Set shortly after the events of the movie Zootopia. This bit of fan fiction is the result of a collaborative role play between

 Nodd-Mouse as Judy Hopps

 Foxipso as Nick Wilde.

Note that since this is from a role play log, it is set in the present tense instead of the past and first person is used instead of third. If these RP sessions continue (and I fervently hope they do!) and folks want to see it written more like a book than role play, I'll edit it appropriately. Therefore any feedback is welcome!

Nick Wilde & Judy Hopps in: The Case of the Camel Racers


Nick scritches your ears!

Judy bites her lower lip while her left foot vibrates. "C..cut it out!"

Nick grins. "What, this?" he asks, scriiitching those sharp fox claws to the base of your left ear.

Judy's ears start to pinken within and her foot goes from vibrating to rapidly tapping against the floor as she leeeanns into the scritching. Finally she pulls herself together and shoves at your chest. "Stop it! Whats with you tonight?" She huffs and lays her ears back so they're not so obvious targets. "We're on duty."

Nick starts to grin at your reaction, but 'oofs' as you shove him back, perhaps exaggerating the reaction from your little paws. "Nothing's happening," he says, leaning up against the wall and waving a paw dismissively. "We've been out here for hours. You know, foxes are crepuscular; it's not fair to make us wait around on some stakeout when we're at our most active."

Judy just smirks and pokes your chest with her small finger. "Then why were you doing all your hustling during the day? First with the popsicle scam - and you still owe 20 bucks for that - and then the baby carriage." She chuckles and crosses her arms over her chest as she gazes fondly up at you. "What was that hustle going to be anyway? Were you gonna ask elephants for a giant bottle of milk?"

Nick listens, gazing off down the street, reflective eyes gleaming as he watches the target building in the twilight. "Out of necessity, honey," he ruffs, in the voice he usually takes when patiently explaining one of his hustles to a creature that is obviously too naive to understand how it works! "Lemmings don't get out of work until five, right? The sun doesn't melt popsicles too well--unless you go all the way out to Sahara Square, and by then you'd have spent more on gas--" he waves his paw, then glances over. "And *milk?* What kind of a fox do you take me for! You and I know that's on the black market, and I would NEVER use a thirsty little fox cub as an excuse to try and get a discount on some...Anyway...shouldn't you be paying attention?" he asks, jabbing his thumb down the street. "Or check behind us...never know when something might...sneak up!" He swishes his tail around and paffs you on the back of your legs!

Judy huffs, and wiggles her feet rapidly against the ground when she feels your tail against her. It might seem at first that its a sign that your tail is tickling her, but then the static electricity zaps and floofs your tail up. She glances down at it and giggles. "I just thought it was a milk scam because a baby in a stroller would be too young for popsicles." She tilts her head and hrms. "Your voice is so much sweeter and kind when you're lying. You sounded so nice when you were hustling me and that elephant shopkeeper. I'll have to keep that in mind," she says, before glancing at the supposedly abandoned building down the street just in time to see a car coming to a stop in front of it. "I think we're gonna see some action," she says, her voice lowering.

Nick *gasps!* and hugs his tail protectively after you successfully zap it, frowning in mock insult, petting his tail to make it better. "Soo...if I'm ever kind to you, you'll think I'm lying?" he asks, eyes following yours when you glance ahead with purpose--lingering for only a second longer than necessary on the way the distant headlights reflect off your fur-tight lycra uniform. An observant officer would notice that that's been happening more and more often lately, for some reason. "Looks like you were right about the camel jockeys," he says through the side of his muzzle, as a group of quite literal camel jockeys usher them out of the truck and into the abandoned building. He lifts his paw and starts counting off: "Underground racing, illegal gambling, aaannd.." he glances over at you. "Wait, don't tell me...Intent to host a public event without a permit?"

Judy blinks and looks over at you after your first question, then throws her arms around you and nuzzles along your chest. "I didn't mean it that way! You're my best friend, and I'd trust you with my life- NOW." She has been so easy to guilt trip ever since she made that stupid, stupid speech about predators possibly reverting to their primitive ways. She's still kicking herself for ever doubting you and, though she's relieved you forgave her, she still feels guilty over it at times. She eases back and smirks a little. "THEN was another story, however." She turns her attention back to the house and nods at each item on your list of citations. "Hope the dashboard cam is getting all of this," she says, then hops up onto the passenger side door and leans in through the open window to check on the camera and make certain its got the right angle.

Nick looks genuinely surprised when you snug him like that, having to second guess what he said (not something he does often). You know he forgives you for that--you can see it in his eyes, and you were able to tell even before all that business happened with Bellweather. Still, he hugs you genuinely, his paws sliding down your kevlar vest, fingertips making soft sounds as they brush over the velro straps, before he snugs you up against him with his strong arms. "Oh, bunny," he says quietly, intentionally using that kinder voice you referred to, paws lingering on your sides as you draw back, the fox's bright, green eyes looking down at you. He watches you hop up. "Oh yea, I made sure it was pointed right at us. Wouldn't want the chief to miss two of his officers hugging..." he says, reminding you of the elephant in the room: it's not, strictly speaking, permissible for two cops to date, and it's not something either of us has ever brought up. "So what's the plan, boss?" he asks, grinning again. "Go in there, guns blazing? Arrest a bunch of camels and their tiny little ferret riders?"

Judy pokes your belly with a footpad while making certain the dashboard got the camels entering the house, not the two of them hugging. She pulls herself out of the window and hops down. "Its air powered tranqulizers, not guns. And depending on how many of them there are, we might need back up. We're not much bigger than ferrets ourselves," she notes, rubbing her chin while one ear perks straight up, the other with the tip of the ear tilted forward just a little: a look she often gets when she's thinking about something. "What do you think? Call in the calvary now or get closer and see what happens?" she asks, unwittingly using innuendo.

Nick has approached to see what you're fiddling with in the car, listening, nodding, and watching you prepare to hop down from that window. "Getting closer's more fun," he says, your little bunny butt just so happening to bump into his front as you jump down! "Don'tcha think?" he asks, grinning. "We'll get the camera, get in close, record the actual crime, and let the big guys do the hard work." He hops up on the claw-resistant door, reaches in, and pops the camera off the mount. "Quick and easy, with time for a drink afterwards!"

Judy blushes pink in her ears when she accidentally brushes against you. This close she can pick up your vulpine scent very easily. At one time she would have found that scent to be intimidating, scary or at the very least reason for her to be on guard. She's been around you long enough now however that she could pick up your individual scent in a room full of foxes, and she has come to find it comforting, even pleasing in a way she hasn't quite figured out yet. "Um yeah, some carrot juice sounds nice right about now," she says while folding her ears back again to hide the fading pink on the inside of them. "And since you have appointed yourself camera man, that means you get to lead point," she cheerily adds.

Nick, in truth, works really hard each morning to get that scent to be mild and appropriate for public life, though it's a touchy subject, much like many other scents in the animal world. There's a reason one of the most popular illegal businesses in the red light district (where we haven't yet had the pleasure of being assigned) is a booth that has not just a glory hole, but a place to sniff too! It can be quite taboo. It also seems most prey don't have to worry about it, but you could swear you've seen Nick sniff in your direction when he thought you weren't looking, trying to learn the scent of an animal he's almost never around in any proximity. "Fine, let's go!" he says, unphased, and sets off through the shadows! Once you've caught up he says. "I know a great carrot juice joint. Cheap, sleazy, all sorts of animals you won't see out in the daylight--and with you with me I'll finally be able to get in there and find out just what they get up to."

Judy scrambles a little to catch up with you, then smirks as she listens to you describe the carrot juice joint. "Is it that one three streets down from Sahara Square? I think that one is owned by hares, not rabbits. Hares are bigger and can be meaner. I wouldn't be surprised if there is more in their drinks than just carrot juice, too," she says while coming up beside and slightly behind you to peek around your hip at the house. By now some lights have come on even though the place hasn't had legal electricity in months according to the bills. One camel remains in the car out front, announcing his presence by sticking his head out the window and hocking a lugey. Judy grimaces at the sight. "What is it with camels and spitting?" she murmurs.

Nick raises an eyebrow way up. "Yea, how do you know about it?" he asks, glancing over his shoulder at you. "I have it on good authority that they put bathtub gin in their carrot juice if you ask for a 'baby carrot,'" he says, finger silently moving off the camera's microphone once he has. He glances off towards where you're looking as you slink behind him and slide up against his side. As if on its own his tail currrls around your side and wraps you up! "Hey, I know that camel. Spit on my tail once. Real piece of work," he ruffs, zooming the camera on him. "Hm, over here!" he says, darting off, tail brushing under your muzzle as it unwraps. He holds the camera in his jaws as he scrambles up the side of the building with sudden and surprising agility, arm around the drainpipe as he leans over and aims the camera through the window.

Judy chuckles wryly. "I was looking for a place to get a drink one night. Some fox had told me that day that I would never be a real cop, and I was better off carrot farming, among other things." She blinks when your tail curls around her, then finds herself nuzzling into it, her paws gently latching onto it a moment. Its like suddenly having a blankie to comfort her like when she was a kid, only better. "If he spits on your tail ever again, I'll kick him in the b--" she blinkblinks as you scramble away, leaving her playing catch up again. Climbing the same pipe you did, she can either look down at the ground getting further and further away, or look up at fox butt. She chooses to look up instead, telling herself its better than risking vertigo.

Nick was wholly focused on the inside of the building, but at least one ear was listening when you describe that 'some fox.' He has scooted over as much as he can to let you lean away from the drainpipe and peer through the windows, but now looks over at you. "You know, I never apologized for that, Judy," he whispers. "You were never a dumb bunny." In such close proximity he just has to lean over a few inches, his muzzle surprisingly close... short whiskers near your nose, vulpine muzzle with those impressively sharp teeth as close as they were the night in the museum. He presses his lips to your soft little nose pad and gives it a kiss!

Judy smiles and shakes her head, looking as though she's about to wave off the apology. Then she blinkblinks, her ears going up on their own accord and turning bright pink within when you kiss her nose. That little nose wiggles vigorously with the scent of your breath on it, accompanying your overall scent so close to her once more. "And you were never ever a dumb fox," she whispers in return while lifting her paw to rub along the side of your muzzle, feeling the freckle-sized stubble from where you shave your whiskers every morning. "I couldn't ask for a better partner than you," she says, just as the drainpipe gives a creak of protest, prompting her to cling to the side of the house with both paws to take some small amount of strain off the pipe.

Nick smiles softly, eyes looking at your own, from one to the other. "Judy," he begins, but his ears perk at the ominous creak from the drainpipe...a bracket coming loose and clattering to the floor. He squints as the sound echoes against the side of the building, then peeks an eye open, just in time to see the car's headlights flick on. "Youuu might want to hold off before taking back 'dumb fox,'" he says, hearing three of the car doors open and slam. He sticks the camera in his muzzle, swings around you so that you're up against the drainpipe (his body squishing you firmly against it, strong arms around your sides, his hips pressing your chest and tummy hard against the pipe), then sliiiides down. "Let's go, carrots!" he ruffs, the sound of 'Over there!' heard over the clatter of his claws as he accelerates back towards the car!

Judy squeezes her eyes shut and winces at each little sound the bracket makes as it bounces off the side of the pipe a few times, clatters against the wooden wall, then falls onto a cement step with a *CLANG.. clang, clang, clangclangclang* like a dropped quarter slowly spinning to a stop, only much louder. Finding herself squished against the pipe with your warm body behind her, her ears momentarily are in your face before she flattens them. She stifles a yelp as the two of them go sliding down the pipe, then is tugging her radio out of her vest during the run back to the car. "This is Officer Hopps requesting back up at 126 Keogh Square at the intersection of Mobius Avenue! We've got hostiles in pursuit!" Clawhauser is stammering his acknowledgement as she puts the radio away and unclips her dart gun just in case.

Nick had to restrain himself from picking you up and carrying you, knowing that even now you've been favoring one leg, but it seems you're keeping up. He gets to the car a bit before you, tranquilizer gun already drawn and giving you cover. "ZPD!" he shouts, flicking the car's lights on and aiming the spotlight at the approaching ferrets. "The gig's up! Stop right there, unless you want me to have to fill out a bunch of paperwork!" A second later and he fires a shot over your shoulder, the dart whizzing through the air and striking the lead ferret in the thigh, inches from you! After that the other two skid to a stop, turn, and run to raise the alarm.

Judy is grateful for the spotlight blinding the ferrets long enough for her to get clear of them and for you to get that shot off. She hops up onto the passenager side door of the car, using the open window as a foot rest while resting her elbows on the roof of the car, drawn gun in both paws. "Stop and put your paws in the air!" she yells at the retreating ferrets. When they don't stop, one of them gets a dart in the back. The other one makes it out of the spotlight and into the shadows. Meanwhile the camel in the car has gotten out and is advancing with a pistol. He holds one paw up against the spotlight and begins firing blindly at the police car with the other. One shot flattens a tire, another richochets off the fender, and the third shatters the driver's side window on its way through and out the passenger side window. Judy urks! at the impact and is sent flying off into the night, thumping into the grass some feet away in the darkness just as the sound of approaching sirens can be heard in the distance.

Nick instinctively squints and folds his ears at the shocking sound of the weapon, darting his eyes to you. "Carrots! That's some kind of weapon!" he yaps, already aiming his tranquilizer gun and firing a shot off, the glow of the fire that spat out of the end of the camel's gun dancing in his vision, leaving long, blue trails. Two of his darts whiz through the air and into the darkness, the camel silhouetted by the approaching blue and red lights of the cruisers as they tear around the corner, the darts stuck in the defiant figure's arm and neck. Still the camel remains standing, glances at the car, and fires that third shot off before turning to flee. Nick's pushes himself off the ground, the blast from the broken window intensified by an airbag that went off. "Judy!" he yells, glancing around, paws crunching through broken glass. He pulls the radio off his shoulder and speaks into it, using the glowing orange light to search for you. "This is officer Wilde, we have a ten-thirty-two, officer down! Perps are armed with a weapon, and extremely dangerous!" He spots you in the grass and scrambles over. "Judy!" he calls out again, sliding into the wet grass, a paw rolling you over onto your back.

Judy looks like she got the wind knocked out of her. She is wheezing some and clutching at her chest with both paws. There is no sign of blood seeping between her fingers. "F..feel like that camel.. kicked me," she manages to wheeze. Police cars are now pulling up on the scene from all directions while ferrets and camels try to flee the house only to be dazzled by spotlights. Most of them are quick to put their paws in the air at this point. The camel Nick shot finally begins to give in to the tranquilizers, falling to his knees and then fully onto his face just as he was about to reach his car.

Nick moves your paws out of the way, afraid of what he'll find...and sees that your kevlar vest (designed to stop knives) has a little glob of shredded metal blossomed out, right on your chest. "What the?" he asks, using his claws to pick it up, fingers searching for a wound underneath, the fox even leaning down to sniff for blood. "Just take it easy--hey, over here!" he yaps, waving his paw and summoning some help, flashlights swinging up and over you. He has to step back after a moment, the larger cops rather brusquely pushing him away to check you for themselves. You feel your paw grasped, and he holds your paw throughout the whole thing..

Judy squeezes your paw and rubs gently over your fingers, grateful that you're with her. After an examination in the back of an ambulance, she is deemed to just have a bruise on her chest from the impact of the bullet and is told to take it easy for a couple days. "I'm fine!" she protests, then winces at the effort involved from the yelling. "Oh.. fiddlesticks. I hate being put on bedrest," she mopes. "It will be so boring!" Another wince. The ferrets and camels have all been taken away at this point, and only a couple cruisers are left. Judy huffs as she sees their cruiser with its flat tire and busted out window. "Sorry Nick. I guess we won't be getting that carrot juice tonight after all," she says with droopy ears.

Nick chuckles, but his eyes are filled with worry, the fox looking you over as you try to laugh it off. He nods. "Heh, boring, right. Assuming you can even sleep with the neighbors you told me about." He notices he's been holding your paw for about ten minutes straight when the nurse gives him a glance, and he lets go. "We'll take a rain check. I'll bring you some to go.." He really wants to ask you if you've seen anything like that before, but holds off, sitting back as the nurse again gets between us and fusses with you, using scissors to cut the front of your uniform open (despite all protests) and baring your fluff! She's probably deliberately blocking his view, and when done you have an ice pack laying under a towel on your chest.

Judy shivers from the ice pack and gives the nurse a glare. "Thanks.. I think." Given the choice between a ride to the hospital or keeping the ice pack against her chest, she quickly clutches the pack tighter to her. "I can still take the mountain of paperwork Bogo will want, and do that while I rest. Then only one of us will have to be bored," she says, then takes your paw in hers again, seeming to have missed it already. Her little paw is rather cold from where she was clutching the ice pack with it, and your paw is nice and warm. Maybe that is why she is wanting to hold it again. Though the way she is looking into your eyes, seeing the worry for her there, her own eyes so soft and vulernable in that moment, conveys her feelings without words being spoke "You saved my life tonight, Nick. Thank you.." she finally says, her voice quiet and gentle.

Nick smiles softly, eyes shining a bit, looking like he'd lean in and nose you, if not for the nurse (who already looks like she wants to comment on the strange sight of a fox and bunny holding paws--let alone them both being cops). "Noo, it was just, you know, they were busting up our car!" he jokes, drawing back, that look of trying to avoid exposing his true feelings now familiar to you. Still, his paw squeezes yours tighter, like he wants you to know what he can't say.

To be continued!