"Hm... fascinating, is it not?"
"That depends on what you mean, my friend. What is fascinating?"
"Look at this planet. It's an advanced technological wonder and everyone seems happy, but this... one person... looks absolutely miserable. He would rather hole up with a primitive instrument from their most rebellious colony than work on a computer as his fellow citizens do."
"Oh... that's Lapinia."
"Yes, I know what planet it is. I selected it, remember? I just wonder why he looks so miserable when everyone else seems to be happy."
"They're pretty abusive towards their children, actually. They think it's building them up and molding them into the perfect adult. Most children are properly brainwashed by the time they are seven years old. This one looks at least fourteen, maybe older... I wonder what went wrong."
"You sound as though you have experience."
"That no longer matters. I am curious, though... this Lapinian isn't acting like a typical Lapinian. He seems to be... embracing a personal lifestyle more indicative of a colonist or Ursian. He is focusing solely on an instrument he doesn't even understand... and he seems to know decently enough how to play it. Hm... what's this? His mother?"
"He is being lectured now it seems. And… she's taking the instrument away? Yet still he just sits there… doing nothing? Yes... That doesn't sound like a Lapinian to me. The Lapinians I have observed in the past have always had a strong drive to learn and explore, never sit idle staring at a wall..."
"It is possible that he knows everything about his world already. There is nothing more for him to explore or learn- it is normal, boring, and perhaps even, hm… painful to him. ... Maybe... Perhaps... I think... we should use this one for the experiment as well."
"A Lapinian? You do realize he would never survive on H3MR-2X, right?"
"I think you're underestimating him. Besides, it might be helpful for the others to have a Lapinian on their side. I think... they will figure the planet out quicker. A higher chance at survival, even. It would prolong the experiment as well, we could possibly learn more..."
"He will clash horribly with the Lacatran colonists."
"That is fine, it adds an interesting dynamic to this experiment. Besides, we have three Bears selected, so three Rabbits doesn't seem very out of place."
"Yet two Chickens, two Foxes, and two Humans?"
"To be fair, Avia, Vulpinia, and Earth do not have colony planets."
"Point taken. You're sure you wish to use the Lapinian? If he dies, it'll be on your hands, Bonsha."
"I'm quite aware, Shafred. I just don't think you're giving him enough credit. Just look at him. He may not be very strong physically or interested in what is surrounding him... but he is clearly intelligent and, ah... hurting, I think. He seems to reject Lapinia as much as the Lacatrans do."
"If you insist. So, our experiment lineup: two Bears from Ursius; a third Bear from the Ursian colony Ardraw, better known as MB27X; two Foxes from the new Vulpinia planet; two Chickens from Avia, which lacks advanced technology; two Humans from Earth, which also lacks advanced technology; two Rabbits from the Lapinian colony Lacatra, better known as Alpha C 301, which lacks Earth-level technology; and a third Rabbit from Lapinia itself, which is the third most advanced race, behind our people and the Teppupians, in this quadrant of the universe. And we agreed the Common Language to be the Earthen language English, yes?"
"Yes."
"Bonsha, I honestly believe this spells disaster."
"Just trust me. Besides, it's not like we're emotionally invested in this experiment."
"Very funny. If I still had emotions I'd have probably laughed."
"If you did there wouldn't have been a joke to make. Come, let's speak to the Fuellers and Fritz, pass the addition to the experiment by them."
It was warm.
That was the first thing that registered in the blue rabbit's mind.
It was warm, and underneath him he could feel... grass? And dirt? And the scent in the air… it reminded him of the oxygen factories on his planet, where trees and other plants were grown in ways to maximize the production of oxygen... The air also felt rather... damp ... It was strange...
But I'm in my bedroom...
That didn't match up, though. His bedroom smelled like, well... actually, it didn't have a scent, except for his bedsheets. They had his scent, but everything else in his room smelled of nothingness. This was, obviously, not "nothingness."
The logical conclusion was that he wasn't in his bedroom. If he wasn't in his bedroom, then where am I?
His eyes opened slowly. All he could see was wispy greens and browns. It took him a moment to register that he was lying on the ground on his stomach, with his cheek against the dirt. He felt strangely groggy and weak... and lightheaded... as if he'd been...
Tranquilized?!
Suddenly, his eyes widened and he shoved himself off of the ground, swiftly standing and whirling around to look at his surroundings, ignoring the way his head seemed to be spinning.
There were several more creatures lying scattered around the clearing they were in. Right off the bat he noticed two more Rabbits and three Bears, and he was pretty sure there were Foxes, but the other four creatures were unfamiliar to him.
One of the Bears was stirring so he turned his gaze around again, studying their surroundings.
It wasn't a clearing, actually. They were all laying on the forest floor, the trees- all much larger than anything he'd ever seen- decently spaced apart. He found himself looking up, up, up until his eyes found the canopy, so much further up than the factories' roofs were. They were tall and the leaf cover was thick.
And yet I can see as clear as day and grass is growing on the floor…
A groan to his right got the blue Rabbit's attention and his gaze snapped over to a red Fox as he slowly sat up, blinking around at their surroundings. The Bear from earlier was shaking a golden Bear awake, and the other two Rabbits were slowly standing up now. One of the strange hairless creatures was sitting, staring owlishly around, while neither of the feathered beings had moved yet.
"Nng… what the heck?"
Bandi turned his gaze back to the trees around, brow furrowing in concentration. Humid forest, not tropical but there's no leaves or their remains on the forest floor, so doesn't look deciduous either... the soil is soft, doesn't offer much grip. Sunlight getting through the canopy despite how thick it is? Thick, green grass on the floor despite all of this? Completely silent... This... doesn't make sense.
"Ugh, Freddy...? What's going on? Where are we?"
"What..."
Bandi didn't look at the people around him. Instead he concentrated on his thoughts, frowning and ears flat. I don't... know. That's a strange thing to say... I don't... know... I don't know.
Huh. Cool.
"Hey!" The angry voice sliced through Bandi's thoughts just as that knife had cut through his skin just a year before. Even now, as the memory flashed through his mind, he could see the blood dripping onto the floor from his fingertips... "Lapinian!" The word was spat like a curse and Bandi realized immediately just what was calling out to him.
Oh. No. It's a colonist, he sighed silently and turned his gaze to the other two Rabbits, letting his neutral expression slip into place. Tall, broad shoulders, wiry muscle, look like they want to kill me- they must be from Alpha C 301. Brilliant, of all the beings to be trapped somewhere I don't know with.
"Yes?" he questioned flatly. However, he didn't give the colonists a chance to respond as he realized that something was wrong wrong wrong about the word he had spoken. He understood it yet it made no sense at all- it was unfamiliar, foreign on his tongue. Almost like... "Wait, what language is this?!"
The colonist had to pause at that comment, his anger being replaced by confusion as he realized that the language they were speaking was completely unfamiliar to them. The two woken Bears also paused and the Fox frowned in confusion; clearly it wasn't any of their languages either.
"Uh, English?" one of the strange fleshy creatures suggested, bemusement lacing its tone, as it reached over to its lookalike, shaking it. "Hey, stranger, wake up!"
"English...?" What a strange word.
Although he could understand all of the others' words perfectly despite their strange foreign sounds, that one stuck out as having no meaning at all. It was just... English. It took him a moment to realize that it was the name of the language; an unfamiliar language which had no name in Lapinian. If I can understand the language but some words don't translate...
"Oh... a translation program," he mumbled to himself, hand quickly going to his temple. Did... did somebody really put a device to make us speak another language in our brains? Talk about invasive...
"Lapinian," the purple-furred colonist repeated, glaring at him. Apparently he recovered quicker than the others and was just shoving the issue aside for the time being. "What did you do?!"
"Me?" Bandi looked at him, dropping his hand back to his side and letting his expression fall into neutrality again. He hadn't even noticed it slip away in the first place… I can't slip up, not in front of a bunch of strangers. "I did nothing."
The colonist sneered at him, rolling his eyes. Clearly he thinks me a liar. Jerk. "Oh yes, like I'm going to believe that, you little-"
"Calm down," the golden Bear suddenly cut in, stepping forward as the purple rabbit took a step towards Bandi. "If Lapinia was behind this I doubt they would have left one of their own kind here, especially a kid."
Bandi's ears twitched and he frowned, crossing his arms. Kid?! I'm sixteen, I graduate school and start my Entrance Program in just a few months! "Kid" my ass! He didn't voice these thoughts, though; he knew by Ursian standards he was a kid, even if the Ursian government commonly dealt with seventeen, eighteen, and nineteen year old Lapinian delegates and knew they "grew up fast," as the Ursian military officer who often conferred with his father had once noted. After all, the Ursians didn't rob their children of their childhood like the Lapinians did.
But no one else needed to know that.
"Lapinia?" the squishy, fleshy thing from before questioned, voice thick with confusion, but no one paid it any mind for the time being. They could explain things later.
The colonist sneered towards Bandi. The blue Rabbit simply lifted his hands in a defensive gesture. "Hey, I had nothing to do with this, I'm still in school," he huffed, glaring right back at the other Rabbit. "I don't have access to the things I'd need to do this," he added, gesturing around at their surroundings. He didn't want to admit he had no idea whatsoever where they were or what some of these beings were, though.
Admitting it to himself was strange enough.
"Agh," another voice cut in before the colonist could respond, and Bandi's gaze moved over towards the second Fox. He couldn't tell right off the bat if it was male or female, but it was white and pink and seemed to be wearing some type of makeup. "I feel like I was hit by a train," the Animal complained as it sat up, yellow eyes scanning their surroundings. "Uh...?"
"We don't know," the second Fox answered the unasked question.
"Do we not?" the darker brown Bear questioned, looking around them all. His eyes landed on Bandi.
Oh great, here we go with the expectations already. "No, we don't," he deadpanned, gaze flickering off to the side. How could you expect me to know, anyway? I've only seen this one stupid area!
"That's fine," the third, smallest, Bear dismissed. Bandi hadn't even realized he'd woken up. Pay better attention, Bandi... "We're somewhere strange that none of us recognize, obviously, so wherever we are we seem to be in a survival situation."
"Wonderful," the other Rabbit, this time a scarred golden Animal, scowled as he turned his grey gaze to the red-eyed colonist. "A survival situation, stuck with a Lapinian who's probably never even seen a tree before. Sounds like perfect odds."
"Tell me about it," the colonist muttered, rolling his eyes. Bandi scowled for a moment before schooling his expression back into indifference.
What did he care about a couple of colonists' opinions? They were just colonists who knew nothing about him or his planet. Their opinions didn't even matter.
"We should at least learn everyone's names," the darker brown Bear suggested, eying them all. Bandi noticed that the two feathered creatures and the second fleshy being had also risen. "It'll make getting along easier, I'm sure."
"Ah, pardon the interruption, mate," the red Fox suddenly cut in, "but who's to say we should stick together at all?"
"It makes the odds of survival better," the Bear answered simply. "Especially seeing as we have no idea where we are or what kind of things might be on this planet."
The Fox frowned but he seemed to accept the answer... for the moment, anyway. "Well I be Foxy."
He speaks strangely, Bandi noted silently. He chose not to share the observation.
"Vixy," the other Fox put in. "But please, I prefer Mangle," they added as they picked some grass out of their fur.
"Freddy and Goldie Fazbear," the brown and gold Bears chorused.
"Those sound like Earthen names," one of the fleshy beings muttered to the other. Earthen. That was a word that translated. Terran. They're from Terra.
"Fredric Farrell," the third Bear introduced with a slight movement of his hand. Bandi wasn't sure what it meant, but this Bear somehow looked different from the others. Smaller, more agile-looking. Must be an Ursian colonist.
"Bonnie and Spring Trey," the purple colonist introduced, crossing his arms and glancing towards his brother. The golden Rabbit tilted his head at his brother before they glanced at the strange fleshy beings.
"Mike Schmidt," the darker-haired fleshy creature put in, watching them all with a strange expression. It was like he didn't know what to think about the situation- as though the sight of the Animals was strange. Sorry, Mikey-boy, you're the weird one here.
"Jeremy Fitzgerald," the lighter-haired look-a-like introduced, giving them a small, nervous smile. He seemed to be taking the situation a bit better than Mike.
"Wait," Bandi cut in before the feathery creatures could start, "What are you two?"
"Uh..." They glanced at each other, as if surprised by the question. Jeremy answered, "We're humans. From Earth."
Humans. It was unfamiliar and didn't translate in his mind. Judging by the others' expressions, it didn't translate to them either.
"Moving on," one of the feathery creatures decided. "I'm Chica."
"Huh, funny, I'm Chii," the second feathery creature said, glancing at the first. "We're from Avia. Chickens."
Avia. Chickens. These were unfamiliar too. I wonder how it is all of us came to be on this planet... I mean, I've never even heard of Avia and Earth is that little backwater planet in the Trasvyl system, but-
"Well, what about you, Lapinian, gonna give us your name?" Bonnie questioned with a scowl, raising a brow at him. Bandi blinked owlishly; had he zoned out? Eesh, those tranquilizers must still be getting to me.
"Sorry," he said instinctively, frowning to himself. "Bandi Cator, b-"
"Cator? As in General Commander Cator?" The voice was dangerously low and it took Bandi everything he had to not flinch away. "As in, the person who ordered over fifty Lacatran villages to be destroyed?"
Bandi crossed his arms, pulling his defenses up immediately. "I was all of six when all of that happened, you can not blame me for what my father did," he told them. He tried to keep his voice as flat and neutral as possible, reminding himself that the fear he suddenly felt was illogical.
Then again, Lapinian rules don't apply here. Those two would have no problem killing me. Huh...
"I think we damn well can," Spring snarled, taking a step towards him. Goldie was quick to intervene, stepping between the Rabbits again.
"Hey now," he warned, eying the golden Rabbit warily. "We have no idea what's going on here and whether you like it or not, Bandi might be able to offer some help."
Bandi wanted to speak up, he wanted to ask the bear to not call him Bandi, but... he chose not to. He had no reason to bare himself to these strangers. He had no reason to confess how much he hated the name his father gave him.
Instead, he chose to say, "Look, colonist, I don't even like the general commander, so I wouldn't mind one single bit if you don't relate me to him at all." It was the simple truth, something he never tried to hide even on his home planet; he didn't like his father but he gave him the respect he deserved as both his father and as the highest military official on Lapinia. No one, not even his father or mother, was bothered by this fact. As long as he respected and obeyed him, it was okay to dislike him.
Therefore, he didn't really understand why everyone was giving him strange and/or surprised looks. The Bear siblings exchanged a glance with one another and Bandi raised a brow, frowning slightly. "What? It's the truth."
"You don't like your own father?" the red Fox- Foxy- questioned him incredulously. Bandi looked at him and then around at the others, all of them watching him with those strange, confused expressions. Even the colonists seemed surprised by his words, as though disliking his own father was horrible.
I don't... understand.
"Yes...?" he frowned, trying not to let his confusion reflect on his face. "What? Why are you all looking at me like that? So I don't like my father, big deal, I don't like my mother or the Chancellor either."
There was silence for a few moments after his declaration. Bandi didn't like it.
"Geez, spoiled and ungrateful," Bonnie snorted, breaking the silence and rolling his eyes. Bandi tensed up and narrowed his eyes at the larger Rabbit.
Spoiled? Ungrateful? Hell yes I'm ungrateful, why would I be grateful for my parents literally stabbing me in the back?
They didn't know about that, though. He had to remind himself that no one, not even the Lapinians' closest allies, knew about what really happened on Lapinia.
I think I'll keep it that way.
"Whatever you say, colonist," he dismissed carelessly, drawing his neutral expression back into place. Pushing his anger aside in favor of neutrality, he settled into the familiar numbness that accompanied it. Oh man I want my Chaska.
"We should find or make shelter," Fredric interrupted before anyone else could speak. "It's safest to assume night will not be good, so we should make shelter to last tonight and perhaps search the area in the morning."
Make shelter? How? Bandi didn't know the first thing about survival. Undoubtedly they all knew that, but the colonists had absolutely no problem in pointing it out.
"I doubt there's any technology lying around," Bonnie groused, glaring over towards Bandi. Bandi didn't let his neutral expression slip, instead simply looking back at the colonist boredly. "The Lapinian's just useless here, I doubt it could even climb a tree."
It. He noted that word, that word that invalidated him as a person. Oh how fitting that seems sometimes, huh?
Instead of saying as much, Bandi just tilted his head at the purple-furred Rabbit. "Yes. I don't know the first thing about survival. But, you know, that's because I live on a planet where I don't need to. Not everyone has to live like savages, you know." He had no idea why he added that; maybe he just wanted to get a rise out of the other Rabbit.
Or maybe I just have a death wish.
"Just stay out of the way," Bonnie snarled, turning towards him. "This is already gonna be hard enough without you tripping everyone up-"
"Back off, Bonnie," Fredric warned. "It's not his fault he was raised in a different environment than the rest of us."
"It's useless and can't do anything, it-"
"-has had enough," Bandi cut in flatly. "If you need me, which I highly doubt since I'm too stupid apparently to pick up some sticks, I'm going to go explore around."
Exploring did sound nice. He was curious about the planet. It was new, it was different, it was unlike anything he'd seen before, and even through the numbness and anger twisting in his stomach he could feel that deeply-ingrained desire to learn. It was a desire that he hadn't felt in a long time.
"I'll try not to get my useless tail lost," he added with a sneer as he spun around and walked away through the forest, ignoring the Bears' calls for him to come back, we don't know what's out there.
"Fucking Lapinian's gonna get himself killed."
Fucking. Another word without translation. Oh well.
He walked through the forest, glancing around at his surrounding. There really wasn't anything of note so far, but the anger was swiftly returning to him, overcoming his curiosity. When it became clear none of them actually followed him, Bandi finally allowed his neutral expression to slip away, a scowl sliding into place.
"Useless, huh?" he muttered, stepping over a tree root and knocking a branch out of the way a little more aggressively than necessary. "Who the hell do you think seeded your entire planet? Your ancestors were Lapinian, idiot." He jumped over a ditch between two trees and swatted at some leaves, which almost immediately sprung back into place and smacked him in the face. He glared at the offending piece of nature as he passed, thoughtlessly rubbing his cheek.
"And what was that about spoiled?" he asked the trees around him, kicking up some of the loose soil and the grass that, logically, should not be growing at all. "Yes, I'm so spoiled for never getting to do what I want and being tortured for hours when I was a child in the name of science is superior and emotion is illogical!"
Bandi knew he was being immature. He was being very... un-Lapinian. If his parents saw how he was acting, he'd never get his Chaska back. Hell, he'd probably be sent to a camp for letting something as illogical as anger take over his mind.
But… he wasn't on Lapinia, and his parents and the government and the camps weren't there, and it felt so good to just let his thoughts flow free, to feel the blood rushing past his ears and not have to try and control the beating of his heart, to just let it go. It felt so good to just let go of control, and no one was there to witness it. No one was there to judge him, to lecture him, to control him.
"Stupid jerks. What right do you have to judge me? You know even less about me than my parents do!"
This time, as the blue Rabbit angrily slammed his hand against some vines hanging down from a branch above, something... peculiar happened. His hand got tangled in the vines. Noticing this, he paused and looked at the vines clinging to his hand, raising a brow quizzically at them. Now a tree is trying to control me?
"Oh, sorry, did I just touch a carnivorous tree?" he snarked at the vines, roughly tearing his hand away from them.
The pain that shot up through his arm was unlike anything he had ever felt before, and a short, pained screech escaped his throat before he could even register it. Quickly, he brought his bloodied hand up to his chest and took deep, steadying breaths, closing his eyes and concentrating. His anger fled in favor of the old lesson his parents had taught him so long ago.
It's only in your mind, Blu. It's only in your mind. You're intelligent. You can ignore it.
That mantra running through his brain, he opened his eyes and looked at his hand. It was sliced on the palm and three shallow cuts extended horizontally across all of his fingers, barring his thumb. Blood poured out of the wound on his palm and he found himself, not for the first time, mesmerized by the shining red collecting in his fur. It stood out, stark against the bright blue.
Red is such a beautiful colour...
Shaking his head, he used his uninjured hand to tear a part of his shirt off and pressed it against the wound, swiftly cleaning the blood away. It hurt horribly but he smiled anyway; it's only in my mind, after all.
Once the wound was cleared of the puddle of blood, he pulled the fabric away to actually look at the injury.
His hand was sliced completely open; he could see the bone. In fact, he realized, whatever had cut him had actually cut the bone. His eyes flew up to the vines hanging innocently from their mother tree, but the red clinging to them proved their guilt. Somehow a plant had torn through his skin and cut into his bone with little to no resistance.
Bandi studied them for several silent seconds, tilting his head and narrowing his eyes. That angle... Just slightly more to the left and I would have lost my hand.
The realization didn't bring quite the horror it should have. All it brought was the fear of never being able to play his Chaska again... and a thought.
If this could cut bone... what could it do to wood?
His eyes scanned the vine, following it up up up, and observed the way it curled harmlessly around its mother tree, and then his eyes traveled along the vine to a separate tree nearby. It was slowly, over time, being sliced in half as the vine grew around it, reaching over from its mother tree like a parasite bent on destroying its competition.
A defense mechanism. Wow...
The Rabbit reached forward with his uninjured hand and carefully took a bit of loose vine between his thumb and index finger, holding it up to his face in order to inspect it. He tilted his head slightly as he gradually applied pressure. It didn't take long for the vine to cut through his fur and skin, but he didn't even wince as he watched the blood bead and run from the two shallow cuts the vine left.
Green eyes trailed over to the dying tree and then back to the vine again.
His forced smile suddenly morphed into a wide grin, an idea blooming in his mind. All pain forgotten, he dropped the bloodied strip of cloth down onto the grass and moved towards one of the mother tree's fallen branches.
I need to test my theory...
Notes
There is initial animosity between the Rabbits but everything will be cleared up within the first five chapters, no worry. There'll still be tension (you can't get rid of a lifetime of beliefs/biases in just a few days) but Spring and Bonnie won't pose a threat to Bandi/Blu's safety for very long.