You're Going to Start a Howl!
"I'm related to them?!", Silver, a young timber wolf in his early twenties, exclaimed in surprise. Silver had just moved in with his family to Zootopia and started settling in the Rainforest District when he and the rest of his pack received the most shocking of news- the city's Mayor, Leodore Lionheart, had been arrested for illegally detaining fifteen mammals in the abandoned, eerie Cliffside Asylum.
As Silver, his parents, and his brother ate and watched the news, his mother noticed a familiar pair of wolves in the background being questioned by the police.
"All we were told was that the mammals were not feeling well! I was under the impression that the ZPD knew about this! My brother and I both thought…", the white timber wolf, Gary, quickly elaborated, much to the annoyance of his brother.
"Gary, you don't need to tell them our entire story.", Gary's brother Larry, a gray timber wolf, stated frustratedly. Gary had already "started a howl", as it was described in wolf culture, which based on what the pack assigned to guard Cliffside Asylum concluded, led to rookie police officer Judy Hopps and a fox associate to find the mammals.
"I haven't seen those boys in years. Must have been our last pack reunion that we last saw your cousins.", reacted Silver's mother Sheri as she started eating a salad.
"Same here!. Last heard that they both graduated and were hired as security guards pretty soon afterwards at a mall in Tundratown. Never would have guessed that they would wind up on the news though.", noted Silver's father Jerry as he drank a can of soda.
"I'm just surprised to hear that we're related to them.", Silver continued to exclaim with astonishment. Silver wasn't exactly wanting the kind of publicity Gary and Larry were getting right now, but every moment of hearing about what they had accomplished, both for better and for worse, made Silver want to make a name for himself even more. He had dreams about possibly becoming an animator, or better yet, a story artist for animated films, but wished he had more confidence to attain his dream. Silver wasn't sure yet where to even seek a job at the moment. He graduated from his college a few weeks prior and wasn't entirely sure what to do with his Communications degree just yet. To hear that these two brothers got hired to guard at a mall shortly after graduation, and later receive a request from Mayor Lionheart himself to perform a guarding task, albeit for questionable reasons, felt to Silver like the way he would want his life to work out.
"Not to be harsh, but I'm sure if you stopped reading news about the movie with those emotions in that cheetah's head and looked at other wolves once in a while, you wouldn't be so surprised.", Silver's brother Harry commented.
Silver was about to call out Harry for his remark, but he wasn't one to try fueling arguments if he could help it. He had already finished his salad, and needed to finish packing his things in his new room.
"Ow!", Silver screamed, before sighing in irritation at what he just experienced. Silver had a bad habit of getting his tail caught in doors. It didn't bother him too much, but it often took Silver by surprise.
Silver took a moment to assess what all he had packed in his new room and what all was still left to store. Just about everything Silver had already set on the shelves in his new room represented how much of an animation geek he was. A whole bunch of DVDs, Blu-Rays, VHS tapes, and books about the art and making of different animated films Silver loved had been placed next to each other, mostly in chronological order. Everything else… was still needing to be unpacked.
"Well, at least I already have some of my unpacking done.", Silver said to himself with a slight smile as he went to unzip the suitcase he brought along for the trip to his family's new home. He examined the contents as he scanned for what would probably be the easiest and quickest to unpack and store away.
"Shirts, pants, tighty whities… I guess these would probably take the quickest.", Silver thought as he sorted through his clothes and pulled out a pair of tighty whities from his suitcase. Silver proceeded to label all of the drawers with a marker so he knew what belonged in which drawer. He sometimes struggled with remembering when and where he placed certain items at, so any note to help him remember was welcome.
Silver repeated the process of folding and storing away the undies in the appropriate drawer, but a thought kept intruding his mind. "What if Gary and Larry could give me advice about finding a job? They have so much experience, so much confidence." Silver paused and ran to his phone. Packing could wait, at least for a little bit.
He texted his girlfriend, another wolf named Lily who Silver had been great friends with since their childhoods. He asked if Lily could take a phone call at the moment, and was delighted when she replied that she was available to call.
Silver wagged his tail and dialed Lily's phone number. "Hey Lily, there is something really surprising that I learned about tonight. You know those two wolves that were on the news earlier?", Silver described excitedly to his friend.
To Be Continued
Zootopia and specifically, the characters of Gary, Larry, Mayor Lionheart, Judy Hopps, and Nick Wilde, are owned by the Walt Disney Company and specifically, Walt Disney Animation Studios as well as the film's directors, Byron Howard, Rich Moore, and Jared Bush. The film concept Harry references is an homage to the upcoming film Inside Out 2, which is owned by the Walt Disney Company and specifically, Pixar Animation Studios and that film's director, Kelsey Mann. The characters of Silver, Lily, Harry, Sheri, and Jerry, however, were all created by me.
