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Mingi begrudgingly treaded through the tall grass, his pout growing each time his stomach growled.
Being a stray was undeniably difficult—the summers were scolding without a fan or A/C and the winters hard to subsist with the thin, tattered clothing he'd been wearing for the past few years or so.
Being a bunny hybrid didn't make stray life any easier either. Bunny hybrids are a prey species, making him a target to everyone.. even fellow hybrids. The life of stray prey is never calm.
Mingi has been in the country for as long as he could remember so it was always small town, 'middle of nowhere', and small town again when he is wandering. He was in between towns again, the only scenery being grass, grass… and more grass. There'd be the occasional farm, sure, but humans were the last things he wanted to worry about.
He walked for hours, fatigue slowly catching up to him as night reared its head.
"Damn, I wish I had a jacket.." he muttered as he wrapped his arms around himself. The seasons were changing and the weather gets pretty rough at night.
More and more endless walking before one of those "barns", as they call, came into sight. Big red building usually means wide-open field with food growing from the ground.
He went to pass right by it just like the others but right on time, his stomach growled again, gnawing away at itself in starvation.
Mingi groaned as he looked over to the barn and its field, contemplating his options. "They're all probably asleep by now.. right?"
"...ah fuck it."
Huddled up into himself, he cautiously made his way over to the ratty fence. He kept his ears cognizant of his surroundings just in case someone were to show up.
He couldn't help the sigh that left his lips as they stretched up into a smile when the sweet smell of strawberries somewhere nearby reached his nose. He followed the smell further into the field, getting excited to eat such a satisfying treat after so long.
His ears stood on alert as an eerie giggle scraped at them. A crackling sound could be heard soon after—not much akin to that of bones cracking but more to the likeness of snapping sticks.
Mingi sweatdropped as he could only assume that someone was approaching, the sounds being twigs crunching beneath their feet.
"What a pleasant surprise," a playful voice sounded from behind him, startling him to hastily turn around as he almost tripping over his own feet. "To think a little bunny would grace my farm with their presence."
Mingi's eyes grew twice their size, a shiver running down his spine as another giggle could be heard. He watched as the fingertips of the farm's scarecrow started to animate. The sound of snapping wood only increased as the scarecrow moved, moving its head side to side as if cracking its neck. It slowly pulled its left hand from the wood frame, leaving a clean hole in the middle from where the nails used to confine it. Using its freehand, it is able to force off the other before falling down to its knees.
Mingi stood watching with tears pricking at his eyes. He was terrified, to say the least; his legs would’ve surely given out if he even thought to run.
It slowly rose to its feet, body rolling as it began to stretch and awaken from its long-standing slumber.
"Y-y-you're a…. a scarecrow.."
"Hm, a perceptive little bunny as well? What a delight." Jet black eyes stared back at him and an almost sinister smile teased him. "I'm sure you are aware- the likeness of you are not welcome around here."
"I'm- I'm sorry I was just.. hungry." Mingi stumbled to explain himself, trouble being the last thing he wanted.
"Perceptive but idiotic. Your hunger is not the concern of neither I nor the humans that employ me to protect these crops. I'm sure you are aware of what is going to happen to you."
Its smirk widened to show a perfect set of scarily white teeth. It extended its arms, its pose likened to the one it was nailed into on the wooden frame.
Mingi's eyes frantically searched the darkness as loud caws approached. Crows started to swarm the two causing the male to scream with his lids squeezed shut, scared of his eyes possibly being clawed out.
The crows began to perch themselves upon the scarecrow’s arms, chests high and eyes narrowed as if looking down on the boy. Their midnight-colored feathers almost blended with the tattered clothes donned by the scarecrow.
"You look to be quite young," it suddenly spoke, breaking Mingi out of his paralyzed daze, "Tell you what little bunny, sixty seconds."
With a shaky breath, he hesitantly asked "Sixty… seconds?"
It laughed at him but without a hint of humor rumbling from its chest "I am allowing you time to escape- does my generosity not satisfy you?"
The scarecrow waved its hand to signal the crows to give it space. It took slow, teasing steps towards Mingi, that sinister smirk never leaving its face. Mingi held his breath as its hand glided over his cheek, a gentle whistle coming from the new hole as the wind began to pick up.
The grip on his cheek suddenly tightened; he could already imagine a red handprint forming on his skin. He didn't have the chance to care for the pain—the dark, black eyes that now seemed to glare at him taking most of his focus.
"Or is it.. that you'd rather I kill you in the spot of which you stand?"
"No! No... Please.. San I don't want to die please I'm so sorry.." he begged and sobbed as the reality he was faced with truly began to sink in. This wasn't like being caught eating from restaurant trash cans by the humans- no, the humans wouldn't kill him.. even if they wanted to, they couldn't. But human laws won't save him again. Not this time.
The scarecrow looked taken aback, his grip almost faltering before he regained his composure. "Tell me.. How do you know of my name, little bunny?"
"O-on your shirt. T-there's a name.."
San looked down at its clothes and surely enough, there laid its name embroidered right under its collarbone. It was barely visible at this point with the threads loose and frayed. It'd been given the clothes so long ago that it had forgotten about the personalized detail.
"The children.." it mumbled to itself. Its thumb started to absentmindedly stroke Mingi's cheek as it looked off to the side, trapped in its own thoughts. Mingi didn't dare speak though he was thoroughly creeped out and confused.
San's eyes soon returned to him, but missing a portion of its previous malice and instead clouded with a certain distance. Its thumb continued to caress his cheek before it slowly moved down to his mouth, pulling on his lower lip with an almost desperate demand.
"My name.. Say it again."
Mingi didn't waste time whispering out its name, thinking it better to obey. "...san.. San."
San pulled back with a blank, uninterested look. It held out its arms, allowing the crows to flock their way back over. "Sixty, fifty-nine, fifty-eight, fifty-seven,"
Mingi looked at it confused, hesitantly wiping the tears from his eyes.
"I'd advise you to start running my little bunny; almost forty seconds left."
The boys' ears stood tall with surprise, his throat dry as he took a few steps back before breaking into a sloppy sprint back to which he came.
San watched as he stumbled his way out of the field, surely ruining some of the crops as he ran. Its counting slowly came to a halt though it was barely even close to zero. It remembered the way the children ran just like that… the farmer's children playing a fun game of tag amongst themselves in the field. It just wanted to join them. It just wanted to have fun.
...it didn't want to hurt them.
It quietly walked over to its wooden frame. Its body slowly stiffened, the crackling sound reappearing.
The life drained from its eyes as it thought its last thought till another soul wanders the field
I hope I get to play with you someday my little bunny