The last time Nick was in the Hopps's burrow, he didn't get to observe too much of the large interior as he was on a mission. Now that he could take the time to enjoy it, he was in awe of sheer creativity of rabbits. The way the literally dug and carved out the earth, reinforced it with wood and metal, then made it seem like it was all fused together in a smooth organic looking main dome area really impressed the former hustler. The large room walls and ceiling arc was so smooth it almost looked like concrete that was stained an earthy brown, the muddled tones blending perfectly, only by close look was it obvious that it was super compacted dirt and soil. Nick and Richard whistled at nearly the same time, causing their respective mates to glance back, then fall into each other giggling with each other at the impressed looks on the foxes.
As they followed the two does, Richard leans close to Nick and whispered as softly as he could, "So um...Mr. Hopps...he laid back? A hard ass? What kind of father am I looking forward to meeting?"
Nick glanced forward to make sure the two does weren't listening, or at least ignoring what they were talking about, seeing the slight twitching towards the foxes from Judy's radar like ears. Nick leaned back to the other fox and whispered back , "Just be yourself 'mam. Be honest and forthcoming with him...although, since you and Julie were dating for a while and he didn't know about it...you may have to REALLY try to convince him to let you continue to date Julie." Nick gave Richard a sympathetic look as the other look worried. Nick smirked and grabbed Richard in a side hug, "Don't worry to much, he likes me well enough so as long as you are honest with him he should be okay with it."
Right on cue, the four mammals entered the dining area to find Nick's mother already relaxed and at ease sitting at the table next to Mrs. Hopps both enjoying cups of tea, laughing about some previous joke they must've missed. A group of young bunnies hovered near the female canid, enthralled by the new predator to their all prey home. Mr. Hopps was sitting nearby with another buck this one appearing much older than Judy but younger than the patriarch, discussing something over a stack of papers. Stu noticed the arriving groups and stood, making his way over to them the greet them excitedly.
"Girls!" He grabbed the two does in a tight hug, "Oh I missed my adventurous daughters."
Julie and Judy hugged their father tightly, "Oh we missed you too daddy." The two spoke in perfect unison, almost creepily. After a long hug, the three split with Julie and Judy heading over to greet their mother. Stu spread his arms wide with a smile. Nick returned the smile, kneeling down to accept the hug from the elder buck.
"Welcome back son," They broke the hug, Nick standing up, "How's things been going?"
Nick smiled at Stu, "It's been going pretty good. Parking tickets, breaking and entering, paperwork, the usual. That daughter of yours really keeps me on my toes." He chuckled.
Stu returned the chuckle, leaning in and whispering to the tod, "You'll find Hopps does' does that to their mates." The two chuckled quietly uuntil Bonnie's voice cut from the other side of the table, "I heard that sweetie."
The two chuckled harder as Stu noticed the other fox standing nervously nearby. "And who's this Nick? I thought you said you didn't have a brother."
Nick smirked, "I don't..never met him before today." Nick motioned for Richard to approach.
Richard coughed as he stepped forward, offering Stu his paw. The buck took it with a smile and shook the tod's paw vigorously, "Mr. Hopps, I'm Richard Salvaggio...and I'm uh dating your daughter Julie."
Stu's smile faltered, until Bonnie came from no where and gently touched him on the shoulder, whispering to her husband, "Let Julie explain Hun. She mentioned it in her last call. He's a park ranger like her."
Richard interrupted, "Soon to be ranger actually ma'am. I start ranger training next spring." He chuckled nervously. Before anyone could say anything further, the other buck that Stu was talking to approached the group.
"Hey dad, why don't you, Julie, mom and Mr. Salvaggio go talk about this. Judy can show Mrs. Wilde to the guest room, and me and Nick here can go chat. " Stu nodded, adding confusion to the group. Judy gave Nick a thumbs up as Vivian stood from her chair, thanked Bonnie, grabbed her bags, and gave her son a soft smile as she followed Judy back to the foyer and down and unknown hallway. Nick turned to see Julie, Richard, Stu and Bonnie already siting down to talk. A attention drawing cough caused Nick to look over to see the other buck already walking down a hallway. Nick mentally shrugged and followed the buck. He was surprised to find the buck open a door to office, overflowing with file cabinets and paper work everywhere. Nick shut the door as the buck suddenly turned and offered Nick his paw, "Aaron Hopps, eldest son."
Nick looked confused and worried, but smiled and shook Aaron's paw, "Nick Wilde."
Aaron smiled as he offered for Nick to sit at the desk, which Nick accepted. The buck sat across from him and started, "Sorry, but just had to meet the famous Nick Wilde myself. I've heard so much about you from mom, dad and well...every other bunnie in this large burrow both good and bad." He chuckled.
Nick thought for a moment when his hustler brain for details kicked in, "Let me guess.. since your eldest...your the one to inherit everything, so you also take an interest when a sibling bring a suitor home?"
"Your good Nick. Must be why Judy is so infatuated with you." Aaron chuckled, "That and I also am in charge of learning to and actually maintaining the Hopps estate."
Nick looked stunned once more, "Estate? How large is this place?"
Aaron just smiled, "Well lets see...the entire burrow is practically a small underground city. There's 275 sibling, some live here all the time, most moved out to start their own families. We have our own hospital, with a few sibling being doctors, there's a few being lawyers so we have a small legal office, not to mention a small personal bank of sorts so we have accountants including one we hired. An elevator that runs all 4 floors of underground living spaces and room etc."
Nick's jaw dropped from shock, unsure of how to respond to this information. When he finally found his voice, Aaron had grabbed a bottle of water for him, and kept talking, "And don't get me started on the fiances of this place."
"Just give me the basics then, "Nick shrugged as he took a drink of water. Aaron chuckled as he pulled a rather large notebook from the desk and opened it.
"Lets see, according to the estate, each child upon dad's death receives a lump sum of $500, so dad has a special type of account that houses all those funds, that at any time a child can withdraw and deposit money into their separate section of the account, which is why we have an accountant... Not to mention that the bank matches the base amount of $500 for the life insurance policy, that by itself is untouchable, which brings total amount upon death is at minimum $500 depending on amount of funds in separate account section. Plus there's also the two other accounts; one for the agriculture side that is only used for buying feed, seed, fertilizer, the buying and repairing of all equipment that at minimum has roughly the previous years spending amount just in case, and the other account for the household, used for buying food, clothes etc." Aaron paused as he glanced over the paper some more, ignoring the shocked frozen expression on the fox, "Then there's the amount of non family member paycheck, and the fact that some of the children still living in the burrow are married and have their own children living here as well." He closed the book and smiled, "It's a rabbit thing you understand."
Nick closed his muzzle, brain short circuited from all that, "So um,...change of subject here, just so my brain doesn't fry... Stu mentioned something about the Judy and her litter mates, but didn't go into detail. What's the story there? Judy kinda skips over it and looks sad when I asked."
Aaron looked solemn as he thought about the best way to start this, "Well, ya see..."
The Richard and Julie charactors are a alternate OC-ish version of the AU version of Nick and Judy from BlueLightHouse's stories, Firewatch and Firefalls (which he gave permission to reference)
So I have an idea for but want readers input on it. Basically I want to touch light on my version of Dawn in prison and getting help. Should I make it a seperate story, or deviate in the story for a few chapters like I did with the Jennifer/Wolfard arc?