Humanity, Is it really so bad?

This is a fun little chapter about Judy finding out some things she liked about humans. It is sort of like a sorbet cleansing the pallet before we get into all the intense stuff. Enjoy.

Drew and Judy had prepared everything for their field trip tomorrow with Mia the scientist. Judy was a bit apprehensive but excited at the same time. She hadn't been outside the room since… she didn't even remember getting there so… ever. This was exciting but very dangerous. She hadn't really met another human besides Drew. He was so different than any of the Zootopians she knew. This Mia sounded a bit of an irritable sort. Judy decided to take her mind off the meeting and think about something pleasant for a change.

Drew had exposed her to all kinds of amazing things humanity had to offer she didn't have in Zootopia. Of course there was this internet she was using which was a marvel. They had communication in Zootopia but it was mainly telephone communication and sharing of apps not all the variety she found on this Earth internet. There was SOOOO much information.

She also loved the clothes. She never really cared about clothes and fashion, but Drew showed her how to search the internet for any style she wanted and she could order them and have delivered the same or next day. She had some friends that would have had a seizure thinking of all the shopping options you could find online as Drew called it.

And there were the foods. Drew had picked out all the favorite foods he knew rabbits on his Earth loved the most and she has sampled them all. Some of them she was familiar with as they had these in Zootopia, but many of them were totally new. He also brought her many things not on the normal rabbit diet and she tried many of these. He said he was very careful not to pick up anything containing something called byproducts or chemicals. Drew tried to stick to raw fruits and vegetables with the main exception being the different juice varieties he found for her to drink. She loved the blends of different types of fruits and vegetables as they created a whole unique taste nothing like the individual items that made up the juice. Drew kept writing down which items she preferred and made sure she was well stocked with good things to eat and drink. Drew seem to pay close attention to anything Judy liked about humanity and would make sure she got to experience it the best she could considering their current circumstances.

One of these she particularly enjoyed was all the different types of music. She loved sampling all the different styles and genres. They were fairly limited on Zootopia, but apparently with Earth being so large there were endless varieties and styles. Drew had tried to limit her from watching music videos with what he called improper female role models after her little performance with the apples and so he limited her a bit from watching videos in a few genres like rap and hip-hop as well as many county and pop videos. She really liked some of the many silly ones and wondered what Nick would think of the one called "What Does the Fox Say?" She could just imagine what Nick would say about that one. She imagined Nick would say those guy are morons that's what the fox says. She also liked one called "Chick Chick" with humans and animals acting very silly. She liked any videos where animals and humans seemed to be having fun together even if they were something called animated which Drew says was using a process where computers could create images and make them act like they were moving. She loved the songs she could dance to and would jump on the bed and dance like crazy and get Drew to dance with her while he danced on the floor so they were closer in height. Apparently he was open for any excuse to make her feel happy to counter the serious nature of their real life activities.

One genre of music she really came to love was called classical. The music was so relaxing and emotional. It could make her feel like she was floating or it could make her feel like she was in the middle of a thunderstorm. Drew said he wished he could take her to see a live performance as it would be a totally different experience and he said he didn't have the speakers to do it justice in the small room but he got some very high-end headphones for her and she loved to close her eyes and lie back on the bed and immerse herself in the wonderful music.

Something else amazing was something humans called movies. These were videos that told giant stories like a play which she was familiar with, but instead with amazing scenery and backgrounds. Some of them had crazy things like explosions and monsters and impossible views which Drew said were something called Special Effects. She had been concerned by some of them at first until Drew convinced her it was not real. She had been terrified that monsters and aliens were rampaging outside the door while they were inside the room. They seemed so real like a news report, but he said they told a story. He said not all stories were realistic and that humans like to fantasize about all kinds of things. There were many dramas between humans and some were so sad. Drew tried to steer her toward happy ones and not what he called 'chick flicks,' but she liked the ones that made her feel emotional. Drew would just shake his head at her and say women. She saw many movies that had animals talking. She asked Drew about this and he said it was all special effects. Some of the animals looked so realistic. Drew mentioned something about a big budget whatever that meant. Apparently humans liked talking animals from what she could tell, but he assured her that if they actually saw one they wouldn't know how to react.

She also loved all the many books and literature. She wished she had time to read more of them, there was so much to explore. She could spend her whole life just trying to read a tiny amount of all the books she found. She also loved all the different types of art. She took things called virtual tours of human museums both exploring art and science. Drew kept saying how he wished he could take her to the real ones, but she enjoyed the ones on the computer. She appreciated many of the ones exploring ancient civilizations and cultures as well as ancient history about something called dinosaurs that lived so long ago… millions and millions of years ago. She could not imagine anything that ancient but it was all fascinating. She wondered if Zootopia had the same dinosaurs roaming that long ago in the past. She believed that they did, but that they just hadn't discovered them. There were many science exhibits. She like the ones about the history of the planet and how it was created. Almost everything about this Earth was the same as her world it seemed except for humans. Drew said he theorized that she lived in a different parallel world or possibly in a time well before or more likely well after humans lived. He said he thought it was most likely a parallel reality, but that it could be possible she lived in a time in the future long after humans had destroyed themselves and had died out. Judy got sad thinking about humans dying out and then realized she didn't hate humans so much anymore. They had many faults, but they had many beautiful things about them she enjoyed. She then thought about these humans wanting to invade and destroy Zootopia and she got angry again. Drew said he was not exactly sure what was going on, but she knew her world was in grave danger and that the humans were involved.

It was after she had been watching some animals that she asked Drew why the humans did not eat the animals she saw in the movies where they talked. She had seen many movies and videos where humans did kill and eat the other animals. These disgusted her so much she had to watch them in extreme moderation. Drew said humans did not eat any species they felt were intelligent like dolphins, apes or talking parrots. They also did not eat animals that were closely bonded to humans like dogs and cats… or pet rabbits he added. He said there were always rare exceptions, but that it would be very unusual. He told her that there were rare circumstances where humans would eat other humans although most of that happened a long time ago. Judy felt nauseous thinking of any rabbit eating another rabbit. That is the most disgusting thing she could possibly think of… well with the exception of someone harming her Zootopia. She had wondered if humans were going to invade Zootopia in order to eat the citizens, but apparently from what Drew had explained, the humans would have no desire to eat highly intelligent talking animals. That made her feel a little better. He said most humans would love to meet Zootopians and visit their wonderful land, but he didn't think Zootopia would be better off with humans visiting there. Judy agreed as some human ideas were extremely counter to the Zootopian way of life, but she supposed some humans would be able to live in peace and harmony with Zootopians just as prey and predator did now.

Judy asked Drew if humans were predators or prey. He thought about it for awhile and said he was not exactly sure humans fit nicely into either category. While humans did hunt and eat animals they also were hunted for food in their past by many species of predators. He said in a few places tigers would still hunt humans for food. Humans apparently now had killed most any predators that were a threat to them, but in the past they had been prey just like her ancestors had been.

Judy's mind swam with so much information and so many contrasting ideas. Everything was so alien to her yet there was so much that was exciting and beautiful. She then thought about this Mia and other human females she had seen in these movies. They seemed so much different than she was. Drew seemed to be very nervous around them, but she seemed to gather he liked them in spite of that. She decided to ask.

"Drew, do you wish I was a human female?"

"I kinda wish you were Wonder Woman... would make things a whole lot easier for us." Drew quipped.

Drew had been trying to show her positive female role models after Judy's whole music video misunderstanding and they had discussed Wonder Woman among many other examples.

"Drew I am serious." Judy exclaimed more earnestly.

"So am I." Drew responded.

Judy puts her paws on her hips and gives him one of those you better take me seriously or I will strangle you looks that indicated she meant business.

He thought about it for a couple seconds and responded seriously, "No Judy, being a rabbit is part of who you are. It is part of your identity just as much as you being female or being a Hopps. I would not change anything about you."

"Now would I change what happened to you?" He continued to postulate.

"While my knee jerk reaction would be to say yes, I wish this never happened to you. Once I think about it. I say no."

Judy was shocked and hurt and she showed it. How in the world could he think that?

"You wanted me to be hurt and tortured and lost?" She said as her ears drooped and tears started forming in her eyes.

Drew quickly responded seeing her reaction, "No, of course not! But have you heard of something called The Butterfly Effect?"

Judy shook her head no.

"It is a popular hypothetical example of chaos theory which illustrates how small initial differences may lead to large unforeseen consequences over time. In the example if you were to go back in time and killed say a butterfly..."

"Who would kill a butterfly? That is terrible." Judy said with a disgusted look.

"By accident then. You accidentally killed a butterfly not watching where you were walking. It says that by doing this you could bring about large events such as the death of an entire species." Drew explained.

"How could that happen?" Judy asked wondering.

"Well say a particular lizard only survived on those butterflies and without the butterfly to mate and produce offspring, it had nothing to eat and could not feed its young so it died out. And lets say a snake lived on eating those lizards but then it could not feed its young and died out... etc etc..."

"So tiny changes could have huge effects." Judy marveled with a wide eyed expression.

"Exactly! If you were never sent here, I would never have met you. But also we may never have discovered the threat to Zootopia. If say you had been sent here and were never harmed, but instead were sent to a nice... say farm to live and munch on wonderful foods and live a happy life. Again I would have never met you and we would not have discovered this danger to your world. Only by the circumstances and events we both endured did we get to the point we find ourselves now."

Judy thought about this for awhile and finally responded, "You know, you think too much."

Drew quickly acknowledged, "You aren't the first to say that."

They both fell on the bed laughing uncontrollably.