Completed [Job Thread] The problematic rabbit.

[Nemori]

26h of Summer, 516

Nemori moved through the snow. Her feet trailing the white powder around her boots. The stars dotted high above her shone brightly and lit the familiar path, both the familiarity and the light aided her travel. She felt safe. Avanthal was always safe, the Holds were always safe. She had heard stories of people taking advantage of the darkness in other cities, she had heard others say that if other cities had long days of darkness only bad things would happen. This was not true of Avanthal. Nemori could see a few of the larger animals, elk and horses, ambling around the stables, gently grazing and slowly strolling. These were the bolder of those they cared for, others chose to remain inside during the dark days, only allowing themselves outside when led for exercise. It was unfortunate, the less exercise they got the antsier and more problematic they would get, being noisy and irritable. The stable itself wrapped shadows around her as she stepped inside. The starlight was blocked by the design of the building. Occasional branches of light would stretch into the building but these were rare and often unhelpfully located. She reached for where she knew the stored lanterns would be, scrabbling around to find the metal. It was cold against her fingers and she trailed the outside to find the handle. It was coated with a thin layer of wood to prevent it burning the user’s fingers and she lifted it via this. Quickly lighting a match and setting fire to the candle inside. She wrapped her fingers around the lantern carefully, not wanting any of animals to stare into the sudden light and suffer damage. Strange shapes were thrown from where the light escaped her fingers and a general pleasant orange glow moved with each step she took. A few of the animals leaned over to inspect her presence. The more friendly ones and ones that she recognised she would stop to pet or give scratches to. Occasionally she would say a few words. Her first path through the stable took her to the equipment storage. She already knew what grooming she was tasked with today and easily found the required brushes. Her next location was a smaller section of the stable, penned off from some of the larger animals. As she stepped over the divider she tested her footing carefully, not wanting to slip over the scattering of hay that littered the stone flooring. They were several different cages set within this area, different sizes and designed tailored towards the inhabitants. Most of the occupants were rodents of varying sizes. She hung the lantern onto a nearby hook. The light spread out further as she turned her attention to one specific cage. It was a smaller cage with a single inhabitant. A white rabbit with long hair and floppy ears stared up at her with black eyes. He seemed hesitant at her presence, twisting his head backwards into his body slightly in order to see her better. Nemori’s movement became more careful and slowed down, she was aware this particular rabbit was timid and did not wish to spook them by moving too quickly. Despite this the rabbit still attempted to shrink itself into invisibility at her presence.
“I am not going to hurt you” Nemori whispered, her voice was calm and even. She slowly reached towards the metal latch on the cage, attempting to click it open with as little noise as possible. The rabbit startled at the tiny noise, beginning to run around the cage in circles as if possessed. Nemori sighed. Today was going to be a long day. She continued to open the cage, enough so that the rabbit could hop onto the floor if he wished, before stepping backwards herself and settled cross legged on the floor. The combs were carefully placed within arm’s reach before her hands were placed by her side and she attempted to remain as still as possible so that the rabbit would calm down. It took some time but eventually he had stopped charging around his cage and started to investigate the newly opened cage door. His nose twitched as he sniffed, attempted to assess safety. When he finally hopped out onto the stone floor Nemori smiled. It was the first true indicator of progress she receive today.

[Nemori]

For Nemori it felt like a long time that she sat perfectly still, watching the white ball of fluff slowly calm down and explore closer towards her. Her body was starting to strain from being still for so long, she wanted to move freely but did not dare in case it spooked him once more. She resisted moving for as long as possible, only allow time movements when she knew the rabbit was not directly looking at her. Each time it jumped the reaction was less violent and eventually it would not flee back into the cage with each tiny scare. Not all rabbits were quiet this timid, indeed trained ones tended to be bold and carefree. This particular one had always been problematic, requiring more than then the rest of them combined. It was for this reason that she chose to attempt to groom him first. In the hopes that it would not be as slow and tedious as it always ended up being. She thought about her day, as well as the rodents some of the elk and horses could do with some grooming too, if she could find the time. It would also be pertinent to have an amble around the building, check that everything was in place and nobody had attempted to dig in or out. The groomers of the stables had many, many duties outside of the namesake task. The entire stables needed caring and odd duties done around it. As she was thinking something cold pressed against her hand, she pulled her hand back quickly in surprise. They was a scrabbling of claws on stone as she looked, cursing herself inwardly, as the rabbit scrambled into a corner to hide. Her eyes flickered black, how could she have stopped paying attention so much? It was a silly, rookie mistake for her to make. He had merely attempted to sniff her hand, a gesture of progress and comfort and she had undone some of the time she had spent still.
“I’m sorry” She whispered towards him, being met with his own black eyes. His head was buried within his fur, low to the ground and guarded. A few strands of white fluff decorated the stones between them where it had come loose during his exploring and scurrying. When the rabbit started to hop around once more, slowly regaining his courage, Nemori made sure to pay close attention and not get lose in her own thoughts. Eventually he started to try and sniff her again, his cold nose pressing against her hand and whiskers tickling. She made sure not to flinch away again, carefully holding her composure. Her eyes had shifted back into dark blue and she was once more pleased to find progress. The rabbit was clearly started to get used to her. He settled besides her, placing his paws forwards so that he could lean on them like a pillow. Slowly Nemori moved her hand, placing it on his back. He seemed to freeze slightly, lowering himself. Rabbits shrink when they are scared. The long furs were soft against her skin as she hovered inches away from his body, waiting for him to calm down once more. A few more attempts and she was able to carefully run her fingers down his back. They were a few knots that she could find already. Her next task was to attempt to raise the rabbit onto her lap, the angling would not allow her to brush him while he sat on the floor. This was a problem, most animals hated being picked up and she knew rabbits were no different. It was always better for them to invite themselves onto your lap, however given the circumstances she did not think it would be possible to coax him on. Slowly she started to wrap her arms around him, allowing sometime between movements for him to relax once more. The movement onto her lap was quick and followed by careful petting. He seemed surprised at first but did not try to run, only picking his legs out a few times while he was being carried. When the rabbit had settled itself down once more Nemori reached towards the combs that she had placed besides her. The one she picked up was hard bristled and small. Her free hand worked to move the upper layer of fur out of the way in order for her to untangle the undercoat. The brush worked slowly through, dragging out the knots that had developed. The undercoat was shorter but still required looking after. Her work was slow, ensuring that each section of fur was tended to. The hardest part of the undercoat was around the paws, trying to work around the moving paws. Each time she moved onto a different section the rabbit would shuffle, occasionally glancing up at her in an attempt to question the movements. He was very reluctant to let Nemori touch his paws and would attempt to move them away from her hands whenever she would get near them. Nemori was a little persistent, attempting to check them from any problems, the resistance concerning her slightly. Was something wrong with him? Was he experiencing pain? She made a mental note to get one of the veterinary trained people to give him a check over. Once she had finished on the undercoat she swapped to another brush and began to work on the outter coat. This coat was thick and long and the tangled often took more work to draw through. This took even more time to comb through, occasionally having to redo patches where he moved and his fur shuffled, losing her place. This was standard for all the animals that were groomer, it was very difficult to make them stay still for long enough to fully brush through their coats.

[Nemori]

When Nemori finished grooming through the layers she stretched her hands outwards. Feeling them complain at the tension from being been still so long. She was certain her legs would be in a similar state when she got around to moving them. The rabbit shuffled at the movement, staring up at her with his black eyes. As if he was questioning the movement. Nemori placed her hands on the ground behind her back, leaning backwards slightly as she did so. For a few moments she simply looked at the rabbit.
“I’ve finished, you can go back to wandering around now” She stated, her voice was still soft and calm. The rabbit replied by shaking its head, causing its ears to flop haphazardly. Nemori smiled as one of its ears landed over its head, exposing the inner pink of his ear, before shifting it back into its normal position. “I cannot spend all day with you on my lap” She cooed, putting pressure onto his side in an attempt to convince him to move. Once more he simply looked at her, not moving. “Typical” She sighed. It took so long to get the rabbit used to her presence that when she had to move and do other things it was stubborn and unwilling to move. It was not unexpected, once settled some animals enjoyed the warmth that another companion provided, but it was still inconvenient for her work. “Come on” Nemori’s voice became more stern as she wrapped her arms around him once more, placing him on the floor besides her. Once more he kicked his legs out somewhat at the movement, hopping around as he hit the stone floor. Nemori stood up quickly, winching as the dead,numb feeling in her legs became painful as the blood rushed to the limb. It had been some time that she had been sitting still and her body protested the movement fiercely. She promised herself that she would be more careful next time, although she knew that the other animals would be less problematic. Her blue eyes scanned around, looking for the white ball of fluff once more. He had settled next to the barrier and was chewing on a strand of hay that he had picked up. His pink nose wiggled as he chewed. “I have other rabbits to tend to, back to your cage” She called at the white rabbit. He continued to chew, ignoring her words. Nemori sighed, stepping forwards and pushing him away from the barrier with her foot. He took a few hops forwards and then continued to chew on his hay. “Someone will be in later to make sure you all get a proper run around and exercise, that is not my job today” She continued, picking him up once more. He dropped the hay and attempted to struggle. His back feet dug into her chest as she pulled him close, wrapping both arms around him in order to pin him down. She moved quickly, not wanting him to have chance to get his claws into his skin. Rabbit claws were sharp and she had born the marks of their struggles against being placed back in their cages before. It was not that the cages were uncomfortable for them, they made sure that every creature had the best possible environment filled with as much entertainment as they could provide, but many of the creatures were sometimes still stubborn about it, wanting to get into places that were dangerous or simply to stay out longer than the carers were able to provide. Hard lines had to be drawn sometimes. The rabbit was quickly placed in the cage and the door shut behind him. He glared at Nemori as she locked the cage back into place. “You will be fine, I promise” She stated as comfortingly as she could manage. He continued to glare. She wondered if this was why it was always so difficult to groom him, perhaps if they had a bigger area they could give him some more runway. Would that make him happier? She pondered over it for a few moments until he started to explore his cage once more, ignoring her presence. She turned around, finding some of the clean hay and poking it through his cage. She hoped that he would at least appreciate the gesture. Her attention turned to another of the cages, slightly larger. Two smaller rabbit were nestled inside. A brown one was asleep in one corner while another was happily eating. They reacted less to her opening the cage and once more she settled herself onto the floor. Happy knowing that these rabbits were less timid and would take less time to start grooming at least.

[Konrad Venger]

Rewards Nemori : XP: Observation - 2 Animal Husbandry - 3 Lore: Avanthal: Safe Even in the Darkness Animal Husbandry: Soothing Tone and Cautious Movements Grooming Rabbits: Patience is Needed Grooming Rabbits: First the Upper Layer of Fur, Then the Undercoat Click Me! : First of all, you really should break up your posts into paragraphs. They're much easier to read and way more aesthetically pleasing than masive blocks of text. Secondly, D'AAAAAAAWWWWWWW BUNNIES! I've graded animal-related threads before but NEVER with bunnies! I liked how you just focused on one; it reflects well your Novice level with the skill and gives you more time to flesh out the little fuzzy ball of awesomeness. The steady, gradual, careful progression of trust was very well-handled, and the payoff was worth it. Good job, love. Oh, and please make sure you go back and edit your post in the Request Thread to reflect the fact this one is now done and dusted. PM me with any questions and later 'tater!