The Once-ler (series)

**The Once-ler** is The Biggering, where The Lorax and Once-ler have switched species with each other.

Laurel is a man who's enjoyed a secluded life in Truffula's wilderness for many years, until other humans show up and his home becomes a popular tourist location. His negative feelings for the visitors spawn a dubious creature, who calls himself "The Once-ler", who feeds on the careless behaviour of humans and the destruction of Truffula.

The series was conceived on October 4, 2022, in the form of an answered question at Tumblr.

## Story

Quote (will expand later):

> *...He’d definitely be some greed-feeding trickster demon. Growth is one of human Once-ler’s most defining features, so I’d give him a malleable physical form. Unaffected, he resembles a “human child” wearing a hooded onesie that looks much like the original Once-ler’s weird bodysuit thing. When surrounded by selfish asses long enough, he bursts out of his attire and becomes this tall, black, maned beast. At his largest, the fabric only covers up his limbs, but it all grows back again if the transformation were to revert.*
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> *Storywise, this is a challenge. There are many story beats and personality traits to keep in mind and translate. In any case, the plot would have to revolve around a personal struggle of The Lorax.*
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> *The only setting I can come up with is that Lorax was born in Truffula, spent many years by himself, then strangers randomly show up with caravans and barbecues.*
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> *More keep coming and he’s so angered by the behaviour of these tourists, it attracts The Once-ler to his location -either spawned by the inconsiderate visitors or whatever thoughts are going through Lorax’ mind. Is he protecting Truffula, or calling dibs on a piece of land that’s not even officially his? Do his feelings touch “greed”?*
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> *Doesn’t matter, our boy is here to ruin all of our lives.*
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> *Upon meeting each other, he thinks Once-ler is a lost child. He allows him inside his home for a short while and his hospitality is what makes Once-ler become attached to him. He claims to have always been ignored or lashed out to, though later shows off the ability to create objects and life forms through knitting and tells The Lorax he’s his toy in the literal sense of the word. Enough to give a man an existential crisis, but it’s taken as a joke.*
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> *Once-ler lets him know pretty early on he’s not human, since he won’t stop asking about his parents. I don’t want the story to be about him taking care of a disguised creature, this scene is just to convey The Lorax can set aside his dislike for city folk and care for a lost “child”.*
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> *The reveal is not met with a huge response. Lorax accepts the spiritual world and Truffula is an unusual place by itself, so why be dismissive of this demon thing strolling around. He does ask Once-ler many times to return to the Heavens -generously assuming he’s not from da land down undah.*
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> *The tourists that treat Truffula as their playground help Once-ler grow strong, but so does Lorax’ weak offence against his antics. Once-ler’s greediness becomes more severe and increases his size as well. He takes from the land, the tourists, and Lorax personally, and always has an excuse ready for his thievery.*
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> *This Eden snake would probably love to see Lorax consider violent solutions for his entertainment, but in any case, he’s the rotten 'little voice in his ear that insists his rage stems from his unwillingness to share Truffula. He needs to play on his insecurities, because if Lorax feels guilty and doesn’t push harder to chase people away, then Once-ler has more people to potentially feed off of. Being lazy or inconsiderate is not synonymous with “greed”, after all, he needs specific kinds of people to discover Truffula. He knows its remarkable plant- and wildlife will draw some “zealous” people.*
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> *It takes The Lorax some time to accept human expansion is inevitable. The only right he really has is to try and educate visitors, he can’t begin to threaten or chase them away. This mere man has less authority than the original Lorax, though many animals respect him for obvious reasons.*
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> *Maybe the police keeps getting involved when he pushes his luck, but when he contacts them, nothing is done. The Lorax gets no support and basically everyone messes with him, so the only thing he can do for Truffula is clean up after everyone. His home is all he has in life.*
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> *The work and stress become too much for this middle aged man. When his death appears inevitable, Once-ler’s emotional abuse of the one person that cared for him stops being funny.*
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> *Once-ler’s late act of redemption here is to lead people to Lorax’ body and expose them to the consequence of their behaviour. They don’t question whether they played a part in it, as they all know him as a notorious nag and laughing stock, stupid enough to pick up trash all day and play doctor to even the most insignificant insect that happened to get a picnic basket dropped onto itself. Some people enjoyed leaving behind unnecessary work for The Lorax, admittedly because The Once-ler enticed them to. The game is fun when the target is just some tree-hugging Karen.*
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> *Once-ler only manages to exchange a few words with the bedridden Lorax before he passes away. The political world gets involved and strict rules are implemented -or rules at all- to those who want to make use of Truffula.*
> It becoming a regulated human establishment is not quite a complete victory for The Lorax, but well, the original Truffula couldn’t get rid of its one city/town, either.
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> *Anyway, the end, this is mostly how it’d go.*
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## Characters

### Laurel Axe

Laurel is The Lorax as a human. He's in his 40s at the start of the story and 60s when he passes away.

He was born in Truffula and was its only resident for many years. His parents died young, but taught him to be self-sufficient. Laurel knows Truffula's history and greatly respects the animals and plant life, but by feeling it to be his responsibility to maintain and protect it, he becomes almost unreasonably dejected upon finding out the outside world has become interested in it as well. Since the visitors know nothing about Truffula and treat it like any random space to claim however they see fit, it feeds Laurel's discontent for humans. His wish to protect Truffula develops feelings of possessiveness, unintentionally summoning The Once-ler.

Though he doesn't know what The Once-ler is, Laurel is used to Truffula's strange library of creatures and accepts the supernatural. He's not disturbed by him, though recognizes he doesn't belong in Truffula and often urges him to return whence he came.

He has the personality of a stubborn skeptic, yet it appears easy for Once-ler to manipulate him, even when Laurel thinks he's standing his ground. Laurel knows he's a being who enjoys chaos and doesn't approve of it, but at the same time, isn't sure how much of it is his fault. With Once-ler's species being wholly unknown to him, he assumes it's part of his nature and thus can't be criticized too much over it, allowing for Once-ler to continue his harmful mischief without any real countermeasures getting implemented.

*<under construction>*

### The Once-ler

The Once-ler is the likewise named antagonist from The Biggering. He's assumed to be as old as time itself.

He's a shape-shifting creature of unknown origin that spawns into existence whenever a human being exhibits extreme behaviour or emotions that can be tied to "selfishness", "possessiveness", "greed", etc. This only happens when the summoner stands on Truffula's soil, making it evident The Once-ler has a connection to the land.

Though Once-ler claims otherwise and deems Truffula his domain, Laurel thinks he's some sort of parasitic demon who made use of Truffula's mythical properties to cast his own magic and tie his soul to the land, like placing a bear trap under the soil. Having that said, The Once-ler can't cross Truffula's boundaries and physically disturb other countries, as these are bound to reality and can't house the strange and supernatural.

He started out looking much like a human child wearing a green onesie, though his face remained hidden in shadows at all times. As the amount of self-serving tourists in Truffula grows, Once-ler also grows in size and becomes increasingly more violent. Besides pushing humans to treat the land carelessly and trying to rile up Laurel like a devil on his shoulder, he himself would pull out trees and hunt down wildlife.

Laurel briefly wondered if getting soulbound to Truffula wasn't his intention and his mistreatment of the land is an act of anger for what he considers his prison. He asked if killing all will free him, but Once-ler is vague about his origin and merely argues that taking lives is needed in order to survive and he's not different from any other organism on Earth that needs to eat.

Having enjoyed Laurel's care when he still looked like a child, he has affection for the man, but doesn't possess the ability to express this and remains cruel and manipulative. Nevertheless, when Laurel dies an early death, he regrets being the cause.

*<under construction>*

## See also

* The Biggering
* The Once-ler
* The Lorax