Adrian took in the scene before him. Of all the places he'd been and people he'd seen, this house seemed the most homey. To find his dear friend Anthony as well... well, he felt sure he'd found their new home.

Adrian then took a close look at the owners. "So, ah... Anthony," he stammered, unsure of how to phrase it. "You don't hunt rabbits so much anymore?"

Moses' ears pricked up tall from his hat. He pulled them down with both paws upon noticing Anthony sizing him up.

"Nah," Anthony said. "They're too scrawy. And plus, they taste like chicken. Even worse! Like scrawny chicken!"

Moses took offense. He primed the touch hole of his swivel gun, readying it to take a potshot at the scalawag. Anthony carried on undeterred, still showing glee in the presence of his dear friend. He stuck his thumbs in the armpits of his wolfskin, thrusting out the garb.

"I now hunt wolves!" he enthused. "They're nummy-licious!"

Moses snuffed out the wick on his linstock. Anyone who hunts wolves was a friend of the rabbit-kin. A friend of the otter-kin too. Susan grinned big at both Adrian and Anthony, grooming her cheeks with her claws.

She adjusted her blue-tinted glasses. "Welcome to our home!" she said to both men. "Let's eat fish!"

Moses laid his ears down on his hat with disgust. "Fish?" he bemoaned. "Egad, woman, have you no mercy? I can barely stand your breath as it is."

Susan appeared cowed. "Hmm. Well," she surmised. "I do sometimes partake in duck."

The others in the room gasped in horror. Adrian readied his spear as Moses relit his linstock. Anthony grabbed whatever weapon was close. Probably a chair, or something.

"Egad woman, again," Moses hissed. "Keep that sort of thing to yourself." He warily peeked out the sidelight, as Adrian hunkered down near a window.

Anthony offered Susan an orange Tic Tac. "Here. Take the whole box," he said after catching a whiff of her fish breath. "You need them more than me."

"Do you think the Doc B Clan overheard her?" Adrian asked Moses, as the rabbit continued peeking out the sidelight. "He'll revoke our charter for sure if he finds out old Fish Breath here likes eating ducks."

Moses again snuffed his linstock. "I think we're safe for now," he said. He opened the refrigerator and rifled through it. "I'm throwing out the marmalade just in case."

Adrian caught a whiff of Susan's breath. "Egad!" he also said. "You smell like oranges!"

"You haven't just eaten a duck, have you!?" Moses asked, aghast. "Do you know what the Doc B Clan will do if you do?!?"

Susan shook the box of Tic Tacs in Moses' face. "Relax, Fuzzy-bumpkin. "Our new dear friend Anthony gave me these."

Moses sniffed his roomie, his cute litle pink bunny nose wiggling. "Ooh!" he enthused. "You smell minty fresh!"

"The one-and-a-half calorie breath mint!" Anthony remarked. He and Adrian began to allemande, while Moses do-si-doed around Susan. "Put a Tic Tac in your mouth," Anthony sang, "and get a..."

"Bang!" both Moses and Adrian sang.

Anthony finished the jingle. "...out of life! It's a clean fresh explosion of mint!"

Susan took the straw hat from Moses' head and whapped him with it when he tried to make her promenade. "What in the wide wide world of sports is a-goin' on?" she groused. "I paid you boys to get a little track laid, not to jump around like a bunch of Kansas City frigates."

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

Now Moses appeared cowed. "Aw, I'm sorry, Susan. I guess we got a little caught up."

"Listen, dummy," Susan said. "The surveyors say we may run into quicksand up ahead." She gave him back his hat. "Better go check it out."

"Okay. I'll send a few horses down to check out the grade."

"Horses!?" Susan hollered. She again took his hat and whapped him. "We can't afford to lose any horses." She jerked a thumb at their guests. "Send a couple of humans."

"Okay," Moses said, taking back his hat. "You two. Grab a handcart and check out the grade."

Adrian took a turn at looking cowed, while Anthony took his looking aghast. He then snatched Moses' hat. "Oh!" he said, feigning praise. "Did a Therian girl give you this?"

Moses fell for it, hook line and sinker. "My cannon-loving superior!" he remarked. He patted his swivel gun. "When I was in training with Bessie!"

Anthony tried on the hat. "I hear the ocean lapping the shore!" he faked praised.

Moses hopped up and down on his bunny toes. "Cheerful sounds fill my ears when I wear it too!"

"Oh really? What kind?"

"Well, I find it difficult to deal with loud noises," Moses said, pointing at his big ears. "But sometimes I hear my friends at the beach saying happy summer things. I quite readily become energetic!"

"I see," Anthony said.

He sought other things about the hat to fawn about. Anything to avoid checking out the grade. Susan caught on to his scam in a flash and prepared to whap Moses again, now with her otter claws.

"I really like your glasses," Adrian said, stopping her.

Susan almost smiled. "I have an exceedingly high dedication to style."

"I know!"

"Comfort and quality too!"

"I can see!"

Susan took off her glasses to admire them. "Carly Zee manufactured them for me. The best lenses on earth. And they're polarized too!"

"Oh! Of course!"

Susan was smitten. She took to fawning herself. "Industry leading scratch resistance," she said of her glasses. "And advanced antireflective properties derived from breakthrough polycarbonate composite construction."

"Uh-huh," Adrian said to egg her on.

"But no one cares about the lenses if the frames make you look like a clown. I need something strong! Durable but fashionable and current. So I looked and I looked and I looked. Finally my search brought me to a third generation family run eyewear manufacturing facility based in a small town in Italy. I couldn't be happier! It's at this factory I found a team of designers and craftspeople who utilized state-of-the-art technology and advanced resin coating to construct premium, high performance frames."

Adrian began to snore, having fallen asleep while standing up.

Susan droned on. "Successful hunts are the result of preparation and creating an advantage. Teaming up with Carly Zee, I have eyewear that not only improves my vision, but also narrows the gap between low light conditions on the water and the glare of the sun in the sky. With the two percent reflective capability of these glasses, I'm sure to bag a big duck for dinner!"

"Shut up!" Moses hissed, whapping Susan with his hat. "The Doc B Clan will hear you!"

He again readied his linstock and touch hole, peering out the sidelight while Anthony crouched by the window with his spear.

"Can that stupid hat help you hear ducks?" he asked Moses.