stakeout

Even if Hana’s involvement with caring for the hazeblooms was not as much as Hops, she still felt terrible when she saw them torn up like they were just nothing but scrap to eat. No care at all how they were yanked from the soil or chomped from their stems, not a petal left in sight. At first, Hops was devastated, crying about how Angora was going to have her head (figuratively?) with their hazeblooms gone, but the second time it occurred, she was much more riled up. After all, it happened because the guard on duty fell asleep, possibly not used to the all-nighters they suddenly had to do. The guards did report that sometimes they would hear rustling in the bushes, but unlike the information that Hutch, Oleander, and Dan gave, there was nothing new. Still, that was also something to take note of, as it looked like it was the same perpetrators who were causing trouble.

“Why didn’t we try to set up a camera?”

“Because, Hana, a camera won’t catch a thief!”

Hana made a face. Didn’t a camera at least help them figure out what they were dealing with? But she supposed Hops meant that the camera was not going to do the catching. “So…what are you thinking? Don’t tell me you want to–”

“We’ll catch the thief ourselves, obviously!”

The sloth bun exhaled sharply. “Of course we are.”

“Come on, Hana, it’ll be like a sleepover! Except we’ll be in those bushes over there, and we have to be up all night. Or else.” Hops pointed to a nondescript set of bushes to the side, and Hana wondered if they would suddenly be snuck up by whatever they were catching.

“Okay okay, I don’t think I have a choice with how you’re looking at me. We gotta prep though, what if they’re actually dangerous?”

“Mmmm who to ask…well, we need to bait them into actually coming here for starters. It’s just gonna be us! Maybe whoever else wants to join in. Again, sleepover! But with thief catching! I’m sure the guards will be happy to catch a break.”

“And we’re not?”

“You’re not the one doing overnights, Hana, don’t be rude.”

“Well, I’m going to do it soon, apparently.”

Hops shot a glare at the sloth bun. “Whatever! Anyway, I have some ideas on where we can gather the stuff we need for the stakeout. I’m gonna go replant some of these hazeblooms again. This is the last chance–if these get eaten up we’ll really have no blooms to mix and we’re going to be in deep trouble ohhhh Murmur there’s really a lot riding on this–”

Hana wanted to retort at the use of ‘we’ but decided that they should really just try to catch the culprit so that no one was getting in trouble. And she thought that she could just sit back and chill for the remainder of the month, but she supposed that trouble was going to find its way back to her with Hops around…

But what she did find interesting about being Hops’ little errand bun is that she could experience what it was like using Angora’s name as a bargaining chip. Frankly, she didn’t expect it to be so easy. All it took was saying that Angora would do this and that (well, she hoped that she would, though also kind of doubted…maybe she shouldn’t have tried to butter up Velveteen so much, but man that was a stunning bun. She never thought she would be able to talk to such a model in the same room. For at least a minute too!) and the items were shoved into her hands. From there it was a matter of hauling them back to the Wonderland Casino, though they would not perform the stakeout until later in the week when the flowers were already growing.

It weighed heavily on her mind even during the work hours, mostly because the more she thought about it, the more potentially dangerous the whole thing was. Her head was swimming with all sorts of scenarios, like what if the thief was actually an aggressive imp; the first of its kind? And what if it had really sharp teeth that could actually sink into her soft, soft fur? Or what if it was something else entirely; a creature that was even more terrifying than a large imp that would end up rampaging around Burrowgatory if it were caught? She sunk into her office chair, having no willpower to continue designing the Burrowpoint on the screen.

She then hit her cheeks twice. “No use worrying about it now.” she muttered to herself, deciding to use whatever energy she had left for the day to power through.

Eventually, the designated day came, and she hoped that she was able to nap enough to offset the amount of sleep she would be losing later (though, because of this, she felt extremely groggy and even less spirited than usual). Hops, on the other hand, looked like she hadn’t slept a wink; her expression a large grimace that also looked like she was growing fangs of her own (she wasn’t, but with the way she was holding that imp net Hana got from Hutch, she looked very much ready to whack something).

“Energy drink?”

“Nooo I’m good, thanks.” You look like you need one though.

“I already drank a few! I’m ready to bust some chops and catch a crook!”

“I really hope that this crook will fit in a net…” she grumbled as she watched Hops swing the tool side to side. After a few more preparations, such as finding the perfect place to camp and setting up the camouflage fabric from Velveteen’s company, they were ready to wait. The place did seem like the perfect spot, with some spaces in between the bushes for them to get a clear view of the garden while not looking too obvious that they were there. Hops was very much jittery but trying to stay still, while Hana was already feeling some sleepiness wash over her. She decided to eat some of the dango that Shibani had given them to keep herself busy.

Without a clock or watch to check the time though, minutes seemed to feel like hours. Even Hops’ initial murderous energy had waned, and while there were times she would watch the garden patch for a few straight minutes, there were other times where she sunk back to the grass before popping a question and a drink. Hana was happy to have something else keep her awake besides the silence of the garden, so they chattered in whispers, trying their best to suppress laughter whenever it bubbled from them, hoping that they were quiet enough not to scare whatever they were trying to catch.

But as the night wore on, Hana’s doubt on whether the thief would actually show up continued to rise. Many times she thought of just voicing her desire to head back home rather than stick around (and there were a few times she did, but Hops would glare at her before she could finish her sentence, or immediately counter with “You’re going to leave me all alone??” with doleful eyes). It seemed like she wasn’t going to get out of this one until the crystal light shone again, but just as she was thinking of asking Hops for perhaps the fourth time this evening, they both heard a distinct rustle from the opposite bushes.

Hops gasped. “It’s here!” (she was still whispering) “Quick, catch it!”

“Me?! I thought you–”

“Go, before it gets away!!”

Panic quickly set in as Hana peered through the bushes to see a silhouette appear from the darkness. She could see the antlers that Hutch described, but it looked a little bigger than she was. With Hops’ urging, there was little room to think as she grabbed the net and decided, fuck it, if she was going to die today it was going to be all her fault. She jumped out of the bushes and without really getting a good look at the intruder, she swung the net as hard as she could.