It has become a tradition now for Animalia to host a concert on Earth Day. It wasn't just a fun community event, but also to remind people of the importance of environmentalism and how much the Earth needs humanity to take better care of it. The reminder doesn't always stick, but that's why there's an Earth Day every year.
For the last few years, the main performers at the concert were Animalia's pop stars. Canary Diamond and Aqua Marina have been doing it since the first Earth Day. New Age Venus started two years after them and has been a mainstay since then. Although Venus didn't spend all of her time singing as she was still a supermodel and had become a pretty big influencer in the tanning world. But this year, there were some new additions.
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Hatsane had plenty of time before the concert starts to meet her fellow pop stars. From what she's heard, they were all uplifted animals, but they've gained a lot of recognition over the years. Hatsane wasn't sure if she could compete with them, but she also heard they were a lot more cooperative than most people in the music industry. Besides Hatsane wouldn't be the only newcomer, though she decided to approach them first.
Entering the dressing room, Hatsane saw that they weren't in costume yet. Technically, Hatsane was already in costume, but she was just wearing clothes over her trademark bikini. The canary and the cat looked at her with some interest and a bit of intimidation. The fish was looking the most intimidated, not that Hatsane could blame her.
"Konichiwa," said Hatsane in a friendly tone, "I hear you ladies are the main musical voices in Animalia."
"There are other singers in Animalia," said the canary, "But we're the ones more likely to be heard around the country."
"Well, you probably have less competition in America than I do over in Japan," said Hatsane.
"I'm sure you're distinctive enough to stand out," said the cat.
"Thanks, I'm Hatsane," said the mako shark.
"I'm Sera, this is Venus, and the fish trying to stay away from you is Ariel," said the canary.
Hatsane turned to Ariel and asked, "What kind of fish are you?"
"Lake trout," said Ariel, evasively.
"That's a freshwater fish, isn't it?" asked Mako.
"Yeah, but my instincts are telling me to be wary around predators," said Ariel.
"I'm not going to eat you," said Hatsane.
"I know, but instincts still act up sometimes," said Ariel.
"Just let her get time to know you," said Venus, "They were a little wary around me at first too."
"Right, because you're a cat. Though I've never seen a cat like you before," said Hatsane.
Venus's hairless body kept her skin on display, which was a golden bronze that no normal cat would ever be. "You're not likely to either. Plenty of people are willing to become cats, but none are wanting to become a Sphynx in particular. Well, except maybe my number 1 fan," said Venus. She held up her phone showing a photo of a 17-year old boy.
"Who's that? Your former owner?" asked Sera with interest.
"Yeah, Tim's been following my career ever since I was uplifted," said Venus, "I wish we could hang out more, but he still has his allergies."
"Yeah, I'm lucky Fiona's parents consider me their adoptive daughter," said Sera, "Me and Fiona are still close. Though our college years did get a bit wild."
"Well, I was just a wild fish before I was uplifted, so I can only guess what it's like to have a former owner," said Ariel.
"Well, it's not like Tim and I can't get together if he takes enough medication," said Venus, "You should have seen the other students' faces when I was his date for his junior prom."
"Oh, I definitely want to hear the details about that," said Hatsane.
"Say, aren't there supposed two J-Pop singers here?" asked Ariel.
"Yeah, I was just testing the waters first. I'll tell her to come in," said Hatsane, sending a text on her phone.
Soon after that, the door opened and a rabbit Animalian hopped in. She certainly stood out a lot from other rabbits in that her fur was dyed pink and her hair was jade green. "Hello, so very nice to meet you," she said in a giddy tone.
Venus raised a hairless eyebrow and asked, "Who are you supposed to be? The Easter Bunny?"
"No, I am the Jade Rabbit, the healer of the moon. I am Tsukiko Usagi," said the rabbit, spinning around and posing like she was an anime magical girl.
Sera blinked before asking, "RHS?"
"Big time," said Hatsane, "You can never tell how the elderly will react to being young again, let alone getting a sexy body full of animal hormones."
"Especially rabbit hormones," said Sera.
"I was kinda expecting that herm horse," said Ariel.
"Who? Shun?" asked Hatsane, having met hir on Ao Guang, "Shi's not J-Pop, she's J-Rap, totally different."
Tsukiko giggled and said, "A bird, a cat, a rabbit, a lake fish and a sea fish. All we need is a reptile to cover all the major animal groups."
"What about amphibians?" pointed out Ariel.
"How many pop stars would want to be frogs?" asked Sera.
"Maybe if they get to be kissed by Prince," said Venus jokingly.