I'm Sorry, My Bundle of Sunlight.

Chapter 5, The Tag-a-long.

As the pair walked onward, forcing their way through thick underbrush in a desperate attempt to find some semblance of a path, it suddenly cleared, expanding into a still rather small, somewhat circular clearing. There was the smallest cottage Noelle had ever seen on the opposite side of said clearing, and next to it someone was sitting on a porch swing. Maple nudged Noelle back near the rather thorny bush almost immediately after she saw the new stranger.

"They might be hostile.." She muttered to Noelle, examining the person on the swing.

"You think every stranger is hostile." Noelle rolled her eyes and sighed.

"What if they are?" She retorted.

The stranger, as if summoned by discussion of his existence, got up and turned to face Maple and Noelle, revealing that he was an anthropomorphic rabbit. Fishing his hat off of the mossy log he'd been sitting on, he gave a look to Maple that said something along the lines of "You wanna say that again?" The dim light filtering through the trees above him wasn't bright enough to deduce anything about what he was wearing other than his hat.

Maple cleared her throat and stepped up, straightening herself out and tilted her head upwards.

"You. Hello." Truly wise words. Only two.

Noelle made a face at her and shook her head.

"This is why you aren't ever allowed to handle peaceful only situations with strangers."

Maple glanced back with a shrug.

The stranger snorted, a wide, semi-hostile grin cracking across his face, showing off possibly too many sharp teeth. He stepped forward, closer to the pair and into the sunlight, showing that he was black-and-white. "Yeah? What about me?"

"You will give us directions to the field of the orange haired boy, about this tall, green eyes."

Noelle leaned over Maple's shoulder, giving her an expression that silently said "If you don't shut up and let me handle this I'm going to boil you in a stew."

"Don't know anyone who fits that description." The rabbit-man curtly replied.

"Carrot Face. He is known as Carrot Face." Noelle chimed in, to much of Maple's digress.

The rabbit-man made a sort of strangled seagull noise upon hearing the nickname. "Oh that's- That's hilarious, but I still don't know the guy. I've only been here maybe a week. And besides, I've got more important things to do than find some guy."

"One would assume you've been here longer considering you had time to build an entire cottage.." Noelle gazed up at it. It may have been small, but the quick handiwork was nonetheless impressive.

"Oh, I didn't build that. It was my mom's, a long while ago. I've been looking for her." The rabbit-man grinned to himself, like he was remembering an inside joke.

"I once found my mom headless in my grandfather's basement." Noelle bluntly stated, staring off into space now.

Maple looked over at Noelle and nudged her. "Not now.."

"That's pleasant! I'm trying to hunt my mom down so I can kill her." The rabbit-man conversationally added. "I'm Chances, by the way."

"I hunted down and killed my grandfather once."

"Chances. Nice to meet you." Maple held out her hand to shake Chances'.

Chances shook hands with Maple. "I'm willing to tag along if you want me. It's not like I've got anything better to do with my time."