Grab the tissues before the next page comes out fellas,
that's when it gets real...

damn that got dark O.O. but i still wanna read more XD

Wish this comes out like a movie

It's a rabpit

Very nice. An excellent pun. *applause*

your avatar picture matches perfectly

If this was Reddit I would've gave you an angry upvote.

ah clever... first steps towards farming

Weren't you the one calling her evil?

Some double standards going on here I see.

the mountain lions inflict pain and suffering in order to survive. if they don't, they would starve and die. Hemlock inflicts pain and suffering for personal pleasure. remember what she did to Egg.

also this is pretty much the average life of your everyday farm animal. did you ever think of that? the meat you buy in the super market doesn't grow on trees, you know. so don't you start any of that double standard nonsense with me.

Farm animals aren't sapient, the Bunnies here are, so yes I have thought of it. :P

N' no, the Lions are absolutely enjoying the pain they're causing, it's more than survival, they're playing with their food.

lions are carnivores. they can literally not survive without meat. as it is, in this world, every species is sapient with their own language and what not. the lions here are presented with a choice.
A.) go out and hunt everytime, which has a plethora of risks from getting killed in some way of form during the hunt or from returning empty handed, meaning you will go hungry and eventually starve.
B.) catch a selection of prey animal and keep them caged as a steady supply of food to secure survival for yourself and your pack.
which of these do you pick?
have you considered looking at this from the point of view of the meat eaters?
what if you were a female lion and you had cubs that you need to take care of?
do you go out hunting every day, leaving your cubs alone and helpless for other predators while at the same time risking injury or death during the hunt as well as starvation for not only yourself but also your children when you fail?
or do you start farming prey animals which will dramatically increase the chances of not only you but also of your children to survive?

you said "Farm animals aren't sapient". well, farm animals may not be able to communicate in the same way we as humans do, but you bet your sorry ass that they can feel and experience pain, fear and terror just as well as we humans do. so what? its okay in real life to do this to real animals because we aren't able to understand them but if fictional cartoon lions do it to fictional cartoon bunnies, its evil?

also

I've grown up with cats so yeah, cats like to play with their food and can be quite sadistic. big deal. doesn't stop any of us to go totally "awwww" every time we see a cute kitten video on the internet and find it utterly adorable. also doesn't stop us from petting a cat whenever she rubs herself against our legs in a display of affection. or are you one of those guys who, when a cat rubs itself against your leg looking for pets, you kick it away 'cause the same cat caught and played with a cute little mouse a few days earlier?

Equally you cannot then say Hemlock is evil, she has had one entire community taken from her in utterly horrific circumstances and it left a *mark*. As a result she is viciously protective of her new one, to the point of brutalizing anything she considers a threat.

Why should she hold back or show mercy?

Is what the Lions are doing wrong or not? Make up your mind, also quit with the damn red herrings. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_herring

"Is what the Lions are doing wrong or not?" - No its not. the lions will literally die if they don't do this. they cannot survive without eating meat. its not wrong because the alternative is death.

Then why is Hemlock wrong? Because the alternative to her NOT fighting back and killing predators is death for her and those she loves.

"Then why is Hemlock wrong?" - here's why:

-she displayed glee and pleasure when she attempted to drown Rask upon their first meeting even though Rask had not posed a threat to her (in fact, he didn't even know she was there)

-she displayed ruthlessness when she tried to mutilate Rask by smashing his teeth out, which could have killed him in the process. blunt force trauma ain't nothing to sneeze at.

-she displayed both ruthlessness, pleasure and hatred when she mutilated Egg, who had posed no threat whatsoever, by smashing her teeth out with a rock while also stirring the other critters into an almost violent frenzy.

Hemlocks actions are guided by hatred and malice towards predators.

So equally what the Lions are doing is wrong because they are displaying glee and pleasure and are being utterly ruthless besides?

the lions displaying glee and pleasure is wrong. what they are doing however, is not. because if they don't do this, if they don't kill and eat prey animals, they will quite literally starve and die.

Correct me if I'm wrong but this can literally be summed up as you just not liking that a prey is fighting back.

*sighs* yes you are wrong. you are oh so very wrong...

I do not have any issues with a prey animal fighting back. what I do have issues with however, what I do have very big issues with in fact, are her motivations. her mindset. her reasons. her... morals for a lack of a better word. are her actions guided by a desire to protect prey animals or are they guided by a thirst for revenge? so far, she's been pretty hateful and revenge driven.

yep I second everything have said, she will have to face the reality of her actions and behavior at some point I bet.

by the way, you might find these little tidbits of trivia interesting. you might want to keep these in mind the next time you point fingers at cats and other carnivores and call them evil:

"Do cats need to eat meat?
Well, cats are obligate carnivores, meaning that they need to eat meat to survive. ... Feeding a cat a plant-based diet is a lot like feeding a cow a meat-based diet—their digestive system isn't geared to handle it, and they will not thrive on it" - Source: https://www.aspca.org/news/why-cant.....y-cat-be-vegan

"Can Lions survive without meat?
For cats, it goes beyond mere preference. Felines evolved to be obligate carnivores; in the wild, they must eat meat to survive. ... Without them, cats can suffer retinal degeneration, or cardiomyopathy, and possibly urinary-tract problems as well." - Source: https://www.popsci.com/ask-us-anyth.....eggie-burgers/

I'm not calling them evil.

I'm saying it's weird you're okay with this but not okay with Hemlock lashing out.

Calm your tits.

*sighs*

I'm okay with this because if they don't do this, they will literally die. I'm not okay with Hemlock because she does it out hatred and for personal pleasure/satisfaction.

and considering you're the one who started this discussion with a snide remark and accusing me for having double standards when you have repeatedly and quite brilliantly displayed that you have them yourself, I suggest you calm your tits.

mmm rabbet

Hemlock is genuinely such an interesting character. Relatable, in a way. I like her a lot.

I mean, what else are they supposed to eat? If not them just a different animal. I mean, its easy to say evil predator but we aren't the ones who have days were we won't have food or not.

Equally though the shift in her defence against predation going from 'running and hiding' to 'kill them' is equally understandable.

That is correct x3

kill them in defense yes, Rask is not a enemy she just wants all prey dead like a genocide.

It's going to take more than a couple of days for her to accept Rask isn't the enemy.

And I am now hooked.... *bookmarks*

And I thought the last one was rough, Ill just keep my muzzle shut until this bit of story telling is over

Making it hard hate her.

This one made me have to join the Patreon to see what happened...

holy crap..

Mentions of Hemlock's dark backstory way earlier made me join it allright xD Totally worth it

YEP.

She's vicious and angry but my god you can see *why*.

Well, imagine being held in a hole in the ground while your friends and relatives get picked off day to day to be eaten, knowing that you are also food waiting to be eaten alive.
It might leave an impression.

well, Karen, its hard to.imagine, since there are barely any cannibals left in our time

I literally laughed out loud, thank you for that.

What the hell is that supposed to mean? I'm just making sense of Hemlock's personality, you don't have to be an ass.

unless u visit Mexican cannibal cartel, its unimaginable that you will be in a hole and be bred and eaten. except if thats ur fetish

It is

Ever heard the word "hypothetical" before?

I don't think you understand what the word "imagine" means.

I wouldn't get worked up, he's been posting stuff that's hard to tell if he just has a *very* odd sense of humour or he's trolling.

Either way it's not worth reacting if you don't find it funny.

i feel i triggered some snowflakes. especiallly you.

Get back to your bridge, troll.

sounds like the average everyday situation of pretty much every farm animal all across the world to me. its an eat or be eaten world *shrugs*

Yeah, i kinda somehow knew it was going to come to this.

berry technology > forge technology

:(

Her hate is understandable, to put it obscenely lightly. She still chose a darker path. I don't like her, but I see why she does what she does.

Frankly, this usually makes for a better-written villain.

I wouldn’t call her a villain at this point, definitely antagonistic (not to be confused with full on antagonist) of Rask though, and kind of a jerk. And will be interesting to see how the character develops over time.
I still find her interesting though.

A fair difference.

Well, at least they aren't keeping the bunnies as breeding stock and only eating the kids. Which is where I thought this was leading. It seems inconceivable this setting can end without a complete extermination of the predators, though. Maybe a few "tame" ones will be kept, like Egg, but this setting can't support predators so all the rest have to die.

The question is though, honestly, would that work? Like if you knew your baby was literally going to be eaten and you were just going to be used as a breeding farm, unless they figured out a way to completely immobilize the females and force-feed them, I would end up either killing myself or the unborn child (several dozen rocks/punches constantly to the stomach.)

And now I'm actually curious if these animals go into heat and such or not. Because that just further complicates things of keeping them in a hole and all that.

And yes, completely agreed. It is eventually to end with the complete death of predators. Either at their hands or the predators simply having to eat each other.

You’re right, I hadn’t thought of that. Keeping people as breeding stock doesn’t work unless you have control over their every waking moment of they are of a species that HAS to mate for some reason. I guess I was looking for a way to make things even worse than they already are.

And that would totally make it 110% worse so I can totally agree with that but yeah, I think it might ferrets who need to either breed or be fixed or something? even then, with a sentient ferret I would nope out of that situation any way that I could.

Female ferrets can die of something called aplasmic anemia if they aren't fixed or bred. This is only an issue for breeders as all pet ferrets one might find at a pet store are already fixed. I expect sapient ferrets would find a way around it, drugs, that sort of thing.

Ah but would drugs work when in a hole? :p but again, would simply not breed to result in killing myself if that was the case. But yeah, would make it darker. Especially since some people probably would be okay with it if it meant prolonging their own lives.

Occasionally science fiction delves into whole races being kept as food animals. The usual theme is the smart, escape prone ones are killed and the more compliant and dumber ones are kept. Occasionally this leads to the whole race degenerating into little more than animals over many generations. There aren't enough bunnies for this to last this long, for some unfathomable reason the number of pred and prey in this setting is about equal. There just isn't time form them to raise young to be eaten even if they wanted to, they'd all be eaten first.

Where did you see that their respective numbers are equal in this setting?

A discussion I had with the writer of this comic. It went like this:
-I pointed out that once the weapons tech in the sanctuary becomes common knowledge the prey will kill all the preds thanks to their numerical advantage.
- Writer said the numbers are about equal and that the prey animals do not mature faster than the preds, e.g. they don't breed fast enough to replenish their numbers.
- I said (1) Therefore they don't outnumber the preds enough to win the war or replace their numbers when eaten and (2) the preds will eat all the prey and die out inside a year, the situation is hopeless even in the short term
- I was then told to shut up and color. The author is not inclined to explain how this impossible situation arose.

I blame a malevolent god or AI toying with the inhabitants since this situation cannot have arisen naturally.

Oh now I understand (I have read the comic twice so I was wondering how I could have missed such info).

;.;

yes very water ship downy

What exactly is the point of their behaviour though? They're not feeding the rabbits, and they're obviously not making them breed. At best its like a refrigerator full of shit and fur.

They're very early in their history, they probably have no idea cattle rising is a possibility (our own ancestors needed a lot of time to even come up with the idea themselves). And as Hemlock said they eat part of the "stock" daily (due to them being far bigger than their rabbit prisoners) so there's probably no point in feeding them if the whole stock is going to be depleted in a matter of days.