"Where are we meeting them?" Bo asked, donning his sunglasses after peeking over Nick's shoulder.
"At the Perk and Park, a few minutes' walk from here," Nick answered, setting his own shades in their place.
"No 'shortcuts' this time, Gloves?" the bunny asked wryly.
I'll make a proper fox out of you, yet, he smirked, "No need, our stalkers are currently indisposed of; that old goat is probably calling their parents right now."
"I can't believe that Grav's still around," Bo grumbled, fists audibly clenching, "and still such a jerk, too."
"Sounds like you and he have history," Nick speculated.
"Yeah, you could say that…"
"Correct me if I'm wrong, but is he the same bunny that bullied you and Gideon?"
"You heard about that, huh?"
"Bits and pieces, here and there."
"He's always been a jerk, ever since Woodlands," Bo huffed, and then added, "that was our grade school. But yeah, Grav Hopps, you were either with him, or you were less than dirt."
"Grav Hopps?"
"Different Hopps than Judy; at least I think so, anyway. There's probably some distant relation, but I never asked about it," Bo's face softened as he continued, "Judy was one of the few bunnies that stood up to him, that didn't get taken in by his honeyed words; he even had most of the adults thinking him some perfect little angel, but us kids knew better."
These are the markers of a manipulative sadist, not some punk with a fox-taser tucked in his drawers. I might've fallen for a trap myself, if that's the case, Nick dreaded, No, he'd have tucked that taser into someone else's drawers and sent them forward. Still, he's not done with me, I'd bet my tail on it. "Making friends; every day, making friends," the fox said in a lazy sing-song tone.
"Don't worry, Gloves, we won't come after us again anytime soon. Heck, he didn't go near Gideon for a week after getting his teeth punched in."
"Such carefree optimism; I remember when I was like that."
"What, do you think he'll be out for revenge, or something?"
"I would be, if I were him," Nick instructed, "Bullies never leave the playground, Bo, that is far too much power and control to leave behind with so arbitrary a limiting factor as age; they either reform into productive members of society, like Gideon, or they turn downright malicious, like Grav. He followed us for a reason, but never got the chance to say what it was, so you can bet folding money he'll turn up again."
"That was like a warning, then?" Bo realized.
"One that did not go his way," Nick smirked, "but I think I see our fair maidens o'er yonder, so try not to mention the little scuffle."
Indeed, there sat Esther and Judy with colorful bubble teas on the patio outside of the Perk and Park Cafe, leaning over the vixen's phone for some reason or another. Judy's ear sprung at their approach, and Esther stashed her device.
"Hi guys, I hope you didn't have too much fun without us?" Judy asked, pivoting in her seat and crossing one leg over the other, nonchalantly showing off her newly painted, vividly rosy-red toe-claws.
"Oh, wow," Bo said immediately, stopping and stooping to get a better look, even cradling them with care in his massive paws; Nick made his way around to sit adjacent to Esther and slung his arm over the back of a chair.
"Mine aren't too shabby, either," she said, looking down at her wiggling toes.
He tilted his head and glanced, smiling politely, "Yes, I daresay that's some fine handiwork on the part of the pedicurist, but it's hard to tell from all the way down there." Esther leaned slightly back to raise her foot impeccably, until the glittery-purple toe-claws were eye level and almost touching his nose. "Hmm…" Nick continued, studying the foot with an appraiser's eye, bracing the ball of her sole and the heel with the tips of his fingers, "Ahh yes, an excellent shade of violet sprinkled with subtle sparkle; quite reminiscent of a particular kind of shorts worn by Gazelle's dancers."
"I'm something of a fan," admitted Esther, "I wore my bangs the same as hers for the longest time."
"Indeed, but that's not all," he continued, walking his fingers down to her ankle, and then her calf, earning quiet giggles along the way, "Take careful note of the taut muscle and firm arch; these are the legs of not only a jogger, hiker, and swimmer, but also those of a kickboxer."
"For fun and exercise," she said as Nick returned her foot.
"Bobo, why are your knuckles all scuffed?" Judy quietly broke in, passively sniffing the air, and then sat up to sniff around his mouth. Nick's fur stood on end as she threw down the larger rabbit's paws, not due to any surprise of her restrained fury, but in the realization that Judy's claim-to-fame in the precinct was reading trouble on a perp like a fortune teller read Tarot cards, "Were you in a bar fight?"
"But Nick-!" Bo started.
"Turncoat!"
"Nick!" both femmes turned on the fox.
"It was self defense!" he pleaded.
"You're supposed to be a cop, Nick!" Judy fumed.
"We're gone for one hour and you get into a brawl?" Esther accused.
"Bo and I were enjoying our drinks in peace, and then some punk came at me with a fox-taser," Nick explained, "What was I supposed to do?"
"One had a baseball bat, another had a kni-... umm… knuckledusters, these guys were armed and looking for trouble," Bo added.
"Why were you in some seedy bar in the first place?" Judy demanded.
"We were trying to get away from that very group of ruffians," Nick explained, "they followed us from the restaurant, even though we went endeavored to lose them. Isn't that right, Bo?"
"Y-yeah!" nodded the rabbit.
"So you beat them up? Are they okay?" the vixen also demanded.
"Are they okay, what about us?"
"They wanted us dead for no reason whatsoever," Bo insisted.
"One probably has a concussion, and I think the other guy's still in shock," Nick carefully elaborated. Bo couldn't help but snicker before the fox swatted his shoulder with a flick of the wrist, "The other two got the wind knocked out of them, but they should also be fine."
"And it's not like we started it; he tried being civil about it," the brown bunny said, pointing to the fox. The girls were still visibly irate about the whole thing. Bo, bless his heart, tried to soften the situation the only way he knew how, "Nick was really cool about it, too," he cheered, thus focusing both of their attentions on him and his eager self; shrinking back some, Bo trailed off at the end of his statement, "he used their own weapons on them, and that's how it started."
"You used your feint-disarm technique?" Judy asked, ears up and looking to Nick intently, uncrossing her arms to lean on the table some, "How'd it work? I mean, clearly it worked, but how'd it feel in a real fight?"
"Judy, we're still mad at them."
"Well, yeah, of course we are," she agreed, "I've wanted to see his technique in action ever since he got out of the academy, but Nick can't exactly go into a Howler Den, so I don't have a lot of chances to catch it outside of sparring matches."
"Am I the only one here still taking this seriously?" Esther challenged, "If they ever decide to press charges, it'll be a firestorm of hearsay testimony. Maybe one of them belongs to a powerful Bunnyburrow resident, or worse, a powerful out-of-townee? This could mean huge trouble for you, for the ZPD, for that seedy bar you went to-"
"Phil's isn't 'seedy'," Nick insisted, "it's quite a respectable place."
"Oh good, you have the name of the establishment, at least," scoffed the vixen.
"And the 'punk' who got tased with his own taser," Bo said, and then leaned in and whispered, "It was Grav!"
"Grav?" Esther asked in tangible disbelief.
"Grav Hopps?" Judy asked, for sake of clarification.
"You threw down with Grav and you didn't invite me?" Esther huffed in a moment of lapsed composure, "I'm even more peeved, now; what I'd give to kick him out of the gene pool!"
"Well, not to dig myself a deeper hole, Cherries, but I might've stolen your thunder," Nick shrugged and smiled apologetically, "I didn't use the taser on him, per se, it was more like he had the thing stuffed down the front of his pants and I turned it on."
The ambient noise of the cafe and the street drifted like a mist through the airy silence that followed the fox's description. The faces of both girls scrunched and lips curled back as they exchanged knowing glances, paws covering the mouth or bracing the forehead as their shoulders shook in restrained laughter.
"Oh, my gosh-" whined Judy.
"You didn't-" Esther choked back.
"Right in the-?" snickered the bunny.
"I mustn't laugh at the pain of others-" the vixen breathed.
Nick glanced at Bo, whom bit on his knuckle as he caught the contagious laughter. Smirking, the fox suddenly grabbed his own crotch to make crackling electricity noises, jostling in his chair to mimic the act of being electrocuted. The others at the table were, in all their maturity, only able to restrain their uproar of merriment by a slim margin.
"Nick, you're terrible-!" Judy wheezed, grabbing her ears with her forehead to the table, snickering still.
"I mustn't laugh at the pain of others-!" Esther cried through a clenched jaw, clutching her sides as he shook with bottled giggles.
Bo clapped his paws over his mouth to laugh into his palms, glanced at Nick, and winked.
...Well spotted, Punch, well spotted, Nick loosed his most convincing guffaw and leaned back in his chair, huffing softly and wiping away a nonexistent tear, After all, who doesn't like to share in a laugh? He waited until the stifling calmed and the other side of the table managed to breath normally once more. "I wouldn't be too worried about any legal issues, Cherries," Nick said through a chuckle, "We have two witnesses who saw the whole thing: Phil, the owner, and a boar named 'Eyrm'. Plus, I'm sure I spotted a security camera in the corner of the ceiling. If Grav decides to come forward, which I sincerely doubt, we have all the evidence we need to prove that he was the instigator, and that Bo and I acted in self defense."
"We're still mad you two got in a bar fight," Judy asserted, but smirking some.
"We're glad you're both okay, though," Esther agreed with a sigh of relief. It seemed the two were waiting for the right moment to reveal it.
"So, Esther," Bo spoke up as the tension loosed to a more manageable level, ears forward, "you're a kickboxer? I thought I saw the fighter's poise in you."
"I don't 'fight' though, outside of sparring with my instructor," the vixen grinned, "I find it's a bit more cathartic than yoga."
"Not as cathartic as a good laugh, though," Judy giggled.
"That was terrible of us to laugh, it's really not that funny," Esther insisted through a snicker.
"Oh please, it's about time someone put that playboy in his place. He struts around Bunnyburrow like he owns it," she then smirked deviously as she sipped more of her tea, "He won't get to use his favorite pickup line anymore, though."
"What 'pickup line'?" Bo asked, brow furrowed.
"About how he'd make 'beautiful children'. He used it on me more than a few times- Bo?" she said, looking at the rabbit rising from the table.
"Hold-" Nick quickly reached up and grabbed the back of said rabbit's shirt-collar.
"I'm jus' gonna go punch him in the-!"
"Cool your jets," the fox instructed, "he wouldn't feel it anyway."
"He'll go after anything that breathes, it's absolutely disgusting," huffed Esther, and then shivered, "The little sicko tried it on me once; I felt like I needed a hot shower- Nick?"
"Let's go, Bo," Nick resolved while standing from the table, releasing the rabbit's shirt at an affirming grunt.
"No," Judy commanded, "because Bo and I have a lot of work to catch up on. My parents need all the help they can get with the TBR officially starting tomorrow. They let us have yesterday and today, but I think their patience is running a little thin."
"And we should check in on Gideon, Blue, I'm sure he wouldn't mind someone keeping him company," Esther said.
"Bah," scoffed Nick, pulling out his sunglasses to flick them open and gesture in a haphazard sweep at Judy and Esther, "Girls and their rationality. My dear Punch, it looks as though our paths must part, so I entrust Judy in totality to you." He grinned and slid his shades onto his snout with a single, communicative wink.
"You can count on me, Gloves," the rabbit said, pulling his glow-in-the-dark sunglasses from a pocket, and by some fluke, flicked his wrist to don them in a single fluid motion. There were no cognitive gears this time, only a simple, satisfying click which the fox, if he were entirely honest with himself, enjoyed most of all.
"We're going to the same place, drama queen," snarked Judy, adjusting the classy frames on her nose, "Ms. Clara offered to come pick us up on the outskirts of Preds' Corner."
"Does she live nearby?" Nick asked, If so, she'd be another prey denied an affordable vacation on the cruise ship. Although, all things considered, it turned out for the better that she stayed.
"Not really?" Judy shrugged as the group ventured out towards the sidewalk, she and Esther tossing their empty cups in the trash, "She comes here often enough, though, so it's not out of her way."
As Nick suspected, he was practically invisible to the passing bunnies on the street with his sunglasses on, and as best he could figure, so were the shades-wearing rabbits. "Before I forget, Ca-," he began, and cleared his throat, Nicknames are all well and good, but I'm not pushing my luck with all these visiting bunnies hopping about, and pointed up to one of the scarlet banners hanging from a streetlamp, "Judy, what's the story behind these?"
"Those?" she asked, glancing over her rims at the overhead display, and smiled warmly, beginning to explain before addressing the larger, eager bunny, "An integral part of rabbit history, right Bo?"
"The Trifecta of Blessings," he began, in appropriate pomp, "Represents each of the three major burrows: the hoof-and-foot crest is Bunnyburrow, the oldest and largest of the three; it was the first established safe-haven for rabbits in Zootopia."
"It was built with the the cooperative efforts of horses and bunnies," Judy continued, "rumored to spark the initial bonds of modern respect and luck for mammals everywhere; with the bunnies' skill in agriculture and the horses' strength, they thrived through the darkest times of recorded history."
"It's believed that this bond, as well as the bond between lions and zebras, is what built the foundation of trust for Zootopia," Bo concluded.
Nick gave a curious grunt as he looked up at the banner, raising his phone to catch a picture of it as they headed out of Preds' Corner, "Learn something new everyday."
"That one represents a burrow which is actually part of the city itself," Judy continued, glancing over at Nick's phone and pointing to the symbol that, she explained, was "two blackbirds perched on a windowsill. It's the Knotash crest, the 'House of Blessings', which along with the Hexward Tenets (that's the last symbol), is the acting authority on the teachings of luck in Zootopia."
If you believe in stuff like that, the fox pondered, recalling Bo's defense of it back at the bar, "I thought the third burrow was 'Deerbrooke'?" Nick asked.
"It is," Bo agreed, "It's still got plenty of bunnies in it, though, mostly hares; I'm from Deerbrooke, but I don't remember much of it since I left when I was really little. The symbol is a stag's antlers etched on a shield," he put his thumbs behind his ears and splayed his fingers to pantomime a set of deer's horns, but was quickly corrected for such a socially sensitive gesture by a single throat-clearing from Judy, "For protection against dark magic, thus, 'hex ward'."
"I always thought it looked like a fox's face."
Bo grunted in thought, "I don't see it."
"See, that's the nose, there are the ears," Nick pointed out, "Still 'No'?"
"So which came first, Hexward or Deerbrooke?" Esther asked, climbing up onto a collection a boulders not too far from the road that lead from Preds' Corner to Bunnyburrow proper; a shady sapling grew between the stony cluster with a crooked trajectory, but the four found it a fine place to wait for their ride.
"The Hexward Tenets were around almost as long as bunnies and horses have been working together," Judy answered, "Accounts differ, but it's said to have started as a barn-based, bunny-run apothecary in the woods where Deerbrooke is today."
"A barn for the acorn farm, was it?" teased Nick.
"Well, 'barn'," she quoted with a flick of her fingers, "it was more likely a safe house where they kept supplies and housed any mammals too big for the rabbits' warrens."
"Hexward Pharmaceuticals uses a variation of the Deerbrooke crest because that's where Felix Lapis and Mr. Stagmire are both from," Bo continued.
"The 'Miracle Makers' themselves," Nick gesticulated, "Made a tidy fortune, they did, with a veritable Renaissance of modern medicines less than a few decades ago, including a personal favorite of mine: an allergy pill that kept the fox-flu mostly manageable."
"No need to brag about it, Blue," smirked Esther with a roll of her eyes, "That stuff was expensive out here in the sticks back then, so we sufficed with good old fashioned grit and home remedies. 'What doesn't kill you', as they say."
"Only giving credit where credit is due, plus, I like to hear myself talk," assured Nick, but spoke quickly, "For example, Buckley Stagmire sold his personal shares in the company to run as Assistant Mayor to Lionheart in their first campaign; before his nerve paralysis made it impossible to hold office, anyway. They did rather well in their single term, many say, I know I enjoyed an upturn in business," he smirked, and then pondered his punchline aloud, "We really don't have the best of luck with mayors in Zootopia, do we?"
"How long have you been holding onto that one?" Judy scoffed.
"All year."
"Before we get into politics, let's finish our talk on religion," Esther reprimanded her fellow fox, before turning to the bunnies, "What's 'fortuna regente'? I must've found a dozen different meanings from Zoogle."
"Oh, that," scoffed Judy with dismissive wave, "It's a quaint phrase, more offhanded if anything."
"We could argue for days what its original intent was," shrugged Bo, "The devout say 'guided by blessings'."
"And the cynic says 'ruled by luck'," Judy continued.
"At the risk of stirring anything up, what do you say?" Nick asked both bunnies.
"We make our own luck," she smiled, and leaned into Bo.
"We respect the basic tenets," he continued, putting an arm around Judy, "but we keep it in the realm of common sense."
"If I break a mirror, I'm gonna clean it up and get a new one," Judy explained.
"And walking under a ladder is unsafe, not unlucky. Whoever is working up there might drop something, or an unattended ladder could fall at the littlest nudge," Bo elaborated.
"Wishing someone 'good luck' means you'll hope things go their way."
"And that right there's the important part: respect and love for others."
Esther smiled contentedly as the bunnies took turns talking, "It sounds like you two gave this a great deal of thought."
"And what about Phil, the 'Cursed Coach'?" Nick asked pointedly at Bo.
"That's… different," the rabbit began, "It's the weirdest thing, and there are conspiracy theories all over the MMA forums about it, but there's nothing connecting all the stuff that happens to his fighters. 'Bad luck' is the only way to explain it, for lack of anything better."
"Phil Octaves?" Judy asked, "I thought he disappeared years ago?"
"Oh, right!" Bo said, reminded of his excitement, "He's the 'Phil' of Phil's, and he's gonna train me… err, rather, he's going to hire me," he then winked at Nick, "and maybe I might get some extra training in on the side."
"He's been in Preds' Corner all this time?" she said incredulously, and then pointed at Nick with a smirk, "And you happened to stumble into his bar on the one day you hang out with Bo?" Nick simply shrugged and rolled his eyes in dramatic self-amusement.
The earthen-brown rabbit suddenly reached up and grabbed Nick in a headlock, yanking him down to drill a noogie into his skull; much thrashing ensued, "Yep, he's my lucky fox!"
"No, he's my 'lucky fox' because I found him first!" Judy declared, and noogied a different part of his head while tugging an ear.
"Esther, help! Call the police!" he struggled, to which the vixen could only hold her sides in fits of laughter, "Fox abuse, fox abuse!"
"Okay, you two, cut it out," she giggled, and then when Nick was set back on his boulder, quickly leaned up to touch her nose to the sensitive fuzzy spot between his ear and cheek, "Because he's my 'lucky fox'."
Nick's ears flared brilliant scarlet as his composure flickered for a single instant, before they relaxed back; he straightened his tie to face her, but was glancing between her and the bunnies, "Madam, please, we are in polite company and it simply wouldn't do, unmated foxes that we are," he said in a playful, proper tone.
The vixen cleared her throat, said "Right" with a bashful smile and pinned back her own scarlet ears, trying in vain to tuck a bang behind one. Judy gave her a significantly knowing smile, which Esther attempted to stare down.
"Right," Nick said with a quick snap of his fingers to gather the attention of those in earshot, "Last question, I swear: these 'Knotash, the House of Blessings' and 'The Hexward Tenets', does it say anything in their bylaws about keeping the company of a fox, versus keeping the company of foxes?" Esther leaned in curiously, remembering that part of their conversation from earlier.
"Umm…" Bo considered, brow furrowing to the gentle machinations of cognitive gears, and then scratched his head as though it could further the process along, "N-… oh, maybe? There was something I read, a long time ago, that 'seeing a fox was good luck'…"
"So far, so good," Judy chimed in.
"...But something else about how, specifically, 'a family of foxes was bad luck'," he recalled with a dumbfounded shrug, "I mean, you'd think it'd work one way or the other, but not both. Sounds totally made up, right?"