Warning, Incredibly blunt sexual implications, still wondering if I should bump this up to a M, but worried people might mistake it for smut
"Nearing the top now! just a little further."
"Hai~!" Hailey coursed with the other children, before bringing her attention back to the sheer rock face.
With deft and skillful movements, Hailey ascended quickly, hopping from footing to handhold with the confidence of a skilled climber with a death wish.
For a moment it seems that her confidence was her undoing as a rock crumbled under her fingers, and she started tethering backwards. However was grabbed from above before she could fully part from the rockface.
"Careful there Hailey, don't want to have to start climbing from the bottom do we?" Tewi said jovially from below.
Hailey spared a glance downwards at the two hundred meter drop into the forest below, and her mamas amused expression.
"Not particularly." Hailey replied before turning to the one who caught her. "Thanks Julie."
"No problem Oba-chan," Julian Inaba, or Juilie to her friends said impishly. "But let's be a little bit more measured, shall we?"
Hailey pouted at what was technically her Niece, before being poked in the but by her Mama. "Come on let's not dally, don't want the others to start without us."
"Fine." Said Hailey, losing the pout and continuing to climb after Julian.
Reaching the top, Julian hopped up onto the top, before reaching down to pick up Hailey. "Upsey daisy." She said, pulling her up and onto her feet. Before doing the same for Wicket who had been riding piggyback on the journey up
"Thanks, but I could have climbed up myself, you know." Hailey said, as Velma did just that behind her and ran past.
Julie laughed and patted her on the head. "Sure, but Gotta be kind to my dear auntie don't I?"
"Yeah yeah." Hailey said, brushing off the joke she had been hearing all her life.
Julie then reached down to pick up Sho, the last young rabbit in their little group, with Tewi climbing up just after her.
"Everybody accounted for?" Tewi said, surveying the group, before nodding. "Good, go on and find a place to sit."
Sho and Wicket nodded, Velma having already ran off, before they followed Julian to where the picnic was still being set up.
Hailey however took the time to do a few cooldown stretches after the long climb, and took the opportunity to take in the view.
"What do you think? Worth the climb?" Tewi asked, standing beside her.
"I've never seen anything like it." Hailey said, looking out over the forest of stone pillars stretching out before her, their bases shrouded in fog and mist.
"Yeah, I'd almost go so far as to say this is one of a kind." Tewi said. " Zhangjiajie was formed by millions of years of rivers, rain and ice carving out these pillars to what we see now, a combination of climate, terrain and rock formation made this place possible… Not a bad place for a picnic if you ask me."
Hailey giggled.
"Tewi, Hailey, we have finished serving, come on before it gets cold!" Liang called out
With that they turned away from the view and joined the rest of their family on the large blanket around a generous spread of finger foods.
The mix today was an odd bunch comprising of Hailey's current group of playmates Wicket Velma and Sho, her Mama of course, and whoever happened to be around Entei when mother had the idea to take them on this little adventure, and had decided to tag along.
First there was who might be considered the host of this little gathering, Liang, a motherly looking Rabbit girl local to the area, considered to be one of the Families sub-matriarchs, as many of the chinese members of the family are descended from her and often look to her for guidance, with her are five of her youngest daughters who have yet to leave the nest, Wan, Song, Tang, Fu with the youngest being Cui, who is barely a toddler.
Next, the one who was currently trying to wrangle the children, was Asahi, who was in fact Tewi's first born, and Hailey's eldest sister. A serious looking girl with a pair of round glasses and hair down into twin braids. Some consider Asahi to be the second highest wrung in the family's unofficial hierarchy under Tewi herself. With how much more calm and collected she was, along with her personality and bookish appearance, people often found it hard to believe her mother was Tewi.
With her currently, holding Velma in her lap to keep her still was Julian, Asahi's daughter, who contrasting with her mother again, is a sporty athletic girl with a ponytail and a peppy and friendly demeanour, she is often seen helping her mother around the place.
Opposite Hailey was Sora, another of her sisters, although comparing her to Asahi was like night and day, as while the elder dressed modestly, not drifting too far from the traditional Inaba pink dress, Sora dressed like some Vegas showgirl, her outfit being somewhere between a playboy bunny and stage magician, which was appropriate, for that is exactly what she was. She was a bubbly and upbeat person, taller than average in her family with enough curves to fill her outfit, and a comically small top hat perched at a Jaunty angle upon her sandy blond hair and between her long ears.
She was accompanied by her Husband, a small rabbit boy with platinum blond hair and pale pink eyes, and dressed far more casually, who was currently trying to make himself as small as possible as he had been sandwiched between his wife and yet another of Haley's sisters, Minoru.
Minoru was, to put it mildly, the busty goth girlfriend that everyone wished they had. Thick with a capital C, with straight cut black hair that ran to her waist, dark makeup, and plenty of black clothing to offset the Inaba pink and her white ears. She was a girl of few words and fewer expressions.
She was listening to Koharu, her twin, although you wouldn't know by looking, as while Minoru leaned into the dark and gloomy, Koharu could not be described as anything other than Punk. Rather than stoic and hard to read, Koharu came across as more wild and debonair, with a cocky grin, and hair styled into a wild spiky mess with dyed tips. She carried herself like a 70s punk rocker with a wardrobe to match.
Under her arm, there was a Rabbit boy, rather small even by Inaba standards, and lacking the Snow white ears that the majority of the clan share, being a greyish brown. Hailey didn't recognise him, but assumed he must be one of Koharu's latest projects.
Completing the circle and, sitting next to Hailey and Tewi, is Ryuu, another of Tewis' daughters, and quite possibly the biggest Inaba here, if not the entire clan. Even by non Rabbit standards she was a huge giant of a girl, tall and thickset, towering over everyone else even sitting down, with shaggy orange hair that often covered her eyes. Despite her size, she is a quiet, ponderous girl, who prefers listening to talking, quite friendly. Rumour has it that she has a temper that matches her name, but Hailey had never seen it.
At first there wasn't much conversation as people helped themselves to their lunch, prepared by Liang, taking in the surrounding skyline and enjoying the atmosphere, but eventually Tewi broke the ice.
"So, It's been a while since you've shown your face at Entei, how's show business treating you?" Tewi asked, addressing Sora.
"Oh you know, same old same old." Sora said airily, "been doing most of my shows at Babs place recently."
"Really?" Hailey said. "I thought you were taking a break from the stage, going back to your roots or something?"
Sora made a face. "Well, I did try and take a break by doing some small venue entertainment, you know, kids birthdays and stuff. Unfortunately the parents either weren't particularly keen on how I dress, or a little too keen you might say."
She sighed. "Seriously, you wouldn't believe how many parents tried to hit on me, sometimes even the married ones. I honestly don't get it, if you are going to cheat, hire a hooker or something, not a magician."
"Honestly, with how you dress, perhaps they thought they were." Koharu laughed.
"Ha-ha." Sora deadpanned.
"She has a point, Sora, it probably would have been wise to dress down somewhat." Asahi added. "Honestly, showing up to a kids birthday party dressed like a Vegas showgirl is asking for trouble."
"It's a classic though." Sora pouted. "Flopsy likes it."
Her Husband, Flopsy, nodded, before shrinking under the attention. Privately wondering how being invited to a picnic had resulted in having to deal with some of his wifes most intimidating siblings.
Koharu laughed again, "Oh I bet he does, I bet that entire outfit glows under a blacklight."
"Th-that was one time!" Sora rebuked. "I just accidentally wore the wrong set is all."
Flopsy pulled his ears over his face to hide his embarrassment, before deciding to just turn into his rabbit form instead.
"I don't get it." Hailey said.
"Semen glows under a black light, the implication is that they've had sex in that costume so often it's covered in it." Tewi explained.
"Ohh…"
"Don't explain it!" Sora said, blushing.
"Speaking of boytoys…" Asahi said, sparing her sister and turning to Koharu. "I noticed you have a plus one today. Another of your projects?"
"That's right." Koharu said, Picking up the Quiet little Rabbit boy and putting him on her lap. "This is Claes, He's a Flemish Giant rabbit, don't mind him, he's still figuring out the whole sapience thing, so he isn't much for conversation. Say hello Claes."
"Hello." Claes said softly.
"He doesn't look Giant." Hailey said, tilting her head.
Koharu snickered. "Oh he's giant alright, at least where it counts."
"Can I hold him?" Minoru asked, with as much interest as she is capable of expressing through her perpetual deadpan.
"Knock yourself out, he's very docile." Koharu said, passing him over.
Minoru immediately hugged him and started petting the rabbit boy gently, much to his visible enjoyment.
"And how about you Liang? you've been pretty quiet." Tewi said, "How about sharing how you've been? I don't see you around the compound nearly as much as I'd like."
"Well you know how it is, I like keeping myself busy, and my branch of the family often seeks my guidance." Liang said. "I also like the quiet, and Entei can be a little noisy for me."
At this point Velma had finished eating, and had started vibrating eagerly. "Hey Hailey, can we play now?" she exclaimed, cutting into the conversation.
There were some chuckles, before Tewi turned to Hailey. "Go ahead Hailey, how about you indulge your little cousin?"
Despite wanting to listen along to the adult conversations some more, Hailey said. "Fine, come on, let's go play."
The minute she was released, Velma shot off of Julians lap and ran off, away to the other side of the mountain top, followed by Hailey, Sho, two of Liangs kids, Song and Fu.
"I'll keep an eye on them, come on Wicket." Julian said, standing up, before helping Wicket to her feet, from where she had been sitting staring off into space. She then followed after the others, leading Wicket by the hand.
After they had left, Asahi said. "It's strange to think that Hailey is older than them by at least a decade."
"Yeah, you can't imagine how hard it is getting playmates for her." Tewi said. "At two years, they are basically human eight year olds, and yet they will be adults when Hailey's barely in puberty, this is the third group I've put her in."
"Is that upsetting her?" Minoru asked, while burying Claes headfirst into her cleavage. "It must be frustrating being constantly outgrown by her friends."
Tewi made a non-commital noise. "Kinda? I'd think she's more upset that she can't grow up with them. A lot of her friends are adults anyway, she finds it more frustrating that she can't join in on the grown up talk, and enjoy the grown up activities. It really doesn't help being talked down to and babied by people she is technically older than either."
Tewi sighed and looked up. "I honestly worry that she is in too much of a hurry to grow up, ya know?"
"Is that why you set up these play dates?" Liang asked.
"At least partly, I also just like taking her to fun places." Tewi said. "But yeah, I hope by interacting with some younger bunnies she might treasure her childhood a little more, god knows us Rabbits grow up too fast anyway, she's got something precious, and she should take the time to appreciate it."
There was a moment of silence only broken by Claes soft panting.
"And on that note. Minoru, stop fondling the bunny boy's carrot, let's at least try and keep this Picnic PG." Tewi said dryly.
Minoru reluctantly withdrew her slightly sticky hands from Claes pants, to his audible disappointment. "Honestly, it's probably closer to a butternut squash."
"So come on girls, what are we playing huh?!" Velma said, eagerly hopping from foot to foot.
Velma, was a hyperactive little girl with short sandy blonde hair, wild eyes and a difficulty sitting still. She is the first of Hailey's official playgroup.
"Oh I know, Let's play house!" Sho said, puffing herself up.
Sho, another of Hailey's playmates, was the very image of a little princess, with curly pink ringlets and a bossy air of a child who needs to be told no more often. Even her clothes, despite being the traditional Inaba pink dress, were modified with extra lace and padding to make it more princessy.
[Hmm? Well the reason most of us dress like this is because we grow up so fast, so little buns grow out of their clothes so fast that it isn't worth buying or making children clothes, when you could just get a set from an older relative that outgrew them. To that end, we have storerooms full of identical dresses to lend out to young buns. After that older bunnies just kinda keep wearing them out of habit more than anything, especially the ones who spend most of their time as actual rabbits…
I've gotten sidetracked, where was I? Oh yeah, Sho's messed up idea on how to play house…]
Before anyone had even agreed, Sho was already divvying up roles. "Alright, I'll be the sexually repressed housewife, Hailey can be the Emotionally distant husband. Velma of course will be the hot pool boy we are both having an affair with, and Fu can be the daughter, as well as the pool boy's jealous ex-girlfriend who wants to get back together. Meanwhile Song can be the jaded chain smoking detective who is trying to solve the case of a string of seemingly unrelated murders across the city, while Alphonse," At this point sho held up her stuffed Unicorn plushie, "can be the deranged serial killer who is prowling the streets.
"...What about me?" Wicket asked, slowly tilting her head.
"...you can be the family dog." Sho said, after thinking about it.
"Yaaaay~" Wicket cheered softly.
Wicket was an… uncomplicated soul, one might say. The greenette had a friendly, generally sleepy disposition, and approached most things with as little energy as possible. She liked long naps in the sunlight, or long naps in the shade… Naps in general were up in her top ten favourite things to do honestly, along with any activity she could do lying down.
The others however were a bit less enthusiastic.
"Do I have to be the husband?" Hailey asked, crooking her eyebrow.
"Can't I be the detective?" Velma said.
"What's so great about dating a pool boy?" Fu questioned.
"The serial killer's a stuffed animal?" Song said, unimpressed.
"...what's an affair?" Wicked asked, after processing what was said more.
"Ok then let's take a step back." Julian said, deciding to cut in here, both to pre-empt an argument, and to avoid spreading Sho's weird ideas of playing house to others. She also made a mental note to check Sho's home life, because either there was something going on with her parents, or she is getting way too much access to reality TV. "lets… try playing something a little less… involved."
She quickly glanced around, despite the beautiful view, there wasn't really a lot of space on this pillar-like mountain top for something like tag or other more sporty games, so instead she suggested. "How about a nice game of hide and seek?"
"Yeeaaaah~" Wicket cheered slowly, "I'm greeeat at hide and seek… at least the hide part."
"Sounds better than house." Song said, and Fu nodded in agreement.
"I'm game." Hailey said, shrugging, mostly happy to go with the flow.
Sho however looked pouty. "Well I liked it." she mumbled, but was well aware she was outvoted.
Velma also didn't look keen. "I'm no good at hiding." she whined.
"Yeah yeah, I know, you are not the best at sitting still." Julian said. "That's why you will be seeking with me. We will try and find everybody else."
"Well… alright!" Velma said, regaining enthusiasm.
Julie then clapped her hands. "Alright, me and Velma will start counting to thirty now, everybody better get hiding!"
With that, the remaining rabbits scattered. And after keeping Velma pinned to her chest for thirty seconds so she wouldn't jump the gun, Julian released the vibrating little rabbit and shouted "Ready or not, here we come!"
Velma was off like a shot, leaving the amused older rabbit to plod along behind her as she darted this way and that lifting rocks, and parting bushes.
Julian shook her head. Wondering not for the first time if she fell into a vat of radioactive caffeine as a baby. Nevertheless, she fully intended to leave most of the seeking to the eager young rabbit.
The first to be found rather quickly was a rather pouty Shou, whose poofy dress had projected out of the rocky alcove she had been hiding in.
"Hide and seek is a stupid baby game anyway." She muttered, as Juilian patted her back comfortingly. Velma had already run off to keep searching.
When Julian caught up to her, she found her climbing out onto a lopsided tree that projected over the edge of the cliff, where she had found Song, clinging to the trunk.
"How did you even…" Song said incredulously, convinced she had found the best spot, but Velma had already taken off yet again.
Next was Songs sister Fu, who had in fact been hiding behind her mother back at the picnic, to the general amusement of the adults.
"I thought she would have taken longer to circle back here." she said, embarrassed, earning a good natured chuckle from her mother.
However, despite the relatively quick locating of the three, Velma seemed to be struggling to locate the last two, Hailey and Wicket. Julian grew increasingly concerned, as Velma started zooming recklessly around the stone pillar, growing more frustrated at being unable to find her quarry.
Just as she was skirting around the edge of the drop checking in crevices, Julian spoke out. "Hey slow down, you are too close to the edge-"
"Oop!" Velma said, tripping and sailing right off the cliff.
"What did I just say!" Julian said, sprinting over to the edge, intending to throw herself off in pursuit.
However the sight that greeted her, was Velma being held up by a visibly struggling Hailey, who had caught her mid air, and was currently floating over the drop.
"Hey!" Velma said, pouting as if she hadn't nearly fallen off a mountain. "No fair, you were hiding over the cliff, I can't fly that well yet!"
Julian sighed with relief. Velma's life probably hadn't been in danger, but it probably wouldn't have been a nice landing for the young rabbit, and a rather awkward conversation with her parents.
"All's… fair… in love… and war." Hailey grunted as she strained to keep herself and Velma in place. She then Spotted Julian. "Little help?... I am… not rated for… passengers… yet."
"Sorry sorry." Julian said, floating down, and picking up Velma from under her arms. Together they all floated to safety, where the other kids were waiting.
"Now why didn't I think of that?" Song said, crossing her arms.
"Cuz it's cheating, obviously." Sho said, hands on hips and glaring.
"It was a legitimate strategy." Hailey defended.
"Be that as it may," Julian said. "It's not fair to your friends if you hide somewhere only accessible by flying. They are only 2, they haven't had as much experience in magic as you."
Hailey could only pout.
"Well anyway, now that that's over with, can we play house now?" Sho said.
"Actually, aren't you forgetting someone?" Julian said, raising her eyebrow.
"Oh right, Wicket!" Velma said, before running off yet again.
"Hey, slow down!" Julian said, running after her. "Lets try not to have a repeat incident okay!?"
Thus the search went on.
And on…
After a few minutes, the others started joining in…
Five minutes pass.
"Wicket!" Julian started calling, concern in her voice. "You win! You can come out now!"
"What's the problem?" Asahi said, walking over as the group neared the picnic blanket.
"We were playing hide and seek, but we can't find Wicket anywhere." Julian said, it's been nearly ten minutes now."
Asahi shook her head. "Honestly you really shouldn't have let them out of your sight, what if she fell off the mountain? She could be lost and hurt in the middle of the park alone. I'll gather everyone up for a search party-"
"No need for that, come over here." Tewi called out, amusement in her voice.
Asahi and Julian shared a glance, before them and the kids all gathered around the Clan matriarch, who seemed very much amused.
"Mother, do you know where Wicket is?" Asahi asked.
"I wonder…" Tewi said cheekily, before leaning over to Ryuu, and deftly flicking up the hem of her skirt.
There, in between the massive rabbit girls crossed legs, Wicket sat, curled up, sleeping peacefully, causing a doubletake of everyone present.
"When did she get there?" Sora asked incredulously, "for that matter how? we were all sitting right here!"
"Oh that's just little Wicket." Tewi said affectionately, poking the little girl's nose, which scrunkled at the touch. "You'd be surprised where she can end up when she wants a nap."
All and all, it was a good day in the Inaba family.
Bonus:
All good things must come to an end, and as the sun was lowering in the sky, the picnic was winding down to a close. Asahi, Julian and Tewi had already started escorting the kids down the mountain, and the others were packing up.
With the exception of Minoru, who was still sitting impassively on the blanket, even after everything else was tidied away.
"Can you get up now? We need to fold up the blanket." Sora said, as Liang was flying away with all the dishes and leftover food, her children in toe.
"Can I borrow it for a while? I'd like to stay here for a bit." Minoru asked impassively.
Sora raised her eyebrow, before her nose twitched as she caught a scent in the air.
With a roll of her eyes, she said. "Fine but wash it before you return it." She then took off herself, with her husband, still a rabbit, under her arms.
Soon it was just the Twins, Minoru and Koharu, on the mountaintop. Koharu's standing, while Minoru still sitting firmly on the blanket.
"I want him back no later than tomorrow morning, you hear? I still haven't finished educating him yet, so he's still pretty green behind the ears." Koharu said, smirking.
"I'll manage." Minoru said.
"Righto, have fun you twoo~" Koharu said teasingly, before taking off herself.
Alone at last, Minoru lifted the skirt of her dress, revealing a red faced and panting Claes who had been hiding underneath, who then started clambering up her body.
"Oh, we will~" Minoru said smiling as she felt something big and meaty press against her stomach.
It's always the quiet ones.
Authors Notes:
Well… I'm back, sorta?
Let me get the chapter specific notes out of the way first, and then I will talk about what's been happening and where I've been.
As per the Warning at the top said, still wondering if this story needs to be an M. Because while I don't intend to write any actual sex scenes, there will probably be a bunch of metaphorical 'cutting to black' where sex is implied to happen. Plus there will be a lot of discussions about sex in the story, as well as euphemisms for sex and sexual body parts, or maybe just straight up talking about sex and genitals.
To reiterate, there will be no actual sex scenes, nor detailed depictions of sex or nudity, not least of which because the main character will be a minor for a majority of the story. After she hits puberty, she might start sleeping around a bit, because it's a significant part of her character and upbringing, but I will not be depicting those acts in any capacity.
This story is not smut, I just think sex jokes are funny.
Anyhoo, I introduced a lot of characters here huh? This story is probably gonna have a large extended cast as Haley's family is enormous, so i thought I might introduce some of her siblings, as well as a few same age (at least biological age, if not chronological) playmates which will have minor roles in the following years. I had fun designing these bunch of weirdos.
As with Koharu, in case I was too subtle with the implications, she raises mundane rabbits into youkai rabbits as a hobby, before releasing them into the wider family. Its important to note that Claes, despite being a smol bean (at least in height), Animals become youkai at the end of their life, so he is an adult, just a smol one, once more, because I thought it would be funny.
Also as for the location of the picnic, I thought it would be cool.
Now for the more general things, like where have I been? Well, short answer is life stuff, but longer answer is this:
I struggle with organisation, planning and motivation in general, and often when big events like travelling, or helping my parents with building the new house, and random events can completely throw me off my groove for often weeks or months at a time. Not only that but I have a certain condition that makes it harder for me to focus and organise, and occasionally it's hard to get my medication thanks to supply line issues and the remoteness of where we live.
And honestly, it was really hurting my self esteem. I felt really bad not only leaving these stories unfinished, but letting down all you readers waiting for updates. But I didn't really know how to fix my unreliable muse. Then I remembered back in Uni, where I used to release chapters for another website, not only regularly, but weekly. Before my life got super chaotic. Obviously I fell off that wagon hard, but I think one of the things missing from back then was regularity, I often had several chapters written in advance as a backlog/buffer, that I could reliably edit and release once a week, and I think that structure helped me keep motivated to keep writing on the regular.
So that's when I decided that I was going to write 5 chapters of every story I currently have on this website in one big lump before releasing them one at a time, once per week, that would leave me with 40 chapters, and roughly ten weeks of releases. So not only guaranteeing you guys get something from me regularly, but it might give me the structure and motivation to write on the regular with both a loose deadline, but without the paralysing guilt of not having written anything to post.
So I knuckled down and within a span of 2-3 months, I managed to get like 80% of all the chapters done, and well on track for getting it done by the end of last year for a christmas release…
…And then I ran out of my meds… And then there were supply line issues… And then my permit to get new prescriptions expired (which I didn't even realise was a thing)… and then my Psychiatrist had moved practices… and that practice no longer handles patients with my condition.
It took me half the goddam year to see a new psych and get my meds back.
I am now back on my meds and writing again obviously, but right now we are at a critical point in the new house finally nearly actually being built (only took 4 years, but who's counting-_-) and my dad needs my help getting things ready, I don't have a lot of free time right now consequently, and it might be a while for things to settle down, But I thought you guys deserve something, even if it will set me back a bit on my five chapter plan, so I struggled through what little free time I had to make sure each story had one chapter ready to post, and dropped them altogether to let you all know that things will be happening soon.
They will probably be a little rough as I didn't have time or energy to properly proofread it, but I will probably come back to fix it when I actually start my writing again for real.
I am going to be getting serious about writing btw, as I have come to the semi-depressing realisation that writing is one of the few skills I have that I can claim to be good at without qualification. Once I prove to myself that I can actually maintain a weekly update schedule or maybe even a twice-weekly one, I will probably try and open a patron or similar service, and see if I can make writing a career.
Sorry for how long this took and how long this Author's note is, but I hope you enjoy the chapters.
I will be posting this general message on every story, just so everybody can see it. If you read more than one of my stories, after the chapter specific notes you can probably skip this bit after reading it once.
