A/N: Sorry this chapter took so long to come out. Please direct blame toward Terminology for introducing me to osu! and my university professors for thinking that they should have priority over my fanfiction writing.
"Take a deep breath, you're going to do fine," Dakota futzed with Todd's suit; adjusting his tie, straightening the pin on his jacket, fixing his collar, and so on. Tonight was the night of the Committee for the Life and Welfare of Predators dinner, and they were having some of the leading predators running for mayor speak. At the end of the night, they'd be deciding who to endorse in the race. CLaW was one of the largest predator rights groups in the city, and their endorsement carried significant weight among activists.
"Dakota, I'm fine," Todd attempted to break away from the coyote. Dakota did not allow this.
"Exactly, you're going to do fine and-"
"No Dakota. I'm fine," the interruption stopped Dakota for a moment. Todd took the opportunity to escape her grasp. "I'm a lawyer, I talk in front of crowds for a living. It's the bugging strangers thing I don't like as much."
"Isn't that a part of your job, too?" Hubert looked odd in a suit. He clearly missed his normal purple sweatshirt from the way he constantly fiddled with his jacket.
"I said I don't like it, not that I can't do it."
"Whatever, just take your speech," Dakota held out a folded sheet of paper.
At the same moment, a young lynx volunteer broke into the group. "I'm sorry to interrupt, but you're on as soon as Dr. Lionheart is done, Mr. Renard."
Todd started to make his way to the stage. Dakota waved the piece of paper in her paw and hissed "Your speech!"
The fox pulled a sheet of his own from his jacket pocket. "Hubert and I edited it a bit. We felt like your version lacked punch."
"Lacked punch? What are you-" Dakota was cut off by the host, an elderly tiger, announcing Todd as the next speaker. As he ascended the couple of stairs to the stage, Dakota whisper-screamed "I swear to God if you lose this campaign for me right now…"
Todd couldn't hear her, the applause drowned Dakota out. He took the podium, laid his speech out before him, and waited a moment for the applause to die down. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Dakota pull out her phone. Her speech or not, they needed to get something up on the campaign's website.
As the crowd quieted, Todd began to speak. "My friends, it is an honor and a joy to be here with you today. I have had the great pleasure of working with CLaW many times in the past, particularly during the events of Bellwether's reign of terror. No one in this room escaped those events unscathed. We lost our jobs, our homes, and for some of us our loved ones.
"But Bellwether wasn't the cause. She saw the biases already bubbling below the surface and exploited them. Turnbull is doing the same thing, calling for what amounts to the mutilation of predators and calling it justice. Treating these symptoms is important; we must send the Bellwethers to prison and keep the Turnbulls out of office.
"But we cannot treat the symptoms alone. This problem is not solved by City Hall sending each of us a check. This problem is not solved by continuing on the path we are on now. This problem is solved by striking at its roots with more robust programs that do more than encourage tokenism.
"The Mammal Inclusion Initiative creates possibility without opportunity. What good does opening a door do if there is no path to get there? One out of every three foxes doesn't finish high school, let alone go to college. I was one of the lucky ones, but I had to fight every step of the way to get where I am today. I grew up in poverty, my teachers gave me a fraction of the attention they gave other students, at least until there was even a slight suspicion that cheating had occurred. This is not an experience unique to myself. Ask any fox you know. They can tell you the same thing," in the audience, Todd spied several of the scattered foxes in attendance nod or cast their eyes downward.
"All species have their struggles. By no means do foxes have a monopoly on hardship. I want to alleviate the hardships of all species. Expanding the Mammal Inclusion Initiative to create expanded educational and vocational opportunities for underrepresented species is the first step to doing this; creating scholarships for underrepresented groups in higher education, developing police academy programs created with smaller mammals in mind, mandating sensitivity training for all public employees, and more.
"Zootopia can be the city where anyone can be anything, but without creating these opportunities it will continue to be so in name only. Otherwise we will continue in this rut of stereotyping and veiled hate that animals like Turnbull thrive in. Vote for me, Todd Renard, for mayor and I will fight to create these opportunities just as I've been fighting for animal rights my whole life. Thank you."
The audience applauded, some rising to their feet and even cheering. Todd gave a slight gesture somewhere between an appreciative nod and a shallow bow. As the host returned to the stage, Todd was gently ushered off. He rejoined Dakota and Hubert as the elderly tiger thanked him and offered some remarks of his own.
"Pretty good, right?" Todd leaned in and whispered to Dakota as they took a seat at their table.
Dakota grumbled for a moment. "It was good," she turned to face him, and gave him a very serious look. "But next time you pull a stunt like that I'm gone."
"Understood."
"...and with that said, it is time to get to the business of this event," the host said. "All full members should have been given a ballot with the names of our speakers tonight. We will be giving our endorsement to one of these candidates tonight. Mark who you believe we should endorse, then place your vote in the ballot box in front of the stage."
Half an hour later, the votes were in and counted. Todd's heart could not rest the whole time. He looked to Lionheart two tables over occasionally. She kept her composure well, but the way she subtly fidgeted with her paws belied her own nervousness. Lupez, who had spoken before Lionheart and was seated on the other side of the room, was barely able to sit still. He rose frequently to get some water or use the restroom during the wait.
After the longest half-hour of his life, Todd watched as the host took the stage again. Todd's ears involuntarily laid flat against his head. The din of the crowd quieted instantly. "Ladies and gentlemammals, we have a winner. With fourteen votes, our third place candidate is Carlos Lupez." The wolf's mouth hung agape. "Of the remaining ballots, our winner by a margin of 38 votes to 28 is Todd Renard."
The world seemed to freeze for a moment. Todd barely registered the applause, and missed every word of what the host said afterward. He looked around stunned. His eyes made contact with Lionheart's. She was glaring with such intensity that Todd was afraid that perhaps looks really could kill. One way or the other, Lionheart was trying to find out.
He snapped back to reality when Dakota patted him on the back. "One down, more to go."
A few days later, Todd was scrolling through the comments left on the speech footage Dakota put up. The vast majority, of course, were pointless: promotions for other channels, memes that had been funny twice then summarily beaten to death, and the occasional barely legible spam. The "worthwhile" comments were mostly supportive posts from predators and hate from Turnbull supporters. Pointless arguments with no hope of resolution went nowhere for far too long.
Todd was about to get off the computer when a message from Dakota popped up. Even in this rare, brief respite she continued to pester him. The message contained just a link to ZNN. Clicking it opened a report on the newest round of polling that had just come out. Turnbull was still leading, followed by Nileworthy. No surprise there. Lupez barely held onto third, only a point ahead of the next candidate: Todd Renard-
Todd Renard. He was polling fourth. Another message popped up from Dakota. "We're getting you out there, and the endorsements are paying off massively. We need the big one: we need Wilde."