Disclaimer: I do not promote the use of substances, legal or not, especially to younger audiences. This is a work of fiction, not a promotion of any kind. Be responsible kiddos! Enjoy the party!
Now Judy realized what Nick had meant by 'follow the music.'
Just yards away at the dead end of the street she could barely see their destination, blame her unimpressive night vision. Instead she relied on her ears, hearing conjoined voices and howling through the blaring of rave music.
The concrete pavement beneath her feet transformed into a field of grass that felt like it hadn't been mowed in ages, half of her physique becoming hidden by the unruly yellowed stalks.
Poorly parked cars decorated the front lawn of the house, cars that served as lawn chairs for cigarette-toting beer-chugging mammals, the more relaxed party guests from the looks of the other mammals running on all fours across the lawn in games of chase.
A jaguar pounced over Judy's head and tackled a ram into the heap of grass, the two panting between bouts of laughter as they climbed back onto their feet. Judy paused to watch an overseeing meerkat hop from the hood of a car to give the winner of the chase a purple and yellow ruffled necklace.
"Wooooo! Fuck yeah! Free drinks all night, babyyy!" The jaguar cheered as he crowned himself with his prize, proceeding to celebrate by hopping into a circling and erratically swerving vehicle driven by a tipsy bison.
After the Hornstein crew made sure to steer clear from the driving hazard, Judy giggled in excitement at all the untamed action unfolding around her. So that chase was some kind of party game, huh?
It was intriguing, seeing everyone being so loud, so wild, so... free. As if they were in some uncharted land off of the map of Zootopia where ZPD or any threat of authority had no subjectable powers. No parents, no rules, just fun. An idea that suddenly sounded so remarkably dangerous, a good kind of dangerous, to the doe that watched on with wonder.
A deviously brave smile claimed her face as they approached the house at the epicenter of it all; flashes of colored light escaping the glassless windows in sync with the boom of music, the building trembling from its hardly containable hotbed of contents.
"We're here," Pepper glanced over at Judy eagerly, the ring on her lower lip twinkling. "Lead us on in, farm girl."
Judy took the metaphorical torch being passed to her, stepping ahead of the RA with a sharp inhale. Once the mass of girls reached the creaky front porch steps, Judy marched up and took out her phone to text the fox that they had arrived.
Until she was approached by the very predator himself.
"Took you long enough, cottontail." Nick taunted in a mild slur as he leaned forward over the porch railing, lidded bloodshot eyes not hesitating to explore her appearance for longer than she felt appropriate. Judy, eyeing some of his features that were admittedly attractive to bunny that tried to regard him similarly.
The white collar of his burgundy jacket was flipped up as he brought the red cup in his paw to his mouth for a swig; a bit of his creamy chest fur exposed beneath a white V-neck and three colorful necklaces. "You sure you still want in?" Came his velvety question, thin tongue gliding the side of his maw in a slow lick. "There's no harm in calling it quits... you can still hop away if this is too much for you."
Judy crinkled her nose at him, a sight that made him chuckle. I'm standing steps away from the entrance. There's no way in hell I'm turning back now.
"I'm not going anywhere. A deal's a deal, am I right?" She returned his grin, paws on her hips and shifting her weight to one leg in a defying stance that led his curious eyes further astray.
"Hot damn, that's the spirit." He sucked in a breath through sharp teeth, his eyes on the slope of her tilted hips and exposed stomach. "You're as right as you are gorgeous tonight..." The fox crooned huskily, stepping towards her before he was interrupted by a rough clap on his shoulder from behind, hard enough to send some of the questionably bright green contents in his cup to jump up. A leopard, dressed in an identical maroon sweater looked over at the group of girls skeptically.
"Hey bro, havin' a hard time here? Are they invited?" He spoke a low tone.
Nick glanced over at the taller predator and nodded nonchalantly. "Yeah, they're invited, free entry. Drinks aren't covered though."
The feline jock said no more, glancing amusingly over at the young crowd before shrugging.
"Wait a sec. That wasn't part of our deal, fox." Judy suddenly blurted, his large red ears perking towards her as she did. "When I said we get to come in for free, I meant completely free, drinks and all."
Nick shook his head slow. "You losers get to come for free, not drink for free. That wasn't specified in that little deal of yours." He chimed astutely as her ears fell. To her dissatisfaction she knew he was technically correct, the wording of her request not as detailed as it should have been. "Unless…" With a clawed finger the fox wiggled one of the ruffled necklaces around his neck. "…you think you can outrun me, little bunny?"
Judy scrutinized the plastic prize he made dance— three total around his neck which meant three previous wins, the odds probably stacked against her.
The rabbit scowled, looking over her shoulder at her friends that gazed pleadingly at her. She sighed, turning back to the grinning predator waiting on her reply. "Okay Wilde. You're on."
.o0o.
Judy crouched low in the tall grass, small enough to hide in its height.
The meerkat from before, a senior girl that happened to be the conductor of this particular party game, was sure to explain the rules: prey has to evade predator for a full three minutes in order to win. Easy enough, right? Judy was a gifted runner so she was confident. Even her scandalous skirt that strained with her posture wouldn't keep her from evading him, although it was definitely cause for concern.
"On my mark…"
Judy swore to herself as she could just barely hear the crackling of grass under the fox. He got down on all fours after he downed his cup of alcohol and tossed it aside. Stoney eyes honed in on his destined prey.
"Get set…"
The game conductor made a sharp whistle with her fingers and the bunny was off like a bolt of lightning.
Although modern day mammals usually preferred to run on their hind legs, it didn't compare to the speeds they could reach with all four limbs used together. To her knowledge, she left the fox in the dust, unable to pick up his movement through the cheering from her friends and other ruckus resounding all around her. With a confident grin Judy dashed through the grass away from the house, a tactic to create distance from the overwhelming noise and better hear her pursuer.
The smile on her muzzle fell flat when she realized he was actually right on her tail—literally, the sound of his exhales inches away from the poof on her rear. "I can… practically… taste you!" He taunted between breaths.
Confidence was replaced with panic as she made the mistake of looking over her bare shoulder at the grinning fox, the bunny losing speed and giving him an opening to lunge.
Right as he pounced, Judy made a sharp left and scurried, taking the lead again as her friends shouted from across the lawn.
"Go faster Judy! Run run ruuuun!"
The bunny approached a barrier of parked cars and realized she had corned herself in. Nick, not far behind, smirked at her through the blades of grass. He approached her slow, looking smug. "Gotcha!"
He leapt forward again to tackle the bunny, but instead landed on a soft mound of soil and collided against the door of a car. "What the fu—"
Judy burrowed under the dirt and appeared on the other side of the barricade of cars, her heart racing as she could hear his collision and growl of frustration. "Ha!" She reveled in his slip-up, but instantly bit her tongue once she saw his dark tail shoot up in the direction of her laugh.
Crunch. He was on the move again.
"One more minute and thirty seconds, Judy!"
On all fours the rabbit skidded towards a palm tree with the hopes to climb it, but Nick circled around and confronted her with a smug grin before she could ascend. Sweet cheese and crackers, he's faster!
Quickly she turned on her heels and hopped ahead, losing speed but gaining distance from the predator that gained on her.
"You're miiine, slow poooke!" Nick called in a breathless laugh, tail wagging behind him in excitement. He was practically letting her lead. Toying with his food for a bit of fun, if you will. Fucking with her mind, making her sweat, something he thought she deserved after being the center of his trouble today. Plus, he just adored this game, never losing once before. He'd relish in watching the freshies pay for their drinks, after all.
Her chest rocked her small form so intensely, Judy's heart could've flat lined at the impending doom of her capture.
Long ears were flat against her back as she scurried as fast as her tight outfit allowed, a small alarming rip sound making her movements less restrained. That didn't sound good. But she couldn't stop and check it now while he loomed closer behind.
The cross-faded fox eyed her ass as she rhythmically flashed glimpses of her pink underwear at him once her skirt tore. Hoo-ly shit, what a sight. A sight he probably enjoyed a little more than he should've, since he began fantasizing about giving the white poof of her tail a playful nip, ergo distracting his ambush. But those bouncing cheeks and quivering tail framing her bikini bottom were giving his blood a rush, and not to the right places.
Fuck, I'm losing time. Nick forced himself to shut his eyes and rely on his hearing instead, his primal senses hardly affected by his inebriation or sudden blindness. Intently he listened to her nearing heartbeat and at last sprang over her.
Judy gasped at the sight of his shadow soaring over her.
"Time's up!"
The two collided roughly and rolled over the grass at the sheer combination of their speeds, the ground thankfully providing a cushion against the blow of their weights. Once they slowed Judy managed to climb over the fox, breathless as she laughed triumphantly down at him. His dry heaves made her smaller form rise and fall in tandem with his chest.
"Cheater! I… couldn't focus…" He panted, eyes narrowed.
"No way! I won…fair…and square…!" She asserted before pushing herself up and dusting herself off.
"O-M-G, Judy!" Her friends ran over to meet her in a gang of cheers, hugging and high-fiving the bunny. "Free drinks for all of us? Oh hell yeeaah!" She didn't even acknowledge the tear that ran up the side of her skirt, exposing more of her left thigh. Judy was more bothered by the burn in her lungs and the racing of her heart that hadn't yet ceased.
The meerkat waltzed over the lawn and brought a ruffled necklace around Judy's neck with an impressed smile. Judy smirked proudly, wiggling the accessory around her neck towards the fox in a mocking fashion.
Nick hiccupped as he stood, shrugging in reserved indifference as he caught his breath and dusted off his paws. Thankfully any sign of a previous boner was gone. That damn bunny's gonna drive me mad. "Pff, whatever. It's a sober mammal's game, anyway." He huffed sorely, rubbing his left shoulder where he made contact with that car door. Well fuck, I'm sure that made a dent.
Flaunting her prize, Judy led her posse back to the front doors. The leopard from earlier confronted Judy, holding a bottle of spray paint by his side. "Paw, please." Slowly and somewhat hesitantly she extended her grey paw to him, in which the leopard drew a bold black 'X' using spray paint. Only then did he step aside to allow her in. "Next."
Without reluctance she entered, Mabel and Benjamin squealing as they received their X's and entered right behind the champ.
This was it. The Jungle.
Teeming with unrestrained, surging life.
It would have been completely dark if it weren't for the green pulsing string lights along the ceiling creating an ambient glow, tangled like a canopy bed overhead. It was… crowded. Extremely crowded, almost uncomfortably so for a rabbit that inhabited a space with hundreds of siblings. So crowded in fact that it was difficult to move in more than a couple steps without bumping into someone.
Mammals of every caliber, most of them taller than her, were dancing erratically in the wide room. Being so short and lithe allowed her to squeeze through and under others without drawing too much attention to herself, gawking at their movements.
Dance moves unfamiliar to her, jerking and swaying hip motions that she studied in awe.
Her group of dorm mammals had dispersed at this point. Mabel and Clawhauser linked arms, following after the rabbit as best as they could but the two became bombarded by the mass of partiers. "Judy! Slow down, we'll lose ya!"
Judy was unaware that she left her friends behind being that she was completely enamored with the environment she crept further into. It seemed to suck her in like a black hole.
No wonder this was called The Jungle, that's exactly what it was; a zoo of animals unleashing havoc in the best way young adults and teens knew how:
Getting absolutely fucked up.
The scent of tobacco, weed, and alcohol mingling in the humid air of the house was intoxicating in itself, the combination new and bizarrely thrilling to the bunny. The floor beneath her trembled as tipsy and giggly mammals jumped around, two in which danced against the rabbit due to the apparent lack of floor space. She could feel large breasts bouncing against the back of her ears as a zebra's tail swished under her chin. Judy fought through the moment of discomfort by rocking to the music until she could squeeze through the crowd again.
Once she was no longer trapped between the bodies of others and finally found some space to herself, the bunny mimicked a group of scantily dressed pigs in front of her, hopping up and down with the music.
Joining the physical synergy made her feel like she was part of some overflowing concert in the dark. Then laughing and breathless, she'd squeeze through the crowd to explore the mad house deeper.
As slipping around dancers became too much of a hassle Judy decided to take a less travelled route: along the wall, so as not to get crammed against gyrating bodies.
However, that side of the battleground didn't seem like much of an improvement— mammals, pairs of two or three consisting of the same species or otherwise, were mid-tonguing in ravenous make out sessions; some danced provocatively against one other like they were mating right in plain sight. A view that made the flushed rabbit cover her eyes with her paws as she tried to turn back. Holy cow.
"You wanna dance, babe?" Came a drunk purr on her right, from a badger giving her a thorough head-to-toe gander. Before she could politely decline he was on her, bracing her back against the wall with his mouth hot on her neck and his hands gripping her sides.
Judy kneed him in the gut instantly and he keeled over. "Creep." Slipping around him, she entered the ocean of dancing mammals again.
This cycle of diving into the crowd to rave and venturing further through it repeated two or three times before she finally broke out onto the other side of the dance mob.
A safe space.
It was no less crowded though, but instead of recklessly dancing the mammals stood single file down a mysterious hallway, lava lamps of different colors and sizes on the floor lighting the path.
Judy curiously stepped onto the line and wiped the sweat off of her brow, exhaling with a smile as she glanced around her. Without a doubt the humidity in this place was going to fluff up her fur. She noted that the music, now a boisterous rap or hip hop, blared louder down the hall. Between songs, some she recognized (like Squeaky Minaj, Otter Scars, Kanine West) and some she didn't, an energetic voice audibly heightened by microphone introduced himself as DJ Fin and called out something akin to 'You're in the jungle, baby!' which incited cheers all around her.
Just before another song started the rabbit was approached by a sudden high pitched voice that pierced through the noise.
"Hiiiii!" Judy flinched, looking to the left to see no one standing where the voice had come from. "No, down here!"
Judy glanced down and gasped. "Oh!" There stood a small arctic shrew with a voluminous up-do. "Hey!"
"The name's Fru Fru. Never seen a bunny at the jungle before..." she stated with a blink of long lashes. "I think I recognize you. Are you that Booty-Bunny the Alpha frat keeps talking about?" The shrew asked in a loud nasally voice.
The nick name would have triggered an embarrassed frown on the rabbit's muzzle if it were not for her desire to seem socially approachable. "Hah well actually, my name's Judy Hopps. I'm the—"
"Yeaaah, you're the cute bunny that hustled Wilde! Omigaawd," she giggled. "I saw the livestream. You're something else, y'know that? Anyways, I'm the one who bought all the good booze tonight, and since you're cool I'll let you skip the line."
Judy gasped happily and followed suit when the shrew led her past the line to a table covered in cups and crystal bottles. Judy climbed onto a nearby chair to better access the table and the shrew climbed onto the table itself, pushing forward a small shot glass filled to the brim with something potent towards the bunny.
"Judging from that necklace ya got, you can have as much as you want!" Fru insisted, her hoop earrings dangling on either side of her long snout. "Ya hear that Bruce? Bunny's free!" She shouted to the moose that bartended the drinks for the mammals on line, beer cans and bottles dangling from his antlers. "So you're a new student, yeah?"
Judy gave a laugh, more nervous than she liked as she looked at the offer. "Yeah, I'm a freshman. All my freshmen friends get free drinks too," she coolly spoke, skeptically taking the shot glass in her paw and analyzing it briefly before sniffing.
"Ya heard that Bruce? Freshmen get free drinks!" The shrew yelled to her apathetic assistant.
The bunny's nose crinkled instantly at the poignant scent of peach flavored alcohol in her paw. This wasn't legal, was it? But she felt the mouse watching her expectantly. "Thank you," Judy spoke loud over the music, definitely flattered that the shrew who barely knew her had already given her VIP access to the bar.
"No problem at all, Booty-bunny! You deserve it after that prank," she insisted.
The shot glass remained full in a frigid paw. "By the way… I love your top," Judy stalled.
The shrew hummed in her flattery. "Aaaaww, thanksss! Wanna take the shot with me? We'll make a toast." Fru lifted her own miniature glass. "To having a kick ass time tonight!"
Judy nodded and lifted her own shot glass, smiling uneasily before mimicking the shrew's flick-of-the-wrist motion, downing the drink as quickly as she could. She shivered as it made its way down her throat and warmed her chest. "Wow…strong…very strong…" she stifled a cough. Much stronger than any family wine the Hopps brewed.
Fru laughed. "Good stuff right? My daddy's bar has the best of the best," she winked up at the rabbit. "Now, let's do another!"
.o0o.
The red fox managed to slip into the party house alone, but not for long.
He found himself with a few ladies that practically tugged him by the collar or tail for a dance. He didn't protest and grooved against multiple willing girls at a time—he was a generous gentlemammal, after all.
The attractive senior girls seemed interested in him so suddenly after his newfound popularity, not that he'd actually complain about the new attention. A coarse tongue, a cat's tongue, grazed over his neck as a pair of hooves smoothed down his sides from behind; his front was occupied by a caracal that grinded back against him a little too aggressively, her bushy tail snaking up his shirt and brushing over his stomach. What a greedy bunch.
After his share of fun Nick cleverly excused himself from the girls despite their whines and latching on to his arms. He managed to maneuver his way through the mob until he made it out to the hallway. He brought a silver flask out of his jacket and drank the last bit of whiskey in it with a sigh.
My buzz's beginning to fade. Time to refill.
His earlier cross-faded buzz was so pleasant he completely forgot about his anger, thanks to a few bowls of green and shots of stolen liquor.
On his way to the end of the line, Nick spotted a familiar set of black-tipped ears next to the drinks table.
Almost too easily, he cut past the line of mammals waiting to get a drink and approached the front without anyone noticing. "My buddy, my pal! Fru, you're lookin' snazzy as always." He greeted the shrew with a charming grin, grabbing a glass bottle standing near her and filling his flask.
"Wilde." Fru smiled casually against her empty shot glass at the fox, unbothered as he filled up.
Nick glanced down, pretending to not notice Judy until now, who glared up at him silently. "Oh, what's this? The bunny drinks?" He almost genuinely sounded surprised through his tease.
Judy furrowed her brow at him, sitting her empty glass onto the table before hopping onto her feet before the frat member. "Yeah, why wouldn't I drink?"
The fox smiled with sharp, pearly incisors. "Geez I dunno. Thought goody farm girls obeyed the law and all."
"You made it easy for me, losing the chase and all." Judy contently countered.
The fox scoffed, tucking away the flask and taking up a filled shot glass. He sniffed the potent drink in his large paw as he maintained eye contact with her. "Would've won if it wasn't for those cute little pink panties you've got on…" his voice trailed once she gasped, instinctively tugging her skirt down. It made him chuckle into his first sip.
"Heyyy be nice to Judy. She's three shots in with the strongest liquors on the table," Fru informed in Judy's defense, winking over at the flushed bunny. "She's cool."
Nick arched a brow, hardly impressed. "Huh, well I'll be damned. So uh, you gonna hook me up with the good stuff?" He gestured towards her stash of bottles.
Fru gave Nick a skeptical look. "Shouldn't you be off sticking your tongue down some girl's throat? Maybe Fang's?" Her question made the perverted smile on his muzzle curl downwards, much to Judy's delight.
"Har-har." He rolled his emerald eyes as he took another shot glass she pushed forth for him. He lifted one shot after another, easily downing the two without so much of a shiver. Then he picked up another red cup of spiked-whatever punch.
He was like a bottomless pit of tolerance, Judy thought to herself cynically.
"My girl wasn't invited," he admitted somewhat aloofly, sipping the punch.
Judy blinked. His girl?
"Yeah, my BF wasn't invited either. Real bummer huh? Ah well," Fru sighed before turning over to the bunny. "Judy, hope you have a blast tonight. It was so nice chatting with you, you're chill."
"You too, Fru Fru!" Judy smiled as the shrew hopped down the table and disappeared into the crowd.
Then it was just her and Nick for a moment, standing there with an unspoken angst in the air between them, a glare between green and violet eyes. In the awkwardly tense moment, Judy took up a red cup herself before locking eyes with the fox again, taking a cautious sip of the mystery punch. Their silent eye contact annoyed the bunny, much to the fox's amusement. "What?"
"Nothing," the fox coolly dismissed, averting his eyes from her and sipping his own cup. "Just wondering why you asked to come to a dumb party instead of demanding something else more, I don't know, beneficial to you. You could've gotten anything you wanted from me. Like—making me do your homework for a month, or give you lunch money…" he made a circular motion with a free paw as he trailed off.
Judy approved of the taste of the spiked punch before acknowledging that he did have somewhat of a point. "I… guess I just wanted a memorable college experience." Her answer was purposefully short, her trust for the fox essentially nonexistent.
"That's a strange tradeoff. Y'know, I could've been your very own personal servant." He shrugged, restraining a chuckle as he spun the contents in his cup. "Sex slave, even. You missed out big Carrots."
"Sex slave?" Judy exhaled a laugh, her tone less harsh than it would have normally been in response to his lewd suggestion, thanks to the sedative effects of liquor beginning to coarse through her system. "Not sure your girl would appreciate that suggestion."
Nick huffed a laugh and shrugged. "So? She's not here. It's just a fling, really. Flings are my thing. You should know that I have always been a ladies' mammal. So I'm veeery sexually experienced." He bragged on, before taking a swig of his cup.
"I honestly doubt you're skilled in that department." Judy chirped easily. You're all bark, no bite.
Her one sentence was enough to crack his forced bravado. His drink almost went down the wrong pipe at her wounding retort, his cough coming at the expense of her small slightly intoxicated giggle. Not that Nick wasn't technically physically appealing to the bunny. You're theoretically attractive, Wilde. But looks only go so far, and I'm not dumb enough to fall for your cheesy charisma.
To Nick, there was something peculiarly sexy about her lack of apparent interest in him, figuratively providing a chase much like the literal one they entertained prior.
Holy fuck, why are you so stunning tonight? Although he definitely held a grudge against the bunny, he just couldn't deny it. He cleared his throat and noticed her own eyes were traveling over his broad form, probably and attempt to tease him, no doubt. "Ha, funny fluff. I'll have to correct you, I'm very ski—"
"Aye, Wilde!" Came a shout, practically a roar, from a large lion down the hallway. "Meet us out back!"
After giving Judy a frivolously charming smile, the fox suddenly split, navigating through the crowd. Judy watched him go in relief, noticing his tail sweep beneath a deer's skirt as he went, which caused the deer to gasp and mistakenly slap a buffalo standing adjacent to her. "Pervert!"
Judy shook her head.
Nicholas Wilde was something else.
After downing more of her punch in peace, the rabbit decided it was time to venture further again and carried the large cup of sweet alcohol with her through the crowd. Somehow she managed to get through without spilling it in a journey to the source of the party music.
At the other end of the hallway was another large room, a kitchen judging from cabinet sets against the walls. Not much of a kitchen now, though. At the center of the room was the DJ table, surrounded by speakers and giggling groupies. Over at a table, tigers growled competitively over a game of beer pong, the sounds of their growls almost inciting fear in the small bunny.
"There you go! Girl I was looking all over for you!" Came Clawhauser's sudden voice and paw on her shoulder. Judy turned to face him and beamed up at the cheetah, whose fur was frizzed and shirt sleeves were torn off. "I lost ya but I found ya. But I just lost Mabel. My cool hat too. This place is crazy. Am I slurring? Like holy cow, you should see the backyard!" he babbled on almost nonsensically.
"Whooaa, slow down," The tipsy rabbit laughed, unable to follow him except for the last bit. "Waaait there's-a backyard?" Judy asked with a wide smile, her words slightly muddled.
"Yeah it's nuts! And O-M-G is that the spiked green juice stuff everyone's drinking?" He referred to the cup she held with two small paws.
Judy nodded slow. "Uhuh, stuff's really strong. Want the rest?" She offered it kindly, pointing the half-full cup over to him. "I think… I drank enough fer-now..." She giggled admittedly. The size of these cups were suited for a bear, much less a bunny. Already she could feel the alcohol dampening her senses.
"Yeees pleeease," He squealed giddily, taking it up in his paws and downing it quick. "YUM uh wow! I'm gonna grab some more of this!"
She blinked and he was gone.
Judy somewhat spaced out, shook her head, and looked around her. The crowd was swimming around her in a blur of movement, furs and tails brushing past her in the tight space.
I don't think Ben said to wait up for him, she rebelliously assumed. What's in the backyard, anyway?
Making her careful way through the kitchen in an effort to make it to the back door, someone hurled a drink at someone else, causing a brawl between a burly hippo and a short rhino. At the unfortunate turn of events some of the said drink splattered on the back of Judy's white top. "Ugh, dammit," she muttered at the sensation of punch dripping down her back, the sticky substance sure to tangle her fur.
Judy managed to escape the unruly scene and finally broke through the backdoor, the cold night air rushing in around her almost refreshingly as she held onto the doorway for support. My legs are noodles.
Her muzzled parted into a surprised smile.
The backyard was raging.
Litter over the grass, mammals playing drinking games with strange funnel-contraptions, a kiddie pool filled with a questionable mixture of liquors that mammals dunked their heads into or lapped at with their tongues, even a crowd encouraging a wolf trying to climb up a tree to get to the roof of the house.
"Yo bunny!"
Drunkenly, Judy stumbled away from the door frame and glanced to her left, spotting a crowd of predators in matching uniform standing under a low hanging tree. Casually she made her way, trying her best to look composed as she strutted over the damp grass over to where the guys seemed to huddle in a circle-like formation.
"Hey," she coolly greeted, hands on her hips as she smiled up at the guys dressed in identical Alpha jackets. "Someone called the almighty Judy Hopps?" Her self-proclamation made most of the guys smirk.
"Looks like someone's having fun?" A tall timber wolf asked her, paws in pockets as he gave her a kind toothy smile.
"Yep, all the fun, absolutely. Soo much fun." She exhaled in a single breath before looking at them all, six in total, including a hyena who leaned against the tree trying to light something he firmly held between the black lips of his muzzle. Nick stood beside him and looked over at Judy, flashing her an apathetic look.
The hyena exhaled a dense cloud of smoke down at the bunny, a foul cloud that engulfed her entirely. She coughed into her elbow and nearly toppled back onto the grass, making a few of the guys watching chuckle as she fanned the air erratically.
"She's smashed out of her mind," murmured Fang with a long smile and red eyes, eyes that unapologetically admired the bunny's appearance, passing the lit joint over to Delgato who took several smaller puffs.
The smell hit her then suddenly, her brain processing more slowly than usual. The tipsy bun gasped quietly, realizing it wasn't cigarette smoke he blew. Weed. Then Fang's words processed, and her scowl was directed at him.
"And you're baked out of your mind," she combatted head on, earning a grin or a jaw drop from most of the predators besides Fang, who exhaled excess smoke through his nostrils. He did not look happy.
"A stupid rabbit pulls a fast one on Wilde and thinks she runs the whole damn frat?" His tone was anything but friendly. He pulled himself from against the tree bark and walked unevenly towards Judy, until Griffin took a hold of his shoulder to stop him. "You don't talk to me that way. No one does."
Perhaps if she was sober, she would have been intimidated by the hyena that bared his jagged teeth, but instead the inebriated bunny smiled bravely.
"Chill boss, she's freshie," Griffin's twin, Tom, quietly murmured. "Just a bunny."
"I know what she is, dickhead," he hissed, the long hair around his neck frazzled as he glared at the smaller polar bear.
Nick who took the joint up next, dragged smoothly, and blew out three perfect smoke rings that each drifted towards Fang's face. The hyena shook his head, disbanding the cloud formations with a grunt. "Sonuva bitch, Wilde, watch it," he sighed. Nick feigned an apologetic smile.
The older of the twin polar bears cracked a can of beer and delivered it to the peeved head Alpha, who snatched it and guzzled it down gluttonously. His unsightly consumption distracted the bunny, so much so that the lion beside her had to tap her shoulder to get her attention. Judy acknowledged Delgato, whom kindly offered her the lit joint. "I pass," she slurred.
"Above the influence, eh?" The wolf on the other side of her chuckled as he accepted it instead.
Judy gave a small bashful smile, teetering slightly in place. "Wha can I say? Future cop here, y'know."
The bunny hadn't realized what she said until the words were already spoken, words now intermixed with the surrounding clouds of smoke. I'm an idiot. Why, why, why did I say that?
There was a moment of silence before low pitched snickering violated it, all the frat members not taking her seriously except for the fox who sipped from his cup of punch, a look of reserved curiosity on his face.
"Hilarious ain't she?" One of the polar bears mused patronizingly.
"Yeah, ha! A bunny cop?" his twin bellowed before downing his beer and crushing it, tossing it across the yard.
"She's a comedian." Wolford chuckled.
Judy couldn't hide her look of embarrassment, her ears drooping.
"For a future cop, you sure do love drinkin' underage!" Fang laughed throatily. "Would've offered you some of my good liquor… if only I could find my damn stash. I think some asshole made off with it." The hyena grumbled, chucking his empty can of beer behind him so that it landed in the tree branches.
Nick concealed a smirk behind a drag of the joint.
"Oh, um," Judy mumbled for a moment, realizing the harsh truth the hyena mocked. Drinking illegally wasn't exactly cop-like. But she already knew this, and previously disregarded it although a part of her nagged her to death about it and made her suddenly feel reluctant to continue her alcohol consumption. "I appreciate the thought, but… I should slow down on the drinkin' tonight anyway…"
"Nah, you can't stop now. So early in the night? Nah, no way." Fang shook his head, a devious look in his obsidian eyes, before snapping clawed fingers. "Let's get her a beer, yeah fellas? I said toss me a beer!"
.o0o.
A bathroom.
She was in a bathroom, just done squatting and relieving herself when she realized she was way drunker than she should be.
After drinking the beer Fang tossed her a beer, she found herself appearing in different social circles throughout the night until her bladder begged for her attention. Judy was grateful she was able to hold her pee long enough to make it to the one dingy toilet in the entire house. Most mammals were too impatient and just peed outside in the backyard, but Judy protested. She had some dignity.
Once the bowl flushed in a low gurgle, the rabbit ambled over to the sink to wash her paws off only to find, great, no soap. She soaked her paws under the faucet and shook them off, even drying them against her jean skirt since there wasn't a hand towel in sight.
In the fogged full-body length mirror hanging behind the bathroom door she saw herself, almost having an odd out-of-body experience as she took her appearance in.
Her violet eyes were glazed, a dumb grin working its way over her muzzle. The white halter top was now stained with dirt and green punch. One side of her skirt torn, revealing the fur higher up her thigh. Grey and white fur that was frizzed from the humidity of combined body heat filling The Jungle. "Lookin' reeaal sexy there, Hopps. Reeaal cool." she winked to her reflection.
Until the banging on the bathroom door interrupted her little moment.
Judy stepped out of the small room to let in a desperate giraffe who nearly knocked her out of the way to duck in. The unpleasant sound of gagging and liquid contents colliding into the toilet bowl made the bunny crinkle her nose and step into the next room over.
At this point, Judy started kicking it off with so many of the guests on the dance floor that she lost count. Exchanging Furbooks and numbers, joking around with other drunk mammals, taking shots with a group of friendly seniors. How many drinks have I had so far?
She even danced with a few girls from the hall, including Pepper, who playfully swung the rabbit around in a fit of laughs and taught her a few provocative dance moves. The skunk was definitely the life of the party on the dance floor, encouraging a dance circle for partiers to jump into and show off their moves. A breathless Judy thanked her RA for the fun, but Pepper was too busy lip-locking with another girl to hear it.
"Ju-u-u-udy!" The call came from a giggling Mabel, who collided into the bunny near the drinks table. Her wool had fluffed out, her eyes almost lost behind the scruff. "I think I just made out with the DJ!"
.o0o.
Judy was laughing so hard she could hardly breathe.
A plastered Clawhauser had just attempted to climb up the tree to reach the roof like so many others had done, and failed miserably.
Instead he gripped onto a hefty branch and froze in fear, looking down at the ground with wide eyes and an erect tail. Mammals cheered him on but he shook his head, unable to climb down. The branch eventually cracked underneath the girth of his weight and he ultimately dropped right into the liquor-filled kiddie pool with a high-pitched shriek.
His splash entirely soaked the mammals drinking from their boozy watering hole. Bystanders were dripping wet, the most hilarious of them all being a cat who looked all but shriveled under damp fur.
Judy teared up with hiccupped laughter alongside others who also struggled to breathe from how amusing the scene was. My sides are burning… this is how I die…
Mammals started to throw the littered cans of beer up to a weasel on the roof with a baseball bat, who swung and hit the cans over the fence. Every hit he made got a riot of cheers from the bustling outdoor crowd. Judy joined in by stumbling over the lawn to race others to the remaining cans, ignoring her natural intolerance of litter, tossing her finds towards the batting weasel. Scoooore!
.o0o.
It was cold.
Too cold.
Judy stood, no— crouched, in a bush in the backyard, blinking in confusion through the dense shrubbery. Time seemed to do this weird skipping thing when she was drunker than she felt comfortable. But she tried to be a good sport about it, as much as she could tolerate. What in the world was going on?
She watched quietly through the branches, too quietly, realizing the music was off and the sound of raging mammals had gone down to a distant mumble.
Flashlights.
White cones of light veered over the backyard. Sounds of digital hisses and beeps, muttering from walkie-talkies, and nearing steps were heard by the listening rabbit.
She held her breath as two cops walked around the seemingly empty and trashed backyard. After a minute or two which felt like an eternity, they left the premises.
"Slow your breathing, Carrots," came a calm, quiet whisper from beside her. Panicked, she looked over her shoulder to see the crimson fox, looking at her with an uncanny expression of concern. She suddenly became aware of how heavy she was breathing and silenced herself as best as she could, her heart pounding against her ribcage. The drumming in her chest was so loud she swore he could hear it.
.o0o.
"Well, that was some shit," A deep laugh broke the cool air as Judy walked steadily over pavement. She was so proud for a moment of how coordinated she paced, until she realized that she was being supported by someone.
"Ben?" She sighed the question drunkenly as she looked up, expecting a stocky and friendly cheetah, only to be disproven.
"Damn. She's alllll fucked up, huh?" The previous voice cracked again, before muffling a cough.
"Shut up man," a more familiar voice grunted.
Judy blinked, recognizing the fox. "…Nick?" He was doubled over, arm curled around her exposed back, leading her forward.
There was silence for a few minutes, and the cool wind seemed to help the bunny stay alert whenever it blew over her face. She looked around with strained eyes and watched ahead as other tipsy, stumbling students walked towards the direction of campus ahead of them.
For the bunny, her conscious state was swimming, her senses dipping in and out from the overload of alcohol pulsing in her veins and rendering her flimsy. The two predators were conversing, joking, and then arguing. Back and forth.
"Just leave her on the corner, man. She'll know how to get back." Finnick hissed quietly.
"I'm taking her back," the red fox insisted harshly. "Ugh, I should've never..."
She blanked again. Just for a moment. Then huffed. "I'm riiii here, y'know, I can hear ya-both talkin' a-bou me," she slurred with a small smile, trying her best to keep it together as one of her ears flopped over one of her eyes. Nick looked down at her, emerald eyes meeting hers. A potent smell of weed and booze on him.
"I'm well aware, Carrots," He acknowledged her amusingly. "But I don't think you're all there."
"Shiiit. You got a pet name for her?" Fin huffed surprisingly.
More murmuring. Hissed whispering. She closed her eyes and took a deep inhale. Silence.
"Dude, I'm going the fuck home. See ya later." And Finnick was gone.
Nick continued a slow stroll onto the campus, watching the bunny's footing as she tended to trip over her own feet or stumble on his own. Now there was almost perfect silence, save for the small 'oof's and 'easy there's that escaped the predator supporting her. She was trembling so intensely, it further impacted her inability to walk a straight line, and she accidentally stepped on his tail several times, much to the frat member's discontent.
"Well, whatever the hell Fru gave you definitely did the trick, am I right? Gotta ask her for a personal bottle…" he lightly joked, but it only earned him a grunt from the half-conscious rabbit.
Maybe Judy was imaging things at this point, but she swore she felt something akin to a cloak of pure sunshine envelope her, pleasantly stopping her shivering.
.o0o.
Soft.
Warm. So warm.
Judy hummed delightfully as she collided and squirmed deeper into the sensation, moaning blissfully.
"What… happened?" A whispered, high pitched voice asked. Bellwether's voice. Sounds were beginning to sound distant as Judy began to drift. "Is she okay…?"
"Yeah, she's good." The last words she heard that night were from a low, husky voice brimming with amusement. "We just partied… hard."
A/N:
Woooo! Anyone had flashbacks to their first 'getting-waay-too-shitfaced' experience? Just me? Heheh
Fun fact: my college had a party house actually called The Jungle. Not even kidding. The floor also happened to cave in from all of the, uh, wild parties. Also the chapter title is a bit of a song reference, anyone care to guess?
Another fun fact: I wrote this chapter drunk, sue me. No worries, I'm of age.
I hope to publish chaps every Friday (or earlier) before I head out to grad school in the summer. Tell me what you thought! :D
