paradisa | [5] 23 Days Until Easter

[It's been a weird start of the month for Bunny. What with Holly Peaks, then getting not one, but TWO people from his home world, one of which he assumed was long gone. All in the space of a week. To make matters worse, the castle had decided to do this on the very month where Easter was held.

He could have sworn the place had done it on purpose.

As is normal for him, instead of facing any of the worry and heartache Katherine's arrival has brought him, he's thrown himself into his work. It needs to be done, anyway, and it means he doesn't have to deal with his own feelings on the matter. It's win-win, really.

And so, anyone out in the gardens today will find red tulip-like flowers sprouting everywhere, look closely enough and there's a slight glow to them. A few flowers are also blooming, revealing small white eggs on spindly legs within them. The googies, freshly brought into the world, are all heading over to where Bunnymund is sitting, pots of paint beside him as he goes through the labourous task of painting each googie, then sending them down inside the safety of his burrow. To await their big day.

Of course, to those who don't believe in the Easter Bunny, they don't see him. As he paints, his journal is open beside him, so he can listen to the casual chatter of the residents, a splatter of paint occasionally hitting the page and soaking into the paper as he works]

That whole dodgy Holly Peaks mess put me behind schedule. It's not like I can access my realm here, y'know. Everything has to be done by paw. But if it thought it could put me off, then that plan went down the gurgler.

[Another paint splatter, then a sigh. He can't keep his mind off things as much as he'd like to] Anyhow mates. Have any of you heard about Jack Frost? Mother Goose?

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Surprise me then.

So what is your Oath, exactly?

[He recites it easily, after all, he took it to heart, just like anyone else chosen to swear themselves to it]

I vow to watch over the children of the world
To guard them safely from the ways of harm
I will guard with my life their hopes, their wishes and their dreams
For they are all that we have, all that we are
And all that we will ever be.

["With my life..." Dairine doesn't like the sound of that.]

Sounds depressing.

Not really. We were all glad to take it.

[OK so they all had to be persuaded but that's besides the point]

If you say so. [It was his choice after all. She hardly had a say in it. Except one thing...]

But no sacrificing your life on my account.

Can't promise you that. [The oath was binding, after all]

Bunny! I'm serious. If you get yourself killed, I'll never forgive you!

[Rather, she'll never forgive herself.]

Won't be the first time. I protect you kids with my life, end of story. Nothing can or will change that.

That seems unfair. Asking you put your life on the line to protect those who might never even see you.

[Look who's talking. Dairine might as well be describing her own errantry.]

I don't see it that way at all. None of us do.

You're all worth protecting.

[Of course, it helps all the Guardians have had lives with have led in some way or another to solitude. All they HAVE are each other and the kids]

But then who protects you?

We protect each other.

[Dairine smiles slightly at that.]

Good to hear. [She'll be protecting him too, mark her words.]