[A/N] This short scene takes place a few days after Chapter 10 of Loves Bond - Ring Tailed Rabbits. I thought that this was such a hilarious idea that I wanted to explore what might actually happen. In the end I stuck with it so there will be more references to this scene later in the main story.


Chapter 11 - Don't Rock The Van

A gray furred rabbit sat at a cheap wooden dining table adjacent to a light-brown desert fox with large bat-like ears. She wore a medium length shirtdress that barely covered her knees and showed off her well endowed figure. Draped across her shoulders was a green sweater that was too tight across the chest to be buttoned up in the front.

The fennec was dressed in a blue striped bowling shirt with a diamond pattern over the right breast pocket. In his shirt pocket rested a pair of expensive looking dark sunglasses. His brown eyes watched the rabbit doe curiously while they chatted.

On the table stood two brown mice wearing white shirts and black ties. The taller of the two mice was holding a long matchstick that looked like a burning poll in his tiny paws. Bringing the match flame near to a bee's wax candle the tall mouse set the wick alight. With the candle lit the mouse held the match out for his partner to extinguish.

Once the match was dealt with, the shorter, rounder mouse clapped his tiny paws together in the air. Hanging near the ceiling was a twisted series of overhead rails that ran from the wait service room to each table. At the sound of the tiny clap a small trolley ran across the rails until it was directly over the table, where it dropped a dark bottle of wine.

For about half a second the bottle fell freely through the air until it was caught by a small, colorful parachute. The bottle slowly drifted down to the table where the pair of waiting mice scurried about to catch it. With the wine bottle now in paw the tiny waiters carried it over to an empty glass that was sitting in front of the rabbit doe. The mice cautiously filled the rabbit's glass only half full before quickly scurrying over and filling the one in front of the small fox.

Clapping the doe cheered at the talented mice before turning to her date with a slight country accent, "I'll say mister Finnick. If I didn't know better I'd say you was try'n to impress me." She gave the fox a slow wink and a warm smile.

"Just Finnick, please," the fox noted.

"Ok, Finnick," she said, reaching out cautiously and patting at his paw. "I really don't know what to say. You have gone out of your way to show this poor country girl around this big city."

Finnick's large ears turned slightly pinker and he took a slow sip of his wine, "It was really nothing, Sharleen."

"Well despite your efforts, I am pretty impressed," the skinny doe took a swig of her wine. "I have only ever been to Zootopia when I was a young child. Now you take me on this lovely trip around the city."

"I am glad that you are enjoying the tour so much," Finnick smiled back at the doe.

"Yes, it has been wonderful," Sharleen leaned back with her wine glass in paw. "I can't believe they still have drive-in movie theaters still running these days, and how did you know the original Ghosthunters movie was one of my absolute favorites?"

The fox watched the rabbit play with her glass and swished the wine around inside of it. "That theater was only recently refurbished a few years ago. Before that it was only a vacant lot for nearly twenty years."

Giggling, she leaned over towards the fox, "That was even the first time I have even gone strolling along a beach before. I never would have guessed that foxes were such gentlemammals."

Soon two dinner plates arrived by the same route as the wine bottle. One at a time the trolley's rolled out from the kitchen and the plates were carefully dropped in front of the waiting guests. For the doe, a crisp endive and watercress salad drizzled with a shiitake and wasabi coulis, and for the tod a thinly sliced cedar smoked mahi mahi served over a bed of garlic sweet potato puree.

"I am not going to apologize for being a predator," Finnick declared when he placed the order.

"Ah certainly hope not," Sharleen had explained. "I want to know the real Finnick so you go ahead and treat me as you would any other date."

A shiver ran down her spine as she watched the fennec's sharp teeth slice into the dark red flesh. She almost gagged at the thought that her date was cutting open and eating a once living creature. It was almost disgusting, but she knew what she was getting into when she had agreed to go along with this blind date.

At least she thought she knew what she was getting into. This little fox turned out to be a lot more entertaining and much more attractive than she had expected. But he really needed to lay off trying to be so suave and charming. She knew he was trying to cover his gruff exterior, but how to get him to open up and show it to her.

Taking a bite of her delicious salad, she looked up at the small brown fox and asked, "So what is it exactly that you do here in this big city?"

Finnick nearly choked on his next bite when the subject of his employment came up. He looked up at this strange bunny who had driven all the way from Bunny Burrow for one single date with him. At first he had tried to scare her away with an old fashion movie and then took her out to the beach after the tide had gone out. She wound up loving the movie and was completely fascinated at the chance to explore the beach, even if it did smell like dead fish. He figured if he was brutally honest with this doe about his line of work then she would eventually turn and run.

"You are not a baker are you?" She giggled warmly at the last comment, but the small fox only stared back blankly.

Well, here it goes. It had been a pretty interesting date so far, but he was almost sorry it wouldn't last as he opened his mouth, "I take other mammal's money which I then use to purchase things at a low cost then I turn around and repackage and resell them for a profit."

Sharleen looked at the desert fox with her fork held in the air near the end of her muzzle, "Oh I see. You are a venture capitalist."

"Ah what?" The fox asked, stunned.

"You know," she waved the fork around in the air as she explained. "Someone who borrows money from investors to fund their new business ideas."

"Um, it's not exactly borrowing," he said after chewing and swallowing the next bite of tuna. "I get up to some pretty elaborate schemes sometimes."

"Of course you do," Sharleen swished her wine around in the nearly empty glass and took another sip. "It all comes with the territory of being a business mammal."

"But I am not a big business mammal," Finnick explained, poking at his potato puree. "I am just a poor old fox living out of his van."

The doe put down her fork and looked into the small fox's brown eyes, "And I am glad you have been so honest with me." Tipping back the faux crystal wine glass she swallowed the last few drops before requesting a refill. "Most bucks that I know will go on and on about how they are some kind of big time business mammal when we both know that at the end of the day they are still only farmers."

With her glass refilled, she scooted her chair until it sat directly next to the brown fox. She placed her soft gray paw under the table and onto the fox's lap. Once again she looked deeply into his eyes for several seconds as if searching for something in the brown pools, "Finnick, I am not a young doe so I am going to cut straight to the chase.

She pulled her paw back along the inside of his thighs. "I only came here for one thing," she said flatly without any charm or pretense in her voice. Reaching up to the place where his pants narrowed she grabbed the tight bulge there. "So if you are not interested please do the honorable thing and tell me right now so we can end this farce, or," she squeezed the lump in his pants a little harder. "Or we can go somewhere a lot more private."

Finnick stuttered trying to catch his quickened breath, "Have I shown you the back of my van?"

"That sounds absolutely lovely," she breathed heavily.

Sharleen leaned over and ran her tiny tongue along the length of the fox's large fluffy ears while he continued babbling, "I h-have a few v-vinyls we c-can listen to-to, and-and a big wool comforter to sit on-on." He tried not to scream as the frisky rabbit sunk her large flat teeth into his broad, sensitive ear.

Like a kit's toy spring box, he leapt on top of the chair and yelled, "Check please."

A small mammal van sat in a back alley with a fresh new coat of orange paint. The sliding side door had been restored along with the mural of a native prince and his princess. Music was playing from inside the van and the entire vehicle was gently rocking back and forth.

Next to the van a set of stone steps lead up to the steel back door of a laundromat. The door opened and out stepped a teenaged gray vixen. In her paws was a heaping plate full of spaghetti and meatballs.

The vixen took one step down before she noticed the rocking van. She could hear the sounds of moaning and muffled screams coming from the orange vehicle. One of the voices she immediately recognized as her business partner Finnick.

Her jaw dropped for a second before it curled back into a snarl. She threw the hot plate of food on the steps where it easily shattered against the stone. The vixen let out a wild scream of anguish as she marched back up the steps and slammed the door behind her.


[A/N] This mouse restaurant was inspired by the fan film Return to Zootopia by BrownTable. I thought I would go into more detail about how the food was delivered to each table since we only see the wine bottle slowly drifting down on a parachute. Since Finnick sets Nick up on a really bad date in the film I thought it would me ironic tp have this date here.