"Illusion is needed to disguise the emptiness within." - Arthur Erickson
Some of us may choose to hide our true selves behind a curtain of false actions...
Others may choose to hide within untruthful personalities...
But so few are the rest who hide within the appearance of another.
"You can't be serious..." Nick muttered, eyeing Judy as she placed a bag of gray dye powder and a carton of fur dye on the table in front of him.
"Oh, I think you'd look perfect in that, Wilde!" A deep voice boomed mockingly from behind.
The fox turned around and glared at chief Bogo, who was casually leaning up against the corner of a nearby wall, watching as his officers selected the foundations of their new appearances.
"Yeah yeah, think what you want..." Nick said before turning back around and trailing off. "Buffalo-Butt."
"What was that, fox?" He heard chief question from behind him.
Nick was about to turn around and give his two-cents to the chief, when a different voice coughed audibly from another direction, causing both fox and buffalo alike to turn towards it's source.
"Once again," The bunny started. "Could you ladies please refrain from name-calling at least until we finish this?"
Nick heard chief Bogo clear his throat and grumble something inaudible before agreeing with her.
"That's right, Hopps..." A teasing grin resurfaced on his muzzle. "Or should I say, Miss Ryder?"
At the notion of her new and falsetto name, Nick watched Judy's face don a scowl of disapproval as she crossed her arms and thumped her foot rapidly against the floor.
"Oh, don't be like that, fluff!" He said pointing to her tapping foot. "You may not like it, but I think it's pretty cute. Suites you perfectly!"
The bunny sighed.
"Don't call me cute, and just choose your dye color, jerk."
The fox chuckled to himself.
"Hey now, I didn't call you cute this time... I called the name cute, which it is." He admitted. "Besides, you might as well start gettin' used to it."
Nick then turned towards the chief, who was still standing behind him.
"Speaking of which, how long do you think we'll have to be undercover, chief?" He inquired.
A full week had past since the chief had assigned them on their new case-mission, and he hadn't exactly spared very many details surrounding their mission yet.
Chief Bogo pursued his lips and looked to the side, briefly thinking about the situation. He then turned back towards the fox and gave him his answer.
"Depends." The water-buffalo began. "Could be anywhere from one week, to several months, to several years, even."
Nick gagged. "Several years?!"
"Like I said, it depends: It depends on how long it takes to warm up to Mr. Savage, and how long it takes for you both to extract enough information for us to confirm him as guilty of our accusations. We aren't exactly on a time limit here, but it would be best of us all if you two cracked this case sooner rather than later."
The fox groaned aloud.
"So we are on a time limit then, huh?"
Chief Bogo just shrugged innocently.
"That's up to you two. You could take it slowly and steadily, acquiring bits and pieces over a long period of time just be safe..."
His face hardened.
"Or you could risk everything we've been slaving over for the past four months by rushing things like amateurs, and costing us the entire mission in a heat-of-the-moment screw-up!"
His sudden change in tone caused both fox and bunny alike to cringe in apprehension. Bogo then took a few deep breaths in before finishing his previous statement.
"So you tell me... Which one might be better in the long run?"
Nick coughed into his fist before replying.
"Option number two, sir!" He said with a smirk as he raised his right paw and held up two fingers.
Upon hearing the fox's joking response, Bogo's face scrunched up in frustration before he face-palmed, dragging his hoof down his muzzle as he groaned out load.
"Just pick your colors and clothes, and then meet me in the dressing room. The stylist is waiting." Bogo grumbled.
He then proceeded to exit the room, nearly slamming the door behind him as he left. Nick stifled a laugh and mentally patted himself on the back before turning to his mate, who was sorting through rows of clothes and other accessories, including shelves laden with dyes and other fur-coloring creams and powders.
"Not smart, slick." She said to him, her eyes still trained on the racks of dye colors in front of her.
"Hey, he walked right into that one, didn't he?" The fox jokingly inquired, fixing his gaze upon the back of the bunny. Ignoring his question, she just simply rolled her eyes.
Seconds later, Judy turned around and faced Nick. In her paws, she held a white-colored dye, which she showed to him.
"What do you think of this one?" She asked.
The fox placed a paw beneath his chin and tried to imagine Judy with white fur... After a few moments of thought, he nodded his head and smiled.
"I think that'd be an excellent choice, my dear." He stood from his chair and paced over to her side. "White is a great color! Symbolizes goodness, innocence, and purity!"
He rubbed her shoulder affectionately. The bunny glanced upwards and locked eyes with him upon his contact. Nick smirked before continuing.
"Well, I dunno 'bout that last one though, considering how you act in bed!" The fox said teasingly, following it up with a sly wink.
"Nick!" She called out. "Not funny! We're in public!"
The fox looked around the empty room, turning his head and grinning from ear-to-ear.
"My apologies!" His face morphed into a look of fear as he pointed and spoke. "Oh no! That empty corner over there might have heard us talking about our private-life!"
Blushing madly beneath her fur, Judy leaned over and elbowed him in the rib-cage, not-so effectively shutting him up.
"C'mon carrots!" He whined out loud. "Nothin' wrong with having a little fun sometimes, right?"
"Fun? That what you consider fun, you perverted, shifty low-life?" She muttered irritably, but with a pleasant smile parting her lips.
Nick momentarily glanced upwards to the ceiling before grinning even wider and looking back down at the bunny below him.
"Oh, my bad, fluff! I forgot that you cute-little bunnies actually consider sex as the funnest thing around."
At that last statement, Judy punched him in the arm a tad harder than she usually did.
"Can it, Wilde! Last warning you're getting!" She scolded.
"Alright, alright!" He laughed aloud. "Spare me, whiskers..."
The fox then leaned down and gave Judy a quick peck on the cheek before turning tail and starting to dig through the supply rack, searching for his own choice of color.
Meanwhile, the flustered bunny slowly raised a single paw to her cheek and caressed the spot where Nick had kissed her. A shiver settled down her spine soon after.
Dumb fox... She thought to herself.
Judy then hastily rubbed at her cheek before setting her own chosen dye colors on the nearby table. After that, she waltzed over to where Nick was browsing the various fur-dyes and powdered colors. She lifted a paw and pointed to the one that had grabbed her attention earlier, which happened to be a gray coloring.
"That one." She aloud.
His mate's voice caused the fox to raise his head and follow her intentions, soon plucking the gray-colored dye carton off of the shelf that it rested atop.
"This one, you say?" He asked, to which Judy nodded. "Hmm... why gray? Wouldn't white be better, considering the whole arctic fox kinda look, ya know?"
Judy shook her head before responding.
"Nah, I don't think you'd be able to pull off the arctic fox look very well... Besides, I'm already gonna be white, so you'll need to pick a different color: Two white mammals working for Jack at the exact same time might be a little bit suspicious, don't you think?"
Nick pursued his lips and nodded. "Yeah, I suppose so. I haven't seen very many gray foxes around these parts, but you've got a good point. I'll go with it."
He patted the bunny on the head and grabbed his undercover-issued black suit, which he had draped across a nearby chair, and set towards the door, taking the dye with him.
Placing his paw on the handle, he halted right in front of the door before turning around and facing Judy.
"Alright fluff, I got everything I need... Are you ready to go get stylized?" He questioned with a certain flamboyancy to his last few words.
Judy just giggled to herself as she grabbed the remainder of her items, including Nick's suggested white-dye and a flowing purple-silk dress that she had been given for her undercover wardrobe.
"Yep." The bunny confirmed to the fox as she walked over to his side. "Let's go get ourselves stylized." She said with the same undertone that Nick had earlier.
Smiling and nodding his head, Nick pulled open the door for her, and the two of them then set out down the hallway in search of the aforementioned dressing room.
When they had finally found the titular dressing room, which itself was labeled under the title of 'Room 007', the fox and bunny promptly entered through the door.
Upon entering, they both were instantly greeted with the strong smell of cosmetic products, including dye, powder, cream, and even shampoo. There were a number of tables littered around the space of the room, many of them topped with a number of hedgehogs, whom bustled about in a hurried manner, picking things up and no doubt preparing for something.
Standing near the back of the room was chief Bogo, who was apparently talking with someone. He had his back to the fox and bunny, and was conveniently blocking the other mammal from sight behind his large and lumbering outline. When the sound of the shutting door had reached his ears, he turned around and eyed Nick and Judy as they approached him.
From behind the water-buffalo, another mammal peered around and stepped forward into sight. It was a middle-aged female porcupine, standing about as tall as Nick. Her many sharp quills stuck up at varying angles, and as she stepped forward, Bogo had to back away to avoid getting pricked. Some of the spines that sprouted from her back were seemingly dyed with different colors, creating a rainbow of razors. She was wearing a clean-white apron, and had white-latex gloves coating her paws.
From behind her, Bogo spoke out.
"About time you two got here. This is your stylist, Marie." Bogo said as he put a hoof on the porcupine's shoulder, carefully avoiding her jutting quills.
"She runs a cosmetics shop on Outback-Island, but sometimes helps us out here at the ZPD during undercover cases that require more specialized outings than just a fake mustache or identity-change. She and her assistants will be applying the dye that will change your fur color, but she's the expert here, so don't ask me how it's done... I'll be in my office until you're all finished here."
And at that, the water-buffalo then lumbered over to the door and exited the room, leaving Nick and Judy alone with Marie and her army of hedgehogs.
"So... How's this dye thing gonna work, huh?" Nick spoke up, causing every hedgehog in the room to turn towards him, which made the fox back away in surprise.
The porcupine stepped forward.
"Oh don't worry about that, dearest: We'll take care of everything. What you should know is how long the dye itself will stick to your fur, enabling you to remain hidden while on the job."
She then turned towards one of the hedgehogs on the nearest table-top.
"How long would that be exactly, Rose?" The porcupine inquired.
The hedgehog called Rose shuffled forward and opened her arms, gesturing at Nick to hand her the bottle of dye. Without thinking, he tossed it to her instead, effectively knocking the hedgehog off of the table and onto the ground as the carton collided with her small form.
"Oh crap..." He hissed softly to himself before stepping over. "I am so sorry!" He said, but Judy could tell that he was trying really hard to suppress a laugh.
Squeaking curses at the fox as he picked her up and placed her back on the table, Rose trudged over to the dye carton and searched around through the drug facts on the back of the bottle. After a few seconds of scanning over the many words (half of which Nick could barely pronounce even if he tried), she must have found what she was looking for, because she then scurried over to the side of the table and spoke loudly to the porcupine.
"Both the white and gray dyes will last for roughly one-to-two weeks before beginning to fade, and won't wash away if water is applied: They're both perfect for the mission!"
"Excellent!" Marie said excitedly before turning back towards the fox and bunny. "There you have it. The dye should be effective in rendering your identities as secret."
She then leaned over and plucked the gray dye-carton off of the table's surface, examining it in her paw as she turned it back and fourth.
"Wise choice of color, I must admit, Mr. Wilde... Going with two white mammals might prove suspicious, eh?" The porcupine asked.
The fox then looked down at the bunny beside him.
"See carrots? I told you!" He said with a wink.
Judy glared at him irritably, trying to formulate a response to his bullshit. In the end, she just muttered to herself silently. "Dumb fox."
Marie's voice then spoke aloud to the entire room.
"Alright everyone, let's get started, shall we? One gray fox and one polar rabbit, coming right up!"
Nick never imagined the day that he'd be anything other than orange.
When Marie and her hedgehogs had finished applying the dye, Nick took the time to look himself over in the full-body mirror hanging from a nearby wall. He wasn't wearing a shirt, but had taken the time to change into his black suit pants. The porcupine had applied the gray-colored dye to the entirety of his upper-body, from the belt-line up and all the way to the tip of his ears. They'd gotten the majority of his legs too, from the tips of his toes all the way up to about mid-thigh, where they had stopped; Effectively leaving the fur its regular orange color. Nick figured it considerate though, as he seriously doubted that Jack Savage would need to see anything within that particular region.
So now he was a gray fox: Still of the same genus, but of a slightly different species.
Along with the temporary change in fur color, the porcupine stylist had also given him contact lenses that made his eyes a different color too. Now, his irises shined with a soft brown color. In his opinion, Nick thought that the color brown was hideous as it was, but staring into the reflection of his now brown eyes, he couldn't help but think that it went pretty well with his gray-colored fur.
Shooting his own reflection a pair of double finger-guns, he whirled around and locked eyes with the hedgehog, Rose, who was standing on a nearby table.
"Looks pretty nice! You all did a good job, I must say." The fox admitted.
Rose sneered at him, apparently still ticked off about the dye-carton incident, before she pointed to his suit jacket and undershirt, which were still flopped carelessly against the back of a chair on the other side of the room.
"Go and finish getting dressed, fox. We're still putting the final touches on Judy here, so go wait outside after you get your stinking clothes!" The hedgehog snapped.
At the mention of his mate, Nick turned his head in Judy's direction and glanced at her as she was getting her right arm dyed white. To be able to put the dye on effectively, she'd had to remove her shirt so that they could work with the fur on her chest and upper-body. She still had her pants on, which were rolled up as high as they could go so that they hedgehogs could dye the fur on her ankles and thighs. As he paced over to retrieve the remainder of his clothes, Nick eyed her undercover-issued dress, which was draped out across one of the tables in the corner of the room, right next to where his own suit and undershirt were. He thought it was pretty cute, but would only really be able to tell once it was on her. Averting his attention back to his own problems, he quickly dressed himself before taking the moment to stare at Judy as she was having her ears recolored.
Eventually, Rose's pestering demands for him to leave caused him to do exactly that. He exited the room and looked down the hallway to his left and right: Nobody was there. He shut the door behind him and leaned up against the wall to the right of the door he had just exited, casually placing his back upon the wall and getting lost in his own thoughts after stretching out his arms and legs.
He checked the current time on his phone, which he had earlier pulled from his former clothes and placed in his new ones.
4:56
Nick stifled an annoyed grunt: They'd been in there for quite a while. Three hours, almost. It had taken a lot longer than he had originally expected. In the end, this fact wasn't very surprising, as coating his entire body in gray-colored fur dye had proven quite the time-consuming experience. But now it was all over and done with. Finally!
He was somewhat surprised on how it had taken him less time to recolor than Judy, as she had less total body mass to cover, thus resulting in less fur to dye.
Then again... It did seem that I had more hedgehogs working on me than she did... He thought to himself before shrugging and looking back down at his phone.
4:58
Just then, a loud and jovial chuckle found it's way to his ears from his right side. The fox looked over and locked eyes with officer McHorn, who must've been walking down the hallway when he had came across Nick.
"Whoa there! Almost didn't recognize you, Wilde!" The rhino said aloud. "You look completely different!"
Nick looked down and examined the gray colored fur on his hands.
"Yeah, I guess I do look pretty different... It's the eyes, ain't it?" The fox asked, causing the rhino to stifle a deep-based chortle.
"No kidding! You got brown eyes now... That is so weird!" McHorn admitted as he walked past. "Undercover, I'm guessing... right?" He asked with his back to the fox.
"You got that right, buddy." Nick confirmed as he watched McHorn rear around a corner. The rhino's voice called out one last time.
"Well good luck with that! You're gonna need it, foxy!"
Nick smirked to himself as he listened to the rhino's chuckles fade away.
The fox then recalled back to their undercover job-descriptions: How the two of them were already added to the files of Jack's work-force, and all that they had to do was go and meet him before their mission would start, and they would begin to work under his business as they earned his trust. After some more time had passed, he heard the handle on the nearby door jiggle, and the door pull open to the inside. Moments later, Nick watched as Marie peered around the corner with a smile before stepping outside.
"Ah, good to see you!" The porcupine claimed. "We just finished up with Judy, and now that she's finished dressing herself, I think you two should see each-other!"
And at that, she backed away from the door, allowing enough space for Nick to fit through and enter. He was about to do just that, but another form exiting the door stopped him in his tracks.
Judy herself had stepped out and into the hallway, and when Nick laid eyes on her, his jaw nearly dropped from his muzzle.
She was wearing her undercover-issued dress, which shined with a sweet and appealing purple color. It's silken violet fabric clung tight against her body, complimenting the curves of her hips, waist, and thighs. The dress itself was sleeveless and long, it's base flowing gently as it scraped the base of her ankles. The dress parted on the left side; A single slice exposing her long and smooth leg, which was colored white along with the rest of the fur on her body. Aside from the familiar sway of her luscious hips, and the smoothness of her legs and fur, the only part of her that wasn't completely alien and nigh-unrecognizable to the fox was the pair of violacious eyes that gazed warmly at him across the space that separated them. Nick loved the color similarities between her gorgeous eyes and the new dress.
"Woah... Whiskers, you look... amazing!" He managed to say through parting lips. Soon enough, a grin found it's way to his face.
"Amazing..." He repeated quietly as he stared into her mesmerizing purple eyes.
To him, she looked so clean... so pure... and so beautiful... He just couldn't look away.
Judy smiled before glancing away.
"Really?" She asked timidly.
It was clear to the fox that she still wasn't very comfortable with the new change in appearance... Especially with the dress. Although Nick knew that she could have a lecherous sexual appetite when she wanted to, and openly allowed Nick to caress her and compliment her on her physical appearance, she wasn't one to often strut around in revealing clothes: It just wasn't her nature, in the end.
"Don't worry, Carrots... I think that you look great." Nick said with not an ounce of dishonesty in his words.
The bunny ran her paws down her ears, pressing them back and against her neck. "Thanks." She murmured.
"Well... You ready go and meet Mr. Savage, M'lady?" He asked politely before sticking out his elbow.
Judy simply smiled lovingly at him before replying.
"Am I ready? Why, yes. Yes I am." She then looped her arm around Nick's, locking them both together by the elbow.
Arm-in-arm, the two of them then set out towards Bogo's office, intent on clocking out with him before leaving to Jack's business center and starting their mission.