Zootopia in Love (Illustrated)

7: Yellow Paint

Taking a long draw of her coffee, Gazelle was glad to be home again in Zootopia, the city she loved. The cool autumn morning breeze chilled her short fur, and she knew that for the duration of the season, she wouldn't be going anywhere outside of Savannah Central. The coming winter would put a strain on the district's climate control, just as the summer heat beats down on Tundra Town. She loved the warm tropics with Clawhauser, and their honeymoon couldn't be any more relaxing, joyous, and a celebration of their union. They completed each other, and the worries they had in their life, and worries to come, were beginning to feel less stressful. Just thinking of him made her heart flutter, her eyes twinkle with passion, and she considered herself the luckiest girl in Zootopia.

She finished her coffee as she wished Clawhauser a wonderful day over a text message on her phone. Tossing the cup into the trash bin, she pointed herself across the street to the crafts store, a little shop of artistic supplies aptly named PIGments. The door chimed as she entered, and she would attempt to make the visit quick. The owner, Claris, was a real talker and Gazelle could never write a word in edgewise. She wondered if the over-chatty pig could even read. She had been painting like wildfire until her wedding day, and the tropics had been like a ten-day blast of inspiration afterward. She was filled to the brim and itching to get back to it. She thought she'd start with a portrait of herself and her husband, something she could hang on the wall to christen their new life, or rather the continuation of it since they already lived together. She grabbed the tubes of paint she needed and quickly made her way to the counter. The young boy cashier rang her up, and she thought she was free until her senses pinged.

The air seemed to sit still and the color of the world desaturated, there was something around, lurking, looming, and dangerous. It uneased her and adrenaline started rushing, she wanted to go home immediately, she had to find safety, and be safe. Claris had walked in from the back welcoming Gazelle with a smile and beginning to ramble, but Gazelle's instincts were still picking up on the mysterious source of fear. She didn't even listen to the shop owner and her prattling ego, she paid quickly and rudely left to go home, not at all minding how things looked to people around her.

Gazelle came out of the shop in a hurry and almost ran into another antelope. The encounter startled her, and was glad she didn't bump into him, his coffee looked hot.

"Oh, pardon me." The guy said, then with a second glance, he asked a question.

"Aren't you Gazelle, the singer from a while back?" She shook her head, hoping her long flat hair would be enough to fool him and she can be on her way. "Yeah, it's totally you! You are so amazing!" Gazelle turned to leave but he had stopped her. "Hey, if it's not too much to ask, can I have an autograph?" It wasn't a typical thing people asked anymore, maybe enough time had passed where the spiteful ones moved on to hate something else. She felt flattered, so she smiled and nodded anyway. She pulled her notepad from her purse and whipped her name out on a page. She tore it out but was pushed down by the antelope, and she hardly knew what hit her as her new tubes of paint scattered across the concrete. She fell back on the sidewalk with a thump and quickly tried to get up, but was shocked when coffee had been poured on her shirt. The blistering heat of it stung for a brief moment and she squeaked sharply, rapidly trying to wipe it off. The antelope snapped a photo with his phone and walked away, prideful he got to take a shot at the former pop star. She rubbed off as much coffee as she could, and looked at her ruined shirt, and she liked that shirt. She sighed, gathering her thoughts and dropped items along the sidewalk as people chuckled at her embarrassing predicament.

"Here, let me." An exotically accented voice came and a paw was held out for her. She didn't see who was helping her up from the sidewalk but when she had touched the paw, she had connected with the source of her fear. She widened her eyes upon one of her tiger backup dancers, this one was Anuj. She could always tell them apart, though the four identical brothers were never apart themselves, it was odd to see him alone. She took her paw back and helped herself up. She paced a step back from the large dancer, and seen that he had never lost his theatric flair. He was still wearing some makeup, and his eyes were trimmed with eyeliner. She thought the four brothers would return home to Bengaldesh by now without any work, but perhaps they had found something, somewhere. The large tiger bent down and retrieved the tubes of paint for her, placing them in the bag and giving it nicely back to her. "My apologies, Gaz. It's been so long, I hope you are doing well." She shook her head and took back the bag from him, she wanted to leave but he kept engaging her. "My brothers and I work for a furniture moving company now. It's back-breaking work but it pays ok... is everything alright? I see you've been splashed. That's a shame, there's a group on Twitter called 'Drinks On Me' where people throw drinks on celebrities and share pictures of it, it's rather entertaining." She didn't think so and shook her head again, still frightful of him even though anyone passing by would just think this encounter was two friends talking idly. She quickly explained by tapping the scar at the base of her neck and letting out a broken note, Anuj understood. She couldn't tell if he pitied her, or resented her. "No voice? That's a shame. Perhaps it's karma?" He had it backwards. She lost her voice before the record company destroyed her image and her life. There was no good way of explaining this and she excused herself to go home.