Afterword - Book 5 - Chapter 25 (Patreon)

AN: And with this, I'm caught up! Now to keep up.

Chapter 25: Interlude – Clover – Paw by Paw

There comes a time in every author's life when you just have a burning need to write a bunny's Point of View. Trust me on this, it's a whole thing.

To be fair, I'd long planned to write one, even while I was doing the great re-editing of the OG draft, I knew I'd inevitably write from Clover's PoV, but I needed to be patient. I needed to wait for a time that she wasn't "just" an animal. I needed to wait for some measure of rationality and intent.

I think I found the perfect sweet spot. I really adore this chapter.

It was also one of the hardest chapters I've written in book 5, and trust me, that's a crowded field. I really pushed myself with this book. Clover's PoV is intentionally wildly different from any we've seen. She's far more naïve and prone to mistakes (she's a scholar, so of course she must schol!), but I also wanted the chapter to just... read differently from anything else I've written.

And yes, the bunny is a bit of a chuuni.

Clover's 'backstory' is something I was excited to delve into, but... uh, well, here it is. As much as I wanted to give her an excuse to vividly relive the wolf's attack, it was too out of character, and frankly I doubt she does remember the blow-by-blow all that clearly. Just specific sensory impressions that linger in her nightmares and thoughts.

But hey, she's death. She's got this.

I honestly didn't think of the implied Alice in Wonderland reference in Clover adopting the ticktock of a clock as her System notification sound until after I wrote the chapter, but I don't hate it. That... admittedly happens to me more often than you might expect.

Also, if anyone is curious, this is absolutely my favorite bit from this chapter: With burning determination, Clover dove back into her reading like a bunny with a cause. Which she was. That was why it was like that.

I just adore the dry overexplaining. So cute.