The bunny grows claws

It was a Saturday afternoon in the Dark World. Ralsei was waiting for his friends in front of the doors to his castle. Like usual he could barely keep hold of himself. He would let out his excitement by rhythmically raising himself to the tip of his toes to then let himself fall with a soft thud, and by swirling around his clothes. Ralsei would always come out and stand on that exact spot for two hours before the expected arrival of his visitors. He wanted to be sure that if they for some reason came early, he would nevertheless be there to welcome them. The fact that they tended to always arrive late didn't shake his determination much. He was very much like a puppy waiting for the return of its owner.

He adjusted his glasses and gazed into the horizon. The small yet distinguishable figures of Kris, Susie and Lancer arose. He waved at them with his fluffy paws. Once they were close, he spoke up.

"Kris! Susie! Lancer! I am so glad you came," his smile extended to both of his puffy blushing cheeks "I've learned to bake new cakes, that you'll love to try."

"Just how many recipes do you have?" Susie scratched her chin, "Every single time we come, it's always something different."

"Oh, it's simple," Ralsei took an old book out of his garment, "The castle has an extensive library. I always spend some hours of my time reading some of its cookery books."

"That's some good dedication," Lancer chimed in "and it pays out!" He banged his belly flab like a tambourine. The slamming sound resonated crisply in the surrounding.

"Haha, Thanks, Lancer! Come on, let's go in!"

The group of friends entered the castle. It was vast and dark. Its many corridors all looked alike. Despite having come here many times, Kris, Susie, and Lancer were still clueless on how to navigate the solemn structure. Nevertheless, with Ralsei's guidance, they reached the lounge promptly. In the middle of the room was a long table with more seats than guests to accommodate. A fireplace radiated a comfy light.

"Make yourself at home! I'll be going to the Kitchen." Ralsei cheered, before leaving for the adjacent room.

Ralsei had already prepared all the ingredients and tools. He bounced to the countertop and got to work. His paws, however fluffy and clumsy may appear, arranged all the elements with precision and care. He could bake several pastries at once and not even break a sweat. Within minutes the first batch of cupcakes was ready. Using silky red gloves he took it out of the oven, dropped some glitter, grabbed the plate and headed down towards the lounge.

His friends were chatting amiably. They were more than delighted to see food coming their way. Ralsei went to the table and motioned to put the plate down. But Susie was impatient and tied to grab one of the cupcakes while Ralsei was still getting closer. She accidentally hit the serving from below. Ralsei stepped backward in an attempt to prevent the cupcakes from falling. He slipped and fell on his back. The cupcakes were flung into the air, before dropping down and splattering on Ralsei's clothes.

"Oohhh.........." Ralsei blurted out. He covered his face from embarrassment.

"What was I thinking, moving so carelessly? This is my fault. I am so sorry. I hope I didn't stain any of you. Please forgive me, please!"

"Dude, chill out!" Susie boomed "Didn't you see what happened? I am the one who knocked the plate over. Why are you blaming yourself?"

She got up from her chair and crouched over to Ralsei. She pulled his arm away.

"Wait, you are crying!? That little accident actually made you feel ashamed? Wow..."

Susie was perplexed. She knew Ralsei was very emotional, but she didn't expect that he could react this badly when he felt guilty. She stood up and scratched her forehead. Previously, Kris had helped her by overcoming her own insecurities. Like a true friend, she would do the same to Ralsei. She ground her gears and activated her almonds until a solution flashed into her mind.

"Ralsei, you are the most adorable fluffy boy I've ever encountered–" she began.

"What about ME?" Lancer butted in with a frown.

"Oh right, you're the second most adorable fluffy boy I've ever encountered," Susie gave Lancer a good head rub, much to his enjoyment "this is why it hurts me to say that you are too pure for your own good. Right now so nothing happened, but you can't afford that others exploit your good nature."

Susie lent her hand and helped him get up.

"Basically, when you are wronged, you have to learn how to tell people to f-" she remembered that Lancer was listening "Uhhm... to buzz off."

"MMmhhh.. thanks Susie," Ralsei tried to smile, but it came out disingenuous "I don't think, however, that I could be very good at it."

"Not with that attitude! I am going to teach you all about being a big bad delinquent! Sometimes it is good to be bad."

"Susie?" Ralsei raised his eyebrow "what you just said doesn't make any sense. How can being bad be good? Those are completely contradictory characteristics..."

"Shut up, Nerd, " Susie punched him in the shoulder, "anyway let's get going right now. If you want to be intimidating, you'll need better clothes than that! Kris, Lancer, are you with me?"

"Turning another innocent soul to our dark evil ways? How could I say no?" Lancer stuck his tongue out.

Susie turned to Kris. Slowly, he raised his arm and put forward a confident thumb out.

"Well then, what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Susie grabbed Ralsei's hand and dragged him out of the castle. After running through a couple of fields, they arrived at a clothes' shop and went it. When Ralsei came out, he seemed like a completely different person. They had ditched his stained green garments for a cool black leather jacket and cargo shorts. The fun gang had even managed to make him wear a spike collar, although they couldn't convince him to remove his hat. Lancer decided to cut some pieces of yellow paper into triangles and attached them to emulate more spikes instead.

"Hey, shoulders up!" Susie smacked Ralsei's back "And stop staring at the ground. You are a punk now. You can't afford to look weak."

"...alright..." Ralsei quietly whispered.

"What was that?" Susie brought her hand to her ear, "I didn't catch what you said."

"Mmhh.. alright."

"Louder," Susie ordered.

"alright."

"Louder!"

"Alright."

Susie grabbed Ralsei by his shoulders and yelled "LOUDER!"

Ralsei took a long breath and screamed back with his war face "AAAAAAAAALLLLLLRRRRIGGHT!"

"There you go, now you sound like you sound like the type of guy who would light up firecrackers and throw them in a trash can!"

"B.but I don't want to do that."

"Well, just because you don't want to be rough, doesn't mean that you shouldn't know how to when the moment comes." Susie cracked her knuckles, "Now let's go to the hill over there. We're going to practice a little."

The fun gang followed Susie to the destination. Ralsei was told to wait up, while she confided with the others in a circle. After some talking, Kris and Lancer nodded in approval and Susie turned back to Ralsei.

"Let's start with some practical examples. You are waiting in a queue," she motioned Ralsei to get behind Lancer "when some weirdo has the funny idea to cut in line," Kris bumped Ralsei and got in front of him "now, how do you respond to him?"

Ralsei scratched his cheek, trying to think of an appropriate response. After some very painfully long seconds, he politely tapped Kris on the shoulder.

When he turned around, Ralsei mumbled "E..excuse me, but it seems you've just cut in line. That wasn't a very nice thing to do, was it? I'll let you know that I am punk and that I could do very bad things and...and..."

"No No NO!" Susie waved her arms in front of Ralsei, "what kind of reply is that? You were way too nervous to be intimidating. If you said something like this in a real situation they would laugh in your face and say something rude. For example:" She gestured Kris to reply.

Kris stared deep into Ralsei's eyes. He put his hand around his neck. He could sense Ralsei's nervous heartbeats. He inched closer, so much that he could see the individual drops of sweats falling on Ralsei's forehead. He smiled and then proceeded to... flirt with him?!?

Ralsei was relieved "Oh... thanks! I really appreciate that."

"What the hell, Kris!?" Susie gritted her teeth and clenched her fists "You weren't supposed to do that! Come here, you..."

Susie lounged at Kris. He evaded her attack and ran away. Susie came right after him. While the two of them played a game of cat and mouse around the forest, Ralsei and Lancer conversed.

"Am I really that bad at being a thug, Lancer?" Ralsei asked.

"Kinda, but don't give up! I too was a beginner once, before Susie taught me the way."

"Thanks, Lancer." Ralsei caressed Lancer's plump cheeks.

"Ah AH! That tickles!"

Ralsei wanted to ask him if he wanted more when he was preemptively interrupted by a glass shattering screech coming from deep inside the carmine woods. It was followed by a series of implorations pleading for mercy.

Ralsei jumped to his feet "Oh no, That's Kris! Susie must have caught him," he grabbed Lancer by the shoulder "Quick! We must stop her before she hurts him."

He dashed towards the source of the laments. Mid-way, he noticed that Lancer was struggling to keep up, so he let him sit on his shoulders, although he himself was out of breath. The screams led them to a clearing. Ralsei stopped and let Lancer get off. Susie had pinned Kris against the ground. Kris was enduring immense torture. Ralsei could only imagine what pain he was feeling, when Susie did such cruel actions such as: twisting his arm simultaneously in two different directions, pulling his ears and tickling his armpits.

Ralsei had to think fast to save his friend. His first impulse was to sing a lullaby and pacify Susie. He was about to enact this plan when a question popped into his head. What would a delinquent do? He scratched his previous idea and rushed.

"Susie!" he roared like a lion.

Susie, who up until now was way too focused on the sufferings of his idiot friend to notice the arrival of her apprentice, turned around to witness Ralsei sprinting towards her like a bullet train. Her eyes widened as he suddenly jumped into her feet first.

"Leave my friend alone!"

Susie made a last ditch effort to change her stance. Ralsei, however, hit her directly. Despite her weight, Susie crumbled and fell face first. Ralsei's body rolled into the grassy fields a couple of meters away. He adjusted his glasses and looked straight down. Susie was getting up. His courage vanished, replaced by a sick sense of dread. If Susie was already pissed, by a little wit by Kris, she would be boiling furious for this affront. But Susie wasn't mad. She was smiling.

"Holy damn, dude, that was pretty badass!"

"It..it was?"

"Yeah!" Lancer jumped into the discussion "It was super cool how you impacted towards her with your whole body. Don't try that with my dad, though. He has a mouth in his belly."

"It is with great honor–" Susie took a medallion out of her pocket"– that I grant you the title of professional bully."

Ralsei bowed in order to receive the award. Susie repeatedly tried to pass it through the hat. After various failed attempts, she removed it in frustration, slipped the medallion and then put it back. Ralsei admired his prize. On close inspection, it was just a lancer cookie attached with duct tape to a ribbon. Regardless, Ralsei was joyful for the title he had received.

"YAY!" He giggled, clapping his hands and bouncing around with his little feet.

Susie rejoiced at watching Ralsei's happiness, before turning to Kris.

"Hey, Freak," she called him, "did you purposefully get yourself caught so that Ralsei could rescue you and prove himself? Did you plan this from the very beginning?"

Kris appeared confused, not understanding what Susie was trying to say. Then, as the idea of being praised by her as a genius mastermind took him, he nodded and nodded with a big smile.

"Heh, I'd gotta say that is a pretty ingenious plan," she cracked her knuckles "But, by the way, you hesitated, It's pretty blatant that you're lying. You know what I do to liars? I CRUSH THEM!"

Susie jumped on Kris. He scarcely dodged her attack and ran away.

"Hey come back, creep!" Susie followed him in poursuit.

Ralsei noticed that the two were at it again and thought out loudly "Oh oh Susie is attacking Kris again!" before pursuing their footsteps.

"Oh, and I was just about to catch my breath again! Oh, bothers." Lancer got up, yawned and went after the rest of the gang.