Nick

"Holy crap." The scope of what I'm seeing can't even be described, so I have to resort to blatant use of shock. Really, the shock value of this is tremendous. I've seen stages built in a day. I've built stages myself. But generally, those were last minute projects, and generally they only consisted of pieces of sheet wood nailed together to form a flat, slightly elevated surface, and that doesn't even begin to describe what's in front of me.

I should probably start by saying that we have a lot of money at our disposal. There's a locked box in Finnick's van with the word "Band Debit Card" on it, and it has been loaded many times over. It contains several million dollars, or all revenue from the shows that we didn't need to support our own lifestyles. Those lives that we led off stage didn't necessarily need to be comfortable; they just needed to run smoothly on a day to day basis. Thus, while each of us technically has multimillionaire status, the actual profits of the band are several hundred times our combined net worth, and most of that is in safety deposit boxes or on the credit card in the van.

This money, which is used exclusively for band performances and tours, is the reason I'm stunned. I expected a cheap stage, and was honestly shocked when Finnick had to pay as much as he did for one. But the work that has been done has left me completely astounded.

Finnick and I are standing on the top of a gently sloping hill. In front of us is a vast stretch of grass, at least a mile in length. The field is ringed by forest on all sides, and most of it is circled by a great, semicircular, grass covered hill, which I have found myself on. The only sign of construction is really the tire marks on the grass.

The stage is about two hundred feet in length, and easily about one hundred feet tall. It's been made so that the front of the stage is curved to touch as much of what will soon be the "pit area" of the audience as possible. On either side of the stage are walls which hold gigantic speakers which are pointed out towards where we stand on the hill. Above these speakers on either wall are gigantic, black areas of painted concrete, where, if all the lighting and rigging is set up the right way, the images onstage will be projected for viewers who aren't as close to the stage. The backdrop of the stage is blank right now, but Finnick requested that the stage be set up in front of a small barn which will serve as a backstage area. The side of the barn is red, but has been painted with a black and white logo of a lion giving a starkly red rose to a small squirrel. Written in white above the image are the words "DEFINE US AS YOU WILL." The stage reminds me of all other music festival stages. The difference is that this stage was built in less than fifteen hours.

"How?" I say weakly. Finnick laughs.

"You're forgetting where we are, bro." He says, and opens his arms to the surrounding countryside. "The capitol of free labor and reproduction speed. I hired three construction agencies to get the job done faster, but each of them brought probably two to three thousand workers per task."

"Most of them were rabbits, I'm assuming?" I say with a chuckle.

"Hell yes. I made sure that for the last parts like wiring and adding the lights and stuff that I hired a crew that was okay with the festival. Less chance for sabotage."

"You the man." I say with a grin. I've begun to look at the stage and the area around it more carefully, and I'm beginning to notice tiny little spots of detail. Some of them are my idea, but others are undoubtedly Finnick's.

Surrounding the stage in the pit area are a number of large rectangular blocks, turned on end so they stick a good ten feet in the air. These blocks are a good twenty feet wide, and each has a set of staircases on one side. It's a touch which I've seen at Pawlapalooza- the blocks are standing places for smaller mammals who wouldn't be able to see over the crowd otherwise. It's genius. I notice that he also took my suggestion of adding a runway to the stage- a large additional rectangular section of the stage which extends into the audience. I don't like to flatter myself (sometimes), but it was a good idea. Especially since the online poll which I set up to ask how many animals were coming just hit thirty thousand. However, in a particular stroke of forward thinking, there is a large circle of what is clearly stage material in the center of what will be the crowd. It's an island- a band member would half to crowd surf to it, but if you can get the crowd to get you there, you can play surrounded by a literal ocean of fans.

"I was thinking we could start there and then crowd surf our way onto the mainstage to start the number." Finnick says. I nod. It's a good idea. I feel a gentle tap on my shoulder, and turn to find myself staring at the grizzled old canine that let us play his bar. This is his farm.

"Mr. Wilde, I presume?" He says with a smile.

"Yessir, that's me." I say. I suppose that I'll have to give up my anonymity, but that doesn't matter in the slightest to me. I mean, this guy is about to let us host a giant music festival against social norm on his farm. He should get to know my name.

"The name's Dan." He extends his paw, and I shake it firmly. "You really know how to rock, Mr. Wilde."

"Call me Nick." I say quickly. Elders calling me "Mr. Wilde" brings back the faint memories of my father. That's never good. "Thank you for letting us host this festival here."

"What you're doing is really good, and I'm proud to let you host it here." Dan says, puffing his chest out a little bit. "All animals should be treated equally. I'm sorry about what happened to you a couple of days ago."

"Don't worry about it. It wasn't your fault." I dismiss. "Besides, this music festival is about to be fantastic."

"Yeah, I think that it is." Dan says with a smile. Finnick gives a little groan, pulls out his phone, and places it to his ear.

"What's up, Big H?" He asks, moving away slightly from the conversation. I give him a smile which goes unnoticed, and turn back to Dan.

"Is there anything else you need from us before tomorrow?" I ask.

Dan gives me a long, hard look, and finally speaks. "There is one thing you could do for me, actually."

I sort of expected this, and brace myself for the worst. "What do you want?" I ask.

"I was wondering…" Dan gives a shrug, "if maybe you would like to play for my family tonight."

I blink. "Like, a private concert? How big is your family?" I ask.

"Well, it's me, my wife, two of my younger kits, and then four of my older kits, two with their own families. So about thirty people."

I don't even have to think, which is good, because thinking tends to kill my smooth vibe. "Yeah, we can do that. What do you want us to play?" I ask.

"That's up to you." He says with another of his signature wolfish grins. "Can you do it in an hour?"

"Yep!" I say. He nods approvingly, and turns away to start walking down the hill. I watch him go with a flicker of nostalgia. A show for thirty mammals. I haven't played a show that small in a very long time. Probably means that we'll have to cut back on the actual polished songs and go more garage band, which I'm fine with, and I'm pretty sure the others will be fine with as well. We don't need James to do a thirty person show, probably because I'll have to do some acoustic versions of songs.

"NICK, GET THE HELL OVER HERE!" Finnick shouts. I jump slightly, and then jog over to where he stands.

"What's up, Fin?" I ask. He's visibly shaking. His phone is five feet away.

"The City of Bunnyburrow," he says, his voice radiating forced calm, "has shut down two lanes of the highway and one of the train lines leading into the city, which is the maximum they can stop without declaring a state of emergency."

"So people can't come?" I whisper.

"Not according to Henry. Apparently most are just parking their cars in the middle of the highway and proceeding on foot. Not kidding, this is actually happening. It does mean that they're going to get in later, and it also means James is going to have a much harder time getting his stuff to us."

"Alright, but how do you know that they're even getting here on foot?"

Finnick runs over to where his phone lays, picks it up, and unlocks it. There's a short silence where all I can see are the movements of his paws over the screen. Finally, he walks over to me. The phone is receiving a livestream view from Fox News. It's a helicopter shot of an enormous river of people holding signs and tents and torches making their way down the highway. Parked cars litter the road behind them.

"Wow." I murmur, watching the procession make it's way slowly over the ground.

"Henry's in the middle of that. He's not going to be here for a while."

"That's not good." I say. Finnick turns to me slowly.

"Why not?" He asks. His voice is very forced.

"Because I told Dan that we could play for his family in like fifty minute." I admit.

Finnick looks like he's about to shoot steam out of his ears. It would be funny, but the last time I saw him this angry he was about to beat the cream out of me. I have a feeling that might be about to happen again.

"Wait." I interrupt. He doesn't move, but keeps his furious eyes locked on me. "I know someone who can play the guitar."

"Where are they?" Finnick says, alert instantly. I pull my phone from my pocket.

Andy: nick we r coming a little early. That text was sent about thirty minutes ago, meaning that they're about twenty minutes from here. I can feel my stomach tighten just thinking about that measure. Twenty minutes. Twenty minutes until I get to see Judy. I shake the thought from my head. It's going to ruin my focus.

"Okay, here's the deal:" I say sharply. "You go over to that area right next to the stage and wait for them. They'll find you. When you get them, take them over to the farmhouse. I'll play for Dan and his kits until then. When you two get over to us, we'll play like three songs and then get out. Seem fair?"

Finnick gives a small nod. "You gotcha, Nick."

"Good. I'll see you soon." I say with a nod, and turn to begin my trek to the farmhouse.

"Nick!" Finnick calls from behind me. I turn.

"What?" I shout over my shoulder.

"Break a leg!" He roars. I grin, snap a messy salute, and turn to make my way back down the hill. Time to play a show.

Andy

"Do you have any idea where you're going?" My sister asks from my side.

"Yes." I lie, forcing my way through a small patch of brambles. She gives me a sly look, and walks behind me. She won't say anything for a bit, of course, but then she'll start asking. Judy's like that. She cares a lot about people, but she's only able to keep to herself for a bit. She's a social rabbit. I look up to her for that.

We break through a small patch of trees into a little clearing. I have to make sure I keep the guitar on my back from hitting any of the trees. It's a constant danger with me. I look up through the trees. The sky is slowly turning purple. I strain my eyes. There's a large, black mass in my field of vision which is partially covered by the trees.

"What's that?" I ask. Judy has already started running towards it, bouncing off of trees to avoid obstacles in her path. I follow. We sprint through the undergrowth until we find ourselves running out of the forest and into a large open field. Sitting no more than one hundred feet from us is a gigantic stage. I can smell the paint from here. That stage must have been made very, very, very recently.

"Yo, rabbit!" A voice shouts from my left. I spin around to find a small fennec fox walking towards me. He has two drumsticks stuck in his left pocket and a set of shades on his face.

"You Andy?" He asks. I nod vigorously. He gives a chuckle.

"Nick sent me to get you. I'm Finnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn!" The last part of the word is stretched as Judy tackles him in a hug.

"Finnick!" She laughs, squeezing him to her chest. "It's so great to see you!"

"Geroff me, Judy!" He grumbles, squirming. She releases him. He brushes himself off, looking a little embarrassed. "I'm Finnick." He says.

"I got that." I laugh. He shoots me a murderous look.

"Anyways, follow me. Nick sent me to get you two. He needs you two, you especially, Andy."

"Why me?" I ask, beginning to follow Finnick up the hill.

"Because our guitarist is currently stuck inside the Zootopian version of the video game "Snake." Finnick says grimly. "You can play guitar, right?"

"Yeah, I can." I say.

"Good. Sometimes Nick likes to tell me lies just to get me off his case. Sometimes he tells truths that sound like lies." Finnick shrugs. "I mean, he came up to me and said 'I have a cop bunny girlfriend who's brother can play guitar at rock band quality' and he expects me to not be skeptical."

"Which part were you skeptical about?" Judy says dryly.

"Nick having a girlfriend with a real job." Finnick answers. Judy laughs.

"Where is he?" She asks quietly. Finnick sighs.

"He's performing for thirty wolves right now in that house across the field." Finnick says, pointing to a small house on the horizon. "When we get there, Andy and I are going to have to go up and play with him."

"Wait, why are you-?" I begin, confused. And then I see the drumsticks in his pocket. The thick black writing on each which reads "FUCK PREJUDICE."

"You're a Warmblood!" I shout.

"You didn't realize that beforehand?" Judy says, surprised.

"No!" I say. Finnick is laughing.

"Yeah, I play the drums." He chuckles. "Speaking of which," He digs around in his pocket and tosses a small piece of plastic to me. I catch it in midair and stair at it. It's a small white guitar pick marked with a black logo of a fox in a gas mask.

"That's your pick and your ticket to backstage." Finnick says, tossing one to Judy. "You lose it, you don't get spots backstage. Got it?"

"Okay." I say. There's a pause.

"Can I use it? To play, I mean." I say. Finnick glances over his shoulder and nods. I grin, and stuff the pick into my pocket.

The rest of the journey to the farmhouse goes by fairly quickly. It's probably a twenty minute walk, but I barely notice it. I'm reciting lines in my head, preparing to play any music that they could ask of me. I got the official Warmbloods tab books when I was twelve. This should be a piece of cake.

We enter the house through a door on the patio. It's surprisingly quaint on the inside, with pictures of the family on the mantle. We walk through. Suddenly, I watch Judy's ears perk up. I strain my own ears, and I hear it.

"Beginning to think I'm wasting my time, I don't understand the things I do." Finnick is walking in the direction of the noise, with Judy at his side. We walk through a set of halls until we reach an enormous open conference room. Only it's not open now. It's packed with wolves of all sizes, all with their ears turned to something out of my view at the front of the room.

"The world outside looks so unkind, and I'm countin' on you, to carry me through! CLAP FOR ME!." The singer shouts. The wolves start to clap. Suddenly, the two in front of me part, and I can finally see the stage. There's a drum set, three speakers, and a fox with an acoustic guitar in front of the one microphone.

"So, give me the beat boys, and free my soul, I want to get lost in your rock and roll and drift away!" Nick sings gently, sweetly. "KEEP CLAPPING!" He shouts. There's a wolf cub on his shoulder, waving his arms in the air and looking completely content. Nick's eyes roam the room freely, his hands moving independently of his mind.

Without warning, he stops. He takes the guitar off, gently places the cub on the ground, and walks off the small stage. He starts to walk, and then to run. A red and a gray blur collide in mid-stride, slamming into each other, spinning around and around. There's cheering, and I think I'm joining in. Judy is crying into Nick's shoulder, Nick looks like he's going in that direction himself, Finnick looks like he's trying to stop himself from cheering as well, and the wolves are applauding. Slowly, wordlessly, Nick leads Judy up to the mic. He puts the guitar on again, and she leans against him. Silently, he starts to strum again.

"Thanks for the joy that you've given me, and I want you to know," he looks at me, "I believe in your song. And rhythm and rhyme and harmony, you've helped me along, you've made me strong." He smiles at Judy, and she smiles up at him, and I've never believed in fairy tales but this is too good to be true. "So, GO!" He shouts to the crowd.

"Give me the beat boys and free my soul, I want to get lost in your rock and roll and drift away!" They sing. Nick twirls Judy gently, dancing with her as the crowd sings, pausing occasionally to strum the guitar, and the song fades to black. I realize that I've wondered for a while if Dad was right. If foxes and rabbits shouldn't be together, if there was something fundamentally wrong with it. And I watch them, and I have only one thought.

Man, Dad couldn't have been more wrong.

A/N: So, I lied about two things. First: this chapter didn't come out on Tuesday. Whoops. I was very busy. It's up now. Second: there's a good chance that there may be two more parts to the festival plus the epilogue. The story has a mind of its own. Thank you for reading me, as usual. Next chapter will probablybe up sometime next week. Most of the song requests are going to go into some part of the festival. Stay chill, guys. Until next week.

NJ