Arrival 2

The car was a Fleetwood, not the obscene stretch job, but tastefully lengthened. It had a finish on it like a fetishist's dream shoe and serious tint on the glass. Inside all soft buttery leather and wood, the smell of the leather and polish, a hint of cigar smoke lurking sullenly in the background and the slight tang of fine machine oil. Fuzzy settled down into the seat and looked longingly at the minibar. The decanters were all full and teased him by sparkling from their cut glass prisons. This was not the time to relax or maybe it was, but it wasn't the time to get sloppy. They'd be at the State House soon. He glanced at the bottle again imagining the flavor. Fuzzy started edging towards the bottles just as the car rolled to a stop.

Bubba opened the door to retrieve his passenger. Not the cutest bunny he'd ever seen but somehow still lovable in the way that a long abused stuffed animal is.

"You gotta ride in my coat again Mudpaw."
"You take me to entrance?"
"That's what you asked for, right."
"OK then."
"When you want a ride back to the airport, you just call me."

Bubba reached into the breast of his suitcoat in a way that would normally be alarming. He pulled a business card out in his large meaty hand. The small brown rabbit reached up with his tiny paws, took the card and stowed it it a brown fur colored backpack.

"Is good. Thank you."

Once in the garden he sniffed the cool autumn air. The faint smell of roses mustering their strength for the long winter ahead. Smells of moist earth, the sharp smells of creosote and compost, and the unmistakable smell of rabbits. Fuzzy waited until Bubba had lumbered back towards the car before moving towards the smell of rabbits. He kept to the shadows of planters and benches, letting the smell grow stronger. At the side of an outbuilding is a drainage culvert. A pipe larger than it needs to be if it's just the downspout for the roof of the tiny building, but just big enough for the free movement of bunnies. No erosion on the ground near the mouth either, despite the recent rains, so this must be the place.

Fuzzy made a last check for late afternoon strollers and then quickly hopped in. Sure enough, the culvert became a tunnel, widening out after the first couple feet and a gentle curve. A soft breeze from the warrens overpressure rippled through his fur. No sentries standing a bored watch though. No cameras, at least not any reassuringly obvious ones. Could it really be this simple? Just hop into the heart of an unfamiliar warren, pick up the 'package' and hop out? Stranger things had happened, but he'd already underestimated the difficulty so many times on this excursion. Fuzzy felt distinctly unmythological as he cautiously hopped into a sparsely populated warren 'street'.

"Excuse please. You know where Sunflower Ashwood?"

The large white buck turned at the sound and stared down at the disheveled brown regbun.

"What's that?"
"I courier, mus' find Sunflower Ashwood."
"Sunflower Ashwood, eh?"

The white rabbit paused and looked up, thinking. He turned and called into the opening behind him.

"Broadpaw? You know Sunflower Ashwood?"
"She that blue that works in the council office?"
"That's her, yeah."
"Why you asking about her?"
"Regbun out here looking for her, says he's a courier."

A slightly smaller buck popped his head out of the opening. He's also white but with black cow spots.

"Has he tried at the council office?"
"Where council office?"

Broadpaw pointed off down the passage.

"You go down to the third tunnel on the right and go along there until you get to where the Buffpaws lived and turn left there. Council office is straight on from there, can't miss it."
"Thank you much."

Fuzzy hopped off down the passage and turned at the third tunnel. After he'd gone down a fair distance, passing other rabbits going about their business, he stopped.

"Excuse please miss. Where Buffpaws lived?"

The tan doe turned to look at him.

"That's on the other side of the warren. Why you going there?"
"Not going there, going council office."
"Oh, you're headed the wrong way <giggle>"
"How I get there?"
"Back three tunnels, then left."
"OK thank you, bye."

After a few more exchanges of the same type, basic script and outcome, Fuzzy finally arrived at the council offices. Other than a few council policebuns lounging around in the lobby, they are closed.

"Hey! What do you want?"

Fuzzy cowers appropriately.

"Excuse please, I courier."
"Well then, leave your package and get out."
"Can't do. Gotta sign."
"Well then little regbun, bring it here and I'll sign for it."
"You Sunflower Ashwood? <tilthead>"
"I'll sign it for her. Don't you trust me."

The policebun puffed his chest out and tried to look as important as possible. Fuzzy got a good look at his insignia. Unless things were very different, this was a sergeant of some kind.

"Oh no sir, not me not trust. Boss Bunny, he say 'Only Sunflower Ashwood sign for package. nobody else.' Somebun else sign he thump me good."
"Well, I'll thump you if you don't leave. Come back tomorrow."
"Yessir. I go. Come back tomorrow."

Hopping out into the street, Fuzzy considered trying to find Sunflower's burrow. The warren was much larger than he'd estimated. Not as large as KingdomWarren or Atlanta, but large enough so that it was unlikely he'd find her stumbling around. At the same time the warren was small enough that every bun knew every other bun's business. Asking everyone he passed would create more attention than might be good. For one thing he might be remembered, disguised as a regbun or not his scars were distinctive enough that when Daphnie's boys started sniffing around, the trail might be good enough for them to follow back to KingdomWarren. That would never do. The way his luck was going, he thought, Sunflower was likely to be the sort of fluff-headed social climber who might make picking up the package more difficult than need be. The problem at paw was finding shelter though. Fuzzy remembered a run down area of the warren he'd passed through during his quest for the former home of the Buffpaws. He hopped off down the tunnel towards it, hoping that when he found Sunflower tomorrow, he'd be wrong about her too.