video;

[whatsupcroc]

[ The video starts black. Light cuts through in sharp lines, edging in around blades of grass. No, make that fur.

Fur that gains color into browns as it shifts away from blocking the camera's eye. The rabbit hops away down the table, disappearing for a minute. Two. When it comes back in view, it appears to be wearing tiny, lens-free glasses perched precariously on its twitching nose.

The rabbit sits back on its hind legs, ears swiveling forward and paws tucking close to its chest. When it glances toward the camera, it's almost like the rabbit winks. But it couldn't have.

Could it? ]

Comments

[whatsupcroc]

< The Yeerks are why in one way, but not in another. It's not their technology that lets people do this! It's because they were invading and going to win that I'm able to do this, on another hand. >

[ She pauses, holding up a paw. Then she giggles. ]

< Or on another paw right now! >

[bratworth]

... You're really serious about this all.

[whatsupcroc]

< 110%, Big Red! >

[bratworth]

Would you be able to prove it... in person?

[ Who still sounds skeptical? This guy. ]

[whatsupcroc]

< You bet your cravat I can, and will! Are you coming over? >

( She sits up, ears perked forward to face the netbook. If a rabbit can look interested, she looks absolutely riveted. )

[bratworth]

What, to yours?

[whatsupcroc]

< Are you expecting me to hop over to your place? >

[bratworth]

Can't you?

[whatsupcroc]

< Two words for you, Big Red: front door. It's not open right now! You want me to demorph to open the door so I can morph to hop down the hall so that I can demorph again in your apartment and then probably morph something else?

You are so buying me lunch. Make that two lunches! If I'm spending that much energy on you, the least you can do is help me refuel! >

[bratworth]

I can go to yours. What's your room number?

[whatsupcroc]

< 403! Down the hall from Franziska. >

[bratworth]

I'll be there shortly. [ But then a second thought strikes. ] The door's not locked, is it?

[whatsupcroc]

< It'd be rude to ask you over if it wasn't! >

[bratworth]

Right.

[ And so, he ends the video feed and starts to make his way down to Collette's apartment. ]

[whatsupcroc]

( Collette checks her stop watch, noting the time that's passed before getting down to the business of shutting her netbook cover. It doesn't take too much angling from behind to nose it, then hop up and use her weight to close the netbook.

She's considering the distance between table and floor by the time Edgeworth's close to showing up at her door -- still no roommates home. )

< That much of a jump shouldn't be too bad... >

[bratworth]

[ He arrives some time later, pushing the door open and finding, of course, the rabbit on the table. On one hand, he'd been expecting this, but on the other... perhaps he was finally going crazy. ]

Er. Did you need some help getting down?

[whatsupcroc]

< Hey! Not entirely. I was considering the distance if I wanted to jump. Looks like I'd be able to manage it! Though... >

( Collette sits back, front paws still touching the surface of the table. )

< Yeah, come pick me up and take me back to my room, if you don't mind! >

( Depending on how much of a showing he'll need, she'd rather not be the first thing seen when coming through her front door. )

[bratworth]

[ This rabbit really was communicating with him. It was difficult to believe, and some part at the back of his mind wanted to still protest that this was some manner of trick, and that Collette was simply a very talented prankster, but... that's why he'd come here, right? To prove things, one way or another. Still, though, there's a certain trace of awkwardness in his actions, as though he still can't believe this is real, or is just flustered by her suggestions.

He makes his way to the table and just stares at the rabbit for a few moments before scooping it up gently in his hands and holding it against his chest. This was ridiculous. He looks down at the bunny. ]

Why your room?

[whatsupcroc]

( Collette laughs, holding still against his chest. She turns one ear, disconcerted for a moment. Heartbeats are much louder to sensitive ears. )

< It's rude to invite another man into Isaac's room! >

( Her nose wrinkles in the expression she'd wear as herself. )

< Morphing's not something anyone should walk in on unprepared. >

[bratworth]

[ Maybe he's imagining things, but this rabbit just laughed. His frown deepens. ]

How ominous. So, which one's yours?

[whatsupcroc]

< First door down the hall on the right. Probably the neatest one here! >

( Very neatly kept, in fact, hovering at the cusp of being spotless. Her bed has hospital-tight edges, everything put away and waiting. It's only that she's decorated the walls and surfaces with knick-knacks and colors that shows this is a lived in room, not just the same mold cleaned out for each new arrival. )

[bratworth]

[ He finds his way to her room easily enough, pushing the door open as he tries to also push away his sense of unease. Whatever he's actually expecting, it's not what he sees - for some reason, he hadn't expected her to be so neat. Not everyone's rooms, he concluded, could be a reflection of their personalities. ]

So... [ he glances down awkwardly at the rabbit (Collette?) once more. ] Should I put you down now?

[whatsupcroc]

< On the bed, if you don't mind. >

( She did her best not to squirm in the meantime. )

< You should probably not watch me demorph though. I can't guarantee the safety of your stomach if you watch! >

( Nothing would ever make the process pretty -- even natural aptitudes like Cassie's didn't make it pretty, just more coordinated and less disjointedly grotesque. )

[bratworth]

[ Without any further ado, Edgeworth places the rabbit down on the bed, grateful that he no longer has to carry it. Although relatively small, the rabbit had been deceptively heavy. All the same, he knows better than to say that aloud. The next - words? Thinkspeak? Whatever the hell one is supposed to call it gives him pause, however, and for a moment he just stares dumbly at the animal looking up at him from the bed. ]

How am I supposed to know that it's not some sort of trick if I don't watch? [ A second thought occurs to him, and he takes a step backwards, flustered. ] Ah, er, will you be decent after this 'demorph'?

[ Assuming it's even real, Miles. Surely he was just being foolish, wasn't he? ]

[whatsupcroc]

< Depends on if you count underwear as decent, though I've got a tank-top on, so yeah, pretty much? >

( Collette shook her head, a shake that traveled through the whole of her rabbit body, before she hops toward the middle of the bed. )

< You just remembered I warned you first! No throwing up on my floor. >

( The process begins without further ado, a jerky, spastic sudden growth of hind legs with twisting knees, ears that shrink along with her muzzle, a torso that elongates and takes on human proportions while covered in patchy rabbit fur. White appears to cover that torso as the fur pulls in, Collette's dark hair pushing out between the rabbit ears as they move toward the sides of her face. The black pad of her nose stays even as it forms human shape, her lip retaining the cleft as her teeth pull back and pop out along her gumline.

When her lips form back to normal, the arms with paws at the end complete the dizzying, repulsive transformation into human hands and fingers and nails. Collette blinks as she finishes, pushing up into a seated position and arranging her legs, waiting on Miles' reaction. )

That will never make total sense to me.