Ted tapped at his lap as he watched the countryside of Bunnyburrow go by. Violet was at the steering wheel of a Hopps family truck, and as she drove, the smaller black bunny found himself strangely intimidated. Finally, he decided to break the silence in the most banal way possible.
"So, you have a truck, huh?"
Of course she had a truck. The reality of her having a truck was at this point inexcusable. Ted felt a small pinch of shame the moment he had said it.
"Mm," Violet nodded, her eyes never leaving the road. "Indeed I do. As the Hopps family organizer, a vehicle is essential for me to carry out my duties. I prefer this small truck so things don't get too claustrophobic, but I've also driven one of the family cars, vans, and even the bus."
Ted was quiet again at that, not knowing how to follow up these little factoids. He took a deep breath and sighed. They were still a good ten minutes out of the main urban area of Bunnyburrow, such as it was.
"I was getting a little worried, to be honest," Ted admitted suddenly. "I thought Serendipity might have gotten bored of me already."
"What do you mean?" Violet's brow furrowed slightly as she drove.
"Well, at the risk of sounding clingy..." the black bunny took in a deep breath before continuing. "It's been a few weeks since our first date."
Violet gave a nod, a concerned look crossing her face. "Yes, that's... that's my fault, and I'm sorry. I've been very busy, as usual, and the times where I haven't been haven't... they haven't been good days."
"Your anxiety acting up?"
"Yes," Violet nodded once, "I... don't really wish for you to see me like that yet."
"Well heck, Violet," Ted frowned. "Doesn't it stand to reason that I'm gonna have to eventually? That is, if we keep going along with each other and all."
"Yes... it does, yes," she frowned. "But... just let me have this for a little while, okay?"
"What's that phrase...?" Ted looked out the window. "'If you can't handle me at my worst, you don't deserve me at my best'?"
"Ted," Violet sighed slightly. "We're going to one of my favorite places. I don't want our first memories there to be unpleasant, that's all."
"Okay, got it," Ted said. "Sorry things haven't been goin' so well for you thus far."
"Thank you, Ted," Violet replied, though she looked eager to get onto another subject. Soon enough, the truck pulled into a parking space at Bunnyburrow's Best Reads. It was a fair-sized building; it appeared to be one of the larger mom and pop bookstores in Bunnyburrow, especially since it had an included cafe.
Violet noticed Ted looking at the place with mild interest as they approached the facade, causing her to release a small smile. The black bunny buck was sure to get the door for the taller gray doe.
After about four whole seconds of the two being in the store, barely enough time for the scent of fresh paper to hit their nostrils, Ted's ear fluttered at the sound of a terse gasp. It came from an approaching adult female kit fox, who had a very interested expression as she drew closer to them. She was dressed in a purple and orange long-sleeve shirt with a black vest over it, and stationed on that vest was a small metal nametag that read: "TERRA".
"Violet!" Terra greeted the bunny with a big smile. The kit fox was actually closer to Ted's size; Violet almost towered over her.
"Terra," Violet returned warmly, seemingly instantly charmed by the vixen's energy. Terra's eyes fluttered between the two bunnies, seemingly growing more and more excited as she looked at Ted for the briefest of moments.
"Boyfriend?" Terra asked in a loud, unguarded whisper. Violet closed her eyes and nodded, causing Terra to squeak and hop excitedly, but she was suddenly stricken with puzzlement. "Wait, are you two on a date? At the bookstore?" Her confusion instantly switched back to elation, squinting her eyes shut. "Awesome! Ooh, ooh! Do you want coffee?" When Violet nodded, Terra scrambled over to the cafe side of the bookstore, waving her paw. "Devin! Dev!"
"I'm guessing you know her," Ted chuckled at the exuberant little predator.
"If I told you she's like this with everyone, would you believe me?" Violet seemed bemused.
"Not particularly," Ted shrugged. "That's a lot of energy."
"Good, you aren't gullible," Violet winked at him with a smile.
A black bull seated in a wheelchair rolled out from behind a counter near the cafe. Ted involuntarily winced as he saw the bull was missing a leg.
"Where's the fire, Terra?" Devin asked.
"I need a couple of free coffees! Oh, and some pastries too!" Terra looked back at the bunnies; Violet was already getting a seat at the cafe's tables. "You two like blueberry scones?"
Right as the two were nodding, Devin gave Terra a skeptical look.
"Hold on there, girl," Devin chuckled to himself, "I can't give you employee benefit stuff just so you can give it out to others. You'd have to get Mr. Johnson's approval."
"Okay!" Terra nodded, calling out for him loudly. "Mr. Johnson! Mr. Johnson!"
At his name, the owner arrived. He was a large middle-aged male pig. His nametag read, quite simply, "BOB". He was perhaps the most generic, dull-looking pig Ted had ever seen.
"Yes, Terra?" He replied.
A little bit of mirth bubbled up in Ted's chest as the pig named "Bob Johnson" had as dry a voice as one could have possibly imagined. The amusement made his mouth wobble a bit, and this didn't escape Violet's notice; she grinned wickedly.
"Can I get a couple of free small coffees and pastries for those two?" Terra pointed at the bunnies eagerly.
The pig manager's head turned in a way that wouldn't have looked out of place on a sloth, then he just as excruciatingly turned back to Terra. "Who are they to you?"
"That's my fiance's sister and her boyfriend!" Terra said proudly, her tail beginning to wag.
"All right," Mr. Johnson barely nodded. "But those are your employee of the month privileges for this month. Got it?"
"Yes!" Terra pumped her fist, rushing over to get the coffee and pastries.
Devin chuckled at these events. "One wonders how you keep making employee of the month with your muzzle stuck in graphic novels all the time."
"Hey, it's called 'knowing the product'," Terra remarked defiantly while pouring a couple of coffees.
"She's also very personable," Mr. Johnson said in a completely dull voice.
A laugh was determined to escape from Ted's throat at the complete lack of mammal emotion in the pig's voice, and this made Violet's smile grow ever wider as the black bunny strained to control himself.
"Here you go!" Terra chirped, setting down two small coffees, two small pastries, and more cream and sugar than either of them could have needed on the bunnies' table. "Enjoy!"
"Thank you, Terra," Violet said with an adoring smile.
"Yeah, thanks," Ted added weakly.
"Yup yup!" Terra waved, rushing back to her station at the counter nearest the exit, gazing at the two with obvious delight, her cheeks resting in her paws. Ted craned his neck and could still see her tail wagging, flicking out from behind the counter momentarily on each swing.
"So, uh... you come here to relax," Ted quipped.
"If you're referring to Terra's exuberance," Violet chuckled, adding some sugar and cream to her coffee, "you just have to let her go for awhile sometimes. She's like a wind-up toy. Eventually she settles."
"Guess I'll be paying for the next date, then," Ted chuckled, dolling up his coffee a bit as well.
"I think she thinks she's paying me back for helping set her up with one of my sisters," Violet smirked. "Adorable little creature."
"Really? How did that go?" Ted cocked his head.
"Ah, a bit of a long story," Violet's face weakened a little, her ears dropping. "Maybe some other time." Seemingly eager to change the subject, she smirked. "You might end up paying for this date yet. We are in a bookstore, after all."
"What kind of books do you like?" Ted asked, having a bit of his pastry.
"Have you heard of Dave Beary?" She replied, and Ted shook his head. "Hilarious humorist. I read all of his books. In fact, I should scour the humor section after we finish up here to see if he's released anything new."
"Oh yeah? You like humor books?" Ted seemed puzzled. "Gee, you're a matchmaker and like to laugh?"
"I know that doesn't really come across as intuitive when you look at me," Violet ran a paw through her ears. "I'm told I have a tough shell."
"Well, it's nice to get to know that about you," Ted smiled winsomely, which she returned.
"How about you, then?" Violet tilted her head. "What sort of interests do you have?"
Ted seemed strangely put off by this question. "Well, uh... I do have one main hobby, kinda. But it's- er, it's kinda boring, really."
Violet's eyes half closed. "Ted. We're at a bookstore. It's not exactly monster truck rally levels of excitement in this place."
"Not without that little fox zooming around, anyway," Ted brushed his ears back.
"C'mon, tell me," Violet smiled faintly, taking Ted's hand and looking at him with interest.
"All right, then," Ted nodded, shrugging distractedly. "So, as y'know, my family gets a lot of various supplies in from all over. Trees, bees, seeds... stuff like that. With the wood, sometimes we get orders for it that leave leftovers, sometimes too little to sell, but too much to really throw away. Sometimes we make dowels out of them, like for our teeth, but lately, I've been squirrelin' away a log or two of some of the junk wood."
"Why's that?" Violet tilted her head a few degrees to the left.
"Well, I started whittlin' at 'em," the black bunny went on. "Like with a knife and all, just to pass the time. Eventually, I started carvin' away all of the pieces of wood that didn't look like a bunny, and I ended up with a wood carvin' of an ancient bunny. Like the four-legged kind."
"Really?" The gray bunny blinked twice. "Do you have a picture of it?"
"Oh, no way," Ted shook his head firmly. "My first carvin' was awful. But I did keep at it. 'Ventually I started on some carvings of the Celestials. Pretty sure that isn't sacrilegious, right?"
"Well," Violet huffed with a smirk. "If so, Serendipiday would be in trouble with all of its gold statues of Lady Luck."
"Right, so... yeah, been workin' on those," Ted nodded. "Doin' Paradigm now. It's bein' kind of, well... uh, a bear, for lack of a better word."
"Oh yes?"
Ted looked around as if they were being watched, then produced his phone, navigating to a particular image folder. In fact, they were indeed being watched by a curious and interested kit fox, though Ted didn't seem to notice. Ted showed Violet a picture of an in-progress wood carving, made of a dark shade of wood that complimented the large bear presence of the Celestial Paradigm well. Most of the back half was incomplete, but the front half had artsy splashes of "power" around the front feet, as well as lightning branches coming out of the eye area.
"Now... lookit here," Ted said, the passion in his voice suddenly rising. "Paradigm's traditionally depicted with these lightnin' eyes, but I just don't know if it looks right on him in the sculpture. I was wonderin' if I should reduce them, or get rid of them entirely."
"Hm, they do look a bit large... but I'd say this is going wonderfully so far," Violet marveled, looking at the screen. "The splashes around his paws, and the fiery wreath around his chest and back especially... you're communicating that so well through wood!"
"Oh, um, you like it?" Ted looked honestly surprised. "I mean... 's not done yet."
"Do you have any more of these?" Violet looked up at him.
"Well uh... my last Serendipity one was one of my favorites," Ted scrolled to another one. "I kinda wanted to match the style of her statues from the style they normally use in Serendipiday, and give it a little bit of my own."
The picture Ted scrolled to depicted a wood carving of Serendipity, sort of laid back and waving, winking one eye. The bunny Celestial was reclined on whimsical wooden "wisps" that acted like a platform for her extravagantly playful pose. That said, Violet did note that Ted wasn't the best photographer. The picture wasn't centered well and it was a little too far away to see the finer details.
"Ooh, I'd like to see this one closer," Violet squinted, taking the phone in her paws and staring at it. "It looks really nice. You really captured the frivolous playfulness she's so often shown with."
"Huh, you really like it?" Ted rubbed behind his head.
"You seem surprised," Violet had a tiny, bemused smile.
"I dunno," The black bunny shook his head, paused, and shrugged. "It's just... I had a lot of times where my siblings would tell me I was wasting my time. Y'know. Literally whittling it away. T'be honest, it was just something to fill up my time, and I did what I liked with every one I did."
"Well, to me, I think this is a fascinating hobby, truly I do," Violet grinned. "It's obvious you've got a lot of enthusiasm for it. Have you ever thought about selling any Serendipities at Serendipiday?"
"What? Oh no, that'd never occured to me," Ted scratched his cheek. "S'just something I do in my spare time. Plus, isn't everything you get there supposed to be bright, colorful, and sparkly? Wood's kinda the opposite of that, heh heh."
"Hmm..." Violet's mouth twisted this way and that. "Well, if you really wanted, you could try painting them in the Oaxacan style, using extravagant colors, but to be honest I think some people would appreciate something more honest and earthy for Serendipity. Everyone does the flashy and fluffy stuff, this carving here has a kind of... I don't know, honesty to it. I think it would be appreciated."
"I dunno... I guess I could try it one time," Ted shrugged. "I mean last Serendipiday was a bust for me anyway; had prior engagements with some mammals that weren't goin'... might be nice to get out there again and bask in the extravagances of Lady Luck."
"That's the spirit," Violet grinned. "I could go with you, if you wanted. Keep track of sales and such, so you could focus on talking up your passion for the carvings?"
"Sounds fun," Ted nodded. "Just hope I'll find the time what with my work and dating you and all that."
"Hows this?" Violet smiled wider, folding her fingers together. "Maybe sometimes I could just come over, or you could come to the Hopps' compound, whichever you prefer, and we could just relax together while you whittled. Maybe I'd do some reading."
"Sounds nice and peaceful... you'd be into that?" Ted pet at one of his ears, looking somewhat unsteady.
"Oh, way in," Violet nodded. "I would really like if we could keep our dates tranquil and relaxing. Nothing too special or flashy. Just... be together. Y'know?"
"T'be honest, that does sound like a good time," Ted agreed with a grin. "A real good time."
"That settles it then," Violet grinned, getting up, and Ted followed after a brief pause. "We've got a few months before Serendipiday, so let's see if we can find the time to get a decent number of those carvings for a display. I know many of my siblings who'd love to help get you a lot and handle the finer details, myself included."
"Wow, that's real nice of you," Ted's smile carried a heavy kind of relief, "I guess I'd gone so long hearing my hobby was a waste of time and pointless that I started to believe it myself."
"It's nice that you've managed to keep a love for your craft, even through such adversity," Violet looked down at him warmly.
"It's just carvin' wood, Vi," Ted mumbled. "Oh, uh, can I call you that?"
"Of course, anyone close to me can," Violet's voice was very pleasantly relaxed. She perked up suddenly. "Oh, there is a new book by Dave Beary." The gray bunny hightailed it for the humor section and selected it.
"Oh, I'll get that for you!" The black bunny held a finger above his head and rushed over. Before long, both of them were at the counter, and a brightly-smiling kit fox greeted them.
"Hi!" Terra's toothy grin was enormous.
"Um, hello, Terra, was it?" Ted winced, pushing the book onto the counter.
"Yup, sure is!" Terra's eyes flicked in the direction of her name tag, and a giggle caught in her throat. "Can I just say you and Violet are really cute? Like really?"
"Still calling bunnies cute, are we Terra?" Violet tilted her chin up, but had a playfully disdainful smile.
"Oh c'mon, I'm getting married to one!" Terra shook both of her fists. "I'll be legally a bunny in just a little while!"
"That's not really how it works," Violet's tone carried a teasing edge.
"Besides, it takes a cutie to know one," the vixen held up a finger, then turned it into a thumb and shoved it at herself, "and according to everyone, I'm a cutie. So, I think I should be able to discern whether or not something is cute!"
"Um, can we buy this book, please?" Ted asked patiently, getting his wallet out.
"Oh, oh, right!" Terra winced. "Haha, doing my job. Yes. I'm good at that. Employee of the month, that's me! Terra Brownfurred. Soon to be Terra Hopps!" Her giggle was pinched and nervous as she scanned the book. "Ooh, Dave Beary. Guessing this is for Viiii...?"
"That's right," Ted nodded diagonally, paying for the book.
"So great!" Happiness seemed to flow through the little fox like blood through her veins. "Okay! Thank you and come again!" She handed the book decisively to Ted. "Please come again! I wanna hear more gossip on you two!"
"If you're good," Violet grinned, and the two bunnies began to head for the door.
"Pff, if I'm 'good'. Hey, employee of the month here...?" The vixen seemed mildly offended. "Oh wait, I forgot to give you a bag!" She winced again.
"That's okay," Ted chuckled. "Just something else to throw away." He backed up into one of the doors to exit.
"See you later, Terra," Violet winked as the two were gone.
"Ohhh...!" Terra moaned, collapsing onto her counter. "Phooey. The annoying thing about real life is you can't read what's gonna happen next, you gotta wait for it." After a cursory look to make sure no more eyes were on her, she cracked open a graphic novel and huffed, her tail flicking.