How do you know that?"
"Long story short," Lane replies to her. "This morning, some crazy cockatoo was flying around and terrorized the pet store and then he went after that baby rabbit. I don't know what that bird's deal was, but based on what the store owners told me it's like he wanted to..."
Lane pauses before continuing any further and then sighs lightly.
"I'll just leave it at that," he says.
"Why?" the twins ask him.
"Trust me; you don't wanna know," the comedic Loud insists.
Choosing not to pressure the subject any further- though she's considering on asking him later when Lane least expects it- Luna resumes her 'search' for the baby rabbit. He's still hiding underneath the couch he ran into, and the introverted girl isn't going to give up on her new friend just yet. He chose her over Lane so hopefully, he'll listen to Luna and come out of hiding... Or so she thought.
"It's okay," Luna says softly. "Our pets won't hurt you, come on out. Please?"
"Maybe he's too spooked to come out of there, you guys," Loni suggests.
The four pets become curious as they go over to Luna and the couch. Geo hops out of his hamster ball and crawls under the couch to reach the little rabbit. The brown hamster crawls around in the dusty darkness within this cramped space, hoping he'll get closer and closer to the timidly white rabbit. It doesn't take long for Geo to finally bump into him, which causes the rabbit to make a bit of a small yelp in surprise.
Back out in the living room, some of the siblings became disinterested in some way. So much so, that they left off to do their own activities.
"Tell me when it's over or something," Lynn says to his siblings while heading for the stairs. "This is getting kinda boring; I'll just go do some crunches and what-not."
As he goes up into his room, Levi says in response, "So you finally said something in this mediocre fanfiction. The same one that took this moronic author over a MONTH or two to finally update..."
"What are you talking about?" Lane asks his brother in confusion.
"I don't know, and I don't care," Lars says while going upstairs as well. "I'll be back in a moment."
As soon as the two Loud boys went away, Luna motions for the rest of her brothers to look where she's pointing at as she says, "Guys, look!"
A bit of some excitement seems to have sparked in the young introvert because Geo and the baby rabbit emerge from the bottom of the couch. The two mammals dust themselves off and shake a little to remove whatever filth caught onto their fur. Geo got done cleaning himself fast, but the small bunny visibly can't do it all on his own. The hamster offers his assistance- to which the rabbit accepts- and gets off whatever's left of the dust on him. With this done and out of the way, Geo squeaks to call the others over. As the Loud siblings approach, so do the other pets. The rabbit doesn't seem to be intimidated by either Charles or Cliff, but getting used to Walt will require some time. Regardless, the five animals seem to be on positive terms (at least for now).
"The animals are getting along!" Leif says in joy. The rest of the siblings sigh in relief in response.
"You know, I just realized something," the mud-loving kid starts as he turns to face Luna. He then asks her, "what are you going to name the rabbit?"
"You know... I haven't really thought of that," Luna says she bent down to pick up her pet as he gently hops into her hands. "I was thinking maybe Benny or Herriman."
The baby bunny has no response to either of those names. He just blinks without giving much of a reaction. This makes the girl look at the other brothers present and asks, "Do you guys have any suggestions for names for him?"
"How about Hopper?" Loki suggests.
"Oh I got one; Judy!" Loni shouts.
"Judy is a girl's name, Loni," Loki says whacking Loni on the head.
"Ow," Loni says as he rubbed his head.
"I am partial on Bugs myself," Lane says. "That's what I was gonna name him myself if he chose me..."
"Buster should be a great name," Leif adds to the name suggestions. "It makes him look tough."
"I say, Oswald, because; it's a very elegant name," Lexx says.
"Why elegant?" Lief asks his younger twin in confusion.
The rabbit still doesn't seem to have any type of response to the names brought up by the siblings. He cautiously looks around for a bit and then back at Luna (while doing so with a slight unimpressed expression).
"Aw dang it," she says annoyed. "Looks like the bunny doesn't seem to like our names for him."
"Excuse me my only sister Luna, I realize this is for plot convenience but, don't you have a project on the fifteenth American president Lincoln?" Levi asks in boredom.
"Dang it," She says in response. "This whole thing kept me occupied from doing my homework. At least that project isn't until a few weeks."
The rabbit's eyes lit up like a Christmas tree... Or rather, a kid who ends up getting overly excited because they're in some kind of rare candy store. Either way, just hearing that one name "Lincoln" definitely caught his attention as he immediately looks back at his new owner (or friend) again.
"Oh, you like the name Lincoln?" Luna asks in glee.
The rabbit quickly nods his head in agreement.
"Alright, I'll name you Lincoln!" Luna says joyfully. She puts Lincoln on the floor to let everyone see their new family pet.
The other pets approach Lincoln again, and they start sniffing him. They even start cuddling up with him too in order for him to feel welcome.
"It's about time; he FINALLY gets a name to match the title of this fanfiction," Levi says. "That way, neither the author or the reader will have to refer to him as "small rabbit," or "baby bunny" too much. That got old FAST... Come to think of it, why DID it take this long for the author to get to naming Lincoln when he already planned ahead for it?"
"Huh? What got old fast?" Loni asks in confusion (which goes unanswered).
"Not gonna lie, he's literally so cute," Loki admits as he gets out his phone to take a picture of the new rabbit. "I gotta text Bebe about Lincoln."
"Aw I love furry animals getting along," Loni says.
"Yeah, I guess so," Lane mumbles.
"Technically speaking, Walt doesn't have any fur, since he's an avian," Levi says to correct Loni. "But I suppose nobody actually cares as of now."
"Hey Luna," Lief says to her. "Can I hold Lincoln? Pleeeeaaase!?"
"I want to hold rabbit first, Leif!" Lexx shouts at Leif.
"Well Lexx, you snooze you lose," Leif says in a smug response.
This makes the young prince tackle his older twin onto the ground, and a fight starts. It's not uncommon that the twins' fighting actually starts moving around on the floor; making most of the other siblings to move out of the way to an extent. They do this either out of annoyance or out of surprise (the latter of which is unlikely). Unfortunately, their fighting this time shifted directly towards the pets which scared the daylights out of Walt which squawk if he was attacked. To add some form of insult to injury, Lincoln was directly under him and thought he was going to start a frightening attack upon Luna's feet, where he accidentally went on them. Right then and there... Something revolting happened.
[AN: She's wearing shoes if it isn't obvious.]
"Oh Lincoln, you had an accident on my shoes," Luna said very calmly.
Lincoln ducks his head in embarrassment and shame. The fact that young introvert appears to be taking this better than expected caught everyone else off guard. Usually, when one of the pets has an accident on someone's feet (or shoes), they often get scolded for doing so.
"You're literally taking this quite well," Loki says in a surprised manner.
"Yeah, you guys," Loni adds in agreement.
"Well look at how small he is," she says in response. "He's still a baby, and I don't think scolding him or yelling at him will do any good. Besides, I think that might've made Lincoln afraid of Walt again..."
"Are you sure about that?" Lane asks his sister. "Think about it, Luna. If you go about taking care of Lincoln without scolding him or something, you're pretty much raising him into a villain."
"But she just said that he's still a baby," Loki replies to his comedic brother. "She'll most likely get around to scolding him when he grows up a little. That's what we did with Charles, Cliff, Walt, and Geo."
"Fair enough," Lane says while sighing. Then he says to Luna, "but if Lincoln starts acting like a real jerk, then that's on you, sis."
"Okay, okay," the young introvert answers him. "For now, I'll need to get my shoes cleaned, and get Lincoln cleaned up too."
Out of nowhere, Luna puts on some gloves in which Levi ask her, "Wait a minute, where did those gloves come from? And where did you get them?"
Of course, his questions go ignored as his older sister picks up Lincoln from off the floor, and proceeds to walk up the stairs to get to the bathroom. Since Lief and Lexx are still fighting, Loki walks over to his younger brothers and lifts them up by the collars of their outfits (or in Lief's case, the back of his overalls).
"Alright, you two," the oldest brother starts in a firm tone while putting them down. "Since you practically made Lincoln have an accident not just on Luna, but also the floor, you two clean that spot on the carpet."
And with that, the twins begrudgingly comply to Loki's orders and walk away to grab some cleaning utensils and/or materials. As the other brothers decide to disperse, Lane looks up at the stairs and- in his own thoughts- he 'says,' "Lincoln may have chosen you, Luna. But this isn't over yet."
So there you have it. The rabbit finally got his name (as if this story didn't give it away or whatever). Also, did you guys catch the references coming from the names the kids suggested? Benny is a failed Sesame Street character (according to GroverFan AKA MuppetSpot; I wanna say thanks for helping me co-write this BTW), Herriman from Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, Hopper is a reference to a company with the same name (AND the name of GroverFan's late pet), Judy as in "Judy Hopps" from Zootopia (hehe), Bugs from Looney Tunes, Buster from the Arthur books (and an old TV show), and finally... Oswald as in "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit," which was originally what Mickey Mouse was going to be when designed by Disney or something. More chapters will be coming up in the future, so I'll see you guys later. Ciao.