Zootopia Adventures

The Stranger VIII: Meeting the Pair

Dinner ended on a surprisingly good note. Apart from the fact that Judy was a little disgruntled of her Dad disclosing the video to the expansively large rabbit family of hers, the rest of us were satisfied with the meal. I did find the pair casting short sporadic stares at me when I was chewing on the greens, which to be honest, I did not care any lesser. Soon it would become a common sight once they have bored their eyes out on my peculiar diet.

Looking at Nick, I could not help but feel anxious about being that close to him in person. Out there in my former world where I supposedly belonged to, there were many Disney fans out there wishing to be in this world of mammals such that they could be friends with the two stars of the movie. I guess I could count myself as a lucky individual. However, as exciting and exhilarating, as it all seemed, I was not sure of how I would interact with him. From one fellow fox to another, what topics do they usually converse about? Not to mention that I was merely a human trapped in the body of a fox – I knew nothing of being one.

Bonnie was clearing the dinner plates from the table. "Say Judy, would you mind doing a favour for Richard? He could definitely use a ride back to the city in your police cruiser instead of jostling into a train packed full of mammals like canned carrots," she asked.

"Sure! We need to head back to city centre anyway," Judy responded, smiling. She locked eyes with me for a brief moment, giving a positive thumbs-up. Her grouchiness from before had completely vanished from existence; she was back to her uppity self once more. Where did all of that negativity went? That was certainly a mystery by itself.

"That would be wonderful of you, Sweetie. In that case, I shall leave Richard with you two now; I have to check on the little ones right after I am done with all the dishwashing," Bonnie noted, carrying the stacked dishes with both paws.

"Do you need help with that, Mrs. Hopps?" Nick offered as Judy's Mum was teetering left and right; balancing the rather unstable mountain of piled tableware. Stu instantly rushed to her aid, halving her load.

Bonnie chuckled. "It's fine! Stu is enough for the job. It is really getting dark out; you three should head back to the city."

"You heard what she said; we will be A-Okay by ourselves!" Stu agreed, his head hidden behind the dishes he was carrying, only the ears managed to poke out from the heap.

As soon as Stu and Bonnie disappeared behind the confinements of the kitchen, I did not take me long to realize I was left to the police pair again. Just from the looks of their faces when they glanced at me simultaneously, I could tell that I was in for serious personal interrogation when we head back to the city.

"So Richard, My buddy Carrots here has quite an awful lot of questions for you," Nick finally spoke, displaying his signature smirk.

He pulls on this demeanour so frequently that sometimes I wondered whether it was possible for a face to freeze in a particular expression from over usage. It was one of the many well-known myths I knew of; commonly told in children's books and fairy tales by many authors. I did not count myself as an avid reader like all those bookworms in the library, but I do like some good old fiction stories when I am bored.

It was then which I noticed Nick's paw waving right in front of my face. Apparently, I had been caught up in my train of thought that I had forgotten about them being right next to me on the couch.

"Seen a ghost, kid?" Nick asked as I snapped back to reality.

"Sorry, was caught up with something in my mind," I replied meekly.

The fox then turned to the bunny beside him, gesturing a finger towards me as he nudged her playfully by the side. "No wonder he was dazed, you really are scaring him with your high 'spirit'."