I walked back home after my first day at “work”. It had been a long and frustrating day, and the “cash register” was still a mystery to me. Pressing the stones with the glyphs for numbers… It seemed like such a roundabout way of doing things, why couldn’t I just take money and give change? But with my difficulties, I spent most of my time helping by answering questions and then cleaning up at the end of the day. The mall was so strange after close, so quiet and peaceful after being such a chaotic beast during the day. Still, the day was done, and my clopping hoofsteps echoed in the night air.
Reaching Ben’s house, my new home, I looked up at the night sky. Instead of opening the door and heading inside, I decided to spend a bit stargazing. With a leap, I landed on the roof, taking a couple steps before picking a spot to lay back and watch the sky.
A moment later, I heard the door open, and Ben’s shouted cry of “What the heck was that?”
I sat up and looked down over the edge of the roof. “What was what?”
He looked up, bewildered. “What…? What are you doing up there?”
Gesturing up at the sky, I shrugged. “I felt like looking at the stars for a bit. Want to join me?”
“I don’t want to get the ladder out of the garage. How’d you get up there, anyway?”
In answer, I simply stood up and jumped down, landing heavily in front of him. “I jumped. Here.” Scooping him into my arms, I picked him up off my feet. One arm behind his back, the other at his upper thighs to support his weight, I held him close to my chest and stomach. With a moment’s crouch, I launched myself into the air once more. Hooves touching down on the roof, I set him back on his feet, though the motion had made him stiffen and grip me tightly.
“Wh–! You… You gotta warn someone before doing that! You just… Holy crap, you can jump like that?” He seemed pretty unsteady on his feet, one hand on my shoulder to steady himself, his breathing getting back under control.
“Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean to startle you, I just… Well, you said you didn’t want to get the ladder out, so… Want me to bring you back down?” I drew one hooftip lightly across the roof shingles, sheepishly worried I’d upset him. I was so used to Master, who knew my abilities well.
“No, it’s… it’s all right. I’m up here now. Let’s just… stay here a bit. I don’t think I’m ready to go through that again just yet.” He seemed to have regained his composure, so I nodded.
Picking out my spot, I lowered myself to lay down on my back again, patting the spot next to me. He seemed to be taking extra caution for some reason, settling down carefully, but soon he laid next to me and we looked up at the twinkling lights. They were brighter out here, but not by much, and there was a faint glow around the city that was still so close by. His house was on the outskirts of the town, but it wasn’t that far. I was just glad for any distance I could get.
“So, you… do this a lot? Back home?”
I turned my attention back to the points of light far above. With a soft sigh, I answered. “No, not really… There were usually other things to do, ways I could help out… I just wanted a moment to think, I guess. A moment of peace.”
“That’s fair. Think about what?” He had his arms raised, using his hands as a makeshift pillow, as he looked up.
“I don’t really know. This whole situation, it’s so…” I didn’t have a good word to finish that statement, so I didn’t. “Hm. I once heard that it’s possible to navigate by the stars. Is that true?”
Ben chuckled softly. “Yeah. Are you familiar with the stars back home? The constellations and such?”
I sighed, but I didn’t even turn my head to look. I wasn’t even really looking at the stars, I just had my eyes pointed in that direction. “No… Not enough to know what to look for. They were just… stars. I didn’t think it would matter, so I didn’t pay much attention to them.”
“That’s a shame, I’d love to know what constellations your world has. Even if they’re the same stars, I’d be curious what shapes your world’s people saw in them.”
My mind wandered, not really sure what to say. Eventually, a thought drifted in, and I raised a hand to point. “Those three, in a line… That’s… Orion’s Belt? I don’t think I’ve ever seen them, yet I know that name. Is that another piece of knowledge from this world?”
Ben chuckled softly. “Yeah. You know any others?”
“No, it’s just that one piece that… intrudes on my thoughts from elsewhere. It’s… frustrating. It’s too patchwork to be of any use, I’m still struggling to come to grips with the idea. An entire other world…”
Lifting a hand of his own, he pointed at a particularly bright star. “Well, you see that one? The brightest point, right about there?”
“What about it?”
“That’s Venus. It’s an entire planet, a world like ours, just… really far out. It’s not exactly like Earth, you can’t live on it, but Earth is far from the only planet to exist.”
I turned to look at him. He didn’t look like he was joking, but how could it be true? I looked back up at the star that supposedly wasn’t a star, thinking. “What’s it like, then?”
“Well, it’s closer to the sun, so it’s too hot to live on… One sec.” Sitting up, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and tapped at the screen for a bit. “It has… an atmosphere of 96 percent carbon dioxide, and a mean temperature of… 737 Kelvin, or 867 Fahrenheit. A surface gravity of 0.904g, so only about 90% Earth gravity. But the atmosphere is so dense that it’s actually a liquid on the surface, about 93 times the pressure of air here.” Glancing over to see my confused expression, he brought the phone down.
“I don’t… understand what any of that means.” I shook my head slowly, hoping he’d be able to explain anything.
“Okay, well… Earth has air that’s… I want to say about 80 percent nitrogen, 20 percent oxygen, though there’s some other stuff mixed in. We need oxygen to live, that’s what we get by breathing. It’s what makes air good to breathe, though too much would be poisonous and dangerous. Fire needs oxygen to burn, too, and it’s why fire goes out if it’s smothered. We breathe out carbon dioxide, and we’ll suffocate if there’s too much in the air. Venus is all carbon dioxide, so you wouldn’t be able to breathe. Not only that, but it’s incredibly hot, since carbon dioxide traps heat. So you know how ovens cook food by being hot? Well, water freezes at 32 Fahrenheit, it boils at 212 Fahrenheit, ovens generally cook at 350 to 450 Fahrenheit, and Venus is over 800. So you’d be burning alive, and suffocating.”
The look on my face was getting gradually more horrified trying to imagine such a place, but he kept going.
“And with the air pressure, you’d be crushed. It’d be like being deep underwater, the weight of the air itself would be flattening you. It’s so heavy that it squeezes the air into a liquid, so you’d be burning, suffocating, drowning, and being crushed, all at once.”
“And you’ve BEEN to this world!?” I was struggling just to picture it, let alone imagine what kind of person would go there.
“Oh, hell no!” He laughed, holding up his phone. “We’ve observed it, taken measurements, but there’s no way to survive. I’ve never left Earth, and probably never will. Humans have made it to the moon, and we’ve sent robot probes to Mars, but we’re still a ways off from any kind of human landing there. I only know what I told you because I was able to read the information discovered by others.”
That was a little more believable, and I was able to relax a little, but it still left me pretty unsettled. “That’s… Mars? And the moon?”
“I’m not sure where Mars is in the sky, but you know what the moon is, right? It’s not called something else on your world? Or, heck, maybe you guys don’t have one? Or you have more than one? I forgot to ask.”
“No, no, we have a moon. It looks like this one, as far as I can tell. Just… I thought it was just… light, like the sun? A cold light, instead of a warm light.”
“Heh, no, it’s a mass of rock like a planet, but smaller. And it has no atmosphere, and it orbits Earth instead of orbiting the sun. It’s only bright because the sunlight shines on it, and it’s so close that we can see it. The sun is a giant ball of burning gas, so huge that the gravity of it keeps the planets circling it, the way the planet’s gravity keeps us on the ground. It’s just also incredibly far away.”
I fell silent again, looking up at the sky. “93 million miles. It takes light 8.3 minutes to reach us. …But what’s a ‘mile’?”
Ben had a curious look on his face, but tapped his phone again. “Huh, that’s… actually right. I really don’t think that counts as ‘general knowledge’, though. I mean, you know that but don’t know ‘mile’. It’s a measure of distance. Lapine Falls is about seven miles, from one end to the other. It’s about two miles from here to the mall.” More poking at the phone. “Earth is about eight thousand miles across. So, roughly twelve thousand Earths would fit between us and the sun. Crazy, huh?”
I was staring at the stars as he talked, just listening. “How is it… that every time I think I’m just starting to get a grip on things, everything gets even crazier than I ever imagined possible?”
“I guess that’s just life. You can’t think too much about the whole of existence, it’s simply too much to hold in one mind.” Putting his phone away, he laid back again, joining me in staring at the stars.
“Maybe… But you… can know this kind of thing, know about it. And not just you, anyone in this city. This world. How do you not feel… utterly insignificant and helpless?”
“Well, I can’t speak to everyone else, but… Honestly, I don’t think about it? All that stuff is out there, it doesn’t affect me. I just try to live my life. Your arrival has been the biggest event in my life. Talk about throwing me for a loop… All that stuff I was talking about? Other planets, other solar systems, other galaxies… As far as I knew, we were the only universe, and now here you are, from somewhere with magic that violates the laws of physics. You’ve added a whole new dimension to everything we’ve known possible.”
I sat up again, crossing my arms and resting them on my knees, so I could put my chin on them. “Really? I’m that unusual? It doesn’t feel like it… I’m just a construct, I wasn’t created for these kinds of huge thoughts. I was created to serve my Master, to help people, not… ponder the existence of other worlds.” I sighed heavily, closing my eyes to try to keep them from leaking tears. “I just want to be home… I want to go home, and have Master be okay, and go back to my life. This is all too much for me, and these stars… they aren’t helping.”
Ben sat up shortly after I did, resting a hand on my shoulder. “Well, how about we go inside, get some food, watch some TV, and not think about all that stuff for a bit? Would that help?” The gentle smile made me laugh softly.
“Yeah… I just want to forget about things for a bit.”
“Well, I don’t have a ladder, so you’re my ticket down. Shall we?” Using my shoulder for a support, he got to his feet, and I stood up after him.
“Okay, well, are you ready?” I waited for him to nod before I picked him up again, walking to the edge before jumping down, setting him on his feet once again after landing.
Walking to the door, he stopped with his hand on the knob and turned to look at me. “It’s still crazy how you can just jump like that.”
“I have strong legs.” I patted my upper thigh and smiled. “Even in this form. I don’t have all my strength, but I still have a lot of it.”
Walking home from my third day of work, my mind wandered. I was helping, Lydia seemed happy to have me there, and I was able to pick out stones and help customers. I’d never really spent time around a merchant, usually I stayed quiet when Master was shopping, and my role was to carry things, so it was interesting to be on the other side of things. But I didn’t really feel like I was doing much. It felt like I was just… sitting still. Or drifting.
A shriek cut through my thoughts, followed by the crack of a slap, and a choked cry. It came from an alley between two buildings in front of me. Slowing my pace, I walked with quieter steps, though my hooves weren’t exactly built for silence. Creeping around the corner, I saw a group of four rough-looking men surrounding a woman who had tears running down her cheeks.
“You gonna hand over your purse now, or do I gotta cut you? You try and scream again, and you’re really gonna regret it.” Cutpurses! The fact that they would prey on someone like this, it filled me with a burning fire. But what could I do…? If I fought, they might seek revenge on me, or take out their anger on Lydia’s shop. But that would only happen if they could recognize me… While one snatched the victim’s purse and started digging through it, I made my decision.
Ducking back out of view, I looked around, seeing nobody on these empty streets. Nodding to myself, I raised a hand to my collar, and dismissed my spell, stashing my clothes in the process. Once I was back to my usual self, it was time to make my move. Jumping into the alley entrance, I was just in time to stop the first from turning to flee with his prize.
“What the shit is–?” I delivered a kick to his chest that drove the wind out of him, sending him falling backwards. It wasn’t anything near my full strength, my goal was only to stop them after all. I couldn’t possibly kill a human.
The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.
I fixed the others with a glare as the leader gasped for breath. “How about you give the lady back her purse, before I get really angry?”
The one closest to me pulled a knife from a sheath on his belt, lunging forward with a clumsy stab. One I easily sidestepped, grabbing his arm. Planting a paw on his back, I continued my motion, redirecting him to a wall, and giving him a shove that made him take a stumbling step before slamming face-first into it. His knife clattered to the floor.
The third and fourth rushed at me, the one with the purse still having his knife in his main hand. Clearly, these men relied on the presence of a blade more than their skill with it, and briefly I wondered if they were just starting their predatory profession. I didn’t have much time to think about it, I simply stepped in to the one that was bare-handed, driving my elbow into his chest, followed by my knee to his gut. Finishing it off, I slammed my elbow down onto his upper back, and he crumpled to the floor. That gave me time to deal with his friend.
Perhaps he was the leader instead of my first target, because he actually showed a little bit of skill, slashing with a wide stroke. A short hop back took me out of his range, and I punished his overreach by dashing past him. Grabbing the purse arm, I twisted it behind his back, catching the straps as he dropped them. I tossed the purse towards the woman who had backed away from the scene. “Catch!”
He tried to twist out of my grasp, stabbing blindly with his knife, but I followed his motion to keep a grip on him, and then drove him up into the wall, pinning him in place. With my free paw, I grabbed his knife wrist, twisting it and making him cry out again. When it clattered to the floor, I let go.
“Run, now, or I break your arm.” I glared as he spun to face me, his face twisted into a snarl of rage.
He chose against taking my advice, swinging a fist towards my face, which suited me just fine. I caught his hand in one paw, turning to pull him onto my back, and threw him over my shoulder onto the ground. True to my word, I knelt down, grabbing his arm in my paws and snapping the bone. His scream echoed in the alley.
It was a little disturbing how easy that was, human bodies were so fragile it was a little scary. But I gave him the chance. He was the one who had hit the woman and taken the purse, as well as refused to run, so he got the worst injury.
The others had started to get back to their feet by this point, but after that sight, the two that could took off running down the street. The first and fourth were still on the ground as I stepped over to check on their victim.
“Are you all right, miss?” She didn’t appear to have any serious injury, though one cheek was a bit redder than the other and she had been crying. I didn’t smell any blood, at least, as my nose wiggled with each breath.
“Y-yeah, I’m fine… You… Your face, wh-what are you…?” She was barely able to get words out through her shock and fear.
Flashing red and blue lights started to light up the walls, a siren piercing the air and making my ear turn in that direction. Perhaps she’d been able to call for assistance somehow before I arrived? But they wouldn’t have arrived in time if I hadn’t stepped in. Still, it was my cue to leave. “Oops, can’t stay. I’m glad you’re all right. I hope things go better for you!”
I jumped over the fence behind her just before police cars pulled in to block the alley. Once I was in the other half of the alley, I used my collar to get back into my disguise and continued my walk home. There was a bit of a spring in my step, though.
Closing the door behind me, I leaned against it. Still smiling, I dismissed my disguise now that I was indoors. Ben had looked over when I entered, raising an eyebrow. “Someone’s in a good mood. Work went well, I take it?”
“Oh, goodness, no. Work was awful. Some horrible woman kept demanding to see my ‘manager’ and tried to claim I didn’t know what I was talking about. When Lydia said she was the store owner, this woman had the gall to call her a liar. We had to threaten to call security just to get her to leave.” I shuddered a little at the memory of such a hateful creature.
“Ugh, your first Karen?” Ben shook his head a little. “Sorry, you looked like you were in a good mood.”
“Oh, I am! I got in a fight on the way home!” I couldn’t help but giggle a little, stretching as I moved to join him on the couch.
“Wait, what? What happened?” He had such concern on his face, maybe he misheard me?
“On my way home, some cutpurses were attacking a woman, threatening to kill her if she didn’t surrender her purse. Or at least injure her. I didn’t want to let that happen, so I beat them up.” I was still smiling. It felt so nice to get to have a bit of exercise, even if it wasn’t much of a challenge.
“Holy crap, you… Why did you do that? You could’ve gotten hurt!” I didn’t understand why he was reacting like this.
“What? No, there was only four of them. I think only two of them had knives, or at least only two had time to draw them. They didn’t even have swords, or a crossbow.”
“Or a gun! You should’ve called the police or something, or stayed away!” He still looked horrified.
I tilted my head curiously. “Police are the ones with the red and blue lights, right? I think they were already called. They showed up shortly after the fight, so I left before they could see me.”
“Yeah, that’s police. You didn’t stick around to tell them what happened?”
I gave a soft chuckle. “Oh, I think they would’ve been asking very different questions if they saw me…”
“You didn’t… You were…? You fought looking like that?” He gestured at my body, waving a hand up and down.
“Well, yeah. Being in human form is like… wearing heavy weights all over my body. I’m slower, I’m weaker, I can’t hear as well, I can’t smell as well… I only use that form to blend in. But not only that, if I fought as a human, they might recognize me later and come after me.” I smiled, proud of my quick thinking and smart plan.
“Sure, but instead, you let people see the real you! You can’t… People won’t… They’ll freak out, they’ll be scared, they’ll.. They might try to hunt you down!”
I waved a paw dismissively. “I’m sure it’s fine. If they do try, I’ll just beat them up and send them on their way. I trained a lot with the best fighters in the whole Linport area, so I could protect Master. I didn’t even hurt them that much, I only broke the one man’s arm when he kept fighting.” Noticing Ben was having trouble finding words, I tried to elaborate. “I gave him a chance to run, I told him I’d do it, and he came after me anyway. It’s his own fault, really.”
“You… You broke his arm. And you’re just… treating it like no big deal? Like fighting is just… a game or something?”
“Hey, fighting is serious! I have to be really careful! One wrong move and I could seriously hurt or even kill someone!”
“What about you? You could get hurt! You could get killed! One of them could have a gun and shoot you!”
I scoffed a little. “Hurt? It takes a lot to harm me, my body was created with protective magic woven into it. Little daggers like they had can barely even pierce my skin. But… what’s a ‘gun’?” For some reason, thinking about that word did give me a feeling of dread.
“It’s… a kind of weapon. Think of a crossbow, but much, much deadlier. Instead of firing a bolt, it fires a tiny metal bullet, with incredible force. I don’t care how tough you think your skin is, a bullet will go right through you. It only takes one shot to kill you, if it hits somewhere vital, like your chest or head.” His voice wavered when he described it, a note of fear that only heightened my dread.
I swallowed hard, nodding. “Well… Still, I can’t just… stand by and let something like that happen.”
“Maybe you should. A purse is just… things, it can be replaced. A life can’t.” He reached out, putting a hand on my arm.
I shook my head. “I can’t. She needed help. I had to help her. I had the ability, I had the strength. You can’t ask me to just… not… do something! I have to help people! I have to at least try…”
Ben sighed heavily, giving my arm a gentle squeeze. “All right, I guess. Just… promise me you’ll be careful, okay?”
“I promise.” If I saw anyone with one of these “guns”, I would make sure to neutralize them first. But I had a feeling that wasn’t quite the answer he was looking for, so I didn’t say it out loud.
It was my fourth day of work, and despite being asked to come in at opening time, I was still riding the happiness of last night. It just felt too good to be able to help someone in need. I tried not to show it too much, I didn’t want to explain things to Lydia, but I think she noticed. As long as she didn’t ask, it was fine.
Lydia greeted me in the mall parking lot, leaning against a large red vehicle. “Hey, glad you’re here. Friday’s the worst part of the job, it’s the day I get new stock in. Thanks for coming, I could really use your help bringing the stuff in. Here, let me open the van.”
I watched as she opened the back doors, revealing large plastic tubs stacked in place. There were five of them, and she struggled to take one out. “Ugh, why’d I have to pick rocks to sell, huh?” She was grinning, and I got the sense that she wasn’t seriously upset.
“So we just… bring these inside? That’s it?” I eyed the remaining totes.
“Well, yeah, just be careful not to hurt yourself. If it’s too heavy, just leave it, we can always take stuff out and get it in that way.” She hefted the one she was holding, and I took them out, setting them on the ground, testing their weight one by one.
Shrugging, I stacked them and picked up the bottom, lifting all four. “Oh, wait, the van.” Using a knee to balance them, I was able to free up a hand so I could close the van doors. With that done, I regained my grip, and set my hoof back down.
“What the heck are you doing? You’ll hurt your back!”
“Huh?” I was already heading towards the mall doors, but I stopped at her exclamation. “Oh, no, I’m fine. I, um, I used to do a lot of farm work, back home. I’m a lot stronger than I look.” I smiled, trying to reassure her that everything was fine.
She still looked unsure, but she carried her bin to the mall with me, having more trouble than I was having with the other four. “Right, the compound. Guess farming’s a big part of it. You mentioned that.”
I winced a little. I didn’t like the way Ben had made my home life sound, but I didn’t have a better way to describe things without having to explain more than she’d likely be willing to understand. At least the mall had automatic doors, letting us enter without having to stop and open them.
“You really… unf… okay… with all that?” Her breathing was labored by the time we made it to the gate of the store, and I set my stack down next to her container.
“Yeah, really. If you want, I can get yours too, so you don’t have to worry about it.”
“Oh, no you don’t, you big show-off. There’s no way you won’t hurt yourself doing that.” She used her key to open the gate, tossing it upward into the ceiling. I wasn’t sure how it stayed up, probably some form of technology-magic.
When she picked up her crate, I picked up my stack and followed her through the store, and soon they were in the back room. The rest of the morning was spent unpacking them, putting items either into storage or out on the floor.
“Well, that went faster than I thought. Normally it takes me so many trips, I thought for sure it’d be close to an hour. I guess we’ve got some time to relax before the mall opens proper.” The gate was closed while we worked to stop anyone from coming in, especially since there wasn’t always one of us in the front section. So we leaned against the counter and talked for a bit. We’d had some time to talk in the last three days, but not a lot.
I started the conversation. “So, what made you decide to sell rocks, as you put it?”
“Oh, well, I like them. I had a friend who was into this stuff, but then she got too far into it. Started going on about Wicca and magic and auras and stuff. I just liked the colors, the shapes, I found them interesting. I thought about making jewelry, but I’m not good at coming up with designs.” She shrugged a little. It felt like there was a little more to the story, but she didn’t continue. Maybe she didn’t want to.
“I’ve never… had a friend before. I’ve only ever lived with Master, and now Ben. He’s my first friend.” I smiled a little, I still wasn’t that used to thinking of myself as someone who had friends.
“Yeah, that compound sounds like they really did a number on you, didn’t they?” She sipped a coffee she had brought in with her, the beverage smelling like burnt beans to me.
I winced a little, looking down. “I’d rather you… didn’t call it that. It makes it sound like a bad place. Like Master was a bad person…”
She eyed me for a moment, deciding what words to use. “He made you call him ‘Master’.”
“What am I supposed to call him? He created me! He gave me life! I wouldn’t exist without him! What’s wrong with being grateful?”
She rolled her eyes and sighed. “What about your parents? Your mom and dad? Did you see them? Or was this Master your dad?”
“I don’t have parents, I wasn’t born like you.” I had to stop myself from saying “you humans”, I only barely managed it. “Master created me. He’s the one who gave me life, a name, a purpose… This collar.” I raised a hand and touched it, taking the carrot-shaped charm between my fingers. I smiled a little, remembering Master explain that he chose it since both rabbits and horses have a fondness for the vegetable.
Despite my attempt to praise his virtues, Lydia looked even more aghast. “How can you defend this man? He… he filled your head with lies, took you away from your parents and raised you as some sort of… of slave! You weren’t ‘created’, nobody is ‘created'!”
“I’ve heard lots of people in this city talk about their creators. They even wear that cross that’s supposed to be a symbol of it.”
She covered her face with a palm. “Ugh. No, that’s different. That’s religion. They think God created life on Earth, that He oversees it. They don’t mean they were personally created from nothing, they still are aware they were born from a mother and father.”
I shrugged. “Well, that’s confusing. Look, just… Whatever you think of him, my Master was a kind and caring man. He went out of his way to make sure I was happy and do nice things for me. He treated me like a daughter, he even loved me like one, and he was like a father to me. He was all I had my entire life, so it’s a little hard to lose him not even a week ago, and be thrust into this crazy city with cars and technology and paper money and phones and internet, okay?” I lost my temper a little there, it just hurt a lot to hear her speak ill of Master.
She gave me a strange look at that. Finally, she sighed. “Fine, fine, let’s change the subject. You see the news this morning?”
“News? What’s ‘news’?”
“Oh, wow. Okay, well, it’s… stuff that’s happening. Anyway, there’s a crazy story going around. Apparently last night, some weirdo in a bunny costume beat up some thugs that were robbing some woman.” She had pulled out her phone while talking.
I felt my heart drop out of my chest. “That’s… I mean, that’s… crazy, huh?”
“Yeah, here. They did a sketch based on what the people were saying she looked like.” Showing me her phone, the image was a drawing of a creature pretty similar to me, though the spots were all wrong. And it looked like it was wearing normal human boots instead of having hooves. “Somehow, this guy beat up four men, and then fled when police showed up. I just don’t get why they’d pick a bunny. Why not something powerful and scary, like a wolf or a tiger or something, you know?”
I blanched, pulling out my own phone to fiddle with, hoping to avoid looking directly at her. “I dunno. Maybe she likes rabbits.”
“‘She’? The news says it’s a guy. Though the article says the woman claims it was a woman… I thought you didn’t read it?”
“Oh, I… I misheard you.” I started pulling up Ben’s contact, tapping a message out with the text missive function he taught me. [Lydia says there is “news” about me?]
“Ah, no worries.” She leaned back, checking the time. “Almost time to open. …Or an eagle, that’d be a good one.”
“What?” My phone buzzed as Ben replied. [I saw. Told you it was a bad idea. The internet even has a nickname for you.]
Lydia gestured with her phone in her hand. “For the crime fighter guy. Who’s gonna be scared of a bunny?”
“Well, those guys that got beat up might be.” [What do I do?]
“Hah, true! Maybe it is a woman, and they were just too macho to admit it.”
My phone buzzed again as Lydia went to open the gate. [Nothing you can do. Just have to deal with it, Superbunny.]