Still seated long after the other rabbits had left the living room, Randalph was stroking his beard with one hand, resting the other, palm up, on his knee. Confident the ruckus was at an end, Louise had skulked toward the living room entrance to check the conversation was at an end; she was often accused of creative eavesdropping by Viktor. She quietly observed as Randalph conjured whisps of purple magic from his twitching fingertips. This was a typical stress response in Randalph, something Viktor called 'Randalph's ever-readies'.
The parabolics has first appeared on the rabbits radar in 2003. A cult whose raison d'être had never been fully established but assumed by all who encountered them to be ostensibly evil. Their power came from a book stolen from the Ashmolean Museum archive by former curator Clemence Cronje, The Summonitores Libro, a powerful tool for summoning beings hidden in the spectrum for nefarious gain. Persons offered as sacrifice, bloody offerings, were used to guarantee commitment from whatever thing had been conjured.
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The parabolics, perhaps unsurprisingly, had taken an interest in the rabbits and under their noses had planted employees in local businesses and essential services to spy on their activity. Randalph, walking alone in the park at dusk, became prey to a small tentacled creature summoned by the cult. It latched itself onto his arm, taking his free will; the usually genial Rabbit became an enemy of his siblings and had to be temporarily imprisoned for the safety of the group. It took Viktor a year to track down every senior parabolic, bringing each to justice with brutal efficiency until finally reaching an aged Cronje, who in fear of his life, revoked the summon. He was then promptly dragged out of visible light by an unseen force, screaming as he disappeared.
Whilst almost twenty years has passed, Randalph still suffered from night-terrors and the occasional explosion of anger, usually directed at the perennially obtuse Blue Thing. In times of stress, his body became electrified in preparedness for whatever was coming, a kick response to his perceived lack of awareness when the parabolics last struck. He wouldn't be caught short again. They were back, and the parabolics would come for them all.