Chapter 25 – Karl & Vanessa
The unnerving sound of Judy's alarm clock ended Nick's sleep quite abruptly. When he opened his eyes they got pierced by ray of sunlight. He switched off the alarm. It was 8 am and his head was thumping with a very bad hangover. In addition his legs hurt like crazy. "I shouldn't have danced so much…", he groaned and got out of the bed. Judy was not there, obviously she got up early and set the alarm for him. He took a shower, dried his fur, dressed and walked down in the kitchen that was crowded as usual. Carts full of used dishes had been brought up by a group of bunnies and Bonnie was busy filling the four dishwashers installed in the huge room. She must have gotten up at 5 am as the party ground outside was already cleared and his breakfast stood on the table, including a steaming mug of coffee. "Oh, Nick, you're up, sit down, take your time, Judy will be right back!", she said cheerfully. One of Judy's sisters (Dixie? Trixie? Lexi? He couldn't remember) gave him a hot look purring "Good morning, Nicky…" and batted her eyelashes. Before Nick found a proper way to react, Judy came through the door and grabbed the girl's ear, twisting it, "If I hear you call him 'Nicky' once more, the ear is off, you got me?" – "Ouch, you're mean, leggo, I just wanted to be polite…", squeeled the teen bunny. "Judy, Xenia, stop it, at once!", Bonnie yelled at her daughters, "or you'll spend the rest of the day in the barn, sorting carrots!" – "But, mooooom!" both girls protested simultaneously.
"Hey, Carrots, have you talked to Fru-Fru and found out why she came all the way here?", Nick asked quickly to dissolve the situation. Judy let her sister go, not without giving her a warning look, and sat down next to Nick. "You can ask her yourself, she'll be here any minute – oh, there she is!", she said when it suddenly got dark inside the kitchen. A polar bear blocked the light from the window, they heard him knock politely on the door to the porch. Bonnie opened and the bear set the tiny shrew in the room, together with a miniature stroller where a baby shrew sat and looked curiously around.
"Good morning!", piped Fru-Fru, "Nice to see you again, Bonnie, hi Nick, hi Judy, could someone get the briefcase? I printed the documents out in your size, but I can't carry them now…" Nick hurried to get a rather heavy briefcase out of the polar bears paws. Fru-Fru's daughter yelled "Judyyyyy!" when she recognized her godmother and Judy took her carefully in her paw to exchange kisses and hugs. "My god, Fru-Fru, what's in here?", Nick said as he heaved the briefcase on the table. "Wedding plans, of course!", she said, "We have so many things to talk about, oh, by the way, the date for the wedding will be July, 11th. That's a Saturday! It was kind of tricky to book such a large event on such short a notice, especially the manager of Sahara Square Garden was quite hard to convince, but…" – "Wait, wait, wait!", interrupted Judy, the other Judy sitting on her shoulder, "That would be in less than three weeks! And what do we need Sahara Square Garden for again?" Fru-Fru sighed, "I planned to have it all in Oasis Hotel, but the Great Hall there is much too small for nearly 900 guests, so we will have everybody stay in the hotel and shuttle them in some twenty buses and sixty limos over to the Garden, where we…" – "900 guests?", yelled Nick, "Heck, I don't even know so many animals!" – "Oh, but they all know you, make no mistake about it, Nick, you two are stars now and everyone wants to be present at this historic moment!", Fru-Fru smiled. Judy shook her head, "We don't even know if they will allow us to marry, my neighbors, the Antlersons, had quite some trouble…" – "Maybe, but they don't had the mayor as friend, do they? Lionheart has already approved everything, Nick, be so kind and take out the green folder, there you'll find everything… I have signed in your place, hope you don't mind." Awestruck, Nick looked at the signed applications for marriage, stamped and approved. "Who signed that? If I wouldn't know that I had not signed this, I would think I have!" Fru-Fru waved her tiny paw, "Details, details… oh, by the way, which name you two want to have? You know, you could keep your last names as they are or use a hyphened combination…" Nick looked confused on that, but Judy said determined, "No way. We will have one shared name. And this name will be Wilde!" Everyone looked surprised and Bonnie said "Jude, are you sure?" and Nick said, "Carrots, I won't insist on having it the old traditional way…" – "I am sure. We will be together for all eternity and I want to have the same name as you. Hopps is a typical bunny name, I don't want you to run around with that… but Wilde is not so species related… Judy Wilde… yes, I think I like it that way!"
"Great, that's settled, then!", Fru-Fru smiled, "Oh, Nick, you have found the drafts for the invitations… which color do you prefer? Lilac or burgundy or thiamatblue?" But Nick stared unbelievingly on the fine parchment and showed it to Judy whose jaw dropped. One side was a marvellous photo of them standing ankle deep in a brook. In the background was an impressive waterfall. Nick wore a tuxedo with a green vest and matching bow tie, while Judy looked like a goddess in a beautiful white dress that emphasized her flawless figure. Both smiled in the camera. "How… how did you do that?", Nick asked. Fru-Fru shrugged, "Photoshop. I casted two models. Was kind of hard to find a male fox model, but in the end I found one! For Judy, it was much easier, I simply hired Vanessa." Judy looked puzzled, but Bonnie shrieked, "Vanessa? The Vanessa? Oh, come on, Judy, you must know her, she's been on the cover of Lapine Vogue so often that… wait, here she is!" She rummaged in a drawer and pulled out a fashion magazine.
On the cover was a female bunny with gold-blonde fur posing on a beach in a bikini that Judy would have dared to wear only deep down in a mine at midnight with no spectators in a mile's circle. "Wow!", Nick just said. "And that's her?" Judy kicked him under the table. "Don't drool on the picture… how have you changed the fur color? Fru-Fru, you can't do that, I'm not looking half as gorgeous as she…" – "Oh, my dear Judy, you will, you will. Today at 3 pm, I have arranged Karl Otterfeld to be flown in and he will then measure…" – "What? Karl Otterfeld, the famous designer?", interjected Bonnie once again, her eyes so wide open that they nearly popped out. "Of course", said Fru-Fru, "he made my own wedding dress, too! Do you remember, Judy?" – "Of course, it was great, you looked really beautiful in it!", Judy had to admit. Nick had read the invitation in the mean time and stumbled about the next point. "Fru-Fru, in this invitation draft there is a return card with 'our' address… but we don't live there. Is this the address of your wedding planning office?" He handed the card to Judy, pointing to the address, reading Judy & Nick, Apt. 1, 0200 Motosuma Plaza, Savannah Central 04000, Zootopia. Fru-Fru patted her forehead with her paw, "Darn, yes, I totally forgot to tell you that… that's your address. Sorry, Nick, but dad really needed the building, so we packed your stuff together and got it to your new love nest – I am so glad it all got ready just in time!"
Judy laughed at Nick's face, "Man, you get kicked out of your cosy fox burrow rather quickly, didn't you?", she said. "Oh, Judy, we terminated your rental contract with Great Pangolin Apartments, too. Your stuff was relocated the same day!", Fru-Fru said and now Judy's jaw dropped and Nick laughed. Fru-Fru went on, "I scolded dad because he let you guys live in these shabby places, so I had to remind him that you saved my life and little Judy's, too, of course, and I know he had made a deal with his close friend Hideki Motosuma to get the penthouse of the new Motosuma Building… actually it had been two penthouses, but we thought they were too crammy, they had just 2800 sq ft each, so dad ordered Motosuma to change the plan to one big apartment!" Nick and Judy listened open mouthed and Judy stammered, "But… Fru-Fru, you know perfectly well that even two police salarys could not pay the rent for a 5600 sq ft apartment in the most expensive place in Zootopia!" Fru-Fru looked confused, "Rent? Who do you want to pay rent to? The place is yours, oh, that reminds me, you have to sign the deed, Nick, be a darling and take out the white folder, will you?" – "Fru-Fru, I know I saved your life, but this is going too far now. The wedding, the apartment… it cost millions and…" Fru-Fru suddenly jumped high in the air and landed directly on Judy's shoulder, looking straight in her eyes. "Judy, you really think I do that because of you keeping me from getting squashed under a giant donut? You must be joking. You are family, now, and from where we're from, family is everything!" – "Family, family!", squeked little Judy from her other shoulder. "And now back to the details of the wedding…"
They talked for hours and Judy and Nick had given up. Fru-Fru was eager to organize the biggest, most glamorous wedding party of all times to make herself a name in the business and she didn't accept a no. Nick and Judy were allowed to change some minor details, but no more. In the meantime, Bonnie had panicked when thinking of the famous designer coming to her farm and had commanded an army of children to clean and tidy up every room on the farm. "Oh my god, what should I wear?", she said again and again while Stu just shook his head and got out of the way murmuring something about "checking the cabbage on the east field…"
In the afternoon, when Judy, Nick and Fru-Fru enjoyed a late lunch while little Judy played with breadcrumbs on the table, the door slammed open and a group of six bunnies, all boys, stormed in shouting "Mom, mom…!" – "Out!" yelled Bonnie, "I just cleaned the kitchen floor…" – "But mom, a helicopter is landing behind the house…" – "What?" – "Oh, that must be Karl!", Fru-Fru piped happily and Bonnie jumped to the window and stared at the white helicopter landing noisily in her back yard, some hundred meters away from the building. When the engine stopped, the door opened and a pair of golden legs wearing high heels appeared. They belonged to the most beautiful bunny girl Judy had ever seen. Her fur sparkeled in the sun light, she wore a glittering shoulder free short dress. She had a baby face with enormous bright blue eyes that looked curiously around.
She was followed by an otter, one head smaller than her, even though he wore high heels as well, dressed in black suit, black shirt and black tie. The shirt's collar was extremely high, a trademark of Karl Otterfeld, elongating his neck even more. The fur on his head had been dyed snow white and arranged in the most pompous hairdo. Nick thought he looked like a mushroom. Bonnie's ears dropped, "That's… that's Vanessa!" she whispered and Judy added, "Oh my god, how old is she? She looks like twelve! I mean… her face at least, not her figure…" – "She's nineteen!", said Fru-Fru, "She has been on a fashion show with Karl today, no idea why she came along. Karl and her are good friends, he's calling her his 'muse', whatever that means…" These two strangest persons that ever set foot on a carrot farm walked over. Except they didn't walk, Otterfeld made steps so tiny it looked like he was gliding on a magnetic field. While Vanessa strutted so elegantly on her high heels that her hips waved from left to right while her well curved upper half didn't move at all.
Bonnie straightened the black knee long silk skirt and her white blouse for the last time, stuffed her apron in a drawer and opened the door. Karl floated in and, gentleman through and through, reached for Bonnie's paw. "Ahhh, you must be the lady of this charming realm, enchantez ma chérie", he kissed her paw, "You really are a blessing for my old eyes, having such a good…", he lifted her arm and twirled her around, "taste. Black and white, that suits your fur color perfectly." He let her go and Bonnie had glowing red ears when she whispered a shy "Welcome…" Karl had turned to the table, opened his arm and said, "Fru-Fru, daaaarling, come here, oh, and this must be my bride Judy…", he kissed her left and right, "… and my handsome groom, Nick!" He also kissed Nick twice and the look on Nick's face made Judy giggle. "Oh, mes enfants, I brought my Vanessa with me, when she heard that I come here, she insisted to come along…" – "I have never been on a farm before!", Vanessa said with a sweet high voice that sounded more like a shy little girl than of a famous rich top model.
When they were all introduced, Vanessa stared so intensely at Nick that Judy felt a twinge of jealousy coming up. But then she received the same look from her. Vanessa had gripped both of Judy's paws, her fur was so soft like a cloud and she whispered, "I admire you so much…" Judy looked confused, "Why? I should be the one admiring you and, by the way, thanks for impersonating me…" When the model looked confused, Judy showed her the picture on the invitation draft, "Oh, that one! It was fun, I never had a shooting with a fox model before… but the real Nick is much more handsome…", she threw a glowing look towards the embarrassed fox, but before Judy could say something, Vanessa had taken a closer look at the picture, "Oh, we are standing in the water! Cool! We took the pictures in the studio, the background was added later… I'd loved to do that at a real waterfall…", she sighed. The otter clapped his hands. "Busy day, busy day… should we start?" Bonnie guided Judy, Karl and Fru-Fru into the living room.
Vanessa stood forlorn at the table when Nick tried to break the ice by pushing a plate in her direction, "Blueberry cake?", he asked. Shyly she sat down, her eyes as big as the plate. "You won't tell anyone, do you?", she whispered, "I am not allowed to eat fruit sugar…" She bit off a tiny piece and two minutes later four cakes were gone, her paws and face were full of blue stains. Nick smiled. Now she looked like a little kid. Bonnie came back and looked a bit confused when she saw the munching model. She got out the magazine again and put it on the table with a pen. "Would you mind…" The golden bunny squeezed "'course!" around half a pound of cake and signed it together with a blueberry paw print. Then she fixed her hypnotic blue eyes on Bonnie, "You made the cakes yourself?", she asked nearly inaudible, "Yes! Do you like them?" – "Yeah, they're great… is this a real farm?" Bonnie looked around, "I think so…", she said. Vanessa continued, "I mean, you have a huge burrow underground and have hundreds of kids down there?" – "Well, yes!", Bonnie replied not without pride, when one of Judy's sisters stormed in, shouting, "Mom, Jeremy is teasing me, he said that…", she stopped when she saw the blonde bunny, "Who the heck is that?", she asked. "Janice, be polite, she is one of our guests. Her name is Va…" – "Paula!", the model quickly interrupted, "My real name is Paula… but they said it is too normal, so I had to use… that other name", she said. Bonnie said, "Janice, why don't you show V… I mean, Paula, our burrows?" Janice giggled, "You will have problems getting down there in these!", she pointed at the high heels and Paula quickly kicked them off and under the table. "Sorry…", she whispered, "I have to wear them for… for work. How old are you?" – "Fifteen! And you?" She hesitated before answering, "Nearly the same… just a bit older…" Paw in paw the two walked down and Nick said to Bonnie, "Strange, that's the second model I met, that doesn't seem to be happy about her job at all…"
As soon as Bonnie had closed the living room door, Judy had to stand on the table. "Good", Karl said, "now strip!" – "What?" – "Chérie, I have to measure you…" Reluctantly, Judy took of her clothes and prayed silently that her father would not come in as it would be quite hard to explain the situation to him. Karl and Fru-Fru stared at her naked body so intensively, Judy had to look away. They started a strange dialogue: "Long!", said Fru-Fru. "Definetely. Colour?", asked Karl. "Dunno… mauve?" – "too mundane… something more close to nature… wait…" They looked at each other and said "Lemon Grass!", simultaneously. "Petticoat?" – "Yes, a wired one…", sighed Karl, "we have to hide her gigantic feet somewhere… what are those?", he poked Judy's belly, "Ouch! That's my navel…" – "No, no, around it, those bumps…" – "Hey, those are called muscles!" – "Such a beautiful bunny and then a six pack! There goes my idea of a belly free oriental dress…", Karl put his hand in a dramatic pose against his forehead. Judy felt uncomfortable when Karl's fingers ran over her butt and down her legs. "Muscles, muscles everywhere… Two feet three… six inches, four inches, seven and a half… one foot four… six and seven eights…" He was not using a tape measure, he seemed to measure her by eye and he was not writing anything down. Judy sighed. That's gonna be a long session…
Meanwhile, Paula aka Vanessa got the VIP tour through the burrows under the farm. "It's so cool walking barefoot!", she admitted to Janice, "I can't remember when I did that the last time!" – "Really?", Janice answered, "I nearly never wear shoes… except, if you call Wellies shoes…" – "Wellies?" – "Yeah, Wellington boots… I just wear them for the really dirty work!" – "You need to work a lot?" – "Yeah, mom and dad let us work like slaves… pull out weeds, help with the harvest, help with the seeding, collect stones from the field, so the ploughs wouldn't get damaged…" – "Wow, that sounds cool!" – "Really? How come you've never been in a burrow before?" – "I am an only child…" – "WHAT?" Janice and all the bunnies around stared at her. They had never before heard of a bunny that had no siblings at all. "When my mom got her first litter… there were complications, so she wasn't able to get more children. We had been a litter of three, but my two brothers died very young. Dad is an attorney and mom is a vet, so we lived in a huge apartment on the 29th floor in Zootopia. There are no burrows, but I always wanted to be in one…" Full of sympathy, Janice pressed Paula's paw even tighter when she showed her a circular little cave. "Here I sleep!", she said proudly, "Alone?" – "No, I am never alone… most of the time, two or three sisters of me join me in here and there is no door, so you always see and hear some of the others around!", explained Janice.
"Never alone…", Paula repeated longingly and Janice's instinct told her to change subjects. "I really love this dress of yours…" – "You can have it, let's trade! I always wanted to wear one of those plaid shirts!" – "You're kidding?", Janice said and watched speechlessly as Paula pulled the fancy dress off her skinny but voluptous body. Janice took the dress and inhaled deeply as she recognized the label. "That's Preyda! This must cost hundreds of bucks!" Paula grinned, "Twelve hundred, to be exact. But I get them for free. Take it, really, I have more than a hundred!" Janice ripped off her own clothes and pulled over the dress. Suddenly, Paula realized that she was standing in a huge group of bunnies and was totally naked except for a small slip. But when she looked around, no one, not even the boys, seemed to care. Two other girls helped her dress in knee long jeans and the plaid cotton shirt. "Man, your waist is really slim… you must pull the belt in the last hole. And no way to close the shirt over those boobs… let's see… we just knot it under here, then it's belly free… cool! How did you get fur like this?" – "It just turned this way when I was eight years old… a rare genetic factor said my mom…" Suddenly, two boys stormed in, "Hey, girls, stop the fashion show, the hay needs to be turned before dinner, or dad will cut our allowance! Hey, blondie, you wanna help us? But I warn ya, you gotta get really dirty!" Paula eyes glistened, "You promise?"
Judy was happy when she finally could put on her clothes again. Karl seemed to be happy about the progress, but the entire creative process was happening inside his head, so Judy had no idea how the final result would look like. "So, the dress will be ready… let's see… Thursday before your wedding. I'll visit you in your apartment, then you'll see, you gonna be the happiest bride in the world!", Karl promised. They walked back in the kitchen where Bonnie had prepared dinner. Karl and Fru-Fru immediately sat down, little Judy was sleeping in her stroller. "Where's Nick?", Judy asked and Bonnie made a quick 'Psst' gesture and pulled her to the oven. "He's searching for Paula", Bonnie hissed, "Who's Paula?" – "I mean, Vanessa… long story… she went down to the burrow but Nick didn't found her there, so I have sent him outside…"
Right this moment, Nick opened the door, grinning, "I found her… sort of…", but before Bonnie could ask, a loud "Wooo-hoooo!" was heard and in stormed Paula/Vanessa. Not for the first time this day Judy's mouth stood wide open. If it wasn't for the blonde fur, she had not recognized her. Instead of the shy, awkward girl she saw what seemed to be the happiest being in Zootopia. She was so excited that she jumped up und down while speaking. "We have turned the hay! And I sorted carrots! And cut cabbage! And rode on a tractor! And look at the cool clothes I got for my dress!" Karl Otterfeld, the famous designer, looked at his joyful top model and said, "Yes… that's very… rural… where are your shoes?" – "I wear none!", she shrieked and burst out in laughter. Then she saw the table, "Oh, great, food! I think I've never been so hungry in my life!" Bonnie looked sadly at her kitchen floor that was now full of mud. "What happened to your… oh, no, sweet girl, your pants are soaking wet and… ewww… so muddy!" Paula's smile became even wider, "I jumped in a mud puddle!" she said with her mouth full.
Two hours later, finally everything was back to normal on the Hopps's farm. Paula had said goodbye to some fifty new friends and Judy was amazed that the model had learned all their names correctly in such a short time. She must have been very lonely, she thought. When she snuggled up with Nick in bed, she said, "First Kitty, than Paula… am I mistaken or have all these models serious childhood complexes?" – "I'd rather think their parents had serious problems, not the kids. When I saw Paula playing with your brothers and sisters, she looked like she never had a day of fun in her whole life. Poor girl. I like her. I mean, I like Paula much more than Vanessa", said Nick. But the only answer he got was the soft breathing that told him Judy was already asleep.