"You liar! It's not just art. We know what Happytown gets. You just want to keep being a troll for money. Fake another scandal! I'm glad that woman got you terminated from-"
The strike hit Jasiri before she even noticed it. A sucker punch they called it. With that strike all the world fell away. The sounds of the city, Kion's calling, her own words. She said the words to Kion. The words that said everything.
Girl. Fight.
Jasiri was a good hyena. She was a proper hyena. She was a household head by nature and practice, she would take charge of the house when she married Kion. She knew all things hyena. When to whoop, when to cackle, which bones tasted best. But most of all, she knew the ritual, the rite between girls. When a man was on the line and his very self had been disparaged, only a truly reprehensible girl hyena would refuse to act. To stand, to bear, to endure. Putting bone density and will on the line, to prove whose side was most solid. And even if Rani didn't understand what any of it meant, Jasiri would understand for both of them. She stood. She took the strikes. She was unmoved, and she was the triumphant one from the very first. She was honorable, and right.
She wouldn't lose to Rani. She couldn't. She was solid and stern.
She had already won the Girl Fight.
Some more art about my Zootopia stories. This comes from the chapter "Asbestos Gelos" from the story "A Different Kind Of Pride." Jasiri was telling off Rani, whom she had caught doing graffiti in service of someone trying to frame Happytown gangs. Rani hit first. But Jasiri is a hyena girl. Ritualized lady combat is part of the culture. Two girls scrap. Their bones take the hits and they settle it like girls. The Girl Fight. Jasiri trusts the strength of conviction and calcium. She will strike out herself. But for now, she proves the iron in her will and the stone in her jaw to show Rani who controls the whole encounter.
stevemartin
