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A circle of wispy shopkeepers have surrounded you without your noticing, and now they begin to close in, smokey faces cut in half by sinister grins. The blood rushing through your ear almost drowns out the alarm as it continues ringing all around you, and with one last heave [[you and the rabbit both come toppling down to the ground]].

You reach out to touch it and notice that the damp air must have gotten to it. It’s starting to rust all over, which is odd. You don’t know why someone would make a rabbit out of iron, and you also don't remember rust working that fast. It shouldn’t be that important, and you realize you’re only [[dwelling on it]] because of your weird dream.

A circle of wispy shopkeepers have surrounded you without your noticing, and now they begin to close in, smokey faces cut in half by sinister grins. The blood rushing through your ear almost drowns out the alarm as it continues ringing all around you, and with one last show of force [[you end the rabbit’s life]].

You lower your hands to the bottom of the disgusting cage, ignoring the strange wetness they brush up against. You place them palms up next to the rabbit, a peace offering that goes against more than half of your senses, a choice you can barely keep a hold of. The rabbit moves slowly but steadily towards your hands, and [[it accepts your offering]], climbing into your open hands.

You put the figurine up on the dresser across from your bed and forget about it for a while. You make yourself some dinner, do some reading and then get ready for bed. Your room is a little chilly, but you have layers and layers of blankets, with a simple quilt on top. When you turn off the light, you notice that the moon outside is shining right onto your dresser, and right onto the small metal rabbit. You think of rabbits as you [[start to drift off…|$feel]]

You turn a corner cautiously, and there you see it, the rust-colored rabbit, pulling strings of light right out of the stone and mortar of the walls. You’re not sure whether to run forward or backward, and you try to remember the way back, imagining how to navigate it while running. Before you can decide, though, you hear a rumbling noise behind you, and the [[rabbit begins to move farther away]].

The alarm rings louder and clearer, now to your ears the exact sound of your bedside clock. You continue running, drawing closer to the glass, then close your eyes, [[crash through the glass]]-

The hallway is dimly lit and goes on in both directions farther than you can see. You decide to go left. You run and run and run until you reach a dead end. You pull out your phone to light the way, and [[see words upon the wall]] blocking your path.

Soon the hallway straightens out, and you can see the rabbit not far ahead. The threads of light seem to grow much longer, drawing from farther and farther away, and you imagine that the walls and ceiling have all spread out. The hollow echoes of your footsteps as you advance confirm this. You are in a large, cavernous room now. The rabbit stops and [[looks up]].

<<if $react is "distress">>[[You feel terrified.|phone]]\n<<else>>[[You feel curiously alive.|phone]]<<endif>>

The shopkeepers turn to you, all unwanted smiles and hospitality, but they float away as wisps of smoke once you draw closer. You slip past cages of mice, gerbils, and chinchillas with glowing eyes and bloody paws as you reach the back corner of the store, full of large enclosures, all open at the top. [[The rabbits]].

You turn, but the way you came from [[no longer exists]].

Your spiralling thoughts are interrupted by terrified shrieks that come out muffled from the things you bump into. Cages? Boxes? You’re not sure where or what they might have come from. You keep moving until your fingers find a quiet cage in the corner of the store, four large cages pressed together. [[The rabbit]].

[[stay]]\n...

You see yourself there, alone in bed, the morning sun about to emerge. The sound echoing all around you through the cave becomes suddenly familiar as you realize it’s the buzz of your alarm clock, somehow reaching you in this dream. Normally it wakes you up, but right now [[you can’t seem to rouse yourself]].

You hear a buzzing or maybe ringing sound, like the store alarm going off. If you want to act, you’ll have to act quick, thoughts of law and imprisonment and punishment flooding and clearing your head. You’re not sure why, but your only two desires are to free this rabbit, either through death, or through some other means that you can’t quite grasp. Is it pity? Your rage begins melting to sadness [[under the oppressive sound of the alarm]].

Do you?\n[[Yes.]]\n[[No.]]

The whole thing is rather exciting for you, compared to your day-to-day affairs. After all, you live a quiet life, in a quiet town.\n\n[[And you’re content with that.][$feel to "content"]] \n[[And you’re bored of that.][$feel to "bored"]]\n[[And you’re scared of that.][$feel to "scared"]]

There, almost hidden by the snow, is a small figurine of a rabbit. You pick it up, and it’s surprisingly heavy for its size. You brush the snow off of it, revealing that the entire thing is made of solid metal. It’s an odd choice, and it gives the whole thing a rough, unfinished feel. It’s not pewter, you can tell that much. [[You look around.]]

Your friend is waiting again. You imagine that they’re smiling, though you know they can’t. The muffled sound gets louder as you approach, making it hard for you to think. You imagine that your friend is standing next to another mirror stone, but you know that they are actually sitting next to a clear pool of water. The sound becomes almost unbearable as you reach the pool and [[look down at it]].

Everything here is comfortable and familiar, [[your little corner of the world.|bridge]]

Any hesitance leaves you. The two of you formally greet each other, exchanging smells and touches, fur rubbing up against fur. This is a good feeling. This is a friend. You feel regret as the greenish-purple sun dips below the grass, and your friend dashes away. Rushed farewells [[give way-]]

You shake your head, a rather human gesture for your form, and slide slowly into the pool of water. It comes up all around you, sweet and thick like syrup in your mouth and nose and ears. In a moment, it turns sour, and you begin to panic. Is this it? Your vision [[grows dark around you]]-

There are four cages, all shoved up against each other, but there is only one inhabitant living there. Its fur is white, its eyes are red. It looks up at you as you approach. There is a fear in its eyes that you cannot place, [[but somehow know]].

The smoke-like faces erupt into hideous laughter, like a thousand drowning birds. They surround you and your body finally falls, torso crashing painfully on top of the barbed wire. You’re sluggish and slow, power leaving you as the alarm’s constant ring starts to quickly fade. The smoky shadows grow and solidify, pushing your legs up and over the edge of the cage. As your head cracks against a large rock, your [[vision goes black]]-

It can all be yours, [[if only you promise to stay]].

[[FOLLOW]]\n”

You spend the day with friends; walking through the snow, sledding over it, stopping for hot cups of coffee on the way home. The warm drink, warm company, and physical exhaustion take all the worry out of you. Things are back to normal. Better than normal. This winter will give way to new possibilities. The muscles in your legs twitch, and you [[run the rest of the way home]] in a happy daze.

-and you’re in your room. At least, you assume it’s your room, but not from the point of view you’re used to. You’re stuck, immobile, unable to even see your body, but you would guess that you’re on top of your dresser. What terrifies you the most, though, is the hand that shoots up from under your covers to turn off your morning alarm. It’s your hand that shuts off the alarm, your other hand the draws back the covers, and your face that looks in your direction and smiles. It’s your body that comes closer, lifts you up, and shoves you in a dark coat pocket before carrying you somewhere and [[dropping you somewhere in the snow|credits]].

Above you, falling gently from the ceiling is a large man-like thing, its back and shoulders a mass of dark spikes, its four arms covered in a rough, dense fur. Its legs bend one too many times and its feet are curved into large talons. Its face is somewhere between man and beast, its expression unreadable as [[it slowly descends]] unaided through the air.

The rabbit is now a person, skin sick and pale, accented with rust-colored hair in all the expected places. Above their head are rabbit-like ears, which seem to be constantly moving. Their face is still turned up, watching as the creature from above [[reaches the ground]].

You turn and there is your friend, closer than you thought. Behind them lies a cave, the crystals inside so bright and clear that you think it is made of mirrors. They stamp a foot at you impatiently, and then [[run inside]].

It takes you less than a second to recover, but by the time you do, the rabbit is already running, fur so bright a white you almost imagine it’s on fire. You follow it as the wispy figures dance like frantic smoke trying to solidify. And they begin to, but not before you’re up on your feet and [[running towards the exit]] you never noticed before.

This time it’s easier to adjust to the friend that draws closer. Their grey fur seems comforting now, normal in the face of all this strange terrain. This time, instead of stopping, the rabbit runs circles around you, almost too fast for you follow. You can see that flowers are shooting up from the ground where they run, flowers that they quickly run over, pollen and light scents floating towards you. As soon as you move, your friend dashes off, away down the hill and [[through the blue-green trees]].

The rabbit is clearly distressed, but it’s not here to live its own life. It’s existence is for you. You want to hold the rabbit. This store, these cages, they’re all for you, right? You should be able to pet the rabbit. There is a meaningful glare in the rabbit’s eyes as the fluorescent lights [[give way-]]

There is a breeze brushing past you, hurried and smelling like clovers. The scent brings a hundred memories to mind, a hunger and a want. The green sun crosses the sky and you find yourself in [[the middle of a field.]]

The rabbit reaches it first, front paws tapping on the glass three times, and what you see amazes you. There you are, sleeping in your bed, somehow below this glass door. Your thoughts struggle and your feet hesitate, but as the rabbit’s red eyes lock with yours, a single word [[flashes through your head]].

You stop on the way to brush your teeth, toothpaste getting everywhere in the dark. After that you find your way into bed and manage to mostly cover yourself with blankets. As you begin to drift off, the clouds part and the soft light of the moon falls in through your window. As your eyes close, it’s [[almost as if you can see the iron rabbit up on your dresser again|$feel+2]].

When you get home you’re almost startled at the empty spot on your dresser, until you remember that you put the rabbit in with your socks. You cradle your dinner (a very large bowl of macaroni and cheese) in the bend of your arm and pull open the drawer. The rabbit is even more rust-covered than you remember, bits of it flaking off onto your socks. You pick it up, looking it over as if for answers, then [[put it back in the drawer]], unsure of what to do with it.

Green and purple sun rises up around you, shining down a silver light on the hills below. A river runs up the mountain besides you because it wants to. Your nose twitches at the citrus in the air. The sound of quick paws against wet grass draws your ears to the left. You know these sounds, [[you remember]].

-and you awake with a start in your bed. You search your sock drawer, but there aren’t even any bits of rust left to match your [[memory]].

“[[go]]”

Fear pushes you forward through the twisted hallway, cold sweat starting to build on your bare back. There’s nothing on you but darkness, your skin prickling whenever the air shifts even the slightest bit around you. You begin to feel hungry and thirsty and tired all at once, as a bell rings six times far off in the distance, like the bell of a church or a clocktower. Your [[pace quickens]], but you’re unsure why.

You wake from the rather cheap anesthesia of the dentist's office, your face numb and your gums sore. Instead of a professional face to greet you, there is a rabbit. Its fur is a rusty brownish red. Its ears twitch as you begin to stir. You’re not sure why, but [[you feel afraid of it]].

A small sound, but familiar. Your ears turn towards the noise, but you continue to eat. Another rabbit comes hopping towards you, [[invading your space]].

“\n[[I]]

You look at your friend, and suddenly the size of single words bombard you. It takes you a moment to piece them together, but soon the message takes shape. If you talk into this pool now, you’ll go back to your old life, the way it was before. If you don’t, well, if you don’t your friend promises you so many things, [[beautiful sights like you’ve never even imagined]].

<<if $react is "distress">>[[You feel sorry.|glare]]\n<<else>>[[You feel angry.|glare]]<<endif>>

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As soon as the two of you touch, the light in the store all flare on. You feel a shudder run down your spine, followed by an ache that makes it harder and harder to move. Your arms begin to feel heavy, and it takes all your strength not to collapse on top of the barbed wire. It’s as if the air around you is pushing you down, down into the cage. You breathe deep and hard and strain against the force, [[hands closing tighter and tighter]].

[[You quickly follow.]]

\n\n\n\n\n@@font-size: 50px;iron rabbit encounter@@\nby [[caeth|http://caethiel.tumblr.com/twine]]

You open your eyes, quick and worried like you missed your bus, but you know you didn't. There on the dresser, the odd rabbit is staring at you. It really was the wrong thing to see before bed, what with how it affected you. You push off the covers and get up, [[walking towards the rabbit figure]].

It is not an offer, not a request. It is a command. There is no other option. There is cold steel now around your neck and wrists, and the beast appraises you coldly. Nothing more is said, but you feel your feet moving beneath you, as if the words compel you to move. At that moment the cavern, which seemed like the entire world a moment ago, falls away. [[Light spills in from all directions]].

[[forever]]\n"

You dash back down the hallway, right, then left, the right, then right again. You’re completely lost. You can feel the burning in your lungs, bloody gauze falling out of your mouth. The wall in front of you says, in big, black letters: “This is where you belong.” You turn, the rabbit is behind you. The ambiguous light bounces off of it, reflecting again and again until it begins to [[give way-]]

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The sight of the rabbit, rather than the cage, fills you with disgust. Your thoughts spiral and clash, almost magnetic in their contrast. The rabbit doesn’t need to live, what is it even doing here? Clearly it needs to be freed, let go from this prison. Or it needs to die, filthy and pathetic creature. What a terrible cage, what terrible fur. You have to release it. You have to give it the release of death. You have to do something. You have to touch the rabbit. [[Touch it]]. Your head hurts.

You slide your hands along the edge of the cage, your touch too reckless and too quick and your finger catches on something sharp. A single, glaring light bulb flickers back on, the cage in front of you made of rusted, barbed wire. The bottom of the cage is filled with twigs and rocks and bits of trash, as well as [[a single white rabbit]].

It’s not like you could free all the animals in this store. You mull that thought over. Freeing the animals would be theft, and more than that, it would be neglectful. It’s doubtful that a pet store animal could survive in the wild. It occurs to you that you’re breaking all sorts of rules right now, but the law itself seems far away, less real somehow, and that thought simply spurs you on, and [[you start to move faster through the store]].

“[[th ank y ou|credits]]”

As you look over the river, imagining what would happen if you fell in, [[you trip.]]

You want to scream, but are too afraid to break the silence. Neither the beast, nor the rabbit person look at you or speak to you. For a moment it’s as if you’re forgotten in the meeting of their eyes. Then the creature turns to you, and words begin to [[trickle into your thoughts]], not through the air, but from its eyes alone.

In this empty store, you feel strong. You’re not sure what it is, but you feel suddenly powerful, strong in knowing you’re the largest, most dangerous thing here. In the light, the store seemed terrible, and it still does in the darkness, but [[what does that have to do with you]]?

You turn back to your friend, their thoughts herding yours in the direction you need to go. You form the words deliberately in your mind, intuitively feeling that this is the way it has to be done. Exact words in exact order. [[You think]] them even against the incessant beeping of your alarm.

You were hoping there was [[nothing odd|sleep]] about it, this way you don’t have to worry about trying to sell it.

As soon as the two of you touch, the light in the store all flare on. You feel a shudder run down your spine, followed by an ache that makes it harder and harder to move. Your arms begin to feel heavy, and it takes all your strength not to collapse on top of the barbed wire. It’s as if the rabbit were not made of flesh and fur and blood, but iron or lead, or something heavier and denser than either of those. You breathe deep and hard and [[strain against the weight]].

You’re startled as the fluorescent lights appear suddenly and then fizzle out like a camera flash. A few bulbs flicker as if delaying the darkness, and then are gone. The earthy smell of substrate and urine reminds you of where you are. The sounds around you seem to follow that sudden epiphany. The chatter of birds reduced to flightlessness, the ominous scratching of stress or cabin fever. The last light bulb flickers one last time, and you see a thousand pairs of eyes reflect the light back at you. You’ll have to [[find your way back by touch]].

The air inside the cave is stuffy and sweet, like sugarcane in the sun. You run into your reflection so many times that you start to see stars, but it doesn’t hurt. Nothing hurts. Everything is a different shade of wonder, every step, every heartbeat sends a wave of joy into you. The only thing that gets in the way of these feelings is a muffled sound repeating all around you, like a bell chiming or a hammer falling, but you try to ignore it. You see a shaft of light twisting lazily down into a large chamber up ahead, and [[manage to get yourself there]].\n

\n\n\n\n\n@@font-size: 50px;[[iron rabbit encounter|begin]]@@\nby caeth

[[to]]

You try to shake off this strange feeling, that the rabbit is watching you somehow, rust clouding its otherwise-perfect carved eyes. Instead, you shove it in your sock drawer and go about your day. Still, the wandering thoughts of rabbits [[give you goosebumps]].

[[“This is what you wanted.”]]

Soon those memories soften around the edges, the whole thing seeming only like a dream and nothing more. You become inspired, writing a series of poems about your surreal dreamscapes. You title the collection “Iron Rabbit Encounter,” and make a few cheap zines. While distributing them at a local creative space, you meet a person who enjoys your poems. The two of you talk late into the night, the kind of conversation that goes on effortlessly, as if you’ve already known each other your whole lives. [[Their hair is a familiar grey|credits]].

Inside, everything is comforting, and warm, and bright. You clean the rest of the snow off of the rabbit, taking a closer look at it. You try examining it like you’re on a TV show about antiques, but there aren’t any markings on it, nothing etched into the flat underside. There are no clues. It seems to simply be a shoddily-made metal rabbit.\n\n[[You’re a little disappointed.][$react to "excite"]]\n[[You’re a little relieved.][$react to "distress"]]

The bell of the door clangs behind you as you enter. There are cages all around, the lights bright and revealing. Somehow, it doesn’t bother you. Your eyes dart around, [[taking it all in]].

You reach your hand down into the open, confining space. The rabbit darts around the perimeter, searching for escape. You try to hold it, but [[it just keeps running]].

The company grows on you, an unspoken language bridging an alliance between you. Both of you turn your ears, the two of you keeping guard together, all directions covered, all variables accounted for. You aren’t sure how, but [[they let you know]] that you are a welcome sight.

You look at your phone. Why had you not thought to use it earlier? As that thought passes through you, the battery dies. There is a rust-colored rabbit sitting at your feet. You aren’t sure if you are supposed to run at this point, and take a moment to stare at the small creature. There is little light without your phone, the only light around you seeming to drift off of the rabbit. The harder you look at it, [[the harder it is to see]].

Bored of the same thing day after day, hoping that soon you’ll be able to [[see the world.|bridge]]

There’s no one else on this bridge with you. If someone dropped it, they’re long gone now. You slip the rabbit into your pocket and [[consider what you’ll do with it]]. Maybe you’ll keep it. Maybe you’ll make an ad online, hoping someone will claim it. Maybe you’ll find out it’s actually very valuable.

Scared that you’ll spend the rest of your life here, [[amounting to nothing.|bridge]]

You stumble, but catch yourself. There is something on the bridge, something solid that caught your foot. [[You turn around to get a better look at it.]]

As you dart between the trees, you realize for the first time that the two of you aren’t alone. There is a strange kind of life all around you: insects that look like precious gems, mice with bark-like fur, birds made of light and shadow that whistle half-remembered but unfamiliar tunes. In the backwards stream there are fish whose shapes change like the water, shining scales falling off like droplets, the fish shrinking and shrinking until they disappear and then appear further upstream. You run into a group of deer, the antlers of the two bucks shifting into words as you look at them. In one you see the word “oh” and in the other “wait,” but soon they look up [[somewhere beyond you]] and run off.

You cross the bridge, pocket weighed down by the metal rabbit. You’ve made this walk a thousand times, down the sidewalk for 10 blocks to your house. You close your eyes and try to picture where the tricky cracks in the pavement are, but you still trip over most of them. \n[[You pull out your keys as you approach the house.]]

You pull your puffy marshmallow coat tighter around you, hiding from the wind. This is a cold winter. You think about the buildings huddling together for warmth [[as you cross over the icy river]] that runs through town.

-and wake up. You slam your hand down on the clock, plastic cracking at the hard impact. You try to get up for work, but you feel a strange weight on you shoulders as you pull open your sock drawer. There, amongst the mis-matched pairs is a simple paper note, with only [[two words]], written large and poorly.

You start to get up, finally realizing that there are few lights on in this dentist’s office, and that it's strangely quiet. You reach for the door, but when you look down, there is no rabbit. You [[swing open the door]] and are greeted by a dark hallway.

You reach out to touch the rabbit, blood still dripping from your finger.\n[[You need to free it.]]\n[[You need to kill it.]]

Your nose twitches. You gnash at green grass between your teeth. You feel totally at peace, your hind legs finally beginning to relax. Almost perfectly safe, but ears still upright, listening for [[any untoward sound]] on the breeze.

You live a quiet life, in a quiet town. The buildings press up against one another, not for a lack of space, but maybe because they simply didn’t want to be alone. [[You know that feeling.]]

[[-to sunlight.]]

[[promise]]

Fear pushes you forward, and [[you follow the rabbit]] as fast as you can manage. You watch the threads of light as they unravel from the walls, the rabbit darting in and out of view, around corners that you can barely see. The rumbling sound continues close behind you.

There are puppies, kept in cramped captivity since birth. There are fish, swimming silently, dubiously sentient. Birds cheep and chirp, ceaselessly calling out against the world. You stride past them confidently; [[you know where you are going]].

You lower your hands to the bottom of the disgusting cage, ignoring the strange wetness they brush up against. This time the rabbit doesn’t even run, it just stares at you as your [[hands wrap around its small body]].

<<if $react is "distress">>[[You feel uneasy.|company]]\n<<else>>[[You feel excited.|company]]<<endif>>

You feel like you’ve been in the dark for an eternity, but still the light gives you no comfort. It burns bright, an entire forest burning to the ground around you. The heat crashes into you, hot air making you cough and choke. The rabbit and the beast disappear into the flames, and you are trapped, flames on all sides, shackles turning hot against your skin. [[You try to scream, but your throat is too dry|credits]].

“\n[[YOU]]

[[WILL]]

There is nothing around you but darkness, and you reach your arms out hoping to feel something. There are two walls on either side of you, both barely at arm’s length, making it hard to touch them both at the same time. You [[walk forward carefully]], feeling with each foot before following through on your steps, afraid of falling down some hidden chasm.

The last word slips through your mind almost by accident, but you know that it’s right. Your friend shivers and shakes, form slipping slightly from cat to fox to ferret before settling back to rabbit. Sparks fly off of them and you can taste rust in the air before everything slides back down into that sleepy, sweet, warm haze. You know that things here aren’t exactly all they seem, but [[it still catches you by surprise]].

The night goes by slowly, light fading until there’s nothing left but the glow of your laptop. You feel like you’re avoiding something, but the constant stream of digital words and images drowns it all out. You decide that with work in the morning, you should probably be getting to bed. You finish your drink and close your laptop, [[wandering through the dark]] apartment to your bed.

There are few buildings: a worn down shack and a half-collapsed barn are in the distance, but they flicker in and out and you forget about them. You are surrounded by tall grass topped with seeds. Again, you feel hungry. [[You sniff]], low to the ground.

You were hoping it would be something valuable and exciting, but it seems to just be a [[weird trinket.|sleep]]

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The reflection of you in the water warps and disappears as the water turns to ice. Your friend jumps up and slides across it clumsily, and you gladly follow. There is a new sun at the end of the cave, a rust-colored one, and below there is a desert bordered by towers and mountains. [[The two of you run to it, more desert hares than rabbits now, still together|credits]].