Slipping into her professional officer’s mask—a hard earned, enhanced variant of her kithood actor’s cosplay—Judy braced herself to walk the precipice. She smiled up at the big goat and her bigger, gleaming grin bearing down on her. The titanic, living embodiment that there might just be a kernel of truth to the words and the visions flourishing across those yellowing pages. The indisputable master of this domain, still expecting an answer from her.
And it wasn’t like she could really explain the situation if she called for back-up, right? Not exactly a ten-code for malicious threat of spells!
Judy found her paws unwilling to move, rooted to the floor under the weight of that smile and that mischievous, unyielding stare.
At least her jaw still worked. “Well…” she huffed, finding that her shoulders were free, too, enough to give an easy shrug. “I think I’d want to avoid a curse, if you don’t mind, ma’am.” She let out a giggle.
The goat arched one massive brow. Silently.
Judy blinked. Time for more careful metaphorical tread. “Not that I don’t trust you…” Yes, always good to blurt that out, Hopps. Her cheeks roasted and she hoped they didn’t bloom along with it. Reel it in. “But, well, that was your word for it!”
Judy felt a great weight lift from her shoulders as the goat let her eyes fall closed, chuckling softly with a much loftier shrug of her own. One which sent so much more of herself in motion. “I understand, darling.”
Okay, that bought her at least a little thinking time. Still not nearly enough to go over all of the implications of magic being real and simply given to her, but enough to at least decide between the options given. She hadn’t been lying; that ‘curse’ as the massive goat had so delightfully described it sounded like her worst possible option.
Assuming magic was real. Worst case it wasn’t, she’d humoured a neighbourhood crazy and walked away without a scratch, no biggie.
But if it was—and, again, goats didn’t grow to be nine feet tall, Hopps!, not unless her blood was one-hundred percent growth hormone—then she had to consider herself. She was a professional, and she could fix her mask in place firmly, but that did not mean that she did not still feel her emotions. Like any mammal, really. No matter how much her partner loved to remind her, it wasn’t just bunnies that were so emotional.
Okay, maybe she could have stood to make that point while her Dad wasn’t stood in a puddle of tears at the family wedding they were attending. But who didn’t love a good reception?!
No… She smiled up at the towering ovine before her. If Judy was going to have an opportunity to see things from her own elevated vantage point, she was going to do in a way where she had control. “You know,” she chirped, folding her arms, letting her ears loll as her head titled. “That Appetite Alteration spell sounds interesting…”
“An excellent choice, my dear,” Stephanie replied, bangles rattling as she flapped her way through the massive pages. Maybe interesting was more the descriptor of it as a potential, but if it worked then… it sounded perfect for Judy’s predicament. If it was linked to food, then that meant she could remain fully in control over how much, when, or even if, she grew. After all… she closed her eyes, remembering the wiry, taut, toned bunny that greeted her in her full-length mirror, if slightly damp from the shower. She’d spent so many mornings chatting to Clawhauser en route to the bullpen, but between her regimen and her willpower, she hadn’t put on so much as an ounce!
And yet, the option was right there for her to indulge when she wanted to!
“Now, remember, honey!” Judy stiffened, eyes leaping back to the counter and finding Stephanie’s own glinting down at her. “This little number’s tied to an item of clothing, so…”
Ah, yes… that part of it had slipped by a little under her radar, even with the massive receivers splaying out above her. Hence why they splayed! Her cheeks bristled for a moment, but she chewed her lips softly. Contemplatively. Surely that could give her even more control over the situation, right? She could feel her shoulders squaring, matching the budding beam across her muzzle. If she needed to be wearing an item of clothing for the spell to take any effect, then that was entirely down to her, too! All she needed to do was pick something she could easily hide, or something innocuous, then—
“Needachlan!” Judy gasped. “Ondivini!” A sudden warm fizzing danced across her skin, as though countless insects were swarming all over her, her arms stiff to her sides through sheer shock. But once the moment had passed, and a few breaths steadied her jangled nerves, she couldn’t help finding the ghostly tingles across her fur to be almost… pleasant as they faded away.
“There we are!” Stephanie beamed, slamming the book closed with another bejewelled chorus.
Judy shook her head, puffing out a breath as her brow chilled. “Was that it?” More to be sure, than anything, if the goat was going to pull any other surprises on her.
The goat grinned. “Sure was, sweetie!” She chuckled, heaving herself down to lean over the counter, practically leering down at Judy. “Now, whenever you’re wearing your uniform, the Appetite Alteration spell will be active!”
Judy propped her shoulders up as best she could, her grin frozen even as she felt her chest deflate. “Oh!” Well… that took away at least a little bit of her control.
Stephanie brought her hooves together, leaning onto her shoulder. “Well, judging by how often I see you on the news in your blues, darling, I thought you’d get the most chance to play around with the spell without it being suspicious.” Stephanie grinned. “You must surely know all about the cops and doughnuts stereotype, after all?”
Judy chuckled. It felt genuine. “Yeah, I know…” she teased, practically able to hear the front desk groaning all the way from the shop. Plus… it wasn’t like she’d lost control with it being her uniform, given her self-control around the goodies. And it was her uniform. Her choice.
Her chance to see what it might be like to live a little on the large side after all!
Cheeks bunching fiercely as she smiled, Judy again looked up at the goat. “So… what do I owe you?”
Stephanie huffed, light dancing in her eyes. Still might not get over all… that. “Nothing, darling.” She tittered. Judy shook out a little laugh of her own, toes itching on the floor. A suspiciously magical goat who described her own work as a curse ‘gifting’ her a free spell? Sure, nothing suspicious about that. She didn’t even know much in the way of fantasy, and she could tell that!
So, apparently, could Stephanie. Perhaps her mask wasn’t ironclad, after all?
The massive goat chuckled, much more loud than the mere titter. “Oh, trust me, sweetie, this isn’t some monkey’s paw-type deal.” She swept a hoof down her heaving chest, shaking her head Okay… that seemed a little more sincere. “Think of it as more a recognition of how much I twisted your little arm into this idea!” she said, bustling out from behind the counter, her great height even more apparent in the open. “But if you’re not happy in, say, a few months’ time, why don’t you pop back here and we’ll see if there’s anything else up your alley?” Once again, those massive branches swung together over her paunchy middle, folding beneath her piercing stare. “Sound fair?”
Craning all the way back, practically having to tip-toe to meet those eyes, Judy didn’t feel she had much room to suggest otherwise. “Very…” she murmured. Well, thinking about it—when the goat swept past her towards the door—she couldn’t really argue against that. A seemingly real chance to grow and feel more comfortable in her own city, and see how a certain fox felt, with the chance to have a do-over. For nothing?!
“Now.” Judy whipped around to find Stephanie holding the door open, arms twinkling in the cascading light. “I believe you have a ‘friend to impress?”
Judy grinned. She most certainly did.
On her terms.
~
1) Judy is in luck—her next few weeks are filled with desk work. Plenty of opportunities to gorge on goodies at her own pace, without suspicion!
2) The next day, Bogo assigns her and Nick a case revolving around a series of thefts from some of Zootopia’s most popular take-outs and beloved family-run restaurants… all of whose food looks increasingly tempting to her…
3) Judy is back on her usual patrol for the following weeks, but between various medical absences, maternity leaves, and badly-timed vacations, the little bunny is run off her paws. Barely finding time for lunch of a day…
4) Well… Stephanie didn’t lie when she said this wasn’t a monkey’s paw type arrangement. What she did lie about was tying the spell to her uniform!
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