*Braces for the ensuing hate* I AM SO SORRY I AM NOT DEAD PLEASE I STILL LOVE YOU ALL.
*Breathes* Okay. Right. I'm not dead. Surprisingly. Life started happening again, and I got a really bad case of writer's block, and instead of being reasonable and working through it and writing this chapter, I hid for like eight months. Apologies many times over. But I will try and just jump back into this.
I STILL DON'T OWN ANYTHING DON'T SUE MY ASS OFF PLEASE I JUST LIKE STUFF AND WANT TO WRITE ABOUT IT.
Nick slid out of the car, sighing internally as he braced himself for potentially specist bunnies. Around three hundred of them, to be precise.
He glanced in the side mirror for a moment; smiling a few times until he was reasonably sure he had a pleasant smile down, and moved around the car. Only to have his forced smile be replaced by true laughter, as he watched his strong, independent, frankly badass bunny cop partner be consumed by what could only be called a wall of fluff.
Said laughter, however, faded quickly as one of the taller rabbits promptly cried "F-fox!" and fell over onto a few of the kits. The other rabbit that was standing next to him gave him a look, and sighed, before turning back to Nick, smiling pleasantly.
Judy, meanwhile, was currently knocking her brothers and sisters off her in the same manner as someone would dust themselves off. She looked up at the shriek that her father produced, and rolled her eyes, sighing in much the same manner as the other rabbit.
Nick cringed internally, and moved forward, smiling halfheartedly, noting that the calf-height sea of rabbits parted for him instinctively, as he moved towards the rabbit still standing, offering her his paw "Hi, ma'am… I'm Nick Wilde, Judy's partner."
The rabbit took it in stride, a stark difference to her husband, who was currently passed out on a few of his children. She smiled in return, taking his paw and shaking it with both of hers "Bonnie Hopps, Mr. Wilde. I've heard plenty of good things about you!"
Nick's smile returned a little bit more at that, glancing over at Judy, who suddenly found her siblings to be very interesting. He looked back, nodding "Well, I'm can't say I've heard too much about you, Mrs. Hopps, but you raised Judy, so I like you already. And you can call me Nick, if you like."
Bonnie nodded, smiling still as she released his paw "Well, Nick, it's about a ten minute drive to the main parking lot and entrance from here. I can send a kit with you to provide directions, if you'd like to go and get settled in. We'll be along once we get all the smaller ones corralled back, and when Stu wakes up. He's usually not this bad, I think it was just a shock, I really am sorry about him."
Nick nodded, chuckling "I've experienced worse. And sure, I do better meeting people in smaller groups. It'd be nice to get to know at least one of Judy's siblings." He stuck his hands in his pockets, glancing around at the few taller kits who stood out as being nearly three times as tall as the herd of small kits.
"Of course. Vicky, why don't you go with Nick and your sister?" Bonnie suggested, looking to one of the taller kits standing in the back.
The rabbit she spoke to glanced up from her phone, and shrugged "Okay mom."
Nick smirked inwardly as Vicky moved forward, looking rather bored. If she had bubble gum, she would have blown a bubble and popped it at that point, he thought randomly. "Let's go." She said simply, and waded through her siblings to the car, her eyes glued to her phone most of the time, giving Nick a bit of a curious look as she passed him.
As she neared them, Nick was able to actually get a good look at her. She was wearing dark, loose jeans, and a black tee shirt, with a band logo on it. Judy gasped as Vicky neared her "That's my shirt!" She said indignantly, smiling all the while.
Vicky gave her a rare grin, looking up from her phone "Not anymore." Nick glanced down at it, and raised an eyebrow, seeing the iconic two guns, with roses wrapped around the barrel of each gun. He didn't even have to read the logo, to know that it was a Guns N Rodents shirt.
He mentally shrugged, realizing he did that a lot, before moving back to the car, hopping into the driver's seat, Judy taking the passenger's and Vicky sliding into the back, leaning forward to plug an aux cord into the console of the car, looking at Nick "Drive down the road."
Nick glanced at her, before the wah-infused rock chords started blasting out of the speakers that composed the beginning of Mr. Brownstone.
He settled back, closing his eyes for a moment before turning the car on, and stepping on the gas, pulling back onto the road, at perhaps higher speeds then were called for, earning a giggle from the other two occupants of the car. As they sped down the road, Nick grudgingly starting to bob his head to the music as the other two sang along to the opening lyrics, he spied a sign on the side of the road.
Well, truth be told, it was more of a billboard than anything. On it, it had in huge lettering "BUNNYBURROW ANNUAL MUSIC FEST" and under that it had in just barely smaller letters "HEADLINING ACTS: GUNS N RODENTS AND ZAKK WYLDE"
Nick, of course, did a double take at that, causing the car to jerk around a bit, and the aux cord to come loose. Judy gave Nick an odd look "Nick? Everything okay?"
"Uhm…" Was the silver-tongued russet mammal's only reply.
Judy put a hand on Nick's arm, earning an unseen eyebrow raise from her sister. "Nick?"
He swallowed, hard, before shaking his head "Just… A couple old memories. Sorry."
He slowed down a bit, and the rest of the ride was in silence, at least for Nick. Judy and Vicky chatted quietly, but he couldn't even hear them. He just heard his thoughts. "What are the chances, huh?"
"Pretty high, I'd say." He mumbled, too quiet for the girls to hear.
"Both of them at the same festival." Said the dry, sarcastic voice in his head.
"I know, I know…" He mumbled again
"Something's going to happen." The voice warned him.
"Yeah, I know…" He said again, a little louder than intended.
Judy looked over from talking with Vicky, raising a concerned eyebrow "Slick?"
He glanced over, smiling reassuringly "Sorry Carrots. Lost in my own little world."
She frowned, but quickly forgot as her sister eagerly brought up the nickname he just used on her.
A few minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot, stopping in one of the closer spots to the large door that led into the underground burrow.
All three hopped out of the car, Judy smiling at Nick "Did you see the billboard, Nick?"
He looked at her, just coming out of his thoughts "What was that, Carrots?"
She grinned "Did you see who's going to be preforming? My mom kept it a secret up till now. My all-time favorite band!"
Nick gave her a bit of a blank stare, earning a sigh "Guns N Rodents?"
"I thought you liked Gazelle more." He said, raising an eyebrow.
She shrugged "She's okay. But I always liked rock more."
Her sister smirked "Judy even wanted to start a band, when she was in high school. Never happened though."
Judy shrugged slightly "I wasn't any good at playing music anyway. That was all Vicky."
The younger rabbit blushed slightly, earning an eyebrow raise on Nick's part "I, uh, play guitar. Like, a lot."
Nick nodded slightly "Ah. Cool. I used to be in a band."
"Really? What were they called?" Judy asked curiously.
Nick mentally facepalmed, before coming up with a name on the fly "Uhm, Stycky Furr. Just a high school rock band." He chuckled nervously, before gesturing to the door "Let's go in…"
Okay, another author's note. I'M STILL SORRY FOR DISAPPEARING. Anyway, I got this all from the movie itself, and various thoughts I've had. The bit that started this all, that I got from the movie, was if you watch Judy's MP3 player thing in the beginning, when Try Everything plays, Guns N Rodents is listed as an option. So I took that little bit, and ran with it. Also, I will try and write more for you guys, and keep this story moving! Also, I think NickxJudy will be a little bit more prominent than I originally imagined. I doubt any smutty lemon scenes will show up, but if folks want that down the line, I'll create a separate series and put those scenes in between chapters of the main story. I love you all, and I really am sorry for disappearing!