Chapter Text
Nick felt his legs slide out from under him as the warm, stuffy bus came to a halt. He lunged forward and gripped a nearby seat to maintain his balance. Standing up a little taller, the young fox tightened his claws around his suitcase and looked forward with a mix of determination and wariness. They arrived at the place he was going to call home for the rest of the summer. Happy Connections Summer Camp.
Camp counselors milled around him on the stationary bus with excited chatter and barely suppressed anticipation. While Nick was not going to claim he lived for this experience like some of the other camp counselors seemed to, he still felt the buzz of excitement ripple through his fur. Nick had not participated in anything like this before, and he didn’t even think it would be possible for a predatory fox to engage in such a thing until this summer camp opened up. The camp advertised itself with the main purpose of uniting young predators and prey to promote peace for future generations.
His first reaction to the news of the grand opening was of disbelief and annoyance. Did they really think they were going to pull off that feat? Predator and prey alike holding hands and singing kumbaya? Nick knew first hand that something like that was a difficult task. His thoughts immediately regressed back to his brief traumatic experience as a Junior Ranger Scout.
But then the fox found himself laying awake that night, thinking what if. What if this was something that could be accomplished? What if uniting predators and prey when they were young was the answer? He could show the world that mammals weren’t born with prejudice, they were taught it.
The next day, Nick laid out the crumpled flyer in front of him. His cautious green eyes scanned the paper before stopping at the eye-catching bold words: Recruiting Camp Counselors Now! And then in smaller font: must be 18 years or older. Which was perfect because Nick had just turned 19. He could barely believe his actions when he flew through the application, sealed it up in an envelope, and sent it through the mail with flickering hope and newfound motivation. A few weeks later, he participated in a nerve-wracking interview which later ended in his acceptance. To the fox who was used to being underestimated and judged before introductions were made, it was a feeling of victory he hadn’t felt in a very long time.
That was how he found himself standing amongst fellow mammals in an old rusty bus with the hot summer sun streaming through the windows. He felt like he was being cooked in a mammal sized oven.
Eventually, the front double doors screeched open and the predator and prey around him cheered. Fresh summer air began to fill up the space and Nick sucked in a breath, cherishing a breeze that wasn’t stale. A small genuine smile grew on the young tod’s snout as the excited energy around him became infectious.
“Ready to make the world a better place?” a small voice perked up Nick’s ears, and he turned his head. At first, he didn’t see anything except two stick straight, giant ears. He shifted his gaze a little bit lower, and there stood a small, grey rabbit. She had large violet eyes, a giant smile that emphasized her obvious excitement, and everything about her was round. He wondered if that was a bunny thing. Nick thought he could afford to be rounder since he was practically skin and bones with a jumble of lanky limbs and large paws, still growing into his body. In other words, he was a late bloomer. He offered her a grin.
“Looks like you’re ready enough for the both of us,” he said. The young rabbit hiked her duffel bag up on her shoulder, and somehow, her smile grew even wider.
“I’m Judy. Judy Hopps. And you are?” she asked. Nick turned his body all the way around, so he was fully facing her, and stuck his paw out.
“Nick Wilde,” the fox responded. Judy Hopps stuck her small paw in his and gave it a surprisingly firm shake. Nick felt shockingly delighted that a small prey animal like her wasn’t afraid to shake the paw of a larger predator. His tail, which he had yet to learn how to control, started to wag on its own. He inconspicuously slid his paw behind his back and grabbed the traitor, willing it to stop before he had to turn back around. To his dismay, the line in front of him began to move forward closer to the door of the bus. He looked over his shoulder at the moving mammals and turned back around to the bunny in front of him.
“Well Judy, let’s hop to it,” Nick said, cracking a grin at his joke. She shook her head with a chuckle and put a paw to her forehead.
“If your jokes are usually this bad, this is going to be a long summer,” Judy said. Nick cackled and turned to walk off the bus, releasing his tail. If she noticed the wagging, he could at least argue it was from his amazing sense of humor.
The bright sun greeted him, making his sensitive eyes crinkle up. He produced a pair of sunglasses from his suitcase and was greeted by two chipper-looking mammals. One was an albino squirrel with circular glasses, and another was a rather large tiger. Both of them held clipboards and regarded Nick with such friendliness that he felt immensely awkward.
“Welcome to camp! My name is Sasha, I will be your camp director this summer, and this is my assistant director, Jessie! Please provide your name so we can check you in,” the squirrel said with a level of enthusiasm Nick never felt before in his 19 years of living.
“Nick Wilde,” Nick said, clearing his throat and linking his lanky arms behind his back.
“Welcome Nick! Thanks for joining us this summer,” the tiger, Jessie, said with a smile. He checked off something on his clipboard. Nick began to gather up his things but was cut off by the squirrel’s shrill voice.
“NICK NICK YOU’RE OUR PACK, WE WILL ALWAYS HAVE YOUR BACK! WOOOOOO EVERYBODY WELCOME NICK!!!” The squirrel chanted, jumping up and down waving her paws and clipboard in the air. A few of the mammals that were already outside of the bus waved at Nick with twinkling eyes full of mirth. Nick’s own eyes were wide as his ears pinned against his head. He was going to need to invest in some earplugs if that was going to be a normal occurrence. He rubbed the back of his head and awkwardly chucked.
“Uh, thanks. Happy to be here.” He swiftly snatched up his suitcase and scurried away before another chant could start. As he joined the other waiting mammals, he glanced toward the bunny who was checking in after him. He heard her soft voice say her name, and he braced himself for whatever was going to come out of the squirrel's mouth next. He was glad he did so because in the next moment, the squirrel yelled,
“JUDY JUDY YOU’RE SO COOL, WE’RE GLAD YOU’RE HERE BECAUSE YOU RULE!”
Sasha let out a cheer and spun around, trying to recruit the other mammals to cheer with her again. Nick noticed Judy’s large ears pressed back against her head as if trying to filter out the noise. Her smile looked like a suppressed wince as she nodded in greeting before scurrying away toward Nick. Judy’s violet eyes locked with his, and they widened. Nick couldn’t stop the smile that grew on his muzzle.
“Not a fan of big noises, Hopps?”
“If her voice got any higher, she would have broken the sound barrier,” Judy whispered aggressively. Nick barked out a laugh, leaning over to smack a paw against his knee.
The fox and the rabbit stood next to each other as two more mammals walked off the bus, each with their own overly enthusiastic greeting. Nick wondered if he would ever get used to that level of noise.
Once everyone was off the bus, Sasha and Jessie walked with purpose over to the waiting group. Sasha brought her small paw up to her brow to shield the morning sun as she addressed the congregation of mammals.
“We are so happy to have you all here! Give yourself a big pat on the back for trying something new and being the voices of a new generation!” the squirrel punctuated her dialogue with another big “whoop!” that had Judy pulling at her ears. There was scattered applause before Jessie stepped in.
“As you all know, you will have this weekend to prepare for your campers that will be arriving on Monday. As a general overview, there will be two mammals assigned to one cabin, and we have 5 cabins that will hold 10 campers. You will learn your partner and assigned cabin tonight. We will start this morning off with a tour of the grounds and then spend the rest of this weekend learning activities and schedules, standard guidelines, and getting to know each other,” Jesse said.
The squirrel next to the tiger bounced up and down excitedly.
“Speaking of getting to know each other, we have a team-building activity on the schedule tonight, so plan to let your guard down and get to know each and every one of your neighbors! After all, we will be stuck with each other for the whole summer. We want to make this experience as wonderful as possible for everyone here. Got it?” Sasha wiggled her eyebrows with vigor. Nick swallowed and glanced at Judy out of the corner of his eye. She seemed to be eating it up, getting more excited by the moment. Nick didn’t really looveeee the idea of opening himself up to strangers. In fact, he kind of hated it. With effort, Nick shoved that worry to the back of his mind. It was something he was going to have to worry about later that night. But at that moment, there was work to do.