Zootopia: The Visitor

Keep Your Enemies Closer

[Judy]

  I hopped out of the van after we parked in the first lot we had come across that wasn't full. It was a little ways from where we needed to go, so we were gonna have to do some walking.

  Nick and Luke both jumped out of the back clutching their ears, as they had been right next to Finnick's speakers when he had suddenly blasted them with his "music."

  "You guys alright?" I asked.

  Luke looked up with a blank face. "What?"

  "Are you guys alright?" I repeated a little louder this time.

  Nick butted in. "Not counting my earlobes? I'm doing great."

  "Good. Let's get walking. Finnick, are you coming?" I asked through the passenger window.

  Finn leaned back in his seat, shades on and hung his arm out of his window. "Nope. I'ma just chill right here. Don't hurry back," he waved us off.

  "Suit yourself," I began in the direction of the place we would be walking to first. Nick and Luke casually strode alongside me as we entered a more populated part of town. It took a minute, but once we were on the sidewalk amongst all of the mammals there, I began to notice stares from each of them as we passed through. I remembered when we first came across Luke in the city. There had been gasps of horror and fear at the sight of him. The reactions weren't so dramatic this time around, thankfully. It could have been because he wasn't in as close of a proximity, so in turn his strange appearance didn't come to be as much of a surprise.

  Another reason might have been that he had me and Nick with him this time, which made him look significantly more normal. There were a lot of strange animals in Zootopia, and Luke wasn't hideous. He just wasn't what anybody was used to.

  I looked over everything as we made our way. The sidewalks, the streets, the buildings. It was the middle of the day, so there were a lot of mammals heading to and from work, as well as taking care of errands and other daily business. Needless to say, the streets were filled.

  We passed a wide variety of shops and stores with an assortment of things to buy, and each had more than their fair share of mammals filing in and out. I could tell that Luke was feeling a bit insecure about being in public. After all, the last time he'd tried it, he had been chased by a couple of cops.

  After some consideration, I thought I'd try and make some conversation with him. Maybe that'd help take his mind off of everything else.

  "So Luke, how old are you exactly?" I had been wondering since he looked pretty young, but I hadn't been able to tell his exact age.

  "Seventeen," he replied.

  His answer made me think of something else. "So you're still in high school. They do have high school where you're from, right?"

  "Yeah that's right. This would've been my last year of it if- you know..." he trailed off, not wanting anyone else to overhear.

  I nodded in understanding. "Got it."

  "I've got something I've been wondering about too," Nick wedged himself into the conversation.

  "Hit me up."

  "Are humans the only animals in your... vicinity, that can talk?"

  Luke seemed almost like he was about to break bad news. "Yeah, I'm afraid so. Unless you count parrots or parakeets. They can sort of talk, but not really so yep, we're kind of alone in that category," he laid it out for him.