'Make Four', Make Friends

“And then Manis told me about the toy Murmur got her, and I was like, well I want a toy! And she said that she thought that Murmur would probably get everybunny a toy, and just needed to pick out the perfect ones, and that would take a little while since everybody has such different tastes, like I want a pink one and you probably don’t want a pink one? Anyways -” 

Mosaic nibbled on his cracker, only half listening to Ari. He was used to his littermate’s habit of emptying his entire lung capacity before ending a sentence; that wasn’t what was bothering him. 

“Because then, Mose, I figured we could - are you even listening to me?” Ari tilted his head, peering directly into Mosaic’s face and startling him out of his thoughts. 

“Oh, sorry Ari, I didn’t mean to ignore you. I just…” He glanced back over at what he’d been looking at; a group of ten or so fellow bunnies that were playing some sort of game that involved a lot of running, jumping, and laughing. “I just wish I could play with them, that’s all.” He looked back down at the plate of snacks Murmur had given to him and thought - not for the first time - that he’d been given a consolation prize to help him feel better about being so tired all the time. 

Ari started at Mosaic for a moment, then looked at the group of buns, and back at Mosaic. He put down the strawberry he’d been eating and stood up. “I’ll be right back!” 

“Wait, Ari -” Mosaic sighed as Ari ran off before he could finish his sentence. 

He watched as his pink friend went directly to the group, stopping their game and gesturing animatedly. Mosaic yelped and looked away as Ari pointed his way and several pairs of eyes turned towards him. By the time he mustered the courage to look back over, he realized that Ari was leading the group over to him. Most of them, at least. Some ran in the direction where Murmur was set up with a book. 

“Hi Mosaic!” The bunny that Ari had mentioned earlier, Manis, greeted Mosaic directly and ran over to him as fast as she could while carrying a giant yellow plushie that was almost bigger than her. “Ari says you’re lonely, but we’re here now, so don’t be sad! Here, Honey will sit with you!” Manis put down her plushie and posed it as if it was a friend sitting beside Mosaic. Mosaic figured it probably was bunny shaped originally, but Manis’ high rambunctious energy had it looking a bit worse for wear already. 

“Oh… Thank you.” 

Manis went behind the toy and grabbed its arm, waving to Mosaic. “Hi Mosaic! My name is Honey! I want to be your friend!” 

Mosaic smiled finally. He was still shy, but Manis’ bubbly personality was infectious, just like Ari’s. Mosaic looked around at the other buns. They were getting comfy in a loose circle, one that made more sense as the other bunnies that had split off earlier rejoined them, carrying a few packs of playing cards.

Ari came to sit beside Mosaic. “We’re gonna play a big game of Make Four!” He gave Mosaic a big smile, tail wagging happily behind him. The buns who had brought the cards over were dealing out hands to everybunny, and setting up a deck to draw from as well. 

“Umm… I don’t think I know how to play Make Four…” Mosaic took the hand of cards being held out to him by one of the others. 

“It’s easy!” Manis chirped; she was practically vibrating with the effort it took to stay sitting. “Look, I’ll show you.” She held her cards in front of her face, careful not to show anybody what she had. She called out a bun’s name, followed by “Do you have any eights?” Manis scowled as the other bun told her they didn’t, then she reached forward to draw another card from the deck. “You wanna try and get four of the same card! And when you are all out of cards you win!” 

Mosaic nodded. That’s easy enough. “Okay… Is it my turn now?” 

“Yep!” 

He looked down at his hand and realized he had three eights. He glanced over at Manis. “Manis, do you have any eights?” 

“HEY!!!” 

Everybunny laughed as Manis pouted, handing her card over to Mosaic. He took the four eight cards and placed them in a neat stack in front of him. “I guess this means I’m winning now, right?” 

Ari laughed. “It sure does! I should’ve guessed you’d be good at this game, you’re so smart!” Ari took his turn, getting a card from another player, and the game continued.

“Oh, also,” Mosaic turned to his plate of snacks and pushed them into the middle of the circle. “If anybun is hungry…” 

There were cheers and enthusiastic “thank you!” ‘s as the plate was pushed around. The crackers, fruits and other treats quickly disappeared even though lunchtime hadn’t been that long ago. I guess they’re all hungry from running around so much.... Ari snatched one of Mosaic’s favourite cookies before they could all be taken and held it out to him.

Mosaic didn’t realize how much he had craved something like this. He had originally thought that being surrounded by so many other buns would be too much for him. But with this big of a group, there were a mix of personalities. More talkative buns - like Ari and Manis - took control of most of the conversation, keeping up a constant stream of chatter and laughter. Quieter buns like Mosaic were able to sit back and only join in when they were ready. Mosaic nibbled his cookie, only talking when it was his turn in Make Four or when somebunny else spoke directly to him, but nobunny seemed even the tiniest bit annoyed or bored by how low energy he was. 

He looked over at Ari. The light caught the pink heart shapes in his eyes, making them shine as he laughed at a funny story one of the others was telling. Mosaic was so grateful for his best friend. Not only did Ari choose to spend all his time with Mosaic to make sure he never had to be alone, he also was more than happy to use his natural charisma to wrangle others to come over and play. 

Mosaic reached over with his tail, gently tapping his tail spade against Ari’s back twice. Ari continued the conversation he was having, but smiled, and did the same to Mosaic. A silent I love you or I’m happy. 

Maybe everything was going to be just fine.