TEN MINUTES AGO
Antoine helped Bunnie hobble up the hill as they started to make their way back to the campsite. "Take it easy there, mon Cherie Bunnie. You do not want to be falling now!"
Bunnie was finding it ever easier to walk as any other Mobian could, but she still found herself nearly tipping over or falling on her kiester like an inflatable balloon doll from time to time. "Don't worry about me, sugar. Sides, shouldn't you be getting on back to Sal? You do have a job to do, don't you?"
"You are quite right. I do have a job to do. Two of them in fact."
"You mean watching over your father right? I know I've said it before, but I'm still so sorry for ya Ant'. Ain't there nothin' I can do?"
"Believe me," said Antione, as sweet as could be, "you have already done enough."
"Hey now, ain't you a charmer?"
Antione began to blush as red as a beat, his hands shaking and his legs knocking like a doorknocker. "Uh, well, that is to say, uh, ahem…"
"Hey, don't get your undies in a bunch! Assuming you even have em. Though there's part of me that's maybe startin' to wonder if I should take a peek just to be sure…"
"I AM SORRY MADEMOISELLE BUNNY I MUST BE GOING IF YOU WILL EXCUSE ME!" Antione promptly saluted Bunnie as though he were still a wet behind the ears cadet and nearly stumbled before rushing off to the campsite. Bunnie couldn't help but giggle like a southern bell who could only be amused — and interested — by the naive young whippersnappers, even though at eighteen, she and Antione were the same age.
"Oh Antione," muttered Bunnie. "You are just absolutely a hoot."
Bunnie considered following in Antione's footsteps and heading back to the others when she noticed out of the corner of her eye a certain robotic figure sulking like no tomorrow. Looking behind, she saw Shortfuse sitting behind a tree down on the slope, his large tail giving him away like a sore thumb. She looked towards the campsite as if wondering if this was one thing that was better left alone before deciding that of all the things she should just let be, this was without a doubt NOT one of them.
"Hey, Shortfuse! How you doin' today, sugar?" She walked over to him like a ray of sunshine, steadily moving over to its' unwilling target.
Shortfuse continued to sit down on his kiester, solid as a rock and just as silent.
"Okay, so I guess that means you're not feelin' too bad either way. Okey-dokey. Well, I'm feelin' great! Just had a nice walk with someone I'm really itchin' to get to know a bit better, about to go and have some grub, I've—"
"Still got half a hunk of metal for a body?", said Shortfuse.
Bunnie stood there for the longest of moments like a lifeless doll, only just managing to get herself moving again as the sheer thought of loathing drove her to admit what the smallest part of her had long been trying to say.
"If you wanna put it that way, sure darlin'." Nevermind that at that moment, Bunnie considered Shortfuse less of a 'darlin' and more of a dirty rotten SOB.
"Thought so. Which makes me wonder how you have anything to be happy about. I sure as hell don't."
"There's plenty of things to be happy about!It's been a great day, the sun's shining, the birds are singing, the squirrels are squirreling—"
"And in case you haven't noticed, lady, one of those squirrels is still stuck in this tin can! Kinda puts a damper on everything else, don't it?"
Bunnie's fuse was starting to get short herself. She wracked her brains, trying to come up with anything to get his mind off his current predicament. Or was it her mind she was hoping to clear? "Well, look, you must have something to be happy about. Or at least something else to think about. How's your mother doin'? Is she still on—"
"DON'T." That was all it took for Bunnie to get the message. That and the red-eyed glare of death from Shortfuse.
"Okay, okay! Sorry I asked! Why, I'm sorry I even bothered! Here I am tryin' to cheer you up and you just go and slam it all in my face! You think I don't give a crap about what they did to me?! Cause I do! More than anything! But just stewing on it and thinking about it all the time ain't gonna solve nothin'! Cause if you do, you really are gonna be stuck in that tin can! But if that's what you wanna do, then I guess there ain't nothin' else I can do."
Shortfuse sat there as empty as the tin can he made himself ought to be. Bunnie, on the other hand, couldn't help but metaphorically kick herself in the arse.
"Look, I'm sorry," said Bunnie. "That was out of line. I—"
"My mom died a year ago."
That was sudden. Bunnie couldn't help but be blown away by such a bombshell. And here he didn't seem to want to open up no more than a minute before, if that. "My stars. I'm sorry sugar. I didn't know." For what it was worth, Shortfuse kept on telling his tale as though Bunnie had never said a word, as though if he stopped now, he'd never start again.
"Course, that was after my father ran off like the dirty lowlife he is. Growing up with my dad wasn't really what you'd call sunshine and lollipops. To be fair, it wasn't a total hellhole. My mother loved me more than anything, and my Dad at least said he did. He said a lot of things. Did a lot of things too. A LOT of things. To the both of us. And if it weren't for this dirty rotten tin can, I'd have the marks to prove it."
"Oh, I'm so sorry, sugar!"
"Don't. You've got nothin' to be sorry for. It was him that should've been sorry. But he never was. Got so bad that me and Mom just couldn't take it anymore. Had to get out. Be anywhere but where we were. After a while, we settled down in Mobotropolis, though I guess that giant-ass omelet's turned it into a disaster-zone by now. It was tough with just the two of us, but for a while, it didn't matter. The two of us were all we needed, and we made do. As long as she was there, everythin', would turn out OK. Should've known better. Like I said, mother died a year ago, and I didn't know a clue why or how to find the answers. Only thing I could do was whatever it took to get by. "
"And that's where Sonic comes in."
"Pretty much. I was pretty desperate by that point. Couldn't find any food, didn't have a place to sleep. Didn't know what else to do. Didn't give me the right, but when you're aching to just get a loaf of bread or one single juicy acorn, well, things look a whole lot different. But I also knew that if I wanted to make it, I had to fend for myself. Because it's a dog-eat-dog world. Next thing I knew, I was holding a hedgehog at knifepoint. Then I got bonked on the damn head. You know the rest."
"Oh, Shortfuse. Look, I'm sorry for what happened to you—"
"DON'T!", shouted Shortfuse. "Don't. The last thing I want is anyone feeling sorry for me. Besides, you had nothing to do with it."
"Oh. Ok. Well, in any case, the point is, regardless of whatever's happened to you, that's no reason to let it get you down!"
"Isn't it?" Shortfuse was completely and utterly convinced it was. "Tell me somethin', Bunnie. How are your parents doin'? Because I'm gonna bet they're still alive and kicking."
"Well, yeah. They're doin' swell. Better than ever. I think. Haven't seen them in ages. In fact, I"m not sure when I'm gonna see them again. If ever."
"And why's that?" said Shortfuse, as though he were driving towards some sort of point or another like a gunman aiming for their mark. "C'mon, I'm curious."
"Well, if you gotta know, it's because, because part of me…"
"Yeah? Go on."
"…because part of me doesn't want them to see me like this."
"Uh-huh. So let me get this straight. You think you can go off telling people that it's not really a big deal, that there are so many other things to think about and be happy about, how it doesn't really matter, but when it comes down to it, you can't trust your parents not to treat you like a freak and an outcast just for coming home with a new look? Do I even need to tell ya the definition of 'hypocrite' here?"
And for the first time, Bunnie didn't have anything to say. She thought about things to say, certainly. That it was unfair, or that he was pulling stuff out of his arse. But the truth wasn't that far from how Shortfuse described it, and even though she so desperately wanted to, she couldn't deny it.
"Still though," said Shortfuse, "you should count yourself lucky you've got parents. At least you've got folks who can give a crap about you either way. Me? I got nobody. So until your folks kick the bucket, there ain't nothin' you can do that'll make me feel better. Especially if you keep on avoiding everything."
"Avoiding everything'? I"m sorry hon, but I don't—"
"Oh please!" Shortfuse rolled his eyes around his eyes sockets, as though he were watching someone peform the worst perfromance of their lives. "You keep goin' on like sunshine and rainbows when you know it ain't true. Half of you was made into a can opener, but you keep acting like it ain't the end of the world!"
"Because it ain't!", shouted Bunnie. "There ain't no good reason to just drop it all and act like the world's a hellhole, that things can't get any better than this!"
"Oh really?! If that's the case, then tell me, 'sugar'; can you even feel anything on that arm or those legs of yours? Even so much as a warm summer breeze? Because if ya can, then I want some of whatever you're having."
Bunnie's eyes went wide, as though suddenly in the marksman's crosshairs. "Uh, not really, but—"
"And that's my point! I can't feel anything in this thing! I can't feel the warmth on my skin, the cold on my back, even what used to be my brown bushy tail, because I'm stuck in this darn prison! But you aren't much better. You can't feel anything with that arm or those legs of yours, can you? They're like deadweight. So I can't buy that not being a big deal to you."
"Oh, it is! It sure as hell is!"
"Then prove it!", said Shortfuse."
"How?! By being like you?!"
"At least I can admit things are crap!"
"But that ain't the same as dealing with, is it?!"
"Funny, I don't see you doing the same!"
"Funny, because from where I'm standin', neither are YOU!"
The two stared at each other as though they were both fearlessly staring down the bullet of a gun, both knowing that if this conversation kept up, there was only one way it was going to go. The air was practically tense, almost akin to a powder keg. One riny match would be all it would take to set it off. The only thing that could stop it is if something or another were to dampen it. And speaking of which…
"ALIENS!"
…there it was. It was loud enough for Bunnie and Shortfuse to hear it despite still being a ways away from the campground, and they knew that something or another was going on that might just require their attention. After a moment where it seemed like they were going to shoot each other with their eye sockets, they finally relented, putting away their aim-of-sights for the time being. "This ain't over," said Shortfuse. And as Shortfuse rocketed towards the campgrounds, Bunnie knew he was telling the truth.
