StardustBibi: i cant believe u all hate ur bodies when there are ubiquitous lifeforms that dont even have bodies and they can still consume the galaxy idk why r u being so ungrateful smh
05:41, Liked by everyonesleastfavtwink and Others,
215 comments
MadsPêches: So true omg.
StardustBibi: :-)
everyonesleastfavtwink: not to be racist or anything but if those lifeforms were this skinny maybe they wouldn't consume the Universe as goodly
ShuuTsukiyama-ChildOfMoonlight: Goodly. I hate that. Don't ever say it again.
everyonesleastfavtwink: Sorry daddy
ShuuTsukiyama-ChildOfMoonlight: No.
StardustBibi: yeah dory get ur fake-ass daddies outta this comment section the only daddy here is daddy Nook
everyonesleastfavtwink: Ooooooo daddy Nook
Pasorokin: Please stop.
--
The lecture hall is always too loud for Lyra.
Most days, she has to stand outside, just preparing herself to enter. Not even her headphones can protect her sensitive ears from the penetrating sound of the hall.
Lyra hovers in the doorway, trying to decide where she should sit. She doesn't normally use this particular lecture hall, and feels slightly sick at the number of unfamiliar faces.
"Ow!" She whimpers, having been suddenly shoved aside. The pile of books hugged to her chest slipping to the floor.
"Don't stand in the doorway then. God," A boy snaps.
Lyra is about to apologise, but the boy is gone.
She feels the eyes of those unfamiliar people on her, They're all staring at you. They're all thinking, 'what a stupid ugly idiot'. They're laughing at you, Lyra! Laughing!
As Lyra picks up her books, she finds herself shaking. She is bright red, and about to cry. She won't look at anyone else, she will break if she sees them laughing at her.
"I'm sorry, can I get past?" A woman asks, from behind her.
Lyra doesn't glance up, and moves silently, mumbling an apology.
"Hey, are you okay?"
Lyra nods, still not looking at the woman.
"Here, let me help," The woman picks up the rest of Lyra's books. Lyra is forced to look at her.
She's probably thinking about how stupid and ugly you are. She'll probably go off and laugh at you.
The woman smiles, and Lyra feels herself cringe. The woman is pretty, and Lyra feels the urge to hide her face, to apologise for making the pretty woman look at it.
"...Sorry," Lyra says, accepting her books.
"It's fine. Are you okay though, sweetheart?"
"Mhm."
"You look like you're crying. Did someone upset you?"
"It's just...loud, I'm fine," Lyra stares at the floor. Even the woman's shoes are prettier than hers; baby blue flats to match the woman's minidress.
"Yeah. It gets like that. It can be stressful, right?"
"Mhm."
"I haven't seen you in here before though, and I'm in here a lot. Do you study one of the other subjects?"
"Mhm...Uh, marine biology."
"Oh, cool. I study ecology. I think we're doing our research projects together. That must be why we're all in this lecture hall. Exciting, right?"
Lyra has been dreading her project since the beginning of her degree. She gulps, "Uh, yeah."
"I'm Madeleine, by the way," The woman smiles, "But you can call me Maddie."
"Uh...Lyra...Uh. Svensson."
"Lyra? That's cute. Anyway. My friend should be here in a second, so I need a seat. Would you like to sit?"
Lyra gulps.
As if she wants someone as ugly as you to sit with her. She'll just laugh at you, with all her friends.
"Uh...I don't—"
"Hey, it's no trouble. Only it's normally quieter near us, that being said my friend's...energetic. But we don't bite, I swear," She laughs.
"...I don't know."
"Oh! Are you waiting for your friends? Sorry, I didn't mean to spring anything on you."
"Uh, no. I don't have...Mhm."
"Hey, it's okay. C'mon," Maddie takes Lyra's hand, gently, "Why don't we get out of the way, hm?"
Lyra doesn't protest, even though she knows this is a mistake. She knows she will be laughed at. She knows she will be humiliated.
Maddie sits a seat away from her, Lyra guesses she's too disgusted to sit near her. She doesn't blame her.
As Lyra begins shakily setting up her things, she hears a loud, childish voice cry out, "Maddie!"
Lyra looks up, shocked by the sudden noise. She trembles at the sight of the owner of the voice; a beautiful girl, more beautiful than she'd ever thought possible.
Her beauty is almost alien. Lyra has never seen an alien, but looking at her; she feels as though she is looking at a being that should not be anywhere near this earth.
Lyra feels her eyes start to sting, and she has to look away before she starts crying.
Lyra knows this girl. Or at least, about her.
She lives in that funny yellow house next to Lyra's apartment.
But Lyra knows about the girl mostly from Kazuo.
He would tell Lyra that the girl was high-maintenance, too talkative, and that he was 'reigning her in' or something like that. Kazuo would laugh and make jokes about the girl that Lyra didn't like.
He'd even flirt with Lyra, but that felt more like an attempt to make fun of Lyra. Why would he flirt with Lyra when he was dating such a wonderful-looking person?
The girl is wearing a pink cardigan and tennis skirt, her blonde hair in twin ponytails, holding bags of shopping and a My Little Pony backpack. She bounces up to their seats, smiling brightly.
"Maddie!" She cries, "I've had such a wonderful morning!"
"That's good, Bun, what—"
"Okay, so, first I had a super deep yoga practice, so I knew it was gonna be a good day. Like, I just knew the Universe had something good for me today, I knew. And I was right! Because I beat my PR in swimming practice this morning, and then I got all my studying done, and then I was like; I should go shopping, because why not? And I went to all the vintage clothes stores, and look at these pink jeans! I'm gonna totally decorate them with those things Pasha gets from the craft store."
"Iron-on patches?"
"Yeah. Them. Anyway! Then I saw that I had some more time, so I went to the toy shop. And look! Look at the Sylvanian Families they had! The princess carriage, Maddie, the princess carriage! And-and-and! Look! I got the haunted house too, so now I have all the amusement park sets, and I have the little ghost! Ooooh! And—"
"That's so cool, Bunny. I mean, really cool, but could you tell me about it later?"
"Sure! And then I'll have even more things to tell you, because more totally awesome stuff would've happened since then! Aha!"
"Sure. Anyway, Bunny, this is Lyra."
"Hi-Hi-Hi!"
"Uh...Hi—"
"Are you new? Because like, I've never ever seen you before!"
Lyra blushes, "Uh. No. Um. I'm not usually, uh, in this hall...Uhm..."
"Ohhhhhh! So like, you're here because it's totally our first-ever research project day! What do you study? What are you doing for your project?"
"Uh..."
"She studies marine biology."
"COOL! That's so totally awesome! I bet you do loads of aqua-microscopic stuff, that's one of my favourite things to do! And I do a lot of microbiology, and marine biology—because I'm studying astrobiology with microbiology!"
Lyra knows this. Everyone knows this.
The astrobiology program is small compared to the other biology courses, hence why most of the students studied it with something—apparently, there were barely twenty students in any astrobiology lecture.
Just a year ago, there had been more students in the course, namely Kazuo and his friends, but they were gone now.
Bunny flops into the seat between Lyra and Madeleine. She stares at Lyra with bright, wide eyes, "Oh! Hey! I totally just remembered—You totally live next door to me, right?"
"Uh, yeah."
"Wow! That's so coincidental, because like, I've been wanting to ask if you wanted to leave with me, because even though I don't know you, I know you go here, so it makes sense! But I have swimming practice most mornings, so I leave like, super early, and I didn't think it'd be that fair. You know?"
"Uh. Yeah."
"OhmyGod—That jumper is soooo cute! Triceratops are literally my favourite dinosaurs, oh! And ankylosaurus' are so super-duper cute! But then like, plesiosaurs and...Ah! I used to be obsessed with Loch Ness, and like, I wanted to be a cryptozoologist and everything. Anyway. Do you like dinosaurs?"
"...Yeah."
"Cool, cool, cool! Wow! I totally didn't introduce myself— I'm Bunny, by the way," She smiles, sitting cross-legged in her seat.
Lyra nods, blushing. She realises that there are few people are sitting near them, and she gets the feeling Bunny is the reason why. Not that she'd complain.
"Hey, Bun," Madeleine says, "Got any idea of what you're doing for this research project? Preferably keeping it in this galaxy?"
"I wanna see what the options are, because like, my professor said that what we're doing today is optional for the astrobiology students because we get to choose from this, our extra subject, or like, the astronomy and physics projects. So like, I wanna see what's on offer."
"Fair enough. I'm hoping there's something in volcanology."
"Oooh! That would be so cool. Miss Lyra, have you got plans for your project yet?"
"Uh...No, I'm waiting for them to be, uh, announced," Lyra blushes, feeling tearful again.
"Uhuh! Any ideas though?"
"Not really..."
"Well, I'm sure you'll figure it out," Bunny smiles.
"Mhm."
"Oh, great, finally," Madeleine sighs, as their professor comes in, "Took him long enough."
"It's Mr Takahashi, he always takes ages," Bunny says to Lyra, "It's like, yeah bro, we totally don't have anything else we could do, like, I don't know, learning? Do you know Mr Takahashi, Miss Lyra?"
"Uh, no."
"Mkay, so he's like, a total dick, so like, just don't talk to him."
Lyra wonders if this is true, or if Bunny doesn't just want her to talk to the professor. Not that it matters, because Lyra rarely talks to her professors, even though she gets lost at some point in almost all of her lectures.
Lyra thinks maybe today, she won't be behind, but no. Lyra is, as usual, stuck five sentences behind and constantly wondering why on earth she thought she was smart enough for university.
"Are you ok?" Bunny asks, when Mr Takahashi stops to fiddle with his computer. sorting something out. Bunny has not stopped working, and a part of Lyra hopes that Bunny is more lost than her.
"Um. Yeah."
"What's up? Don't you understand something? What is it?"
Bunny leans over into Lyra's space, looking at her laptop.
"Oh...That's like, so easy. Do you want me to help later? I can totally explain it to you after this."
"...Okay."
Bunny smiles, staring at Lyra. As she leans away, Lyra realises that Bunny smells like raspberries and some kind of sweet liquor.
Lyra stumbles through the rest of the lecture. She fidgets, her focus is gone and she feels sick. She gets the feeling it's because of how close she is to Bunny. She wonders how someone could be so intoxicating.
Lyra doesn't even remember any of the research project options listed at the end of the lecture. She's too busy thinking about why on earth Bunny is so close to her, and trying desperately to get all the possible notes of ocean dynamics before it's too late.
Bunny pokes her, sending shivers up Lyra's spin, "Hey, you don't have many notes," Bunny says, "Do you want me to send you mine? Or Maddie's. But mine are way neater."
"Yeah," Madeleine laughs, "Bunny colour-codes her notes and everything. Even makes a little contents page."
"It takes a while but it's worth it," Bunny smiles, "Oh! And I need to go over that data acquisition with you, right?"
"Uh...Sure."
"We normally take a break for yoga or something in between lectures and labs, you wanna come?"
"Uh, I guess—"
"Cool! If you're not into yoga, I can totally teach you too. Though like, personally I'd recommend you read the ancient texts before you start, but like, we don't have time for that right now, obviously," Bunny giggles, and begins gathering her things, stretching as she stands, before bouncing off with incredible energy.
Lyra nervously follows them, listening to Madeleine's fine tone and Bunny's squeals of joy at the simplest of things. Lyra is considering speaking, but all she can think about is slipping up and Bunny laughing at her.
As she is considering whether her question is stupid or not, Lyra notices something poking from Bunny's bag. It is green and fluffy, with large, plastic eyes that look soulless, yet filled with some kind of emotion Lyra doesn't understand.
It's smiling at her.
It's looking at her.
It's cute, but something about it makes Lyra want to cry.
She can only look away, and let the tears fall from her eyes, praying Bunny will not see, and that Bunny will not laugh at her.
--
Pasorokin: I made strawberry cake! It took me so long to decorate but I think it turned out good!
19:56, Liked by StardustBibi and Others,
136 Comments,
StardustBibi:OMG ITS SO WONDERFUL AND CUTE I LOVE THE LITTLE MOUSE OMGGGGGGGGG
Pasorokin: You saw me decorating it.
StardustBibi:IDC ITS SO CUTE DONT LET ANYONE EAT IT PLS
Pasorokin: It's for my patients.
StardustBibi: NOOOOOOOO IM NEVER GONNA TALK TO U EVER AGAIN
everyonesleastfavtwink: OMG. Did u make the lil mouse?
Pasorokin: Yeah, it took me so long...
I.makita:It's wonderful, Pavel. You could have a career as a baker.
everyonesleastfavtwink:Omg yeah! I could be his taste tester!
StardustBibi:u r already tho
Pasorokin:I'm not good enough to be a baker you guys. And I like my job!
--
"Wow! You look so beautiful so tonight!"
Bunny is shouting.
"Really? Thanks! I mean, I always look beautiful, and like, so do you, but sometimes I can't see you."
People are staring at them.
"You know, light pollution and all that. Oh!" Bunny sees Genesis walking past, she looks like she's avoiding Bunny, which is amusing to them, "I gotta go—stay beautiful, sweetie!"
Bunny runs over to Genesis, "GIGI! Hi! Hey!"
Genesis looks away, "Hi, Bun—Bambi."
"You were getting it the first time. Aha! Whatcha doing? Heading into work? Me too. We should walk together!"
"Actually I—"
"Great! And like, Imakita's visiting her daughter, and Dory's working, and Maddie has to leave early, so like, we could totally walk home together!"
"Uh, I don't know, Bambi, I leave before curfew."
"I know, but like, Pasha made me promise to be early tonight, so we can go together...Yeah?"
"I don't know."
"Hey! What happened to help thy neighbour?"
"Fine. I won't wait for you, but if you're finished by twenty-two, then I guess, sure. We can leave together."
"Yay! Oh, thank you!"
Genesis sighs, "It's fine...Who were you shouting at?"
"Oh, that."
"Yeah? You looked like a lunatic."
"Correct! Lunatic," Bunny cackles.
"...What?"
"I was complimenting the moon, Genesis."
"The moon?"
"Yeah, you should understand. Normally I compliment things in my head, but look at them! I was just walking, and I just thought about how wonderful they looked, and I was like, 'I should totally compliment them!' So I did, and now I feel so wonderful, and I hope the moon does too!"
"...Okay, Bambi."
"Oh! And you look...Interesting. Did you put that outfit together yourself?"
"Yeah."
"Hm. Well, it's...bold."
Genesis glares at Bunny, "Are you—"
"But I mean, your skin looks very nice tonight! Very smooth; like a lil...Huh...A smooth animal...Like a snake! It looks very smooth, like a lil snake!"
"Are you calling me a snake?"
"No! But I mean, is that such a bad thing?"
Genesis stares at Bunny, appalled.
"What?" Bunny blinks, "Snakes are very sacred animals. Like, in Hinduism, the kundalini snake is—Oh wait. You're a Christian, so...The whole Garden of Eden thing. Oops."
"Whatever. We're here now."
"Cool! Do you wanna come—Oh. Bye-bye! Have a good performance!"
"Sure, Bambi."
Bunny skips to the changing rooms, ignoring the government announcement screeching in the background. She will breeze her way through tonight, as usual, and is pleasantly surprised when she is only sexually harassed twice. Usually it's innumerable.
But breezing through the night presents Bunny with an issue.
She gets too caught up in her earning. She is bombarded with client after client, and when Maddy leaves; Bunny is forced to do extra sets.
By the time her shift is finally over, she has missed curfew and Genesis is long gone.
Bunny's failsafe was Noriko—her other dance partner—but she hasn't seen Noriko since the party. Her other option was to find someone to take her to their home, but she doesn't trust anyone to do that.
Bunny will have to go home alone.
Bunny always brings trainers to work, and her outfits are often semi-decent for running in. She prays she can run to the CCG office quickly and without incident.
When she leaves and begins running, the first few meters are smooth and innocent.
That's when the announcement starts again.
'ATTENTION: GENERAL CURFEW HAS ENDED. GENERAL CURFEW HAS ENDED.'
Bunny can sense something nearby, from an alleyway.
'PLEASE MAKE YOUR WAY HOME. PLEASE. CURFEW HAS ENDED.'
She doesn't know why, but she stops. She freezes.
'IF YOU ARE FOUND OUTSIDE WITHOUT GOOD REASON, YOU WILL BE FINED.'
Something is watching her.
'WE CARE ABOUT YOUR SAFETY.'
She can see it; its humanoid shape edging closer, and closer.
'WE UNDERSTAND THESE RULES MAY MAKE THINGS DIFFICULT.'
Bunny stares at it with wide eyes. She can see its drool glistening in the beautiful moonlight.
'FOLLOWING THESE RULES WILL AID THE NATION'S FIGHT AGAINST THE GHOUL THREAT.'
The thing edges further out, whispering, 'I'm so hungry. I'm so hungry. Help me. Help. Help.'
'THANK YOU FOR YOUR COOPERATION.'
Bunny is shaking, shaking so much she cannot move, even if she tries. She is shaking so much, that she emits small whimpers in between shaky sobs.
'Hungry...So hungry...Come here. Please...Help...Can you help me? So hungry...I need help.'
Bunny is trying to run. She is. All she can think is, why aren't you letting me move? Legs! That's your job! Please, please! Let me move! I don't wanna die! I don't! I don't wanna die! Please!
Bunny is crying, she can barely make out the creature through her tears. Her legs are still not letting her move.
All she can do is shudder and sob, thinking about how she does not want to die, as the creature edges closer. Bunny knows if she doesn't move soon the creature will eat her, but she just can't move.
The creature is about to exit the alley. Bunny is crying even more.
'Let me help!' Cries a squeaky voice—Allan, 'Run! Run! Run!'
Allan's 'help' arrives in the form of a nosebleed.
The blood sends the creature flying at Bunny, and on impulse, she leaps out of the way.
'Run!' Allan cries, 'Run!'
Bunny does, her once shaky legs becoming strong and powerful. She stumbles, but is able to rush away.
She is still crying, still whimpering, but the creature is not behind her.
Or, at least, it's not in the open. The alleyways are still making noise. There is still something in there.
Bunny feels as though she is barely moving, her body feels far too slow. She doesn't realise how far she's moved, only that it feels slow.
But she doesn't stop running, even if it feels like she's running on a treadmill. A treadmill with things trying to get her, a government announcement in the background, and she is sobbing like a maniac.
She falls over at one point, and lets out a scream, because something is behind her. She knows something is behind her. She can feel its breath on her neck.
She gets back up, but now she is moving slower than before, and crying more than before.
Where's the fucking CCG office? She thinks, she should've reached it by now.
Is she running in circles? Surely, even if they had been moving so slowly, they'd be able to see it?
She stumbles again, scraping her knee on the floor.
She sees a car approaching. She stares at it, still shaking.
It stops in front of her.
Bunny is about to scream, her nails are dug so deep into her palms they feel as though they might burst. They are about to explode to even more tears.
"Bunny? Holy hell, get in, kiddo."
Bunny recognises the voice, "Mr Besho?"
Mr Besho is Bunny's manager at the club—her pimp, some might say.
"Yeah. C'mon. We can't have you out in the open covered in all that blood. Get in."
Mr Besho has to leave the club before the dancers, like all the managers.
"Bunny, get in. Come on. Let me give you a ride home."
Mr Besho was Kazuo's uncle, and godfather.
"Thank you," Bunny sobs, clambering into the car, "Thank you so much, Mr Besho."
"It's fine," Mr Besho has found Bunny out on the streets before, he has taken her home before, "Jesus, Bunny, seeing you like that...You look bloody terrified."
"I am, sir," Bunny is shaking, "I thought I was gonna die. Did you see anything behind me?"
"Nothing. It's okay, you're safe now. It's okay, come on now, take some deep breaths."
"I barely even got a mile away from the fucking club," Bunny sniffles, accepting a tissue, "I just...I couldn't move fast enough. I was so slow."
"Were you? When did you get out?"
"I don't know...I feel sick."
"I bet you do. There's a bag in the glovebox."
Bunny peaks into the glovebox. They can't help but notice the small photo of Kazuo and Mr Besho out on a fishing trip. Bunny feels even sicker.
"Mr Sorokin must be so worried about you," Mr Besho says.
"Yeah..." Bunny mumbles, "But he worries a lot—ack."
"Of course he does, you must be like his little girl."
"He says that too—urgh—Uh. I can't say I disagree. Ahah."
"How's he coping, anyway? I haven't stopped by in a while. The last time was...Well, when you got—"
"He's ok, but—ergh—ever since the, uh, baby thing...With Mr Ryōma and Natsuki...He's been kinda clingy."
"Oh. Oh, no. How could I forget about that? God, that was awful of the two of them. I mean, I love Ryōma but my God, that man can be a mystery."
Bunny doesn't reply. They don't want to get into trouble because they disliked Mr Besho's oldest friend.
"I still can't work out why they did that," Besho continues, "It was...vile."
"Stress..." Bunny says. She knows why, and it's vile, but she won't tell Besho.
"Yeah, but...Anyway. Are Pasha and Natsuki still—"
"Yes."
"Mhm, good. And your brother?"
"Martin?" Bunny shudders, "Um..." She vomits. She doesn't answer the question. She can't believe Besho doesn't know.
"Still getting those nosebleeds then?" Besho continues.
"Mhm..."
They are at Bunny's home now. Bunny can see Pasha at the window. They can sense his stress.
"Thanks," Bunny sniffles, "Sorry about being sick."
"It's no trouble. You know I'd do anything for you."
"I know, but—egh—you don't have to care about us like this. You could be just another pimp."
"Well, I'm glad you appreciate it."
There is a pause, as Bunny throws up again.
"Sorry."
"It's okay. Do you want to—"
"I have to go. Look at him in there—Sorry. Thanks for taking care of me, Mr Besho."
"It's fine. Have a good night, Bunny."
"Thanks."
Bunny hobbles out of the car, and to the door, where she is greeted by Pasha, and is pulled into the warm comfort of her home, comforted only by the belief that she is safe.
They know the comfort of home—of safety—is brief, and perhaps even, nonexistent, but she doesn't care.
Bunny is just glad that for another night—even if it's just this one night—she is safe.