[Gift] The Biter and the Bun

City errands had ended up taking less time than Kyanite expected, so he decided to take some time to mill about in one of the parks. Usually he'd saunter over to one of the convenience stores to obtain a very much, absolutely reasonable, not at all absurd amount of junk snacks – but lately, Kyanite had noticed that most if not all stores and facilities had been absolutely plastered over with 'help wanted' ads from the Bunnery. Kyanite had nothing against either Bunnery or newborns but given his workload, the only thing that baby buns brought to mind was more headaches, so the subject matter wasn't terribly appealing to him.

So here he was at the park, sitting legs splayed out on a bench (he wore a long coat over flowy, skirt-like pants), sipping nonchalantly from a flask. It probably wouldn't hurt to go home early for the day and he could easily get a head start on some of his commissions that weren't due for another month or so. He could also choose to rest or perhaps even indulge in a bit of sloth. Besides, nobody in their right mind worked 24/7-

“Ho, there! I knew I recognized those constellation star motes from somewhere!”

Kyanite was interrupted mid-sip, nearly choking on his drink. Taking great effort to not go sputtering everywhere, he forced the (mostly air) mouthful down, flicking the moisture off his face with the back of his hand. He turned to glare in the direction of the voice: the speaker was a rather tall succubun in a lovely suit, surrounded by likewise familiar star motes.

“Do I know you?” Kyanite said, looking the newcomer over with scrutiny.

“Know me? I dare say we were possibly friends in another lifetime... almost.” The succubun said with a gentle laugh. “I don't know what name you go by now, but I remember you as the 'Little Moon Bunny'. Or just 'Moon'. Awful bitey little chap, eh?”

The sound of a record scratch went off in Kyanite's head as he stared wide-eyed at his companion, memories flashing through his head. He glanced hastily around himself – thankfully the park was relatively empty at this time of day, but he still felt a mild panic at being recognized and remembered like this so suddenly out in public.

“You're... that star guy. Rowe.” Kyanite said, composing himself. “I... have taken the name, 'Kyanite' by now though, thank you.”

“Kyanite, huh. Interesting.” Rowe took a seat on the bench with Kyanite. “I remember what you were like back at the Bunnery. Sending you off was quite the event, given your... temperament. Though, I couldn't help but wonder what happened to you. It is good to see you are well... I think.”

“Yes, I am doing well enough.” Kyanite said, ears growing hot. “Do you make it a habit to find the buns you helped raise so you can remind them of their most embarrassing moments?”

“Well... not exactly. I was honestly just a bit curious.” Rowe said, rubbing the back of his neck sheepishly. “Your case really was something else, I mean you nearly bit a fellow bun's tail clean off and then somehow got into some important church documents and broke some milk bottles all over them for some reason. I know demons are... well, demons, but I'd imagine even they'd be given a run for their money with you in their care.”

Kyanite crossed his arms, feeling his face and ears grow uncomfortably warm, and he sank down in his seat on the bench – looking thoroughly displeased. At the same time – Rowe did seem genuinely... relieved to see him hale and hearty. It wasn't just purely a bid to do some ruthless teasing.

“I... appreciate that you thought of me. Even as I was difficult at that age.” Kyanite said, sitting back up properly again.

“So tell me!” Rowe said, as if excitedly awaiting a story from an old friend. “What happened to you when you were turned over to the demons?”

“Hrm. I suppose I ought to humor you, of all people.” Kyanite grunted. He leaned back and thought for a moment...

✦ ✦ ✦

The Bunnery was in a bit of a commotion today – there was much to be done, growing bun children to be sorted out, supplies to be replenished, and to top it all off, the demons were coming to pick up the children. Normally, it was a fairly straightforward exchange, but this time – the nuns had made a particular request for a 'tougher demon', for a 'troublesome biter'.

The aforementioned biter – who would eventually take on the name of 'Kyanite' but is known simply as 'Moon' for now – was completely oblivious to all of this. He was commonly responsible for half the commotion in the Bunnery during his stay there and couldn't tell the difference. Situated in one of the corners of the playroom, he hissed at any fellow bun that dared to come by. The supervising nun was watching him with a particularly attentive eye for some reason, but Moon didn't think too much of it.

When playtime came to a close, Moon expected the nun to come scooping everyone up to tuck them away for nap time. Or at least, he could only guess it was about to come to a close – at this age, he still had a wobbly sense of time. However, another nun showed up, whispering something to the supervising nun before leaving again. The supervisor stood up and clapped their hands, getting everyone's attention and gathering them into the center of the room. Intrigued, Moon slowly trotted over. His arrival caused a few of the other buns to shrink away nervously, but nonetheless, Moon joined the group.

“Today is a bit of an... unusual day. This normally happens once you all hit a certain age, but due to some circumstances-”

Moon more or less tuned out the supervising nun's voice. This was a rather odd way to have story time, though he supposed some buns liked that before their nap. But it didn't really sound like story time – but the nun sure was talking an awful lot. Moon heard 'demons' be mentioned a couple times – he still wasn't sure what those were, but supposedly they would be showing up eventually. Perhaps, even early? Why? And for what?

The supervising nun finally finished their not-story speech and motioned towards the doorway. The other buns chattered among themselves excitedly and Moon stared at the doorway. Moon's ears prickled as the sound of hooves making muffled clicks against the carpet rang out. A pair of what Moon presumed were demons emerged from the doorway – one of them having to stoop a bit to fit in the room. One of the demons looked kind of like a very big corvat, but... fluffier?

The other demon looked a bit like the nuns – like the doll form of a succubun, but much furrier and having a beast-like head. They also had four wavy horns and and a short, fluffy tuft of a tail as opposed to the usual relatively hairless spade. Their eyes were a deep, dark indigo and their pupils were horizontal bars. One of their ears had a chunk missing.

Both demons were dressed in simple, dark robes. The supervising nun gestured at the group of bun children – singling out three, including Moon. The other two selected buns looked sheepish and stepped forward to approach the corvat-looking demon. The bun demon on the other hand went to approach Moon, kneeling down to get a closer look and reaching out with one clawed hand.

Moon stared up at the demon and did as he normally did. He bit incoming hand.

The supervising nun made a sound like they were watching Moon break something for the fifth time for the week. The other bun children looked similarly shocked, whispering to each other and edging away. The bun demon on the other hand, made a quiet huffing noise as if amused.

“How adorable.” The bun demon said, voice deep and gravelly. “Yes, we'll take these troublemakers off your hands.”

- - -

Moon didn't have anything to bring with him from the Bunnery – he was usually too busy breaking or biting things to be allowed to hold onto anything. As the two demons took the bun children with them and left the Bunnery, the corvat demon – the other two bun children tucked away in a sling over their chest – unfurled their massive, soft-looking wings and took to the air. The bun demon snorted, said something about how 'melting through the shadows' was a much more stylish way to travel, and reached out into the air with a claw.

A fierce glow enveloped the demon's claw as they tore some kind of hole open in the air. Moon stared in fascination – he had no idea one could break things like this. Taking Moon in their arms, the bun demon stepped through the dark hole in the air, plunging the two of them into darkness for a moment.

On the other side of whatever the hell that was, both bun demon and bun re-emerged in a very different environment. Instead of the fields outside of the Bunnery, the two were now in a dark forest. The weird energy hole melted away into nothingness, leaving Moon with far too many questions. But if this bun demon was anything like the nuns, he probably shouldn't ask them... should he?

The nuns always thought Moon was far too bothersome. They had too many buns to care for to really pay any single one much attention. But this demon – this strange, not succubun – did they have other bun children under their care? Or was Moon the only one?

He supposed he was about to find out. Ahead, in a clearing in the forest – Moon could see a sizable cottage. The ground looked soft and was covered in moss, fungi, and round bumpy things. The cottage was surrounded by a variety of plants, most of which Moon had trouble remembering. He'd managed to read some of the books available at the Bunnery and could recognize some of the basics, but most of the plants and fungi here weren't as familiar. He could guess that the plants closer to the house likely belonged to a garden of sorts and were being grown for eating purposes.

“So... I hear you've been giving the nuns an impressive amount of work.” The bun demon said, as they walked through towards the cottage. “Tell me... what are you called?”

“Moon. Who are you?” Moon opened his mouth to show off his fangs. The bun demon chuckled, patting him on the top of his head. As the two moved, Moon's star motes floated off behind them, leaving a glittery trail.

“I am Jade. I wield the power of the moon and walk through shadows.” Jade said. “I live in that house with another demon, Azure. You might be seeing her charge from time to time – she's a little handful like yourself.”

“Other bun?”

“Yes, another bun. Possibly about as old as you, I think.”

As Jade approached the front door, another demon (demons sure had a lot of different shapes, Moon thought) showed up, flying in through the tops of the trees. This one was long and serpentine – perhaps some kind of dragon? As the demon got close, she changed form into something more like a succubun's doll form: she was more muscular than Jade but had antler-like horns on her head and a very big chest.

“You left Anna on her own again?” Jade said, disapprovingly, before turning to Moon. “This is Azure, as you can probably figure.”

“Azoo.” Moon said.

“What a cutie.” Azure said, cooing at Moon. “Your house is pretty thoroughly bun-proofed and divided so that Anna can only get to certain places. Besides, I wasn't gone for that long.”

The three entered the cottage and quickly found that Anna was very much not contained and was in the kitchen merrily knocking cooking ware onto the floor. Upon the arrival of the two demons (and bun), Anna whirled around and squeaked furiously. Little red flames danced around her, reminding Moon of the energy Jade had produced when cutting the hole in the air.

“You can't stop me!” Anna shouted, and picked up a nearby pan – or rather, tried to. Moon couldn't help but snicker as he watched Anna trying to lift the pan, which was much bigger and undoubtedly far heavier than she was. Jade made a low harrumphing noise and snapped their fingers. All the displaced cooking ware shuddered in their places and then slowly drifted back onto assorted hooks and places on the counter. The pan Anna was clinging to drifted over to Azure, who upon grabbing it, lightly shook it and caught Anna in her other hand. In the blink of an eye, the kitchen was orderly again.

While Anna sat fuming in Azure's hand, Jade shrugged and grumbled to themselves.

“I don't really know why Murmur thought this whole thing was a good idea, but it's been amusing enough.” Jade said. “I suppose it gives us something interesting to do.”

“If it bugs you so much, complain about it to Murmur yourself.” Azure said, sticking her tongue out. “I think these little buns are hilarious.”

“I'm just saying, for a project of this nature I'm not sure Murmur is asking the right people.” Jade said, then shrugged. “It's not the worst thing ever. Anyway, I have work to do. Azure, you know the drill.”

Azure placed the pan on the counter, taking Moon in her other hand. She shifted back into her draconic form, whooshing through the house and up to the second floor. Here, there was a short hall with two doors, both covered in odd slips of paper. Some of the papers looked like they had teeth marks on them. Without touching the door, Azure somehow willed one to open.

“Alright, behave now. Don't be mean – Mommy will know.” Azure said, depositing the two buns into the room. The door closed again as she left.

The room interior was large – and looked like a play room of sorts but with nicer furniture and a lot more toys. There was also several large bookshelves and some clothes in a box in one corner. There was a small pile of magazines by the clothes box.

“I don't want to share my room with another bun... this is terrible. Awful. The worst.” Anna said, looking incredibly offended.

Moon gave her a side-eyed expression but said nothing for now. He supposed he would be a bit cross if he had a nice big room like this to himself and suddenly had another bun dropped into his life – but he honestly couldn't say he felt much of anything yet. For his whole life up until now, he had to deal with a whole load of other buns getting in his business. Having that suddenly reduced to one other (admittedly angry bun, at that) was a nice change of pace.

“You! New bun!” Anna said, in an authoritative way. “I have rules for my room, you know!”

Almost immediately, Anna got into a sizable list of things Moon was not to touch, things Moon was maybe allowed to look at occasionally, things that the two 'had' to share (though Anna very much sounded like she didn't want to), and a great deal many other things. While Anna rambled on, Moon's thoughts wandered elsewhere, and he looked around the room some more. One side of the room had a bunch of cushions in it, possibly to be used for sleeping. There were also a lot of differently-shaped plushies.

Dragging himself over to one of the cushions, Moon went off to nap. The day had been exhausting and he wasn't sure what else he was supposed to do – it looked like the demons were giving the two of them free reign, though he wasn't really all that interested in Anna's speech about this and that-

“Hey! What is your deal?” Anna had gone over to Moon's side to get into his face. Her flames sputtered as if mirroring her ire. Moon was distracted by the motion of Anna's tail flicking back and forth and instead of responding, he did as he usually did.

He bit Anna's tail.

✦ ✦ ✦

“Oh. Oh, my.” Rowe's expression was a mixture of surprise and amusement, one hand lifted over his mouth. “Hold on, this Anna kid – did she have leaf patterns on her ears?”

“... I think so. Why?” Kyanite said, raising an eyebrow.

“I think I know of her too! If we're thinking the same bun, this gal has taken up sewing in the big city.” Rowe said. “You should go say 'hi' to her some time.”

“... that is the first thing that comes to mind when I tell you I bit her?” Kyanite said.

“Well I mean, there's no telling what she remembers. And you don't seem like a bad bun. Just a little misunderstood.” Rowe said, laughing softly. “What, did the two of you become childhood mortal enemies?”

“N-no. No, we actually... learned to just tolerate each other with enough time.” Kyanite said. “We weren't exactly friends... at least, I don't think so. But we didn't hate each other.”

“Well, I'm glad to hear your life with your demon caretaker was more or less alright.” Rowe said. He glanced at his watch, seeming to realize or remember something. “You probably have somewhere to be, I won't keep ya. But... take care of yourself out there, will you?”

“I will.” Kyanite gave Rowe a small smile. “Thank you... for catching up.”

“Any time.”