[tap tap] Wuzzat? Aaron sat bolt upright in his bunk. Sheesh. He wished he
could, just once, sleep the whole night through without waking up because
the refrigerator made that... wait a second.

[tap tap] He wasn't at CWRU anymore, was he. No, he was at NoCo. Training to
be a Fudd. So what woke him up now?

[tap tap] He looked over at the window. Two tiny black eyes glittered back
at him. He sighed, sat up, and motioned for her to meet him outside.

"What do you want," he whispered, huddling in the shadow of the barracks.

"You've got to get of here," Sylvie whispered, twitching anxiously, "The
bunnies are all over the place! They --"

"Shh! Don't wake up the whole camp."

"They're going to attack any day now! You have to get out of here! [chitter]"

"Don't worry," Aaron said, "I'll be fine."

"No you won't [flick]! You don't know how to fight! You're a *terrible*
fighter. And I saw you practicing earlier so don't try and tell me you're
better at it now."

"Don't worry," he said, "It's all taken care of." Sylvie swished her tai
nervously and started pacing back and forth in front of him.

"We've got to get out of here! [flick] You have to leave!"

"Relax." She kept pacing. Aaron sat down. "Come here." He patted his leg.
After a second she bounced up, and stared him in the eye.

Suddenly, he reached out and grabbed her, pinning her mouth shut and her
legs together, holding her helpless. Sylvie squirmed frantically, but didn't
have the strength or leverage to break free. "It's no use," he said, "I
practiced this on my dogs. They're only shelties, but they're a lot bigger
than you are and they couldn't get away."

"Mmmph!"

"I'm not letting you go until you calm down."

"Mmmph! M Gnmp [click] MM! MM! MMMMPH!" Aaron bent down and stared at her,
while she tried to twist free. Eventually she gave up.

"Will you listen now?" Sylvie just glared at him. "I know that I can't fight.
Bill knows that I can't fight. Classes just started -- a lot of the people
here can barely tell one end of an axe from the other. Do you really think
he'd send us into battle? Do you think he's that desperate? As far as he's
concerned, we're still civilians." 

"Mmph!" Aaron let go of her mouth so she could talk. Instead, she bit him on 
the finger. He winced, but didn't let go.

"Are you done?" he asked. 

"Let me go!" she screamed.

"No, you bit me."

"Do you *know* how many bunnies there are out there?"

"Yep. And I'm not worried."

"Why not? [chitter]"

Aaron opened his mouth to say, then closed it again. He trusted her, but he'd
heard that the entire base was covered by security cameras... and perhaps 
details of the plan, even the small parts he'd been told or overheard, should 
not be told to cute little rodents on the eve of battle where Bill, or worse,
Dem, might later hear. So all he could say was "Trust me. In a couple days
it'll be over and you'll understand. That's not too long to wait, is it?"

--
Aaron Mandelbaum        (razzafrazzin' squirrels... now I need to get
                         that rabies shot again... ;)