Chapter 3 – A first chat
I started flicking through what was on TV and was greeted with pretty much the same stuff as in our world. News, Trash TV, Sports, Movies. I stopped at ZNN to see if there was anything about me and was kind of relived when the headlines didn't include a new species from a different universe.
A knock came from the door. I turned the TV off. "Yeah?" I asked.
The door opened and a bunny came in. It was Judy.
"Uhm, Hello." she started "Err, I don't know if you remember but we already met, in the lab?"
"Yes, you're the one that bit me."
"Yeah, Sorry. I guess." She made an apologetic face.
"It wasn't your fault. You couldn't have prevented it."
"Well my name is Judy. Nice to finally meet you for real."
"I'm Oliver. And it's nice to meet you too." She came over to my bed and we shook hands … ahm … paws.
"So, you got any questions about Zootopia or the live here, maybe?"
"I got one big question that is bugging me, but I doubt you can answer it."
After that she really looked disappointed. I guess she thought I must have a thousand questions about where I am and how all the stuff works.
"Well, I guess I got one you could answer. Is that really that 'Zootopia'? That place where all animals are said to be the same? And are you Judy Hops?"
"Wait, you know me?"
"Yes, sort of. Oh and do you guys have coffee?"
"Yeah, in the cafeteria." She was little confused to say the least.
"So I tell you what, we go there and on the way I tell you what I know. Because you look like you are bursting with questions for me, alright?" I said while a climbed from the bed.
She held her hand in front of her face.
"Yeah, but first let me ask the nurses if they have something else to wear for you." she said, because apparently while I climbed down the bed, the hospital shirt I was wearing didn't really cover everything. I didn't know how blushing worked with all the fur, but I could see her do it.
I was standing in front of her now; she was reaching right about to my chest.
"Just, wait here. I'll be right back."
After a few minutes she came back with a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt and turned around while waiting for me to finish.
"So, how come you already know Zootopia, if you are from another world?"
"Well, that is the one of the question I'm asking myself, for which I don't have the answer. In my World there is a children's movie called Zootopia. Playing in a fictional world with talking animals, but no humans, in which a bunny wants to join the police force of the big city, but nobody takes her seriously. And to solve her first real case she has to work together with a fox. Sounds familiar, eh?"
"Yes, that's how I joined the ZPD and met Nick. But how does that get to another world?"
"And that is the million dollar question. I'm ready, you can look again." She turned around again and smiled.
"You are quite big for a bunny, you know. I had to get a fox size for you."
"Really? I don't really fell that 'big'." I said with a little smile. "Well I also just downgraded quite a bit."
She let out a small chuckle and we left the room.
On the way of to the cafeteria I told her the whole story from my point of view.
"Well, and then you knocked at my door." We sat in some quiet corner of the cafeteria.
"So, you are saying you don't really know why you are here?"
"Yes."
"And that you know most of Zootopia from a movie?"
"Yes. I know that sounds crazy."
"Do you have that movie?"
"Not here. No." I said a bit confused.
"I would have loved to see that. You know yourself on the big screen."
"Are you sure?" Now my face went into smirk mode "It includes that play about Zootopia you staged in Bunny Burrow." I said ina voice that got higher with the sentence.
She first looked like she wasn't knowing what I was talking about, but then here eyes went wide in shock.
"That's in there?"
"It's the introduction."
She let out a groan.
"Oh, I thought I got rid of that after 'somebody' 'accidentally' overwrote the tape."
"Sorry to have to disappoint you." I said still grinning.
"OK, OK. But as you already know a bit about our world, what is your world like?"
"Well, the obvious thing is we only have one species living in civilization and talking, the humans."
"So all the others are savage?"
"Yes. Do you have savage animals here?"
"Well except if you are under the influence of Nigh Howlers, everything except mammals. Anything else?"
"Hmm, I can't properly say now. I hadn't a chance to have a look on my own yet. All I got is from that movie, though quite few mammals we know from our world weren't shown. So I don't know if they just didn't show them or if they don't exist here. Oh, and they had a lot pop cultural references in that."
"What for example. I could tell you if there right."
"Like 'Try Everything' from Gazelle that is part of the soundtrack."
"Really? I love that song. Does she have the same Name in your world."
"No, she is called Shakira, but other Names are more similar."
"Like?"
"Well most of it only is Easter eggs anyway. Hidden stuff in the background you only sometimes notice. A few that pop in my head right now are Zoogle instead of Google, Uber becomes Zuber and 'Carrot' is 'Apple' in my world. Are those correct?"
"Yeah. Those are all correct. But 'Google' what does that mean?"
"I've read they mistyped something. But that is not the point; there are probably hundreds of these small differences. Brand Names, Music, TV-shows, Movies. And that's only the pop cultural stuff. Though a few things maybe the same."
"By the way I am sort of hungry and earlier the doctor said something about dinner and as we are already in the cafeteria."
"Yes, sure."
We got over to the food output. And I started reading the large menu displayed on a TV hanging from the wall.
"The salads are really good for a hospital cafeteria." Judy stood beside me.
Oh, yeah salad, forgot that Bunny's eat those and no meat. Damn, I hate salad.
I got it nevertheless. Just so I didn't raise any suspicion. They probably never had a bunny asking for the chicken curry, which was on the menu and mind you I love chicken curry.
To my surprise it did taste OK. Even borderline to great. I guess one of the side effects off changing species is getting you taste buds tuned accordingly.
"Just out of interest: What do humans normally eat? Are they prey or predator?" Judy asked. She somehow got a worried look on her face. And I could guess why.
'That's gonna be awkward.' I thought to myself.
"Predators." was all I got out.
"So what exactly?"
"We sort of have the same standard as here."
"So if our standard is 'We only serve savage animals', that means you eat … ."
I looked around, that nobody heard us. And went to whisper mode.
"… other Mammals as well, yes." I said.
"What about bunny's?"
There it hit me. On special occasions (Easter, Christmas etc.) we did had the occasional bunny to eat.
"Depends on culture." was all I got out in the realisation of borderline cannibalism.
But my reaction was a dead give-away, that my 'culture' did indeed sometimes eat bunny. I just sat on the chair and stared on the salad in shock.
"Oh." was all she got out.
She didn't ask any more questions and we went to our rooms without speaking a word to each other.
