Chapter Text
Time and date: 07:53 - Friday, 25th October, 1985
Time was not plentiful this morning. The eighteen year old bunny had to be at the market soon to help sell produce her family had farmed dutifully. Right now, she had some time to visit her friend again. He had been missing for the whole week without giving off any signs of life. Judy turned the key she knew was stowed under the foot mat and unlocked the service door of the garage.
A pair of two feet in grey fur stood outside. One of them lifted up the corner of the mat, and with a metallic clinking sound, down the key fell, right back under the doormat. “Hey, Doc?” said the doe as she entered the small building. Nobody responded. The lapine raised her voice and tried again. “Doc? Hello, anybody home?” Still, there was no response whatsoever. Judy’s friend was nowhere to be found here either. “Guys, are you here?” She tried again without any luck.
“What’s going on?” mumbled the bunny to herself as she dropped her backpack and her skateboard to the ground. The board rolled away slowly, until half of it was hidden under an unmade bed, coming to a rest against a yellow box Judy hadn’t seen before. There was always something new in this room whenever she entered.
Right now there were clocks… A lot of clocks… More than Judy had ever seen at any single place at the same time before. It was hard to fathom just how many different varieties of clocks existed, many of which were represented before her. Several varieties of cuckoo clocks, digital clocks, a grandfather clock, Felix the cat with his eyes moving in tandem with the pendulum inside…
Every single one of the clocks Judy laid her eyes on was in dead synchronisation, down to the second. The doe kept exploring. Some items and contraptions were already familiar to her, some others were new. A jet engine without any fuel tanks or other mechanical structures attached to it laid on a dusty shelf. There was a stack of unpaid bills labelled ‘overdue’ addressed to Judy’s good friend. Taxes had never been his strong suit anyway. Near the entrance, there was a little wooden toy train that looked older than even its owner.
Automotive tools and various electronic components were scattered about on and near a table close to the middle of the room. There were discarded BugBurga wrappers in a messy pile near a rubbish bin. A video camera laid on another table.
Judy perked her ears, as a clock radio lit up and started playing some advertisement program.
“October is inventory time. So right now, Statler Zooyota is making the best deals of the year on all 1985 model Zooyotas. You won't find a better car with a better price with better service anywhere in Bunnyburrow…”
Judy turned the radio off again. She was interested in cars but at this moment, she wanted to find her friend. And if he wasn’t present, at least she would get a chance to explore his garage again. It had been a while since the last time she was here all by herself. A coffee machine came on automatically now. It too had a built-in clock timer. Boiling coffee started dripping out of the designated nozzle… right onto an already wet and very hot plate.
Another timer triggered and a TV set came to life. It was tuned in to ZNN and played the morning newscast, which was already well underway. The anchorwoman, a snow leopard, talked against a slide: ‘Plutonium Theft?’ There was a graphic of the typical yellow radiation symbol overlayed next to it.
“The Senate is expected to vote on this today. In other news, officials at the Deerbrooke Nuclear Research Facility have denied the rumour that the case of missing plutonium was in fact stolen from their vault two weeks ago.”
The camera feed cut to another anchor, a moose, who took over the report for his colleague.
“A polar bear-terrorist group had claimed responsibility for the alleged theft, however, the officials now infer the discrepancy to a simple clerical error. The ZBI, which is still investigating the matter, had no comment…”
Click
Judy turned the television set off, like she had done with the radio a minute prior. As if it had been planned by the owner of all those oddities in this garage, just as the lapine shifted her focus away from the TV, a toaster attached to a timer sprung into action. Two pieces of black charred toast sat on it. The ashen bread dropped into the toaster and kept getting even more badly burned. Nobody would ever eat those two particular slices of bread.
It all actually looked less like an orchestrated prank with some hidden camera somewhere, this likely was a regular morning routine of someone who had not been home for a long while.
Above a miniature table there was another contraption. It was an automatic beer can opener. Judy looked at it expectedly but it didn’t activate. Beer was more of an afternoon drink anyway. In the actual opener part of the machine sat one can of beer, waiting for its turn to get opened up. In a magazine next to it were two more cans getting refrigerated until it was their time to shine and get drained rapidly. The entire magazine could likely hold at least ten cans as mid term storage.
Below the contraption was an overflowing glass with the label ‘Big Guy’. It stood in a puddle of spilled beer without any carbonation left in it. Clearly this machine kept pouring new servings every who knew how often, except the glass below was already filled from several previous activations of this contraption. Next to the beer dispenser was a trash can filled with all the previously emptied beer cans. It produced quite a potent and unpleasant smell.
Judy dismissed those machines and clocks for now. The bunny was more interested in another device she had seen and used several times in the past but never got permission to try it out unsupervised when she had time. Permission had been granted since by the owner and creator but Judy hadn’t had the time to try it out until now. With a key she unlocked an on-off switch on a terminal. A green light turned on next to it. She flipped more switches, illuminating various components of this device. Power indicator lights lit up on consoles. Judy twisted various knobs to dial in the machine just as she wanted it.
Needles on gauges jumped to life. The eager lapine plugged a wire into an amplifier. The other end was plugged into an electric guitar. Judy positioned her right hand over the strings but she wasn’t ready to play just yet. Through a battery of amplifying equipment, her instrument was connected into a huge speaker, almost too tall to fit inside of this room. A low and already quite loud background hum emanated from the towering loudspeaker.
Judy turned on two more switches, increasing the already loud static noise even further. The bunny stepped right in front of the amplifier, facing it head on. She liked to play guitar. The louder, the better, at least sometimes. Rock’n’Roll was one of her favourite genres, though she also was quite fond of pop as well.
The lapine hesitated. Her ears twitched once in anticipation of the imminent sound. Finally she hit the strings.
There was a tremendous explosion sound coming from the speaker. It literally blasted the small bunny off her feet and through half the room, right into a set of shelves, which promptly collapsed back in on themselves and over top the doe. Judy was covered in books, tools, and other junk nobody would ever need. A bit of smoke emanated from the blown speaker.
Stunned, Judy regained her senses and looked around. Her sensitive bunny ears were still ringing from the auditory incident. The doe’s light blue jean jacket got a little roughed up, like her fur, but it did not sustain any real damage as far as she could tell. Judy looked at the now destroyed amplifier in surprise.
“Woah…” she stammered out to nobody in particular. “Rock and roll…”
As she picked herself up, a huge alarm bell on the wall started clanging sharply. The doe dropped her ears behind her back to shield them from further acoustic annihilation. She knew this bell signalled an incoming phone call. Quickly, the bunny returned her guitar to where she had taken it from, and dove straight through some boxes to look for the phone. She found it, picked up both the receiver, as well as the phone itself and answered it. “Hello,” she asked.
“Carrots, is that you?” sounded the hushed and slightly out of breath voice on the other end of the line. It was the person Judy had been seeking out this morning! She finally reestablished contact after over a week of radio-silence from this fox.
“Hey, hey, Doc, Nick, where are you?” Judy tried to figure out where she could find more than just his voice. “Thank god I found you,” said Nick frantically. “Listen, can you meet me at the Chez Cheez Factory on the Thistle Field tonight at one fifteen? I've made a major breakthrough, I'll need your assistance.”
This confused the bunny. “Wait, wait a minute,” she tried to get her friend to slow down talking for a moment. “One fifteen in the morning?” This had to have been a misunderstanding. “Yeah,” confirmed Nick. Or it was exactly what the fox meant to say. One fifteen was the middle of the night, especially to someone coming from a family of farmers.
“What’s going on?” inquired the curious bunny. She took the key out from the amplifier system, not that it would help much in protecting it from future bunny attacks. “Where have you been all week?” asked the doe. “Working,” responded Nick with quick precision.
“Where’s Finnick, is he with you?” Judy demanded to know. She cared about her friends. “Yeah, he’s right here,” answered the red fox. The doe’s sensitive ears picked up faint mumbling in the background on Nick’s end of the phone line.
“You know, Slick, you left your equipment on all week,” lectured the bunny. “My equipment,” repeated Nick. He sounded like his mind was elsewhere. “That reminds me, Carrots. You better not hook up to the amplifier. There’s a slight possibility for overload.” This warning came a little too late, unfortunately. Judy decided not to inform the tod over the phone.
“Yeah…” she deadpanned. “I’ll keep that in mind.” She tossed the amplifier’s key in a table’s direction but missed. It now rested somewhere on the floor. “Good, I'll see you tonight,” reiterated the fox. “Don't forget, now, one fifteen a.m., Chez Cheez Factory on the Thistle Field.” Judy nodded, then she remembered Nick couldn’t see her over the phone. “Right,” she verbally confirmed.
Suddenly all the clocks in the whole room struck eight, all at once. Chimes, cuckoos, digital beeps, bells, they all tolled in a bizarre cacophony that made Judy’s ears ring all over again.
Time and date: 08:00 - Friday, 25th October, 1985
“Are those my clocks I hear?” asked Nick. The bunny was barely able to understand him now with so much noise around her. “Yeah, it’s eight,” she fairly shouted into the telephone receiver.
“They're late,” said Nick. “My experiment worked. They're all exactly twenty-five minutes slow.” Had Judy kept her ears above her head at this moment, she would have dropped them down upon Nick’s latest statement. “Wait a minute. Wait a minute, Nick. Are you telling me that it’s eight twenty-five?” Judy wanted to know. “Bingo,” confirmed the vulpine through the phone.
Time and date: 08:25! - Friday, 25th October, 1985
“Rotten pickles!” swore the surprised lapine. She slammed down the phone on a box next to her in frustration. Her heart rate picked up and she got increasingly hectic. “I’m late for the market!”
She hung up the phone and took her backpack and skateboard. The bunny made a beeline for the door and fiddled with the doorknob for a moment.
The side door swung open and the grey-furred doe rushed out. She put on her walkmammal headphones and made a run for the front gate. It wasn’t very fancy but behind it was the old garage door, an architectural gem that had seen far better days. The bunny kicked the underside of the fence gate’s latch and pushed it open. Judy made sure to close the door behind her. Down the skateboard went, onto the ground, and the lapine was off. Her walkmammal contained Judy’s very own mixtape, currently the song ‘Try Everything’ by Gazelle was playing. This was one of her favourites, even though it was pop and not rock.
Judy skated past a BugBurga. A tow truck was just pulling out and indicated the driver wanted to take a left turn. It would be heading into town shortly. Judy took the opportunity and closed the distance between herself and the vehicle. She grabbed the back of it and hitched a ride. If this tow truck headed off into a side street, the grey doe would let go again and look for the next car, even if that likely wouldn’t be a literal tow truck anymore. Any vehicle would do.
Judy crossed several intersections. She switched cars a few times and so, slowly but surely, she came closer to the market. On the way there, she would pass Potato Peak, a little hill in the middle of the more urban part of Bunnyburrow. Soon thereafter, the young bunny would pass Carrot Square.
Now, the car she held onto kept driving forward on the street it was currently on but Judy had to make a turn onto Cabbage Road. Maybe, this street used to lead to some historic cabbage field when it had first been named, Judy didn’t know or care. To her left the lapine saw a Tuskaco gas station, where a tiny mouse got no help as she pumped her own gas.
Opposite the road, on the bunny’s right-hand side, was the Deerbrooke Adult Movie Theater, playing inappropriate films such as ‘Teenage Does in Heat’. The first time Judy had spotted those obscene titles, she was absolutely shocked something like this would be advertised in public. At least, thanks to this poster, she now knew all seats cost five bucks, no more and no less. She could however think of plenty more romantic activities than watching actors in front of a camera have their fun.
The bunny got towed past a wannabe-science spiritual advisor place and then on the corner there was Jumbeaux’s Gym Trunks. Judy had made it a habit to wave whenever she skated past, not to convey any sort of message but because whoever was exercising at this establishment was practically in a display window, for all to see. A bit of friendliness wouldn’t hurt anyone. Today there were about fifteen, maybe twenty motley women, ranging from elephants to rhinos, hippos, and even a horse, all exercising in the window. Some of them waved back to the small and comparatively slim bunny.
Cabbage road terminated into the side of Pitchfork Way. This intersection marked one of the corners of Carrot Square. It was accompanied by a dilapidated ‘Welcome to Bunnyburrow’ sign on the corner of a parking lot in the middle of the square. In the same theme as said wall of text was a similar but much older sign that gave Bunnyburrow’s population with a rapidly increasing and wildly inaccurate counter. What was odd about it, this sign too read ‘Welcome to Bunnyburrow’ on one side and ‘You are now leaving Bunnyburrow’ on the other, even though it was very close to the center and nowhere near any place where tourists would first enter the town. Maybe there used to be a train station, Judy didn’t know or care. Actually now that the lapine thought about it, she remembered some of her classmates talking about it when she was little and still went to Woodlands Elementary School, the sign had gotten moved from a random side street to Carrot Square, and was now something of a tourist attraction.
As for the square itself, it was nothing more than the parking lot for the Department of Social Services, which had its base of operation in the old courthouse building with the pretty clock tower on top.
Judy still held on to a car throughout the turn onto Pitchfork Way. The driver noticed the stowaway behind his automobile. The unintended passenger awkwardly waved at the middle aged buck in the driver seat. He simply shook his head and kept driving. On this new road, the young doe found herself towed along the left side of Carrot Square. To her right was the aforementioned parking lot. On her left was an array of shops and other establishments.
First there was the Bank Of Animalia, where customers waited in line at an ATM. Next came the Ask Mr. Foxter Travel Agency advertising ten days on Outback Island, a bookstore came next and then were several closed down shops with boarded up and vandalised shopfronts. Some political campaign headquarter building was nested between the boarded up buildings. Lastly there was a Statler Zooyota shop.
Judy now skated past the only refuge for insects on this entire square: The only bit of greenery was a tree in front and to the left of the old courthouse building. Pitchfork Way soon terminated in another street and the abandoned Carrot Theater, all boarded up with ‘Assembly of Serendipity’ written on the marquee. The doe hooked up to another vehicle and got towed along.
Soon enough she reached Bunnyburrow Farmer’s Market. The main entrance sign was a statue of a giant carrot holding a wooden plank with the market’s name written on it in bold letters. Its paint was chipped at places and a lot of graffiti hung on to the side.
Judy hopped off of her skateboard and kicked it up. She caught it in a smooth motion and jogged towards the entrance sign. A handsome buck was waiting for her, he rushed towards the doe to stop her approach. “Hello, Skippy.” Judy chimed happily, if not a little stressed from running late.
She was very happy to see this bunny, whose fur was light grey without any markings. His shade was lighter than her own and his cheeks were quite puffy with longer fur. The buck was too lazy to keep them trimmed, much to his girlfriend’s delight. “Judy, don’t go this way. Bogo’s looking for you. If you’re caught, it’ll be four warnings in a row,” Judy’s boyfriend warned her of local law enforcement. The young doe, a year younger than her lover, was not a criminal, she just so happened to have occasional disagreements with the sheriff. The handsome buck took Judy’s arm and they ran off to a side entrance.
Time and date: 08:40 - Friday, 25th October, 1985
Skippy was peaking around the corner of a market stand, onto the muddy path with only patches remaining of a former gravel surface. He inspected the walkway between two rows of shops to see if Sheriff Bogo was anywhere in sight. Judy held her breath in anticipation. If she weren’t running late, she would refresh herself at an old fountain nearby but now she had to be quiet to allow herself and Skippy to listen out for Bogo. The big cape buffalo didn’t scare her but Judy did not fancy getting another warning. She would have to explain to her parents how she had played in traffic again. Considering how Stu was always so very intimidated by everything, this would not end well.
“All right, c’mon, I think we’re safe,” Skippy gave the all clear for Judy to come out. she hoisted her skateboard over her shoulder and casually walked next to her boyfriend. “Y’know, this time it wasn’t my fault. The Doc set all of his clocks twenty-five minutes slow.” Judy didn’t know why she felt the need to give an excuse to her lover. He wasn’t upset, only worried.
“Doc?” a loud and booming voice interrupted their casual stroll through the market. Judy winced. The deep and intimidating voice stopped her dead in her tracks. It belonged to none other than Sheriff Bogo. The imposing cape buffalo came around a corner right behind Judy and Skippy. He grunted disapprovingly.
“Am I to understand you’re still associating with Doctor Nicholas Wilde, Hopps?” He pulled out a pair of reading glasses and put them on, then the bovine reached for his utility belt and took out a notebook. With a black ballpoint pen, the biggest member of Bunnyburrow’s law enforcement started writing. The bunny couple exchanged worried glances. Judy was not looking forward to her next conversation with her parents.
Finally, after an uncomfortable few seconds, the sheriff handed a handwritten warning to the buck in front of him with a stern expression on his face. “Warning for you, Mr. Whitaker.” Judy was taken aback. She didn’t know why her boyfriend would get in trouble. After all, he wasn’t the one clinging on to cars to get around faster.
Skippy seemed to share her surprise when he lifted his arms in exasperation to gesture his confusion to Bogo. He expected as much of an explanation as Judy did. The buffalo noticed and luckily clarified. “…for trying to cover up a misdemeanour.” Judy and her boyfriend were certainly not pleased by that explanation, at least they understood. The couple would need to be more careful in the future.
Sheriff Bogo resumed writing in his notebook and soon enough he had a familiar warning ready for Judy. The purple eyed doe didn’t even need to look at it to know what it said. “And one for you, Hopps, once again for doing your dangerous stunts in the middle of traffic.” Judy didn't find her way of getting around dangerous. Riding a motorcycle or even just a bird seemed a lot riskier to the bunny.
“I believe that makes four warnings in a row.” The meek lapine felt so small next to the enormous bull in front of her. He took off his glasses again. The doe wanted to keep walking as her family’s market stand was still unattended. Her train of thought got derailed as Sheriff Bogo’s booming voice shook her ears once more. “Now let me give you some pocket change’s worth of free advice, young woman.” How often had this mean cape buffalo tried to talk sense into her? It never worked because Judy did not see anything wrong with her habits.
The cape buffalo kept lecturing. “This so-called Doctor Wilde is dangerous. He’s a shifty fox and a real untrustworthy nutcase. Should you hang around him, I warn you, you’ll end up in big trouble.” Judy was outraged. Nick Wilde was a very honourable fox whose friendship she valued greatly. The bunny was too annoyed to argue at this moment, she was currently more concerned about the abandoned market stand still waiting for her.
“Oh, yes, sir.” She mumbled out. Hopefully, Bogo would let her go soon. Maybe she could ask Skippy to keep an eye on the market stand in the meantime. The cape buffalo seemed more agitated at Judy’s tone, however. He shoved a finger into the doe’s face. “You have a real attitude problem, Hopps. You’re a slacker.” Being a slacker was not a problem Judy cared about in the slightest at this point in time. “You remind me of your father when he was your age. He was a slacker too.” Perhaps Bogo confused the word slacker for the word bunny.
Judy inwardly huffed in amusement at that thought. Her impatience was slowly getting to her. “Can I go now, Sheriff Bogo?” The bunnies started walking but the cape buffalo only kept talking. His loud and intimidating voice, a little painful on sensitive bunny ears, kept Judy from walking further. “I have been made aware that your band is on the roster for auditions this afternoon.”
Yes, that was an accurate assessment of the situation. What did this have to do with the current conversation? “Why even bother, Hopps? You haven’t got a chance.” Bogo subconsciously, or perhaps intentionally, leaned closer and closer, towering far above the little rabbits. “Well I’m gonna try anyway, no matter what you say,” retorted the rebellious bunny. “And I’ll succeed, just you wait and see!”
“Life isn't some cartoon musical where you sing a little song and your insipid dreams magically come true!” explained the irritated and likewise irritating bovine. He leaned even closer than he already was. “So let it go,” Bogo commanded. “You’re too much like your father. No Hopps ever amounted to anything in the history of Bunnyburrow.”
Judy had to strain her neck upwards so much, she could barely see his face anymore. Only his two imposing bull horns were sticking out enough to remain visible. The doe nervously looked for an answer and blurted out the first thing she could think of. “Yeah, well history is gonna change.” This prompted the bovine to grunt disapprovingly once more. “Dismissed.”
The two bunnies walked off. Skippy, nose twitching and ears down in disappointment, nervously tried talking sense into Judy. “See, this is exactly what I was talking about. I’m not playing at the audition.” The doe was disappointed by her boyfriend’s decision. He needed more confidence, that was all.
“Skippy, do you remember the only time you’ve ever acted in any sort of stage play in front of an audience? Back when we were seven. Your acting has improved since then. You’re good enough to try your luck at the audition. It’s not just music, after all. And if you fail today, we still have the audition tape.” The buck huffed. He did not want to have this talk right now.
“Don’t call it an audition tape. I’m not sending it in. And I won’t act out any mediaeval fictional tales in front of an audience either.” This was not the answer Judy hoped for. “We’ll see about that. I’ll play at the audition today.” The doe was very defiant and confident.