Halloween was always a good time for Ryan. He liked the festive mood, and girls always looked great at a costume party. Last year he had promised that he'd do something very special for Halloween, and everyone immediately understood what he was hinting at. Ryan was well known for his creative skirting around of the prey dignity regulations, and if he said something was going to be "special", that meant people could truly expect something out of the ordinary. He was sure he wouldn't disappoint, as he had pulled out all the stops with the preparations.

The first part was furnishing a cave with some decoration and party supplies. His activities weren't really appreciated by legally minded people, so it had to be done somewhere secluded. He had found a few places in the forest where a few people could do all manner of fun things in complete privacy, and rotated between them to make sure there wouldn't be any unwelcome guests. It took a few days to bring food, drinks, decoration and some furniture into the cave, while being careful not to be followed by anyone.

Now it was time to do the really important part. Just a few hours before he said his party was going to start, he headed to one of the more distant prey villages. Normally it was a very bad idea for a lone predator to try to sneak into one, but this one was different: it was a fairly new settlement, and the location was such that predators weren't attacking it, as they preferred to target other settlements, that were bigger and closer to their home. This meant that the population had grown quickly, and rather carelessly. Ryan had carefully investigated it from a distance and found the defenses were almost nonexistent. And all one had to do was to pass through some rough terrain in between two other settlements.

Along with such carelessness came a lack of planning. Prey tended to live in the moment, and only start making plans once something big enough had happened. During his research Ryan noted a few homes that weren't well defended, and were far enough from the rest of the village that if anything happened, help would be unlikely to arrive.

Ryan carefully checked out the surroundings. Then he put on his costume, which was that of a fox. He thought the idea was a genius one -- it was the right kind of costrume for a prey village, and what could be easier than looking like himself. Effectively, his disguise consisted in looking like he was in a disguise. Also sneaking into a prey village while looking almost like himself was just a funny idea he thought his friends would appreciate.

He knocked on the door of the first house he had scoped out. As far as he could tell, the only habitant was a very young female. He wasn't sure why that was the case, but he didn't really care. It made things incredibly convenient, so that put it on the #1 on his list.

To his surprise, not one but two female bunnies answered the door. That could complicate matters a bit, but he'd improvise.

"Trick or treat!", said Ryan.

"Wow! You're a big one!" said the grey bunny he had expected to find. Her friend glared at her slightly.

"Makes the disguise even better, doesn't it?", smoothly improvided Ryan.

"Yeah, you're almost the right size looking, it's a bit scary", she said, looking at him in awe.

"Say!", interjected her brown friend, "where are you from? You have a weird accent."

Ryan had expected that question. "I came from beyond the river after almost a week of travel. I have a relative here I long wanted to visit".

"I see...", she replied, not looking really convinced. "What's the huge sack for?"

"In the village I come from there's a very scary breed of foxes. Often they catch bunnies alive, put them in a bag, and drag them off to do unspeakable things to them"

"Whoaaa... scary...", said both bunnies in unison.

"Of course what I'm going to use it for is for my huge hoard of candy!", exclaimed Ryan, drawing a giggle from both of them.

"It's a good thing we're safe here", said the grey one. Her friend nodded, but seemed to have some doubts about it.

During the conversaion, the grey bunny kept staring at him, and it seemed that finally she decided to ask the question that was nagging her.

"So, what species are you, anyway? The more I look the more confused I'm getting".

Ryan chuckled. "How about you try and guess? It's a fairly uncommon one around these parts."

The grey bunny thought for a while. "Uhh... deer? No, that can't be. Perhaps a really big hare? Or if you're from far away, maybe you're a capybara! I've heard of them, but never seen one before..."

While she was occupied guessing, Ryan noticed that the brown bunny was now looking at him very suspiciously. It was time to make a move.

"Do you want to see what's under the mask? That should help.