"Don't look back: You're not going that way." - Anonymous
*BONUS QUOTE*
"To find a new place is to find a whole new set of rules." - Anonymous
So is the journey better than the destination?
Personally, Nick would choose the pessimistic route; Saying how no one would make the journey unless the destination itself was worth it.
Knowing how stubborn and inconsiderate society could be with opinions, Nick often kept his mouth shut whenever opinionated questions reached his ears.
This time however, he had his answer as clear as could be.
"Ugh... I don't feel so slick right now..."
Hearing the fox's complaints from within his cabin at the bow of the boat, Haddock seized the chance to voice his own opinions.
"We've barely been afloat fer a quarter hour! If ye have plans on gettin' seasick before the half-hour mark, I don't see how you could possibly survive the trip to Pawaii, boyo!"
"Dutifully... N-noted... Urk..."
Nick then clasped his paws over his mouth, erratically twisting his head as he looked around before settling himself against the rim of the boat, hanging his head over the side as his body expunged itself of it's last meal. Being slightly queasy when it came to other mammal's puke, Judy cringed and glanced away from Nick so as to not see him in his moment of pain and disgust, and after listening to a few seconds of watery gargling noises, and painful wrenching sounds emanating from Nick's direction, Judy dared to glance back at him.
"Oh, Nick... Are you okay?" She asked, placing a single paw atop his shuddering shoulder.
The fox turned around, staring down the bunny with shiny red eyes and vomit-soaked fur.
"Never better, Whiskers..." Was all he managed to say before he returned his gaze to the ocean in front of him and hurled once again.
Fox, bunny, and narwhal alike had been sailing aboard the Trafalgar for nearly fifteen minutes at this point. While Judy and Haddock seemed to be fine, Nick on the other paw had soon found his head swirling and his stomach aching: Despite his previous bragging about wanting to own a boat, Nicholas Wilde secretly was no stranger to sea-sickness, as proven by his current condition.
The Trafalgar itself chugged along smoothly through the wine-dark waters of the Zootopian Bay, but the boat still rocked back and forth methodically, effectively causing the fox to succumb to illness.
All the while both mammals could clearly hear Haddock's hysterical laughter from the bow of the boat, his chuckles accompanied by high-pitched clicking noises.
"Ah, all ye land-lubbing mammals get sea-sick so easily... It takes a mammal of true grit to captain a boat on these waters! The coastline of Outback-Island is lined with many-a rocky cliff-sides, and the tides that crash upon those cliffs produce swells powerful enough to effect the waters as far out as even this bay! It may have been smooth sailin' up until now, but it's only gonna get worse, boyo!"
Meanwhile, the fox had managed to haul himself to his feet, and was now recomposing himself as he spoke to Judy, who was standing just a few feet away from him.
"Don't worry carrots!" He reassured. "My throat feels pretty raw, but I'll be fine, I promise."
Haddock seemed to consider Nick's statement, as he silently nodded to himself upon hearing the fox's notion. The narwhal stroked his chin and spoke aloud;
"I reckon we'll reach Outback-Island in no more than another quarter-hour, lads. Sit tight fer just a little while longer."
"Aye aye, captain..." The fox grumbled as he sank down and leaned his back against the rim of the boat, sitting atop the smooth floorboards that lined the deck.
Judy, after witnessing her husband puking his guts out over-board, had since decided to recline against his own side; Comforting him and trying to keep his attention away from how sick he felt, and onto other topics.
"Seems like this Haddock guy's a rather... Colorful, character..." Judy mumbled to Nick.
Both mammals watched the narwhal as he steered the vessel with one fin, using his other to grasp a coffee-glass filled with water, which he took a small sip from before pouring the contents of the cup across his head.
"What was that for?" The bunny questioned, causing the narwhal to swivel his head and glare at her with one coal-black eye.
"Unlike ye land-lubbin' balls of fur, us marine-mammals need to keep our skin nice an' moisturized, lest we wish to dry ourselves out! That's why we all live here, in the Docks: Easy access to the ocean. Besides, there's good money to be made ferrying free-loading tourists like yourselves between the mainland and it's island districts, like the Outback, and even lovely Pawaii. Not only that, but where do ye think you preds get all yer fish from? The Docks have always been Zootopia's largest fishing community."
"And what does your kind eat, huh?" Nick found himself asking.
He heard the narwhal emit a bubbly snorting sound from his blow-hole, almost like the question itself amused him.
"I'll tell ye, ain't no one back in The Docks craves those nasty bug burgers... Insects aren't our natural diet. For us, it's always been fish, oysters, scallops, clams, squid, and octopus. Virtually all seafood, really. I myself really like them scallops! Excellent source of zinc! Any more questions, boyo?"
"Yes, actually: What's with your horn? I've seen elephants, boars and walrus with their own tusks, but that my friend is somethin' else!" The fox stated with gusto.
He then raised an arm and pointed to Haddock's horn, which itself spiraled out from the narwhal's face for nearly seven feet before ending in a sharp and pointed tip.
"Nick! You can't just ask a narwhal about their horn! It's as rude as touching a sheep's wool!" Judy hissed at him diligently.
"It's alright, lass... I don't mind. And fer the record, it isn't a horn: This beauty be a tooth!" John claimed, tapping his tusk with one of his flippery arms.
"A tooth? You're kiddin' me, right?" The fox inquired, his eyes widened and brows raised in disbelief.
"No jokes here, boyo. The male narwhal has one of it's front teeth grow and grow until it pierces our upper-lip, and continues to sprout 'till it reaches nice an' pointy!"
"Sounds like it hurts..." Judy grumbled, at which the narwhal bellowed a wheezing chuckle.
"Oh, it only stings a little, lass... Nothin' to be worried about, really." John suddenly perked up and shouted. "Outback-Island should be comin' up here shortly, lads!"
Nodding to herself, Judy snuggled up a little bit closer against Nick, who was now thoughtlessly picking at his claws. Eyeing him up and down, the bunny noted how Nick looked much healthier now than he had earlier: Perhaps after losing his lunch, he was able to pass whatever sickness had been ailing him, even if it was temporary.
"Hey Nick, how are you feeling?" She started, hoping to initiate some form of conversation between the two of them.
"Well shiver me timbers, carrots! Such consideration!" He stated, causing Judy to stifle a few giggles. "I feel much better now, actually... Thanks for asking, fluff."
Judy made a slight hmming sound at the fox's reply before she buried her head into the groove of his neck. Nick accepted the action, and soon found himself resting his own head atop hers. He momentarily focused on the sound of her breathing; A steady in and out that soothed him greatly. After a few minutes of tranquil silence between the two of them, the bunny asked a single, but simple question that admittedly caught the fox by surprise.
"So, what was it you wanted to tell me earlier, Nick?"
"I beg your pardon?" He retorted quickly.
"Remember back on the monorail, how you were about to tell me something about..." She hesitated, biting her lip and lowering her ears. "About having children..."
It was then that the thought came back to him. He smiled wide and lovingly rubbed one of his paws against her shoulders.
"Yeah, actually: I never did finish with that did I now?" He chuckled to himself. "Well, what I meant was..."
He briefly paused, nervously licking at his own teeth and lips before resuming his explanation.
"Was that even though we can't have any children of our own... That we might be able to adopt."
"Adopt kits?" Judy asked softly.
"Yeah, adoption. We could visit a shelter, and maybe we could leave it with one more in tow."
The fox locked eyes with the bunny, and an instantaneous sense of longing and understanding seemed to pass between the two of them.
"You know, that might just be something we could do..." Judy murmured, all the while not averting her gaze from Nick's handsome and enticing emerald-colored eyes.
Suddenly and without warning, John Haddock's scratchy voice shouted out from the cabin with vigor, capturing both the fox and bunny's attention.
"Land ho!" The narwhal cried. "Outback-Island be in me sights!"
"Ooo! Where is it?" The bunny called out as she shot to her feet, helping Nick to his own soon after.
"Off the port-bow, one league north-east!" Haddock cried.
"What?" Both Nick and Judy blurted at once, causing the narwhal to groan aloud before responding.
"Little to yer left, Three miles that way!" Haddock pointed with his flipper. "Learn yer nautical-terms, ye poxy curs!"
"My, my, captain! I thought you said no cursing! I'm offended!" Nick teased.
"Nick, leave the unicorn alone!" Judy added by whispering into Nick's ear, smiling as she stole a glance at Haddock. "Besides, I see Outback-Island! Look!"
Averting his gaze from the irate narwhal, who had turned around and glared at them both upon hearing the word unicorn, Nick focused his line of sight on a blurry dark shape in the distance. After a few seconds of focusing through the crashing waves and watery mist that the ocean was spewing up, Nick soon found himself staring down a large and dusty-looking island.
Even from this distance, the fox could easily make out the massive, towering mesa that stood tall and rigid in the center of the landmass: It's rocks were smooth and packed together, all tinted an almost orange-ish shade of color in the noon-time sun. From the base of the mesa and outwards, a sprawling city of rock and sand urbanized the surrounding land of the mesa all the way to the cliff-side beaches, which were lined with craggy dark rocks, of which were constantly being pounded against by large and foamy waves; Rising up and shattering themselves against the rocky and elevated coast-line in a never-ending cycle of tidal erosion.
Overall, Outback-Island looked quite a lot like the Canyonlands in the Sahara-Square, with lots of buildings made of rock, adobe, and sandstone brick.
The rocky landscape itself had few trees, and those that did grow were curvaceous in shape, and sported branches with an immense range of length, each one covered in smooth green leaves. There were also tall and thick trees, with nearly white bark and craggy branches: Eucalyptus trees, no doubt.
From the cabin in front of them, fox and bunny alike heard their captain call out in poetic introduction;
"Thar be the rollin' cliff-sides of the Outback, with red-rusted hills and peachy-pink skies, with wine-dark waters and foamy-white tides! I present to ye, Outback-Island!"
In a half-hour's time, the Trafalgar and it's crew had docked themselves in the Outback's public shipping port.
Their flippery captain, John Haddock the narwhal, promised that he would patiently wait for Nick and Judy to return from their sight-seeing trip. Judy herself didn't exactly trust him to the highest of degrees, but after seeing him pull out his folding chair and plant himself down with his pipe, she figured that he wouldn't be going anywhere without them, anytime soon.
Just before the fox and bunny disembarked from the Trafalgar, it's captain explained to them several important traveling tips for their new location.
"Alright ye land-lubbing fur-backs, ye best listen up nice an' easy here, 'cause yer gonna need to know a few things before ye go!"
"Do enlighten us, captain unicorn." Nick accepted with a coyish smirk directed at the captain, who made a deep and watery grumbling noise from within his gullet.
"Ye best drop the attitude, boyo... That sort of squalor will have ye drawn and quartered 'round these parts." He warned.
"Don't worry captain: Nothin' here isn't anything carrots and I haven't handled before, I assure you." The fox claimed with a half-lidded grin.
The narwhal made an unimpressed snorting noise from his blowhole, of which caused a few small streams of water to trickle out.
"Think what ye want, boyo. But do know this: The Outbackers are a suspicious folk, and if ye walk right in with the kind of swagger that yer carryin' high, then they'll judge ye proper. The Outbackers aren't the keenest of folk when it comes to free-loading tourists like yerselves, so don't draw any unwanted attention!"
"I think we'll be fine, really." Nick repeated once again.
"Thas' not what I meant, boyo. Many Outbackers are against inter-species relationships. If they, say, see ye holdin' hands, er kissin' in their proximity, then they might drop an unsavory comment or two, least to say."
"They don't like inter-species relationships?" Judy intervened, her ears raised high with interest and consideration. "Why not?"
"Like I said before, the Outbackers are a suspicious folk: Suspicious of anyone different from them, like tourists, and especially deviants from the cultural and biological norm, like inter-species couples and whatnot. Maybe it has somethin' to do with them livin' away from the mainland, and how they aren't as effected by the mainland's problems, simply by them living on an island eight miles into the open ocean. The locals and natives are all very unique, so to say, in comparison to mammals from the mainland."
"Unique?" The bunny asked, her nose twitching a single time.
"Aye, unique. The Outbackers are an exclusive culture, similar to the likes of the Meadowlands, and Bunny-Burrow: Different customs, societal norms and expectations and whatnot! Most residence on Outback-Island are a different breed of mammal altogether: Marsupials, they call themselves. They don't often take a liking to tourists, or anyone different from them, like inter-species couples fer that matter, so just be careful out there."
"Aw, so you do care about us!" Nick teased, placing a paw over his heart and feigning relief. "It's so nice to be appreciated!"
Meanwhile, Haddock had snorted harshly, causing another jet of misty water to be spewed from his blowhole, along with a few tendrils of smoke.
"Jus' hurry up with yer sightseeing, boyo: I ain't got the patience to be waitin' fer ye past sundown... That should give ye plenty a' time to go out an' explore."
"We hear ya loud and clear, captain unicorn!" Nick confirmed with a salute across his brow.
"Call me that again, boyo, and I'll skewer ye both before choppin' ye up into chum fer the fishes!" Haddock cried, his blowhole emitting a watery grumble all the while.
"Aye aye, captain!" Nick said, unfazed by the narwhal's exaggerated threat. "We'll be back before sundown, we promise!"
And at that, both the fox and bunny strode away from the Trafalgar, arm-in-arm, bound for the uncertainties of what lied ahead on Outback-Island.
Hey Everyone!
Oh man, I'm so excited for what I got in store for you all for the coming chapters! Fluff galore, new and interesting places, and plenty of heart is all soon to come to your prying eyes! Their vacation will continue, and when it reaches it's end, I think you all will enjoy what I got planned out! :D
That being said, I'd like to mention once again that I greatly appreciate all the reviews, favorites, and follows that you all have left for me after all this time. Now (as of the release of this chapter), we're nearly at 1,000 followers!
That's a fantastic number that I've been secretly hoping for since day one.
But please: If you have any friends that like to read fanfiction, or are interested in the Zootopia archive, do please pass my story along to them.
I welcome all new readers with open arms, and would greatly appreciate such an act if there ever was one.
That's all I have for now, my friends: For the time being, I bid you a proper adieu.
'Till next time...
Peace!