Chapter 13 Dressed Up Motives

Edited by Crimson-Red Fawkes

AN: I'll be throwing more Spanish words into the story here and there, just to spice things up. I'll put an asterisk next to them and put their translation at the bottom AN. Yay for more Spanglish! :D

Judy walked along the dusty road, one paw gripped upon the hilt of her sword in reassurance, as at the moment she wasn't feeling very much like a Capitán. She eyed the simple dress she wore once more, the pale blue tone of the flowing fabric growing on her, as well as the white long-sleeved blouse Valorie had found for her. The elbows had slight puffs of fabric that allowed her to easily draw her sword, of which she was adamant any of the clothes she were to pick up necessary in that allowance.

She was still a Capitán after all, even if, as both Valorie and Sergeant Clawhauser had put it, she 'looked as if heaven itself had graced Zootopia with an angel in the form of a bunny'.

The complement had brought out a quick blush as she turned and went back into the changing stall earlier, only to overhear the next comment that the cheetah had told his jaguar girlfriend.

"Isn't she just the cutest thing you ever saw? Don Wilde is just going to drool all over at seeing her in that."

She had made a mental note to assign the Sergeant outhouse duty for, yet again, using the c-word around her, but when she had changed back into her uniform and walked out to meet them, she had found they had already bought, not only her current outfit, but also several others that she could use for training or nights on the town. Her anger had fizzled, turning quickly to shame for wanting to punish Clawhauser for being… well, himself.

He is the only one who can call me that… Judy thought as her destination came into view as she rounded a grove of maple trees. Don Wilde's manor was just as impressive as it had been the day before, but somehow, it felt even more foreboding due to the conversation she and Valorie had shared while Clawhauser shooed them out of the store, mentioning he had a surprise for them.

As they had walked out, Judy had taken one last look at a bunny-sized mannequin in the front window, hoping to see the gorgeous amethyst hued sleeveless gown that had been on display. It was about the most risqué thing Judy had ever seen in a store before, but she had fallen in love with it… that is, until she had seen the price and released that it would take two years to save up on her salary to afford it. She had sighed, noticing the dress was no longer there, as well as a rather rotund and richly dressed rabbit doe walking out of the store with several large bags, including one which had the tip of something purple hanging out of it.

Valorie had noticed Judy's sigh, and gently placed a paw upon her shoulder...

Several hours before...

"Capitána Hopps, are you alright?"

Judy nodded. "Thank you for your concern, but..." she spared a glance at the mannequin which was being redressed in a rather plain looking white gown. Valorie followed her gaze and frowned. Leaning down quite a ways so that she was ear level to the bunny, she cupped her paw around her mouth, whispering to the rabbit.

"I think that doe who just left wouldn't fit into it even if she tried. She's eaten so many empanadas that she makes even Benjamin look flaco* in comparison."

Just the outlandishness of the statement brought Judy into a fit of giggles, eventually calming down as she looked up at her new found friend in Valorie. "I would imagine so, though it is quite improper to mock a lady of any esteem."

Valorie shrugged. "Eh, that's just Madame Goofensmidt and with how much of a gossip she is, I don't feel too bad about mocking her just a bit."

Judy gave Valorie a stern glare, but the jaguar shrugged it off like it was a hotcake on a well-oiled griddle. "Though you're just deflecting," Valorie stated. "So how about we get back to the real issue and how you're going to stun that fox out of his mind tonight on your date."

Blushing furiously, Judy stared up in what was a mix between horror, frustration and astonishment. "How many times do I have to repeat myself… it is not a date. This is simply a..."

"Get to know the people of the town meeting," the jaguar finished for her. "Yes, yes, I've heard you tell Benjamin that several times, but..." the pair found a bench outside another store and Valorie sat, patting the open space next to her. Judy leapt up onto the bench and sat, making for quite an odd scene of a jaguar and bunny sitting side by side on the quiet street. "I think there are a few things you should know about Don Nicholas de la Wilde which makes this not-a-date, most likely one."

Giving the feline a cautious look, Valorie continued. "Look, Don Wilde is quite different from the other Don's in the area, probably in all of Califurnia. He is much more of the people than any of them prefer, but is also one of the richest as well due to his vineyards. He gives a lot of his money to the local charities and a few families that he hears about who are in need and in all my dealings with him, he has never shown to be ambiguous or dishonest in anything. He means what he says and is quite straightforward."

Judy's attention was fixated upon the jaguar who paused in her speaking as she noticed a family of elk walking together across the street. Their clothes looked well worn, and even though the father's clothes showed that he was most likely a bookkeeper of some sort, the various patches and stitch work on his shirt and pants showed that they most likely struggled to get by.

"Do you see that family across the street?" Valorie stated, pointing them out as Judy nodded. "Well, those are the Antlersons, and do you see their son there?"

Again Judy nodded, noticing that the elk looked rather diminutive for his age and hobbled along thanks to the help of what looked like a well-crafted crutch which even came with a cushioned rest under the boy's arm.

"When little Tim there was out playing one day near the center square, Capitán Koslov came swaying down the street, drunk out of his mind around noon. When he came upon tiny Tim there and his friends, the drunkard kicked out at them to get to move, breaking the poor boy's leg."

Judy couldn't help but be shocked, her mouth falling open just slightly, though she recovered quickly enough to close it just as fast as it had fallen. "But… why? Why would he do something like that to a child?"

"You mean like why would a Capitán break a child's sword?" Valorie's face grew a tad more serious, though concern was the main emotion in her eyes.

Judy's ears fell behind her as she ashamedly looked at the ground. "You don't know how much that experience has already pained me," the rabbit stated, contemplating how horrendously she had treated the otter kit as her first act in Zootopia. "It is a wound that I did not properly avoid and now will leave a terrible scar for all mammaldom to see and know me by." Her paw absently brushed at her own face, retracing three shapely lines hidden under the fur of her cheek.

She felt a paw land on her shoulder, and looking up, she saw a tender look in the jaguar's eyes. "And that, Capitán Hopps,is what makes you different. You care, even if you do something hurtful, you try to fix your mistakes. Benjamin has told me all about what you did, as well as how you want to do good to the mammals here. Koslov..." in a very undignified manner, Valorie spat on the ground as she said the polar bears name, "he didn't care at all about what he had done, just went on ambling down the street. Probably didn't even know he'd hurt Tim so badly. His parents didn't know if he'd make it through the week, especially when his leg became infected."

Judy's heart ached more and more as the story continued. She was having a hard time believing that the previous Capitáns in this city could be so… cruel. So vicious… so...

...savage.

She turned her attention back to her friend, wanting to hear what happened and how everything related back to Don Wilde, though she made a mental note to collect every single story she could of the atrocities that had been committed against the citizens of this town so she could somehow try to make things right with them.

"It was the third night after the assault, in the middle of the worst of his fever. It was also the day that their money ran out for medicine, that Don Wilde showed up at their door." Valorie smiled, her eyes sparkling as if the memory ignited the joy inside of her. "He dropped off not only enough medicine to sustain the boy through his fever and beyond, but also brought along a his own personal doctor, stating he'd pay whatever bills the family attained until the boy was healed. A few days later, when it was found that Tim would walk again, but with a permanent limp, that crutch you see him using was left at their doorstep by an unknown stranger, even though everyone knows who left it."

Judy was left speechless. On one paw, she couldn't believe that her predecessors had been so cruel to the citizens of the city, however, her interaction with those children her first day in now made much more sense. On the other paw, her impression of Don Wilde soared to new heights. As the elk family disappeared around a corner, Judy wondered how many other families had been scarred by the corrupt Capitáns before her, and how many of those mammals had been helped out so graciously by Don Wilde.

All of the Don's she had met previous to the fox, almost all at the academy as they would visit quite frequently to commiserate with Bogo over a glass, or several, of pinot, were rather arrogant who snubbed her and the other soldiers completely. This just led to another question entirely.

Why is Don Nicholas de la Wilde so different? And if there was a reason as to why, what were his motives that drove him to be different?

"Then why does he want to meet with me?" Judy finally huffed. "He suggested for me to come to dine with him and not I, so why would he want to meet with a brand new Capitán he just met, when the previous ones have been so horrible?"

"Perhaps it is the same reason why you were eyeing that dress?" Valorie offered with a grin. "Maybe he simply wants to impress you or is smitten with already and wants to make you comfortable in a new city?"

"That doesn't make sense though," Judy responded. "He's a Don, such is impressive enough. I mean, his villa is twice as big as my warren back home, and I have 275 siblings that fit inside. Why meet with me of all mammals when he most likely any vixen in Califurnia would be more suitable, especially one of a more noble lineage? Why would he make friends with a rabbit whose origins are that of a carrot farmer and whose first act as Capitán in his city was to destroy a child's toy? I certainly wouldn't care to dine with me if that was all I knew about myself." Her head hung low, she held her paws in her lap as she became quiet, pondering the strangeness of the past few days and hoping things would become much more normal the longer she stayed.

Her questions came hard and fast towards the Jaguar, who had simply took them all in at once, nodding her head politely as the officer finished.

"Perhaps..." Valorire replied softly, leaning back against the post behind the bench. "He thinks you are more than what you see in yourself."

It wasn't as much a question, as a statement, Judy realized as she gazed at her new found friend. Before she could continue the conversation, a rather bubbly Sergeant walked up to them.

"Oh there you two went!" he exclaimed, grinning broadly as he held several bags in his paws. Judy looked down at her own bags that held her clothes, wondering what her subordinate had bought.

"Sergeant, what did you buy? That store was for ladies only, was it not?"

"Oh, um..." Clawhauser laughed nervously. "Well, you wouldn't want me to ruin the surprise for Valorie over here, would you?"

Judy grinned, rolling her eyes at the look of adoration the cheetah was casting towards the jaguar. The object of Clawhauser's gaze laughed and walked over to him, cupping his chubby cheeks in both paws before giving him a kiss on the cheek, the cheetah gaining a rather innocuous blush as a result.

"Have I ever told you that you were the best, Benji?"

"Not as much as I tell you I hope," he cooed back. For how adorable the scene was, and how much Judy wished she had something akin to it, other pressing matters were ebbing into her mind as she spotted the position of the sun in the sky.

"Clawhauser." The cheetah turned and saw his superior officer fidgeting. "How do we get back to the fort? We're almost out of time before I have to leave for Don Wilde's."

A half hour before meeting Don Wilde...

Judy eyed herself in her new outfit. Standing in front of a full-length mirror built for mammals the size of polar bears made for an odd image as the rabbit barely took up a tenth of the mirror, but admittedly the dress looked quite good on her. The light blue of the dress shimmered in the light of the sun, while the blouse itself allowed for enough movement to be able to draw her sword if the need arose. It was probably the nicest personal outfit she had owned.

She hoped it would be good enough for a meeting with a Don to gather information about the town.

That is all I'm doing tonight… Judy repeated to herself. I'm simply going to meet with the most influential Don in Zootopia to learn more about this city. This has nothing to do with him inviting me over for dinner and has absolutely nothing to do with a date.

Settled on how she looked in the azure dress and cream toned blouse, she affixed her sword to her belt and bounded down the stairs. Leaving her quarters, she looked up to see one of her lieutenants standing watch by her door.

"Lieutenant Hiberton."

The bear offered a stiff salute as he turned to face her. "Yes Capitána?"

"Inform the soldiers that I'll be at a formal meeting the rest of the evening. Sergeant Clawhauser will be in charge until I return."

"Sí Capitán!" The bear offered another salute as Judy walked away, with each soldier she passed giving her an equally rigid salute. When she disappeared out of the fort, he finally relaxed, his shoulders slumping.

"Whew..." he breathed out, before grinning and running to the fort's cafeteria. He burst through the door, surprising several of the soldiers inside.

"The rabbit is gone for the evening!" he shouted joyously as a cheer went up from the gathered mammals. "Break out the drinks!"

Flaco: Skinny

AN: Sorry for the delay, lots of work and writer's block meant not many updates. But I'm over it now and back to business. Thank you again for all the reviews, favorites, and follows as well! I'd like to be able to thank everyone individually, but, I'm barely having time to write at the moment so I hope a "Thank you" here will suffice for the moment.

Next chapter will be the date-not-date and with how nothing has gone wrong so far in the story, and no crazy things have happened, everything should go smoothly for their date, right? XD

Also, for this chapter, go check out the artwork for it on my deviant art page, username is "Cimar/WildeHopps". Drawn by yasminoliveira534 over on tumblr. :)