Ask Gideon and Sharla; 20 years later; Rude Customers

Gideon: Well...iffin' ya have me hard-pressed to pick some out...I er...well I mean we live in a purty 'bunny dense' county. I mean, our town is called 'Bunnyburrow' fer cryin' out loud. Also, bunny weddin's are....big business. Still, I don't want to make it seem like it's exclusively a bunny thang but-.

Sharla: Well I'm not afraid to say it, almost all bunny brides are real bridezillas...just to varying degrees.

Gideon: D-Darlin' please-...

Sharla: All of our horror stories usually involve a bunny bride. Our worst stories specifically focus on Jilly Hopps, as she's been back to us for three different marriages.

Gideon: Ehh...yeah Jilly was...she's real...disagreeable...

Sharla: That's sugarcoating it. She almost always came in three sheets to the wind, making demands like she was some sort of dictator by virtue of throwing our partnership with the Hopps family farm out between every daiquiri-fumed breath. 

Gideon; Also usually ate two cakes worth o' samples every time she came in despite knowin' the flavors purty well by then...

Sharla: The puking in our toilet and bawling about getting married...Gods, the last time she came in she actually had the gall to hit on you! I nearly tossed her out on her ass right there!

Gideon: Y-yeah...that was real uncomfortable...her whisperen' slurred sweet nothin's up to me...breath smellin' o' sick and sour alcohol...*shudders*. I didn't take her fer a crosser...

Sharla: She's pushin' fifty with three failed marriages, at this point she's desperate for anything...oh, and of course at the end of it all she makes sure to bring up the 'Hopps family discount'....real classy rabbit that one...

Gideon: Most o' the Hopps don't even ask fer it outta respect fer our smaller family...

Sharla: Weddings aside, again bunnies tend to be our rudest customers...whether it's casual or overt speciesism toward my mate, I'm looking at you Misses Hoppley...

Gideon: Well, she's pushin' a hundred years old...old lady is set in her ways. Then there's also the...y'know...I mean I picked on a lotta the younger folks who come in when we were younger...I sorta expec-...

Sharla: We're all adults now, it's time to grow up and out of that sort of thing. You did, so what excuse do they really have? Oh also, then there are the bunnies that have trouble with us being an interspecies couple, yet still, come to us for all their baking needs! A few of them have landed themselves on the 'banned for life' list because I caught them whispering about us.

Gideon: Now Darlin'...

Sharla: I don't know what it is about middle-aged, single does, but they love their gossip...oh and don't get me started on how insanely picky some of them are, especially when it comes to carrot cake! It's like, if you want it the way 'your mother makes it', then lamb shanks just have your mother make it and leave us out of it!

Gideon: Black Forest Cake...yer bubblin' over...this is gonna be bad fer our publicity...

Sharla: O-Oh! Sorry, sugar-fox...I just...I've been bottling a lot up I guess...sometimes I wonder if it would have been better or worse to pick up and move the business to Zootopia instead of staying here...

Gideon: It's alright Darlin' I understand. And even if we had been the family to pack up shop here, we'd still need someone to operate this arm of the business and deliver supplies up to our city store from the Hopps' place. Easier to let some of the Hopps run our city store since a few of them were aspirin' bakers lookin' to follow after Judy in terms of tryin' their paws at city livin'...me, fer the occasional trouble we run into livin' and workin' how we do out here well...I'm always gonna prefer country livin'. 

Sharla: Yeah...and I suppose it was better for our pups too. They may get teased from time to time, but as I've heard from Judy with her pups, it's no better in the city when it comes to that...

Gideon: Kits can be real cruel...y'all can trust me on that one...

Ask the Hunter-Girls; Sons and Masculinity

 

Ada: No offense to da rest of yas, but I tink I've got to market cornered on givin' my pups a pep talk when it comes ta not bein' masculine enough. I can just go ' Hey look at yas Mom, I ain't traditionally feminine and I do just fine...youse gotta be youse!"

Dawn: I wouldn't count my side of the family out either, though to be fair I think Vernon would make for a better example in this conversation...in fact, he's already had that talk with Edison...

Vanna: Aww... what happened?

Dawn: Edi had some other rams making fun of him at school because he didn't like sports and...well he's kind of small and fragile like me. It was eating at him for a while, and he eventually went to his father to talk about it. Thankfully Vernon was able to put him at ease by talking about being in the same boat growing up, and pointing to some of his own brothers as examples in terms of feeling inadequate to them in terms of masculinity. He went on to explain that there's no 'required roadmap' to being a male, and that 'masculine traits are not all about being extremely active and muscular'. That it's about being 'honorable, reliable, kind, and understanding. That it's about trying to be the best version of yourself you can be.'

Qali: Wow...Vernon really did take to being a Dad with Gusto huh? *giggles*

Vanna: That sounds like that conversation came right out of Dorian's muzzle...

Dawn: *Snickers* Well I can't say for certain, considering Dorian's stance on Vernon's choice of career for several years, but it definitely felt like a fatherly pep talk for sure. And it worked thankfully. Edison has seemed more confident and less shy about his interests since then. He's even been very vocal about joining the math team in order to set the groundwork for being an astronaut.

Vanna: That's delightful to hear. I'm so glad my little nephew turned around on his doubts like that.

Ada: Yeah, good on da little guy!

Vanna: As for the rest of us, I think we could all manage a serviceable job when it comes to reassuring our kittens about such matters. Between us and our mates, I don't think anyone is a definition of perfect masculinity or femininity, and so we all stand to be able to connect with them in one way or another should they have such doubts.

Giselle: And If we can't provide a decent enough comparison about being masculine or feminine, thankfully we got a lot o' aunts and uncles to lean on in order to better reassure our calfs.

Dawn: Speaking of, Vanna and Ada, I just wanted to put a feeler out about getting help should Allison ever come to us with concerns about not being 'feminine' enough. I get the feeling she's been having trouble, but unlike Edison, she's more prone to burying those feelings than dealing with them, and I know better than to try and pry them out of her.

Ada: I getcha, da two tomboy aunts comin' in to save da day. Youse can count on me when yas need it.

Vanna: Same here sis, I'm always happy to talk to my nephew and nieces whenever...you know Zach and I adore them.

Ask Edi and Alli; Music Interests

 

Allison: Classic rock and metal songs. Red Hot Canid Peppers, Hound Garden, Metailica. Oh...not sure if it counts as rock, but also bands like the Killers, Arctic Monkeys, and I know this isn't rock but The Decempurrists.

Edison: And Gazelle.

Allison: we don't talk about that in public, alright squirt?

Edison: I don't know why you're embarrassed about liking Auntie Gazelle's music... lots of mammals like her music!

Allison: That's the problem. Too many mammals like her music. It's too mainstream! Too 'herd mentality...

Edison: I don't get it...

Allison: You will when you're older, okay?

Edison: Okay...Well um...I like Gazelle, And um...the Beagles and Elvhiss. But my favorite stuff is music from video games, and remixes. Also, mom and Dad got me into this stuff called 'Electro-swing", and I think it sounds super neat.

Allison: You are such a dork. *Chuckles*

Edison: Yeah, so what? I like what I like...I don't care if it makes me a dork!

Allison: *Shakes head* And you wonder why I have to save your butt in school so often...