My hoodie had been abandoned just around the corner leading out of the alley. I turned my head to look at the rabbit now riding on my shoulder and it puffed its jowls, as if trying to look innocent. I threw the soaking wet hoodie over my shoulder, onto the rabbit, and began to move again, limping in the general direction of my apartment. My vision was a bit hazy after having my head scrambled, but I knew intuitively I was heading the right way. The small, white rabbit crawled out from under the hoodie and onto my other shoulder, shaking the water off its fur. It slid off my shoulder more than once as I walked, but I managed to catch it each time. I would have held it in my arms, like before, but it didn't seem content being carried, as if riding on my shoulder was very different somehow.
	As I stepped toward my door, I was stopped by the deep, well meaning voice of an older man calling my name. He was taller-- and much wider-- than I was, and was old enough that all the hair on his face-- not his head, as none remained there-- had turned grey. His skin was a leathery red, and he wore a plain white t-shirt and jeans. This was my landlord. A nice enough fellow, but had done just as many varieties of opium as anyone else who lived here.
	"Good afternoon, son! How are you do--" He stopped dead as he noticed I was covered in blood and bruises. "Holy hell, what the fuck happened to you?"
	I felt the blood dripping from the cut on my brow, and my bottom lip was swelling. I wheezed a little when I inhaled. I was having trouble standing up straight.
	"I'm fine, Hobert." I said, and turned from him to my door.
	"Ah, uh-- b-but! Hey!" He called again to stop me. "You know you're not allowed to have pets here. When did you get that bunny?"
	I turned to look at the rabbit-- at Lumi-- and she looked at me from my shoulder. Her violet-red eyes with deep black centers. I wasn't imagining it, I wasn't high on skoab. This was the same moon rabbit from last night. 
	"It's not mine. I'm just watching it for a while." I reached for my doorknob and twisted it.
	"Oh-- is it that girl's? The one from this morning?" He said teasingly. I stopped. I didn't imagine I could hide her forever, yet there was no part of me that wanted anyone in the complex to know about Lumi or her race. Nothing good could come from the burned out, drug-addled brain of a junkie halfway to hallucinogenic nirvana-- or the morgue-- knowing about a girl with rabbit ears.
	"Something like that. I'm gonna go lay down." I opened the door, quickly stepped inside and closed it behind me.
	"If you've met a girl, you have to introduce me, ya know! Them's the rules, kid!" His muffled voice called from behind the door. He stood there waiting for a response, his presence lingering like an oppressive cloud of smoke, but a few moments later I heard him turn and step away toward the office.
	
	I fell into the chair near the counter, the rabbit hopping off my shoulder. My eyes closed without my consent, too heavy to hold up.
	I felt something warm and wet press against the cut on my brow, stirring me from my rest. With great effort, I lifted my eyes open, and there before me with soaken white hair sticking to her head was Lumi, tending to me with a wet cloth. 
	Even now as I sat, weakly slumping in this rickety old chair that may have been as old as I was, she did not manage to stand much taller than me. I hadn't been this close to her before, hadn't the chance to notice how small she was. I watched her face, creased with worry, as she wiped the blood from my face. Her gaze stopped at my eyes, and she noticed me staring at her. 
	"You're okay n.. now. Just.. just hold still." She smiled at me reassuringly, and set down the cloth, exchanging it for the gauze wrap I had used on her the other night. She wrapped it around my head to cover the cut on my brow, and I suddenly felt very embarassed.
	"This is familiar," I half said, half mumbled under my breath. I almost didn't want her to hear. I must have looked like an idiot trying to take on a group of addicts,  high to the point that they couldn't feel pain, in an enclosed alleyway. I could have been killed.
	She brushed her hand over my cheek and traced her fingers over my jawline. Her skin felt like smooth cotton flowing over mine, and in my hazy state I briefly imagined a marshmallow brushing up against me. "Yes," was all she said, and the soothing look in her eyes let me know the irony of the situation was not lost on her. 
	She sat on the bed near me, once again, and brushed her hair away from her face with her hands. The fur on her ears looked frazzled and wet, and her soaking blouse stuck to her form, but I tried not to look too much. We sat there for a moment, no words coming to mind. Though, if I'm being honest, having her watch silently watch over me, ensuring I was alright, it wasn't so bad.
	"Who were those p.. people? W-what did they want?" She stood up again, looking restless. Yeah, I imagine the situation still hadn't made much sense to her. A society that was obsessed with purity wouldn't have something like designer drugs, would they?
	"I don't think even they knew what they wanted," I said, my voice raspy and weak. Speaking hurt, just a little. "They were high." 
	"High? They looked q.. quite low to the ground." Lumi said, raising her eyebrow. I tried to laugh but it was met with a sharp, stabbing pain in my ribs. Taking a deep breath, I spoke quietly and slowly so as not to hurt myself.
	"The stuff they had smeared on their skin.. the green stuff. That's skoab," I said, watching her sit on the bed again. Her ears perked up at full attention as she listened. "It's a hallucinogenic drug that, when rubbed into the skin, is absorbed by the pores. It makes its way to the brain, and, well, makes you see stuff. Stuff that isn't there." Lumi tilted her head sideways slightly, her ears drooping in the same direction. This was a puzzling concept to her.
	"People who take it, they say it makes them feel euphoric. Like they're a superhero, or, I guess in the case of the people we ran into, like a minister. Somebody important, anyway." I coughed and tasted blood, but swallowed it back down, as to not make Lumi concerned.
	"Wh.." The way she looked at me, I could tell she was looking for a word in english that probably didn't exist. She simply settled on, "Why? Why would someone purposefully impair their own perception?"
	"Because, Lumi." I looked deeply into her eyes, locking my gaze with hers. "Because they're fucking degenerates."
	"De-gen-er-ate?" She blinked at me as she ran her tongue over the syllables. "They loo.. looked like fully e-evolved homo-sapiens to me." She put a finger to her lip, deep in thought. I could almost see the question marks forming around her head. "Am I wrong?"
	"Hey, Lumi." I said plainly to her, to get her attention again. She placed her hands in her lap and looked to me with a puzzled smile.
	"Yes?"
	"You really are a bright star." I said, chuckling. "Never change."
	
	
	The Heavens grace the sky, tall and proud
	The Earth stands in awe of such a sight
	Those on the surface and those in the clouds
	Are connected by a wonderous light
	Gaia and Luna, though far apart, are side by side
	A timeless grudge, an ancient crime
	Yet still connected by the coming tide
	And forever locked, hand in hand, to the end of time
	The Gaians look to the sky at night
	Those on Luna gaze to the surface below
	They are blinded by such a brilliant light
	And together are warmed by the glow
	
	
	I don't know how long I'd been out, but once again I heard the squeaking and beeping coming from the window. Lumi's hands were on the SICP, her back facing me as I sat up from the bed. Her ears twitched-- she heard the springs creaking and the mattress groaning as I stirred. She turned to me, her face shining with excitement. 
	"They're coming!" She exclaimed, bouncing from the stool toward me. "Th-they're coming for me!"
	I gave her a half smile, but I couldn't hide that I was a little disappointed. She had only been here a day. I guess I wasn't ready for her to leave.
	"H-hey, I'll tell them!" She took my hands in hers, trying to infect me with her cheeriness. "I'll tell them you-- you saved me! And.. and!"
	"I thought you said humans aren't very popular with rabbits or lunarians," I slowly withdrew my hands. "And when I first brought you here.. you said something about impurity." Lumi's smile curled into a frown, but she lowered her brows and reached down to grab my hands again, determination written on her face.
	"No!" She squeaked, and said something in the rabbit language before catching herself. She took a breath, and tried again. "You're not li.. like the humans they talk about! You helped me!" 
	She returned to the SICP and disconnected the piece she used to analyze me the day before. She then squeaked something in the rabbit language into it while holding it up to me. As if echoing through it, it repeated what she said, but in english. "If we bring this, you can communicate with them. And we can convince them, together."
	I stared at her, confused. "Lumi..." I began, looking from her to the piece of the machine. "If you had this translator, why did you bother learning english?"
	"O-oh, well.." She withdrew the machine and scratched her nose with her index finger. "It's my, uhm, job, as an emisarry, to, erm, integrate with the cultures I am sent to make ties with." She took another moment to think of a better excuse.
	"Oh! And the earth rabbits, they likely would have sp-spoken english as.. as well! Yes." She nodded at me, finishing her thought, and in the interest of not giving me time to think too hard about it, took my hand and began to pull me from the bed.
	"Come on! They're co-coming right now. We have to.. have to go and meet them. Pr.. prove to them!" She dragged me toward the door, not stopping to think about concealing her ears. Took weak to protest, I obediently followed as she swung open the door and we swiftly exited.
	
	We stepped quietly along the cement walkway leading out of the complex, the only sound for some distance the chirping of crickets. It was fairly late at night, not a soul around save for Lumi and I. We had nearly cleared the building when I heard someone call to us.
	"Hey."
	A man wearing a flat cap and leather jacket leaned up against the side of the building, smoke billowing from the cigarette in his mouth. He took a long puff, then dropped it to the ground and stamped it out nonchalantly, exhaling the smoke as he stepped toward us. Lumi covered her ears with her hands, but they were much too long for that to conceal them.
	"Don't worry about that, girl. I know who you are." His voice was raspy and tired, as if he had just smoked an entire pack. Maybe he had. 
	"What the hell, Mark?" I questioned and put myself between him and Lumi. This was one of the building's residents, he'd lived here for years. How could he know about the lunar emissary? "Shouldn't you be in bed, you fuckin' dopehead?"
	He chuckled knowingly at me, and took off his hat. Two small brown rabbit ears poked through his unkempt hair. I stared, wide eyed, but Lumi didn't seem surprised at all.
	"You're an ea-earth rabbit!" She took a step closer, but put her hands on my arm. "A-are you ready to discuss your terms of surrender?"
	He laughed, and reached into his jacket for his pack of cigarettes. "I'm not a separatist," he croaked as he stuffed a cigarette into his mouth. "I just live here. I'm not much interested in politics."
	"I'm here to give you a warning." He placed his hand over his mouth and lit the cigarette with the zippo lighter in his free hand. "Do not go to the landing point. The rabbit has landed."
	"What does that mean?" I asked, looking from him to her. Her eyes were at the ground, avoiding his gaze.
	"It's military," he explained through a puff of smoke. "The people coming are not your friends."
	Lumi gripped my arm and squeaked something at him in the rabbit language. He smiled and shrugged his shoulders. "If that's what you want to believe, girl. You already know what they're saying about you on Lago-Net. They've made sure you've got nowhere to run."
	Lumi turned away from him and grabbed my hand with both of hers.  She dragged me away wordlessly, not willing to suffer another moment with the old earth rabbit.
	"Oh, kid!" He called to me, his voice trailing away in the distance. "Watch out out for skoabheads! They're all over this time of night!" He laughed, his booming voice echoing off the walls of the buildings around us.