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Bonnie Hopps was caught up in the bustle of the event, hardly able to keep track of only a hundred of her children, much less all two-hundred and seventy-five of various ages. Their Bunnyburrow farm was hosting a foreign dignitary! The ambassador from Reptilopolis was visiting their farm to discuss a new trade deal for carrots - turns out there were a _lot_of vegetarian reptiles, and the cold-blooded people couldn't farm quite like a bunny.

They'd pulled out all the stops, setting up a long buffet table to show off each of their vegetables, with sugary treats at the end and glasses of carrot root beer. The one problem was that when the reptiles finally arrived, Bonnie hadn't realized the Ambassador was a snake. She didn't have proper seating arrangements for the python, or proper food. Most carnivores ate fish or insects primarily, but considering the reason for their visit, Bonnie had expected only vegetarians. The iguanas and newts and turtles seemed to appreciate the spread, but after looking around, Ambassador Snavely only found one thing he could eat.

"Oh dear," Bonnie groaned, watching the large snake lift hors d'oeuvres to his mouth by his tail. There weren't enough dried locusts available to fill the snake's mouth, much less his belly. This could be an international incident if she couldn't get Mr. Snavely some more food.

"Stu, dear, please hurry to the store and get some fish. I'm afraid we're not being particularly good hosts."

"Oh, yes, dear," the old farmer said, hopping to it.

Bonnie sighed. At least the day was going well for everyone else. She hoped there was enough food for all her kids, too. Speaking of which, she took a step to her left and almost tackled a young one. Edith.

"Watch where you're going!" she gasped.

The little grey bunny was almost as old as Judy was when she'd left for Zootopia, but thankfully, Edith didn't have the same crazy ambition as her sister. She seemed content to farm carrots and lettuce and onions all day. At least, as far as Bonnie could remember. She was still learning the names of her newest litter.

"But I wasn't moving."

"Well, you have to be aware of your surroundings, dear, or you'll end up where you don't want to be. Now, what are you doing? Are you getting enough to eat?"

Edith was staring at the tray of locusts that Mr. Snavely was eating. "C-can I try that?" she asked, her long ears flicking.

Bonnie's eyes widened. "Well, it won't hurt you, I suppose. Just make sure you ask the Ambassador politely, first - oh, and tell him we'll be serving fish soon."

Ever since Judy stunned the family by trying something new, and those kids listened to that newfangled Gazelle, they were trying all sorts of weird things. Let the girl try a bug and see how unpleasant they really are. She knew that look on Edith's face; she'd seen it hundreds of time's on Judy's. When those headstrong girls put their mind to something, they didn't stop until it was done.

"Now go on," she said, pushing Edith forward so that she could hop around to the next important guest.

* * * * *

Mr. Snavely scanned the festival, grimacing as he managed to lift another tiny snack to his lips. There was _nothing_to eat here! He had to wonder if they'd known a carnivore was even coming. He towered above the other guests, at least when he held his head upright. He couldn't help but feel a little annoyed by how _happy_the lizards and turtles seemed to be. He should have brought his own food.

Before he could finish off the last of the locusts, he saw a flicking, and realized there were two grey ears peeking up above the table. "Hello there, dear...?" he asked quietly.

She had to lift herself up, resting her arms on the table to be seen, the cute little rabbit girl saying, "Mr. Snavely?"

"Yes?"

"Mom says...sorry, I mean, I'm Edith Hopps."

"It's very nice to meet you, Edith," the politic snake replied.

"Mom says," she started again with no preamble, "I should ask, well..."

The snake cocked his head to the side, gazing down at the little bunny, flicking her tail.

"I couldn't help but watch you eating those bugs and I...really think you're cool," she said, blushing madly.

Snavely paused, then reached for another locust with his tail, brining it to his lips. Sure enough, the rabbit watched with impossibly large eyes as he tossed it back and gulped. Even without a large meal, she could see the ripple running down his throat as he swallowed the hors d'oeuvre.

"Well, thank you, Edith," he said, though he felt a little silly. These mammals thought everything about reptiles was strange and exotic. He ate like anyone else!

"And, um..."

There was more?

The bunny seemed even shyer than before. She lowered her long ears behind her head, looking pleadingly up at the snake. "She said I could ask if you would do that to me."

Snavely blinked. Feed her a locust? Swallow her? He held his breath. "What?"

"I mean, if you want to, of course, Mr. Snavely."

"I...don't think we should be talking about this here," he said quickly. Even a whiff of this conversation could really blow up in his face, though of course he would never do such a thing. "Is there some place we could talk privately?"

Edith had to think for a moment, before she said, "The playground out back? Everyone is out here for the party."

The esteemed python nodded, sliding after the little girl as she hopped away. On the way, he picked up his cape from the table. Clouds looked like they were rolling in, and he didn't want to get too cold. He felt much, much safer now that they were out of the prying eyes and ears of his colleagues. Until he saw the playground equipment. It was your standard stairs-based wooden construction (would no one think of the snakes?) except for the slides down (or up, in his case), but he couldn't help but notice that the biggest slide was a covered plastic tunnel made up to look like a green snake.

Edith sat on the first step, and said, "Here we are."

Snavely cut to the chase. "You want me to _swallow_you?"

"Mom said I could," she replied. "As long as I asked politely."

"Don't you know what that would mean?"

"Yes...?"

Mr. Snavely's stomach growled. Perhaps this was a rabbit custom? That would explain why there was no reasonable food at the buffet. But could he really _eat_a person? And a child, no less? He knew that rabbits bred like rabbits, but he'd always assumed they had the same self-preservation instinct as anyone else.

"Would your mom be terribly offended if I said no?" he asked, shivering. He'd been trained by the embassy to respect foreign culture, no matter how odd.

Edith's ears drooped. "I'll go tell her," she said, eyes locked on the ground.

"No, wait..." he gasped. What could he do? "Look, I don't want to offend our hosts. If this is...some sort of tradition..."

Edith glanced up, ears perking right away. "It is," she said quickly. She looked around, as if making sure the two were really alone. "Whenever a rabbit hosts a predator, they pick a bunny as a gift."

Mr. Snavely could hardly believe it. "Well, if that's the way it is, I won't offend my host."

Edith grinned. "Great! Just...why don't you climb up the slide and I'll meet you at the top?"

Snavely carefully folded his cape on the wooden step, then slid through the sand, his scales too smooth for the fine grains. He paused at the bottom of the long slide, feeling a little silly climbing up a snake-slide. He felt a little pleased at least that the plastic cover would hide him from view, in case one of his subordinates took a break from the party. He didn't want to have to answer uncomfortable questions from the vegetarians.

Edith, of course, was already at the top of the slide, shivering as she watched the large snake climb the metal slide. "Oh, wow," she said.

Snavely took a deep breath. "I've never...done anything like this before."

Edith said, seriously, "Neither have I. Should I take off my clothes?"

Oh great, another kettle of fish (though not literally). He certainly didn't want to be accused of asking a young girl to strip for him, but if he was going to be eating her anyway, he'd certainly rather spare his digestive tract. Tongue flicking, the python said, "I...yes, I suppose so."

He tried not to watch as the young mammal started to remove her clothes. Not that he could really see anything beneath all that fur. "Now what?" she asked.

Snavely gulped, reaching out to flick his tongue reflexively across her large feet. She giggled, kicking a little as the snake smelled and tasted the little bunny. He heard his stomach growl again, noticing his salivary glands starting to go into overdrive as he realized he was seriously considering devouring this small creature.

"What are you doing, Sis?"

They froze.