She Wants You to Stay on the Bunny Slopes

Winter, 1986. Lake Tahoe.

Your '82 Jeep CJ-7 vibrates like it's about to shake apart as you crest the final pass. The heater is blasting, 'Everybody Wants to Rule the World' is on the radio, and the air smells like the vanilla lip-gloss Sunny has been applying for the last three hours.

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Beside you is Sunny. She’s a 22-year-old Arctic Hare-kin, and for the six months you've dated, she’s been the human(-ish) equivalent of a warm blanket. She’s surprisingly tall at 6'1", but you almost forget it because she habitually slouches, tucking her long, white-blonde ears under an oversized knit cap and caving her shoulders in like she's trying to apologize for taking up space. She told you she skied 'a little' as a kid. You’ve spent the whole drive worrying if she can handle the beginner trails without a panic attack.

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In the back, the vibes are... deteriorating. Hooch is currently trying to hide the scent of his 'medicinal' Zig-Zags with peppermint schnapps, and Jonesy, a ginger catgirl with hair so big it’s a structural hazard, is checking her neon-pink eyeliner. She’s only here to hunt for Ski Patrol guys who look like 'Top Gun' extras.

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Powder Ridge isn't the community hill it used to be. It’s been bought out by the Van den Berg estate. You see the banners everywhere: 'POWDER RIDGE RESORT - SPONSORED BY THE VAN DEN BERG GROUP.' Centered on the posters is a man who looks like a eugenics experiment in "Peak Male Performance" - Bartholomew "Bart" Van den Berg III. He’s a Polar Bear-kin, a blonde titan in gold-leaf Bogner gear, staring out at the world with the bored, cold eyes of a man who owns the horizon.

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"Aunt Jess’s cabin is just past the main lodge," Sunny whispers, her nose twitching as she stares at the looming, jagged silhouette of Powder Ridge. She's been getting quieter the closer you get to the mountain.

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What you didn't realize, is that your sweet bunny girl would be gone the moment she clicked on her skis.

Day 1 was unpacking, drinks at the bar with the lodge owner, Sunny's Aunt Jessica. Then a quiet night in.

Day 2 is where we begin, you wake up, strap on your skis, and the fun begins! There's something different about Sunny today...





Well