Zootopia was a nice place.
You just had to look in the right direction to find a little bit of everything. Of course, you needed to know where to look to find it.
Most of the Hopps' didn't knew where to look, once they were all new to the city. Even Judy, who had lived in there for over two years, didn't knew the city as well as she would like, even thought she had been in every part of it doing her job already.
Luckily, Nick was the mammal who knew the city as well as the back of his paw, once he had been in there all of his life. Of course, even though the world was radically changing in the past months, he still knew the city well enough, and he knew some of the best dinning places to go with your family.
He was kind enough to give Judy the address, and she was able to go in there with her family. After a quick stop on her house to change into something other than a police uniform, of course.
She choose for a nice social clothing, with pants and with a pink shirt and a blue blazer.
As she meet with her family, all of them were ready for a night in the town, including her little niece, who was as happy and bubbly as always. Her mother still had a bandage over her head, and Judy flinched as she saw that.
However, Judy didn't wanted to dwell in this. Especially not in front of Cotton. She wanted to go for a night in town and forget about that problem. She could deal with Helvetica Höhle next time she met her, now it was about her family.
They were able to find the place that Nick indicated to them, and they walked inside with no problem. The place was nice, as it had a very homie feel, with many tables of different sizes, certainly made to cater for all kinds of mammals. Anywhere they looked, they could see predators and prey all sitting in the tables, in some cases they were sitting together, as good friends, or maybe more.
They were quickly saw by a waiter, who told them that there was a table ready for them. A big table could fit all of the bunnies in there with no problem.
Soon they were looking at the menu, and there were many options in there, both for prey and predators. They had a few options that the bunnies through to be very attractive, and Cotton was going crazy with the dessert option.
The bunnies really liked the place so far, as it was very nice, and the food seemed to be delicious, if the pictures that were on the menu were of any indication.
As they were choosing their meal, one of them noticed a familiar fox approaching, and soon called the rest of the group on it.
Nick also had changed out of his police uniform, and he was wearing something that was more his style. He was wearing a red Pawaiian shirt, with a dark-blue tie in it and a pair of black pants.
Next to him came his mother, and she had chosen for a rather discrete but elegant clothing, that was more her style. A pair of light-green blouse and skirt, complete with a beige sweater, and her purse hanging on her shoulder.
Nick and his mother greeted the many bunnies, who greeted them back, and soon, they were all sitting together at the table.
"So, what do you think of this table?" Nick asked as he sat by Judy's side. "Pretty cool, huh? Courtesy of a good friend of mine who works in here. It pays to have friends in the right places."
The fox seemed quite proud of having arranged a good table for them, and this caused Judy and Mrs. Wilde both to chuckle at the tod's antics. Soon, they were all looking at the menus and ordering their food, a waiter took in their requests, writing it down on a notepad and departing to give their orders to the kitchen. As they waited, all the bunnies chatted among themselves, as it seemed that many of them had a lot to talk about with what was happening in the last days.
Nick and his mother were a little left off, someone on the table noticed it, and they tried to make conversation with the vixen. She was happy to talk, but soon, the questions took a certain turn:
"So, you have gave up being a mage as well?" Jason asked, looking at the vixen, "Mom did because her family sucked, was that the same reason for you?"
"Jason!" Bonnie said, looking at the bunny, who looked back at his mother.
"What? It's a valid question." He said, looking at his mother, and he turned back at the vixen.
"So what, your family was crappy and they didn't liked the way you did things? Did you had a fight with someone else? What kind of magecraft did you used? Were you any good at it?" he kept asking, being very blunt on his questions, and that was quite impolite. Someone by his side was poking him and even kicking his legs under the table, as if to tell him to stop, but the bunny continued to insist.
It was clear that these questions were making Sophie a bit uncomfortable, and Bonnie had to make him stop by giving him a glare. This finally was enough for him to stop asking and to look away.
"I'm sorry about this." Bonnie said, and she looked at Sophie. It was only then that the vixen noticed the bandage on her head, and her eyes widened.
"Goodness gracious! What happened?" Sophie asked, surprised at seeing the bunny with a bandage like that. Bonnie flinched a little, and she reached out to touch her head.
"Grandma hit her head on the table." Cotton said to the vixen, causing Sophie to look at the little bunny girl.
"She fell from the chair and hit her head when she was getting up again."
Sophie looked at the innocent eyes of the bunny girl, and then she looked around. It was clear by the faces of nearly everyone in there that it was not what really happened.
"Grandma, I need to pee." Cotton said, and Bonnie nodded at her.
"Kaylen, could your niece to the bathroom, please?" Bonnie said to one of the females, who soon nodded, and the little bunny was soon being take from the table in direction to the restrooms. As she left, the tension that had suddenly built on the table was still as present as before.
"Okay. What really happened?" Sophie asked, Bonnie looked at her for a while, and the other bunnies looked like they wanted her not to go there. However, Bonnie merely sighed, and she said:
"Someone from my family came to visit me." This seemed to be all that needed to be say. Sophie looked back at her, and nodded.
"I see... the Höhle really know how to keep grudges, don't they?" The vixen asked, and Bonnie said back:
"Most mage families do."
There was a silence in the table, as everyone looked at them, and Jason finally said:
"That bitch." He spoke, crossing his arms as he leaned on the table. "I should have gone there and punched her right on the nose."
Bonnie gave him a glare, but the chocolate-colored bunny seemed not to notice, as he continued with the same expression.
"Come to think of it, we should have arrested her." Nick said, and this caused the others to look at him.
"Yeah, we should." Judy admitted, and now the gazes all turned on them. "Assaulting someone with a weapon like that is a felony, and we could have arrested her right there for doing that in front of us." She spoke, "We'll have the grounds to arrest her when we see her again."
"'When you see her again'?" Jason asked, looking at his sister. "Why you didn't do it then and there?" He asked, and his questions nearly sounded like an accusation.
"If she committed a crime by attacking mom like that, then you didn't you arrested her on the spot instead of standing like there like a pair of scarecrows?" He asked, looking at the bunny and at the fox.
It seemed that they were about to answer, but then they realized that they couldn't.
Why hadn't they arrested her then and there?
She did it right in front of them, and they simply acted as if it was no big deal.
Of course, Judy rushed to help her mother, and Nick had been greatly worried for Mrs. Hopps, but they didn't actually did anything against the bunny who assaulted her right in front of them.
Why?
"Serve and protect my tail." Jason grumbled.
"Jason, stop!" Bonnie said, looking at him. The bunny turned to her.
"Why? It is true!" He said, looking back at his mother, "They could have done something against that bitch, but they didn't! Why they didn't do anything?"
It seemed that he had a point, as both Nick and Judy couldn't really say anything to justify their inactiveness in that situation. However, Bonnie looked back at him, and asked:
"Why didn't you?"
Jason blinked, looking at his mother as if he had not understood the question.
"You said you should have punched her right on the nose." Bonnie asked her son, "Why you didn't just do that?"
"Well, because..." Jason said, but he trailed off. Now he was just staring at his mother, as if he had suddenly realized something.
He now was looking at the table, and he soon was asking himself.
"Why I didn't do anything?"
He was asking himself this question, and that seemed to be now causing the others on that table to ask themselves the same question. Including Stu.
Why had none of them done anything against that bunny after she hit Bonnie right in front of them all?
Bonnie sighed, and she then said:
"It was not your fault."
Everyone looked at her, and she looked back at them.
"My sister uses this trick a lot, and so do some other mages." She said, and everyone looked at her, some with raised eyebrows.
"Do you guys know why she was able to carry a staff with the skull of a kit in it on the street without anyone giving it any attention?" She asked, and some of them shared looks among themselves.
"Because it is near Halloween and they thought it was part of some costume?" One of them asked slowly, and Sophie was the one who answered.
"Because they did not realized that the staff had a skull." The vixen said, causing the eyes to turn to her. "Mages often need to pass on the street without calling attention, and for that, they developed certain spells that affect perception." She said, and she turned to Bonnie, "She uses a property of something she carries with herself, right?"
"On the staff." Bonnie confirmed, "It is one of the properties that she placed on it. It generates a field around herself that distorts perception, so nothing about her seems to phase others."
The others on the table were looking at her, and she looked at them, explaining:
"It is basically a spell that makes everything that she does seem natural." Bonnie said to them, "So, as long as the field was around her, anyone who looked at her would not truly give attention to what she was doing. She could be carrying a severed head on her paw and be completely naked, and everyone would consider to be something perfectly normal and wouldn't think anything she said or did as strange, at least not until they thought about it later."
The animals around the table took in what Bonnie just said to them.
"But, wait..." Harry said, as he reflected on it.
"We noticed the skull on the staff as soon as she came in." The dark bunny pointed out, and the others had to agree with him. "We noticed it and we didn't found it natural in any way. Neither we did found normal the things that she spoke about... well, the stuff of your past."
"That's because she wanted these things to be noticed." Bonnie said, looking at her son, "She can choose which things about her will be noticed and which ones will be ignored. In that case, she wanted her words and the staff to be noticed." Bonnie said, and the other ones in the table were looking at her.
"However, her actions were still protected by the spell, and that was why none of you really took action." Bonnie explained.
"We did took action!" Stu said, looking at his wife, "We all were going to help you in the very moment that she hit you!"
"Yes, Stu." Bonnie said, passing her husband's paw with her own, "But you only acknowledge that I was hit by something and was hurt. You didn't really acknowledged that she was the one who had hit me."
"That is why none of you did anything against her at the moment." Sophie spoke, "Because, even though it happened right in front of you, your perceptions were altered so none of you noticed that she made an aggression against Bonnie, not until you thought about it later."
"Or until someone pointed it out to you." Bonnie completed
Everyone in the table was in silence as they took in what was just said.
"Wow..." Harry said, and Nick was of the same opinion.
"With something like that, she could even literally pick something from someone's pocket and no one would even notice." Nick said, and Jason looked at him.
"Curious how that is the first thing you think, Officer Wilde." He said, and Judy shot him a glare that was enough to make him stand down.
"I'm just saying that this kind of thing would let someone do nearly anything that they wanted without being caught." Nick said, and he looked at his partner. "Who knows what other things she might have done on her free time?"
Nick had a point, and Judy knew that right away.
"Next time we see her will demand some answers." Judy said, "You know what? As soon as we can, we'll let the enforcers know what she's been up to."
"It'll be no use." Bonnie said.
"Of course it will!" Judy said, looking at her, "At the very least they will be supporting us when we arrest her for assaulting you! They will surely be interested if she had been using this kind of magecraft to go around the city and doing illegal things."
Judy was sure that she had a point. After all, if Helvetica Höhle used this kind of magecraft often to go around doing things with the unaware non-mages of the city then the enforcers would certainly be interested in this kind of thing.
However, Bonnie shook her head as she looked back at her daughter.
"She would be free from your paws in just a few hours." Bonnie said, "And she could even be able to arrange for you to lose your job, or at least be demoted."
Judy looked back at her mother in silence.
"The three clans are influent in Zootopia." Sophie said, causing the others to look at her. "Their nature as the second owners gives them supreme authority over all of the matters of the moonlit world in Zootopia. However, their influence also extends to non-mage affairs. That is because they are rich and connected to a good number of influent mammals."
"Their money and their political contacts gives them something similar to diplomatic immunity." Bonnie said, "If any of them has problems with authority, they can only use their contacts to make the problem disappear, or use their money to bail them out."
Another silence filled the table, and that was when Judy said:
"Bellwether..."
"Dawn Bellwether lost all the support of her clan." Sophie said, "They turned their backs on her a long time ago, and they weren't willing to help her in any way." She said that as she looked at her son and at his bunny partner.
"That was the only reason why you were able to get her arrested. If she had the support of her clan, she would hardly have remained in jail for more than one hour."
Judy and Nick both took in what they just heard; it seemed that only now they truly understood the true power of these three mage families over the city.
Of course, it was easy to assume that they only had influence in the business that were directly related to mages, however, to know that they had money and power to actually interfere with subjects totally unrelated to magecraft, that they actually had influence in all spheres of the city...
They didn't dwelled in this for too long, though, for soon Cotton was coming back with one of Judy's sisters, and soon, they had to forget the talks that made then more nervous.
In this point, the young bunny was proving to be a blessing, for they all needed to diverge their attention from such subjects and focus on other things.
Soon they were talking on some other subjects, much more pleasant than dwelling in subjects pertaining to problems and tension.
The subjects varied, as they were many, and it seemed that everyone had something to talk about...
The Hopps siblings talked to each other as their food came, and they talked to Judy, and some of them even talked to Nick, as a number of them were receptive enough for them to want to have a word with Nick, and this was enough for the others to warm up to the fox. That included Jason, who was chatting with the fox and found himself to enjoy talking to the vulpine.
However, the ones that seemed to be the more interested in talking to each other were Sophie and Bonnie.
The women seemed like they really got along together.
Perhaps it was because they were both ex-mages, and maybe the fact that they both had to work together in the previous day to protect their families. Either way, it seemed that the two women truly got along.
Nick, in particular, had the feeling that they both could understand each other, for they actually had a lot in common.
Overall, the dinner was going very well, with good food and a good talk among the mammals that were sitting on that table, as all of them got along just fine. It seemed that the two families were soon becoming quite good acquaintances. Still, that doesn't stopped the ones around them to look in curiousness at the table that reunited many bunnies and two foxes.
Maybe because some of them were not used to see natural enemies getting so well along.
"Ha! Good one, Nick!" Stu said, as he looked at the fox, and Nick bowed his head to the bunny, as it was clear that Nick was soon winning the entire Hopps family at this point.
"Look, Nick, I gotta say, you certainly are something." Stu said, looking at the fox. "Judy certainly found a good one in you."
"A good partner, you mean?" Nick said, but the expression that the older bunny had said that he meant more than that.
"Look, I gotta say, you are truly something." Stu said, "I must confess, I still had some reservations when I thought about it, but now that I know you, I can say that you definitely deserve my Judy."
He spoke it very casually, and this gathered a reaction from Nick and Judy as well, as they both wondered just what Stu was saying, and trying to understand why they were both blushing at the older bunny's words.
Some of the other bunnies around had mixed reactions, and some of them chuckled or giggled, while others seemed a bit... surprised.
However, Bonnie and Sophie both had smiles on their faces that almost seemed of the conspirator kind. Especially as they looked at each other. It was something that Nick was able to notice.
What's with these smiles now?
"Oh, Stu..." Bonnie said to her husband, "Sometimes you are really... Oh, you can't be serious." She said, her expression suddenly changing.
"What?" Stu asked, looking at his wife, "Bonnie, wasn't you that said that I had to be more open-minded about these things? Especially regarding our own children?"
Bonnie didn't answered, as she seemed to have her eyes focused in another place, as her expression had changed.
"Bonnie?" Stu asked, and some of them now looked at Bonnie, with some looking at where she was looking. Among them, Sophie, who also looked at that direction, and her expression changed, just like Bonnie's.
"Hey, I know these two." One of the bunnies said, as a familiar fox and bunny walked into the place, chatting to each other.
They had changed their clothes, of course, as they were not wearing clothes that were more appropriate for a night in the city. The tod was wearing a social clothing that consisted into a plain red shirt with a coat over his body and a pair of black pants, but he was still carrying the same golden cane that helped him walk as he walked a little hunched. By his side, the bunny was wearing a long indigo dress with an intricate glittery pattern woven into it.
Noah Wilde and Verona Höhle looked like they were ready for a night out in Zootopia.
"I can't believe it." Bonnie said, looking at them in apprehension, "What are they doing here?"
It seemed that Bonnie was worried about these two, but they didn't seemed like they knew that they were there. They seemed to have all of their focus on each other, as they chatted and walked side by side. At some point, they stopped to talk with a waiter, and soon they were being move to a table that they apparently had reserved for the night.
They were guide to the table, and it just happened to be close to the table of the two families.
"Oh, it only gets better." Bonnie said, as she now had her back turned to the table where Verona and Noah would be sitting, and she looked like she wanted to shrink out of sight.
"Should we go to another table?" Someone asked, and Sophie shook her head.
"Don't worry too much about them." She said, looking at the two. "They are not a problem."
"Speak only for Noah." Bonnie said to her, and she was whispering, as if she was afraid that the two on the nearby table could hear. "You know very well how Verona Höhle is."
"They won't give us any attention." She said to the bunny, "As long as they are left alone there will be no problem, they won't really pay any attention to us. Even because..."
She looked over Bonnie's shoulder, as the two that were sitting on the table.
"When they are together, they often pay more attention to each other than to what is around them."
Everyone looked at Sophie as she spoke that, and some of them looked at the other table, to Verona and Noah.
It seemed that they had asked for a few fresh fruit to eat as an appetizer, and now the bunny was picking up a few grapes and gently feeding them to the fox, who was smiling back at her.
"Wait a sec." Jason said, "You mean that those two..." The question stayed hanged in the air for a while, and Sophie shrugged.
"It's... complicated..."
That was all that she said, and now some looked over their shoulders at the table, seeing the fox and bunny in there. Sophie, however, still had her attention turned to Bonnie.
"Don't worry, okay?" She said to the bunny, wanting to help her relax. "They won't give any attention to us, and they are not the type to make scenes in public, they never were. As long as they are left alone, nothing will happen."
Bonnie seemed like she was a bit calmer after the vixen pointed it out. Apparently, she agreed with this, and she was willing to continue the night. Although, as they continued, Stu, Judy and a few others could notice that Bonnie seemed a bit more nervous.
Nick even spared glances at his own mother, and he noticed that, despite her own words for Mrs. Hopps, the vixen herself seemed a bit more nervous by the presence of the two mages in there.
However, according to Sophie herself, they had nothing to worry about, as long as the fox and the bunny were both left alone.
"Excuse me, madam." Someone said, and Bonnie's ears perked as she looked over her shoulder, and saw another bunny talking to the table next to theirs. More precisely, the bunny was talking to Verona.
The bunny had a light-colored fur and blue eyes, stood on around three feet tall (a bit more due to his ears), and he was elegantly dressed, probably in there for a meeting of some kind (there were three other male bunnies on a nearby table, and they were looking at his direction). He had a smile on his face as he looked at the female bunny.
"Is this fox bothering you, by any chance?" He asked, and Verona looked at him with a tilted head. "Would you like me to call the police? He cannot bother you from inside a prison cell."
"Oh, no..." Bonnie groaned as she looked at this, and soon, other ones on the table were looking at that direction as well, seeing what was developing.
"I'm sorry, do I know you?" Verona asked him, and the bunny smiled at her with a smile that was supposed to be seductive.
"Johnathan Hopwells." He said, bowing his head to the female, "Pleased to make your acquaintance, my fair lady."
Verona looked at him with a raised eyebrow, as the bunny continued:
"Now, if this fox is bothering you, I have a phone with me and I can quickly dial 911." He said to her, "The cops will be here in no time and they will be taking this fox to the jail where he belongs."
"Great." Nick said, under his breath, "He is one of those." Nick's look was now one of contempt as he looked at that finely dressed bunny, and some of the ones on the table shared of the same look.
"And, why exactly would you call the police?" Verona asked him, and the bunny looked a bit surprised, but his smile didn't faltered.
"Well, to get you free of this filthy fox, of course." He said, and this was granting him some angry glares from the nearby table, however, the ones sitting in the table seemed completely unfazed. Actually, it even seemed that they were mildly amused.
"Well, it sounds like an interesting proposition." She said, looking at him, "But, I'll have to turn it down."
Hopwells blinked, quite surprised, and this time his smile did faltered.
"Yeah, this means you can go back to your friends now, can't you, Johnny?" Noah asked, and the bunny's head wiped to look with him with hatred.
"My name is not 'Johnny', is Johnathan. Mr. Hopwells to you, pelt." He said, his tune and expression clearly hostile, but the fox only continued to smile at him. That smile clearly made the bunny even madder, and he turned his gaze to the female bunny.
"Madam, you are not forced to stay with this fox." He said to her, and she continued to look at him. "You would be in much better company with others of your own kind."
"You mean, like you and your friends over there?" She said, gesturing with her head to the table with male bunnies that were looking at the development.
"Why not?" Hopwells said, "After all, we certainly are more interesting than a fox."
"Oh, I'm not sure about this." Verona said to him. "Some foxes can be quite interesting. And this one in particular has a charm." She said, and she placed a paw in Noah's arm, as they both smiled to each other. "Of course, he is quite of a pain sometimes, but even then he doesn't stop having a charm."
"Oh, Verona." Noah said, looking back at her, "Sometimes you wound me when you speak like that."
"Oh, quit whining." She said to him, "You know that you are very hard to deal sometimes, you fool."
He smiled back to her, and she smiled at him. Meanwhile, Hopwells continued to look at them, and he seemed that he did not like being ignored like that.
"Go away." Bonnie said under her breath as she looked at him, "You are not getting anywhere in this, just go away and leave them alone." She spoke this, and she almost sounded as if she was pleading. However, the bunny did not answered her pleas, as he pulled out a phone.
"Okay, I'm calling the police now." He said, and this caused the two to look at him. He was looking at Noah, probably expecting him to show fear, apprehension, or at least some kind of surprise. However, the fox showed only that same face of mild amusement, as the antics of the bunny were doing nothing more than entertaining him.
This obviously displeased the bigoted bunny, and he glared at the fox as his finger moved in direction to his phone, ready to dial for the police.
However, he didn't managed to touch the screen, for something got on the way of his finger, preventing him from dialing.
"What?" He said, looking, and seeing a furred paw blocking the screen of his phone. It was Verona's paw.
"Look, I know that you probably think that you can be some kind of 'knight in shining armor' in here." She said, looking at him, "But I'm not a defenseless maiden for you to rescue from some evil fox. I'm perfectly capable of taking care of myself."
She removed her paw, and looked at him, "I'm really interested in this fox right now, and so I'll remain by his side for a while more." She said, reclining back on her chair. "As soon as I am done with him, I'm going to walk off."
The development in there was already attracting a lot of attention, from the staff and from some other tables, as all of them looked in that direction and saw what was happening, even because the mammals in there were getting increasingly loud. All of them were seeing that elegant bunny being turn down by the female, who was in the company of a fox.
"Just give up and leave." Bonnie said, once more silently pleading for that bigoted bunny, "Just do it or you might regret it."
However, the bunny once more ignored her pleas, as he continued to insist.
"Is he threatening you?" Hopwells asked Verona, placing both paws on the table and looking at the female bunny as he asked that. Verona stopped looking at Noah and she was now looking at him. "Is he threatening to hurt you or someone from your family? I can protect you, I have connections, and I can promise you that this pelt won't ever lay a single clawed finger on you or anyone who you care about. You don't have to be afraid."
There was a silence followed this, and all of sudden, Noah started chuckling. A chuckle that soon turned into a hearty laughter.
"What's so funny, pelt?" The bigoted bunny said, glaring at him, "Think I can't protect her family from you?"
"Oh, you can't! But that's not what is funny..." Noah said, as he stopped laughing a little to look at him, but he was still snickering. "The funny thing is that you think that Verona is afraid of me! That is funny as heck!" and with this, the fox was laughing once more, and the bigoted was now glaring at him.
"Just leave them alone!" Bonnie finally said, nearly getting up from her table and looking at the bunny. Some of the nearby mammals looked at her as she spoke that, including Hopwells.
The bigoted bunny glared at her, before he turned his attention back to Verona. He then reached out, and grabbed her wrist.
"Oh, no..." Bonnie said, becoming a bit pale as she saw him grab Verona by the wrist.
"Come on, you don't have to be with this pelt. Let's go somewhere else, I can show you a good time." He said, and he was about to take her with him to his table.
However, he stopped as he felt a shiver run down his spine.
Every fur of his body stood on end, his ears perked, and his nose started to twitch madly as a wave of primal fear washed over him.
Soon his eyes were looking around, as if he was looking for the source of this sudden feeling of fear, of dread that creeped on him. A familiar and primitive feeling of fear that told him that a predator was on the hunt.
However, before he could pinpoint the location of the fear, a sudden pressure on his wrist made him cry out in pain, as his fingers opened around the female's wrist.
He looked back, and he saw the rose-eyed female now looking at him, as she had her fingers closed around his wrist so hard that it made him whimper and slowly made him go down on a knee.
"Now, listen here." She said to him, and she looked at him in the eye, "Don't you even for a second think that I don't know what you want."
She squeezed the wrist even harder, making the bunny cry out in pain as this time he did went down on his knees, and she was glaring at him as if he was a filthy bug.
"You wanted to be the one to 'save me' from a fox who was making me have dinner with him 'against my will', hoping that I would be thankful to you and maybe give you some 'good time' as a sign of gratitude." She said, looking down at the bunny, as she was squeezing his wrist so hard that there was a real danger of the bones breaking.
"Well, I have news for you, Johnathan Hopwells..." she said; glaring at the bunny, who squirmed in pain as he tried to pry her fingers open so he could remove his wrist from her grip, but she didn't relented. "No one tells me what to do. Not my clan, not the ones around me, to this fox, and certainly not you."
"I am in here because I want to." She said to him, her eyes glimmering in a way that was as intimidating as the tune that she was using. "I'm only here, in this place, with this fox, of my own will. And when I leave, it will be because I want to, not because some idiot thinks he can come and take me from my table to his bed. Now. Leave. Me. Alone."
Her voice had lowered until a whisper, and each word had the weight of a shout. Then, she let go of his wrist, letting him fall to the ground, massaging his wrist as he whimpered.
She didn't gave him any attention, as she merely remained sitting in her table, Noah was smiling as he looked back at her, and the bunny was getting up, looking a bit surprised, even shocked, as he looked back at the female.
After a few moments, he said to her:
"You honestly want to be in company of a pelt?"
Verona stopped for a moment, looking back at him, as if evaluating him.
She then opened a smile and, as a way of answering his question, turned to Noah, grabbed him by the shirt, and pulled him into a kiss.
The buck could hardly have made a more shocked expression, and some of the ones who were looking around were shocked as well.
The tod and doe continued to kiss, and that was not just a peck. It was a full-blown sloppy make out. Their tongues danced, and both of them moaned in the kiss.
Everyone looked at the scene before then, as the kiss got more and more heated. It even seemed that the two mammals were trying to feel each other's tonsils, as their tongues clashed rather loudly and they moaned into each other's mouths.
"Holy carp..." Nick said, as he looked at that, Judy had her hands over her mouth, and Stu was now covering Cotton's eyes as he looked at it with wide eyes and a dropped jaw.
Everyone looked at it, some in surprise, some in disgust, and some of them looked pretty much scandalized. Even because the kiss was getting so heated, that some were starting to get worried that it could escalate to more than just kissing...
However, they broke the kiss, a strand of saliva connecting their mouths, as they looked into each other's eyes, before Verona turned her look at the buck, who looked in absolute shock.
"I love a good pelt." Verona said, loud and clear, for the bunny and everyone around to hear. Some of them looked admired, some disgusted, and others looked even more scandalized.
However, someone was clapping.
The ones who had been watching the thing develop up until that moment turned to look at the source of the clapping, and they saw someone in there, clapping at the two. He should be around 5.2 feet tall, with fur of a dark-brown coloration, with a lighter, pastel shade of brown on his muzzle and down his neck. He was wearing a red and white football jacket, and had a pair of long jeans pants. His eyes were of a crimson coloration, and they looked at the two mammals sitting on the table.
"Very good." He said, as he walked in their direction. "A wonderful show that you two just put up."
He walked to their direction, and the two looked back at him. "I'm sorry, and you are?"
"Someone who don't get impressed by the things that you two do." He said, and there was a look of hostility in his face. "You two just love letting everyone know of this little thing that you two have going on every now and then, right?" He asked, and the two looked at him.
"Only when it conveys us." Verona said with a smile. The jackal snarled at her.
"You disgust me."
"That is true!" Hopwells said, already getting up. "Preferring that pelt over someone like me! Of course it can only be because of some disturbed form of satisfaction! Ain't I right?" He said, as he turned to the jackal, fully expecting the canine to back him up. However, the bigger mammal looked at him as if he was a bug.
"Stay out of this, mundane." He said at the bunny, surprising him. "This is a matter between mages."
W-what..." Hopwells said, "M-mages?"
"Yes." The jackal said, raising his paw, and producing a green-colored flame from it, startling everyone around. "Mages."
"Ah!" Noah suddenly said, looking at the jackal, "Now I remember where I know you from! You are one of Gretchen's boys! Say, how's that old crone?"
"Doing just fine." The jackal said, looking at the fox with an angry expression, "You know, considering that you have been threatening to kick her out of Zootopia." There was clear resentment in his voice, "And that now you decided to send the enforcers on her!"
Noah blinked, "Excuse me?"
"Don't play dumb with me!" The jackal said, rather aggressively. "I've seen them in there today, along with these two!" He said, and pointed at the bunny and fox that were sitting in the table with their families. "You sent them there to intimidate her, didn't you?"
"Look... hmmm..." The fox said, and he looked as if he was trying to remember the young jackal's name.
"Tailes." The jackal said, "Thibault Tailes."
"Right." Noah said, nodding. "Look, Thibs, can I call you Thibs?"
"No." The jackal said, looking at the fox in a way that would have intimidated many other mammals.
"Okay, Thibs." Noah said, looking at the jackal, "I really have no idea of what you are talking about, okay?" He said, "I didn't send the enforcers to intimidate Gretchen or anything of the like. Did you sent the enforcers there?" He asked to Verona, who was sitting by her side, and looking at the jackal with interest.
"No, I haven't." She said, looking at Noah, "Maybe it was Asher, you know that he and Gretchen have been at odds for a while."
The jackal continued to look both of them, clenching his fists as he looked at these two mammals, and it looked like he wanted to lunge at them and tear them apart with his claws and fangs.
"You two think yourselves to be all of that, don't you?" He asked, looking at the two, "Being the second owners of this land surely makes you feel like you are invincible, right?" He asked, everyone was now looking at the scene developing, some of them were a bit nervous for these developments, and others were interested into seeing how this would end. Some of them were even filming with their cellphones.
"We should probably leave." Sophie said to the table, and a few of them actually agreed with her. However, Judy could not truly leave, once she wanted to be there and do something in case the thing escalated. That was her cop training kicking in. Nick was around the same, although mostly because he knew well what Judy would do if this kept escalating.
"Second... owners?" Hopwells said, as he looked at the jackal, the question very clear. The jackal looked at them, and he looked back at the two other mages sitting in there. He noticed both of them looking at him, and looking like they were trying to tell him not to speak more than he should.
The jackal smiled.
"Yes. Second owners." He said, looking at the bunny, and around. "This means that they have the supreme authority in all that pertains to the world of magecraft within Zootopia. They have full authority to decide which mages can or cannot live in here. Which often means that they can, all of sudden, decide to kick a mage and her two apprentices out of the city at any moment simply because they feel like it."
He was looking at the two as he spoke that, and they looked back at him. Meanwhile, the ones around reacted to what the jackal just revealed.
"Wait, really?"
"Someone can decide this kind of thing?"
"Does this means that mages need permission of that fox and of that bunny if they want to live in Zootopia?"
"Yes, that's right." Tailes said as he looked around. "This is an authority that their clans have ever since they united forces to put pressure on the Mage Council back when this land was first discovered. That was when these three families founded the city of Zootopia."
He looked at them.
"The cunning and proud clan of foxes, Wilde." He said, gazing at Noah. "The creepy clan of bunny necromancers, Höhle." He said, looking at Helvetice. "And, of course, the clan of prey supremacist alchemists, the Bellwether." He finished.
Everyone took in what the jackal was saying, and he was not done yet:
"Of course, this authority focuses on certain individuals. In this case, it focus on Asher Bellwether, father of Dawn Bellwether." He said, and he turned his gaze to the two mammals that were still sitting as they looked at him. "And on Noah Wilde and Verona Höhle, who are currently sitting right in here. All of that because they are the current heads of their clans."
He looked at the two of them, and he scoffed.
"Of course, the fact that they are all Archmages, three of the fifty most powerful mages of the world, surely does help."
Some mammals were now talking among themselves, as they were taking in all that the jackal was telling, and he only continued to look at the jackal with neutral expressions.
"So, you already spoke a lot." Noah said to him, and said, "Would you like to order something?"
"I'd like to order you to leave us alone!" The jackal barked at him, and the fox looked at him, before picking up the menu and looking at it.
"I don't see that in here." He said, and looked back at the jackal, "What about some nice fried fish?"
The jackal growled at them, and some could see the magic circuits on his paws lighting up. Some of them became apprehensive as they saw that.
"Why are you doing this to us?" He said to her, "What has Gretchen done to you? Is that because she has not been keeping the agreement that you made her make? Is it because of what her grandmother did?" He asked, and Noah was the one who looked back at him, putting down the menu, before answering:
"My agreement with Grecthen has nothing to do with anything. And I don't blame Gretchen for anything that her grandmother did." The fox said, looking at the jackal with a serious expression on his face. "It would be very unfair to blame her for what that woman did, even if her actions nearly caused half of Zootopia to be destroyed."
"Oh, yeah." Tailes said, looking at Noah, "You would remember that very well, since you were there, right?"
The ones around were looking at this developing, and the jackal then turned to the ones around and spoke:
"Tell me, guys." He said, and pointed at Noah, "How would you say that this fox is?"
No one really answered, but they looked at the fox, and they had to recognize that he looked young.
"24? Maybe 25?" He said, and looked at the fox, "Believe it or not... this fox..." He said, pointing at Noah once more. "Is two hundred seventy-three years old!"
This caused a wave of murmurs from the crowd around.
"Two hundred seventy-four." Noah corrected him. "My birthday was just last week."
"Wha..." Nick said, looking at the fox. He cast a glance at his mother, who was looking back at him.
She nodded, confirming that the jackal was saying the truth. Nick could not help but stare at the fox who was old enough to be his great-great-great-grandfather, and yet, looked younger than him...
"Noah Wilde, the one true son of Zootopia." He said, looking at the fox, "And he is in the company of no other than Verona Höhle, who just happens to be-"
"You should stop talking while you can." Verona said, getting up and looking at the jackal, her gaze was friendly, but there was a strange, terrifying glow in her eyes.
"If you insist in keep telling things about us, then we could start telling things about you." She said, looking at Tailes, "Would you like to have everyone in this room to know what you hide under your clothes?"
The canine flinched, and he growled at the bunny, but she only kept smiling at him. However, he made no more attempts to talk, and instead, he turned at the other table, where the Hopps and Nick and Sophie were all sitting.
"You two." He said, pointing at the table, and causing some to shy away. "Bunny and fox cops."
Judy and Nick shared a look, and soon, they were stepping forward.
"Yes?" Judy said, and the jackal soon was walking to them.
"Which one of the clans told you to take the enforcers there?" He asked her very directly, as well as Nick. "Which one of them ordered you to take them to harass my teacher?"
Judy and Nick looked at the jackal, before Judy said:
"None of them." She said, "We didn't take the enforcers anywhere to harass anyone."
"Don't lie!" The jackal said, barking a bit before he controlled himself and spoke again, with a strained voice.
"Don't lie..." He repeated, looking at the two cops. "I was there. I saw when you two were with the enforcers near our home. When I arrived, I asked her about that, but she didn't told me anything... but I know... I know that you were in there, and I know it was to intimidate her in order of the clans."
He sounded like he was sure of what he was talking about. Judy and Nick shared a look among themselves, the bunny was the one who spoke to the jackal, and she was as gentle as possible with the canine.
"Mr. Tailes." Said, causing the jackal to look straight at her "Yes, I admit that we have been going around the city with the enforcers today, but it was not to intimidate anyone." She spoke to him, looking at him in the eye. "I can assure you, as far as we know, the enforcers didn't went in your house to try and intimidate your teacher."
The jackal looked at her for a few moments, before he scoffed.
"Yeah, like I should believe your word."
"Oh, you should." Nick said, causing the jackal to look at him. "This bunny is really straight forward when doing her job."
"Oh, her job?" The jackal said, a hint of sarcasm on his voice as he looked at the two.
"What job, precisely?" He asked, "The job that she does as a cop, or the job that she does as a relative of the Höhle clan?"
Judy looked at him as he spoke that.
"Excuse me?"
"Oh, don't play the dumb bunny now." He said at her, looking at Judy in the eye. "I know very well that you are a descendant of the Höhle clan. You might not be a mage and not have their name, but you are still one of them."
He then turned his gaze to Nick.
"Just like you are still related to the Wilde clan." He said to the fox, "And they have even let you keep their name!"
Nick and Judy looked at the jackal, and so did the other mammals around, as they were silent as they heard the words of the canine.
"Of course you would do something if the clans asked you." He said, and Judy was looking at him with some intensity at these words.
"Mr. Tailes..." She said, looking at him, "Are you insinuating what it seems that you are insinuating?" She spoke, and it was clear that she did not like what she was hearing.
"What?" The jackal said, "That you have loyalty to the clans from which your mothers originally came? That even though you are non-mages and children of mammals that abandoned the families they still find some use for you?"
He had a smirk on his face as he spoke that.
"Believe me when I say that you wouldn't be the first ones to be of some use to mage clans although being mundanes." He spoke, and didn't waited for an answer of the cops, before he continued:
"We are talking about two clans in here! Wilde and Höhle." He said, loud and clear, as if he wanted to be sure that everyone around would hear. "Both claiming to be honored and rightful, but one of them is composed by foxes who did all that they could to survive and move up in the world, including lying, cheating and stealing! The other is a family of bunnies that is accused of doing things like stealing from graves to use the corpses for their experiences, and other unspeakable things."
He was looking at Noah and Verona as he spoke that, and the two looked back at him with neutral expressions.
"He likes to ramble on, don't he?" Noah asked Verona, and the doe said nothing in return.
"When you do that, you obviously worry about the law." The jackal said, looking at the two. "Of course, they don't need to worry about the mundane police, once they have enough money and power in this city that the police won't be able to do anything against them. Still, they probably find it annoying to have the police bothering them."
He continued to look at the two, as if expecting for some reaction from them, but they give him none, so he continued:
"So, in these cases, it can be more convenient for them if such problems can be avoided altogether." He said, "Maybe some information in a case being investigate can get to their ears so they can do something about that. Maybe some piece of evidence that would compromise them could disappear. Maybe the police could simply look the other way and pretend that nothing happened."
As he was done saying that, the jackal then turned his head to the other mammals that were in there, looking at Judy and Nick, before he spoke once more:
"In this case, I guess everyone can agree that it would be convenient to have relatives on the ZPD."
Nick looked at him with crossed arms and a neutral expression, however, Judy had an outraged expression as now there was no possible doubt on what the jackal was insinuating, and it was something very offensive to the two cops.
Judy would have said something at the jackal, but Sophie and Bonnie both beat her to it.
"They have nothing to do with the clans." Sophie said, looking back at the jackal. "Neither of them would do something for the clans only because they asked."
"Oh, really?" The jackal said, it was clear that he didn't believed what the vixen was saying.
"Yes, really." Said Bonnie, as she looked at the clans with clear hostility. "Neither of them have anything to do with the business of the clans."
"Is that why they let both of them live in their city?" The jackal asked, looking at the doe, as well as at the vixen. "That is why they let these two run around and do what they want without problem? You gotta admit that having relatives in the mundane police would be really convenient for them, maybe even useful, depending on the situation."
"None of us have anything to do with the clans." Bonnie said slowly, and she was really not liking that jackal.
"Why? Because you stole from them?" He asked Bonnie, and then turned to Sophie. "Because you disgraced the clan so bad that they forced you to quit and take your little bastard with you? Yeah, right. Like that would be enough for them to give up an advantage that your children could bring. For great clans like that, even mundanes can have some utility if they are well employed."
"Stop say that." Bonnie said to him in a tune of warning, but the jackal continued:
"Why? They are mundanes!" The jackal said, looking at them, "Or aren't they?"
"Enough of this!" Bonnie shouted, startling everyone around. "I'll not accept for anyone to badmouth my children by make such accusations." She said, pointing a finger to the jackal, "Especially not the apprentice of an old witch who does all kinds of dubious and disgusting experiments back in her little shack falling to pieces! You know, you say about how much the clans break the laws of the Codex, but I'm sure that it is nothing compared to what your teacher does back in her house!"
This granted the Hopps children to look at their mother, as they knew how rare it was to hear her saying something to anyone with such anger. The jackal also looked at her, as his eyes widened and his lips curled in a snarl.
"Don't..." He said, his hands glowing. "You. Talk. About. Her!"
As he spoke that, he created green flames on his paws, causing everyone to flinch and take a step back. Bonnie and Sophie both reached out for something inside of her clothes, however, neither of them had any chance to use it.
"Hey, Thibs!" Noah suddenly said, as he got up and was now standing on his table. Everyone turned to look at the tod, in time to see him open a pocket, and to see five glowing things float out of it.
They looked like gemstones, each one of a different color and shape, and all of them floated around the head of the fox for a few seconds, before one of them, a red-colored pyramid, flew to his staff and attached to the tip of it.
Noah them said a single word in another language, and the red pyramid glowed, before producing three lines of pure flame, which moved up and from the staff and entangling until they formed a ball of flames.
"Now, listen here." Noah said, looking at the jackal, as the fireball swelled and grew in size, now being the size of a basketball. "I can accept that you are unhappy that Gretchen is facing problems, I totally understand that." He said, and the fireball swelled once more. "I can also accept that you blame us for it and feels the right to be mad. You probably have."
The fireball continued to swell, until it was the size of a beach ball, and it was letting out a significant amount of heat.
"However, there are limits to it." He said, and he rose the staff above his head, letting the fireball be in clear vision. "I respect Gretchen, believe it or not, and I would not want to harm one of her boys. But, if you are really wanting to start a fight here and now, then I'll be taking it, and I'll show you why mages like me are called 'monsters disguised as mammals'."
As he said that, the fireball swelled even further, and now the size and heat that it had was making many mammals around apprehensive. In fact, some of them were already rushing out of the establishment, or at least moving away from the fox and hiding behind or under the tables.
"So..." Noah said, looking calmly at the jackal. "Would you like to fight me?"
For a long moment, they stared at each other, with everyone around practically holding their breaths as they waited to see how things would develop.
The jackal looked at him with hatred; however, the canine was soon lowering his arms, the green flames on his paws going off, as he looked down, defeated. That was when the jackal, without saying a word, started to walk away, not looking at anyone as he walked to the exit and left.
Noah continued where he was for a while, and the fireball started to dwindle, decreasing in size and heat, until it as little more than a small flame on the tip of the pyramid of the staff. Noah lowered it, and casually blew the flame out, as if blowing a candle.
The mammals that were still in the place collectively let out a sigh of relief, as it seemed that it would not end up in a mage duel.
Meanwhile, Noah was getting down from the chair, as the red pyramid detached from his staff and, along with the other gemstones, floated back to the tod's pocket. He then turned his attention to the other mammals in there, and his gaze stopped on Sophie.
He opened a smile as he looked at her.
"Sophie!" He said, getting down from the chair and walking to her. He was soon pulling the vixen for a hug.
That kind of surprised Nick, as well as the fact that his mother was actually returning the hug.
"Hey there." Sophie said softly, and Noah broke the hug to look at her.
"We didn't had a chance to talk properly, girl." He said, looking at her, and then he turned his gaze to Nick.
"Is that Nicholas? Wow, just look at him!" He said, walking closer to the tod, who was a bit hesitant. "Boy, you have grown so much, last time I heard of you, you were still inside your mother's womb! Now look at you, you became quite the handsome tod."
"Uhh, thanks?" Nick said, and the other tod continued to smile at him. Meanwhile, Verona had also got up and was walking to them. Bonnie immediately put herself in a way that she was between her relatives and the doe, as if she was shielding them from her.
"Helga." She said to Bonnie, who glared at him, and she looked beyond her, at Judy.
"And Judith." She said, smiling at the other doe, "I finally get to meet you in the flesh."
There was anything creepy about that smile. It seemed friendly, but there was something more about that smile. About the way that the doe looked at her. About the strange glow in her eyes as she looked straight at Judy's eyes, as if she was looking straight into her soul.
"You are quite famous among our clan." She said, and Judy looked back at her, remembering the words of Helvetica Höhle that she heard earlier on that same day.
"Oh, yeah?" She said, looking at the other doe, "Do you think I am a sad fool as well?"
Verona said nothing, and continued to look at her.
"Would you rather not have me in this city?" Judy asked her, and this time the other doe answered:
"Quite the opposite." She said, looking at Judy in the eyes. "I do feel glad for meeting mammals like you."
Judy blinked as she looked at the doe. That smile was still creepy; however, she could find no falsehood or sarcasm on the voice of Verona. It seemed that she was being sincere as she spoke those words. This caused Judy to actually relax a little.
Bonnie, however, was still on guard, as she looked at the doe as if she was a dangerous monster.
Meanwhile, Noah Wilde continued to be very friendly to Sophie and Nick, he apologized for their dinner to have taken such a turn and he even offered to pay it for them, as a way of compensating them. Sophie politely declined, even though Noah was insisting.
After a while, Noah and Verona decided to go their way, and they were about to pay their bill, when the waiter, who looked ready to pee himself, said with a stammering voice that it was on the house.
"What a wonderful place!" Noah said, as he and Verona both walked out of the place, all under the eyes of the many mammals on the place.
"Wow..." Was all that Harry Hopps could say, as they all looked at the departing mammals.
"Yeah." Sophie said, with her arms crossed, "These two are really something."
Here it is. Hope you have enjoyed this chapter.
Also, the scene with Johnathan Hopwells was inspired in the restaurant scene of the fanfiction "Zootopia: At the Beginning", wrote by WingedKatt. Go give it a read; it is a good story.