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“I can’t tell, you know.”
Officer Nicholas Wilde narrowed his eyes and leant back against the front wing of the parked ZPD Prowler, nonchalantly scratching the tip of his nose with a claw.
“Isn’t it always that size?” he asked, calling back over his shoulder.
Officer Judith Hopps dropped nimbly down from the Prowler’s driving seat, skipping around the front of the vehicle to join him.
“The moon hasn’t been this close to us in years, Nick. It’s a full one and — oh, what did they say on the news? — it’s fifteen percent larger in the sky tonight!”
“It’s amazing, don’t you think?” she asked, her voice brimming with wonder.
They’d been on the mountain patrol route that evening when the Prowler’s driving log timer had begun to chime insistently, a reminder for Judy to take her prescribed rest break.
She’d often get carried away by the act of driving, but had it really been two hours?
Pulling off at a roadside viewpoint, they’d rolled up to a stop beside a lonely little multi-tiered picnicking bench. A glimpse of a silvery and orange haze low on the horizon behind the city had reminded her of something she’d heard earlier on the news.
There’d be something special about tonight’s moon. It’d be a ’super-moon’, they’d said.
“Fiff-teen percent,” the fox drawled, eyebrow raised, mimicking her intonation.
Judy’s eye twitched.
“That’s like me doing this,” Nick glanced sideways and stepped marginally closer to Judy.
“I’m a super-fox now?” he enquired.
“Well, Carrots, I accept the accolade.”
His paw rested flat on his chest.
“Oh, har har,” she mocked, rolling her eyes.
“I would think that's relative to the size of the object. It’s somewhat greater up there, Nick.”
Judy began to pace over towards the bench a little way from the Prowler.
“Although, your ego does come in a close second sometimes.”
Running a paw across wood heavily notched with the marks and declarations of previous visitors, Judy brushed away the early dew and leapt up to the mid-height platform.
She turned to survey the brightening night sky, resting her paws on her hips.
After a moment or two she dropped to sit, letting out a huff of breath. Looking back at her companion, she saw he was checking his phone, the light from the screen picking out the lines of his face.
“Oh, honestly, Nick.”
“Hm?”
He didn’t look up.
“Put your phone away. Don’t you find any of it even slightly inspiring?” she asked.
He clicked the phone off, pocketing it in one deft movement.
“Define slightly for me, would you? More, or less than fiff-teen percent?”
“Nicholas Wilde!”
She stiffened, waving her paw threateningly.
“I’m prepared to overlook impersonating an officer on this occasion, but I can still write you another ticket for being a jerk. That’ll be four this week, you know.”
“Need I remind you, one more and you’re buying me lunch,” she cautioned.
“So sorry, Fluff.” Nick conceded with a little shrug of his shoulders.
“You’re supposed to be on a break. I know.”
Without her realising, Nick had slunk to stand alongside her.
“You enjoy the view, Hopps.”
He was smiling patiently. Judy’s face softened a little as he waved a paw out ahead of her with a little flourish.
The moon had passed over the highest tower in Downtown now. Wolf howls began to drift in upon the still evening air. Judy’s ears rose instinctively, her back straightening. Nick lowered his gaze, nodding his head seriously towards the direction of the sound, far in the distance.
“The wolves certainly are.”
Judy suddenly laughed, bright and clear, and that made Nick laugh too, but soon the pair became silent again as the view started to work on them.
The sounds of the night and the city and the sky crept in and together they watched the moon, so bright now it was casting their own shadows long behind them, climbing steadily ever higher over the glittering towers and orange-lit labyrinths of the city.
Later, neither of them could say with any degree of accuracy how much time passed before the radio in the Prowler behind them began to chirrup and crackle. But however long or short a time it was, they were both thankful for each moment.
Hotel Whiskey Five Six.
Hotel Whiskey Five Six, this is Dispatch.
Judy blinked, eyelids fluttering as she took a deepening breath, the spell broken.
“Ohh. C’mon then, super-fox, duty calls.”
Pushing down to the ground, she jogged briskly back to the Prowler. The gravel crunched lightly under her footpaws as she leapt back up to her seat.
Nick lingered a moment.
He took his phone from his pocket once more and tapped it awake.
It had been taken a little earlier when he’d snuck the photo, and from the rather shallow angle it had been taken at, it appeared that as the moon breached above the jagged skyline, a small rabbit was stood defiantly larger than life over the city, picked out in relief by its light. A tiny thing, taking on the world.
Well. He’d found that pretty inspiring.
The engine of the Prowler turned over, starting with a low rumble. There was an impatient vuh-vrrrr as Judy eagerly coaxed the throttle.
“Wilde! Quit daydreaming and get in!”
He slipped his phone back in his pocket. He’d show her the photo when they got off shift. He’d already worked out a couple of good super-rabbit taunts to try out.
He turned to join his partner.