Judy slowly opened her eyes, feeling dazed. As the room came into focus, she began to realize it was now daylight. She looked at her alarm clock: 7:14 AM.
She nearly had a panic attack upon seeing the time, but then relaxed as she remembered it was her day off. She sat up on the edge of the bed with one paw held to her head as the dizziness started to pass. She then spotted her phone on the desk, and remembered what had happened the previous night.
She quickly hopped out of bed, snatched the phone and went to her contacts for Nick's number. After a few agonizing moments, an answer came.
"Hellooaaahh…?" yawned a very groggy voice.
"Nick? It's me, Judy. I need to talk to you about something."
"Awww, Carrots, can't it wait?" the drowsy fox complained.
"Nick, this is important," Judy insisted. "I got this really weird phone call last night and I-…Nick?!" The sound of snoring could be heard on the other end. "NICK! Are you listening to me?"
"Huh? Yeah…'course I'm listeehh…" Nick trailed off again.
Judy sighed. "Alright, you're clearly not in the mindset for this right now," she said. "Listen, if you can, meet up with me at the park later this morning and I'll tell you everything then, okay?"
"You got it, Carrots," replied Nick. "See you then…"
Judy hung up the phone and went to get dressed for the day.
Judy met up with Nick at the park late in the morning, close to noon. They sat next to each other on a bench and began discussing the previous night's events. She described the voice on the phone as best as she could and tried hard to remember the conversation.
"I tried to call the number back afterwards, but it came back invalid," she explained. "I don't know what to make of the whole thing."
Nick pondered for a moment. "He said he was going to 'grant your wish,' right?"
"Err…yes, why?" Judy asked, anxiously.
"What wish would that be, exactly?" Nick asked, a smirk beginning to appear on his face.
Judy was afraid he would ask. "Is that really important right now?"
"C'mon Carrots, you can tell me," Nick said, encouragingly.
Judy looked downward, her ears falling behind her head. "Well," she began slowly, "lately I…have kinda been thinking that…it might be nice if I could…" She paused for some time.
"…Yes?" Nick urged.
"If I could…you know…eat meat," she finished quietly. "Like you."
Nick was surprised. "Really?"
Judy looked back up at the tod's face. "Well, yeah. I mean, I know we're different species with different dietary needs, but…I don't know, part of me wishes I had more of a taste for predatory foods, so we'd have a bit more in common."
Nick looked at her for a moment, his face full of wonder. "Huh…I never knew you felt that way, Carrots."
"Yeah," Judy said quietly. "Is that…weird?"
Nick gave a smile and placed a paw on her shoulder "Nah, 'course not," he said kindly. "I'm kind of touched, actually. All this time I've been self conscious over having to eat bugs and fish around you, thinking it was insensitive or something."
Judy smiled. "It never bothered me," she said. "Besides, it's not like you do it that often."
Nick chuckled. "Yeah, I've pretty much gone more or less vegetarian by now," he said, leaning back and looking off to the side. "Suppose I can hardly call myself a predator anymore."
Judy gave a small giggle, feeling very relieved by her partner's reaction. "So, what do you think was with this 'wish' guy?"
"Eh, probably just some creep pulling a prank," Nick concluded. "I wouldn't worry about it."
"Yeah, you're probably right," agreed Judy. "Still kinda weirds me out, though."
At that moment, they both froze as a loud, low rumbling noise met their ears. Nick glanced back down in time to see Judy place a paw over her belly.
"Heh…sorry," she chuckled, embarrassed.
Nick smirked again. "Sounds like somebunny skimped out on breakfast this morning," he teased.
"Maybe a little," Judy admitted. "I was so busy thinking about that phone call last night, I guess I didn't eat as much as I thought I did." Her stomach seemed to confirm this as another audible growl emitted from it, making her wince a bit as she felt it contort.
Nick got up from the bench. "What do you say we go get lunch, Carrots?" he offered. "Before your stomach starts to eat itself."
Judy nodded in agreement and hopped off the bench beside him. As they walked through the streets of Savannah Central, Judy's stomach continued to make its feelings known.
"Geez," she exclaimed, "I don't think I've ever been this hungry before."
"With as much noise as your gut's making, I'd imagine you're right," Nick laughed. "Listen, I'm gonna go grab a cicada burger to go real quick. I'll be right out and we can go get you something."
"A-actually," Judy said, "can I go in with you? Maybe…try one myself?"
Nick stopped and looked at her, stunned. He gave a surprised laugh. "Y-you serious?" he asked with a smile. "Or are you just pulling my tail?"
"No, I mean it," assured Judy. "I don't know why, but it actually sounds good to me today."
"Sounds like I'm rubbing off on ya, Carrots," Nick chuckled as the two began walking to the front doors of the Bug-Burga restaurant.
Judy sat at the booth in anticipation. She and Nick had just managed to beat the lunch rush, so he was able to get to the front counter fairly quickly. She was already getting weird looks from many of the other patrons and staff who clearly did not expect to see a rabbit in a restaurant meant with predators in mind, but the awkwardness was soon overruled by the intense hunger building inside her. She was beginning to feel like she would starve to death before their order could even be made. At last, patience prevailed as Nick walked up and set the tray of food on the table.
"Alrighty," Nick said as he handed her one of the boxes, "one double Bug-Burga deluxe for the hungry bunny." He sat in the seat opposite to her as he grabbed his own burger box.
Judy opened hers. The smell of the two grilled cicada patties filled her nostrils, accompanied by the aroma of the toasted bun and fresh chopped lettuce. The scent would normally make her somewhat nauseous, but this time, it was actually making her mouth water. She couldn't for the life of her understand why this staple of predatory cuisine suddenly looked so appetizing to her, but she was so desperately hungry at the moment that she didn't care.
She carefully grabbed hold of the sandwich with both paws and looked at it. "Well, here I go," she said. She brought the burger to her mouth and took a bite as Nick watched with curiosity.
Judy closed her eyes and slumped in the seat as the flavor hit her tongue. She let out a short, soft groan of bliss as she slowly began chewing. Nick stared at her, still not having touched his own food. He couldn't recall having ever seen Judy enjoy eating this much. She then surprised him even further as she straightened up and eagerly went back for another bite, then another, and another. Nick was astonished, but couldn't help feeling amused.
"Maybe our little prank caller knew what he was talking about after all," he teased.
"Mmh…Very funny, Nick," retorted Judy, her voice muffled by all the food in her mouth. She swallowed and gave another blissful groan. "I can't believe how amazing this is!" she exclaimed. "I should have tried eating bugs ages ago!"
Nick laughed as he opened his box and began eating his own burger. "I never thought I'd hear those words from a bunny of all things!" he said.
They went on with their lunch and Judy relished every bite of her cicada burger, blissfully unaware of what she was truly becoming.
When lunch was over, the two began deciding how to spend their one day off together for the week. Since Judy had only lived in Zootopia for a couple years, Nick offered to take her on a little sightseeing tour to see some of the older, more interesting locations in the city.
They traveled across the city map all that afternoon, taking in many sights as they did. They had seen much of the city during the big 'missing mammals' case some time ago, but never got a real chance to take any of it in. Now that they were mostly on their own time, however, they could stop and really appreciate all the great things that Zootopia had to offer. From the scenic gondolas of the Rainforest District to the lush waters of the Canal District, it was a very enjoyable day for both of them.
With every location they visited however, Judy couldn't help but be curious about what other sort of meat based foods there were to be had. Nick was floored by her sudden interest with meat, especially since she had always been so repulsed by the stuff in the past.
"You sure you're not just pretending to take an interest because of what happened last night?" he quizzed, a hint of suspicion in his voice.
Judy shook her head. "Not at all," she answered sincerely. "I can't explain it, but all of a sudden all these meaty foods are looking and smelling really nice to me. It's weird."
Nick thought this over for a moment. "Well, if you're really sure about this, I could introduce you to a few more staples of the predator diet that I'm quite fond of," he offered. "What do you think of that?"
Judy smiled. "I'd like that," she said. "I'm actually starting to get a little peckish again."
"Already? After scarfing down a whole double cicada burger in one sitting?" Nick laughed. "And here I thought I was a bottomless pit!"
So, as they went about their tour, they stopped at many places so that Judy could take in some new, more predatory tastes. They tried a great many things. Cricket chips, BBQ mealworms, grilled shrimp and even deep fried scorpion. Such things that Judy previously would never have considered trying in a million years, but today they all just looked, smelled and tasted so incredible to her.
Yet, as much as she ate, she just couldn't seem to get enough.
As the sun disappeared over the horizon, Nick was reminded of his and Judy's agreement the previous night.
"So, what do you feel like for dinner, Carrots?" he asked. "That is of course if you're not too stuffed from all the snacking we've done today."
"Nope," Judy replied. "I've got just the place in mind, too. It just opened a few days ago."
In a small, lesser known district of the city called Little Tsurumi was a small sushi restaurant for predators, known simply as Shiki. Nick continued to be taken aback by his partner's newfound fascination, or perhaps obsession was a better word, with meat based cuisine. But, her eagerness to explore the predator's diet seemed very genuine, so he chose not to press her further.
Deep down, though, as he watched the little bunny pop bite after bite of raw fish into her mouth, happily grunting and muttering about how delicious it all was, he couldn't help but start to feel a little concerned for her health.