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More from Gerardson
Listed in Folders
Category Artwork (Digital) / Fanart
Species Vulpine (Other)
Size 1183 x 800px
File Size 298.5 kB
Listed in Folders
Ah, forgot to post this here. You keep making me write things, I can't keep track of them.
It was a cool early summer day, the tail end of spring rendering the warm sunlight tolerable before the burning heat of midsummer set in. It was, in its own way, a perfect day to be outdoors, the sky blue as an ocean, clear as glass. The small town warmed itself in the gentle weather, a multitude of characters emerging ad finding excuses to be outdoors. Most were bunnies, the rest largely sheep, but there were a smattering of other species about too. One of these was a portly fox, trying clumsily to stack crates of blueberries into a car. He wasn't having much luck; he had a lot of crates and little seat space. The somewhat rundown vehicle had not been designed for fruit haulage, or, for that matter, for foxes. To even drive the bunny-built car the fox had to sit with his knees up around his chest.
"You know, driving that thing is probably a violation of section 3C of the Good Driving Practices and Conduct Code."
He turned at the sound of the now familiar voice. Judy of the clan Hopps with which he'd just negotiated a small business deal in regards to blueberries. If it hadn't been for her, and to a lesser extent her older brother Robert, he never would have managed it. He'd a certain... history with bunnies that did not reflect well on him now and which he was still trying to deal with. He and Judy especially had a complex relationship which had, over the years shifted from highly antagonistic to rather cordial. Very cordial indeed in fact. He was cheered to see her on such a fine morning, though slightly confused as to why she'd shown up.
"Ju- Mizz Judy? What are you doing here?"
"You mean on my brother's farm during the first berry harvest when everyone needs to chip in to meet the first big order of the year?"
Gideon mentally slapped himself. Well of course. Way to show the cunning and insight foxes were known for. Quick, think up a snappy reply!
"Oh. Yeah."
Gideon's brain made a mental note to relocate as soon as possible, preferably to somewhere where it would be listened to.
"You really need to get a bigger car. Or a van or something."
"Mebbe, but they're a mite expensive."
"Well you can work your way up to it. Your pies are selling like hotcakes I hear."
"They sorta are. And with these farm-fresh berries I'm sure I can make 'em even better."
"That's the spirit! The way you're going you could be the best baker in the tri-burrows area someday. Maybe set yourself up in Zootopia, give the city folk a taste or proper country cooking."
"The big city? Hey now, baby steps! Things are expensive there y'know, plus you're hours away from decent supplies I mean do you have any idea what it'd cost to even set up shop there?"
"Well... if you took out a Small Business Loan, backed by Zootopia's Entrepreneurial Fund, allowing you to postpone interest payments for five years while simultaneously reporting it as a business expense and reinvesting all profits into the premises... a basic establishment, let's say 500 square feet, property value now... you'd be looking at something like $128 per week in payments, putting aside equipment, supplies and distribution, which would be about equal to costs here. Of course that's going to increase drastically once you hit that five year mark, so you'll want to build your business up before then or you'd be sunk."
Gideon stared. There had been words in there somewhere, arranged in sentences. He'd even understood some of them. But the overall impression was as clear as mud. He had a vague feeling that he'd been told things would be surprisingly cheap if he did something tricky. Judy caught him staring open mouthed.
"Bunny. Multiplying. You know how it is. I think you could do it."
He did? He could? Part of him tried to figure out if that was true, while another part ran through the possible meanings of 'multiplying' and noted that he may have misunderstood a certain saying up until now. That part was disappointed for some reason and kept trying to get his attention.
"Look, I'm no bunny, I don't think I'd be able to make head or tail of that... what you just said."
"It's actually pretty simple. You could always ask me for help, it'd be my duty to assist a citizen in need."
"It would? From here?"
"No, Zootopia. I'd be there. And a cop...?"
Once again Gideon's brain contemplated emigrating. Of course she would, that had been her plan for all of fifteen years.
He was beginning to feel that he'd somehow managed to fail the conversation and for some vague reason aside from acute embarrassment he really didn't want to have, not in front of Judy at any rate. She... believed in him in a way. She believed in everyone. It was... nice.
"Oh. Right. So you..."
"Will be leaving once summer ends. That's the second semester intake, I still can't believe they lost my first application. That puts me six months, six months behind. Still, I should be in and out of there like a greased weasel. I'm even guaranteed a position when I graduate, there's some sort of program I can apply for to assist with my placement!"
"Huh. So... three months? That's soon."
"It's a whole season away."
Perhaps it was, but somehow it seemed sudden. Nothing ever changed in Bunnyburrows, not at any sort of pace anyway. Even his little baking venture was something he'd slowly built up to, cooking for family, then friends, then bakesales then... but in a few short months someone would just... vanish. Or at least be a hundred miles away which was nearly the same thing. He felt oddly worried about that, which was strange. After all it wasn't as if Judy were family or an old friend like Travis. She was just... someone who was there and who was nice enough.Very nice in fact. And soon she'd just... not be there. He sat down heavily, wedging himself inside his far-too-small car, listening to the suspension creak as his weight settled down on it. He may as well have been sitting on the ground. Judy bounded over to him in that energetic way she always moved. In this position they were nearly eye-to-eye.
"A cop huh? Always knew you'd make it."
"Oh did you just? As I happen to recall someone, not that long ago, saying I'd only ever be a dumb bunny."
"It was plenty long ago! Plus, I never said you wouldn't be a cop-"
"-Just a dumb bunny cop?"
Gideon said nothing. He could never quite figure Judy out. Most people were either fine with him and how he'd turned out, putting his earlier mishaps behind him, or held a grudge, deserved or not. But Judy... she certainly seemed to like him well enough now, but she'd bring up things like that. Not as if she were upset or anything but more as if they were some sort of joke or amusing quirk. If confused him. Was she serious? Was it still an issue for her? Once again the silence became obvious and Judy stepped in to fill it.
"Kidding! I just want an admission that you were absolutely, utterly wrong about everything and that I'm a stupendous individual."
"Well I'm sure you'll do fine. An' it won't be the same without ya about."
"Less than I hoped for, but I'll take it. And with how busy you'll be I'm sure you'll hardly notice I'm gone."
"I dunno Mizz Judy... you've been a big help settin' things up. A lot of people weren't too eager to do business with-"
"'A lot of people'? You mean my dad? He never did get over your attempting to violently murder me. I have enough fox tasers now to power a small town . I don't know what he'll do when I actually leave for the big, bad city, possibly gift me a fox flamethrower."
"...they make those?"
"Probably. I really think these antifox things are just regular stuff with a fancy label slapped on and the price doubled."
"Well I'm sure we'll all miss ya anyways."
She was looking at him oddly again. And he was feeling... he wasn't sure. There was a lot he anted to say,to explain, but he wasn't quite sure of where to even begin. He found his hand reaching towards her and her grasping his arm as it did. Bu rather than push him away she guided him forward. For the longest time they remained there, staring at each other in silence, him gently holding her cheek, leaning forward... And suddenly they were kissing.
He wasn't sure how long it lasted or even quite what happened. He pulled back and so did she, slowly but somehow surprised, as if neither of them could quite believe what had just happened. Te silence was deafening and Gideon felt like he'd forgotten how to breathe. Judy recovered first, stepping briskly back and flashing him a cheerful smile as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
"Right! Well. I guess I'll see you later, harvest will be at least another two days so I expect you'll be back for more soon enough. I'll uh, catch you then."
And with that she bounded off, back up the path. Gideon sat in silence, warmed by the sun for a long time, not entirely sure he hadn't just imagined the whole thing. Things had suddenly got a lot more confusing, but perhaps that wasn't a bad thing. Eventually he stood up, carefully extracting himself from his vehicle and looking about in a contemplative manner.
Zootopia huh? He'd have to look into that, talk to Judy some more. It could be risky, but it might be worth it.
It was a cool early summer day, the tail end of spring rendering the warm sunlight tolerable before the burning heat of midsummer set in. It was, in its own way, a perfect day to be outdoors, the sky blue as an ocean, clear as glass. The small town warmed itself in the gentle weather, a multitude of characters emerging ad finding excuses to be outdoors. Most were bunnies, the rest largely sheep, but there were a smattering of other species about too. One of these was a portly fox, trying clumsily to stack crates of blueberries into a car. He wasn't having much luck; he had a lot of crates and little seat space. The somewhat rundown vehicle had not been designed for fruit haulage, or, for that matter, for foxes. To even drive the bunny-built car the fox had to sit with his knees up around his chest.
"You know, driving that thing is probably a violation of section 3C of the Good Driving Practices and Conduct Code."
He turned at the sound of the now familiar voice. Judy of the clan Hopps with which he'd just negotiated a small business deal in regards to blueberries. If it hadn't been for her, and to a lesser extent her older brother Robert, he never would have managed it. He'd a certain... history with bunnies that did not reflect well on him now and which he was still trying to deal with. He and Judy especially had a complex relationship which had, over the years shifted from highly antagonistic to rather cordial. Very cordial indeed in fact. He was cheered to see her on such a fine morning, though slightly confused as to why she'd shown up.
"Ju- Mizz Judy? What are you doing here?"
"You mean on my brother's farm during the first berry harvest when everyone needs to chip in to meet the first big order of the year?"
Gideon mentally slapped himself. Well of course. Way to show the cunning and insight foxes were known for. Quick, think up a snappy reply!
"Oh. Yeah."
Gideon's brain made a mental note to relocate as soon as possible, preferably to somewhere where it would be listened to.
"You really need to get a bigger car. Or a van or something."
"Mebbe, but they're a mite expensive."
"Well you can work your way up to it. Your pies are selling like hotcakes I hear."
"They sorta are. And with these farm-fresh berries I'm sure I can make 'em even better."
"That's the spirit! The way you're going you could be the best baker in the tri-burrows area someday. Maybe set yourself up in Zootopia, give the city folk a taste or proper country cooking."
"The big city? Hey now, baby steps! Things are expensive there y'know, plus you're hours away from decent supplies I mean do you have any idea what it'd cost to even set up shop there?"
"Well... if you took out a Small Business Loan, backed by Zootopia's Entrepreneurial Fund, allowing you to postpone interest payments for five years while simultaneously reporting it as a business expense and reinvesting all profits into the premises... a basic establishment, let's say 500 square feet, property value now... you'd be looking at something like $128 per week in payments, putting aside equipment, supplies and distribution, which would be about equal to costs here. Of course that's going to increase drastically once you hit that five year mark, so you'll want to build your business up before then or you'd be sunk."
Gideon stared. There had been words in there somewhere, arranged in sentences. He'd even understood some of them. But the overall impression was as clear as mud. He had a vague feeling that he'd been told things would be surprisingly cheap if he did something tricky. Judy caught him staring open mouthed.
"Bunny. Multiplying. You know how it is. I think you could do it."
He did? He could? Part of him tried to figure out if that was true, while another part ran through the possible meanings of 'multiplying' and noted that he may have misunderstood a certain saying up until now. That part was disappointed for some reason and kept trying to get his attention.
"Look, I'm no bunny, I don't think I'd be able to make head or tail of that... what you just said."
"It's actually pretty simple. You could always ask me for help, it'd be my duty to assist a citizen in need."
"It would? From here?"
"No, Zootopia. I'd be there. And a cop...?"
Once again Gideon's brain contemplated emigrating. Of course she would, that had been her plan for all of fifteen years.
He was beginning to feel that he'd somehow managed to fail the conversation and for some vague reason aside from acute embarrassment he really didn't want to have, not in front of Judy at any rate. She... believed in him in a way. She believed in everyone. It was... nice.
"Oh. Right. So you..."
"Will be leaving once summer ends. That's the second semester intake, I still can't believe they lost my first application. That puts me six months, six months behind. Still, I should be in and out of there like a greased weasel. I'm even guaranteed a position when I graduate, there's some sort of program I can apply for to assist with my placement!"
"Huh. So... three months? That's soon."
"It's a whole season away."
Perhaps it was, but somehow it seemed sudden. Nothing ever changed in Bunnyburrows, not at any sort of pace anyway. Even his little baking venture was something he'd slowly built up to, cooking for family, then friends, then bakesales then... but in a few short months someone would just... vanish. Or at least be a hundred miles away which was nearly the same thing. He felt oddly worried about that, which was strange. After all it wasn't as if Judy were family or an old friend like Travis. She was just... someone who was there and who was nice enough.Very nice in fact. And soon she'd just... not be there. He sat down heavily, wedging himself inside his far-too-small car, listening to the suspension creak as his weight settled down on it. He may as well have been sitting on the ground. Judy bounded over to him in that energetic way she always moved. In this position they were nearly eye-to-eye.
"A cop huh? Always knew you'd make it."
"Oh did you just? As I happen to recall someone, not that long ago, saying I'd only ever be a dumb bunny."
"It was plenty long ago! Plus, I never said you wouldn't be a cop-"
"-Just a dumb bunny cop?"
Gideon said nothing. He could never quite figure Judy out. Most people were either fine with him and how he'd turned out, putting his earlier mishaps behind him, or held a grudge, deserved or not. But Judy... she certainly seemed to like him well enough now, but she'd bring up things like that. Not as if she were upset or anything but more as if they were some sort of joke or amusing quirk. If confused him. Was she serious? Was it still an issue for her? Once again the silence became obvious and Judy stepped in to fill it.
"Kidding! I just want an admission that you were absolutely, utterly wrong about everything and that I'm a stupendous individual."
"Well I'm sure you'll do fine. An' it won't be the same without ya about."
"Less than I hoped for, but I'll take it. And with how busy you'll be I'm sure you'll hardly notice I'm gone."
"I dunno Mizz Judy... you've been a big help settin' things up. A lot of people weren't too eager to do business with-"
"'A lot of people'? You mean my dad? He never did get over your attempting to violently murder me. I have enough fox tasers now to power a small town . I don't know what he'll do when I actually leave for the big, bad city, possibly gift me a fox flamethrower."
"...they make those?"
"Probably. I really think these antifox things are just regular stuff with a fancy label slapped on and the price doubled."
"Well I'm sure we'll all miss ya anyways."
She was looking at him oddly again. And he was feeling... he wasn't sure. There was a lot he anted to say,to explain, but he wasn't quite sure of where to even begin. He found his hand reaching towards her and her grasping his arm as it did. Bu rather than push him away she guided him forward. For the longest time they remained there, staring at each other in silence, him gently holding her cheek, leaning forward... And suddenly they were kissing.
He wasn't sure how long it lasted or even quite what happened. He pulled back and so did she, slowly but somehow surprised, as if neither of them could quite believe what had just happened. Te silence was deafening and Gideon felt like he'd forgotten how to breathe. Judy recovered first, stepping briskly back and flashing him a cheerful smile as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
"Right! Well. I guess I'll see you later, harvest will be at least another two days so I expect you'll be back for more soon enough. I'll uh, catch you then."
And with that she bounded off, back up the path. Gideon sat in silence, warmed by the sun for a long time, not entirely sure he hadn't just imagined the whole thing. Things had suddenly got a lot more confusing, but perhaps that wasn't a bad thing. Eventually he stood up, carefully extracting himself from his vehicle and looking about in a contemplative manner.
Zootopia huh? He'd have to look into that, talk to Judy some more. It could be risky, but it might be worth it.
I suspect she'd at least try. She's a big believer in the big city. I figure she'd be pushing a lot of people to go there and try new things. There'd probably be quite some relief when she actually left.
A practiced hand moved down the rough columns of figures, deftly crossing out some and correcting others with the air of a teacher marking a final assignment. They stopped occasionally to brush aside crumbs of flaky pastry that sprinkled down onto the paper as the rabbit involved consumed a cold slice of leftover pie. Occasionally small flecks of filling would also mess he report, getting smeared across it in colorful streaks. While definitely a whizz with numbers, this bunny was not the most delicate eater. It had to run in the family, Judy could make a terrible mess as well, seeing her tackle an afghan cookie was not a sight for the weak-at-heart.
"Twelve twelves are one hundred and forty four, not one hundred and sixty eight. That's your problem right there."
"But it's a hundred and twenty and-"
"Twenty four, being two twelves. Not forty eight, being four twelves."
"But six sixes is-"
"Thirty six, double is seventy two, double is one forty four."
Gideon sat back and tried to figure out where he'd gone wrong. He'd used a calculator for everything, surely that meant the answers had to be right? Who knew baking involved so much math? He really wished now he'd paid more attention in Mr Woolerton's class. Still at least Steve was... was it Steve? Maybe it was Jake... or Mark. It was hard to keep track of so many bunnies. Well at least he had someone to help run the numbers or he'd be totally sunk. Another grey paw snatched the paper from him, leaving conspicuous dirty prints on it. Judy scanned the sheet with her usual, almost scary speed.
"That works out better. Less than fifty dollars of expenses for a baker's dozen of baker's dozens."
"A hundred and-"
"-sixty nine. Make it an even one seventy and you can pay your accountant with the extra."
"I'm not an accountant Jude."
"But you could be! Think of what you could earn in the big city! Come back here and awe us with your wealth!"
"I think I'd rather stay here and awe everyone with my billiards skills."
"Oh come on! Live a little, seize the day! We could use your help showing the world just what kind of folk the best town there is produces."
"'We' huh? Don't tell me you really are going to drag this poor guy along? Where will I get my cinnamon rolls from if he leaves?"
The older rabbit gave Gideon a look that clearly said 'She's wearing you down, isn't she?', a sort of halfhearted resignation that he'd come to expect when people dealt with Judy. And honestly, Gideon wasn't sure. Judy just made moving to the city sound so...inevitable. As if it was something that would assure him success. It was a terrifying prospect but at the same time after five minutes she could convince someone that nothing could possibly go wrong And as someone who had spent a lot of his life extremely unsure about anything going right it was awfully tempting.
And another thing to consider was that Judy herself would be there. She'd spent most of the summer badgering all and sundry to up stakes and move to the big city with her but none moreso than him. She was spending an increasing amount of time around him, apparently trying to explain to him exactly how his business could flourish. Perhaps she figured he was the only one who might actually leave, or perhaps it was something else. He'd never admit anything of course, not just because he wasn't certain but also due to the possibility that Stu Hopps might personally run him out of town. But he definitely wasn't complaining about all the interference.
"Millie Bounder. She's pretty decent herself and there's no point having two new bakeries in a town that already has four established ones. See they can enter a partnership, since they already do a lot of the same things he sets up in Zootopia and she-"
"Stays here, they share supply lines, yada, yada. I do know a little about group holdings Jude, it's sort of how our entire family business works?"
"Right, nice to see you agree with our decision. But really, consider joining us, I'll get lonely with no other family out there, even you are better than nothing. Now excuse me, I've got to help Tess with her scrapbooking, last chance before I go."
With that Judy shook her paw vigorously to dislodge the sticky account sheet, which fluttered to the floor, and dashed deftly out the back door. The remaining rabbit and fox watched her leave, then sat in silence for a minute or two. Gideon spoke first as his brain pointed something out.
"Our decision...?"
"Yup, she's made up your mind for you."
"Uh, I'm not sure-"
"Doesn't matter, your vote doesn't count. Oh well, at least try and keep her away from he rest of us. I don't know how much more I can handle. Take one for the team, you owe us that much."
Gideon smiled. It didn't sound too bad when you put it like that. He'd have to make more of an effort.
A practiced hand moved down the rough columns of figures, deftly crossing out some and correcting others with the air of a teacher marking a final assignment. They stopped occasionally to brush aside crumbs of flaky pastry that sprinkled down onto the paper as the rabbit involved consumed a cold slice of leftover pie. Occasionally small flecks of filling would also mess he report, getting smeared across it in colorful streaks. While definitely a whizz with numbers, this bunny was not the most delicate eater. It had to run in the family, Judy could make a terrible mess as well, seeing her tackle an afghan cookie was not a sight for the weak-at-heart.
"Twelve twelves are one hundred and forty four, not one hundred and sixty eight. That's your problem right there."
"But it's a hundred and twenty and-"
"Twenty four, being two twelves. Not forty eight, being four twelves."
"But six sixes is-"
"Thirty six, double is seventy two, double is one forty four."
Gideon sat back and tried to figure out where he'd gone wrong. He'd used a calculator for everything, surely that meant the answers had to be right? Who knew baking involved so much math? He really wished now he'd paid more attention in Mr Woolerton's class. Still at least Steve was... was it Steve? Maybe it was Jake... or Mark. It was hard to keep track of so many bunnies. Well at least he had someone to help run the numbers or he'd be totally sunk. Another grey paw snatched the paper from him, leaving conspicuous dirty prints on it. Judy scanned the sheet with her usual, almost scary speed.
"That works out better. Less than fifty dollars of expenses for a baker's dozen of baker's dozens."
"A hundred and-"
"-sixty nine. Make it an even one seventy and you can pay your accountant with the extra."
"I'm not an accountant Jude."
"But you could be! Think of what you could earn in the big city! Come back here and awe us with your wealth!"
"I think I'd rather stay here and awe everyone with my billiards skills."
"Oh come on! Live a little, seize the day! We could use your help showing the world just what kind of folk the best town there is produces."
"'We' huh? Don't tell me you really are going to drag this poor guy along? Where will I get my cinnamon rolls from if he leaves?"
The older rabbit gave Gideon a look that clearly said 'She's wearing you down, isn't she?', a sort of halfhearted resignation that he'd come to expect when people dealt with Judy. And honestly, Gideon wasn't sure. Judy just made moving to the city sound so...inevitable. As if it was something that would assure him success. It was a terrifying prospect but at the same time after five minutes she could convince someone that nothing could possibly go wrong And as someone who had spent a lot of his life extremely unsure about anything going right it was awfully tempting.
And another thing to consider was that Judy herself would be there. She'd spent most of the summer badgering all and sundry to up stakes and move to the big city with her but none moreso than him. She was spending an increasing amount of time around him, apparently trying to explain to him exactly how his business could flourish. Perhaps she figured he was the only one who might actually leave, or perhaps it was something else. He'd never admit anything of course, not just because he wasn't certain but also due to the possibility that Stu Hopps might personally run him out of town. But he definitely wasn't complaining about all the interference.
"Millie Bounder. She's pretty decent herself and there's no point having two new bakeries in a town that already has four established ones. See they can enter a partnership, since they already do a lot of the same things he sets up in Zootopia and she-"
"Stays here, they share supply lines, yada, yada. I do know a little about group holdings Jude, it's sort of how our entire family business works?"
"Right, nice to see you agree with our decision. But really, consider joining us, I'll get lonely with no other family out there, even you are better than nothing. Now excuse me, I've got to help Tess with her scrapbooking, last chance before I go."
With that Judy shook her paw vigorously to dislodge the sticky account sheet, which fluttered to the floor, and dashed deftly out the back door. The remaining rabbit and fox watched her leave, then sat in silence for a minute or two. Gideon spoke first as his brain pointed something out.
"Our decision...?"
"Yup, she's made up your mind for you."
"Uh, I'm not sure-"
"Doesn't matter, your vote doesn't count. Oh well, at least try and keep her away from he rest of us. I don't know how much more I can handle. Take one for the team, you owe us that much."
Gideon smiled. It didn't sound too bad when you put it like that. He'd have to make more of an effort.
All things are cute, one way or another. (Why can I not stop writing this?)
It was barely 9am but the sun was rapidly growing hotter; it was late summer and everything had a slightly parched, faded look. The small car made a slow, winding journey along the dusty road, heading in towards the center of town. It had originally been sky blue, but a lack of cleaning during the busy, dusty summer months had rendered it a patchy mash of various browns. Really Judy should have been making the journey in the truck, but it was needed to move bales of hay harvested from the fallow fields. Besides, what did it matter in the end? This was the afterthought, her very last day, last morning in Bunnyburrows. All the goodbyes and handshakes and celebrations had been taken care of the night, indeed the previous two days before. All that was left now was to show up at the station and wait for the train with a few close family members, only twenty or so.
Despite being considered a 'small' town Bunnyburrows had all the bells and whistles and near the train station it positively bustled. When she was a kit she'd always loved going in to town with her mother, to see all the strange faces and species. It was what she imagined Zootopia to be like, before she'd got old enough to see actual pictures. And it still held a certain charm for her, a diverse community working together and getting along. And if it was this nice here, well Zootopia must be something else entirely. Such thoughts fueled a rising excitement and enthusiasm in her, she was just about to take er first steps out into the big, wide world, the next leg in her life's journey.
The car stopped, reversed, moved forward, stopped... slowly working itself into a parking space between two larger vehicles. The roads needed repainting again, the markings were getting confusing. Still, the law was the law even here. The doors opened and Judy hopped out, followed by three other assorted family members who'd hitched a ride. Sort of strange to ride to a goodbye with the person you were farewelling, but that was the sappy, sentimental goofiness she expected from her family. They were nice and early and so could afford to waste some time getting important errands done. She waved each of them goodbye and set out for her favorite corner shop, to pick up her last ever packet of carrot chew candies, a somewhat childish purchase but a guilty pleasure nonetheless. She'd probably have to have her parents mail her some once she got settled in the city, but for now this was her last chance for this uniquely burrows treat. She was about halfway to her destination when she became aware of being followed.
She turned and, as expected, saw nobody there. But her keen prey senses had told her enough. She stared confidently at a shop door until a large, rusty colored figure stepped awkwardly out of it. Gideon sneaking had all the subtlety and grace of a rhino trying to tapdance. A surprise, but a pleasant surprise, he walked uncertainly towards here, aware that he'd been caught out. Deciding to cut his agony short she smiled and waved before bounding up to meet him.
"Gideon! Fancy meeting you here! Not here to see me off are you?"
It was cute how taken aback he was; he just stood there with his hands in his pockets, staring absentmindedly at a wall, as if he'd been aught with his hand in the cookie jar, which in a sense he had. Judy hadn't actually expected him to show up, she'd last talked to him almost a week ago when he'd wished her well on her trip. Since then she'd been far too busy with family matters and had almost forgotten he was still about. Finally, without looking at her, he grudgingly came clean.
"I uh... yeah."
"Better here than at the station, dad's been at me all week about the dangers of the big city. I think he's putting together a care package in case I get mauled by a lion. Of course if you didshow up I could always tell him I was moving away from all the dangerous predators..."
He still stood there, awkwardly fiddling before clearing his throat uncertainly.
"Well... the thing with that is... not quite."
"Not quite wh- Wait, are you saying you'll be moving too?"
He didn't say anything, but the subtle shift in his expression was all the answer Judy needed.She gave a cry of joy and leaped at him throwing her arms around him. (Or at least as far around as they'd stretch.) Caught off guard he stumbled backwards a few steps and nearly fell over before regaining his balance.
"Ha! That's great! I knew you'd do it! Oh it'll be just great! You'll do fine, I know you will."
"Yeah, I guess. I uh... I'll be headin' out in about a month, just taking a little time out to set things up and see what happens."
"Perfect! That'll be about the time I graduate from basic training! We can go apartment hunting together!"
"We.. we can?"
"Of course! It'll be far cheaper splitting the rent. I've tried everything to find a contact in the city to move in with, but it looks like I'll have to get a place on my own right now. That'd make things so much easier."
"Are you sure? I mean, people will talk..."
Gideon was looking at her as if she'd just told him they should set their tails on fire. She couldn't resist snorting dismissively.
"What people? We'll be a hundred miles away from any stickybeaks here."
"Your father-"
"-doesn't even want me to leave, OR go to training OR get a the job. There are two bears in my intake at the academy, if he knew that he'd have a fit. I'm certainly not going to tell him half of what I'll get up to. Besides, it makes sound financial sense.It's looking for a place to stay that won't have me living off of microwave dinners for the next ten years, it's not like we're running off to elope or anything."
Gideon made a strange strangled noise and went rigid. Now he looked as if his tail actually were on fire. It shouldn't have been possible, but Judy could see him blushing under his fur. She could understand his hesitation, in a small town, even one as populous as Bunnyburrows gossip spread fast. The mere suggestion that two people, even two bunnies, were 'going steady' could quickly snowball into something serious. And in the past few months... well she'd been a bit indiscreet, she wasn't quite sure why. But she and Gideon had become... close. Exactly what that meant she wasn't sure; they'd kissed once, a while ago, for reasons she couldn't quite explain. But they'd spent a lot more time together since, just planning things and looking over figures and sometimes just sitting back and talking. He could be a charming guy sometimes and she'd really have missed him if she'd had to set out for the city alone.
But if her family knew, they probably wouldn't take it entirely well. At least not her father who had been concerned enough to try and get her brothers to chaperone her whenever she was near the fox, much to everyone's embarassment. It was all rather silly, but at the same time risky. And that risk... it was frightening, but also a bit exciting.She tried to calm the fox before he worked himself up into a full panic. He could be like that, worrying far too much about things and getting a little carried away.
"Hey come on! What's going to happen? You'll fall helplessly in love with my dazzling beauty and incredible wit? Be utterly powerless to resist my feminine charms?"
She laughed and tried to flick her ears back in the way she'd seen the girls in those shampoo commercials do. She could do it, in front of a mirror but never when she needed to. As expected her left ear flopped around and hit her in the front of her face. She heaved an exaggerated sigh and put on a pouty expression.
Gideon wasn't laughing.
He was staring straight at her with a somewhat conflicted expression. Slowly he knelt down, carefully lowering himself so they were face-to-face. For a moment the world became very quiet for Judy, she could hear herself breathing, feel her heartbeat in her chest. When Gideon spoke next it was so quiet as to almost be a whisper, hoarse and uncertain.
"Uh... yeah."
Now it was Judy's turn to stare as the words sank in. The admission didn't make their relationship any less complex or more clear, but it tipped something, from lighthearted playing about to something more serious. She knew that the only way to avoid that was to say something, to defuse the situation somehow. And she knew just as well that she wasn't going to that. What would happen next would happen and she'd deal with the consequences as they arose.
A large, heavy paw came down gently but firmly on her shoulder and she moved forward into the hug as the two arms encircled her. She hugged him back, the two embracing tightly in silence for a long time. It really wasn't anything special, she'd given out dozens of goodbye hugs over the previous few days, but there was a strange passion and intensity to this one that made it hard to let go. It was warm and firm and smelled vaguely like cornstarch and was something she genuinely didn't want to stop.
"Oh! Excuse me, coming through!"
A jostle broke the spell as a large ram stepped awkwardly by, almost knocking them off of the footpath. For a second each leaned unsteadily against the other, stepping back and standing back up. Judy scanned the street a little nervously, but it didn't seem that anyone had noticed anything out of the ordinary about their meeting, at least nothing worth staring at. And after all, it had just been a goodbye between friends. Judy extended a hand and Gideon took it, shaking it warmly. A bit of an anticlimax after all that but perhaps a good note to end on.
"So it's settled then, I'll see you in the city, one month, don't be late. You have my number, right?"
"Yeah, you gave it to me ages ago. Don't worry, it's a date."
"It is, but remember, father said you have to bring me home before curfew."
Gideon was momentarily taken aback, then laughed. There was a feeling of an obstacle passed, a mountain climbed. The both smiled and waved one final goodbye, going their own separate ways. Judy felt strangely optimistic, it was another thing to look forward to, another new thing to try.
'It was a date' indeed.
It was barely 9am but the sun was rapidly growing hotter; it was late summer and everything had a slightly parched, faded look. The small car made a slow, winding journey along the dusty road, heading in towards the center of town. It had originally been sky blue, but a lack of cleaning during the busy, dusty summer months had rendered it a patchy mash of various browns. Really Judy should have been making the journey in the truck, but it was needed to move bales of hay harvested from the fallow fields. Besides, what did it matter in the end? This was the afterthought, her very last day, last morning in Bunnyburrows. All the goodbyes and handshakes and celebrations had been taken care of the night, indeed the previous two days before. All that was left now was to show up at the station and wait for the train with a few close family members, only twenty or so.
Despite being considered a 'small' town Bunnyburrows had all the bells and whistles and near the train station it positively bustled. When she was a kit she'd always loved going in to town with her mother, to see all the strange faces and species. It was what she imagined Zootopia to be like, before she'd got old enough to see actual pictures. And it still held a certain charm for her, a diverse community working together and getting along. And if it was this nice here, well Zootopia must be something else entirely. Such thoughts fueled a rising excitement and enthusiasm in her, she was just about to take er first steps out into the big, wide world, the next leg in her life's journey.
The car stopped, reversed, moved forward, stopped... slowly working itself into a parking space between two larger vehicles. The roads needed repainting again, the markings were getting confusing. Still, the law was the law even here. The doors opened and Judy hopped out, followed by three other assorted family members who'd hitched a ride. Sort of strange to ride to a goodbye with the person you were farewelling, but that was the sappy, sentimental goofiness she expected from her family. They were nice and early and so could afford to waste some time getting important errands done. She waved each of them goodbye and set out for her favorite corner shop, to pick up her last ever packet of carrot chew candies, a somewhat childish purchase but a guilty pleasure nonetheless. She'd probably have to have her parents mail her some once she got settled in the city, but for now this was her last chance for this uniquely burrows treat. She was about halfway to her destination when she became aware of being followed.
She turned and, as expected, saw nobody there. But her keen prey senses had told her enough. She stared confidently at a shop door until a large, rusty colored figure stepped awkwardly out of it. Gideon sneaking had all the subtlety and grace of a rhino trying to tapdance. A surprise, but a pleasant surprise, he walked uncertainly towards here, aware that he'd been caught out. Deciding to cut his agony short she smiled and waved before bounding up to meet him.
"Gideon! Fancy meeting you here! Not here to see me off are you?"
It was cute how taken aback he was; he just stood there with his hands in his pockets, staring absentmindedly at a wall, as if he'd been aught with his hand in the cookie jar, which in a sense he had. Judy hadn't actually expected him to show up, she'd last talked to him almost a week ago when he'd wished her well on her trip. Since then she'd been far too busy with family matters and had almost forgotten he was still about. Finally, without looking at her, he grudgingly came clean.
"I uh... yeah."
"Better here than at the station, dad's been at me all week about the dangers of the big city. I think he's putting together a care package in case I get mauled by a lion. Of course if you didshow up I could always tell him I was moving away from all the dangerous predators..."
He still stood there, awkwardly fiddling before clearing his throat uncertainly.
"Well... the thing with that is... not quite."
"Not quite wh- Wait, are you saying you'll be moving too?"
He didn't say anything, but the subtle shift in his expression was all the answer Judy needed.She gave a cry of joy and leaped at him throwing her arms around him. (Or at least as far around as they'd stretch.) Caught off guard he stumbled backwards a few steps and nearly fell over before regaining his balance.
"Ha! That's great! I knew you'd do it! Oh it'll be just great! You'll do fine, I know you will."
"Yeah, I guess. I uh... I'll be headin' out in about a month, just taking a little time out to set things up and see what happens."
"Perfect! That'll be about the time I graduate from basic training! We can go apartment hunting together!"
"We.. we can?"
"Of course! It'll be far cheaper splitting the rent. I've tried everything to find a contact in the city to move in with, but it looks like I'll have to get a place on my own right now. That'd make things so much easier."
"Are you sure? I mean, people will talk..."
Gideon was looking at her as if she'd just told him they should set their tails on fire. She couldn't resist snorting dismissively.
"What people? We'll be a hundred miles away from any stickybeaks here."
"Your father-"
"-doesn't even want me to leave, OR go to training OR get a the job. There are two bears in my intake at the academy, if he knew that he'd have a fit. I'm certainly not going to tell him half of what I'll get up to. Besides, it makes sound financial sense.It's looking for a place to stay that won't have me living off of microwave dinners for the next ten years, it's not like we're running off to elope or anything."
Gideon made a strange strangled noise and went rigid. Now he looked as if his tail actually were on fire. It shouldn't have been possible, but Judy could see him blushing under his fur. She could understand his hesitation, in a small town, even one as populous as Bunnyburrows gossip spread fast. The mere suggestion that two people, even two bunnies, were 'going steady' could quickly snowball into something serious. And in the past few months... well she'd been a bit indiscreet, she wasn't quite sure why. But she and Gideon had become... close. Exactly what that meant she wasn't sure; they'd kissed once, a while ago, for reasons she couldn't quite explain. But they'd spent a lot more time together since, just planning things and looking over figures and sometimes just sitting back and talking. He could be a charming guy sometimes and she'd really have missed him if she'd had to set out for the city alone.
But if her family knew, they probably wouldn't take it entirely well. At least not her father who had been concerned enough to try and get her brothers to chaperone her whenever she was near the fox, much to everyone's embarassment. It was all rather silly, but at the same time risky. And that risk... it was frightening, but also a bit exciting.She tried to calm the fox before he worked himself up into a full panic. He could be like that, worrying far too much about things and getting a little carried away.
"Hey come on! What's going to happen? You'll fall helplessly in love with my dazzling beauty and incredible wit? Be utterly powerless to resist my feminine charms?"
She laughed and tried to flick her ears back in the way she'd seen the girls in those shampoo commercials do. She could do it, in front of a mirror but never when she needed to. As expected her left ear flopped around and hit her in the front of her face. She heaved an exaggerated sigh and put on a pouty expression.
Gideon wasn't laughing.
He was staring straight at her with a somewhat conflicted expression. Slowly he knelt down, carefully lowering himself so they were face-to-face. For a moment the world became very quiet for Judy, she could hear herself breathing, feel her heartbeat in her chest. When Gideon spoke next it was so quiet as to almost be a whisper, hoarse and uncertain.
"Uh... yeah."
Now it was Judy's turn to stare as the words sank in. The admission didn't make their relationship any less complex or more clear, but it tipped something, from lighthearted playing about to something more serious. She knew that the only way to avoid that was to say something, to defuse the situation somehow. And she knew just as well that she wasn't going to that. What would happen next would happen and she'd deal with the consequences as they arose.
A large, heavy paw came down gently but firmly on her shoulder and she moved forward into the hug as the two arms encircled her. She hugged him back, the two embracing tightly in silence for a long time. It really wasn't anything special, she'd given out dozens of goodbye hugs over the previous few days, but there was a strange passion and intensity to this one that made it hard to let go. It was warm and firm and smelled vaguely like cornstarch and was something she genuinely didn't want to stop.
"Oh! Excuse me, coming through!"
A jostle broke the spell as a large ram stepped awkwardly by, almost knocking them off of the footpath. For a second each leaned unsteadily against the other, stepping back and standing back up. Judy scanned the street a little nervously, but it didn't seem that anyone had noticed anything out of the ordinary about their meeting, at least nothing worth staring at. And after all, it had just been a goodbye between friends. Judy extended a hand and Gideon took it, shaking it warmly. A bit of an anticlimax after all that but perhaps a good note to end on.
"So it's settled then, I'll see you in the city, one month, don't be late. You have my number, right?"
"Yeah, you gave it to me ages ago. Don't worry, it's a date."
"It is, but remember, father said you have to bring me home before curfew."
Gideon was momentarily taken aback, then laughed. There was a feeling of an obstacle passed, a mountain climbed. The both smiled and waved one final goodbye, going their own separate ways. Judy felt strangely optimistic, it was another thing to look forward to, another new thing to try.
'It was a date' indeed.
I used to fic a bit, it's interesting to put something together and see how it turns out. Let me try and set up a plot.
The somewhat elderly raccoon unlocked and opened the door, allowing the two prospective renters inside. The apartment was largely empty, bar a few basic furniture items. The door opened straight into the lounge where an old TV and couch could be seen. There were dark marks on the wallpaper where pictures or posters had been hung for some time and both a bathroom and bedroom could be seen branching off. Relatively simple but far better than either of the recent arrivals could hope to afford alone.
"So this is it, bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette is through the bedroom 'cause of hygiene regulations, and here. We discussed the rent and utilities on the phone Mrs..."
"Miss Hopps."
"Right. Well then unless the bedroom is an issue there's probably not much more to do than take the grand tour."
"What's wrong with the bedroom?"
"There's only one Mister.."
Judy sighed, more out of annoyance than frustration. The raccoon had been looking sideways at them since they'd met just a few minutes ago. She'd honestly expected Gideon to be a little more aware of things like that but apparently the entire issue had gone right over his head. Oh well, it was best to clear the air now.
"He's Mr. Grey. We're just splitting the cost of living. Sleeping arrangements are gonna be tricky, but nothing we can' figure out. This is medium mammal zoned, so the bedroom about fox-sized right?"
"Right. And if you're not a couple there's a twenty dollar a week rent-splitting fee. And you can't sleep more than three people here at any time."
"What? Why?"
"Zoning laws Gid. It's illegal for a whole lot of small mammals to buy up all the bigger mammal's properties, it's not fair on them."
The raccoon was looking at her again. Possibly it was the police outfit; maybe it was intimidating. (Or maybe, a small part of her added, he had something to hide. This suspicion was quickly dismissed, but still filed away for alter reference.) Gideon looked like he was thinking something over; he'd been a bit nervous since he'd met her outside her graduation ceremony that little over an hour ago, which made sense since he'd only been in the city less than a day and must surely be seeing a whole lot of new things. To Judy the whole experience had been amazing, but perhaps not the same for him.
"So... could we do that?"
"Not without legal documentation, otherwise anyone could do it. And I'm sorry, but as much as I like you I'm not getting married for twenty bucks."
Gideon's expression switched quickly from shock, to confusion and then embarrassment as he realized exactly what he'd just suggested. It really was quite an issue, smaller mammals made the same money as larger ones, so there was an advantage to taking stuff meant for said larger mammals and splitting it up and selling it to more customers for more profit. In fact Judy had been refused no less than three apartments before this one just when making phone inquiries, either on mentioning Gideon or her own species. It was a grey area and a lot of people simply wouldn't take the risk. Which was heartening of course, but also a tad annoying.
"Hey, haven't I seen you on TV or something?"
"About an hour and a half ago I'd say, I just got sworn in as the ZPD's first rabbit officer."
"That's right, it was just on the news! Well... good luck with that."
"Thanks. Well this place seems to check out, we'll take it, if that's alright with you."
"Sure, knock yourselves out. Don't be loud, pay the rent on time and we won't have any problems."
A set of keys were tossed in Judy's general direction. She had to jump a bit to catch them. Their new landlord was already out the door by the time she'd turned to thank him. Well that had been relatively simple, and a good thing too there'd be a lot of settling in to do and her first day on the job would be tomorrow. She wandered into the 'kitchen' to inspect it.An oven, a bench and a microwave. Basic but they'd do. The bedroom held a bed that could comfortably sleep a quintet of bunnies, a closet, bedside table and set of drawers. She was heading back to examine the bathroom when she realized Gideon hadn't left the lounge.
"Something wrong?"
"Uh, that was quick."
"The sooner we're settled in the sooner we can focus on the important things, I'm working tomorrow you know."
"Oh. But uh, what are we gonna do about the beds? Uh, bed?"
"That's easy, I'll sleep here, I can stick a bed in the corner by the couch."
"Are you sure?"
"It's the only other room I can sleep in, including the bedroom because you snore."
"No I don't! Wait, how do you even know?"
"You have snorer's muzzle, I can tell. Anyway, be useful and move this drawer would you? It's about the right size."
"You're gonna sleep in a sock drawer?"
"No, I'm pretty sure this would have had shirts in it. We just need to stick some magazines or newspapers underneath it to get a bit of height, I have some blankets in my luggage."
"Are... are y' sure?"
"I know, I know, you're from a highborn family, slept on silk cushions no doubt, but us bunnies are made of sterner stuff. I slept in a box bed until I was nine years old."
"Well I guess if-"
"Oh hey! Hey new neighbor!"
Judy dashed briskly out of the door to greet a rather shocked looking weasel, who dropped the bag he was carrying, scattering what appeared to be small bulbs all over the floor. For a moment it looked like he might make a run for it, but he regained his composure with remarkable speed.
"Hah! I haven't done nothing wrong!"
"What? Oh. Oh no, I just moved in next door, I wanted to say hi, you live here too right?"
Judy held out her hand. The weasel seemed to be both confused and doubtful but after a few seconds of silent deliberation
he cautiously shook it. Stepping up behind her Gideon did likewise and he also got a welcoming handshake, and a look of deep suspicion. Judy supposed that it wasunusual to see such a pairing, especially a cop in a place like this. And some people might not think the highest of weasels, not her though, she knew they were regular people like everyone else.
"Right, yeah, whatever. Look I gotta run, these uh... daffodils are for a friend of mine."
"Oh, those aren't daffodils."
"Yeah they are, I just uh, bought 'em."
"No, those are gladioli, probably Gladiolus abbreviatus judging by the color and size. Wait, see, there, there's a tag in your bag. Says... Gladiolus permeabilis. HUh, guess I was wrong."
The weasel went pale and snatched the small plastic tag from Judy's paw, reading it as if he couldn't believe what it said. When it became obvious there wasn't any mistake he screwed up the tag in fury and used a word that Judy, as a professional bunny, knew involved a sexual act that could only be attempted using a stepladder and some string. Without even bothering to pick up the bulbs he ran off down the hallway.
"Huh, guess his friend's a lil' picky."
"I suppose."
"Uh... what'd he mean by ha- that word he used?"
"You're too young to know."
"I'm older'n you are."
"Yes, and there's no way I should know that. My parents should be ashamed. Now, my bed, we must set it up."
"Are you sure y' want-"
"-To have a TV in my bedroom? Yes."
"But anyone could walk in on ya."
"Only you, and I'm sure you're polite enough to knock first, because if you're not I'm throwing you out."
Once again Gideon seemed to somehow turn even more red than he already was, but he went inside anyway and could soon be heard dragging the requested drawer out from its home in the dresser. She'd need to figure out where her clothes were going of course, among other things, but that was all part and parcel of trying new things. And tomorrow...
Tomorrow was going to be great.
The somewhat elderly raccoon unlocked and opened the door, allowing the two prospective renters inside. The apartment was largely empty, bar a few basic furniture items. The door opened straight into the lounge where an old TV and couch could be seen. There were dark marks on the wallpaper where pictures or posters had been hung for some time and both a bathroom and bedroom could be seen branching off. Relatively simple but far better than either of the recent arrivals could hope to afford alone.
"So this is it, bedroom, bathroom, kitchenette is through the bedroom 'cause of hygiene regulations, and here. We discussed the rent and utilities on the phone Mrs..."
"Miss Hopps."
"Right. Well then unless the bedroom is an issue there's probably not much more to do than take the grand tour."
"What's wrong with the bedroom?"
"There's only one Mister.."
Judy sighed, more out of annoyance than frustration. The raccoon had been looking sideways at them since they'd met just a few minutes ago. She'd honestly expected Gideon to be a little more aware of things like that but apparently the entire issue had gone right over his head. Oh well, it was best to clear the air now.
"He's Mr. Grey. We're just splitting the cost of living. Sleeping arrangements are gonna be tricky, but nothing we can' figure out. This is medium mammal zoned, so the bedroom about fox-sized right?"
"Right. And if you're not a couple there's a twenty dollar a week rent-splitting fee. And you can't sleep more than three people here at any time."
"What? Why?"
"Zoning laws Gid. It's illegal for a whole lot of small mammals to buy up all the bigger mammal's properties, it's not fair on them."
The raccoon was looking at her again. Possibly it was the police outfit; maybe it was intimidating. (Or maybe, a small part of her added, he had something to hide. This suspicion was quickly dismissed, but still filed away for alter reference.) Gideon looked like he was thinking something over; he'd been a bit nervous since he'd met her outside her graduation ceremony that little over an hour ago, which made sense since he'd only been in the city less than a day and must surely be seeing a whole lot of new things. To Judy the whole experience had been amazing, but perhaps not the same for him.
"So... could we do that?"
"Not without legal documentation, otherwise anyone could do it. And I'm sorry, but as much as I like you I'm not getting married for twenty bucks."
Gideon's expression switched quickly from shock, to confusion and then embarrassment as he realized exactly what he'd just suggested. It really was quite an issue, smaller mammals made the same money as larger ones, so there was an advantage to taking stuff meant for said larger mammals and splitting it up and selling it to more customers for more profit. In fact Judy had been refused no less than three apartments before this one just when making phone inquiries, either on mentioning Gideon or her own species. It was a grey area and a lot of people simply wouldn't take the risk. Which was heartening of course, but also a tad annoying.
"Hey, haven't I seen you on TV or something?"
"About an hour and a half ago I'd say, I just got sworn in as the ZPD's first rabbit officer."
"That's right, it was just on the news! Well... good luck with that."
"Thanks. Well this place seems to check out, we'll take it, if that's alright with you."
"Sure, knock yourselves out. Don't be loud, pay the rent on time and we won't have any problems."
A set of keys were tossed in Judy's general direction. She had to jump a bit to catch them. Their new landlord was already out the door by the time she'd turned to thank him. Well that had been relatively simple, and a good thing too there'd be a lot of settling in to do and her first day on the job would be tomorrow. She wandered into the 'kitchen' to inspect it.An oven, a bench and a microwave. Basic but they'd do. The bedroom held a bed that could comfortably sleep a quintet of bunnies, a closet, bedside table and set of drawers. She was heading back to examine the bathroom when she realized Gideon hadn't left the lounge.
"Something wrong?"
"Uh, that was quick."
"The sooner we're settled in the sooner we can focus on the important things, I'm working tomorrow you know."
"Oh. But uh, what are we gonna do about the beds? Uh, bed?"
"That's easy, I'll sleep here, I can stick a bed in the corner by the couch."
"Are you sure?"
"It's the only other room I can sleep in, including the bedroom because you snore."
"No I don't! Wait, how do you even know?"
"You have snorer's muzzle, I can tell. Anyway, be useful and move this drawer would you? It's about the right size."
"You're gonna sleep in a sock drawer?"
"No, I'm pretty sure this would have had shirts in it. We just need to stick some magazines or newspapers underneath it to get a bit of height, I have some blankets in my luggage."
"Are... are y' sure?"
"I know, I know, you're from a highborn family, slept on silk cushions no doubt, but us bunnies are made of sterner stuff. I slept in a box bed until I was nine years old."
"Well I guess if-"
"Oh hey! Hey new neighbor!"
Judy dashed briskly out of the door to greet a rather shocked looking weasel, who dropped the bag he was carrying, scattering what appeared to be small bulbs all over the floor. For a moment it looked like he might make a run for it, but he regained his composure with remarkable speed.
"Hah! I haven't done nothing wrong!"
"What? Oh. Oh no, I just moved in next door, I wanted to say hi, you live here too right?"
Judy held out her hand. The weasel seemed to be both confused and doubtful but after a few seconds of silent deliberation
he cautiously shook it. Stepping up behind her Gideon did likewise and he also got a welcoming handshake, and a look of deep suspicion. Judy supposed that it wasunusual to see such a pairing, especially a cop in a place like this. And some people might not think the highest of weasels, not her though, she knew they were regular people like everyone else.
"Right, yeah, whatever. Look I gotta run, these uh... daffodils are for a friend of mine."
"Oh, those aren't daffodils."
"Yeah they are, I just uh, bought 'em."
"No, those are gladioli, probably Gladiolus abbreviatus judging by the color and size. Wait, see, there, there's a tag in your bag. Says... Gladiolus permeabilis. HUh, guess I was wrong."
The weasel went pale and snatched the small plastic tag from Judy's paw, reading it as if he couldn't believe what it said. When it became obvious there wasn't any mistake he screwed up the tag in fury and used a word that Judy, as a professional bunny, knew involved a sexual act that could only be attempted using a stepladder and some string. Without even bothering to pick up the bulbs he ran off down the hallway.
"Huh, guess his friend's a lil' picky."
"I suppose."
"Uh... what'd he mean by ha- that word he used?"
"You're too young to know."
"I'm older'n you are."
"Yes, and there's no way I should know that. My parents should be ashamed. Now, my bed, we must set it up."
"Are you sure y' want-"
"-To have a TV in my bedroom? Yes."
"But anyone could walk in on ya."
"Only you, and I'm sure you're polite enough to knock first, because if you're not I'm throwing you out."
Once again Gideon seemed to somehow turn even more red than he already was, but he went inside anyway and could soon be heard dragging the requested drawer out from its home in the dresser. She'd need to figure out where her clothes were going of course, among other things, but that was all part and parcel of trying new things. And tomorrow...
Tomorrow was going to be great.
I have no idea about titles. Maybe something like "Two's Company"
Figure I can organize some other stuff I've done into its storyline. Trying that now.
For the seventeenth time that afternoon Gideon walked into the bathroom, stared at himself in the mirror then walked out. He'd done nothing but pace around the apartment and think for the last 45 minutes, ever since getting back from what was, he supposed, his bakery. He was trying desperately to fight the feeling that he didn't have the faintest idea what he was doing; he'd spent most of the morning just setting up, plugging things in, moving supplies, that sort of thing. Around lunchtime he'd put up the little 'Open with limited stock' sign Judy had made the previous night and had set to baking a few basic items with a long shelf life. That had been Judy's idea too; since nobody in Zootopia even knew there was a new bakery in town (And advertising was shockingly expensive.) he had to expect almost no business starting out and couldn't afford to make anything that would quickly spoil. By late afternoon he was sweeping out the place with very little else to do.
Everything was planned, everything should go alright, and the day was hardly a failure, he'd settled in and got things running and even made a sale to a badger heading home from work. But the shop was still very, very empty and very, very much his responsibility. Back home there had always been, if not friendly, then at least familiar faces. Support in a sense. He'd worked his way up carefully from helping out to running the counter to almost having a store of his own... In a way this was just a natural next step, but the big difference was he was alone. As helpful as Judy tried to be, she had her own life to attend to and he was going to have to start making the big decisions for himself from now on. He idly wondered if Judy was having the same trouble on her first day.Probably not, he decided, she always seemed to know what she was doing. And besides, she didn't have to be in charge. Come to think of it, where was she? It was getting late, almost sundown. Would she be working so late every day?
His question was answered by the echoing sounds of slow plodding feet making their way to the door. A key rattled in the lock before the wielder noticed the door was unlocked anyway and swung it slowly open. It was Judy, and to Gideon's great shock she looked sad. He'd seen her angry, annoyed, bored and usually happy, but never sad before. He almost didn't know what to say.
"Howdy. Uh... bad day?"
A sigh.
"Yeah, pretty bad. Two foxes conned me out of money which they used to run a technically legal downsizing scheme."
"'Technic'ly legal'?"
"It turns out if you have the right pieces of paper you can thumb your nose at the law."
"Well... that's not your problem right? I mean, you should be dealing with properly illegal stuff, lie burglaries or... bank robberies."
Another sigh.
"That's just it, the chief thinks I'm some token bunny. There are thirteen missing mammal cases on the books and I was assigned to parking duty. Parking duty."
"Yeah, that'd be right."
"I'm serious."
"So'm I. I mean, as far as they know you're just some country girl with a nice piece of paper."
"I graduated top of my class."
"A very nice piece of paper. I 'spect if some girl from the city showed up to your family farm tomorrow with a letter sayin' she was the best carrot grower in the city your Pa wouldn't exactly be lettin' her drive the tractor first day. Heck, I bet he'd be watin' for her to turn tail as soon as she got her boots muddy."
"Huh. You know, guess you're right. Well they'll see alright! I think I know just what my first big bust'll be, I just bet a certain someone hasn't reported their income this tax year!"
As surprising as it had been to see Judy upset, it was equally amazing how quickly she was back to being cheerful. Gideon hadn't much practice at motivational speaking, but he was sure it wasn't supposed to work so... instantly. It was as if someone had flipped a switch; all of a sudden she was hugging him, all traces of her previous mood gone.
"So how was your day?"
"Uh... okay I guess. Set up. Made a sale"
"Really? Congratulations! We should have a celebratory dinner."
"It was only a sale, 'sides what do we have to celebrate with?"
"Happy Meadows Microwave Carrot Dinners."
"I think I'll pass."
* * *
"I'll definitely pass."
What sat forlornly in the plastic container before them may once have been a carrot. If you stared at it right it still could be recognized as one, or possibly a small, orange mummy. It certainly didn't resemble the carrots on the label which beamed an almost impossibly fiery hue at the world, promising all the flavor with no saturated fats. Judy regarded it with a mixture of shock and pity.
"I tell you Gid, you can take a mammal's heart and you can tear it in two, but to do this, this to a carrot, that's just cruel."
"Well, enjoy. I'm having dessert."
"Dessert? But you haven't had dinner yet!"
"And if that's what's on offer I'm never going to, ever again. I bought home some stuff form the bakery and that'll do fine."
"Are those brownies? You mean you didn't buy any of your own, proper meal, food?"
"I forgot."
"So you're going to live off of biscuits and cakes for how long exactly?"
"I'll get some groceries tomorrow. Maybe."
"That can't be healthy."
"Maybe. Enjoy your carrot."
A pause.
"I want half."
"A quarter."
"A third."
"Fine."
* * *
Judy hadn't even finished her third brownie (Which Gideon was quite sure was closer to half his supply of seven than a third, but then he wasn't the math whizz.) when her phone rang.
"It's my parents!"
"Right."
"No! They don't know you're here! Stay there and be quiet!"
"You didn't tell them anythin' about this at all?"
"I'm going to ease them into it! What did you expect?"
"Well I-"
"-Don't stand behind me! Stay out of camera range! Mom! Dad! Hi!"
"Judy! Jude the dude! How was your first day on the force?"
"Oh, it was fine. Everything I'd hoped for and more."
"That's- holy cranks Bonnie, look at that! Judy, are- are you a meter maid?"
"What? Oh, yes. It's just for starting out. No need to ride a tractor on my first day right?"
"Uh, what?"
"Nothing, nothing. But I think I can bust someone for tax evasion tomorrow, so yeah, watch this space!"
"Oh our prayers have been answered! She's not a real cop! I'm just so relieved!"
Gideon listened almost in shock. Certainly his family had their concerns with his moving to Zootopia, his aunt especially had waxed long and lyrical about her 'poor wee lamb' being all alone in the big nasty city. Poor wee lamb? He wasn't sure if that was offensive to sheep but it certainly rankled him. But no matter what his family had supported his decision, even if they had warned him of all the things that could go wrong. But as he sat listening to the conversation unfolding he became increasingly sure that the Hopps family would consider Judy giving up and returning home as a victory of sorts. It was slightly disturbing, especially the repeated chants of 'Meter maid!'. It took considerable time in fact for Judy to curb her parents' 'enthusiasm'.
"So uh... that's a big place you're in."
"Medium mammal zone, it'd suit a cat better, or even a wolf. But my neighbor's a weasel and he-"
"-A weasel? Judy, do you have your fox taser?"
"Yes dad."
"And the repellent? Do you think you'll need weasel repellent too?"
"Dad, Duke's fine, I was talking to him just today. He's trying to get into inner-city gardening with a friend. It's not like he's going to attack me in my bed while I sleep."
"You just can't be too careful. I don't know if you've heard but Gideon Grey moved to Zootopia just this week, and he could be skulking about anywhere."
"Oh he's my other neighbor."
"What?!"
"I'm kidding. Really."
"There's just no telling where he could be."
"Well I can assure you that he's most definitely not my neighbor. Seriously, I'll be fine. Look, it's been a bit of a long day and I..."
"Well okay, we'll call you again tomorrow."
With that and a few goodbyes the phonecall ended. Gideon stayed still for a little longer as Judy emitted yet another annoyed sigh and tossed the cellphone onto the couch.
"So uh... your parents."
"Yeah, look, I'm sure I can break it to them gently."
"Oh. Yeah. But they... seem a mite happy 'bout your slow start."
"Oh yes. Now you know why nothing anyone says can keep me down, it's nothing compared to what I put up with at home"
"Uh, sorry 'bout that."
"Well I'm going to prove them wrong. I'm going to prove everyone wrong. Starting tomorrow! But first I need a shower; my feet are a mess."
As she walked off Gideon noticed that in fact they appeared to be covered in some sort of grey dust. She'd actually left quite a few footprints on the bare wooden floor. He'd have to vacuum those up... once they got a vacuum cleaner. Or a broom. They really did need to get a few more things. Judy was, in theory, pulling a steady salary, but the bakery would take time to earn its keep.
There was that worrying feeling again. He found himself tidying away what little dinner dishes there were and wandering aimlessly from room to room once more, idly opening and closing doors and drawers. Maybe he should watch some TV? Or clean the dishes. Both would take his mind off of things for a bit. Maybe he could-
"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT KNOCKING FIRST?!"
He slammed the bathroom door, immediately bought back to reality. Oh sh- shoot.
Figure I can organize some other stuff I've done into its storyline. Trying that now.
For the seventeenth time that afternoon Gideon walked into the bathroom, stared at himself in the mirror then walked out. He'd done nothing but pace around the apartment and think for the last 45 minutes, ever since getting back from what was, he supposed, his bakery. He was trying desperately to fight the feeling that he didn't have the faintest idea what he was doing; he'd spent most of the morning just setting up, plugging things in, moving supplies, that sort of thing. Around lunchtime he'd put up the little 'Open with limited stock' sign Judy had made the previous night and had set to baking a few basic items with a long shelf life. That had been Judy's idea too; since nobody in Zootopia even knew there was a new bakery in town (And advertising was shockingly expensive.) he had to expect almost no business starting out and couldn't afford to make anything that would quickly spoil. By late afternoon he was sweeping out the place with very little else to do.
Everything was planned, everything should go alright, and the day was hardly a failure, he'd settled in and got things running and even made a sale to a badger heading home from work. But the shop was still very, very empty and very, very much his responsibility. Back home there had always been, if not friendly, then at least familiar faces. Support in a sense. He'd worked his way up carefully from helping out to running the counter to almost having a store of his own... In a way this was just a natural next step, but the big difference was he was alone. As helpful as Judy tried to be, she had her own life to attend to and he was going to have to start making the big decisions for himself from now on. He idly wondered if Judy was having the same trouble on her first day.Probably not, he decided, she always seemed to know what she was doing. And besides, she didn't have to be in charge. Come to think of it, where was she? It was getting late, almost sundown. Would she be working so late every day?
His question was answered by the echoing sounds of slow plodding feet making their way to the door. A key rattled in the lock before the wielder noticed the door was unlocked anyway and swung it slowly open. It was Judy, and to Gideon's great shock she looked sad. He'd seen her angry, annoyed, bored and usually happy, but never sad before. He almost didn't know what to say.
"Howdy. Uh... bad day?"
A sigh.
"Yeah, pretty bad. Two foxes conned me out of money which they used to run a technically legal downsizing scheme."
"'Technic'ly legal'?"
"It turns out if you have the right pieces of paper you can thumb your nose at the law."
"Well... that's not your problem right? I mean, you should be dealing with properly illegal stuff, lie burglaries or... bank robberies."
Another sigh.
"That's just it, the chief thinks I'm some token bunny. There are thirteen missing mammal cases on the books and I was assigned to parking duty. Parking duty."
"Yeah, that'd be right."
"I'm serious."
"So'm I. I mean, as far as they know you're just some country girl with a nice piece of paper."
"I graduated top of my class."
"A very nice piece of paper. I 'spect if some girl from the city showed up to your family farm tomorrow with a letter sayin' she was the best carrot grower in the city your Pa wouldn't exactly be lettin' her drive the tractor first day. Heck, I bet he'd be watin' for her to turn tail as soon as she got her boots muddy."
"Huh. You know, guess you're right. Well they'll see alright! I think I know just what my first big bust'll be, I just bet a certain someone hasn't reported their income this tax year!"
As surprising as it had been to see Judy upset, it was equally amazing how quickly she was back to being cheerful. Gideon hadn't much practice at motivational speaking, but he was sure it wasn't supposed to work so... instantly. It was as if someone had flipped a switch; all of a sudden she was hugging him, all traces of her previous mood gone.
"So how was your day?"
"Uh... okay I guess. Set up. Made a sale"
"Really? Congratulations! We should have a celebratory dinner."
"It was only a sale, 'sides what do we have to celebrate with?"
"Happy Meadows Microwave Carrot Dinners."
"I think I'll pass."
* * *
"I'll definitely pass."
What sat forlornly in the plastic container before them may once have been a carrot. If you stared at it right it still could be recognized as one, or possibly a small, orange mummy. It certainly didn't resemble the carrots on the label which beamed an almost impossibly fiery hue at the world, promising all the flavor with no saturated fats. Judy regarded it with a mixture of shock and pity.
"I tell you Gid, you can take a mammal's heart and you can tear it in two, but to do this, this to a carrot, that's just cruel."
"Well, enjoy. I'm having dessert."
"Dessert? But you haven't had dinner yet!"
"And if that's what's on offer I'm never going to, ever again. I bought home some stuff form the bakery and that'll do fine."
"Are those brownies? You mean you didn't buy any of your own, proper meal, food?"
"I forgot."
"So you're going to live off of biscuits and cakes for how long exactly?"
"I'll get some groceries tomorrow. Maybe."
"That can't be healthy."
"Maybe. Enjoy your carrot."
A pause.
"I want half."
"A quarter."
"A third."
"Fine."
* * *
Judy hadn't even finished her third brownie (Which Gideon was quite sure was closer to half his supply of seven than a third, but then he wasn't the math whizz.) when her phone rang.
"It's my parents!"
"Right."
"No! They don't know you're here! Stay there and be quiet!"
"You didn't tell them anythin' about this at all?"
"I'm going to ease them into it! What did you expect?"
"Well I-"
"-Don't stand behind me! Stay out of camera range! Mom! Dad! Hi!"
"Judy! Jude the dude! How was your first day on the force?"
"Oh, it was fine. Everything I'd hoped for and more."
"That's- holy cranks Bonnie, look at that! Judy, are- are you a meter maid?"
"What? Oh, yes. It's just for starting out. No need to ride a tractor on my first day right?"
"Uh, what?"
"Nothing, nothing. But I think I can bust someone for tax evasion tomorrow, so yeah, watch this space!"
"Oh our prayers have been answered! She's not a real cop! I'm just so relieved!"
Gideon listened almost in shock. Certainly his family had their concerns with his moving to Zootopia, his aunt especially had waxed long and lyrical about her 'poor wee lamb' being all alone in the big nasty city. Poor wee lamb? He wasn't sure if that was offensive to sheep but it certainly rankled him. But no matter what his family had supported his decision, even if they had warned him of all the things that could go wrong. But as he sat listening to the conversation unfolding he became increasingly sure that the Hopps family would consider Judy giving up and returning home as a victory of sorts. It was slightly disturbing, especially the repeated chants of 'Meter maid!'. It took considerable time in fact for Judy to curb her parents' 'enthusiasm'.
"So uh... that's a big place you're in."
"Medium mammal zone, it'd suit a cat better, or even a wolf. But my neighbor's a weasel and he-"
"-A weasel? Judy, do you have your fox taser?"
"Yes dad."
"And the repellent? Do you think you'll need weasel repellent too?"
"Dad, Duke's fine, I was talking to him just today. He's trying to get into inner-city gardening with a friend. It's not like he's going to attack me in my bed while I sleep."
"You just can't be too careful. I don't know if you've heard but Gideon Grey moved to Zootopia just this week, and he could be skulking about anywhere."
"Oh he's my other neighbor."
"What?!"
"I'm kidding. Really."
"There's just no telling where he could be."
"Well I can assure you that he's most definitely not my neighbor. Seriously, I'll be fine. Look, it's been a bit of a long day and I..."
"Well okay, we'll call you again tomorrow."
With that and a few goodbyes the phonecall ended. Gideon stayed still for a little longer as Judy emitted yet another annoyed sigh and tossed the cellphone onto the couch.
"So uh... your parents."
"Yeah, look, I'm sure I can break it to them gently."
"Oh. Yeah. But they... seem a mite happy 'bout your slow start."
"Oh yes. Now you know why nothing anyone says can keep me down, it's nothing compared to what I put up with at home"
"Uh, sorry 'bout that."
"Well I'm going to prove them wrong. I'm going to prove everyone wrong. Starting tomorrow! But first I need a shower; my feet are a mess."
As she walked off Gideon noticed that in fact they appeared to be covered in some sort of grey dust. She'd actually left quite a few footprints on the bare wooden floor. He'd have to vacuum those up... once they got a vacuum cleaner. Or a broom. They really did need to get a few more things. Judy was, in theory, pulling a steady salary, but the bakery would take time to earn its keep.
There was that worrying feeling again. He found himself tidying away what little dinner dishes there were and wandering aimlessly from room to room once more, idly opening and closing doors and drawers. Maybe he should watch some TV? Or clean the dishes. Both would take his mind off of things for a bit. Maybe he could-
"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT KNOCKING FIRST?!"
He slammed the bathroom door, immediately bought back to reality. Oh sh- shoot.
Not quite; Gideon's presence will throw things out of order. Starting.... now.
Gideon sat and picked at his brownie wondering what on Earth he thought he was doing. Opposite him was an empty place set up neatly with knife, fork and complementary slice of brownie. He wasn't exactly sure why he'd set everything up so neatly, or why he was waiting for Judy to arrive.. or why he was so worried she hadn't yet. Her workday was a basic 9 to 5 barring taking a night shift or something unusual (Unlikely at this stage in her 'career'.) and it was only a little past sunset now. She was her own bunny, she had things to do besides work. But it was getting dark...
Which was stupid. She was a cop for crying out loud. And not unarmed; she'd taken both her taser and repellent with Gideon's blessing and she had proper training and everything. And sure, she was a friend but that wasn't anything to get worked up about, he had friends back in Bunnyburrows too and he wasn't waiting up, worried about them. There was absolutely no reason at all for him to be so concerned which made it even more unnerving that he was. Was it because she was the one with the plans and ideas? Certainly if things went awry and he was left alone his business would suffer. He was very much aware where his motivation to keep things going came from.
It had been five days since the 'opening' of his bakery and most of his day was spent idly wandering about his shop, waiting for people to come in. He'd had two sales the day before, and two today. Judy had talked up something about one sale becoming two becoming four and somehow ending with everyone in the world buying a cupcake from him in just a few months. He tried to focus on the math, recall the conversation and make sense of it, but it didn't distract him one bit. He checked the clock radio Judy had bought, sitting oddly on the couch, awaiting a proper coffee table or desk to sit on. 6:35. He got up, walked over to it and turned it on. 'All by Myself' by Cervine Dion... seriously? He changed stations. Weather report. Well this was certainly working out...
He was snapped back to reality by the long-awaited sound of paws skittering up the hallway outside. Judy! At last. The door burst open and the energetic grey bunny practically bounded in.
"I got the fox! Foxes! Got 'em!"
It took a few seconds for Gideon to catch up. Judy had been looking into Zootopia's tax code for the past few days and, once she had been officially added to the ZPD database, had launched an investigation into the two individuals who has conned her out of money on her first day. He was actually rather surprised, and somewhat intimidated by the sheer forcefulness of her efforts, bordering on obsession. It took him a little while to realize that the issue was personal. Whoever those guys were they hadn't simply broken the law in some small, technical way, they had attacked Judy's very beliefs about he big city and life within it. And if you did that then you were as good as done for.
Her exuberance must have meant that she'd managed to secure a conviction; she'd told him that it appeared at lest one of them hadn't been reporting any of his well-documented income, something that could lead to a five year prison sentence, especially with the multiple fraud allegations she'd dug up. Part of him was very happy about this, and he questioned it. He didn't even know the guys yet he was almost gleeful to hear of their arrest, they deserved it for messing with Judy. His train of thought however was immediately derailed when he noticed her bandaged hand.
"Hey what! What happened to your hand?"
"Oh, one of them bit me. But don't worry! He was the little guy!"
"They BIT you?"
"Oh it's nothing, really, just hurts a little. I mean it could be worse, he nearly ran me over during the chase."
"Chase.."
"After I cuffed the big guy he took off in his van. Or maybe before, I had to chase him through Little Rodentia, the big guy, the little guy went through central park."
"Little Rodentia?"
"Small mammal zone. Caused quite a stir, knocked over a building, fifteen thousand dollars of damage there. The chief was spitting tacks! But it'll be added to he perp's charge list since he initiated the chase and he fistfight after. Nearly killed some poor girl too, threw a donut at her."
"A lethal donut?"
"A big one. Biggish. For mice. Fiberglass. Anyway they were going to put me on suspension because of 'reckless behavior' but this nice lady from city hall dropped by and cleared things up.I had SO much paperwork to fill out though, and they want to put me on an 'impulse control' course or something. But it was totally worth it! Oh hey! Is that dinner?"
Without waiting for an answer Judy flopped down into a chair, almost flipping it over in the process. She stabbed the brownie slice with her fork, lifting the whole thing to her mouth and attacking it in a manner that reminded him of her school play performance. He imagined he could feel stray crumbs landing in his fur even from where he stood.
"Mmmph. Good. I had t' skip lunch, you know our neighbor?"
"Wesslton?"
"Yeah. Mt him on 'patrol' today. In a bit of trouble, behind on rent. Turns out he got his place with some other guys but they've had a bit of a falling out viz-a-viz the gardening project. Spent lunch break trying to find a florist that carries uh... I forget now, some bulbs..."
Through all this Gideon tried to ignore the small spots of blood on her bandage and the large volleys of crumbs that were sent his way each time she spoke. Both of which were difficult. For he first time he truly appreciated that being a police officer was a dangerous job, far more dangerous at east then baked goods. Again a little part of him was worried, wanted to warn her of the risks and talk her out of this. Which again, was utterly crazy. She was a grown bunny and a cop and most certainly not somebody that he, Gideon Grey, had any right to try and dissuade. Still he found himself arguing inside his own head. Sure Judy was a very close friend and maybe... something complicated he hadn't figured out yet, but the very worst thing he could do right now would be to try and talk her out of her dream. It hadn't worked when he was nine and i definitely wouldn't work now, just cause a whole lot of trouble. Again his thoughts were shattered, this time as Judy's phone rang. She hurriedly downed an entire slice of brownie in two bites and rushed to answer.
"Mom! Dad!"
"Judy! We were so worried, you didn't pick up earlier."
"Sorry, I was busy, paperwork. I-"
"What happened to your hand?!"
"I got bit by a suspect. You see this fox-"
There was a high pitched shriek, piercing, even over the phone. Stu Hopps could be such a drama queen sometimes. Still, Judy had just pressed the 'fox button' in a major way. Gideon sat back and let the conversation wash over him as Judy desperately tried to convince her panicking elders that she hadn't in fact been mauled to within an inch of her life. Apparently she was getting several more tasers. And a fox-proof vest, however that worked. And a fox whistle, who knew they even made those? Well this was certainly going to complicate the plan of carefully revealing Judy's living arrangements.
It was well over an hour later when a clearly exhausted and frustrated Judy tossed aside her cellphone with an emphatic sigh. It had been almost half an hour since the sound of an angrily thumping foot had started to be heard. Gideon had finished his dinner\dessert and washed up in the meantime and was now laying in bed with a good book. Or rather a junkmail catalog,, good reading material being one of he many things that hadn't been packed. Along with his pajamas it seemed; he was having to sleep in his boxer shorts despite being absolutely certain he'd packed all the clothing he'd need. (He'd have to get someone to mail them to him sometime.) After a few minutes of blissful silence here was a knock on the door.
"Gid, you decent?"
"Absolutely not, but I'm clothed and covered."
The door opened.
"So... telling my parents about all this could be a bit more difficult than I thought."
"Yep. Figured it might be."
"Sorry, I really do want to tell them."
"They're not gonna be happy."
"I know, sorry."
"Not your attitude, not your problem. 'sides, I did try and maul you once."
"Yeah, but this new guy was something else Gid, he drew blood."
"Should I be jealous?"
"Maybe, maybe. You'll have to do something to keep my interest, jaywalking perhaps. Plus your competition is a fennec, and you know what they say about guys with big ears."
"No, what?"
"They have trouble finding hats that fit."
Gideon snorted as the door quietly closed.Well that had gone relatively well for the first major arrest of Judy's career; it even made him feel a bit better about the coming day, the first weekend of his bakery and time to work on getting a proper storefront sign done, Another expense, but an investment that was needed. Plus he and Judy would finally get some time to be out and about together and explore the city, could be fun. And they'd be able to buy something to clean up stray crumbs too.
Gideon sat and picked at his brownie wondering what on Earth he thought he was doing. Opposite him was an empty place set up neatly with knife, fork and complementary slice of brownie. He wasn't exactly sure why he'd set everything up so neatly, or why he was waiting for Judy to arrive.. or why he was so worried she hadn't yet. Her workday was a basic 9 to 5 barring taking a night shift or something unusual (Unlikely at this stage in her 'career'.) and it was only a little past sunset now. She was her own bunny, she had things to do besides work. But it was getting dark...
Which was stupid. She was a cop for crying out loud. And not unarmed; she'd taken both her taser and repellent with Gideon's blessing and she had proper training and everything. And sure, she was a friend but that wasn't anything to get worked up about, he had friends back in Bunnyburrows too and he wasn't waiting up, worried about them. There was absolutely no reason at all for him to be so concerned which made it even more unnerving that he was. Was it because she was the one with the plans and ideas? Certainly if things went awry and he was left alone his business would suffer. He was very much aware where his motivation to keep things going came from.
It had been five days since the 'opening' of his bakery and most of his day was spent idly wandering about his shop, waiting for people to come in. He'd had two sales the day before, and two today. Judy had talked up something about one sale becoming two becoming four and somehow ending with everyone in the world buying a cupcake from him in just a few months. He tried to focus on the math, recall the conversation and make sense of it, but it didn't distract him one bit. He checked the clock radio Judy had bought, sitting oddly on the couch, awaiting a proper coffee table or desk to sit on. 6:35. He got up, walked over to it and turned it on. 'All by Myself' by Cervine Dion... seriously? He changed stations. Weather report. Well this was certainly working out...
He was snapped back to reality by the long-awaited sound of paws skittering up the hallway outside. Judy! At last. The door burst open and the energetic grey bunny practically bounded in.
"I got the fox! Foxes! Got 'em!"
It took a few seconds for Gideon to catch up. Judy had been looking into Zootopia's tax code for the past few days and, once she had been officially added to the ZPD database, had launched an investigation into the two individuals who has conned her out of money on her first day. He was actually rather surprised, and somewhat intimidated by the sheer forcefulness of her efforts, bordering on obsession. It took him a little while to realize that the issue was personal. Whoever those guys were they hadn't simply broken the law in some small, technical way, they had attacked Judy's very beliefs about he big city and life within it. And if you did that then you were as good as done for.
Her exuberance must have meant that she'd managed to secure a conviction; she'd told him that it appeared at lest one of them hadn't been reporting any of his well-documented income, something that could lead to a five year prison sentence, especially with the multiple fraud allegations she'd dug up. Part of him was very happy about this, and he questioned it. He didn't even know the guys yet he was almost gleeful to hear of their arrest, they deserved it for messing with Judy. His train of thought however was immediately derailed when he noticed her bandaged hand.
"Hey what! What happened to your hand?"
"Oh, one of them bit me. But don't worry! He was the little guy!"
"They BIT you?"
"Oh it's nothing, really, just hurts a little. I mean it could be worse, he nearly ran me over during the chase."
"Chase.."
"After I cuffed the big guy he took off in his van. Or maybe before, I had to chase him through Little Rodentia, the big guy, the little guy went through central park."
"Little Rodentia?"
"Small mammal zone. Caused quite a stir, knocked over a building, fifteen thousand dollars of damage there. The chief was spitting tacks! But it'll be added to he perp's charge list since he initiated the chase and he fistfight after. Nearly killed some poor girl too, threw a donut at her."
"A lethal donut?"
"A big one. Biggish. For mice. Fiberglass. Anyway they were going to put me on suspension because of 'reckless behavior' but this nice lady from city hall dropped by and cleared things up.I had SO much paperwork to fill out though, and they want to put me on an 'impulse control' course or something. But it was totally worth it! Oh hey! Is that dinner?"
Without waiting for an answer Judy flopped down into a chair, almost flipping it over in the process. She stabbed the brownie slice with her fork, lifting the whole thing to her mouth and attacking it in a manner that reminded him of her school play performance. He imagined he could feel stray crumbs landing in his fur even from where he stood.
"Mmmph. Good. I had t' skip lunch, you know our neighbor?"
"Wesslton?"
"Yeah. Mt him on 'patrol' today. In a bit of trouble, behind on rent. Turns out he got his place with some other guys but they've had a bit of a falling out viz-a-viz the gardening project. Spent lunch break trying to find a florist that carries uh... I forget now, some bulbs..."
Through all this Gideon tried to ignore the small spots of blood on her bandage and the large volleys of crumbs that were sent his way each time she spoke. Both of which were difficult. For he first time he truly appreciated that being a police officer was a dangerous job, far more dangerous at east then baked goods. Again a little part of him was worried, wanted to warn her of the risks and talk her out of this. Which again, was utterly crazy. She was a grown bunny and a cop and most certainly not somebody that he, Gideon Grey, had any right to try and dissuade. Still he found himself arguing inside his own head. Sure Judy was a very close friend and maybe... something complicated he hadn't figured out yet, but the very worst thing he could do right now would be to try and talk her out of her dream. It hadn't worked when he was nine and i definitely wouldn't work now, just cause a whole lot of trouble. Again his thoughts were shattered, this time as Judy's phone rang. She hurriedly downed an entire slice of brownie in two bites and rushed to answer.
"Mom! Dad!"
"Judy! We were so worried, you didn't pick up earlier."
"Sorry, I was busy, paperwork. I-"
"What happened to your hand?!"
"I got bit by a suspect. You see this fox-"
There was a high pitched shriek, piercing, even over the phone. Stu Hopps could be such a drama queen sometimes. Still, Judy had just pressed the 'fox button' in a major way. Gideon sat back and let the conversation wash over him as Judy desperately tried to convince her panicking elders that she hadn't in fact been mauled to within an inch of her life. Apparently she was getting several more tasers. And a fox-proof vest, however that worked. And a fox whistle, who knew they even made those? Well this was certainly going to complicate the plan of carefully revealing Judy's living arrangements.
It was well over an hour later when a clearly exhausted and frustrated Judy tossed aside her cellphone with an emphatic sigh. It had been almost half an hour since the sound of an angrily thumping foot had started to be heard. Gideon had finished his dinner\dessert and washed up in the meantime and was now laying in bed with a good book. Or rather a junkmail catalog,, good reading material being one of he many things that hadn't been packed. Along with his pajamas it seemed; he was having to sleep in his boxer shorts despite being absolutely certain he'd packed all the clothing he'd need. (He'd have to get someone to mail them to him sometime.) After a few minutes of blissful silence here was a knock on the door.
"Gid, you decent?"
"Absolutely not, but I'm clothed and covered."
The door opened.
"So... telling my parents about all this could be a bit more difficult than I thought."
"Yep. Figured it might be."
"Sorry, I really do want to tell them."
"They're not gonna be happy."
"I know, sorry."
"Not your attitude, not your problem. 'sides, I did try and maul you once."
"Yeah, but this new guy was something else Gid, he drew blood."
"Should I be jealous?"
"Maybe, maybe. You'll have to do something to keep my interest, jaywalking perhaps. Plus your competition is a fennec, and you know what they say about guys with big ears."
"No, what?"
"They have trouble finding hats that fit."
Gideon snorted as the door quietly closed.Well that had gone relatively well for the first major arrest of Judy's career; it even made him feel a bit better about the coming day, the first weekend of his bakery and time to work on getting a proper storefront sign done, Another expense, but an investment that was needed. Plus he and Judy would finally get some time to be out and about together and explore the city, could be fun. And they'd be able to buy something to clean up stray crumbs too.
Maybe a little, it *is* the weekend after all. But the real romance starts just a biiiit later on.
It was Saturday and it was raining. Not particularly hard, but the sky was overcast, a leaden hue, the rain coming down in that slow, steady fashion that told the world it cold keep doing this all day. Gideon and Judy had been out since early morning, getting groceries, purchasing small household items and organizing a sign for he bakery. This had proven to be easier said than done since Gideon hadn't in fact thought up a name for his business or a 'slogan' which Judy insisted he also have. It was late afternoon now and the both of them were getting increasingly damp despite their newly purchased umbrella.
The rain made things a little more difficult for Gideon since, as the gentlefox, he carried the umbrella. (Which Judy had bought with part of her first paycheck. This meant she got to choose the motif and explained why they were both walking beneath a bright pink Hello Kitty ensemble.) This meant that at the best of times he had only one paw free to carry things and Judy kept trying to hold it. Which, in a way was nice, but...
People were staring, he could tell. It wasn't like back in Bunnyburrows, where everyone stopped and said hi, where people would stand stock still and gawk at you if you did anything even slightly interesting. But he could see it nonetheless. People shot sidelong glances, or turned their heads. Some talked among themselves. Gossip. Gossip was the worst. People talked a lot about how nice small towns were, how great it was to know everyone. But they didn't realize that meant everyone knew everything about you, even, especially, when they really didn't. He'd learned to be wary of idle talk, it grew in the telling and came back to bite you, the quiet whispers and hushed discussions he could hear even when people thought he couldn't. 'What's he doing these days...?' 'He's doing well considering...' 'Not his fault, Vixey was drinking when she had him...' Oh yes...
"Hey, Earth to Gideon! Stop zoning out, you're walking too fast. Some of us have shorter legs you know."
"S'rry."
"At the very least you could hold my hand. That way I could just get dragged along for the ride."
"Yeah, I dunno..."
"Oh come on! You wouldn't hold your best friend's hand in public?"
"Yeah, but Travis isn't here."
"Har har. Seriously, afraid you'll catch bunny germs?"
"People are lookin' at us."
"Oh to be a bold and daring predator, knowing a life without fear..."
"I'm serious! People'll talk!"
Judy gave him a withering look, sighed dramatically and bounded over to a nearby gazelle (Or possibly an impala, Gideon couldn't tell.) in a bright rainjacket, getting the larger mammal's attention by tugging on his sleeve.
"Excuse me sir! Could you help me a bit? Me and my fiance there are a bit lost, are we anywhere near Tristan Street?"
"Oh. Uh, close enough, just down here until the intersection, then turn right."
"Thanks, we're just here to get married."
"Oh, congratulations then, I guess..."
"Thanks. See Gid I told you-"
Gideon had gone completely stiff with a mixture of shock, horror and embarrassment. He literally couldn't believe what had just happened. Maybe it hadn't and he'd just daydreamed it. Judy seemed genuinely surprised at his reaction as the larger mammal slowly sauntered off. When he spoke next i was in a hoarse whisper.
"Fiance? Married?! What'd you say that fer?!"
"To prove a point, look, he's just walking away, he doesn't care!"
"But we're not-"
"-I lied. He. Doesn't. Care. This isn't Bunnyburrows, we're not important or celebrities. Nobody will talk because nobody is interested in our personal business. Nobody's going to concern themselves with two good friends holding hands, and even if they do they're not going to care enough to do anything about it or even remember it a week from now. It's no big deal."
Gideon was reluctantly forced to relent and let Judy hold his hand; skipping beside him to keep up like a little schoolgirl. Despite her arguments it had been a long time since Gideon had felt so exposed and self-conscious. Doing this in the 'Burrows would have been unthinkable, even among friends, even among two bunnies. Anything more than an acquaintance was serious stuff and friends and family wouldn't hesitate to step in if they thought anything was uncalled for. Even his talking to Judy back home had raised eyebrows. If he hadn't already been working with the rest of the Hopps family for some time they never would have let him get anywhere near her or vice versa. But in Zootopia... was it really possible to get away with that sort of thing? The thought was exciting and terrifying at the same time.
"Oh hey! It's Mr. Wess... Mr. Wez... our neighbor, Duke! Hey, how's things going? Still looking for your bulbs?"
"What?! No! Oh, oh yeah. Hard to find."
"Really? What exactly are you after?"
"Nothing! I mean... hang on... it's written down here... Midichlorians or something."
"Let me see.. 'Midnicampum holicithias'? Wow, no. It's flowering season for those, you won't get any bulbs this time of year, not easily anyway. Why do you want these in particular?"
"Eh, dunno. D- my friend just likes 'em I guess."
"Well he should try crocus, they'd be far easier to find and they're very closely related."
"Really? you think he'd notice?"
"Probably not, they look very similar. You can ask for some in that florist's over there."
"Uuuh... yeah. Could you... ask for me? I uh... don't wanna be seen in there I uh.... don't wanna look sissy or nuthin'. You know, guy like me, buying flowers...?"
"Sure, no problem neighbor! You can pay me back if I find any right?"
"'Course, no problem."
"Oh good. It's just the last item I bought for someone was used for a crime, it's a funny story."
"Hah... yeah... crime. Some people huh? No respect for the law."
Gideon watched her bound into the florist's shop humming to herself. Their new neighbor slouched against a trashcan, one of the larger ones, and chewed nervously on a toothpick. Maybe he was giving up smoking? Gideon wasn't sure. Something was a bit off about the guy. And he should know, he knew weasels. Well, ferrets anyway. The stood around aimlessly, ignoring each other for several minutes.
"So, you and the bunny, what, you two out on a date or sumthin'?"
"What? No! Just a supply run."
"Oh-HO! Denial eh? Pair of country kids run off to the big city I see. You get in trouble with the folks back home huh? Some people don't like that kinda messin' about. I say it's all the same once the lights are out right?"
Gideon could feel himself getting increasingly hot under his fur and was very relieved to see Judy hurrying back with a small paper bag of bulbs and a rather larger bouquet of saffron colored lowers. Apparently she hadn't been able to resist getting a little something for herself. Their neighbor was exceedingly thankful for the bulbs and in fact paid the required twenty bucks on the spot. Evidently he was a weasel of his word and maybe Gideon had been too quick to judge. So it was they set out again, this time encumbered by the flowers, held by Judy and thus constantly smacking into Gideon as she skipped about beside him. Holding hands, flowers, all they needed now was to have lunch and the date trifecta would be complete. Which he had to remind himself, wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
"Excuse me? Excuse me! Miss Hopps? Can I have a minute?!"
Once again their walk was interrupted as a smallish brown squirrel carrying a camera and notebook ran up to them. At the rate they were going it'd be past midnight before they got back home. He wondered what this interloper wanted.
"Yes, that's me. How can I help you?"
"Sasha Oakridge, Zootopia Inquirer, not to be confused with the Zootopia ENquirer, totally different paper, tabloid trash. Could I just ask you a few questions?"
"Go ahead, fire away!"
"You're Zootopia's first rabbit police officer, and you just had your first big bust on the so-called Foxy Fraudsters case yesterday, the public would like to know how you're finding life in the ZPD?"
And so it was that, once again, Gideon had to stand around shuffling his feet as Judy gave a brief talk about her childhood dreams, police training, the city and crime rates. All the time the reporter made notes in her little book, scribbling at a lightning pace. He was grateful that she left him out of things, he didn't trust newspapers, they were the worst gossips of all, and never printed any good news. At least she did until-
"So who is this then?"
"This is my good friend Gideon Grey, owner and proprietor of Baked Goods, 34 Commerce Street; Zootopia's newest and finest bakery. 'Baked goods, baked great.'"
"Interesting. So you've arrested two foxes and befriended a third? That's a very nice angle."
"Oh we've been friends a while, we moved here together."
"Well that is interesting. I may have to do a follow-up there sometime. It's been nice talking to you Miss Hopps, do buy an issue sometime, this should be in today's evening edition. Oh! Could I perhaps get a picture of you and Mr. Grey? Yes? Good. Just step back a bit, maybe try to scoot a bit closer so I can get you both in frame..."
Gideon was thinking of maybe crouching a bit, given his height the camera was pointed almost directly up to try an capture his face. But Judy beat him to it, dropping her flowers and scrambling awkwardly up him to hang off of his arm, placing their faces at equal height. Before he could further react there was a flash and click and the photo was done. He really hoped he'd been smiling in it and that his hair was neat. His mother had always insisted he keep it combed in case he ran into he president one day. Despite the reporter now being gone Judy still clung to his arm, causing him to lean slightly to the side.
"Why'd you have to go and say all that?"
"Free advertising, if they print that imagine how much exposure your bakery will get!"
"But the sign isn't even up yet!"
"I know, and your slogan is terrible. Is it 'Baked Goods: Baked goods, baked great', or just 'Baked goods: Baked great'?"
"I- what?"
"Exactly."
"You can get off now."
"No, I'm too tired, you'll have to carry me back."
"Why do I have to do all the work?"
"Because you're a big strong fox, I'm a poor tired bunny and you love me and don't want to see my poor soaked shoes get any more wet."
With that she wrapped both arms around his neck and hugged him rather firmly for a 'poor tired bunny'. He gave a theatrical sigh and kept walking. It wasn't worth arguing over. Besides, it was sorta true.
It was Saturday and it was raining. Not particularly hard, but the sky was overcast, a leaden hue, the rain coming down in that slow, steady fashion that told the world it cold keep doing this all day. Gideon and Judy had been out since early morning, getting groceries, purchasing small household items and organizing a sign for he bakery. This had proven to be easier said than done since Gideon hadn't in fact thought up a name for his business or a 'slogan' which Judy insisted he also have. It was late afternoon now and the both of them were getting increasingly damp despite their newly purchased umbrella.
The rain made things a little more difficult for Gideon since, as the gentlefox, he carried the umbrella. (Which Judy had bought with part of her first paycheck. This meant she got to choose the motif and explained why they were both walking beneath a bright pink Hello Kitty ensemble.) This meant that at the best of times he had only one paw free to carry things and Judy kept trying to hold it. Which, in a way was nice, but...
People were staring, he could tell. It wasn't like back in Bunnyburrows, where everyone stopped and said hi, where people would stand stock still and gawk at you if you did anything even slightly interesting. But he could see it nonetheless. People shot sidelong glances, or turned their heads. Some talked among themselves. Gossip. Gossip was the worst. People talked a lot about how nice small towns were, how great it was to know everyone. But they didn't realize that meant everyone knew everything about you, even, especially, when they really didn't. He'd learned to be wary of idle talk, it grew in the telling and came back to bite you, the quiet whispers and hushed discussions he could hear even when people thought he couldn't. 'What's he doing these days...?' 'He's doing well considering...' 'Not his fault, Vixey was drinking when she had him...' Oh yes...
"Hey, Earth to Gideon! Stop zoning out, you're walking too fast. Some of us have shorter legs you know."
"S'rry."
"At the very least you could hold my hand. That way I could just get dragged along for the ride."
"Yeah, I dunno..."
"Oh come on! You wouldn't hold your best friend's hand in public?"
"Yeah, but Travis isn't here."
"Har har. Seriously, afraid you'll catch bunny germs?"
"People are lookin' at us."
"Oh to be a bold and daring predator, knowing a life without fear..."
"I'm serious! People'll talk!"
Judy gave him a withering look, sighed dramatically and bounded over to a nearby gazelle (Or possibly an impala, Gideon couldn't tell.) in a bright rainjacket, getting the larger mammal's attention by tugging on his sleeve.
"Excuse me sir! Could you help me a bit? Me and my fiance there are a bit lost, are we anywhere near Tristan Street?"
"Oh. Uh, close enough, just down here until the intersection, then turn right."
"Thanks, we're just here to get married."
"Oh, congratulations then, I guess..."
"Thanks. See Gid I told you-"
Gideon had gone completely stiff with a mixture of shock, horror and embarrassment. He literally couldn't believe what had just happened. Maybe it hadn't and he'd just daydreamed it. Judy seemed genuinely surprised at his reaction as the larger mammal slowly sauntered off. When he spoke next i was in a hoarse whisper.
"Fiance? Married?! What'd you say that fer?!"
"To prove a point, look, he's just walking away, he doesn't care!"
"But we're not-"
"-I lied. He. Doesn't. Care. This isn't Bunnyburrows, we're not important or celebrities. Nobody will talk because nobody is interested in our personal business. Nobody's going to concern themselves with two good friends holding hands, and even if they do they're not going to care enough to do anything about it or even remember it a week from now. It's no big deal."
Gideon was reluctantly forced to relent and let Judy hold his hand; skipping beside him to keep up like a little schoolgirl. Despite her arguments it had been a long time since Gideon had felt so exposed and self-conscious. Doing this in the 'Burrows would have been unthinkable, even among friends, even among two bunnies. Anything more than an acquaintance was serious stuff and friends and family wouldn't hesitate to step in if they thought anything was uncalled for. Even his talking to Judy back home had raised eyebrows. If he hadn't already been working with the rest of the Hopps family for some time they never would have let him get anywhere near her or vice versa. But in Zootopia... was it really possible to get away with that sort of thing? The thought was exciting and terrifying at the same time.
"Oh hey! It's Mr. Wess... Mr. Wez... our neighbor, Duke! Hey, how's things going? Still looking for your bulbs?"
"What?! No! Oh, oh yeah. Hard to find."
"Really? What exactly are you after?"
"Nothing! I mean... hang on... it's written down here... Midichlorians or something."
"Let me see.. 'Midnicampum holicithias'? Wow, no. It's flowering season for those, you won't get any bulbs this time of year, not easily anyway. Why do you want these in particular?"
"Eh, dunno. D- my friend just likes 'em I guess."
"Well he should try crocus, they'd be far easier to find and they're very closely related."
"Really? you think he'd notice?"
"Probably not, they look very similar. You can ask for some in that florist's over there."
"Uuuh... yeah. Could you... ask for me? I uh... don't wanna be seen in there I uh.... don't wanna look sissy or nuthin'. You know, guy like me, buying flowers...?"
"Sure, no problem neighbor! You can pay me back if I find any right?"
"'Course, no problem."
"Oh good. It's just the last item I bought for someone was used for a crime, it's a funny story."
"Hah... yeah... crime. Some people huh? No respect for the law."
Gideon watched her bound into the florist's shop humming to herself. Their new neighbor slouched against a trashcan, one of the larger ones, and chewed nervously on a toothpick. Maybe he was giving up smoking? Gideon wasn't sure. Something was a bit off about the guy. And he should know, he knew weasels. Well, ferrets anyway. The stood around aimlessly, ignoring each other for several minutes.
"So, you and the bunny, what, you two out on a date or sumthin'?"
"What? No! Just a supply run."
"Oh-HO! Denial eh? Pair of country kids run off to the big city I see. You get in trouble with the folks back home huh? Some people don't like that kinda messin' about. I say it's all the same once the lights are out right?"
Gideon could feel himself getting increasingly hot under his fur and was very relieved to see Judy hurrying back with a small paper bag of bulbs and a rather larger bouquet of saffron colored lowers. Apparently she hadn't been able to resist getting a little something for herself. Their neighbor was exceedingly thankful for the bulbs and in fact paid the required twenty bucks on the spot. Evidently he was a weasel of his word and maybe Gideon had been too quick to judge. So it was they set out again, this time encumbered by the flowers, held by Judy and thus constantly smacking into Gideon as she skipped about beside him. Holding hands, flowers, all they needed now was to have lunch and the date trifecta would be complete. Which he had to remind himself, wouldn't necessarily be a bad thing.
"Excuse me? Excuse me! Miss Hopps? Can I have a minute?!"
Once again their walk was interrupted as a smallish brown squirrel carrying a camera and notebook ran up to them. At the rate they were going it'd be past midnight before they got back home. He wondered what this interloper wanted.
"Yes, that's me. How can I help you?"
"Sasha Oakridge, Zootopia Inquirer, not to be confused with the Zootopia ENquirer, totally different paper, tabloid trash. Could I just ask you a few questions?"
"Go ahead, fire away!"
"You're Zootopia's first rabbit police officer, and you just had your first big bust on the so-called Foxy Fraudsters case yesterday, the public would like to know how you're finding life in the ZPD?"
And so it was that, once again, Gideon had to stand around shuffling his feet as Judy gave a brief talk about her childhood dreams, police training, the city and crime rates. All the time the reporter made notes in her little book, scribbling at a lightning pace. He was grateful that she left him out of things, he didn't trust newspapers, they were the worst gossips of all, and never printed any good news. At least she did until-
"So who is this then?"
"This is my good friend Gideon Grey, owner and proprietor of Baked Goods, 34 Commerce Street; Zootopia's newest and finest bakery. 'Baked goods, baked great.'"
"Interesting. So you've arrested two foxes and befriended a third? That's a very nice angle."
"Oh we've been friends a while, we moved here together."
"Well that is interesting. I may have to do a follow-up there sometime. It's been nice talking to you Miss Hopps, do buy an issue sometime, this should be in today's evening edition. Oh! Could I perhaps get a picture of you and Mr. Grey? Yes? Good. Just step back a bit, maybe try to scoot a bit closer so I can get you both in frame..."
Gideon was thinking of maybe crouching a bit, given his height the camera was pointed almost directly up to try an capture his face. But Judy beat him to it, dropping her flowers and scrambling awkwardly up him to hang off of his arm, placing their faces at equal height. Before he could further react there was a flash and click and the photo was done. He really hoped he'd been smiling in it and that his hair was neat. His mother had always insisted he keep it combed in case he ran into he president one day. Despite the reporter now being gone Judy still clung to his arm, causing him to lean slightly to the side.
"Why'd you have to go and say all that?"
"Free advertising, if they print that imagine how much exposure your bakery will get!"
"But the sign isn't even up yet!"
"I know, and your slogan is terrible. Is it 'Baked Goods: Baked goods, baked great', or just 'Baked goods: Baked great'?"
"I- what?"
"Exactly."
"You can get off now."
"No, I'm too tired, you'll have to carry me back."
"Why do I have to do all the work?"
"Because you're a big strong fox, I'm a poor tired bunny and you love me and don't want to see my poor soaked shoes get any more wet."
With that she wrapped both arms around his neck and hugged him rather firmly for a 'poor tired bunny'. He gave a theatrical sigh and kept walking. It wasn't worth arguing over. Besides, it was sorta true.
It's been sitting in the background a bit, but it's getting there.
It was just after sunset and Gideon trudged slowly up the hallway trying to find the apartment door. There had been only one dim light in the hallway and apparently it had gone out. He was guided by the light shining out from underneath many closed doors as well as the angry yelling of a voice he knew to be his neighbor, the weasel. Part of his mind noted that the guy seemed to have been caught out with the crocuses from the weekend. Still it helped him find his door. He stumbled in, his night-visioned eyes blinking in the sudden bright light. He stumbled over to the couch and belly-flopped onto it, making it emit a groan of protest under his weight. What a day. He'd made 217 sales, he'd counted each one.
Judy had been right about the free advertising, though even she was surprised at the response. The Zootopia Inquirer had published a small article on Judy's life in the city that mentioned his bakery just beneath a small black-and-white photo of the pair. The paper catered to smaller prey species and had a good circulation, that Monday he'd had no less than one hundred and seventeen orders, from curious readers dropping by, mostly during lunch break. It had been a mad dash to serve everyone, especially in an establishment that was set up to cater for more fox-sized mammals. It had been very fortunate indeed that most orders had been for the cookies and cakes he'd made as basic stock, he hadn't managed to set up his famous pies yet, or deliveries from Bunnyburrows. The challenge now, as Judy had said, was to make the curious stopovers regular customers and to build from there.
So it had been a busy few days in just his second week, baking, trying to set up a smaller counter and of course the new hire. She at least had help take some of the strain off of him and he was rather proud of having an employee of his own, his first, in such a short time. The bakery was starting to support itself, though he was still a little, little bit miffed that it had been, in some way, Judy who was responsible. But he wasn't going to argue if it moved peanut brittle out the door
There was a sudden weight on his back that knocked the air from his lungs and two large floppy ears entered his field of vision. Judy had, for the first time, got home before him, at least half an hour so by his reckoning. She was looking her usual, cheerful, perky self.
"Welcome back chef! How was your third post-celebrity day at the bakery?"
"Ugh. As tirin' as yesterday.Got a new hire though. Northburrows' girl, keen."
"No kidding, you hired help? As in an employee?"
"Yeah, on probation until I see how business goes. Just runnin' the counter."
"Northburrows huh? You better not have hired some cute country girl that caught your eye, I'll not have any fox of mine off cavorting with hussies when he's supposed to be working."
"She's a sheep, you know they're reliable people. Saw the article and was curious about a job, likes service apparently."
"Oh definitely, I'm still on parking duty 'cause the chief is being a stubborn old bat, but this nice ewe from city hall popped in to check on my progress and she's agitating to get me put on the missing mammals cases; it's fifteen so far, all predators."
"Sounds serious."
"Yeah, isn't it great? Oh hey! I made dinner!"
Something small, shriveled and vaguely carrot-shaped was dangled in front of him. The remains of another microwave dinner of which Judy had optimistically bought four. Sighing heavily Gideon reached over and grabbed he presumed-carrot before slowly and laboriously picking himself up off the couch. Once sanding he reached over to Judy and, using arms that could bench-press flour sacks, picked her up by the collar of her shirt, raising her to eye level.He placed the vegetable carefully between her ears.
"Looks good, but I'm not sure about the garnish..."
"Oh you wouldn't dare."
He leaned forward and quickly nibbled an ear before Judy could react.
"Hey!"
"Honestly, how did my ancestors do this? Can't say the taste of fur is particularly enchanting."
"Har har. Alright, alright, I bought actual dinner, one of the guys told me about a place that does good roast vegetables."
Judy had bought several packs of food home. They were all heavily vegetable based, though after what they'd been through it could be hard to tell. Many were coated in some sort of batter and all had been deep fried within an inch of heir lives. Gideon really couldn't understand how Judy managed to live of such stuff and not end up fat enough to roll her way across the city.Perhaps it was a good metabolism, she would be so lucky.
"How can you eat this stuff? What's not carbs is fat, and what's not fat is salt."
"Three of the four major food groups. Besides, you're eating it."
"Yeah, but I know how bad it is for me. I shoulda stuck with rabbit."
"Bitten by two foxes so far, dad'll be thrilled. Especially when he hears about work."
"Why, what happened now? They partner you with a lion or something?"
"You know those two I busted last week? They cut a plea deal with the Serious Fraud Office. They've been drafted in to investigate some embezzlement case."
"Wait, you mean they're police now?"
'Nah, they're working with some guy... Jack Savage I think. But they need ZPD resources so they're sort of hanging about."
"Savage?"
"Yeah, funny thing, raised by wolves. Anyway, I'm finished. I'll be in my room."
Judy had solved the 'room problem' by borrowing one of the packing boxes Gideon had used to transport an oven to he city. It was twice her height and she'd moved her makeshift bed into it, as well as cutting a 'door' in the side and a window she could watch TV through. She used a flashlight for lighting an had managed to purloin some smaller boxes from their neighbor for a few bucks to store her clothing and personal items in. She'd even pinned some pictures to the walls. She'd scribbled 'Fort Hopps' on the outside in big letters and even hung a 'No boys allowed' sign up. Twenty four year old Gideon considered it almost laughably childish. Six year old Gideon pouted and demanded his adult self get one that was even bigger and better.
* * *
It was a few hours later. Gideon lay, nearly asleep on the couch. He would have gone to bed ages ago, but was now too lazy to get up. Plus the movie that was on was at least a little interesting. Judy was watching it too, and ear dangled haphazardly through a hole in her box. Her parents had called once again, though Gideon thought that they were finally starting to ease up a bit, possibly due to all the terrible news they'd been getting lately. Stu Hopps barely flinched when told his daughter and her newest mortal enemy might regularly cross paths at her place of work. She hadn't informed them of his... situation yet but maybe it wouldn't seem so bad now.
He grunted, got up and turned up the TV. The remote was nowhere to be found so everything had to be done manually. Duke had some guests over and they were arguing, rather loudly. He did hope they'd quiet down before he got to bed. Of course now he was up he could go there now...
The arguing was louder now, he hoped it wasn't a regular occurrence. Was that furniture being moved? What on Earth was going on? Probably not his business but...
"Hey Jude, what do you think they're-"
Another voice. Judy's.
The yelling was growing louder and he could hear a struggle. Judy was nowhere to be seen, the front door wide open. How had she moved so fast? How long had she been gone? Minutes? He hadn't even noticed her leave! Almost without thinking he followed, dashing out the door, tripping over, picking himself up, running into the hallway then in again to the neighboring apartment. Judy was there.
She was still dressed in her pink nightshirt though on her way out she'd managed to pick up her police cap. There had evidently been a vigorous scuffle, Judy had a split lip, torn sleeve and disheveled fur. There were four other figures present, three sheep and Mr Weaselton. The sheep were in various states of defeat, lying prone on the floor, one handcuffed, the other two smart enough not to get back up. Duke himself looked to be the loser of a fight, though with who Gideon couldn't be sure. He was supporting himself somewhat unsteadily on a chair. The apartment itself was strewn both with scattered furniture and everyday trash. Gideon counted no less than seven pizza boxes. Judy was just finishing up.
"-then one will be provided for you. The ZPD have been called and will arrive shortly to properly process you. Until such time I recommend not resisting arrest further. Duke Wuzzleton I am also asking you to accompany me to the station to give a witness statement, face questioning and assist with further investigations."
"What in the wide wide world of sports happened here?"
"Classic aggravated assault. I think Mr Wezzleton has been doing more than gardening. U, maybe you should leave before the ZPD get here, it could look suspicious. I'll see you... after paperwork I guess In the morning? Hraka it's going to be a long night."
Gideon didn't question this and, against his better judgement, left Judy to deal with things. He really didn't like leaving Judy alone with three or four potential criminals, but she'd just demonstrated she could handle herself whereas he probably couldn't. Already sirens were sounding in the distance. It was going to be hard to get to sleep; part of him was terrified about what had just happened, another part was furious someone had attacked Judy. And it really wasn't fair, it would be nice to have one, just one, nice peaceful night for once. On the way to bed six year old Gideon drew a frowny face on Fort Hopps.
It was just after sunset and Gideon trudged slowly up the hallway trying to find the apartment door. There had been only one dim light in the hallway and apparently it had gone out. He was guided by the light shining out from underneath many closed doors as well as the angry yelling of a voice he knew to be his neighbor, the weasel. Part of his mind noted that the guy seemed to have been caught out with the crocuses from the weekend. Still it helped him find his door. He stumbled in, his night-visioned eyes blinking in the sudden bright light. He stumbled over to the couch and belly-flopped onto it, making it emit a groan of protest under his weight. What a day. He'd made 217 sales, he'd counted each one.
Judy had been right about the free advertising, though even she was surprised at the response. The Zootopia Inquirer had published a small article on Judy's life in the city that mentioned his bakery just beneath a small black-and-white photo of the pair. The paper catered to smaller prey species and had a good circulation, that Monday he'd had no less than one hundred and seventeen orders, from curious readers dropping by, mostly during lunch break. It had been a mad dash to serve everyone, especially in an establishment that was set up to cater for more fox-sized mammals. It had been very fortunate indeed that most orders had been for the cookies and cakes he'd made as basic stock, he hadn't managed to set up his famous pies yet, or deliveries from Bunnyburrows. The challenge now, as Judy had said, was to make the curious stopovers regular customers and to build from there.
So it had been a busy few days in just his second week, baking, trying to set up a smaller counter and of course the new hire. She at least had help take some of the strain off of him and he was rather proud of having an employee of his own, his first, in such a short time. The bakery was starting to support itself, though he was still a little, little bit miffed that it had been, in some way, Judy who was responsible. But he wasn't going to argue if it moved peanut brittle out the door
There was a sudden weight on his back that knocked the air from his lungs and two large floppy ears entered his field of vision. Judy had, for the first time, got home before him, at least half an hour so by his reckoning. She was looking her usual, cheerful, perky self.
"Welcome back chef! How was your third post-celebrity day at the bakery?"
"Ugh. As tirin' as yesterday.Got a new hire though. Northburrows' girl, keen."
"No kidding, you hired help? As in an employee?"
"Yeah, on probation until I see how business goes. Just runnin' the counter."
"Northburrows huh? You better not have hired some cute country girl that caught your eye, I'll not have any fox of mine off cavorting with hussies when he's supposed to be working."
"She's a sheep, you know they're reliable people. Saw the article and was curious about a job, likes service apparently."
"Oh definitely, I'm still on parking duty 'cause the chief is being a stubborn old bat, but this nice ewe from city hall popped in to check on my progress and she's agitating to get me put on the missing mammals cases; it's fifteen so far, all predators."
"Sounds serious."
"Yeah, isn't it great? Oh hey! I made dinner!"
Something small, shriveled and vaguely carrot-shaped was dangled in front of him. The remains of another microwave dinner of which Judy had optimistically bought four. Sighing heavily Gideon reached over and grabbed he presumed-carrot before slowly and laboriously picking himself up off the couch. Once sanding he reached over to Judy and, using arms that could bench-press flour sacks, picked her up by the collar of her shirt, raising her to eye level.He placed the vegetable carefully between her ears.
"Looks good, but I'm not sure about the garnish..."
"Oh you wouldn't dare."
He leaned forward and quickly nibbled an ear before Judy could react.
"Hey!"
"Honestly, how did my ancestors do this? Can't say the taste of fur is particularly enchanting."
"Har har. Alright, alright, I bought actual dinner, one of the guys told me about a place that does good roast vegetables."
Judy had bought several packs of food home. They were all heavily vegetable based, though after what they'd been through it could be hard to tell. Many were coated in some sort of batter and all had been deep fried within an inch of heir lives. Gideon really couldn't understand how Judy managed to live of such stuff and not end up fat enough to roll her way across the city.Perhaps it was a good metabolism, she would be so lucky.
"How can you eat this stuff? What's not carbs is fat, and what's not fat is salt."
"Three of the four major food groups. Besides, you're eating it."
"Yeah, but I know how bad it is for me. I shoulda stuck with rabbit."
"Bitten by two foxes so far, dad'll be thrilled. Especially when he hears about work."
"Why, what happened now? They partner you with a lion or something?"
"You know those two I busted last week? They cut a plea deal with the Serious Fraud Office. They've been drafted in to investigate some embezzlement case."
"Wait, you mean they're police now?"
'Nah, they're working with some guy... Jack Savage I think. But they need ZPD resources so they're sort of hanging about."
"Savage?"
"Yeah, funny thing, raised by wolves. Anyway, I'm finished. I'll be in my room."
Judy had solved the 'room problem' by borrowing one of the packing boxes Gideon had used to transport an oven to he city. It was twice her height and she'd moved her makeshift bed into it, as well as cutting a 'door' in the side and a window she could watch TV through. She used a flashlight for lighting an had managed to purloin some smaller boxes from their neighbor for a few bucks to store her clothing and personal items in. She'd even pinned some pictures to the walls. She'd scribbled 'Fort Hopps' on the outside in big letters and even hung a 'No boys allowed' sign up. Twenty four year old Gideon considered it almost laughably childish. Six year old Gideon pouted and demanded his adult self get one that was even bigger and better.
* * *
It was a few hours later. Gideon lay, nearly asleep on the couch. He would have gone to bed ages ago, but was now too lazy to get up. Plus the movie that was on was at least a little interesting. Judy was watching it too, and ear dangled haphazardly through a hole in her box. Her parents had called once again, though Gideon thought that they were finally starting to ease up a bit, possibly due to all the terrible news they'd been getting lately. Stu Hopps barely flinched when told his daughter and her newest mortal enemy might regularly cross paths at her place of work. She hadn't informed them of his... situation yet but maybe it wouldn't seem so bad now.
He grunted, got up and turned up the TV. The remote was nowhere to be found so everything had to be done manually. Duke had some guests over and they were arguing, rather loudly. He did hope they'd quiet down before he got to bed. Of course now he was up he could go there now...
The arguing was louder now, he hoped it wasn't a regular occurrence. Was that furniture being moved? What on Earth was going on? Probably not his business but...
"Hey Jude, what do you think they're-"
Another voice. Judy's.
The yelling was growing louder and he could hear a struggle. Judy was nowhere to be seen, the front door wide open. How had she moved so fast? How long had she been gone? Minutes? He hadn't even noticed her leave! Almost without thinking he followed, dashing out the door, tripping over, picking himself up, running into the hallway then in again to the neighboring apartment. Judy was there.
She was still dressed in her pink nightshirt though on her way out she'd managed to pick up her police cap. There had evidently been a vigorous scuffle, Judy had a split lip, torn sleeve and disheveled fur. There were four other figures present, three sheep and Mr Weaselton. The sheep were in various states of defeat, lying prone on the floor, one handcuffed, the other two smart enough not to get back up. Duke himself looked to be the loser of a fight, though with who Gideon couldn't be sure. He was supporting himself somewhat unsteadily on a chair. The apartment itself was strewn both with scattered furniture and everyday trash. Gideon counted no less than seven pizza boxes. Judy was just finishing up.
"-then one will be provided for you. The ZPD have been called and will arrive shortly to properly process you. Until such time I recommend not resisting arrest further. Duke Wuzzleton I am also asking you to accompany me to the station to give a witness statement, face questioning and assist with further investigations."
"What in the wide wide world of sports happened here?"
"Classic aggravated assault. I think Mr Wezzleton has been doing more than gardening. U, maybe you should leave before the ZPD get here, it could look suspicious. I'll see you... after paperwork I guess In the morning? Hraka it's going to be a long night."
Gideon didn't question this and, against his better judgement, left Judy to deal with things. He really didn't like leaving Judy alone with three or four potential criminals, but she'd just demonstrated she could handle herself whereas he probably couldn't. Already sirens were sounding in the distance. It was going to be hard to get to sleep; part of him was terrified about what had just happened, another part was furious someone had attacked Judy. And it really wasn't fair, it would be nice to have one, just one, nice peaceful night for once. On the way to bed six year old Gideon drew a frowny face on Fort Hopps.
Perhaps, perhaps..
Gideon made his way back home after what had been another quite successful day of baking. He was starting to get used to how city folk did things, though he was extremely grateful for his new employee who had a much better grasp of retail than he did. It wasn't like he wanted to be tucked away at the back of the shop, baking and ignoring the customers, indeed he did like to talk to people and catch up on local gossip as he worked. But the city was fast paced and strange and it was nice to have a buffer between him and it. As he neared his shared apartment he noticed his neighbor, the weasel, carting out a broken chair, probably damaged the previous night. He wore an expression of exhausted annoyance that only deepened when he noticed Gideon's approach.
"Howdy! Everythin' alright?"
"No things are not alright. Your stupid cop girl dragged me halfway across the city! This whole thing's been a big mess since the start. I'm keeping my head down until all this blows over."
"Oh. Well uh, if you want later I could pop by and-"
"I'm leaving, and if I ever see either you again it'll be too damn soon."
Gideon wasn't quite sure what to say. This was the first hostile reaction he'd got since moving to the city. Evidently things had not gone smoothly that day. Judy hadn't come back to the apartment, at least not before he'd had to leave for work. He figured it must have been a lot of paperwork, but it sounded like she'd had to run off on an investigation of some sort. It was then he noticed the badge attached somewhat haphazardly to Duke's shirt. When the weasel noticed him staring he angrily removed it and chucked it at Gideon's feet before storming off, using words that suggested Judy was the unlikely result of the marriage between a skunk and a scorpion of disreputable character. On closer inspection the 'badge' turned out to be little more than a child's toy.
Strange. He tested the door, it was unlocked, so Judy had to be back. He entered but didn't see or hear her at first.
It turned out Judy was face down on the couch. He thought she was asleep at first, but her ears twitched as he approached. If she had been out all day she probably would be rater exhausted and he got the definite feeling that she hadn't caught up on her beauty rest.
"So uh... how'd things go?"
"Unnnngh."
"Duke says you... uh did somethin' about those sheep guys..."
"Mmmm."
"So were they arrested? I mean... uh, more arrested?"
Judy moved slightly so she was no longer speaking directly into the couch.
"They're being held on bail for the production of a narcotic-like substance, assault and conspiracy. Probably a few other charges too once we sort things out."
"That's good right?"
Judy didn't reply. She simply handed him a copy of the Zootopia Inquirer which she'd been buying since their article on her came out. Strange that she'd been holding onto it. For a newspaper it was rather small; Gideon could hold it in one paw, and the writing was hard to see without squinting. There was a short article documenting the arrest of three sheep and a somewhat larger opinion piece decrying 'criminal ovine gangs'. It seemed to suggest that Zootopia was in the grip of a wave of violent rams, making citizens terrified of leaving their homes. This was news to Gideon, certainly things could get wild back home around cider season, but it seemed perhaps this Dr Honey Badger was exaggerating a bit when she claimed sheep were planning on taking over the city.
"Huh, says here you said they were using narcotics to fuel crime sprees?"
"I didn't mean to! They asked me what the flowers were for, I didn't know what to say!"
"Isn't it supposed o be wolves that use 'em? That's why they call 'em night howlers."
"All I said was that they had psychoactive properties that fueled aggression! Now someone's trying to get the assistant mayor impeached!"
"Aw it's just a big overreaction. Your pa writes the news is all."
"Ugh."
"He heard? Already?"
"It was on the radio. He spent the last half hour berating me for it. He's very defensive about people judging sheep. I tried to- you're laughing aren't you?"
Gideon tried not to; it wasn't exactly hilarious, but it did amuse him how some people could decry blind prejudice in one breath then turn around and talk down some other species. The fact that Stu Hopps was apparently one of them was just to deliciously ironic. He was allowed at least one chuckle.
"Some of his best friends are sheep! Miss Bellwether has been trying to get me put on serious cases and because of me some nutcase is accusing her of being a criminal mastermind!"
"Awww everyone will forget about this in a few days, you'll see. It's not like home where people hang on ta grudges for years. I think y' just need a few hours of sleep, you'll feel better, c'mon..."
He tried, very carefully to pull her upright; but either from exhaustion, or more likely deliberate mischief, she was as limp and heavy as a sack of potatoes. He settled for tucking a paw underneath her and hoisting her up by her waist. She hung there, ears, arms and legs dangling like a rag doll. It then struck him that he perhaps should have left her on the couch and covered her with a blanket, there wasn't any easy way to get her into her bed. Which left only one option. Trudging awkwardly forward he made his way to his bedroom and, holding Judy in the crook of one arm moved side the sheets of his bed with the other and placed her on it.
"Nooo... you fiend... taking advantage of a bunny who's too tired to fight back..."
For a moment Gideon was speechless with shock. He was about to protest when his brain gave him a kick in the pants. Of course she was kidding even if she was tired she was still Judy and as mischievous as anything. Snorting derisively he flipped the blankets over her.
"Yep, I'm taking a picture. Be good and get some rest or I'll send it to your family."
"You wouldn't dare do that to a poor, innocent bunny."
"I dunno, never met one."
He left before she could think of a reply. If there was one advantage to a tired Judy it was that occasionally he'd come out a winner. He decided he'd make dinner and save her some. Someone had told him stuffed peppers were 'sweet', without added sugar and he was curious to see how exactly that worked. Plus he'd need to think up some responses to whatever Judy would say when she was back to her old self.
Gideon made his way back home after what had been another quite successful day of baking. He was starting to get used to how city folk did things, though he was extremely grateful for his new employee who had a much better grasp of retail than he did. It wasn't like he wanted to be tucked away at the back of the shop, baking and ignoring the customers, indeed he did like to talk to people and catch up on local gossip as he worked. But the city was fast paced and strange and it was nice to have a buffer between him and it. As he neared his shared apartment he noticed his neighbor, the weasel, carting out a broken chair, probably damaged the previous night. He wore an expression of exhausted annoyance that only deepened when he noticed Gideon's approach.
"Howdy! Everythin' alright?"
"No things are not alright. Your stupid cop girl dragged me halfway across the city! This whole thing's been a big mess since the start. I'm keeping my head down until all this blows over."
"Oh. Well uh, if you want later I could pop by and-"
"I'm leaving, and if I ever see either you again it'll be too damn soon."
Gideon wasn't quite sure what to say. This was the first hostile reaction he'd got since moving to the city. Evidently things had not gone smoothly that day. Judy hadn't come back to the apartment, at least not before he'd had to leave for work. He figured it must have been a lot of paperwork, but it sounded like she'd had to run off on an investigation of some sort. It was then he noticed the badge attached somewhat haphazardly to Duke's shirt. When the weasel noticed him staring he angrily removed it and chucked it at Gideon's feet before storming off, using words that suggested Judy was the unlikely result of the marriage between a skunk and a scorpion of disreputable character. On closer inspection the 'badge' turned out to be little more than a child's toy.
Strange. He tested the door, it was unlocked, so Judy had to be back. He entered but didn't see or hear her at first.
It turned out Judy was face down on the couch. He thought she was asleep at first, but her ears twitched as he approached. If she had been out all day she probably would be rater exhausted and he got the definite feeling that she hadn't caught up on her beauty rest.
"So uh... how'd things go?"
"Unnnngh."
"Duke says you... uh did somethin' about those sheep guys..."
"Mmmm."
"So were they arrested? I mean... uh, more arrested?"
Judy moved slightly so she was no longer speaking directly into the couch.
"They're being held on bail for the production of a narcotic-like substance, assault and conspiracy. Probably a few other charges too once we sort things out."
"That's good right?"
Judy didn't reply. She simply handed him a copy of the Zootopia Inquirer which she'd been buying since their article on her came out. Strange that she'd been holding onto it. For a newspaper it was rather small; Gideon could hold it in one paw, and the writing was hard to see without squinting. There was a short article documenting the arrest of three sheep and a somewhat larger opinion piece decrying 'criminal ovine gangs'. It seemed to suggest that Zootopia was in the grip of a wave of violent rams, making citizens terrified of leaving their homes. This was news to Gideon, certainly things could get wild back home around cider season, but it seemed perhaps this Dr Honey Badger was exaggerating a bit when she claimed sheep were planning on taking over the city.
"Huh, says here you said they were using narcotics to fuel crime sprees?"
"I didn't mean to! They asked me what the flowers were for, I didn't know what to say!"
"Isn't it supposed o be wolves that use 'em? That's why they call 'em night howlers."
"All I said was that they had psychoactive properties that fueled aggression! Now someone's trying to get the assistant mayor impeached!"
"Aw it's just a big overreaction. Your pa writes the news is all."
"Ugh."
"He heard? Already?"
"It was on the radio. He spent the last half hour berating me for it. He's very defensive about people judging sheep. I tried to- you're laughing aren't you?"
Gideon tried not to; it wasn't exactly hilarious, but it did amuse him how some people could decry blind prejudice in one breath then turn around and talk down some other species. The fact that Stu Hopps was apparently one of them was just to deliciously ironic. He was allowed at least one chuckle.
"Some of his best friends are sheep! Miss Bellwether has been trying to get me put on serious cases and because of me some nutcase is accusing her of being a criminal mastermind!"
"Awww everyone will forget about this in a few days, you'll see. It's not like home where people hang on ta grudges for years. I think y' just need a few hours of sleep, you'll feel better, c'mon..."
He tried, very carefully to pull her upright; but either from exhaustion, or more likely deliberate mischief, she was as limp and heavy as a sack of potatoes. He settled for tucking a paw underneath her and hoisting her up by her waist. She hung there, ears, arms and legs dangling like a rag doll. It then struck him that he perhaps should have left her on the couch and covered her with a blanket, there wasn't any easy way to get her into her bed. Which left only one option. Trudging awkwardly forward he made his way to his bedroom and, holding Judy in the crook of one arm moved side the sheets of his bed with the other and placed her on it.
"Nooo... you fiend... taking advantage of a bunny who's too tired to fight back..."
For a moment Gideon was speechless with shock. He was about to protest when his brain gave him a kick in the pants. Of course she was kidding even if she was tired she was still Judy and as mischievous as anything. Snorting derisively he flipped the blankets over her.
"Yep, I'm taking a picture. Be good and get some rest or I'll send it to your family."
"You wouldn't dare do that to a poor, innocent bunny."
"I dunno, never met one."
He left before she could think of a reply. If there was one advantage to a tired Judy it was that occasionally he'd come out a winner. He decided he'd make dinner and save her some. Someone had told him stuffed peppers were 'sweet', without added sugar and he was curious to see how exactly that worked. Plus he'd need to think up some responses to whatever Judy would say when she was back to her old self.
She's a conspiracy theorist, I suspect she'll be agitating a bit.
Gideon snapped on a fresh pair of gloves and resumed rolling a thick snake of dough before cutting it into neat disks that would be baked into biscuits. One of the more annoying things about baking was hygiene; he used nitrile gloves for preference, but they kept catching on his claws and tearing at the tips, even thought he'd been keeping his nails well trimmed and filed. He went through almost a box a day, it was terrible.
On his way to the oven he snatched a glimpse out the kitchen door to the shop. His new hire, Susan Ramsey, was serving a customer, some small rodent he didn't know enough about to name. Susan had been very proactive in making the shop more welcoming for smaller customers, setting up a second counter beside the usual one. She was quite a large sheep and had to kneel to serve anyone there but seemed quite adept at it, apparently she'd worked similar jobs before. Still it was a problem he'd never really considered back in Bunnyburrows, foxes were in the mid range for mammals and he'd always dealt with people more or less his size. A clientele less than a foot high was a whole different thing. Still, she seemed to know what she was doing and business was picking up, so he wasn't complaining.
A little while later he became aware of some sort of commotion out front, there was laughing and the sound of somebody very... loud. In his absence a small crowd had entered the bakery. Was that... yes, that was Judy, standing at the back looking rather nervous. What had she done now? Susan met him in the doorway.
"Excuse me, Mr Grey? Uuuuh, the mayor is here to see you."
"Really? Why?"
"I don't know! He's bought the press!"
It took Gideon a little while to figure this out. Back home the mayor wasn't that important, heck he'd worked for him once when he was younger, making a bit of money after school picking strawberries. (Nice work, but terrible on the back.) But here... maybe he was like a dignitary or something. Probably the big lion guy he saw prancing around. Why were they in his bakery? Had Judy arranged it somehow? Why would she even do that? There was nothing for it but to front up and see what everyone wanted. He ventured out.
"Aaah! Mr Grey! A pleasure to meet you!"
"A large, well manicured paw was presented to him. He took it and almost had his arm yanked off. The mayor was... very mayoral. He wore a neat suit and a big smile and spoke warmly of how inspiring it was to see a new arrival in the city doing their part to be all they could. There were a few camera flashes as they stood there.
"-sincerely hope that you feel welcome in our great city as an example to us all of how any mammal can strive to unlock their full potential."
"Uh, yeah. Uh... do you wanna buy anythin'?"
"Why not? What do you suggest my fine sir?"
"Well, we do a very good blueberry slice, the berries are fresh daily from Bunnyburrows."
"I'll take three!"
The lion handed him a note.and turned to talk to the assorted mammals that Gideon guessed were 'the press'. He went to go get the slices only to find Susan had already slipped some into a paper bag for him. She did have commendable skills. The note it turned out was for fifty dollars. He tried to question the mayor about this, to see if perhaps he had something smaller to make change.
"-why I stand by my efforts to make Zootopia a more inclusive place. Oh, thankyou!"
"Now sir, this is a little more than-"
"-Keep the change! You've earned it! Now we must be going I'm afraid, got a meeting to attend! Best of luck Mr Grey!"
Gideon took the chance to approach Judy who had spent the entire time standing in a corner by a very small sheep with very big glasses. She had the decency to look slightly embarrassed as he approached.
"What was all that about?"
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to get out of hand!"
"What'd ya' mean for then?"
"I was just telling Ms Bellwether about how you employ a sheep and she said it'd be nice if perhaps there was a story about that to distract from all the recent nastiness about sheep lately and then... well the mayor got involved."
"Got involved how?"
"Uh, my fault. I'm assistant mayor Bellwether. Mr Lionheart tends to uh... take over things. We really didn't mean to make a fuss."
"Huh. Uh, nice t' meet ya Mizz Bellwether."
"Dawn's the one who's been trying to get me put on serious policework, she's been a real great help since I got here."
"Oh well I do try to-"
"BELLWETHER! Where are my notes?!"
"Oh I am sorry, I have to go. It was nice meeting you!"
With that the sheep made a rapid exit from the store. Gideon watched her leave. Now that she was gone the bakery was almost entirely empty again. The entire hullabaloo had lasted barely five minutes, the pace of life in the big city was certainly something. And of course this probably meant his bakery would be in more papers, there was no telling what that would do for business. He'd probably have to start baking right now, just to prepare for the rush. Part of him was rather upset about this; it wasn't that he didn't appreciate it, but it was a bit annoying how it had been Judy behind all his business. He'd rather have liked the chance to do things for himself. But that didn't matter at the moment, he pushed aside the thought and concentrated on baking matters.
"Whoo- this is gonna be another big day inint?"
"Heh, sorry."
"Please just promise me you won't get mah business on the national news."
"I'll do my best. I'll be in trouble as it is, the chief just put me on the Otterton case and here I am gallivanting around town with a bunch of bureaucrats. He's really been on my case too, I think he has something against rabbits. Oh well, see you tonight. I guess."
"Yeah, see ya, good luck."
* * *
Fortunately business hadn't picked up the rest of the day. Gideon had managed to focus on baking and built up quite a stock of tasty treats. After being around flour most of the day it had managed to find its way onto almost every part of his coat. He could even sneeze dough, which he always found childishly cool. (And which Judy found irredeemably gross.) What he was looking forward to now was a nice hot shower. (With a lot of scrubbing, there was nothing worse than flour setting in your fur, it made you look like you had the worst case o dandruff.)
He could hear talking as he approached the apartment. Judy. She was on the phone, he could tell. He slipped in quietly to see her seated on the couch, wearing a weary and frustrated expression. She was talking to er parents and obviously had been for some time. When she saw him enter she frantically gestured for hi to stay out of the phone's camera range. After all hat had happened over the last few days he was a bit annoyed but complied, sneaking around to the kitchen so he could take off some of his work clothes. The conversation was... interesting. It seemed that the bakery story had got as far as the burrows just that afternoon. Probably the papers, he knew that a lot of people relied on the Zootopia Times even though local publications existed, they just had more exotic news.
"It's just, what your father's trying to say is you should have told us."
"No! You should have stayed far away! After the biting and the arrests, please tell me you had your taser!"
"Dad no, it's not permitted for officers to carry assault weapons not issued by the department. And you're making such a big deal out of this."
"I'm making exactly the right size of deal! Look, the Greys are... decent people and I'm not against doing business with them, if you can keep an eye out. But you're all alone and a long way away and we know we can't trust this guy."
"Dad..."
"He's attacked before! He's probably unstable! There's no need to put yourself in danger when you can just avoid-"
"DAD..."
Gideon scowled. He was not in the mood to hear that sort of thing. He considered simply walking out, but it was his apartment too and part of him... part of him wanted to just mess with things and see the look on Stu Hopp's face. So, quite calmly and deliberately he stepped up behind Judy. There was a gasp and silence from the phone as he appeared in view and a start from Judy as she became aware of what he'd done.
"Howdy."
"Judy! What's he doing in your apartment?!"
"Okay, dad..."
"Actually I live here too."
Silence.
"Oh sweet cheese and crackers..."
* * *
Duke Weaselton stuffed the last of his clothes into a duffel bag and hitched it onto his back. The apartment was now almost completely empty, save for a few scattered bits of trash. It had been nice living here, if a bit oversized, but now that everything had gone to hell he had no qualms about leaving.He was technically homeless now, but he knew a nice spot in an old warehouse he could settle back into while he looked for new accommodations. It wasn't like he hadn't been in that situation before
He'd have to move fast, the apartment was pretty much stripped bare, even of the things ha didn't technically own, such as the microwave and bed. Of course he'd lose his deposit, but it wasn't him who'd paid it, that was all on Doug, who was now behind bars. Narcotics, who knew? Not him, he never bothered to ask questions, it was safer that way. He'd be out the door and halfway across town before the landlord even knew he was gone.
There was noise from next door. Duke swore under his breath. That stupid bunny! If he'd had his way e would have split as soon as the deal had gone bad. Not only had she encouraged him to try and dupe the rams with fake bulbs, she'd also dragged him all over town trying to find their hideout, threatening to have him booked for aiding and abetting. He couldn't get over that smug look on her face either,s he'd even given him a stupid plastic 'junior officer' badge. (Which he still had, it might sell for a couple of bucks after all.) Frankly he hoped a fight broke out and that stupid fat fox ate her, It'd serve her ri-
"HE WHAT?!!!"
The shriek was so sudden and piercing Duke dropped everything he was carrying in shock. Now there was much louder and more frenzied conversation from the neighboring apartment.He couldn't quite make out what was being said, but it seemed a lot of people were upset. Good.
He left anyway,it didn't pay to hang around any place where you'd sold the furniture.
Gideon snapped on a fresh pair of gloves and resumed rolling a thick snake of dough before cutting it into neat disks that would be baked into biscuits. One of the more annoying things about baking was hygiene; he used nitrile gloves for preference, but they kept catching on his claws and tearing at the tips, even thought he'd been keeping his nails well trimmed and filed. He went through almost a box a day, it was terrible.
On his way to the oven he snatched a glimpse out the kitchen door to the shop. His new hire, Susan Ramsey, was serving a customer, some small rodent he didn't know enough about to name. Susan had been very proactive in making the shop more welcoming for smaller customers, setting up a second counter beside the usual one. She was quite a large sheep and had to kneel to serve anyone there but seemed quite adept at it, apparently she'd worked similar jobs before. Still it was a problem he'd never really considered back in Bunnyburrows, foxes were in the mid range for mammals and he'd always dealt with people more or less his size. A clientele less than a foot high was a whole different thing. Still, she seemed to know what she was doing and business was picking up, so he wasn't complaining.
A little while later he became aware of some sort of commotion out front, there was laughing and the sound of somebody very... loud. In his absence a small crowd had entered the bakery. Was that... yes, that was Judy, standing at the back looking rather nervous. What had she done now? Susan met him in the doorway.
"Excuse me, Mr Grey? Uuuuh, the mayor is here to see you."
"Really? Why?"
"I don't know! He's bought the press!"
It took Gideon a little while to figure this out. Back home the mayor wasn't that important, heck he'd worked for him once when he was younger, making a bit of money after school picking strawberries. (Nice work, but terrible on the back.) But here... maybe he was like a dignitary or something. Probably the big lion guy he saw prancing around. Why were they in his bakery? Had Judy arranged it somehow? Why would she even do that? There was nothing for it but to front up and see what everyone wanted. He ventured out.
"Aaah! Mr Grey! A pleasure to meet you!"
"A large, well manicured paw was presented to him. He took it and almost had his arm yanked off. The mayor was... very mayoral. He wore a neat suit and a big smile and spoke warmly of how inspiring it was to see a new arrival in the city doing their part to be all they could. There were a few camera flashes as they stood there.
"-sincerely hope that you feel welcome in our great city as an example to us all of how any mammal can strive to unlock their full potential."
"Uh, yeah. Uh... do you wanna buy anythin'?"
"Why not? What do you suggest my fine sir?"
"Well, we do a very good blueberry slice, the berries are fresh daily from Bunnyburrows."
"I'll take three!"
The lion handed him a note.and turned to talk to the assorted mammals that Gideon guessed were 'the press'. He went to go get the slices only to find Susan had already slipped some into a paper bag for him. She did have commendable skills. The note it turned out was for fifty dollars. He tried to question the mayor about this, to see if perhaps he had something smaller to make change.
"-why I stand by my efforts to make Zootopia a more inclusive place. Oh, thankyou!"
"Now sir, this is a little more than-"
"-Keep the change! You've earned it! Now we must be going I'm afraid, got a meeting to attend! Best of luck Mr Grey!"
Gideon took the chance to approach Judy who had spent the entire time standing in a corner by a very small sheep with very big glasses. She had the decency to look slightly embarrassed as he approached.
"What was all that about?"
"I'm sorry! I didn't mean for it to get out of hand!"
"What'd ya' mean for then?"
"I was just telling Ms Bellwether about how you employ a sheep and she said it'd be nice if perhaps there was a story about that to distract from all the recent nastiness about sheep lately and then... well the mayor got involved."
"Got involved how?"
"Uh, my fault. I'm assistant mayor Bellwether. Mr Lionheart tends to uh... take over things. We really didn't mean to make a fuss."
"Huh. Uh, nice t' meet ya Mizz Bellwether."
"Dawn's the one who's been trying to get me put on serious policework, she's been a real great help since I got here."
"Oh well I do try to-"
"BELLWETHER! Where are my notes?!"
"Oh I am sorry, I have to go. It was nice meeting you!"
With that the sheep made a rapid exit from the store. Gideon watched her leave. Now that she was gone the bakery was almost entirely empty again. The entire hullabaloo had lasted barely five minutes, the pace of life in the big city was certainly something. And of course this probably meant his bakery would be in more papers, there was no telling what that would do for business. He'd probably have to start baking right now, just to prepare for the rush. Part of him was rather upset about this; it wasn't that he didn't appreciate it, but it was a bit annoying how it had been Judy behind all his business. He'd rather have liked the chance to do things for himself. But that didn't matter at the moment, he pushed aside the thought and concentrated on baking matters.
"Whoo- this is gonna be another big day inint?"
"Heh, sorry."
"Please just promise me you won't get mah business on the national news."
"I'll do my best. I'll be in trouble as it is, the chief just put me on the Otterton case and here I am gallivanting around town with a bunch of bureaucrats. He's really been on my case too, I think he has something against rabbits. Oh well, see you tonight. I guess."
"Yeah, see ya, good luck."
* * *
Fortunately business hadn't picked up the rest of the day. Gideon had managed to focus on baking and built up quite a stock of tasty treats. After being around flour most of the day it had managed to find its way onto almost every part of his coat. He could even sneeze dough, which he always found childishly cool. (And which Judy found irredeemably gross.) What he was looking forward to now was a nice hot shower. (With a lot of scrubbing, there was nothing worse than flour setting in your fur, it made you look like you had the worst case o dandruff.)
He could hear talking as he approached the apartment. Judy. She was on the phone, he could tell. He slipped in quietly to see her seated on the couch, wearing a weary and frustrated expression. She was talking to er parents and obviously had been for some time. When she saw him enter she frantically gestured for hi to stay out of the phone's camera range. After all hat had happened over the last few days he was a bit annoyed but complied, sneaking around to the kitchen so he could take off some of his work clothes. The conversation was... interesting. It seemed that the bakery story had got as far as the burrows just that afternoon. Probably the papers, he knew that a lot of people relied on the Zootopia Times even though local publications existed, they just had more exotic news.
"It's just, what your father's trying to say is you should have told us."
"No! You should have stayed far away! After the biting and the arrests, please tell me you had your taser!"
"Dad no, it's not permitted for officers to carry assault weapons not issued by the department. And you're making such a big deal out of this."
"I'm making exactly the right size of deal! Look, the Greys are... decent people and I'm not against doing business with them, if you can keep an eye out. But you're all alone and a long way away and we know we can't trust this guy."
"Dad..."
"He's attacked before! He's probably unstable! There's no need to put yourself in danger when you can just avoid-"
"DAD..."
Gideon scowled. He was not in the mood to hear that sort of thing. He considered simply walking out, but it was his apartment too and part of him... part of him wanted to just mess with things and see the look on Stu Hopp's face. So, quite calmly and deliberately he stepped up behind Judy. There was a gasp and silence from the phone as he appeared in view and a start from Judy as she became aware of what he'd done.
"Howdy."
"Judy! What's he doing in your apartment?!"
"Okay, dad..."
"Actually I live here too."
Silence.
"Oh sweet cheese and crackers..."
* * *
Duke Weaselton stuffed the last of his clothes into a duffel bag and hitched it onto his back. The apartment was now almost completely empty, save for a few scattered bits of trash. It had been nice living here, if a bit oversized, but now that everything had gone to hell he had no qualms about leaving.He was technically homeless now, but he knew a nice spot in an old warehouse he could settle back into while he looked for new accommodations. It wasn't like he hadn't been in that situation before
He'd have to move fast, the apartment was pretty much stripped bare, even of the things ha didn't technically own, such as the microwave and bed. Of course he'd lose his deposit, but it wasn't him who'd paid it, that was all on Doug, who was now behind bars. Narcotics, who knew? Not him, he never bothered to ask questions, it was safer that way. He'd be out the door and halfway across town before the landlord even knew he was gone.
There was noise from next door. Duke swore under his breath. That stupid bunny! If he'd had his way e would have split as soon as the deal had gone bad. Not only had she encouraged him to try and dupe the rams with fake bulbs, she'd also dragged him all over town trying to find their hideout, threatening to have him booked for aiding and abetting. He couldn't get over that smug look on her face either,s he'd even given him a stupid plastic 'junior officer' badge. (Which he still had, it might sell for a couple of bucks after all.) Frankly he hoped a fight broke out and that stupid fat fox ate her, It'd serve her ri-
"HE WHAT?!!!"
The shriek was so sudden and piercing Duke dropped everything he was carrying in shock. Now there was much louder and more frenzied conversation from the neighboring apartment.He couldn't quite make out what was being said, but it seemed a lot of people were upset. Good.
He left anyway,it didn't pay to hang around any place where you'd sold the furniture.
When things go all wrong,
Just sing this little song:
Before you lose your temper,
Count up to a hundred!
The words repeated over and over in his head as Gideon walked briskly down the street, counting under his breath. It was something he'd been taught a while back to deal with getting angry, but he was more than angry now. He was furious. He was incandescent. He didn't know where he was or where he was going, he just had to get out, to get away.
The small part of his mind not currently in a red haze of rage reviewed his options. He'd just finished a no-holds-barred shouting match with Stu Hopps. The two of them had used some pretty hefty insults and there had been some grossly unfair accusations on both sides. Judy hadn't got a word in edgewise and to top it off he'd ended the call by hurling her phone to the ground and stomping on it. All-in-all things could have gone better, they certainly couldn't have gone any worse. He was increasingly worried that he'd have to return to the apartment; all his stuff was there and he didn't really have anywhere else to go. But Judy was there too and he did not like the idea of discussing this with her, if she'd speak to him at all. For now anger drove him forward, but it wouldn't last long, it never did. Soon it would subside and he'd have to make proper, adult decisions again.
"Okay buddy, hand over your wal-OOMPH!"
Gideon looked down at the shocked bobcat who clutched his bleeding nose, the knife he was holding lying several feet away, discarded. He hadn't even noticed the punch he'd thrown, it had been pure instinct. For a moment both predators remained still before the feline stumbled to his feet and ran off down the alley from which he'd came. The sudden distraction shocked him out of his thoughts. He'd have to go back... wherever that was.
* * *
It was more than an hour and a half later when he managed to locate a familiar street and make his way to the apartment. It was well and truly late night now, a lot of apartment lights were out, but not his. He stood at the door for several minutes, working up the courage to try the door. Finally he took a deep breath, held it, and turned the knob. It was unlocked, the door creaking open. Cautiously he stepped inside.
Judy was sitting on the couch, watching TV, or at least pretending to. She had a half finished bowl of cereal, cornflakes, on her lap and was staring ahead with a neural, serious expression. The ears were down. There was no sign of the smashed phone, or any mess. She'd managed to get out of her police uniform as if it was just another ordinary night. For some reason this was terrifying. Gideon stood in the doorway, unsure of what to do next. Judy decided for him, looking in his direction and breaking the silence.
"So... I guess this is our first lover's quarrel. Not bad considering we've just officially eloped."
Gideon froze and his mind went blank, or at least more blank than it had been already. He hadn't been sure what he expected, and he hadn't expected what he'd seen so far, but he didn't even know how to handle what she'd just said. He settle for staring at her, mouth agape, desperately trying to say something sensible.
"I... but.. but..."
"I moved to the city with a man of ill repute and didn't tell my own parents. What else do you think people are going to say?"
"But we never..."
"Doesn't matter. Too late now at any rate. We could get married tomorrow and it wouldn't make things worse. Not immediately anyway."
"Look, I'm sorry. I just... when he was talkin'..."
"Yeah, I get it. My fault I guess, he can just be so... so stupid! Maybe I should have told him when I left..."
Gideon took a few steps forward. To his increasing shock Judy leaned back, smiling. The ears went up.
"Well that certainly takes care of a whole lot of small problems. Of course now they're big problems, but I'm getting used to those."
"Yeah... so whadda we do now?"
"First of all, you're getting me a new phone-"
"-you can borrow-"
"-A new phone; in a few days. I don't think I want to talk to anyone back home for a bit. Second, I don't know how or when, but you're apologizing to my father, and him too if I can help it. I didn't know either of you knew that sort of language."
"Heh, sorry."
"In fact I don't ever want to hear the b-word again. Or the c-word, then m-word, both of the l-words or the t-word. 'Puffed up, pantywaisting powder-puff was pretty good though."
"Right, sure."
"And finally you are taking me out somewhere. Somewhere romantic or something, a date. Nice food.Tomorrow night. We only ever hang out here and it's getting dull."
Another shocked silence.
"Look, if I'm going to get guff for this for the next forever or so then I want there to at least be something worth getting guff about. Dinner and a show,a romantic evening, coffee and donuts, something!"
"Are y' sure y-"
"Yup! Besides, what can they do? Gossip about us more? Now get cleaned up, no fox of mine should look that scruffy this late."
Gideon plodded off to the bathroom. He was still coated in flour from work and really did need to get cleaned up. He'd probably head straight to bed, his stomach was too full of butterflies to handle anything. He was still incredibly angry about what had happened, utterly terrified of what would happen next, incredibly worried about an entire annoyed Hopps clan and entirely confused over what had just happened. But a small part of him looked on the bright side. Tomorrow was another day after all.
And he had a date.
Just sing this little song:
Before you lose your temper,
Count up to a hundred!
The words repeated over and over in his head as Gideon walked briskly down the street, counting under his breath. It was something he'd been taught a while back to deal with getting angry, but he was more than angry now. He was furious. He was incandescent. He didn't know where he was or where he was going, he just had to get out, to get away.
The small part of his mind not currently in a red haze of rage reviewed his options. He'd just finished a no-holds-barred shouting match with Stu Hopps. The two of them had used some pretty hefty insults and there had been some grossly unfair accusations on both sides. Judy hadn't got a word in edgewise and to top it off he'd ended the call by hurling her phone to the ground and stomping on it. All-in-all things could have gone better, they certainly couldn't have gone any worse. He was increasingly worried that he'd have to return to the apartment; all his stuff was there and he didn't really have anywhere else to go. But Judy was there too and he did not like the idea of discussing this with her, if she'd speak to him at all. For now anger drove him forward, but it wouldn't last long, it never did. Soon it would subside and he'd have to make proper, adult decisions again.
"Okay buddy, hand over your wal-OOMPH!"
Gideon looked down at the shocked bobcat who clutched his bleeding nose, the knife he was holding lying several feet away, discarded. He hadn't even noticed the punch he'd thrown, it had been pure instinct. For a moment both predators remained still before the feline stumbled to his feet and ran off down the alley from which he'd came. The sudden distraction shocked him out of his thoughts. He'd have to go back... wherever that was.
* * *
It was more than an hour and a half later when he managed to locate a familiar street and make his way to the apartment. It was well and truly late night now, a lot of apartment lights were out, but not his. He stood at the door for several minutes, working up the courage to try the door. Finally he took a deep breath, held it, and turned the knob. It was unlocked, the door creaking open. Cautiously he stepped inside.
Judy was sitting on the couch, watching TV, or at least pretending to. She had a half finished bowl of cereal, cornflakes, on her lap and was staring ahead with a neural, serious expression. The ears were down. There was no sign of the smashed phone, or any mess. She'd managed to get out of her police uniform as if it was just another ordinary night. For some reason this was terrifying. Gideon stood in the doorway, unsure of what to do next. Judy decided for him, looking in his direction and breaking the silence.
"So... I guess this is our first lover's quarrel. Not bad considering we've just officially eloped."
Gideon froze and his mind went blank, or at least more blank than it had been already. He hadn't been sure what he expected, and he hadn't expected what he'd seen so far, but he didn't even know how to handle what she'd just said. He settle for staring at her, mouth agape, desperately trying to say something sensible.
"I... but.. but..."
"I moved to the city with a man of ill repute and didn't tell my own parents. What else do you think people are going to say?"
"But we never..."
"Doesn't matter. Too late now at any rate. We could get married tomorrow and it wouldn't make things worse. Not immediately anyway."
"Look, I'm sorry. I just... when he was talkin'..."
"Yeah, I get it. My fault I guess, he can just be so... so stupid! Maybe I should have told him when I left..."
Gideon took a few steps forward. To his increasing shock Judy leaned back, smiling. The ears went up.
"Well that certainly takes care of a whole lot of small problems. Of course now they're big problems, but I'm getting used to those."
"Yeah... so whadda we do now?"
"First of all, you're getting me a new phone-"
"-you can borrow-"
"-A new phone; in a few days. I don't think I want to talk to anyone back home for a bit. Second, I don't know how or when, but you're apologizing to my father, and him too if I can help it. I didn't know either of you knew that sort of language."
"Heh, sorry."
"In fact I don't ever want to hear the b-word again. Or the c-word, then m-word, both of the l-words or the t-word. 'Puffed up, pantywaisting powder-puff was pretty good though."
"Right, sure."
"And finally you are taking me out somewhere. Somewhere romantic or something, a date. Nice food.Tomorrow night. We only ever hang out here and it's getting dull."
Another shocked silence.
"Look, if I'm going to get guff for this for the next forever or so then I want there to at least be something worth getting guff about. Dinner and a show,a romantic evening, coffee and donuts, something!"
"Are y' sure y-"
"Yup! Besides, what can they do? Gossip about us more? Now get cleaned up, no fox of mine should look that scruffy this late."
Gideon plodded off to the bathroom. He was still coated in flour from work and really did need to get cleaned up. He'd probably head straight to bed, his stomach was too full of butterflies to handle anything. He was still incredibly angry about what had happened, utterly terrified of what would happen next, incredibly worried about an entire annoyed Hopps clan and entirely confused over what had just happened. But a small part of him looked on the bright side. Tomorrow was another day after all.
And he had a date.
Things are heating up I think.
It was late afternoon and Gideon was nearly at his wits' end. It had been a... difficult day. He'd had to keep working of course, pies didn't bake themselves. (Though he had plans, one day...) but he'd been receiving a steady stream of texts and attempted calls from back home the entire day. He wasn't answering calls plain and simple, nearly all were from some Hopps or other (and how they got his number was beyond him, it was supposed to be for business only.) He was pretty sure if he started talking to any it'd be the previous night all over again. The texts were bad enough; some were confused, other accusatory. Some he replied to, usually urging people to talk to Judy. She'd be able to handle things far better than he could.
But it wore him down, hour after hour. Plus he'd had to arrange dinner which was a totally new experience in itself. Back in Bunnyburrows there weren't that many options when it came to taking a girl out, like everything else it was closely observed and tightly controlled. Their were social events and dances and holidays, but nothing particularly spontaneous. If you were going steady with someone you might visit their place a few times, chat with family, that sort of thing. This had left him woefully unprepared for the Zootopian dating scene. He had some idea of what to do, gleaned from television and he occasional movie, but getting that sort of stuff to work out in real life was trickier than it seemed. He'd managed to book a table at a place called 'Valentino's', which sort of had 'valentine' in it, so was probably suitably romantic. Or something.
It was around 2pm when his phone buzzed and he got a call he'd been dreading. It was from Robert 'Bobby' Hopps, one of his few sort-of-friends during his last years of schooling. It was he who had provided his first inroad to buying produce from the Hopps family and Gideon felt honor-bound to talk to him. He answered to get a surprisingly cheerful, if slightly crackly voice in reply.
"Gid! Hey, just checking up to make sure here; you haven't abducted Judy and demanded she cut off all communication with her family have you?"
"No!"
"Right. Haven't eloped? No shady business dealings? She's still alive?"
"No! Not at all! Wait... yes to the last one."
"Figured as much, anyone messing with Judy'd have to be a mite tougher than you I reckon. No offense."
"Yeah, sure. People are really sayin' that stuff?"
"A bit, not so much now they've got a wedding to plan."
"Really? Who? When'd this happen?"
"Me and Millie, I proposed this mornin'."
"Huh. Well congrat..."
Gideon paused, trying to think where he knew 'Millie' from. The name was familiar somehow. Was it Millicent Bounder? Couldn't be, she always preferred her full name and he was pretty sure she married. No, he'd heard it before... a friend or... wait yes, Matilda. Matilda?
"Wait a minute, not Matilda Ferritin? Travis' lil' sister?!"
"That's the bunny, or ferret as it were."
"Since when?!"
"Uh... going on around seven years now."
"SEVEN YEARS? Does Travis even know?"
"Oh yeah, Remember when he and I had that big fight? And we said it was because I'd insulted his sis? Well... we were kinda lyin' a bit there."
"Well that explains why he bit ya. Guess that's what y' get for hangin' with preds."
"Hah, yeah. I sorta only did that to get close to Millie. No offense."
"Y' know, for 'no offense' you're being a mite offensive. Why are y' doin' this now anyways?"
"Oh you know how pa- Stu Hopps is. I mean, we've been thinking about this for a long time, but it's really really hard to break things like this to him. Not to mention her family... So, now that you and Judy have caused a big fuss we figure it's he perfect time to sneak in the back door, as it were."
"Huh. So when's the big day?"
"Day after tomorrow."
"Wait what?! That soon?"
"Rabbit weddings are quick, we don't make a fuss. Anyway, I've got to go, tux to organize. I'll catch up when there's not so much to do, tell Judy, and I'm sorry she won't be able to attend! Bye!"
The call ended as suddenly as it had begun, leaving Gideon standing there, contemplating. That new development would certainly take a bit of the heat off of him, and he really, really wished he could have been there to see Stu's face when he found out. He'd have to keep an eye on the whole situation, with any luck it'd be a lot easier to ride out from now on. He returned his attention to a batch of scones he was making and mentally checked his plans for the night.
* * *
Several hours later a sodden fox stepped out of a cold shower and grabbed a half dozen towels with which to dry. (Gideon had always been on the fuzzy side, this made washing an extra chore.) The shower shouldn't have been cold of course, but the hot water seemed to run out easily in these parts. As someone who had to boil a kettle of water for a warm bath until he was eleven Gideon could excuse this.
He wondered what he should wear. Really he didn't have anything better than his Sunday shirt, but this was, in theory, some sort of fancy do. Of course Judy wouldn't have anything either, her wardrobe was even more limited, it fit in a single suitcase after all. So neither of them would be looking particularly fashionable. In the end he decided to go with the shirt, it had a nice plaid pattern and came with some comfortably snug pants. He had the usual trouble putting them on, doing the customary one-legged hop across the room trying to get the second leg through.
He was just putting on a nice pair of shoes, (It always paid to have a nice pair of shoes his mother had said, at the very least so you'd have something to wear at your funeral. Which was an odd way of doing things he always thought. Same with her explanation for having clean underwear. If you were hit by a bus they'd probably not be clean anymore.) when he heard Judy arrive back. A little late perhaps, but she probably had things to do as well. It was a good thing she was a quick dresser, or they'd be late.
"Howdy! I'm almost ready if'n you wanna change."
"No problem, changed before I got here."
"Really? How?"
"Funny story actually, I mentioned to Francine how I didn't really have anything to wear, and guess what? Hher daughter had doll clothes in my size!"
"Huh. Really? How does thaaaaa-"
Gideon had left his room to say hi. He trailed off as his mind processed the scene in front of him. What Judy was wearing was long, pink and glittery. It looked partly like a dress and partly like a long, colorful curtain. It didn't quite fit her in places, but made up for it in fitting her in other places disturbingly well.
"..."
"Yeah, pretty isn't it? Not quite my thing but they don't really make modest clothes for boarbie dolls."
"!"
"It's a bit too big, and still tight 'round the waist, but it should do. It doesn't look too fancy you think? I'd hate for us to be mismatched."
"No... no no, it's fine."
"Oh good, I was a little worried. This is so not my stye. Anyway, I'm good to go, are we leaving? I'm starved!"
Gideon stood there for a moment as the vision in pink dashed back out the door. Eventually he managed to close his mouth and make for the exit, locking the door behind him. It only took five tries, three involving dropping the keys, before he managed it too. And after all that he'd left the lights on. But then again he wasn't in any condition to notice.
It was late afternoon and Gideon was nearly at his wits' end. It had been a... difficult day. He'd had to keep working of course, pies didn't bake themselves. (Though he had plans, one day...) but he'd been receiving a steady stream of texts and attempted calls from back home the entire day. He wasn't answering calls plain and simple, nearly all were from some Hopps or other (and how they got his number was beyond him, it was supposed to be for business only.) He was pretty sure if he started talking to any it'd be the previous night all over again. The texts were bad enough; some were confused, other accusatory. Some he replied to, usually urging people to talk to Judy. She'd be able to handle things far better than he could.
But it wore him down, hour after hour. Plus he'd had to arrange dinner which was a totally new experience in itself. Back in Bunnyburrows there weren't that many options when it came to taking a girl out, like everything else it was closely observed and tightly controlled. Their were social events and dances and holidays, but nothing particularly spontaneous. If you were going steady with someone you might visit their place a few times, chat with family, that sort of thing. This had left him woefully unprepared for the Zootopian dating scene. He had some idea of what to do, gleaned from television and he occasional movie, but getting that sort of stuff to work out in real life was trickier than it seemed. He'd managed to book a table at a place called 'Valentino's', which sort of had 'valentine' in it, so was probably suitably romantic. Or something.
It was around 2pm when his phone buzzed and he got a call he'd been dreading. It was from Robert 'Bobby' Hopps, one of his few sort-of-friends during his last years of schooling. It was he who had provided his first inroad to buying produce from the Hopps family and Gideon felt honor-bound to talk to him. He answered to get a surprisingly cheerful, if slightly crackly voice in reply.
"Gid! Hey, just checking up to make sure here; you haven't abducted Judy and demanded she cut off all communication with her family have you?"
"No!"
"Right. Haven't eloped? No shady business dealings? She's still alive?"
"No! Not at all! Wait... yes to the last one."
"Figured as much, anyone messing with Judy'd have to be a mite tougher than you I reckon. No offense."
"Yeah, sure. People are really sayin' that stuff?"
"A bit, not so much now they've got a wedding to plan."
"Really? Who? When'd this happen?"
"Me and Millie, I proposed this mornin'."
"Huh. Well congrat..."
Gideon paused, trying to think where he knew 'Millie' from. The name was familiar somehow. Was it Millicent Bounder? Couldn't be, she always preferred her full name and he was pretty sure she married. No, he'd heard it before... a friend or... wait yes, Matilda. Matilda?
"Wait a minute, not Matilda Ferritin? Travis' lil' sister?!"
"That's the bunny, or ferret as it were."
"Since when?!"
"Uh... going on around seven years now."
"SEVEN YEARS? Does Travis even know?"
"Oh yeah, Remember when he and I had that big fight? And we said it was because I'd insulted his sis? Well... we were kinda lyin' a bit there."
"Well that explains why he bit ya. Guess that's what y' get for hangin' with preds."
"Hah, yeah. I sorta only did that to get close to Millie. No offense."
"Y' know, for 'no offense' you're being a mite offensive. Why are y' doin' this now anyways?"
"Oh you know how pa- Stu Hopps is. I mean, we've been thinking about this for a long time, but it's really really hard to break things like this to him. Not to mention her family... So, now that you and Judy have caused a big fuss we figure it's he perfect time to sneak in the back door, as it were."
"Huh. So when's the big day?"
"Day after tomorrow."
"Wait what?! That soon?"
"Rabbit weddings are quick, we don't make a fuss. Anyway, I've got to go, tux to organize. I'll catch up when there's not so much to do, tell Judy, and I'm sorry she won't be able to attend! Bye!"
The call ended as suddenly as it had begun, leaving Gideon standing there, contemplating. That new development would certainly take a bit of the heat off of him, and he really, really wished he could have been there to see Stu's face when he found out. He'd have to keep an eye on the whole situation, with any luck it'd be a lot easier to ride out from now on. He returned his attention to a batch of scones he was making and mentally checked his plans for the night.
* * *
Several hours later a sodden fox stepped out of a cold shower and grabbed a half dozen towels with which to dry. (Gideon had always been on the fuzzy side, this made washing an extra chore.) The shower shouldn't have been cold of course, but the hot water seemed to run out easily in these parts. As someone who had to boil a kettle of water for a warm bath until he was eleven Gideon could excuse this.
He wondered what he should wear. Really he didn't have anything better than his Sunday shirt, but this was, in theory, some sort of fancy do. Of course Judy wouldn't have anything either, her wardrobe was even more limited, it fit in a single suitcase after all. So neither of them would be looking particularly fashionable. In the end he decided to go with the shirt, it had a nice plaid pattern and came with some comfortably snug pants. He had the usual trouble putting them on, doing the customary one-legged hop across the room trying to get the second leg through.
He was just putting on a nice pair of shoes, (It always paid to have a nice pair of shoes his mother had said, at the very least so you'd have something to wear at your funeral. Which was an odd way of doing things he always thought. Same with her explanation for having clean underwear. If you were hit by a bus they'd probably not be clean anymore.) when he heard Judy arrive back. A little late perhaps, but she probably had things to do as well. It was a good thing she was a quick dresser, or they'd be late.
"Howdy! I'm almost ready if'n you wanna change."
"No problem, changed before I got here."
"Really? How?"
"Funny story actually, I mentioned to Francine how I didn't really have anything to wear, and guess what? Hher daughter had doll clothes in my size!"
"Huh. Really? How does thaaaaa-"
Gideon had left his room to say hi. He trailed off as his mind processed the scene in front of him. What Judy was wearing was long, pink and glittery. It looked partly like a dress and partly like a long, colorful curtain. It didn't quite fit her in places, but made up for it in fitting her in other places disturbingly well.
"..."
"Yeah, pretty isn't it? Not quite my thing but they don't really make modest clothes for boarbie dolls."
"!"
"It's a bit too big, and still tight 'round the waist, but it should do. It doesn't look too fancy you think? I'd hate for us to be mismatched."
"No... no no, it's fine."
"Oh good, I was a little worried. This is so not my stye. Anyway, I'm good to go, are we leaving? I'm starved!"
Gideon stood there for a moment as the vision in pink dashed back out the door. Eventually he managed to close his mouth and make for the exit, locking the door behind him. It only took five tries, three involving dropping the keys, before he managed it too. And after all that he'd left the lights on. But then again he wasn't in any condition to notice.
He might.
('Do any of my kids want to marry another rabbit?' 'Of course Stu, Gary's been itching to get hitched for months now.' "Really?' 'Yes, but Steve's not so sure.' 'Oh I- WHAT?!')
The drive there was a trial; Judy had been issued a 'buggy' on her first day which, after much pressure from the assistant mayor, had been replaced. With a bigger buggy. Gideon could fit in it, if he tucked his head down between his knees, which was uncomfortable but also kept him from staring directly at Judy,which he was grateful for. For her part Judy was too busy tracking down gossip about the impending wedding. On his phone no less despite her earlier protests about borrowing it. This caused some problems since, as an officer of the law, Judy kept pulling over every thirty seconds to check, either with him or the phone.
"Oh look! Here's a photo of them! Isn't that just adorable?"
Gideon noted the absence of the word 'cute', one of the small things you got to notice about the way bunnies spoke. He risked a look at the screen and saw a collection of rabbits along with two weasels, Matilda and Travis. Somewhat ironically Travis was doing bunny ears behind both of the engaged pair. Typical.
"Yeah, funny thing. I thought he was going steady with Patricia Bounder?"
"I shouldn't think so, she's our cousin"
"Wait, like a properly?"
"Yup."
Rabbit families were strange; due to some sort of zodiacal calendar every rabbit in a 20 year period was considered a sort of sibling to all the others. Judy herself had 269 'brothers and sisters', though only a handful were actually children of her mother. So someone could be introduced as a sister one day and be dating her 'brother' the next while actual siblings could have different last names. For a fox who grew up in a household of three it was a daunting subject.
"So Travis is ok with it now right?"
"That's what he said."
"Travis?"
"Yeah, called him up to see what's going on."
"Isn't it romantic though? Love at first sight, highschool sweetharts... feuding families..."
"They're not feudin'..."
"Well... mildly disagreeable? It's a real Romeo and Juliet story."
"Uh... didn't those two die? I remember you playin' the part.. quite messily, coughin' blood."
"Deadly poison can do that! The hard part was saying my lines with a mouthful of tomato paste."
* * *
They managed to arrive more or less on time, despite Judy's best attempts to delay them. Even getting in the front door proved to be a bit tricky as it turned out Judy's dress was rather long for a mammal of her stature and kept getting tangled around her legs. Gideon was terrified it would catch on something and simply slip off; once again he was aware of people looking at them and really didn't want to attract any extra attention.
Valentino's itself turned out to be... nice. Not especially romantic or fancy, but a decent place with good tablecloths and silverware and servers in snazzy clothing that took your order. So on the whole a success. There were some.. issues of course. The biggest was that he'd specified he was a fox, but not that Judy wasn't.
"There's nothing on your reservation about mixed sizes sir."
"Uh, that a problem?"
"Yes sir, your seating arrangements are medium large, this may not be appropriate for the lady. We can provide a booster seat if desired-"
"-no that's fine, I'll take what I can get."
"Is madam sure?"
"Madam is. She has to use standard ZPD chairs and is used to it by now."
* * *
"-so it turns out this Otterton guy bought something off of, guess who?, the same two foxes I busted. Wasted three hours trying to get some info out of them, no luck."
"Still mad at ya huh?"
"And how! All I learned was that apparently he had a lot of... questionable friends. I really need a contact with their nose on the street; someone with experience in borderline illegal activities... wow, this is great coleslaw."
Judy had had no less than five bowls of the stuff. Gideon hadn't thought it possible for someone to dine at a place that sold five kinds of pie yet order nothing but salad, but somehow, against all possible dietary logic Judy was doing it. It did make a sort of sense that bunnies would appreciate assorted raw greenery more than a fox might, but the entire menu was largely prey-focused and most of the other diners had perfectly normal looking meals on their plates.
For his part Gideon ad ordered seven appetizers; he simply couldn't resist trying a little of everything and seeing how it was put together. Currently he was fiddling with some sort of pea and potato based pie; they'd got a remarkably even spread of pea vs potato chunk even though when he tried to do such things he tended to get all the peas forming little pockets of their own. How had they done it?
He was vaguely aware of Judy rattling off more work related stuff involving tracking down their weasel neighbor again, apparently he'd done something not entirely honest just recently. She never seemed to 'turn off'; even when not in uniform Judy had the mind of a cop. It was hard to pay attention to; Judy was on a fox-sized char at a fox-sized table; only the top of her head and ears wee visible over the tabletop as she reached up to scoop up forkfulls of salad fro a plate he wasn't entirely sure she could see. Still, out of sight was out of mind and part of him was secretly relieved about this since Judy and her new outfit were preying on his mind in a way he wasn't entirely comfortable with.
* * *
They ordered some cheap wine. It all tasted the same to Gideon and Judy had a likewise... robust attitude to it. She downed half the bottle. Gideon would be driving home.
Desert was nice, Judy had icecream. Gideon spent half an hour taking apart a brownie slice, trying to figure out how they managed to make it look like the fresh strawberries had been baked into it.
* * *
And then it was over; they were back home, date completed, no fuss. It was late and the both of them would have to turn straight in to bed, possibly after a short shower. All-in-all Gideon was somewhat relived; the entire ordeal had been less... troublesome than he'd thought it might be. It had been a good deal of fun with a good friend with almost nothing to worry about. Plus he had some new baking ideas. Judy stopped them at the door to their apartment.
"Thankyou for the lovely evening Mr Grey, I should invite you in for coffee, but my father would not approve. I must bid you goodnight!"
"Har har, I live here too, git out the way."
"Mr Grey! Surely you aren't going to force yourself into a young lady's boudoir?!"
"It's a lounge and yep."
"Curse your seductive wiles! You have inflamed my passions and I must yield! So be it, I am yours!"
She threw her head back dramatically, clasping her hands to her chest in a display of acting so hammy she could pass for a pig. The ill-fitting dress slid, then slipped to the floor.
"Gnk!"
"Ah. That... wasn't supposed to happen."
"Mmmm."
"Could you uh... stop staring?"
"No..."
"Gideon!"
('Do any of my kids want to marry another rabbit?' 'Of course Stu, Gary's been itching to get hitched for months now.' "Really?' 'Yes, but Steve's not so sure.' 'Oh I- WHAT?!')
The drive there was a trial; Judy had been issued a 'buggy' on her first day which, after much pressure from the assistant mayor, had been replaced. With a bigger buggy. Gideon could fit in it, if he tucked his head down between his knees, which was uncomfortable but also kept him from staring directly at Judy,which he was grateful for. For her part Judy was too busy tracking down gossip about the impending wedding. On his phone no less despite her earlier protests about borrowing it. This caused some problems since, as an officer of the law, Judy kept pulling over every thirty seconds to check, either with him or the phone.
"Oh look! Here's a photo of them! Isn't that just adorable?"
Gideon noted the absence of the word 'cute', one of the small things you got to notice about the way bunnies spoke. He risked a look at the screen and saw a collection of rabbits along with two weasels, Matilda and Travis. Somewhat ironically Travis was doing bunny ears behind both of the engaged pair. Typical.
"Yeah, funny thing. I thought he was going steady with Patricia Bounder?"
"I shouldn't think so, she's our cousin"
"Wait, like a properly?"
"Yup."
Rabbit families were strange; due to some sort of zodiacal calendar every rabbit in a 20 year period was considered a sort of sibling to all the others. Judy herself had 269 'brothers and sisters', though only a handful were actually children of her mother. So someone could be introduced as a sister one day and be dating her 'brother' the next while actual siblings could have different last names. For a fox who grew up in a household of three it was a daunting subject.
"So Travis is ok with it now right?"
"That's what he said."
"Travis?"
"Yeah, called him up to see what's going on."
"Isn't it romantic though? Love at first sight, highschool sweetharts... feuding families..."
"They're not feudin'..."
"Well... mildly disagreeable? It's a real Romeo and Juliet story."
"Uh... didn't those two die? I remember you playin' the part.. quite messily, coughin' blood."
"Deadly poison can do that! The hard part was saying my lines with a mouthful of tomato paste."
* * *
They managed to arrive more or less on time, despite Judy's best attempts to delay them. Even getting in the front door proved to be a bit tricky as it turned out Judy's dress was rather long for a mammal of her stature and kept getting tangled around her legs. Gideon was terrified it would catch on something and simply slip off; once again he was aware of people looking at them and really didn't want to attract any extra attention.
Valentino's itself turned out to be... nice. Not especially romantic or fancy, but a decent place with good tablecloths and silverware and servers in snazzy clothing that took your order. So on the whole a success. There were some.. issues of course. The biggest was that he'd specified he was a fox, but not that Judy wasn't.
"There's nothing on your reservation about mixed sizes sir."
"Uh, that a problem?"
"Yes sir, your seating arrangements are medium large, this may not be appropriate for the lady. We can provide a booster seat if desired-"
"-no that's fine, I'll take what I can get."
"Is madam sure?"
"Madam is. She has to use standard ZPD chairs and is used to it by now."
* * *
"-so it turns out this Otterton guy bought something off of, guess who?, the same two foxes I busted. Wasted three hours trying to get some info out of them, no luck."
"Still mad at ya huh?"
"And how! All I learned was that apparently he had a lot of... questionable friends. I really need a contact with their nose on the street; someone with experience in borderline illegal activities... wow, this is great coleslaw."
Judy had had no less than five bowls of the stuff. Gideon hadn't thought it possible for someone to dine at a place that sold five kinds of pie yet order nothing but salad, but somehow, against all possible dietary logic Judy was doing it. It did make a sort of sense that bunnies would appreciate assorted raw greenery more than a fox might, but the entire menu was largely prey-focused and most of the other diners had perfectly normal looking meals on their plates.
For his part Gideon ad ordered seven appetizers; he simply couldn't resist trying a little of everything and seeing how it was put together. Currently he was fiddling with some sort of pea and potato based pie; they'd got a remarkably even spread of pea vs potato chunk even though when he tried to do such things he tended to get all the peas forming little pockets of their own. How had they done it?
He was vaguely aware of Judy rattling off more work related stuff involving tracking down their weasel neighbor again, apparently he'd done something not entirely honest just recently. She never seemed to 'turn off'; even when not in uniform Judy had the mind of a cop. It was hard to pay attention to; Judy was on a fox-sized char at a fox-sized table; only the top of her head and ears wee visible over the tabletop as she reached up to scoop up forkfulls of salad fro a plate he wasn't entirely sure she could see. Still, out of sight was out of mind and part of him was secretly relieved about this since Judy and her new outfit were preying on his mind in a way he wasn't entirely comfortable with.
* * *
They ordered some cheap wine. It all tasted the same to Gideon and Judy had a likewise... robust attitude to it. She downed half the bottle. Gideon would be driving home.
Desert was nice, Judy had icecream. Gideon spent half an hour taking apart a brownie slice, trying to figure out how they managed to make it look like the fresh strawberries had been baked into it.
* * *
And then it was over; they were back home, date completed, no fuss. It was late and the both of them would have to turn straight in to bed, possibly after a short shower. All-in-all Gideon was somewhat relived; the entire ordeal had been less... troublesome than he'd thought it might be. It had been a good deal of fun with a good friend with almost nothing to worry about. Plus he had some new baking ideas. Judy stopped them at the door to their apartment.
"Thankyou for the lovely evening Mr Grey, I should invite you in for coffee, but my father would not approve. I must bid you goodnight!"
"Har har, I live here too, git out the way."
"Mr Grey! Surely you aren't going to force yourself into a young lady's boudoir?!"
"It's a lounge and yep."
"Curse your seductive wiles! You have inflamed my passions and I must yield! So be it, I am yours!"
She threw her head back dramatically, clasping her hands to her chest in a display of acting so hammy she could pass for a pig. The ill-fitting dress slid, then slipped to the floor.
"Gnk!"
"Ah. That... wasn't supposed to happen."
"Mmmm."
"Could you uh... stop staring?"
"No..."
"Gideon!"
Gideon is at least honest.
It had been another busy day of baking at Baked Goods, the name nice and official and on their signs and business cards. Gideon was cleaning up, something that needed to be started half an hour before closing. It allowed him to wander the store a bit as Susan worked the counter, handling the after-work rush while he swept and tidied up. It was a nice, almost relaxing time of day when he could talk to some of the customers and let his hair down a bit. (Literally as he didn't need a hair net when not cooking.)
"Mister Grey?"
Ah, a city fox. You really could tell; it was rather surprising really. City foxes where shorter and thinner than anyone back home, they really did look like they couldn't lift a hay bale to save their lives. This one was quite a snappy dresser and had even managed to almost completely hide the tracking collar he wore. Indeed if Gideon hadn't been given a crash course on them from Judy he wouldn't have even recognized it. He very carefully stepped back, getting into a position where he could more easily keep watch on all parts of his store. Trackers were used on people who weren't dangerous enough to lock up but suspect enough to perhaps consider leaving town, and someone like that... well it was better to be safe than sorry.
"That's me."
"The poor sap who has to live with the iron bunny?"
"Uh... wait, ya mean Judy...?"
"I know what I said. The carrot up her butt must have a carrot upits butt. How are you still sane?"
His mind ignored the risque comment and tried to keep abreast of the conversation. This guy knew Judy somehow and wasn't a fan. Evidently he was one of the foxes she'd busted a while back. That'd explain the collar too. They'd been messing about with food as well... Gideon very carefully sidled towards the door separating his bakery from the kitchen and tried to inconspicuously close it behind his back.
"Ah dun' break the law, she's not too hot on that. Got a bee in her bonnet 'bout it."
"She carries a fox taser you know."
"Yup, present from her pa, he's got a whole hive in his bonnet."
"So she's just waiting for you to attack her huh?"
"Naw, that was years ago, she's over it now. But y' jus' can't tell with some city folk."
"Years ago huh? What'd you do, trip her up at the county fair?"
Gideon paused. He should probably explain himself lest it sound like he'd done something serious. Not of course that it hadn't been serious at the time, but in the grand scheme of things it was just a childhood spat taken too far. Judy had been absolutely fine, she'd been taken to the local doctors and had some plasters put on her face. (Which must have hurt like anything to remove, plasters always did, but better than bandages he supposed.) Her father had kept her home from school for a few days, as had his, but she'd stubbornly insisted she get right back into things as soon as possible and eventually even the great Stu Hopps had folded.
There had been a big... to-do about the whole affair. Mr Hopps hadn't dared speak to his family of course, but his father wasted no time in tanning his hide something fierce. It was the first time he learned that, while many people claimed predators were vicious killers, actually doing anything to prove them right in any capacity wasn't just stupid, it was a failure. The whole thing became a real mess real fast for him. If being a big, mean fox was a failure then he really didn't see at the time how he could succeed at anything. Then his uncle had come over and talked to his pa, and they'd argued about his upbringing and the aunts had got involved and word were said that couldn't be taken back and after all of that it took years for everyone to settle down and start speaking to each other again.
He hadn't know, back then, why everyone did what they did, just that it seemed to be his fault. He found out later, much later, that families did that sort of thing all the time, that they were complicated and usually not all that harmonious. Fortunately his father had settled things with him a few days later, rather more patiently explaining the somewhat thorny issue of what prey thought of predators as a rule and how to handle that. It had helped, a bit, certainly he learned not to believe everything people, especially prey, said and that DNA wasn't destiny.
Meanwhile the rumor mill had churned away, there were reports at school that he'd killed the bunny and been taken away to jail or that she'd been horribly disfigured. They both returned within a day of each other and stayed out of each other's way. In a way it marked a turning point; he'd specifically targeted the bunny before, disliking her seemingly boundless confidence and assurance of success in whatever she did, but after that he couldn't risk bringing too much attention on himself and kept his distance. He'd tried to cut back on the bullying too, with somewhat less success. It'd be years before he ran into Bobby Hopps and started making friends with prey...
He became aware that he'd got lost in his thoughts for a bit and tried, as best he could, to sum everything up for the city slicker.
"Well, kinda went at her face a bit actually. Nuthin' big, she was outta the hospital in a few hours once they put some bandages on n' stopped the bleedin'. Wasn't in school for a week or so but she recovered fine."
The city fox was looking at him in surprise. A little uncomfortable he tried to explain further.
"Ah got in trouble for it, believe me. My pa said you weren't s'pose to go 'round tryin' t' tear people's throats out, said it made us look bad. An' I never attacked anyone after that, mostly. I mean like, not as bad."
"Not hospitalization bad?"
"Exactly, she's the only one I sent there, an' that was years ago an' it's all fine now. So uh, you lookin' to buy anything?"
* * *
It was sometime later when a bemused Gideon returned home. The city fox hadn't said much, just sort of made an excuse and left. Probably just snooping around, definitely not a trustworthy guy. And he was working around Judy too... he made a mental note to make sure she always took her taser with her whenever she went out. It wasn't that he was suspicious, but he obviously had criminal intent and a lone bunny could run into all sorts of trouble.
When he opened the door to the apartment two figures looked up at him over a pile of paper spread across the kitchen table. One was Judy, giving him a familiar smile. For a brief second an image from a few nights prior flashed in his mind, but he forced himself to ignore it. It had been interrupting his thoughts for days and was equal parts annoying and embarrassing. All he could think about was how Judy wore teal blue undergarments. It was a very ungetlefoxly thought.
The other was their former neighbor who shot him a look of general aggravation, as if he knew Gideon had badmouthed his mother, but couldn't quite prove it. He wore a conspicuous tracking collar around his neck, not even trying to hide it. His presence wasn't entirely unexpected; Judy had mentioned tracking him down a few days ago, which was apparently easy enough given a long trail of stolen goods he'd hawked off. Now he was supposed to be helping with... something to do with missing mammals.
He was somewhat surprised though; as far as he was aware Judy was sort of a parole officer, keeping an eye on him as long as he was 'assisting with inquiries'. But it was outside normal work hours now and he really should be... wherever he was staying now.
"Hey Gid! You know Duke right? He's sleeping over."
"He is?"
"I am. Psycho bunny here insisted."
"You're homeless, how am I supposed to keep contact with a guy who has no fixed address?"
"I have a perfectly fine address! I don't need t' be here!"
"No you don't, that's squatting, it's illegal and you need to start changing your behavior if you want to avoid jail time!"
"Hey I'm helping you ain't I?"
"You stole these documents from Mr. Savage, they're not even my case! I'll have to give them back tomorrow and that means dealing with those two foxes again."
"Wow, I'm so sorry. Really, it breaks my heart to hear that."
Gideon cut in, trying to soothe the situation.
"Okay hey, how 'bout I make everyone nice potato pot pie? There's nothin' like a good pie to settle everyone down."
"Buddy, not even a four course meal could settle me down enough to tolerate this fluffball."
* * *
"-So then, just when I thought I'd got him, he jumps!"
"Really? How?"
"Across the street, right over all the traffic! Both lanes!"
"But that's like... ten feet? How'd you even manage that?"
"Eh, I've always been fit."
"Nobody's that fit, Judy's only that fit 'cause she trains. Y' couldn't keep up with her without havin' done somethin'."
Duke finished a last forkful of pie and shrugged nonchalantly. He'd managed to polish off quite a remarkable amount of it despite his initial insistence that he didn't take charity. They hadn't bothered to sit at the table; for one thing it was covered in paper, for another they didn't have a third chair and finally Judy and Duke were both impossible to keep still.
"Okay, I keep fit. Used to be a real fitness freak when I was younger, wanted to do something like the Olympics, y'know? Get the gold medals and sponsorship stuff. Have my face on a box of cereal."
"Hah! I knew it had to be something for yo to stay ahead of me like that. Not even the foxes were that fast and you're way older than either of them."
"Gee, thanks for the flattery, flopsy."
"So how'd that go? Did you get your cereal box?"
"Hah. I'm a weasel, take a guess how that panned out. They might make you a cop, but even bunnies'd have a hard time getting anywhere in sports. People like to see cheetahs and gazelles, not us schmucks."
"Well... maybe you can change that?"
"Pffft, no chance. I can keep up with you, for a bit anyway, but I'm way past my prime. That door's shut, locked and bolted."
"Well, solve this case and you can join the ZPD, you'd certainly pass the physical."
"I'd rather gnaw my own foot off."
Gideon was trying to make sense of the purloined papers that had been bought in. They were mostly spreadsheets full of numbers with various scribbled notes all over them. It may as well have been written in code for all he knew. Apparently Duke had found them far more interesting than having to rat out his criminal acquaintances to a cop.
"So hey, what's the deal with these numbers?"
"That's Ja- Mr Savage's case, he's looking at some... irregularities in the mayoral finances. Apparently they got an anonymous tip from pretty high up that something was amiss, but it all seems pretty watertight."
"Pfff, geez, I thought bunnies were supposed to be good at this sorta thing. What, you can't see what they're doin' here? It's classic slushing!"
"Slushin'?"
"Okay look, see this here, 'administrative expenses', couple of million. May as well say it's for 'office stuff', you don't do that, accountin' has everything specific. Someone here's hiding something by sticking it in a big slush pile of random things so you get bored lookin' through it. Hand me that... no the other one. Right. So this office stuff's got entries for water, gas, power... someone's runnin' another building here, a big one, and they've hidden the expenses in with the paperclip allowance."
"You're sure? Is that legal?"
"Technically, yes. But suspicious and really, really stupid."
And with that the paper was snatched from his hand, the two smaller mammals pouring over the scattered paperwork. Gideon figured he'd do the dishes. That was the problem with Judy; as much as she never gave up she didn't stay focused either. She was supposed to be looking into missing mammals, not someone's finances. But you could bet she'd be up late working through them, just like she did with the bakery accounts.
It was... annoying? No, that was the weasel. Gideon was upset about his presence,though he couldn't quite put his finger on why. It wasn't his criminal history; with Judy present their apartment was probably safer than a bank vault. Maybe it was because he was a stranger and having him around broke the comfy, personal atmosphere of the place. Certainly he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for a late night glass of water in his underwear tonight.
Once again the image flashed across his mind. He very deliberately squashed it. He was going to bed early, getting a good night's sleep and most definitely not thinking about any cute bunnies for the rest of the night.
It had been another busy day of baking at Baked Goods, the name nice and official and on their signs and business cards. Gideon was cleaning up, something that needed to be started half an hour before closing. It allowed him to wander the store a bit as Susan worked the counter, handling the after-work rush while he swept and tidied up. It was a nice, almost relaxing time of day when he could talk to some of the customers and let his hair down a bit. (Literally as he didn't need a hair net when not cooking.)
"Mister Grey?"
Ah, a city fox. You really could tell; it was rather surprising really. City foxes where shorter and thinner than anyone back home, they really did look like they couldn't lift a hay bale to save their lives. This one was quite a snappy dresser and had even managed to almost completely hide the tracking collar he wore. Indeed if Gideon hadn't been given a crash course on them from Judy he wouldn't have even recognized it. He very carefully stepped back, getting into a position where he could more easily keep watch on all parts of his store. Trackers were used on people who weren't dangerous enough to lock up but suspect enough to perhaps consider leaving town, and someone like that... well it was better to be safe than sorry.
"That's me."
"The poor sap who has to live with the iron bunny?"
"Uh... wait, ya mean Judy...?"
"I know what I said. The carrot up her butt must have a carrot upits butt. How are you still sane?"
His mind ignored the risque comment and tried to keep abreast of the conversation. This guy knew Judy somehow and wasn't a fan. Evidently he was one of the foxes she'd busted a while back. That'd explain the collar too. They'd been messing about with food as well... Gideon very carefully sidled towards the door separating his bakery from the kitchen and tried to inconspicuously close it behind his back.
"Ah dun' break the law, she's not too hot on that. Got a bee in her bonnet 'bout it."
"She carries a fox taser you know."
"Yup, present from her pa, he's got a whole hive in his bonnet."
"So she's just waiting for you to attack her huh?"
"Naw, that was years ago, she's over it now. But y' jus' can't tell with some city folk."
"Years ago huh? What'd you do, trip her up at the county fair?"
Gideon paused. He should probably explain himself lest it sound like he'd done something serious. Not of course that it hadn't been serious at the time, but in the grand scheme of things it was just a childhood spat taken too far. Judy had been absolutely fine, she'd been taken to the local doctors and had some plasters put on her face. (Which must have hurt like anything to remove, plasters always did, but better than bandages he supposed.) Her father had kept her home from school for a few days, as had his, but she'd stubbornly insisted she get right back into things as soon as possible and eventually even the great Stu Hopps had folded.
There had been a big... to-do about the whole affair. Mr Hopps hadn't dared speak to his family of course, but his father wasted no time in tanning his hide something fierce. It was the first time he learned that, while many people claimed predators were vicious killers, actually doing anything to prove them right in any capacity wasn't just stupid, it was a failure. The whole thing became a real mess real fast for him. If being a big, mean fox was a failure then he really didn't see at the time how he could succeed at anything. Then his uncle had come over and talked to his pa, and they'd argued about his upbringing and the aunts had got involved and word were said that couldn't be taken back and after all of that it took years for everyone to settle down and start speaking to each other again.
He hadn't know, back then, why everyone did what they did, just that it seemed to be his fault. He found out later, much later, that families did that sort of thing all the time, that they were complicated and usually not all that harmonious. Fortunately his father had settled things with him a few days later, rather more patiently explaining the somewhat thorny issue of what prey thought of predators as a rule and how to handle that. It had helped, a bit, certainly he learned not to believe everything people, especially prey, said and that DNA wasn't destiny.
Meanwhile the rumor mill had churned away, there were reports at school that he'd killed the bunny and been taken away to jail or that she'd been horribly disfigured. They both returned within a day of each other and stayed out of each other's way. In a way it marked a turning point; he'd specifically targeted the bunny before, disliking her seemingly boundless confidence and assurance of success in whatever she did, but after that he couldn't risk bringing too much attention on himself and kept his distance. He'd tried to cut back on the bullying too, with somewhat less success. It'd be years before he ran into Bobby Hopps and started making friends with prey...
He became aware that he'd got lost in his thoughts for a bit and tried, as best he could, to sum everything up for the city slicker.
"Well, kinda went at her face a bit actually. Nuthin' big, she was outta the hospital in a few hours once they put some bandages on n' stopped the bleedin'. Wasn't in school for a week or so but she recovered fine."
The city fox was looking at him in surprise. A little uncomfortable he tried to explain further.
"Ah got in trouble for it, believe me. My pa said you weren't s'pose to go 'round tryin' t' tear people's throats out, said it made us look bad. An' I never attacked anyone after that, mostly. I mean like, not as bad."
"Not hospitalization bad?"
"Exactly, she's the only one I sent there, an' that was years ago an' it's all fine now. So uh, you lookin' to buy anything?"
* * *
It was sometime later when a bemused Gideon returned home. The city fox hadn't said much, just sort of made an excuse and left. Probably just snooping around, definitely not a trustworthy guy. And he was working around Judy too... he made a mental note to make sure she always took her taser with her whenever she went out. It wasn't that he was suspicious, but he obviously had criminal intent and a lone bunny could run into all sorts of trouble.
When he opened the door to the apartment two figures looked up at him over a pile of paper spread across the kitchen table. One was Judy, giving him a familiar smile. For a brief second an image from a few nights prior flashed in his mind, but he forced himself to ignore it. It had been interrupting his thoughts for days and was equal parts annoying and embarrassing. All he could think about was how Judy wore teal blue undergarments. It was a very ungetlefoxly thought.
The other was their former neighbor who shot him a look of general aggravation, as if he knew Gideon had badmouthed his mother, but couldn't quite prove it. He wore a conspicuous tracking collar around his neck, not even trying to hide it. His presence wasn't entirely unexpected; Judy had mentioned tracking him down a few days ago, which was apparently easy enough given a long trail of stolen goods he'd hawked off. Now he was supposed to be helping with... something to do with missing mammals.
He was somewhat surprised though; as far as he was aware Judy was sort of a parole officer, keeping an eye on him as long as he was 'assisting with inquiries'. But it was outside normal work hours now and he really should be... wherever he was staying now.
"Hey Gid! You know Duke right? He's sleeping over."
"He is?"
"I am. Psycho bunny here insisted."
"You're homeless, how am I supposed to keep contact with a guy who has no fixed address?"
"I have a perfectly fine address! I don't need t' be here!"
"No you don't, that's squatting, it's illegal and you need to start changing your behavior if you want to avoid jail time!"
"Hey I'm helping you ain't I?"
"You stole these documents from Mr. Savage, they're not even my case! I'll have to give them back tomorrow and that means dealing with those two foxes again."
"Wow, I'm so sorry. Really, it breaks my heart to hear that."
Gideon cut in, trying to soothe the situation.
"Okay hey, how 'bout I make everyone nice potato pot pie? There's nothin' like a good pie to settle everyone down."
"Buddy, not even a four course meal could settle me down enough to tolerate this fluffball."
* * *
"-So then, just when I thought I'd got him, he jumps!"
"Really? How?"
"Across the street, right over all the traffic! Both lanes!"
"But that's like... ten feet? How'd you even manage that?"
"Eh, I've always been fit."
"Nobody's that fit, Judy's only that fit 'cause she trains. Y' couldn't keep up with her without havin' done somethin'."
Duke finished a last forkful of pie and shrugged nonchalantly. He'd managed to polish off quite a remarkable amount of it despite his initial insistence that he didn't take charity. They hadn't bothered to sit at the table; for one thing it was covered in paper, for another they didn't have a third chair and finally Judy and Duke were both impossible to keep still.
"Okay, I keep fit. Used to be a real fitness freak when I was younger, wanted to do something like the Olympics, y'know? Get the gold medals and sponsorship stuff. Have my face on a box of cereal."
"Hah! I knew it had to be something for yo to stay ahead of me like that. Not even the foxes were that fast and you're way older than either of them."
"Gee, thanks for the flattery, flopsy."
"So how'd that go? Did you get your cereal box?"
"Hah. I'm a weasel, take a guess how that panned out. They might make you a cop, but even bunnies'd have a hard time getting anywhere in sports. People like to see cheetahs and gazelles, not us schmucks."
"Well... maybe you can change that?"
"Pffft, no chance. I can keep up with you, for a bit anyway, but I'm way past my prime. That door's shut, locked and bolted."
"Well, solve this case and you can join the ZPD, you'd certainly pass the physical."
"I'd rather gnaw my own foot off."
Gideon was trying to make sense of the purloined papers that had been bought in. They were mostly spreadsheets full of numbers with various scribbled notes all over them. It may as well have been written in code for all he knew. Apparently Duke had found them far more interesting than having to rat out his criminal acquaintances to a cop.
"So hey, what's the deal with these numbers?"
"That's Ja- Mr Savage's case, he's looking at some... irregularities in the mayoral finances. Apparently they got an anonymous tip from pretty high up that something was amiss, but it all seems pretty watertight."
"Pfff, geez, I thought bunnies were supposed to be good at this sorta thing. What, you can't see what they're doin' here? It's classic slushing!"
"Slushin'?"
"Okay look, see this here, 'administrative expenses', couple of million. May as well say it's for 'office stuff', you don't do that, accountin' has everything specific. Someone here's hiding something by sticking it in a big slush pile of random things so you get bored lookin' through it. Hand me that... no the other one. Right. So this office stuff's got entries for water, gas, power... someone's runnin' another building here, a big one, and they've hidden the expenses in with the paperclip allowance."
"You're sure? Is that legal?"
"Technically, yes. But suspicious and really, really stupid."
And with that the paper was snatched from his hand, the two smaller mammals pouring over the scattered paperwork. Gideon figured he'd do the dishes. That was the problem with Judy; as much as she never gave up she didn't stay focused either. She was supposed to be looking into missing mammals, not someone's finances. But you could bet she'd be up late working through them, just like she did with the bakery accounts.
It was... annoying? No, that was the weasel. Gideon was upset about his presence,though he couldn't quite put his finger on why. It wasn't his criminal history; with Judy present their apartment was probably safer than a bank vault. Maybe it was because he was a stranger and having him around broke the comfy, personal atmosphere of the place. Certainly he couldn't risk sneaking to the kitchen for a late night glass of water in his underwear tonight.
Once again the image flashed across his mind. He very deliberately squashed it. He was going to bed early, getting a good night's sleep and most definitely not thinking about any cute bunnies for the rest of the night.
It was 9:30pm and Gideon Grey was concerned.
Judy wasn't back. In fact he hadn't seen or heard anything from her since the previous night; he got up at 5am to make sure he was in the bakery before sunup. If there was one thing that was the same here and in the country it was people's like for something freshly baked for breakfast. He always missed Judy in the morning, except for accidental awakenings (He was getting good at dodging thrown pillows.) so hadn't noticed anything off at the time. But Judy hadn't been there hen he came home, nor had she called or texted to say she'd be late.
Of course she'd been late before, not this late but still, and hadn't sent him any sort of message beforehand. But it was still a little worrying to see... not see her. The apartment felt oddly empty and quiet without her being there; she had the strange ability to expand to fill the available space; he was quite certain that, should she be transported to an empty concert hall, she'd somehow find a way to bring the whole place to life. And she was good company too, they usually spent the evenings discussing how each other's day had gone or by looking over the bakery accounts. Without that there was little to do but watch TV, which was sort of underwhelming.
His phone rang. He answered it to be greeted with a vision of fatherly lapine fury.
"YOU! You... embleer rah! I demand, demand you put my daughter on the phone right this instant!"
"She's not here."
"The hell she isn't! I'm not as green as I am cabbage looking boy! I demand to talk to her!"
"And I said she ain't here, sir."
Gideon made sure the last word dripped with obvious sarcasm as he waved his phone about he apartment, showing its definite lack of rabbitidity. There was a pause and a muffled argument before the rather concerned face of Bonnie Hopps filled the screen.
"Gideon dear, are you sure she's not... nearby?"
"Positive m'm. Haven't seen her in 24 hours."
"It's just that we... called her just a few minutes ago and there was a fox and... nuptial activity. Now she won't return our calls.
"Nup.. wait... she was berry pickin'?"
"Well she... yes. We... thought it was you. You really don't know where she is?"
"No idea, I swear, she's always out doin' cop stuff. You're sure it was berry pickin'?"
"Well it was very dark and hard to see... but it was very loud. Um. We'll call back, if she comes by tell her to get in contact with us."
And with that the call ended.
* * *
It was 11:30pm and Gideon Grey was upset.
He should have been fast asleep by now, he needed a good eight hours of rest and would be paying for staying up this late tomorrow. But he couldn't sleep. That stupid, stupid bunny was cheating on him. Probably. Oh Stu Hopps could be fooled, the puffed-up cottonball would probably fly off the handle just seeing Judy holding hands, but his wife was far more level headed, he knew that for a fact. Whatever they'd seen was probably exactly what she'd said, who better than rabbits to recognize that sort of thing?
Still, it was hard to believe. Had she been seeing someone? Surely she would have told him? Certainly she'd talked a bit about the foxes he sort of didn't work with, but she didn't sound particularly fond of them. Maybe it was a fling of some sort? It would have to be, otherwise surely he would have noticed something? There was so much that didn't make sense.
And yet a part of him didn't care. She was cheating on him! It didn't matter how or who was involved or how serious it was; it did matter that there wasn't exactly that much to cheaton. Certainly they'd been on one date, though not exactly a romantic one, but what else was there? Bakery accounts and a few kisses? But that only made things worse somehow. A dark little piece of Gideon sat and stewed in his anger and vowed that the bunny was going to get a punch in the face next time he saw her.
Well ok she wasn't, not Judy. But someone was going to get a smack to the snout...
* * *
It was 5:30pm or thereabouts. Gideon was closing up shop, or at least starting the activities that would, in due time, lead to his shop being closed. Judy hadn't come back, he'd seen no sign of her when he left that morning and she'd not been replying to any calls or texts he sent, they all went straight to voicemail. Anger had given way to concern again; there was no way she should be out that long,no matter what she'd been doing. He was hoping she'd be there when he returned, but was saved the trouble of waiting when the door opened and she strode in, leading a small group of mammals into his shop.
There was another bunny, with some rather unusual looking fur stripes on his face, dressed in a neat suit. There was Duke looking considerably more cheerful than he'd ever remembered seeing him. (Though that really didn't set a very high bar.) There was.. something. A fox of some kind, but very short who made up for his height in ears. Gideon made a mental note to find out what species that was. (He kept coming across new ones; who knew aardvarks weren't mythical after all?) Finally there was the city fox from the previous day, pushing ahead and walking straight towards him. He made very, very sure not to punch him in the face... yet.
"Hey there, long time no see. Wow, do I feel sorry for you. I knew the bunny was crazy but today... today really takes the cake. Do you carry coffee? I need a decent coffee after all I've been through."
"Uuh I-"
"Also, shut up shop and shoo out the sheep, we are celebrating."
"Wha-"
It was then Judy saw him and dashed forward,wrapping her arms around him and attempting to lift and twirl him with enthusiasm. To his shock she was very nearly able to do that and the two of them almost fell over. She was positively beaming; just looking at her face almost hurt his eyes with the sheer force of joy radiating from it.
"You didn't answer your phone!"
"Neither'd you..."
"What? Of course I did!"
"When I called last night-"
"Oh then! I was being chased by timber wolves through an abandoned hospital then. You won't believe what happened to me! I solved the missing mammal cases!"
"Wait... Otterton?"
"All of them!"
Judy wasn't back. In fact he hadn't seen or heard anything from her since the previous night; he got up at 5am to make sure he was in the bakery before sunup. If there was one thing that was the same here and in the country it was people's like for something freshly baked for breakfast. He always missed Judy in the morning, except for accidental awakenings (He was getting good at dodging thrown pillows.) so hadn't noticed anything off at the time. But Judy hadn't been there hen he came home, nor had she called or texted to say she'd be late.
Of course she'd been late before, not this late but still, and hadn't sent him any sort of message beforehand. But it was still a little worrying to see... not see her. The apartment felt oddly empty and quiet without her being there; she had the strange ability to expand to fill the available space; he was quite certain that, should she be transported to an empty concert hall, she'd somehow find a way to bring the whole place to life. And she was good company too, they usually spent the evenings discussing how each other's day had gone or by looking over the bakery accounts. Without that there was little to do but watch TV, which was sort of underwhelming.
His phone rang. He answered it to be greeted with a vision of fatherly lapine fury.
"YOU! You... embleer rah! I demand, demand you put my daughter on the phone right this instant!"
"She's not here."
"The hell she isn't! I'm not as green as I am cabbage looking boy! I demand to talk to her!"
"And I said she ain't here, sir."
Gideon made sure the last word dripped with obvious sarcasm as he waved his phone about he apartment, showing its definite lack of rabbitidity. There was a pause and a muffled argument before the rather concerned face of Bonnie Hopps filled the screen.
"Gideon dear, are you sure she's not... nearby?"
"Positive m'm. Haven't seen her in 24 hours."
"It's just that we... called her just a few minutes ago and there was a fox and... nuptial activity. Now she won't return our calls.
"Nup.. wait... she was berry pickin'?"
"Well she... yes. We... thought it was you. You really don't know where she is?"
"No idea, I swear, she's always out doin' cop stuff. You're sure it was berry pickin'?"
"Well it was very dark and hard to see... but it was very loud. Um. We'll call back, if she comes by tell her to get in contact with us."
And with that the call ended.
* * *
It was 11:30pm and Gideon Grey was upset.
He should have been fast asleep by now, he needed a good eight hours of rest and would be paying for staying up this late tomorrow. But he couldn't sleep. That stupid, stupid bunny was cheating on him. Probably. Oh Stu Hopps could be fooled, the puffed-up cottonball would probably fly off the handle just seeing Judy holding hands, but his wife was far more level headed, he knew that for a fact. Whatever they'd seen was probably exactly what she'd said, who better than rabbits to recognize that sort of thing?
Still, it was hard to believe. Had she been seeing someone? Surely she would have told him? Certainly she'd talked a bit about the foxes he sort of didn't work with, but she didn't sound particularly fond of them. Maybe it was a fling of some sort? It would have to be, otherwise surely he would have noticed something? There was so much that didn't make sense.
And yet a part of him didn't care. She was cheating on him! It didn't matter how or who was involved or how serious it was; it did matter that there wasn't exactly that much to cheaton. Certainly they'd been on one date, though not exactly a romantic one, but what else was there? Bakery accounts and a few kisses? But that only made things worse somehow. A dark little piece of Gideon sat and stewed in his anger and vowed that the bunny was going to get a punch in the face next time he saw her.
Well ok she wasn't, not Judy. But someone was going to get a smack to the snout...
* * *
It was 5:30pm or thereabouts. Gideon was closing up shop, or at least starting the activities that would, in due time, lead to his shop being closed. Judy hadn't come back, he'd seen no sign of her when he left that morning and she'd not been replying to any calls or texts he sent, they all went straight to voicemail. Anger had given way to concern again; there was no way she should be out that long,no matter what she'd been doing. He was hoping she'd be there when he returned, but was saved the trouble of waiting when the door opened and she strode in, leading a small group of mammals into his shop.
There was another bunny, with some rather unusual looking fur stripes on his face, dressed in a neat suit. There was Duke looking considerably more cheerful than he'd ever remembered seeing him. (Though that really didn't set a very high bar.) There was.. something. A fox of some kind, but very short who made up for his height in ears. Gideon made a mental note to find out what species that was. (He kept coming across new ones; who knew aardvarks weren't mythical after all?) Finally there was the city fox from the previous day, pushing ahead and walking straight towards him. He made very, very sure not to punch him in the face... yet.
"Hey there, long time no see. Wow, do I feel sorry for you. I knew the bunny was crazy but today... today really takes the cake. Do you carry coffee? I need a decent coffee after all I've been through."
"Uuh I-"
"Also, shut up shop and shoo out the sheep, we are celebrating."
"Wha-"
It was then Judy saw him and dashed forward,wrapping her arms around him and attempting to lift and twirl him with enthusiasm. To his shock she was very nearly able to do that and the two of them almost fell over. She was positively beaming; just looking at her face almost hurt his eyes with the sheer force of joy radiating from it.
"You didn't answer your phone!"
"Neither'd you..."
"What? Of course I did!"
"When I called last night-"
"Oh then! I was being chased by timber wolves through an abandoned hospital then. You won't believe what happened to me! I solved the missing mammal cases!"
"Wait... Otterton?"
"All of them!"
Judy's like that,s he takes both the credit and the blame.
"So how exactly does a bunny get the name 'Savage'?"
"Long story, Raised by tigers actually. Mom thought she was infertile, turns out just unlucky. I have half a dozen 'little' brothers."
"All brothers huh? Must have been a rough childhood."
"Nah, bunch of kittens. All went into dancing oddly enough."
"Hey hang on, I thought heterovorous adoption wasn't legal?"
"It is, big mixup there, when they figured it out there was a massive row. Technically I lived with a foster family and had my name changed by deed poll. It's actually what got me interested in paperwork and fraud. You see-"
Gideon sat nursing a soda and listening to the now almost mundane conversation. (He didn't drink anything that wasn't cooking sherry; alcoholism had been an issue in his family.) They'd grabbed a few goodies from the bakery before decamping to a nice bar that Duke knew about (And the two foxes... and Susan. It must have been a pretty good bar indeed to be so well known.) where they were celebrating some rather incredible developments. Not less than half an hour ago they'd been discussing events so astounding that, had he not been given a newspaper confirming them, he would have assumed they'd been pulled from some sort of zany spy thriller.
Apparently the accounting 'issues' Duke had uncovered had led the fraud team to a supposedly abandoned hospital. They'd called in Judy to help with any possible arrests since her own case had stalled and she was the only readily available officer. So she and the weasel had arrived to find everyone else had been caught by an illegal security team and there had been some sort of chase and a breakout and one funny-in-hindsight moment where Judy and the foxes had been hiding in a closet when her parents had called. That had been incredibly relieving to hear, at least at first; it was less so now he realized that one stray phonecall had almost got Judy killed. Te upshot of everything was that the mayor had been kidnapping and imprisoning victims of those crazy sheep's drug trials in order to hide things from the public.
It was an incredible development, the mayor and his associates had been arrested, the missing mammals found, to be cured within the next few days, and everyone all round had been given a pat on the back and the city's sincerest gratitude. The paper still blared its headlines at him, Ragtag Team Crack Mayoral Malfeasance it said in big black letters over a front page spread of Judy and the rest of the 'team' posing with acting mayor Bellwether. It was a good thing his bakery hadn't been mentioned this time; business was a little quick as it was, now that everyone was world famous (at least in Zootopia) any more publicity would probably bury him under customers.
"I still say you should join up. Savage and Wilde, got a ring to it."
"You know I might, it pays pretty good, and I always wanted to do my part for the city."
"What about your diminutive friend?"
"He does what he wants. And who. Why not ask Mr Bootleg here?"
"I told ya Wilde, I'd rather gnaw my own foot off."
The whole thing had been utterly exhausting, even for him. It just wasn't something he expected. Midnight chases, near-death experiences, vast government conspiracies. He was just a regular fox who baked pies; hopefully this would be the last such 'exciting' experience for a while. He really couldn't understand how Judy could just sit there mere hours after having had to jump off a waterfall to save her own life. It seemed like it was nothing at all to her, talking to her even made him feel like he was being silly for worrying over it.
"Oh hey look, it's us! We made the news!"
"Sssh! I can't hear!"
"-arrests of no less than seventeen individuals in what is being called the greatest conspiracy in Zootopian history. Question still remain in regards to acting mayor Belwhether, who has now been accused by no less than four of the suspects of masterminding the entire plot. The ZPD issued-"
"Oh please, can you believe those guys? Using some hokey antisheep conspiracy just to try and keep their butts out of jail."
"You think she's clean bunny?"
"She's been advocating for me from day 1. Besides the whole idea is ridiculous."
"Preaching to the choir carrots. I actually used to date that badger. Tooootal crackpot. Oh hey! It's me!"
"-just a regular guy trying to help out."
"Hah! Wilde you liar!"
The various arguments over the report continued. (Especially in regards to just how much credit Judy had taken and the issue of certain individuals who were too short to have appeared on camera.) Gideon paid them little heed as the night slowly wore on. One by one people drifted off back to their regular lives, or what they had become after such a big bust, until he and Judy were left to ride home in her buggy. (Which was trickier than it sounded since he was the sober driver and could push both the brakes and accelerator with a single paw.) He wanted to get home, get to bed and get some sleep; the whole affair had left him feeling tired and a bit drained and tomorrow he'd have to get up, go to the bakery and keep cooking like nothing unusual had happened at all.
* * *
When he finally did try to get to bed, after a nice long shower and the last microwaved carrot dinner (Anything to break up the sugary snacks that had stood in for a proper supper.) he found a bunny in it.
"Hey Jude, I'm gonna be needing that now."
"Sure, hop in."
"Uh... could ya perhaps move first?"
"No, I sleep here now."
"Then where d' I sleep?"
"Also here, if you ever stop yapping."
"Uh... I think maybe th' drink's got to ya a bit. Maybe y' should-"
A pair of soft grey paws grabbed his arm and tugged him down until he was bent double.
"Gideon Gabriel Grey! First of all I'm aware of my blood alcohol level which I assure you does not exceed Standard 1-45 in regards to lawful consent. Secondly I saved the city, with some possible assistance from other parties, I deserve a comfy bed. And thirdly, a pack of timberwolves tried to use me as a chewtoy today, I think I handle the risk of a little celebration. Now are you joining me or not?"
"Yes m'm."
'So much for getting some sleep.' he thought.
"So how exactly does a bunny get the name 'Savage'?"
"Long story, Raised by tigers actually. Mom thought she was infertile, turns out just unlucky. I have half a dozen 'little' brothers."
"All brothers huh? Must have been a rough childhood."
"Nah, bunch of kittens. All went into dancing oddly enough."
"Hey hang on, I thought heterovorous adoption wasn't legal?"
"It is, big mixup there, when they figured it out there was a massive row. Technically I lived with a foster family and had my name changed by deed poll. It's actually what got me interested in paperwork and fraud. You see-"
Gideon sat nursing a soda and listening to the now almost mundane conversation. (He didn't drink anything that wasn't cooking sherry; alcoholism had been an issue in his family.) They'd grabbed a few goodies from the bakery before decamping to a nice bar that Duke knew about (And the two foxes... and Susan. It must have been a pretty good bar indeed to be so well known.) where they were celebrating some rather incredible developments. Not less than half an hour ago they'd been discussing events so astounding that, had he not been given a newspaper confirming them, he would have assumed they'd been pulled from some sort of zany spy thriller.
Apparently the accounting 'issues' Duke had uncovered had led the fraud team to a supposedly abandoned hospital. They'd called in Judy to help with any possible arrests since her own case had stalled and she was the only readily available officer. So she and the weasel had arrived to find everyone else had been caught by an illegal security team and there had been some sort of chase and a breakout and one funny-in-hindsight moment where Judy and the foxes had been hiding in a closet when her parents had called. That had been incredibly relieving to hear, at least at first; it was less so now he realized that one stray phonecall had almost got Judy killed. Te upshot of everything was that the mayor had been kidnapping and imprisoning victims of those crazy sheep's drug trials in order to hide things from the public.
It was an incredible development, the mayor and his associates had been arrested, the missing mammals found, to be cured within the next few days, and everyone all round had been given a pat on the back and the city's sincerest gratitude. The paper still blared its headlines at him, Ragtag Team Crack Mayoral Malfeasance it said in big black letters over a front page spread of Judy and the rest of the 'team' posing with acting mayor Bellwether. It was a good thing his bakery hadn't been mentioned this time; business was a little quick as it was, now that everyone was world famous (at least in Zootopia) any more publicity would probably bury him under customers.
"I still say you should join up. Savage and Wilde, got a ring to it."
"You know I might, it pays pretty good, and I always wanted to do my part for the city."
"What about your diminutive friend?"
"He does what he wants. And who. Why not ask Mr Bootleg here?"
"I told ya Wilde, I'd rather gnaw my own foot off."
The whole thing had been utterly exhausting, even for him. It just wasn't something he expected. Midnight chases, near-death experiences, vast government conspiracies. He was just a regular fox who baked pies; hopefully this would be the last such 'exciting' experience for a while. He really couldn't understand how Judy could just sit there mere hours after having had to jump off a waterfall to save her own life. It seemed like it was nothing at all to her, talking to her even made him feel like he was being silly for worrying over it.
"Oh hey look, it's us! We made the news!"
"Sssh! I can't hear!"
"-arrests of no less than seventeen individuals in what is being called the greatest conspiracy in Zootopian history. Question still remain in regards to acting mayor Belwhether, who has now been accused by no less than four of the suspects of masterminding the entire plot. The ZPD issued-"
"Oh please, can you believe those guys? Using some hokey antisheep conspiracy just to try and keep their butts out of jail."
"You think she's clean bunny?"
"She's been advocating for me from day 1. Besides the whole idea is ridiculous."
"Preaching to the choir carrots. I actually used to date that badger. Tooootal crackpot. Oh hey! It's me!"
"-just a regular guy trying to help out."
"Hah! Wilde you liar!"
The various arguments over the report continued. (Especially in regards to just how much credit Judy had taken and the issue of certain individuals who were too short to have appeared on camera.) Gideon paid them little heed as the night slowly wore on. One by one people drifted off back to their regular lives, or what they had become after such a big bust, until he and Judy were left to ride home in her buggy. (Which was trickier than it sounded since he was the sober driver and could push both the brakes and accelerator with a single paw.) He wanted to get home, get to bed and get some sleep; the whole affair had left him feeling tired and a bit drained and tomorrow he'd have to get up, go to the bakery and keep cooking like nothing unusual had happened at all.
* * *
When he finally did try to get to bed, after a nice long shower and the last microwaved carrot dinner (Anything to break up the sugary snacks that had stood in for a proper supper.) he found a bunny in it.
"Hey Jude, I'm gonna be needing that now."
"Sure, hop in."
"Uh... could ya perhaps move first?"
"No, I sleep here now."
"Then where d' I sleep?"
"Also here, if you ever stop yapping."
"Uh... I think maybe th' drink's got to ya a bit. Maybe y' should-"
A pair of soft grey paws grabbed his arm and tugged him down until he was bent double.
"Gideon Gabriel Grey! First of all I'm aware of my blood alcohol level which I assure you does not exceed Standard 1-45 in regards to lawful consent. Secondly I saved the city, with some possible assistance from other parties, I deserve a comfy bed. And thirdly, a pack of timberwolves tried to use me as a chewtoy today, I think I handle the risk of a little celebration. Now are you joining me or not?"
"Yes m'm."
'So much for getting some sleep.' he thought.
"And that should work out to $8.85 a day, that's it. I'm off, comin' babe?"
Gideon tucked the slip of paper into an apron pocket as the pint-sized fennec fox walked behind the counter and dragged a substantial-looking crowbar out from behind it, hefting it in a single paw. Sue followed closely behind him, the sheep had originally bused to work but now with the rising anti-sheep tensions in the city she was chaperoned home in Finnick's van. Gideon wasn't entirely sure what the deal was between them; the diminutive fox was a smooth talker from what he'd seen so it was hard to tell if the way he spoke to Sue was genuine affection or just ordinary conversation. Almost everything the fennec did confused the larger fox, ever since he'd installed himself as the bakery's unofficial accountant (with a very official salary.) He was somehow an employee but didn't keep regular hours or take home enough money to possibly support himself OR really listen to what his boss said. (His rather lurid and audacious van was parked right outside, despite repeated pleas from Gideon for this not to be the case, spooking the customers.) He was also probably doing something iffy on the side (and the top and probably the bottom too.)
Despite all that Gideon liked him; he had a definite grudge against the world, an umbrage that filled his tiny body with enough pent-up aggression to fuel a bear. And Gideon remembered being like that once, in a way. Finn didn't tolerate getting messed about and to make absolutely sure he was ready to hit back first at all times. He was the kind of guy you didn't sneak up on or joke about with. It also seemed likely that aside from getting good money for a pretty easy job the only other reason he hung around was Sue; he had a definite soft spot for those who needed a little protection even if he'd never, ever admit it.
Well it was once more time to close up shop after yet another busy, floury day of baking and selling. Things had settled down into a pretty good routine since the whole Lionheart thing; Judy hadn't almost died once in the past three weeks, business was good and slowly chipping away at the massive debt the bakery had accrued in opening and nobody back home had cut off his supply lines. Stu Hopps could almost look him in the eye when he called. Judy was a little bummed that everyone seemed to be blaming sheep for the whole nasty affair, but that was people for you, they always had to stir things up. The new mayor was doing an admirable job trying to put the kibosh on all the nasty rumors going about. Everything was working out fine. He was just locking up when a heavy paw fell on his shoulder. He turned to see two very, very large white bears staring down at him.
"Mr Big wants a word with you."
Of course.
* * *
Judy kicked her legs nervously as she sat in the slightly oversized chair and tried to resist the urge to swivel around on it. It was one of those fancy chairs with all the adjustable things and wheels that just begged for a nervous bunny to use in pushing it across the room. But she was in respectable company, or at least company that demanded respect. Mr. Big wasn't visible in the room at that moment, but he was most definitely keeping watch, ready to step in as soon as his other 'guest' arrived. She really hoped that Gideon didn't take things the wrong way.
Her sensitive hearing picked up the muffled voices long before any of the room's other occupants did. There were three, two were bears, Mr. Big's favored muscle, while the third was a familiar fox. Nothing seemed to be particularly off as the voices got closer.
"...an that's th' whole point, it's a copin' mechanism."
"You know, I never really thought of it that way. I just figured it came nat'rally."
"Yep, made th' same mistake once. What y' wanna do is look up Doctor Phillip J. Oz, got a lot of good advice from watching his- Oh hey Judy, I'm guessin' this here is your doin?"
Gideon strode into the room escorted by two polar bears that loomed even over him. They had apparently been deep in conversation, which was a good sign. Mr. Big was a small guy in a large world and he made up for it by hiring very... direct people. She'd been worried that perhaps he would take things the wrong way which could have led to... problems.
"Just a uh... friendly arranged meeting."
"Heck of an arrangement. Are we gonna die? 'cause I heard about icing, an' not the good kind."
"What? No! That's just for people who annoy him and it's just really cold! I'm an officer of the law, I don't go around befriending murderers!"
"Oh, he's a friend huh? Wait... who is?"
There was a cough from one of the larger bears, not-too-subtly grabbing their attention. Judy immediately picked out the aging shrew who had almost silently been seated before them with the quiet dignity and respect granted to someone who essentially policed the entire rodent population. The ZPD was making an effort (or more accurately have an effort made upon it) to be more diverse in hiring, but the one-size-fits-all physical entrance exam essentially barred anyone smaller than Judy ever getting in. She had in fact bought the matter up with Mayor Bellwether who was her own special friend in city hall, but any change would be slow. In the meantime the police were too big, too slow and didn't care about the problems of smaller mammals, which was where Mr. Big came in. He kept order in places the ZPD couldn't tread without crushing cars and knocking over buildings. It was all rather illegal but an arrangement that was for the benefit of the city and so one she was willing to accept.
"Aaah, Mister. Grey. So nice of you to join us."
"Whelp, figured I didn't really have a choice. So uh, you're Judy's friend?"
"Indeed, she is like family to me. I owe her my daughter's life."
"Wait... when'd you do that?"
"Ages ago."
"An' you didn't say anythin'?"
"It was on my second day! I had a lot to deal with!"
"I'll bet. You do anythin' else I don't know about? Save an orphanage maybe? Foil a murder plot?"
"Excuse me, Mister Grey, Miss Hopps, if we could,please."
"Oh. uh-"
"Sorry."
"Indeed. Now Judy has informed me that you are quite the talented chef."
"Uh, well chef's overdoin' it a bit but-"
* * *
"-on between 6:30 and 7 sharp. You won't regret it, an' keep in touch!"
"Sure thing Mr. Grey, I got your number. Be seeing you at the wedding anyways."
The bear extended a paw large enough to cover Gideon's entire face, it swallowing up his paw like a five-fingered snowdrift. Nicolai Lobachevsky was a pretty good-natured fellow once you broke the ice, metaphorically speaking. But he did have a few issues that had stuck out to the fox almost as soon as they'd met. He did hope he'd get a little help, sure the guy was in a tough business but that didn't mean having to be tough with everyone all the time. He smiled as they shook, making a mental note to keep track of is new friend in the coming weeks.
An now he, ordinary, average baker Gideon Grey, would be catering a wedding. Specifically the wedding of the daughter of a very well off and influential rodent who directly or indirectly dealt with the affairs of more than half the populace of the city. A wedding that would involve baking things approximately fifty times smaller than his usual fare using techniques he'd only read about and had to learn in a few months. It was an incredibly daunting task that made him nervous just thinking about. But he'd have a long time to prepare and did want to challenge himself, broaden his baking horizons a bit. Still...
"So that was interestin'."
"Yeah, sorry about all the fuss. I didn't think he'd go to such extremes."
"Since when has anythin' involving you not been extreme? Way things are goin' our next date'll be in a live volcano."
"I said I was sorry! Anyway, we can head home now and I can... make it up to you."
"Yeah, those breakfast dishes need doin'."
"Uh... can I make it up to you in some other way?"
"Nope, dishes is dishes."
"This is so not fair, it was only one measly abduction..."
Gideon tucked the slip of paper into an apron pocket as the pint-sized fennec fox walked behind the counter and dragged a substantial-looking crowbar out from behind it, hefting it in a single paw. Sue followed closely behind him, the sheep had originally bused to work but now with the rising anti-sheep tensions in the city she was chaperoned home in Finnick's van. Gideon wasn't entirely sure what the deal was between them; the diminutive fox was a smooth talker from what he'd seen so it was hard to tell if the way he spoke to Sue was genuine affection or just ordinary conversation. Almost everything the fennec did confused the larger fox, ever since he'd installed himself as the bakery's unofficial accountant (with a very official salary.) He was somehow an employee but didn't keep regular hours or take home enough money to possibly support himself OR really listen to what his boss said. (His rather lurid and audacious van was parked right outside, despite repeated pleas from Gideon for this not to be the case, spooking the customers.) He was also probably doing something iffy on the side (and the top and probably the bottom too.)
Despite all that Gideon liked him; he had a definite grudge against the world, an umbrage that filled his tiny body with enough pent-up aggression to fuel a bear. And Gideon remembered being like that once, in a way. Finn didn't tolerate getting messed about and to make absolutely sure he was ready to hit back first at all times. He was the kind of guy you didn't sneak up on or joke about with. It also seemed likely that aside from getting good money for a pretty easy job the only other reason he hung around was Sue; he had a definite soft spot for those who needed a little protection even if he'd never, ever admit it.
Well it was once more time to close up shop after yet another busy, floury day of baking and selling. Things had settled down into a pretty good routine since the whole Lionheart thing; Judy hadn't almost died once in the past three weeks, business was good and slowly chipping away at the massive debt the bakery had accrued in opening and nobody back home had cut off his supply lines. Stu Hopps could almost look him in the eye when he called. Judy was a little bummed that everyone seemed to be blaming sheep for the whole nasty affair, but that was people for you, they always had to stir things up. The new mayor was doing an admirable job trying to put the kibosh on all the nasty rumors going about. Everything was working out fine. He was just locking up when a heavy paw fell on his shoulder. He turned to see two very, very large white bears staring down at him.
"Mr Big wants a word with you."
Of course.
* * *
Judy kicked her legs nervously as she sat in the slightly oversized chair and tried to resist the urge to swivel around on it. It was one of those fancy chairs with all the adjustable things and wheels that just begged for a nervous bunny to use in pushing it across the room. But she was in respectable company, or at least company that demanded respect. Mr. Big wasn't visible in the room at that moment, but he was most definitely keeping watch, ready to step in as soon as his other 'guest' arrived. She really hoped that Gideon didn't take things the wrong way.
Her sensitive hearing picked up the muffled voices long before any of the room's other occupants did. There were three, two were bears, Mr. Big's favored muscle, while the third was a familiar fox. Nothing seemed to be particularly off as the voices got closer.
"...an that's th' whole point, it's a copin' mechanism."
"You know, I never really thought of it that way. I just figured it came nat'rally."
"Yep, made th' same mistake once. What y' wanna do is look up Doctor Phillip J. Oz, got a lot of good advice from watching his- Oh hey Judy, I'm guessin' this here is your doin?"
Gideon strode into the room escorted by two polar bears that loomed even over him. They had apparently been deep in conversation, which was a good sign. Mr. Big was a small guy in a large world and he made up for it by hiring very... direct people. She'd been worried that perhaps he would take things the wrong way which could have led to... problems.
"Just a uh... friendly arranged meeting."
"Heck of an arrangement. Are we gonna die? 'cause I heard about icing, an' not the good kind."
"What? No! That's just for people who annoy him and it's just really cold! I'm an officer of the law, I don't go around befriending murderers!"
"Oh, he's a friend huh? Wait... who is?"
There was a cough from one of the larger bears, not-too-subtly grabbing their attention. Judy immediately picked out the aging shrew who had almost silently been seated before them with the quiet dignity and respect granted to someone who essentially policed the entire rodent population. The ZPD was making an effort (or more accurately have an effort made upon it) to be more diverse in hiring, but the one-size-fits-all physical entrance exam essentially barred anyone smaller than Judy ever getting in. She had in fact bought the matter up with Mayor Bellwether who was her own special friend in city hall, but any change would be slow. In the meantime the police were too big, too slow and didn't care about the problems of smaller mammals, which was where Mr. Big came in. He kept order in places the ZPD couldn't tread without crushing cars and knocking over buildings. It was all rather illegal but an arrangement that was for the benefit of the city and so one she was willing to accept.
"Aaah, Mister. Grey. So nice of you to join us."
"Whelp, figured I didn't really have a choice. So uh, you're Judy's friend?"
"Indeed, she is like family to me. I owe her my daughter's life."
"Wait... when'd you do that?"
"Ages ago."
"An' you didn't say anythin'?"
"It was on my second day! I had a lot to deal with!"
"I'll bet. You do anythin' else I don't know about? Save an orphanage maybe? Foil a murder plot?"
"Excuse me, Mister Grey, Miss Hopps, if we could,please."
"Oh. uh-"
"Sorry."
"Indeed. Now Judy has informed me that you are quite the talented chef."
"Uh, well chef's overdoin' it a bit but-"
* * *
"-on between 6:30 and 7 sharp. You won't regret it, an' keep in touch!"
"Sure thing Mr. Grey, I got your number. Be seeing you at the wedding anyways."
The bear extended a paw large enough to cover Gideon's entire face, it swallowing up his paw like a five-fingered snowdrift. Nicolai Lobachevsky was a pretty good-natured fellow once you broke the ice, metaphorically speaking. But he did have a few issues that had stuck out to the fox almost as soon as they'd met. He did hope he'd get a little help, sure the guy was in a tough business but that didn't mean having to be tough with everyone all the time. He smiled as they shook, making a mental note to keep track of is new friend in the coming weeks.
An now he, ordinary, average baker Gideon Grey, would be catering a wedding. Specifically the wedding of the daughter of a very well off and influential rodent who directly or indirectly dealt with the affairs of more than half the populace of the city. A wedding that would involve baking things approximately fifty times smaller than his usual fare using techniques he'd only read about and had to learn in a few months. It was an incredibly daunting task that made him nervous just thinking about. But he'd have a long time to prepare and did want to challenge himself, broaden his baking horizons a bit. Still...
"So that was interestin'."
"Yeah, sorry about all the fuss. I didn't think he'd go to such extremes."
"Since when has anythin' involving you not been extreme? Way things are goin' our next date'll be in a live volcano."
"I said I was sorry! Anyway, we can head home now and I can... make it up to you."
"Yeah, those breakfast dishes need doin'."
"Uh... can I make it up to you in some other way?"
"Nope, dishes is dishes."
"This is so not fair, it was only one measly abduction..."
As my mother says, 'Roses show fancy, but dishes show love.' Also, this post has genetics in it, yay science!
The fields passed by outside the window at a slow yet steady pace. Judy kept her eyes on the middle distance, looking at the patches of fresh, young green. Had it really been nearly a year since she'd left? It had, between the months at the academy and those in Zootopia. And this was only her second trip back to Bunnyburrows aside from returning for Christmas. It felt strange coming home and even stranger that she wasn't going straight home per se but would be... well sneaking was the only fitting word. In a few minutes the train would arrive at its destination with her entire family none the wiser. Gideon had suggested she take some time off to get over the worsening situation in the city and they'd figured it would be best to visit his family first since there would be little chance of them doing so once Judy's had got a hold of her.
Gideon himself was ecstatic. The closer they got to Bunnyburrows and its fields of carrots (Easily visible to the trained eye because of their characteristically thin covering of carrot tops and the fact that, as a year-round crop, some fields were freshly plowed, even in midsummer.) the more excited he became. As it was he was nearly pushing his face against the window like a six year old child. Judy was glad she'd let him have the window seat, she'd be a pancake otherwise. Though that had been an improvement over the first half of their journey where she had been 'treated' to a a ninety minute lecture on fox coat colors. It had all been triggered by an innocent question she'd had about why Gideon's tail tip had been white when he was younger. Apparently his mother was a 'cherry red' coater and his father a 'golden cross' which tended to produce 'piebald' offspring (which sadly had nothing to do with actual pies.) that had white patches on their coats. Sometimes they stayed, sometimes they vanished at puberty. It was probably all quite interesting to someone who liked that sort of thing.
Meeting Gideon's family was going to be interesting too. Not least because she'd really only be meeting his parents. They were the only ones who lived in the town and while others were nearby it seemed that showing up en masse was just not something they did. That would make things easier she supposed, dealing with more than a handful of foxes at once would probably be impossible. But it was also a little daunting. This would be her first time meeting and possibly even seeing either of them, despite having grown up literally a mile away from where they lived. Such was one of the oddities of small town life. She hadn't learned too much about either Victoria or Gabriel Grey aside from trivial things, Gideon was hesitant to talk about them much, especially his father. This had worried and annoyed Judy in equal measure at first but she'd come to realize that some things, like her relationship to the Big family could be tricky to share, even if they were perfectly innocuous and not at all a Class 3 Misdemeanor.
There was a sudden hiss a jerk as the train slowed to a halt, the small town station moving past the windows at a decreasing pace. Polite as they were they allowed the few other departing passengers to walk out ahead of them, though Gideon was twitching in his seat like someone had slipped itching powder onto his tail. It was all Judy could do to duck behind a seat as he bolted for the door, all else forgotten. There were twin shouts of joy as fox met fox on the platform
"Gideon!"
"Ma!"
There was a bustling and a fussing the likes of which she'd only seen from her father as the shorter, older fox attempted to hug, kiss and examine Gideon for injury or signs of becoming a city slicker. The sheer joy and excitement radiated off the pair, Judy could almost bask in it. Of course similar things had happened to her, but there were usually so many bunnies in one place it sort of diluted out a bit. Here one fox was attempting to compact nine months worth of mothering into a few minutes and it probably wasn't safe to get too close.
"Oh, and this must be Judyyy!"
There was a blur of reddish fur and Judy found herself enveloped in what she recognized as the traditional Grey bearhug (Or possibly foxhug?) She settled into the 'usual' routine of handshaking and 'How are you' and 'Very nice thankyou' she used when meeting family. This took far, far less time than it did with her lot and in a matter of a minute or two she was able to stand on her own two feet and get to discussing actual conversation topics like the trip there. There was a definite family resemblance between Gideon and his mother, they shared the same deep red coat (of which he was very proud.) and the same color eyes, muzzle and ear shape. You'd certainly not mistake them for strangers.
His father was another matter entirely, the contrast was striking. She recognized him immediately, having seen him occasionally from a distance when her father had machinery repaired, she'd even been aware he was a Grey, but she had never linked him with Gideon. The two looked little alike bar their impressive physical statures. Gabriel 'Gabby' Grey was if anything even more stout, as if a fox had been stuffed with two other foxes. His coat was dull brown with a good deal of black accents. He hadn't said a word since they'd arrived, just stood there dismissively, as if waiting for a train. When Gideon approached him they merely shook hands, as if they were two old acquaintances. And he looked through her as if she was barely even there. Still, at least he wasn't as... vocal as her father could be.
They rode home, well to Gideon's old home, in the family pickup truck. Judy was grateful that it was large enough that she couldn't be seen inside it. Even so she probably had only a few hours before the entire town knew she was back and she'd have to go meet and greet the bunny hordes. It would hopefully be enough.
* * *
"Hey look who it is, the lovely couple! Also Judy and Gideon!"
"Bobby! What are you doing here?"
"Covering for ya, me 'n the fox arranged to tell everyone he was coming here to deal with a tricky blueberry issue."
"But it's not blueberry season..."
"That's the issue. Anyways everyone's been told you're taking the time to do paperwork back in the city, so that should give you some breathing room. Just tell 'em you're done when you're ready to hop on over."
"Hey Bob! Long time no see! The missus with ya?"
"You betcha, I want someone-on-one with the officer here, you don't mind do ya?"
"'Course not, I'll only be yappin' to family meself anyway, she'd prob'ly get bored without yer company."
* * *
An hour or so later Bobby left. It had been interesting catching up with him, not least because she'd managed to hold a conversation with him, and of course Millie, without any interruptions. Back home there would have been half a dozen people trying to tell her the same thing at any one time.And it had been very informative to hear about how they'd been coping as a couple over the past few months. She'd had some updates back in the city, but there were so many questions she had to ask. The town rumor mill had been working overtime since their wedding and Bobby being Bobby had relished adding to it, weaving tall tales about leaving home to join an international spy ring or going into the used car business. It was a good thing for him he'd been so outgoing, Judy didn't think she'd have been able to handle things quite so well. Both their families had accepted the inevitable for the most part, though apparently there were still a few holdouts and some people like her father who preferred to ignore the whole thing as if it hadn't really happened.
She'd had the benefit of being in Zootopia with Gideon which both lessened the impact and also the speed of nasty gossip, but the next day or two was probably going to be rater testing. If anyone didn't know before they'd know soon. She took the opportunity to prepare and also to learn about everyone's opinions on the whole affair. Amazingly people were, if anything, more worked up about their simple relationship than Bobby's outright marriage, possibly because seeing something everyday normalized it, whereas she'd been hidden a hundred miles away in the city. After the couple had left she'd taken some time to talk to Mrs Grey who seemed to be completely supportive of what was going on, apparently overcome with sheer motherly pride at any development in her son's life. Besides, as she'd mentioned herself, being fifty miles from the nearest non-blood relative fox hadn't bode well for Gideon dating one. (Though apparently she'd always figured it'd be sheep. The fact that Gideon once had a crush on her friend Sharla was something Judy was going to wait until juuust the right moment to reveal she knew.)
"-continued pleas for unity come at a time when Zootopia finds itself more divided than ever. No less than four unprovoked attacks on ovine citizens occurring in the last two weeks with increasing pressure from the vocal so-called 'sheepdog' movement to impeach the current mayor."
Judy groaned and plodded over to the old television, her mood instantly souring. It was a news report on the escalating tensions in the city. The whole Lionheart affair had added fuel to a fire she hadn't even known was burning. In the span of a month or two the city had gone from a place of tolerance to one where innocent citizens were being assaulted in the streets based just on their species.Someone had firebombed the mayor's car, there were calls for the ZPD to pen investigations into all sheep, as if that would accomplish anything, and a rising number of crimes against woolen individuals. And she couldn't help but feel it was her fault somehow; she was the one who'd helped crack the cases, both the conspiracy and the earlier drug-related one. Being a cop wasn't supposed to be like this, you made the world better, not worse...
"So they're goin' after the butt-heads."
It was all Judy could do not to jump; Gabby Grey hadn't said a word to her since she'd arrived, or for that matter to Gideon. He'd just sat down in his chair and watched the news. She'd been so preoccupied with talking to everyone else and getting a good look at the Grey family home that she'd completely forgotten he was there. Even now he didn't so much as look at her, staring blankly at the flickering screen in front of him. His voice was flat ad deadpan.
"The sheep, yes. It's all rather crazy really."
"People are. The boy says you're gonna quit over it."
"What? No! I mean... it's just... I really didn't think anything I did as a cop would... would backfire like that."
"Stupid thing to do, quittin' 'cause people are idjuts."
"I'm not quitting... I don't know when to quit."
"Then you're the idjut. Gotta quit sometime, or die. Just don't mess it up."
"It's a pretty big mess now..."
"No it ain't. When I was a boy in Foxton I wanted to go places, build things Engineer an' all that. Was good too, scholarship boy... Then mah cousin dropped an engine block on m' leg, not his fault. Spent a year in the hospital, got metal put in it, ain't walked right since. Got stuck at home, they don't let ya do much with a bad leg. Big mess. Had t' quit. Moved here."
"But it worked out, even my father says you're the best there is when it comes to machines and he-"
"-Thinks 'm a bastard."
"Well no I-"
"Yeah he does. Lotta people do. It's fine, messed up there, can't change it now. I spent ten years drinkin' and whinin' 'bout things. Messed a lot of stuff up, job, family... the boy. You quit, fine, whatever. Jus' be careful you don't do somethin' y' can't fix. An' fer gossakes make sure the boy dun' mess up either, he ain't got his mother's sense."
Aside from the TV the room was silent. Judy stood there only half watching the flickering images upon it. She'd been given a lot of 'advice' on giving up most of her life, most of it from people who meant well but really had no idea what they were on about. Most of them had shut up once her face had graced the national news. Even her parents had given in and accepted her new career and the risks that came with it. But... that hadn't so much been advice as a warning. A lot remained unsaid, the words hidden beneath the surface of the conversation like piranhas in a muddy river. It would be best not to ask any questions and perhaps to think things over a bit later.
"Hey Jude, I think the jig is up, pretty sure that some o' your family's driven past th' house twice in the last five minutes."
"What? Oh. Guess I'd better go say hi then. You coming?"
"I'd hoped t' stay till dinner, but it might be best t' get a head start now. I can always pop back if they try ta string me up. Be seein' ya Pa."
"Mmm. Tell Stu Hopps he still owes me twenty bucks. An' get a haircut, dunno how y' can see under all that."
"Sure thing Pa."
And wit those parting words they stepped outside to face one of life's greatest challenges, yet again. Family.
The fields passed by outside the window at a slow yet steady pace. Judy kept her eyes on the middle distance, looking at the patches of fresh, young green. Had it really been nearly a year since she'd left? It had, between the months at the academy and those in Zootopia. And this was only her second trip back to Bunnyburrows aside from returning for Christmas. It felt strange coming home and even stranger that she wasn't going straight home per se but would be... well sneaking was the only fitting word. In a few minutes the train would arrive at its destination with her entire family none the wiser. Gideon had suggested she take some time off to get over the worsening situation in the city and they'd figured it would be best to visit his family first since there would be little chance of them doing so once Judy's had got a hold of her.
Gideon himself was ecstatic. The closer they got to Bunnyburrows and its fields of carrots (Easily visible to the trained eye because of their characteristically thin covering of carrot tops and the fact that, as a year-round crop, some fields were freshly plowed, even in midsummer.) the more excited he became. As it was he was nearly pushing his face against the window like a six year old child. Judy was glad she'd let him have the window seat, she'd be a pancake otherwise. Though that had been an improvement over the first half of their journey where she had been 'treated' to a a ninety minute lecture on fox coat colors. It had all been triggered by an innocent question she'd had about why Gideon's tail tip had been white when he was younger. Apparently his mother was a 'cherry red' coater and his father a 'golden cross' which tended to produce 'piebald' offspring (which sadly had nothing to do with actual pies.) that had white patches on their coats. Sometimes they stayed, sometimes they vanished at puberty. It was probably all quite interesting to someone who liked that sort of thing.
Meeting Gideon's family was going to be interesting too. Not least because she'd really only be meeting his parents. They were the only ones who lived in the town and while others were nearby it seemed that showing up en masse was just not something they did. That would make things easier she supposed, dealing with more than a handful of foxes at once would probably be impossible. But it was also a little daunting. This would be her first time meeting and possibly even seeing either of them, despite having grown up literally a mile away from where they lived. Such was one of the oddities of small town life. She hadn't learned too much about either Victoria or Gabriel Grey aside from trivial things, Gideon was hesitant to talk about them much, especially his father. This had worried and annoyed Judy in equal measure at first but she'd come to realize that some things, like her relationship to the Big family could be tricky to share, even if they were perfectly innocuous and not at all a Class 3 Misdemeanor.
There was a sudden hiss a jerk as the train slowed to a halt, the small town station moving past the windows at a decreasing pace. Polite as they were they allowed the few other departing passengers to walk out ahead of them, though Gideon was twitching in his seat like someone had slipped itching powder onto his tail. It was all Judy could do to duck behind a seat as he bolted for the door, all else forgotten. There were twin shouts of joy as fox met fox on the platform
"Gideon!"
"Ma!"
There was a bustling and a fussing the likes of which she'd only seen from her father as the shorter, older fox attempted to hug, kiss and examine Gideon for injury or signs of becoming a city slicker. The sheer joy and excitement radiated off the pair, Judy could almost bask in it. Of course similar things had happened to her, but there were usually so many bunnies in one place it sort of diluted out a bit. Here one fox was attempting to compact nine months worth of mothering into a few minutes and it probably wasn't safe to get too close.
"Oh, and this must be Judyyy!"
There was a blur of reddish fur and Judy found herself enveloped in what she recognized as the traditional Grey bearhug (Or possibly foxhug?) She settled into the 'usual' routine of handshaking and 'How are you' and 'Very nice thankyou' she used when meeting family. This took far, far less time than it did with her lot and in a matter of a minute or two she was able to stand on her own two feet and get to discussing actual conversation topics like the trip there. There was a definite family resemblance between Gideon and his mother, they shared the same deep red coat (of which he was very proud.) and the same color eyes, muzzle and ear shape. You'd certainly not mistake them for strangers.
His father was another matter entirely, the contrast was striking. She recognized him immediately, having seen him occasionally from a distance when her father had machinery repaired, she'd even been aware he was a Grey, but she had never linked him with Gideon. The two looked little alike bar their impressive physical statures. Gabriel 'Gabby' Grey was if anything even more stout, as if a fox had been stuffed with two other foxes. His coat was dull brown with a good deal of black accents. He hadn't said a word since they'd arrived, just stood there dismissively, as if waiting for a train. When Gideon approached him they merely shook hands, as if they were two old acquaintances. And he looked through her as if she was barely even there. Still, at least he wasn't as... vocal as her father could be.
They rode home, well to Gideon's old home, in the family pickup truck. Judy was grateful that it was large enough that she couldn't be seen inside it. Even so she probably had only a few hours before the entire town knew she was back and she'd have to go meet and greet the bunny hordes. It would hopefully be enough.
* * *
"Hey look who it is, the lovely couple! Also Judy and Gideon!"
"Bobby! What are you doing here?"
"Covering for ya, me 'n the fox arranged to tell everyone he was coming here to deal with a tricky blueberry issue."
"But it's not blueberry season..."
"That's the issue. Anyways everyone's been told you're taking the time to do paperwork back in the city, so that should give you some breathing room. Just tell 'em you're done when you're ready to hop on over."
"Hey Bob! Long time no see! The missus with ya?"
"You betcha, I want someone-on-one with the officer here, you don't mind do ya?"
"'Course not, I'll only be yappin' to family meself anyway, she'd prob'ly get bored without yer company."
* * *
An hour or so later Bobby left. It had been interesting catching up with him, not least because she'd managed to hold a conversation with him, and of course Millie, without any interruptions. Back home there would have been half a dozen people trying to tell her the same thing at any one time.And it had been very informative to hear about how they'd been coping as a couple over the past few months. She'd had some updates back in the city, but there were so many questions she had to ask. The town rumor mill had been working overtime since their wedding and Bobby being Bobby had relished adding to it, weaving tall tales about leaving home to join an international spy ring or going into the used car business. It was a good thing for him he'd been so outgoing, Judy didn't think she'd have been able to handle things quite so well. Both their families had accepted the inevitable for the most part, though apparently there were still a few holdouts and some people like her father who preferred to ignore the whole thing as if it hadn't really happened.
She'd had the benefit of being in Zootopia with Gideon which both lessened the impact and also the speed of nasty gossip, but the next day or two was probably going to be rater testing. If anyone didn't know before they'd know soon. She took the opportunity to prepare and also to learn about everyone's opinions on the whole affair. Amazingly people were, if anything, more worked up about their simple relationship than Bobby's outright marriage, possibly because seeing something everyday normalized it, whereas she'd been hidden a hundred miles away in the city. After the couple had left she'd taken some time to talk to Mrs Grey who seemed to be completely supportive of what was going on, apparently overcome with sheer motherly pride at any development in her son's life. Besides, as she'd mentioned herself, being fifty miles from the nearest non-blood relative fox hadn't bode well for Gideon dating one. (Though apparently she'd always figured it'd be sheep. The fact that Gideon once had a crush on her friend Sharla was something Judy was going to wait until juuust the right moment to reveal she knew.)
"-continued pleas for unity come at a time when Zootopia finds itself more divided than ever. No less than four unprovoked attacks on ovine citizens occurring in the last two weeks with increasing pressure from the vocal so-called 'sheepdog' movement to impeach the current mayor."
Judy groaned and plodded over to the old television, her mood instantly souring. It was a news report on the escalating tensions in the city. The whole Lionheart affair had added fuel to a fire she hadn't even known was burning. In the span of a month or two the city had gone from a place of tolerance to one where innocent citizens were being assaulted in the streets based just on their species.Someone had firebombed the mayor's car, there were calls for the ZPD to pen investigations into all sheep, as if that would accomplish anything, and a rising number of crimes against woolen individuals. And she couldn't help but feel it was her fault somehow; she was the one who'd helped crack the cases, both the conspiracy and the earlier drug-related one. Being a cop wasn't supposed to be like this, you made the world better, not worse...
"So they're goin' after the butt-heads."
It was all Judy could do not to jump; Gabby Grey hadn't said a word to her since she'd arrived, or for that matter to Gideon. He'd just sat down in his chair and watched the news. She'd been so preoccupied with talking to everyone else and getting a good look at the Grey family home that she'd completely forgotten he was there. Even now he didn't so much as look at her, staring blankly at the flickering screen in front of him. His voice was flat ad deadpan.
"The sheep, yes. It's all rather crazy really."
"People are. The boy says you're gonna quit over it."
"What? No! I mean... it's just... I really didn't think anything I did as a cop would... would backfire like that."
"Stupid thing to do, quittin' 'cause people are idjuts."
"I'm not quitting... I don't know when to quit."
"Then you're the idjut. Gotta quit sometime, or die. Just don't mess it up."
"It's a pretty big mess now..."
"No it ain't. When I was a boy in Foxton I wanted to go places, build things Engineer an' all that. Was good too, scholarship boy... Then mah cousin dropped an engine block on m' leg, not his fault. Spent a year in the hospital, got metal put in it, ain't walked right since. Got stuck at home, they don't let ya do much with a bad leg. Big mess. Had t' quit. Moved here."
"But it worked out, even my father says you're the best there is when it comes to machines and he-"
"-Thinks 'm a bastard."
"Well no I-"
"Yeah he does. Lotta people do. It's fine, messed up there, can't change it now. I spent ten years drinkin' and whinin' 'bout things. Messed a lot of stuff up, job, family... the boy. You quit, fine, whatever. Jus' be careful you don't do somethin' y' can't fix. An' fer gossakes make sure the boy dun' mess up either, he ain't got his mother's sense."
Aside from the TV the room was silent. Judy stood there only half watching the flickering images upon it. She'd been given a lot of 'advice' on giving up most of her life, most of it from people who meant well but really had no idea what they were on about. Most of them had shut up once her face had graced the national news. Even her parents had given in and accepted her new career and the risks that came with it. But... that hadn't so much been advice as a warning. A lot remained unsaid, the words hidden beneath the surface of the conversation like piranhas in a muddy river. It would be best not to ask any questions and perhaps to think things over a bit later.
"Hey Jude, I think the jig is up, pretty sure that some o' your family's driven past th' house twice in the last five minutes."
"What? Oh. Guess I'd better go say hi then. You coming?"
"I'd hoped t' stay till dinner, but it might be best t' get a head start now. I can always pop back if they try ta string me up. Be seein' ya Pa."
"Mmm. Tell Stu Hopps he still owes me twenty bucks. An' get a haircut, dunno how y' can see under all that."
"Sure thing Pa."
And wit those parting words they stepped outside to face one of life's greatest challenges, yet again. Family.
Thanks. One day I hope to be good enough to post it somewhere.
"Next you add two spoons of sugar."
"Three spoons Mabel."
"Two spoons Miriam. And stir counter-clockwise, that's very important."
Gideon watched the two older rabbits as they slowly made their way through a recipe for some sort of sweet potato salad. The important thing was to watch what was actually done as opposed to what you were told. (For one thing he'd seen no less than four spoons of sugar go into it.) Things were going rather well so far. He'd had a plan from the beginning; show up, say as little as possible and stick to baking. Judy was far better at handling that sort of fuss and was being dutifully mobbed a room over.
He could see (and hear) the fuss from here. Their apartment back in Zootopia was perhaps a bit on the cozy side but it was almost shocking how small Judy's old house was. Not just in relative size; certainly he could reach up and touch the ceiling and bump his head on doorframes if he wasn't careful, but somewhere down the line he'd got the impression that rabbit homes were large and mazelike. It may have had something to do wither her large family, his brain just figured so many relatives had to be kept somewhere, or maybe it was the warrens they'd learned about in history class. ('A system of interconnected underground tunnels used as both living quarters and defensive outposts during the third lapine war.' droned the voice of his old teacher Mrs. Loper in the back of his head.) But all things considered Judy had grown up in a house not much bigger than he had. (Though with a few more rooms.) He could see how she could stand the confines of the city so easily. (He'd also been introduced to an actual box-bed, used in the 'guest room' to sleep grandkids and visitors alike. He could almost imagine nailing on some lids and shipping them off like some bizarre form of produce.)
"Hey mister fox!"
He turned to see a small group of kids clustered behind him.
"Mister Grey, on account of I have absolutely no gray on me at all. Also the spellin's different for added confusion."
"You're living wit Judy right? In the city?"
"Gosh I hope so, be a mite strange if I imagined it all this time."
"Are you gonna eat her?"
"Nah, see, she's always havin' baths. Taste like soap, terrible. Tough as nails too. What y' want is some tender young bun that ain't that clean, they oft'n taste like last night's dinner, breakfast too if they're messy enough. It's a darn shame your family's so clean, but I can just smell that there's a few snacks around here somewhere..."
There were a few muffled giggles from the older rabbits as the kids scrambled off. Apparently it was a common enough tale told to young bunnies to 'encourage' them to wash up and he figured he'd do his part to keep the story going. Sure it didn't paint foxes in the best light, but better some crazy story like that then something more damaging. In the end it was all harmless fun. (For the most part; he'd been terrified as a kit because his aunt had told him people who left doors open got their tails nipped off when the wind blew them closed on them. He still wasn't sure if that was actually true.)
"Gideon Grey, could I have a word with you?"
Stu Hopps. He didn't even have to turn around to tell that. He'd expected this. There wasn't exactly anywhere private to go to, not in the Hopps house, but he made an effort, carefully making his way to the corner of the room where they could at least talk in hushed whispers without too many people hearing.
"Sure thing Mr. H. Is this gonna be some warnin' 'bout messin' with your little girl?"
"Uh... it is yes."
"Frankly sir, there ain't much you can do that would be worse'n what she'd do ta me if I messed up. I mean she got trainin' and everythin'."
A sigh.
"I know, I know. I'm not happy about this, but you know Judy, its as good as done now. I just... could you try and make sure nothing... unexpected happens to her? I know she probably won't need it and can handle herself, but sometimes she gets carried away. And it'd be nice if she wasn't all alone out there."
"You got it sir. Frankly I can't believe some of the stuff she's got into already."
"Don't remind me. How many wolves again?"
"Timberwolves, best you don't know."
They shared a laugh. At least they could agree on that.
"Next you add two spoons of sugar."
"Three spoons Mabel."
"Two spoons Miriam. And stir counter-clockwise, that's very important."
Gideon watched the two older rabbits as they slowly made their way through a recipe for some sort of sweet potato salad. The important thing was to watch what was actually done as opposed to what you were told. (For one thing he'd seen no less than four spoons of sugar go into it.) Things were going rather well so far. He'd had a plan from the beginning; show up, say as little as possible and stick to baking. Judy was far better at handling that sort of fuss and was being dutifully mobbed a room over.
He could see (and hear) the fuss from here. Their apartment back in Zootopia was perhaps a bit on the cozy side but it was almost shocking how small Judy's old house was. Not just in relative size; certainly he could reach up and touch the ceiling and bump his head on doorframes if he wasn't careful, but somewhere down the line he'd got the impression that rabbit homes were large and mazelike. It may have had something to do wither her large family, his brain just figured so many relatives had to be kept somewhere, or maybe it was the warrens they'd learned about in history class. ('A system of interconnected underground tunnels used as both living quarters and defensive outposts during the third lapine war.' droned the voice of his old teacher Mrs. Loper in the back of his head.) But all things considered Judy had grown up in a house not much bigger than he had. (Though with a few more rooms.) He could see how she could stand the confines of the city so easily. (He'd also been introduced to an actual box-bed, used in the 'guest room' to sleep grandkids and visitors alike. He could almost imagine nailing on some lids and shipping them off like some bizarre form of produce.)
"Hey mister fox!"
He turned to see a small group of kids clustered behind him.
"Mister Grey, on account of I have absolutely no gray on me at all. Also the spellin's different for added confusion."
"You're living wit Judy right? In the city?"
"Gosh I hope so, be a mite strange if I imagined it all this time."
"Are you gonna eat her?"
"Nah, see, she's always havin' baths. Taste like soap, terrible. Tough as nails too. What y' want is some tender young bun that ain't that clean, they oft'n taste like last night's dinner, breakfast too if they're messy enough. It's a darn shame your family's so clean, but I can just smell that there's a few snacks around here somewhere..."
There were a few muffled giggles from the older rabbits as the kids scrambled off. Apparently it was a common enough tale told to young bunnies to 'encourage' them to wash up and he figured he'd do his part to keep the story going. Sure it didn't paint foxes in the best light, but better some crazy story like that then something more damaging. In the end it was all harmless fun. (For the most part; he'd been terrified as a kit because his aunt had told him people who left doors open got their tails nipped off when the wind blew them closed on them. He still wasn't sure if that was actually true.)
"Gideon Grey, could I have a word with you?"
Stu Hopps. He didn't even have to turn around to tell that. He'd expected this. There wasn't exactly anywhere private to go to, not in the Hopps house, but he made an effort, carefully making his way to the corner of the room where they could at least talk in hushed whispers without too many people hearing.
"Sure thing Mr. H. Is this gonna be some warnin' 'bout messin' with your little girl?"
"Uh... it is yes."
"Frankly sir, there ain't much you can do that would be worse'n what she'd do ta me if I messed up. I mean she got trainin' and everythin'."
A sigh.
"I know, I know. I'm not happy about this, but you know Judy, its as good as done now. I just... could you try and make sure nothing... unexpected happens to her? I know she probably won't need it and can handle herself, but sometimes she gets carried away. And it'd be nice if she wasn't all alone out there."
"You got it sir. Frankly I can't believe some of the stuff she's got into already."
"Don't remind me. How many wolves again?"
"Timberwolves, best you don't know."
They shared a laugh. At least they could agree on that.
The calm before the storm.
It would have been nice if the attack had come out of nowhere. But it hadn't; the signs had been becoming ever more obvious, even before he'd taken that short break in Bunnyburrows. But it had barely been a week and now there were actual, organized protests. Against sheep of all things!
Gideon sat in the hospital feeling rather out of place. Technically he didn't really know Sue that well, he had employed her for a few months certainly and they talked all the time when business was slow enough to allow it. Still he hadn't really got to know very much personal about her. He wasn't even sure what he was doing there; her family had been visiting already, he'd even spoken to one or two of them, the few that were still in the city of course, most had left. As would Sue as soon as she was well enough. Really he was only here because Judy needed to conduct an interview and get a statement from the injured ewe.
"Hey, fancy seeing you here."
It was Nick. Nick... something-or-other. The fox from the big case. He looked a lot more slick than Gideon remembered, decked out in a very clean cut suit and tie. He looked sharp enough to cut vegetables with.
"Yeah. Here t' see someone?"
"A friend, short guy. He was... involved."
"Mister Finnick? He ok?"
"He took on a mob of two dozen, and won. He's a little out of sorts."
"He's a brave guy."
"He doesn't like people getting messed with. This isn't the first time it's happened either. Heck, I owe the guy a few. He'll be alright, but he won't be happy."
As if to illustrate the point the diminutive fox turned a corner and walked into view. Gideon tried not to stare. The bandages were well and good, they hid the damage quite well. And he was still able to walk, though he limped a bit. But his face was uncovered and looked as if he had run into a brick wall at ninety miles an hour. Both eyes were black, one swollen shut. His nose had been broken. There were several long gashes across it that had been stitched. And he wore an expression of absolute, burning fury. Gideon knew mad quite well and he was pretty sure only the absence of a possible foe was keeping the small fellow from tearing someone's throat out. There was going to be some big trouble for someone soon.
"Finn."
"Nick."
"You ok?"
"I'll be worse. Hey big guy, tell your friend she better find those bastards before I do or she'll be startin' at a murder investigation. C'mon, let's split."
The two walked off, the ominous words hanging in the air. Things were getting serious; people were starting to take sides and fight back. Judy had talked about how the ZPD couldn't handle the increased caseload; there were just too many people doing too many things. Most were minor, but there were an increasing number of things like this, serious attacks on innocent citizens. He continued aimlessly pacing, waiting for Judy. She was taking a long time.
It was almost half an hour before she made an appearance,a accompanying the former mayor. Well... the newest former mayor. She looked even more frazzled than Judy, and Judy had been living off of coffee and sheer willpower for the past few days. They both looked terrible, hair a mess, clothing askew and worried expressions.
"Hey Gid. Let's head home. I have a report to write up. Oh... you've met May- Form- Miss Belwhether right?"
"I believe we've met a while back, yes."
"She's been a real help trying to track down these 'sheepdog' guys. She just suggested we could use Zootopia's traffic cams to keep an eye on nefarious activity."
"Huh, if that don't beat all."
"Oh yes, since my uh... mandatory vacation I've had some time to... assist."
"That's very nice of ya. Hope the new girl's doin' alright."
"Oh Stacy Swinton's an old friend of mine, I know she's perfectly capable of holding the office. I do hate to run like this but if you'll excuse me, I do have to run. Some important appointments with friends."
"Well she seems nice."
"You've no idea. The only leads we have are because of her hard work, she's practically leading the investigation. And we need all the help we can get. At this rate people aren't going to be listening to the ZPD."
"Naw, most people are perfectly law abidin', that ain't gonna be changin' that anytime soon."
"No Gid, that's the law. People obey the ZPD because they think that they will enforce the law, keep people safe. And the bad guys, well they think the ZPD are some sort of magical army that will get them if they step out of line. Really a few dozen people could destroy the ZPD in a night if they put their minds to it. Once the mob realizes that... it's all over."
She sounded very worried. And that wasn't reassuring at all.
It would have been nice if the attack had come out of nowhere. But it hadn't; the signs had been becoming ever more obvious, even before he'd taken that short break in Bunnyburrows. But it had barely been a week and now there were actual, organized protests. Against sheep of all things!
Gideon sat in the hospital feeling rather out of place. Technically he didn't really know Sue that well, he had employed her for a few months certainly and they talked all the time when business was slow enough to allow it. Still he hadn't really got to know very much personal about her. He wasn't even sure what he was doing there; her family had been visiting already, he'd even spoken to one or two of them, the few that were still in the city of course, most had left. As would Sue as soon as she was well enough. Really he was only here because Judy needed to conduct an interview and get a statement from the injured ewe.
"Hey, fancy seeing you here."
It was Nick. Nick... something-or-other. The fox from the big case. He looked a lot more slick than Gideon remembered, decked out in a very clean cut suit and tie. He looked sharp enough to cut vegetables with.
"Yeah. Here t' see someone?"
"A friend, short guy. He was... involved."
"Mister Finnick? He ok?"
"He took on a mob of two dozen, and won. He's a little out of sorts."
"He's a brave guy."
"He doesn't like people getting messed with. This isn't the first time it's happened either. Heck, I owe the guy a few. He'll be alright, but he won't be happy."
As if to illustrate the point the diminutive fox turned a corner and walked into view. Gideon tried not to stare. The bandages were well and good, they hid the damage quite well. And he was still able to walk, though he limped a bit. But his face was uncovered and looked as if he had run into a brick wall at ninety miles an hour. Both eyes were black, one swollen shut. His nose had been broken. There were several long gashes across it that had been stitched. And he wore an expression of absolute, burning fury. Gideon knew mad quite well and he was pretty sure only the absence of a possible foe was keeping the small fellow from tearing someone's throat out. There was going to be some big trouble for someone soon.
"Finn."
"Nick."
"You ok?"
"I'll be worse. Hey big guy, tell your friend she better find those bastards before I do or she'll be startin' at a murder investigation. C'mon, let's split."
The two walked off, the ominous words hanging in the air. Things were getting serious; people were starting to take sides and fight back. Judy had talked about how the ZPD couldn't handle the increased caseload; there were just too many people doing too many things. Most were minor, but there were an increasing number of things like this, serious attacks on innocent citizens. He continued aimlessly pacing, waiting for Judy. She was taking a long time.
It was almost half an hour before she made an appearance,a accompanying the former mayor. Well... the newest former mayor. She looked even more frazzled than Judy, and Judy had been living off of coffee and sheer willpower for the past few days. They both looked terrible, hair a mess, clothing askew and worried expressions.
"Hey Gid. Let's head home. I have a report to write up. Oh... you've met May- Form- Miss Belwhether right?"
"I believe we've met a while back, yes."
"She's been a real help trying to track down these 'sheepdog' guys. She just suggested we could use Zootopia's traffic cams to keep an eye on nefarious activity."
"Huh, if that don't beat all."
"Oh yes, since my uh... mandatory vacation I've had some time to... assist."
"That's very nice of ya. Hope the new girl's doin' alright."
"Oh Stacy Swinton's an old friend of mine, I know she's perfectly capable of holding the office. I do hate to run like this but if you'll excuse me, I do have to run. Some important appointments with friends."
"Well she seems nice."
"You've no idea. The only leads we have are because of her hard work, she's practically leading the investigation. And we need all the help we can get. At this rate people aren't going to be listening to the ZPD."
"Naw, most people are perfectly law abidin', that ain't gonna be changin' that anytime soon."
"No Gid, that's the law. People obey the ZPD because they think that they will enforce the law, keep people safe. And the bad guys, well they think the ZPD are some sort of magical army that will get them if they step out of line. Really a few dozen people could destroy the ZPD in a night if they put their minds to it. Once the mob realizes that... it's all over."
She sounded very worried. And that wasn't reassuring at all.
Deep in the industrial zone of Zootopia was a collection of warehouses used by various businesses for various purposes each of which was divided into a number of rooms. Some housed machinery, some stored goods, some were office space. One particular room was occupied by a lone weasel, typing away on a new laptop. The room itself had, over the years, been leased, sold or promised to no less than six businesses all of whom were under the impression that one of the other five actually owned it. As such nobody questioned what went on their all hours of the night, it literally wasn't their business. It was a small space that had slipped through the cracks of modern commerce and it was also the place Duke Weaselton most often called home.
The place was dark except for the scattered light given off by various electronics. It smelled of burned plastic and electricity. A strange, oblong machine in one corner hummed away to itself, burning movies onto blank DVDs. This particular night Duke was working hard printing up a new batch of movies for his standard business model. Certainly he'd had no small measure of success lately, what with being part of the team that had cracked the big mayoral fraud case, but experience had taught him that such windfalls were often fleeting and not to be wasted. He'd managed to negotiate his fifteen minutes of fame into several paid interviews with various publications and come out a few thousand dollars better off, not worth being attacked by timberwolves of course, but a solace nonetheless. They might not put a weasel on a cereal box, but Zootopia certainly would pay one to hear the dirty gossip of the week.
He'd splurged on himself a little, purchasing a new computer (To be written off as a business expense of course.) and a high quality wool blanket for the pile of boxes he slept on. (Heavily discounted due to anti-sheep hysteria.) Some might have opined that finding somewhere to live, or at least getting some proper furniture might have been important, but he'd never found such things to be particularly vital. No, the important thing was to have enough cash squirreled (or weaseled perhaps) away to cover your tail when things inevitably went south.
He was nearly finished the printing run and was preparing to put tomorrow's 'batch' together when there was a knocking on the door. Duke ignored it at first; a good gambit was simply to pretend nobody was home, but it became louder and more insistent.
"Wuzzleton! I know you're in there!"
Oh you had to be joking... The bunny cop? Again?! What could she possibly want, at this hour too? He sighed and, muttering to himself about the various acts she could commit on her own person with a police baton, opened the door. There was no point in ignoring the longear, he had learned from painful experience that she was almost insanely persistent.
"Weaselton, Weaselton, seriously does anybody even listen to me? Whaddya want flopsy?"
"I need your vast knowledge of Zootopia's unreported economic transactions to assist in an investigation."
"You want me to rat out people?"
"Sort of, yes."
"And I have a choice?"
The spark of a taser lit up the darkened room.
"Of course."
* * *
"What about E6? I have a good feeling about E6"
Duke yawned and ran his eyes over another sheet of numbers. It was past midnight and here he was with a bunch of idiots, in city hall no less, trying to track down some more idiots doing all the anti-sheep stuff. Aside from the bunny there was that big fox from the bakery who was doing nothing but stand around nervously, the other fox and other bunny from the fraud office and some sheep with glasses who was giving them a tour of the traffic cam system. They were stuck in some abominably dark and stuffy boiler room of sorts engaged in what he considered a complete waste of time. Thus far all they'd managed to confirm was that a lot of people didn't like sheep and a bunch of them had got together to spraypaint slogans on walls and throw rocks through windows. Honestly, weasels got the same stuff all the time, but now it ws sheep it was different...
"Yeah, look, 7pm, same guys! Where are they going?"
"Oh um, by the looks of it I'd say the business district."
Aaah the sheep was blind too. Metaphorically anyway. They were obviously heading towards the industrial zone unless they were taking the scenic route. Seriously, why was he there? Any idiot who knew the streets could stand in for him, heck Wilde probably knew half this stuff. He'd been put down as a stool pigeon, that was the problem; now anytime someone wanted some street smarts they'd come to him. He'd really have to figure out how the bunny had tracked him down and how he could make sure she never did again.
"Duke?"
"Industrial district."
"Oh. Um... are you sure?"
"Listen, lambchop, I just walked the exact opposite route to get here. I'm sure. By the looks of it I'd say somewhere around the scavenger section, where they do all the recycling and waste disposal. Your little shrew pal's a big man there bunny."
"Well yes, but maybe-"
"Maybe you check out whatever cameras you have there. I need a drink, this place have coffee?"
"C17.... 7pm.... there they are! He's right, they're... that's a city truck... what are they...?"
"Those are night howlers!"
Duke left the group in excited conversation. Sounded like they'd cracked some big case again. Hurrah. It was far too late for him to be up, and he really needed a drink, something far stronger than coffee for sure.He'd picked a bad month to give up smoking too. Occupied with his thoughts he didn't hear the heavy footsteps behind him, being utterly unprepared for the punch hat collided with the back of his head, sending him sprawling. As he lay on the ground, vision blurred he could just make out a badger stepping over his prone body along with several larger mammals.
"Get the others."
His world dissolved into blackness as he drifted into unconsciousness.
The place was dark except for the scattered light given off by various electronics. It smelled of burned plastic and electricity. A strange, oblong machine in one corner hummed away to itself, burning movies onto blank DVDs. This particular night Duke was working hard printing up a new batch of movies for his standard business model. Certainly he'd had no small measure of success lately, what with being part of the team that had cracked the big mayoral fraud case, but experience had taught him that such windfalls were often fleeting and not to be wasted. He'd managed to negotiate his fifteen minutes of fame into several paid interviews with various publications and come out a few thousand dollars better off, not worth being attacked by timberwolves of course, but a solace nonetheless. They might not put a weasel on a cereal box, but Zootopia certainly would pay one to hear the dirty gossip of the week.
He'd splurged on himself a little, purchasing a new computer (To be written off as a business expense of course.) and a high quality wool blanket for the pile of boxes he slept on. (Heavily discounted due to anti-sheep hysteria.) Some might have opined that finding somewhere to live, or at least getting some proper furniture might have been important, but he'd never found such things to be particularly vital. No, the important thing was to have enough cash squirreled (or weaseled perhaps) away to cover your tail when things inevitably went south.
He was nearly finished the printing run and was preparing to put tomorrow's 'batch' together when there was a knocking on the door. Duke ignored it at first; a good gambit was simply to pretend nobody was home, but it became louder and more insistent.
"Wuzzleton! I know you're in there!"
Oh you had to be joking... The bunny cop? Again?! What could she possibly want, at this hour too? He sighed and, muttering to himself about the various acts she could commit on her own person with a police baton, opened the door. There was no point in ignoring the longear, he had learned from painful experience that she was almost insanely persistent.
"Weaselton, Weaselton, seriously does anybody even listen to me? Whaddya want flopsy?"
"I need your vast knowledge of Zootopia's unreported economic transactions to assist in an investigation."
"You want me to rat out people?"
"Sort of, yes."
"And I have a choice?"
The spark of a taser lit up the darkened room.
"Of course."
* * *
"What about E6? I have a good feeling about E6"
Duke yawned and ran his eyes over another sheet of numbers. It was past midnight and here he was with a bunch of idiots, in city hall no less, trying to track down some more idiots doing all the anti-sheep stuff. Aside from the bunny there was that big fox from the bakery who was doing nothing but stand around nervously, the other fox and other bunny from the fraud office and some sheep with glasses who was giving them a tour of the traffic cam system. They were stuck in some abominably dark and stuffy boiler room of sorts engaged in what he considered a complete waste of time. Thus far all they'd managed to confirm was that a lot of people didn't like sheep and a bunch of them had got together to spraypaint slogans on walls and throw rocks through windows. Honestly, weasels got the same stuff all the time, but now it ws sheep it was different...
"Yeah, look, 7pm, same guys! Where are they going?"
"Oh um, by the looks of it I'd say the business district."
Aaah the sheep was blind too. Metaphorically anyway. They were obviously heading towards the industrial zone unless they were taking the scenic route. Seriously, why was he there? Any idiot who knew the streets could stand in for him, heck Wilde probably knew half this stuff. He'd been put down as a stool pigeon, that was the problem; now anytime someone wanted some street smarts they'd come to him. He'd really have to figure out how the bunny had tracked him down and how he could make sure she never did again.
"Duke?"
"Industrial district."
"Oh. Um... are you sure?"
"Listen, lambchop, I just walked the exact opposite route to get here. I'm sure. By the looks of it I'd say somewhere around the scavenger section, where they do all the recycling and waste disposal. Your little shrew pal's a big man there bunny."
"Well yes, but maybe-"
"Maybe you check out whatever cameras you have there. I need a drink, this place have coffee?"
"C17.... 7pm.... there they are! He's right, they're... that's a city truck... what are they...?"
"Those are night howlers!"
Duke left the group in excited conversation. Sounded like they'd cracked some big case again. Hurrah. It was far too late for him to be up, and he really needed a drink, something far stronger than coffee for sure.He'd picked a bad month to give up smoking too. Occupied with his thoughts he didn't hear the heavy footsteps behind him, being utterly unprepared for the punch hat collided with the back of his head, sending him sprawling. As he lay on the ground, vision blurred he could just make out a badger stepping over his prone body along with several larger mammals.
"Get the others."
His world dissolved into blackness as he drifted into unconsciousness.
Blame Judy, always getting into trouble. Also, lot of exposition in this post, everyone loves to talk, have this selection of fox coat colors as compensation: http://livingwithfoxes.weebly.com/r.....mutations.html
Nick Wilde groaned. He felt like someone had repeatedly punched him in the gut, which was understandable since they had. He'd been jumped by a gang of larger mammals and gone down quite quickly. They'd tied his hands behind his back and put some sort of sack over his head. Then he'd been dragged around a bit and then he was... wherever this was. He could smell something, a kind of sharp, vaguely familiar chemical odor, and hear the thrumming of distant machinery. His original captors had left, and for a few minutes he'd been alone with his thoughts. (Which mostly revolved around untying himself from the chair he'd been roped to.) But now somebody new was here, watching him. Suddenly the sack was removed and he blinked in the blinding light of the well lit room. As his eyes adjusted he saw a familiar face.
"Honey!"
"Darling."
"We broke up, that joke doesn't work anymore."
"But it could Nick! It could! I was right, right all the time! The sheep were planning something!"
"Three idiots were messing around with plant juice. I've seen worse at health spas."
"Typical Nick, always the doubter, always with the harsh words. But we have ironclad proof now! This goes all the way up to the former mayor! They were going to turn the city into a ewetopia!"
Aaah yes, there it was, the small flecks of spittle at the edge of her mouth, that vague, unfocused look in er eyes. He'd forgotten how... intense Honey could get when she started ranting. Strong too, he still had the scar from where the coffee table had hit him. He'd been right to get out of that relationship as fast as his legs could carry him; the badger was..well not mad,just a bit unbalanced. He sighed.
"Please... Honey, this is insane. What is this? Kidnapping? Breaking and entering, assault? This is serious now, please tell me this isn't all about your crazy sheep theories."
"They're not crazy! I knew, knew Lionheart was a patsy from the start! A puppet!"
"You voted for Lionheart over Swinton because you said he didn't have to take money from anyone..."
"It doesn't matter! Soon the whole city will thank us for what we've done! Once we-"
*THWACK!*
"-AUGH! Why you backstabbing-"
*THWACK! SMACK! SMASH!*
The badger slowly, very slowly, collapsed under a frenzied attack as a weasel half her size attempted, just barely, to subdue her with a computer keyboard swung with both arms. Keys scattered across the floor as it snapped in two, but the larger mammal was rendered unconscious at last.
"Duke?"
"Wilde. So you know this nutjob? Geez she sure an take a hit."
"And give one. How did you get free?"
"Begged for mercy, then promised to do anything they said."
"Then hit their leader with a computer."
"Yeah, like I'm actually going along with these wackos. When these things go south the first guy to get nailed is always the weasel. Now let's get you untied and get outta here."
"I can't, we have to find the others."
"What?! Why? Call the police, let them sort it out. What, you know the fox or something?"
"No but... they have the old mayor, she's a nice lady, whatever they do to her won't be good, I have to help."
"What? The sheep?"
"She fast tracked my job application, she's been really supportive of this whole investigation, she really believes in people Duke."
"Fine, do what you want I'm outta here. I can't believe I got roped into this mess."
* * *
Dawn Belwether groaned. She felt like someone had punched er repeatedly in the gut. Which was surprising since they'd punched her in a lot of other places too. She'd never thought they'd dare attack her; she was far too high profile, and with an officer of the law no less! The attack had been as brutal as it was unexpected. The rabbit had put up a pretty good fight from what she could see at the time, vision obscured under a hail of blows, the big fox too. But evidently it hadn't been enough. They'd been outnumbered in a confined space. Dawn had received more than her fair share of violence due to her species and had quickly passed out. Now she was here... wherever here was.
The place smelled of... chlorine. Her acute chemist's nose picked out the familiar sent instantly. And it was cold, and wet. And noisy too, which suggested they were in some sort of water treatment plant...probably ZMF-04, it'd be closest... She couldn't get up, her entire body ached and someone had hog-tied her hands and feet together. Her glasses had been knocked off during the scuffle and she couldn't see much; she squinted to try and make out the blurs surrounding her. One resolved into the slumped form of a bunny officer, another the baker fox. The other fox and weasel were nowhere to be seen, but somebody tall and vaguely pink was standing just beside-
"Ah Dawn! You're up!"
The voice was familiar, hauntingly so. Stacy Swinton, an old associate, formerly unsuccessful candidate for mayor now mayor herself. The one who Dawn had always suspected of orchestrating her replacement and of fueling the anti-sheep sentiment. It all made sense too, she'd pledged to buy up, hunt down and eradicate all the night howlers in the city,but the security footage had clearly shown the bulbs hadn't been destroyed. She'd stepped in and taken over then entire operation, but to what end?
"Stacy?! You... you're behind this? But why?"
"Why? The same reason you and your... associates were messing around with certain... plants. Power. You know I really didn't think the sweet little ewe I knew all these years was capable of doing something like that, but it certainly was inspiring!"
"But sheep are-"
"Les than 2% of the population here and a much more specific target. Plus there actually is a eweish conspiracy to take over the city, one that has oodles of proof in your personal emails I'm betting. After tonight you go down as a monster, I go down as a hero and my political career is assured!"
"You think people will fall for this?
"Oh yes, you see it just so happens that most of the... obstacles to my success live in the Greenfields district, which uses ozone to disinfect its water supply because it's better than the chlorine they plebs get. But it seems some completely natural organic vegetable supplement has been added to it recently and I suspect those that survive the next few days won't be in much position to investigate me."
"And you're just telling me all this? It'll be your word against mine!"
"Oh no, you won't live that long."
"So what? You'll kill me?"
"No, but he will..."
Though blurry Dawn could recognize the form of a dart gun, very similar to the ones she and her associates had used, aimed at the unconscious fox. There was a 'fwip' and the sound of something soft impacting, a small purple stain spreading across a plaid shirt. The gun was discarded, tossed towards Dawn, clattering across the floor. Stacy Swinton stepped calmly around the sleeping form towards the only door in the room The small, metal, heavily reinforced chemical storage room.
"Well I do have to go, I suspect our friend will wake up soon. I'll call the police of course, tell them about your crazy plan and how these poor, brave souls tried to stop you, guess you got one with your psycho serum and that was that. Oh,and the door is unlocked so there is a chance you can untie yourself and run and even survive, good luck!"
The door swung slowly shut, closing with a finality that echoed throughout the entire building, leaving Dawn in near darkness, the only light leaking in through a window from the dimly lit facility outside. She didn't have long, a few minutes at most. She struggled desperately at her bonds, willing them to loosen so she could make her escape. Despite the continual thumping of machinery just a few rooms over the sheep could hear the tiniest sounds. The rabbit was making quiet objecting noises, recovering with impressive speed. She was tied too, but might know some trick to get free, she was a cop after all. They could both get out if they were quick enough. There was a loud groan.
The fox was awakening.
Nick Wilde groaned. He felt like someone had repeatedly punched him in the gut, which was understandable since they had. He'd been jumped by a gang of larger mammals and gone down quite quickly. They'd tied his hands behind his back and put some sort of sack over his head. Then he'd been dragged around a bit and then he was... wherever this was. He could smell something, a kind of sharp, vaguely familiar chemical odor, and hear the thrumming of distant machinery. His original captors had left, and for a few minutes he'd been alone with his thoughts. (Which mostly revolved around untying himself from the chair he'd been roped to.) But now somebody new was here, watching him. Suddenly the sack was removed and he blinked in the blinding light of the well lit room. As his eyes adjusted he saw a familiar face.
"Honey!"
"Darling."
"We broke up, that joke doesn't work anymore."
"But it could Nick! It could! I was right, right all the time! The sheep were planning something!"
"Three idiots were messing around with plant juice. I've seen worse at health spas."
"Typical Nick, always the doubter, always with the harsh words. But we have ironclad proof now! This goes all the way up to the former mayor! They were going to turn the city into a ewetopia!"
Aaah yes, there it was, the small flecks of spittle at the edge of her mouth, that vague, unfocused look in er eyes. He'd forgotten how... intense Honey could get when she started ranting. Strong too, he still had the scar from where the coffee table had hit him. He'd been right to get out of that relationship as fast as his legs could carry him; the badger was..well not mad,just a bit unbalanced. He sighed.
"Please... Honey, this is insane. What is this? Kidnapping? Breaking and entering, assault? This is serious now, please tell me this isn't all about your crazy sheep theories."
"They're not crazy! I knew, knew Lionheart was a patsy from the start! A puppet!"
"You voted for Lionheart over Swinton because you said he didn't have to take money from anyone..."
"It doesn't matter! Soon the whole city will thank us for what we've done! Once we-"
*THWACK!*
"-AUGH! Why you backstabbing-"
*THWACK! SMACK! SMASH!*
The badger slowly, very slowly, collapsed under a frenzied attack as a weasel half her size attempted, just barely, to subdue her with a computer keyboard swung with both arms. Keys scattered across the floor as it snapped in two, but the larger mammal was rendered unconscious at last.
"Duke?"
"Wilde. So you know this nutjob? Geez she sure an take a hit."
"And give one. How did you get free?"
"Begged for mercy, then promised to do anything they said."
"Then hit their leader with a computer."
"Yeah, like I'm actually going along with these wackos. When these things go south the first guy to get nailed is always the weasel. Now let's get you untied and get outta here."
"I can't, we have to find the others."
"What?! Why? Call the police, let them sort it out. What, you know the fox or something?"
"No but... they have the old mayor, she's a nice lady, whatever they do to her won't be good, I have to help."
"What? The sheep?"
"She fast tracked my job application, she's been really supportive of this whole investigation, she really believes in people Duke."
"Fine, do what you want I'm outta here. I can't believe I got roped into this mess."
* * *
Dawn Belwether groaned. She felt like someone had punched er repeatedly in the gut. Which was surprising since they'd punched her in a lot of other places too. She'd never thought they'd dare attack her; she was far too high profile, and with an officer of the law no less! The attack had been as brutal as it was unexpected. The rabbit had put up a pretty good fight from what she could see at the time, vision obscured under a hail of blows, the big fox too. But evidently it hadn't been enough. They'd been outnumbered in a confined space. Dawn had received more than her fair share of violence due to her species and had quickly passed out. Now she was here... wherever here was.
The place smelled of... chlorine. Her acute chemist's nose picked out the familiar sent instantly. And it was cold, and wet. And noisy too, which suggested they were in some sort of water treatment plant...probably ZMF-04, it'd be closest... She couldn't get up, her entire body ached and someone had hog-tied her hands and feet together. Her glasses had been knocked off during the scuffle and she couldn't see much; she squinted to try and make out the blurs surrounding her. One resolved into the slumped form of a bunny officer, another the baker fox. The other fox and weasel were nowhere to be seen, but somebody tall and vaguely pink was standing just beside-
"Ah Dawn! You're up!"
The voice was familiar, hauntingly so. Stacy Swinton, an old associate, formerly unsuccessful candidate for mayor now mayor herself. The one who Dawn had always suspected of orchestrating her replacement and of fueling the anti-sheep sentiment. It all made sense too, she'd pledged to buy up, hunt down and eradicate all the night howlers in the city,but the security footage had clearly shown the bulbs hadn't been destroyed. She'd stepped in and taken over then entire operation, but to what end?
"Stacy?! You... you're behind this? But why?"
"Why? The same reason you and your... associates were messing around with certain... plants. Power. You know I really didn't think the sweet little ewe I knew all these years was capable of doing something like that, but it certainly was inspiring!"
"But sheep are-"
"Les than 2% of the population here and a much more specific target. Plus there actually is a eweish conspiracy to take over the city, one that has oodles of proof in your personal emails I'm betting. After tonight you go down as a monster, I go down as a hero and my political career is assured!"
"You think people will fall for this?
"Oh yes, you see it just so happens that most of the... obstacles to my success live in the Greenfields district, which uses ozone to disinfect its water supply because it's better than the chlorine they plebs get. But it seems some completely natural organic vegetable supplement has been added to it recently and I suspect those that survive the next few days won't be in much position to investigate me."
"And you're just telling me all this? It'll be your word against mine!"
"Oh no, you won't live that long."
"So what? You'll kill me?"
"No, but he will..."
Though blurry Dawn could recognize the form of a dart gun, very similar to the ones she and her associates had used, aimed at the unconscious fox. There was a 'fwip' and the sound of something soft impacting, a small purple stain spreading across a plaid shirt. The gun was discarded, tossed towards Dawn, clattering across the floor. Stacy Swinton stepped calmly around the sleeping form towards the only door in the room The small, metal, heavily reinforced chemical storage room.
"Well I do have to go, I suspect our friend will wake up soon. I'll call the police of course, tell them about your crazy plan and how these poor, brave souls tried to stop you, guess you got one with your psycho serum and that was that. Oh,and the door is unlocked so there is a chance you can untie yourself and run and even survive, good luck!"
The door swung slowly shut, closing with a finality that echoed throughout the entire building, leaving Dawn in near darkness, the only light leaking in through a window from the dimly lit facility outside. She didn't have long, a few minutes at most. She struggled desperately at her bonds, willing them to loosen so she could make her escape. Despite the continual thumping of machinery just a few rooms over the sheep could hear the tiniest sounds. The rabbit was making quiet objecting noises, recovering with impressive speed. She was tied too, but might know some trick to get free, she was a cop after all. They could both get out if they were quick enough. There was a loud groan.
The fox was awakening.
Eeeh not so much good as tried to be bad but got outsmarted. Her only hope now is to be good and hope nobody notices. Let's see if can do a cliffhanger. (Or a coat-hanger!)
Gideon slowly came to, his head nearly splitting in two with pain. He was quite sure it had been stepped on by a hoofed mammal at some point. He was rather surprised; until now he'd always believed he knew how to handle himself in a fight, but the recent brawl had illustrated just how little he really knew. They'd just pinned him against a wall and knocked him about until he stopped moving. As his head cleared the anger rose within him with almost alarming speed. He'd been really upset about Sue, she was a nice girl who never got in anyone's way and some mindless thugs had just... just attacked her for no reason. He'd been so upset and out of sorts he'd followed Judy around the entire day, 'helping' with her investigation even though he could do absolutely nothing at all. It made him feel useful somehow and not quite so helpless in the face of all the recent negative developments.
But that uncertainty was gone now, now he was just mad. They'd attacked his friends, they'd attacked him, they'd attacked Judy... To hell with counting to a hundred, someone was going to pay with blood for what had happened; he was going to hunt them down to whatever miserable, filthy little hidey-hole they ran to, kick the door in and-
A hand grasped his shoulder, he turned and snarled.
"Gah! Hey watch it! I was just checking if you were alright!"
"Wha? Sorry Jude... bit out of sorts. Where.. what's goin' on?"
"We're in some sort of water treatment plant, the mayor's done something to the water to frame the sheep. It's just you and me; Dawn was here too, but she ran off to try and fix things."
"Alone? Aren't there bad guys out there?"
"I couldn't stop her, she was really determined to leave. The ZPD are coming, we just have to hold out for a bit."
"Wow, that's either brave or stupid. Hang on..."
Gideon got to his feet, or tried to. Somehow his legs didn't want to move, as if he'd somehow forgotten how to walk. He stumbled awkwardly across the floor, tripping over Judy and falling against a stack of buckets, which fell over,spilling a whit powder everywhere. It was... stuff. Swimming pool thing... water. He frowned. His head felt... thick, the migraine threatening to overwhelm everything. Maybe he'd been hit a lot harder than he thought. It was worrying. As was Judy. She'd fought a lot harder and longer than he had and had the injuries to show for it; she was limping, an ear was torn, her nose had bled all over her face and she was scratched everywhere. And yet she was still more worried about him, nothing slowed her down.
"Gid! Are you okay?"
"No... hey Jude... will you marry me?"
"I- what? Sit down, I think you have a concussion. Also no, not yet, once the life threatening danger is passed maybe."
"Yeah, just wanted to ask... in case we don't make it."
"I was kidding! We'll be fine! Just don't make any sudden movements."
There were voices nearby, voices he recognized as belonging to people who'd attacked him. People who were going to get what was coming to them...
* * *
"We dumped them in one of the storage rooms. The boss said to check in on them."
Nick nodded at the antelope beside him. He'd managed to convince the group that he'd joined up; Honey's absence was explained by her and Duke taking a 'trust exercise', something her remembered being made to do a lot when they were dating. Apparently she hadn't changed as the explanation was bought without question. Of course this wouldn't cover his tail for more than a few minutes, but he didn't need that long, and that worried him.
The first thing he'd done was use an office phone to call the ZPD, his own mobile having been taken. He'd got the front desk who had told him that they'd been alerted already and were on their way. It was a ten to fifteen minute response time, apparently a dozen cars were headed over. Mayor Swinton herself had called, having been kidnapped with them. Which was strange because several of his new 'friends' had informed him that Swinton was the one who led their little group, had organized the citywide collection of night howlers for incineration and had transferred them to the water plant as part of a plan to 'even things out' by poisoning sheep somehow.
There was no way these guys were being arrested, not knowing all of that. Either they'd been lied to, the police had lied to him, or something big was about to go down. And here they were, the whole group heading to one place, with the rest of the prisoners no less. Nick was a natural born hustler, indeed this was his biggest and most daring hustle yet, even moreso than that time with Mr Big and the rug, and ever instinct he had was telling him that everyone there was being messed about by someone more cunning and ruthless than he could ever hope to be. But what was the plan? A shootout? Booby trap? Blow up the whole plant?
It was just as he was thinking this that a large, rusty-colored shape jumped out of the shadows and took a swipe at him.
* * *
Duke slammed open another door, took in the hallway beyond and cursed. Where the hell were the exits in this place? He'd left the stupid fox to do whatever brave or idiotic thing he had planned, but here he was totally unable to escape, just as trapped! The thugs who had beat him up one side and down the other were still wandering the building; he'd seen them walking around and had to hide several times. He had to get out of this whole mess quickly, before it was timberwolf time again. He opened another door, surprising a small sheep who screamed.
"Aaaah!"
"What?! Hey, quiet lady, you want us both caught?!"
"No! I... you're the weasel right? The cop?"
"No. not a cop, never a cop. I just wanna get outta here, you know the way?"
"I can't leave, she's poisoned the water supply."
'What? Who? Who cares?"
"I have family in Greenfields, we have to purge the system before anyone drinks it!"
"We? What's this 'we'? What the hell are you talking about?"
"I can't see without my glasses! I need to get into the system, if you can I think I can do something!"
Duke looked at the incredibly outdated computer before him, its bulky screen dimly lighting the room. It was ancient, late 80s at best, EGA monitor, command line text-based interface... didn't anyone keep things up-to-date around here? The ewe had apparently been trying out passwords... half blind, using hooves on a keyboard too small for her. She may as well have tried to headbutt the thing into submission.
Dammit, how did he get roped into stuff like this? He'd have to do something now, otherwise he'd be the dirty weasel who let everyone die or something. Just his lousy luck...
"Is.... is there some sort of weasel trick you can use on it?"
"Yeah, it's called typing. You tried '12345'? 'Password'?"
"The second one yes, passwords have to be 8 to 12 characters or they're too short."
"Oh that's easy then. M... y... p.. e.. n.. i... There we go!"
"Wh... who would use that as a password on civil systems?"
"Everyone. Now what do 'we' need to do?"
* * *
Nick ducked. Someone went staggering back, collapsing unconscious against a wall. There was a barely coherent growl a a fox... the baker fox half walked, half stumbled forward, teeth bared menacingly. Two more of Nick's 'partners' tried to tackle the predator, one was thrown off, landing heavily on the floor while the other was grabbed and punched repeatedly. Then the bunny cop was there, tripping someone and kicking another. After that he lost track of the altercation, right up until the deranged chef took another swipe at him claws neatly slicing through his shirt and tearing his favorite tie to ribbons.
"Aaah! Hey watch it!"
"Gid! He's one of ours, remember?"
The larger fox froze, fist drawn back, ready to strike, then partly collapsed against a wall, breathing heavily. The entire fight hadn't been more than thirty seconds, yet this time around their assailants had been completely overcome. Maybe they were knocked out, maybe they knew better than to get up, either way it was an astonishing reversal of events.
"Geez buddy, why didn't you fight like that the first time? Could have saved us a lot of trouble!"
"Purple."
"Is he okay?"
"I think he;s concussed, we really need to get somewhere safe. Can you help me move him? I don't think he can walk by himself."
"Purple colorrrrr..."
"Let's get outta here, I really don't trust this whole setup, plus I don't know if this is all of them."
* * *
'Right. It says 'Venting', 'Treatment cycle', 'Diversion'-"
"Diversion. I think you'll need to guess the pass-"
"M... y... p..."
"They're not going to use the same password for everything! They-"
"I'm in, what now?"
* * *
Mayor Swinton calmly but briskly walked down the main hallway. The feral fox would take care of her little group, or at least keep them busy until her 'surprise' wrecked the plant. Between the explosion and the deadly chlorine gas it would leave no witnesses except her of course. She was now on the far side of the plant floor and would be safe when the treatment tank ruptured, just as the ZPD arrived. She could count on being pulled from the wreckage to tell her painstakingly rehearsed tale to the officers. They'd investigate, uncover Dawn's earlier plan and she'd be a tragic hero who tried, but ultimately failed to prevent the sheep menace attacking the city. It was the perfect crime.
Or not. She turned a corner and almost ran into three mammals stumbling in the opposite direction, two foxes and a bunny. How had they managed to get out? Wait... Her blood froze as she recognized the largest. She'd dosed that predator, he should be a snarling mess by now, blindly attacking all around him... he looked sick.. maybe he had been too inured to do anything? Curses! Well... that was what she had her backup plan for.
They had barely registered her presence by the time she had drawn and cocked the gun. This one wouldn't shoot serum, but lead.
* * *
Gideon squinted at the stain on his shirt trying to focus as his head lolled from side to side, his body being jerkily led around by the two mammals holding his arms. It was purple and that was important. It had slowly soaked through... through the thing. Clothes. That was bad. He should get rid of the clothes, but it was hard to think and his limbs felt like they were made of lead. He couldn't find the words in his mind, or speak them and that made him angry. Everything made him angry but he didn't know why or what to do anymore.
There was a shout beside him, then ahead of him. Something was standing there, pink, important. Holding something, something you pointed at stuff you wanted to die. He fought to complete the train of thought as the concepts slipped from his grasp, dissolving into a desire to just scream and yell and hit everything. It was the color, it was bad and doing bad things to him. Bad things he'd heard of before... He looked down at... grey thing... important too. Shouldn't be there... bad.
"Don't shoot!"
"Sorry Miss Hopps got to tie up loose ends."
"J'dy..."
"Gid, when I say so, try and run, okay...?"
"S'rry..."
The swipe was slow and clumsy, but it had a lot of force behind it as the fox's entire body twisted, pitching forward and falling over, dragging the smaller fox with it. The bunny was struck across her chest and flung halfway across the room, landing in a heap and tumbling several times before hitting a wall. There was a loud bang and a shot grazed Gideon's arm, sparking as it buried itself into the concrete floor behind him. The pain shot through his body and tipped him over the edge.
Thoughts died, words died, feelings died. The night howler serum flooded through his mind like a leaden tide, submerging his thoughts in shadows, shutting them down. Everything that was Gideon Grey curled up on itself and went dark.
And in the darkness the old fox, the primal fox, awoke.
Gideon slowly came to, his head nearly splitting in two with pain. He was quite sure it had been stepped on by a hoofed mammal at some point. He was rather surprised; until now he'd always believed he knew how to handle himself in a fight, but the recent brawl had illustrated just how little he really knew. They'd just pinned him against a wall and knocked him about until he stopped moving. As his head cleared the anger rose within him with almost alarming speed. He'd been really upset about Sue, she was a nice girl who never got in anyone's way and some mindless thugs had just... just attacked her for no reason. He'd been so upset and out of sorts he'd followed Judy around the entire day, 'helping' with her investigation even though he could do absolutely nothing at all. It made him feel useful somehow and not quite so helpless in the face of all the recent negative developments.
But that uncertainty was gone now, now he was just mad. They'd attacked his friends, they'd attacked him, they'd attacked Judy... To hell with counting to a hundred, someone was going to pay with blood for what had happened; he was going to hunt them down to whatever miserable, filthy little hidey-hole they ran to, kick the door in and-
A hand grasped his shoulder, he turned and snarled.
"Gah! Hey watch it! I was just checking if you were alright!"
"Wha? Sorry Jude... bit out of sorts. Where.. what's goin' on?"
"We're in some sort of water treatment plant, the mayor's done something to the water to frame the sheep. It's just you and me; Dawn was here too, but she ran off to try and fix things."
"Alone? Aren't there bad guys out there?"
"I couldn't stop her, she was really determined to leave. The ZPD are coming, we just have to hold out for a bit."
"Wow, that's either brave or stupid. Hang on..."
Gideon got to his feet, or tried to. Somehow his legs didn't want to move, as if he'd somehow forgotten how to walk. He stumbled awkwardly across the floor, tripping over Judy and falling against a stack of buckets, which fell over,spilling a whit powder everywhere. It was... stuff. Swimming pool thing... water. He frowned. His head felt... thick, the migraine threatening to overwhelm everything. Maybe he'd been hit a lot harder than he thought. It was worrying. As was Judy. She'd fought a lot harder and longer than he had and had the injuries to show for it; she was limping, an ear was torn, her nose had bled all over her face and she was scratched everywhere. And yet she was still more worried about him, nothing slowed her down.
"Gid! Are you okay?"
"No... hey Jude... will you marry me?"
"I- what? Sit down, I think you have a concussion. Also no, not yet, once the life threatening danger is passed maybe."
"Yeah, just wanted to ask... in case we don't make it."
"I was kidding! We'll be fine! Just don't make any sudden movements."
There were voices nearby, voices he recognized as belonging to people who'd attacked him. People who were going to get what was coming to them...
* * *
"We dumped them in one of the storage rooms. The boss said to check in on them."
Nick nodded at the antelope beside him. He'd managed to convince the group that he'd joined up; Honey's absence was explained by her and Duke taking a 'trust exercise', something her remembered being made to do a lot when they were dating. Apparently she hadn't changed as the explanation was bought without question. Of course this wouldn't cover his tail for more than a few minutes, but he didn't need that long, and that worried him.
The first thing he'd done was use an office phone to call the ZPD, his own mobile having been taken. He'd got the front desk who had told him that they'd been alerted already and were on their way. It was a ten to fifteen minute response time, apparently a dozen cars were headed over. Mayor Swinton herself had called, having been kidnapped with them. Which was strange because several of his new 'friends' had informed him that Swinton was the one who led their little group, had organized the citywide collection of night howlers for incineration and had transferred them to the water plant as part of a plan to 'even things out' by poisoning sheep somehow.
There was no way these guys were being arrested, not knowing all of that. Either they'd been lied to, the police had lied to him, or something big was about to go down. And here they were, the whole group heading to one place, with the rest of the prisoners no less. Nick was a natural born hustler, indeed this was his biggest and most daring hustle yet, even moreso than that time with Mr Big and the rug, and ever instinct he had was telling him that everyone there was being messed about by someone more cunning and ruthless than he could ever hope to be. But what was the plan? A shootout? Booby trap? Blow up the whole plant?
It was just as he was thinking this that a large, rusty-colored shape jumped out of the shadows and took a swipe at him.
* * *
Duke slammed open another door, took in the hallway beyond and cursed. Where the hell were the exits in this place? He'd left the stupid fox to do whatever brave or idiotic thing he had planned, but here he was totally unable to escape, just as trapped! The thugs who had beat him up one side and down the other were still wandering the building; he'd seen them walking around and had to hide several times. He had to get out of this whole mess quickly, before it was timberwolf time again. He opened another door, surprising a small sheep who screamed.
"Aaaah!"
"What?! Hey, quiet lady, you want us both caught?!"
"No! I... you're the weasel right? The cop?"
"No. not a cop, never a cop. I just wanna get outta here, you know the way?"
"I can't leave, she's poisoned the water supply."
'What? Who? Who cares?"
"I have family in Greenfields, we have to purge the system before anyone drinks it!"
"We? What's this 'we'? What the hell are you talking about?"
"I can't see without my glasses! I need to get into the system, if you can I think I can do something!"
Duke looked at the incredibly outdated computer before him, its bulky screen dimly lighting the room. It was ancient, late 80s at best, EGA monitor, command line text-based interface... didn't anyone keep things up-to-date around here? The ewe had apparently been trying out passwords... half blind, using hooves on a keyboard too small for her. She may as well have tried to headbutt the thing into submission.
Dammit, how did he get roped into stuff like this? He'd have to do something now, otherwise he'd be the dirty weasel who let everyone die or something. Just his lousy luck...
"Is.... is there some sort of weasel trick you can use on it?"
"Yeah, it's called typing. You tried '12345'? 'Password'?"
"The second one yes, passwords have to be 8 to 12 characters or they're too short."
"Oh that's easy then. M... y... p.. e.. n.. i... There we go!"
"Wh... who would use that as a password on civil systems?"
"Everyone. Now what do 'we' need to do?"
* * *
Nick ducked. Someone went staggering back, collapsing unconscious against a wall. There was a barely coherent growl a a fox... the baker fox half walked, half stumbled forward, teeth bared menacingly. Two more of Nick's 'partners' tried to tackle the predator, one was thrown off, landing heavily on the floor while the other was grabbed and punched repeatedly. Then the bunny cop was there, tripping someone and kicking another. After that he lost track of the altercation, right up until the deranged chef took another swipe at him claws neatly slicing through his shirt and tearing his favorite tie to ribbons.
"Aaah! Hey watch it!"
"Gid! He's one of ours, remember?"
The larger fox froze, fist drawn back, ready to strike, then partly collapsed against a wall, breathing heavily. The entire fight hadn't been more than thirty seconds, yet this time around their assailants had been completely overcome. Maybe they were knocked out, maybe they knew better than to get up, either way it was an astonishing reversal of events.
"Geez buddy, why didn't you fight like that the first time? Could have saved us a lot of trouble!"
"Purple."
"Is he okay?"
"I think he;s concussed, we really need to get somewhere safe. Can you help me move him? I don't think he can walk by himself."
"Purple colorrrrr..."
"Let's get outta here, I really don't trust this whole setup, plus I don't know if this is all of them."
* * *
'Right. It says 'Venting', 'Treatment cycle', 'Diversion'-"
"Diversion. I think you'll need to guess the pass-"
"M... y... p..."
"They're not going to use the same password for everything! They-"
"I'm in, what now?"
* * *
Mayor Swinton calmly but briskly walked down the main hallway. The feral fox would take care of her little group, or at least keep them busy until her 'surprise' wrecked the plant. Between the explosion and the deadly chlorine gas it would leave no witnesses except her of course. She was now on the far side of the plant floor and would be safe when the treatment tank ruptured, just as the ZPD arrived. She could count on being pulled from the wreckage to tell her painstakingly rehearsed tale to the officers. They'd investigate, uncover Dawn's earlier plan and she'd be a tragic hero who tried, but ultimately failed to prevent the sheep menace attacking the city. It was the perfect crime.
Or not. She turned a corner and almost ran into three mammals stumbling in the opposite direction, two foxes and a bunny. How had they managed to get out? Wait... Her blood froze as she recognized the largest. She'd dosed that predator, he should be a snarling mess by now, blindly attacking all around him... he looked sick.. maybe he had been too inured to do anything? Curses! Well... that was what she had her backup plan for.
They had barely registered her presence by the time she had drawn and cocked the gun. This one wouldn't shoot serum, but lead.
* * *
Gideon squinted at the stain on his shirt trying to focus as his head lolled from side to side, his body being jerkily led around by the two mammals holding his arms. It was purple and that was important. It had slowly soaked through... through the thing. Clothes. That was bad. He should get rid of the clothes, but it was hard to think and his limbs felt like they were made of lead. He couldn't find the words in his mind, or speak them and that made him angry. Everything made him angry but he didn't know why or what to do anymore.
There was a shout beside him, then ahead of him. Something was standing there, pink, important. Holding something, something you pointed at stuff you wanted to die. He fought to complete the train of thought as the concepts slipped from his grasp, dissolving into a desire to just scream and yell and hit everything. It was the color, it was bad and doing bad things to him. Bad things he'd heard of before... He looked down at... grey thing... important too. Shouldn't be there... bad.
"Don't shoot!"
"Sorry Miss Hopps got to tie up loose ends."
"J'dy..."
"Gid, when I say so, try and run, okay...?"
"S'rry..."
The swipe was slow and clumsy, but it had a lot of force behind it as the fox's entire body twisted, pitching forward and falling over, dragging the smaller fox with it. The bunny was struck across her chest and flung halfway across the room, landing in a heap and tumbling several times before hitting a wall. There was a loud bang and a shot grazed Gideon's arm, sparking as it buried itself into the concrete floor behind him. The pain shot through his body and tipped him over the edge.
Thoughts died, words died, feelings died. The night howler serum flooded through his mind like a leaden tide, submerging his thoughts in shadows, shutting them down. Everything that was Gideon Grey curled up on itself and went dark.
And in the darkness the old fox, the primal fox, awoke.
One last action post then things should start to settle down.
"Still says Abort Retry Fail."
"Now just.. uh, the command would be dash-forward slash-dump."
"Done. It says 'Flush system Y/N?'"
"Type-"
"Done. Says something about valves and success. Also pressure. So we did it? We're saved the world or city or whatever?"
"Maybe, what exactly does it say?"
"Look, can't we just leave?"
* * *
There was a distant sound of thunder, a change in the way the machinery moved. The fox noticed this. It did not know about thunder, or machines or names and words, it was a simple, sharp, predatory mind and it thought in colors and smells and actions. And it was mad. Furious. For far too long it had been trapped in a cage of thought, forced down and repressed by an ocean of consciousness while stupid, edible things ran around in front of it doing stupid or aggravating things. So often, so often it had wanted to claw and bite and tear. Sometimes, oh so rarely, it had broken through and punched or kicked or yelled at something But all too soon it was pushed back into the dark recesses of the hindbrain.
But now it was free, the ocean of thoughts had evaporated, the voices telling it 'no' or to be quiet had themselves fallen silent. It had complete, total control of mind and body now. And something, some unseen and unheeded force, filled it with rage; a burning anger that made it want to tear down the whole world. Right now it saw only two things to interest it, a rival male lying on the floor and an enemy in front of it. The male was in a submissive position and could be ignored. The fox lunged at the enemy.
There were several loud noises and the sting of pain. The fox yelped and twisted in the air mid-jump as an unseen attacker stabbed at it. But the fox was beyond such minor pain now and landed roughly, legs kicking, propelling it forward. In seconds it was atop the strange pink enemy, teeth bared, claws slashing. The enemy struggled and kicked but was easily pinned as the fox reared, ready to sink its teeth into the exposed throat.
Then the sirens went off.
* * *
"The hell is that?"
"You tell me, what does the screen say?"
"Nothing!"
"No,get out of that, get back to the main screen!"
"Hang on.. hang on... It says there's critical pressure in something called ConsVat."
"Oh no..."
"'Oh no'? What 'Oh no'?! There's no 'Oh no'!"
"I think she rigged something to explode."
"Who ri- WHAT?!"
"Does it have any options?"
"Options?! It just says critical pressure! And 'can't vent!'"
"Well uh... just press everything, see if anything helps!"
"PRESS EVERYTHING?! Are you insane?!"
There was a creaking, a cracking, then a dull boom.
In an act of forward thinking Swinton had arranged for chlorine to be put in the hexaflurosilic acid vat. The combination of chemicals had produced a boiling hot gaseous chlorine solution and drastically increased the pressure. Eventually the tank would rupture, sending scalding water, toxic gases and metal shrapnel across the plant. Fortunately the tank was equipped with a pressure release valve for just such situations, venting the gasses into the sewage system.. Unfortunately Swinton had engaged its emergency bolts, locking it shut, requiring someone to manually unscrew the bolts at great risk to their own life, something that neither Belwhether or Weaselton had time to do even if they were aware of the solution. Fortunately due to budget restrictions the valve was two decades old, corroded and brittle and it gave way under the stress, directly reliving the building pressure. Unfortunately it did so by venting everything directly into the second floor of the building.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing!"
"Are you sure? I think something happened..."
"The warning's gone. Let's leave."
"Are you sure? What if-"
"Then you[/b[] stay and [b]I'll leave!"
* * *
The noise was loud and sudden and piercing. It seemed to come from all directions at once. The fox leaped up, looking around wildly for something to attack, the source of the sudden sound. It ran haphazardly back and forth, trying to pin down its location, finding only speakers, too close to the ceiling to reach, tauntingly out of its grasp. The noise, pain and blood all conspired to erase any remaining sense the creature had as blind fury took over, the fox scrabbling madly at the walls, leaving deep gouges in the concrete even as claws snapped off or tore out, snapping at the air, snarling at everything.
Then something began to drip from the ceiling. It was white, frothy and hissed. It smelled of burning.
* * *
ZPD Chief Bogo half leaped, half fell from his car. Initially he'd thought the sound was their own sirens, but it was apparent now the building itself had some sort of alarm triggered. They'd been called here by the mayor herself, who had called them on her own phone, crying and panicked, rambling about some sort of poisoning plot. All available squad cars had been rallied to the scene, several arriving minutes earlier. There were strict orders in place not to enter without his say so; a hostage situation was not out of the question.
And some idiot had called the press, they were already swarming about, taking photographs. There were no barricades or even police tape in place and thins could get dangerous fast if anyone stumbled into something they weren't prepared for. And on top of all of that there was... a chemical smell in the air. A strong chemical smell, almost burning. It made his eyes water and irritated his throat. It was vaguely similar to the smell of a swimming pool, magnified a thousandfold. The poison? Several officers were already backing away, tears in their eyes. They were downwind...
Yelling over the rising ruckus Bogo ordered his officers to evacuate.
* * *
After all the noise the factory was almost unnaturally quiet; the sirens has stopped and a lot of the machinery too; water had shorted out a fuse somewhere.The sheep and weasel walked as fast as they dared through the deserted plant, not running lest they bump into something dangerous. The smell of chlorine, already noticeable had grown far stronger in just the last few minutes. It was abundantly obvious that something was wrong.
"Hey lambchop! I thought you said we fixed it!"
"I don't know! I think something broke anyway. Chlorine maybe."
"And what does that do?"
"Bleaches things... burns skin... makes you drown in your own lungs..."
"Oh you are kidding me! How do I get involved in these things?"
"SHEEP!"
A larger mammal stumbled uncertainly up some stairs, bleeding from a wound to the back of her neck. She was clutching an office chair, or the remains of one at least, swinging it like a makeshift weapon. Behind her were three other mammals, all part of the group that had attacked them earlier. They did not look in good shape, all bleeding from various injuries and limping slowly.
"What have you done sheep?"
"Nothing! The factory's been sabotaged!"
"Really? I hadn't noticed what with all the poison gas everywhere!"
"We need to stay on the top floor, the gas is dense and will stay low. We can find a fire escape or window or something!"
"Oh, right, like I'm trusting a woolhead!"
The group as a whole looked uncertain, on the one hand she was a sheep and technically the enemy.On the other there was a very real risk they'd all die very soon and nobody seemed to have any better ideas about what to do. Duke broke the stalemate by grabbing the ewe by the hand and dragging her away.
"Hey look, you lot can stay here and die, but the lady knows what she's doing, so if you'll excuse us, I wanna live!"
* * *
The noise had stopped, but the strange liquid had got worse. It was pouring into the room now, leaking from the ceiling, a burning, irritating substance that poisoned the very air, made it painful to breathe. The fox could barely see now, eyes watering. Fighting was no longer an option, escape was key. The other fox and the enemy were both attacking a wall, along with something else... another thing.. important somehow. A buried memory struggled to make itself heard in the chaos of the predator's mind.
Door. Open.
The fox lunged forward, pushing the other mammals out of the way. It wanted to scratch, but the memory knew a better way. Clenching bloodied paws it smacked into the door repeatedly, punching it again and again. There was a creak, then a metallic pinging as the hinges gave way.
On the other side the air was cool, but there was yelling and flashing lights. Danger. The fox turned and retreated back into the plant.
* * *
Dawn tried desperately to cling to the rusty drainpipe. She wanted to get down, but not quite that fast. Below her a crowd was cheering. There were police officers there but also a lot of what looked like regular people. Why were they there? What were they doing? She tried not to focus on being two stories off the ground mere feet away from a window belching noxious gas, focusing on the antelope below her as he risked a jump, landing heavily on the ground and possibly breaking something judging by the scream. They'd found the rest of their attackers, all driven upstairs by the commotion on the lower floors. There hadn't been any fire escapes however so they'd had to resort to this.
"I swear... if I ever get back to city hall... if I ever survive this... first thing I do is demand all civic buildings have clear and visible fire escapes with emergency coleslaw provided!"
"Why are people cheering? Why aren't they helping?!"
"Uh... I think I'm stuck..."
"Ugh. Hold on and we can both get down, sheep!"
Dawn looked up at the larger mammal above her, extending a paw for her to grasp. The badger had an expression of distaste on her face, but didn't look too malevolent at that moment, besides, they were being watched; if she died there'd be witnesses. She took it gratefully and half hung there as they both carefully descended the creaking, crumbling pipe. There was a louder cheer and the flash of cameras.
* * *
Chief Bogo watched the unfolding scene with a steady, calm demeanor. He was a veteran of the force and knew this was no time to panic or run about. Everyone else could do that for him. Now was the time to organize and give orders. Everyone exiting the factory was to be arrested, a group that included one of his own officers, the current mayor and apparently the former mayor too. They'd sort everything out back at the station, once they were sure everyone was safe. The fire department had been called and would arrive shortly; they had hazmat suits that could handle this disaster better than anyone.
"Wollerton! What our status?"
"Wolverton sir, we think everyone's accounted for, bar one. Fox, one Gideon Grey, unless there are others that we've not been told about."
"Right. Keep an eye out, make absolutely sure we've got everyone. But nobody is to go in, understood? Better we lose one life than many."
"Right sir."
* * *
The fox was tired, afraid and in pain. It hurt to breathe, the air was acid. The strange water was in its fur and making its skin itch and its eyes water to the point where it was nearly blind. It couldn't walk well anymore and was bleeding from many places. It needed, needed to get somewhere safe. Nearby strange looking things were stumbling about, shining lights everywhere, making noise. Noise and light were danger; the fox was being hunted. It needed to find dark and quiet.
Retreating deeper and deeper into the factory it eventually left the searchers and the noise behind. There was a small room, it was full of things, strange shapes and sizes, things the fox wouldn't name, desks and chairs and papers. But it was dark and quiet and cool and the air didn't burn there. Getting weaker by the minute the fox crawled under something and tried to curl up a body that was no longer obeying commands. It needed to sleep, rest was good, it fixed things
Now it was safe, the strange things, the hunters, wouldn't find it here. It felt odd, giddy and lightheaded, the pain, the fear, the anger all slowly draining away as the sheer exhaustion, aided by blood loss, set in. Nothing mattered now, there was no need to do anything, no need to run or to fight, just to rest.
Hiding under the desk, curled up on itself, breathing slowed and eyes closed as the fox stopped moving.
"Still says Abort Retry Fail."
"Now just.. uh, the command would be dash-forward slash-dump."
"Done. It says 'Flush system Y/N?'"
"Type-"
"Done. Says something about valves and success. Also pressure. So we did it? We're saved the world or city or whatever?"
"Maybe, what exactly does it say?"
"Look, can't we just leave?"
* * *
There was a distant sound of thunder, a change in the way the machinery moved. The fox noticed this. It did not know about thunder, or machines or names and words, it was a simple, sharp, predatory mind and it thought in colors and smells and actions. And it was mad. Furious. For far too long it had been trapped in a cage of thought, forced down and repressed by an ocean of consciousness while stupid, edible things ran around in front of it doing stupid or aggravating things. So often, so often it had wanted to claw and bite and tear. Sometimes, oh so rarely, it had broken through and punched or kicked or yelled at something But all too soon it was pushed back into the dark recesses of the hindbrain.
But now it was free, the ocean of thoughts had evaporated, the voices telling it 'no' or to be quiet had themselves fallen silent. It had complete, total control of mind and body now. And something, some unseen and unheeded force, filled it with rage; a burning anger that made it want to tear down the whole world. Right now it saw only two things to interest it, a rival male lying on the floor and an enemy in front of it. The male was in a submissive position and could be ignored. The fox lunged at the enemy.
There were several loud noises and the sting of pain. The fox yelped and twisted in the air mid-jump as an unseen attacker stabbed at it. But the fox was beyond such minor pain now and landed roughly, legs kicking, propelling it forward. In seconds it was atop the strange pink enemy, teeth bared, claws slashing. The enemy struggled and kicked but was easily pinned as the fox reared, ready to sink its teeth into the exposed throat.
Then the sirens went off.
* * *
"The hell is that?"
"You tell me, what does the screen say?"
"Nothing!"
"No,get out of that, get back to the main screen!"
"Hang on.. hang on... It says there's critical pressure in something called ConsVat."
"Oh no..."
"'Oh no'? What 'Oh no'?! There's no 'Oh no'!"
"I think she rigged something to explode."
"Who ri- WHAT?!"
"Does it have any options?"
"Options?! It just says critical pressure! And 'can't vent!'"
"Well uh... just press everything, see if anything helps!"
"PRESS EVERYTHING?! Are you insane?!"
There was a creaking, a cracking, then a dull boom.
In an act of forward thinking Swinton had arranged for chlorine to be put in the hexaflurosilic acid vat. The combination of chemicals had produced a boiling hot gaseous chlorine solution and drastically increased the pressure. Eventually the tank would rupture, sending scalding water, toxic gases and metal shrapnel across the plant. Fortunately the tank was equipped with a pressure release valve for just such situations, venting the gasses into the sewage system.. Unfortunately Swinton had engaged its emergency bolts, locking it shut, requiring someone to manually unscrew the bolts at great risk to their own life, something that neither Belwhether or Weaselton had time to do even if they were aware of the solution. Fortunately due to budget restrictions the valve was two decades old, corroded and brittle and it gave way under the stress, directly reliving the building pressure. Unfortunately it did so by venting everything directly into the second floor of the building.
"What did you do?"
"Nothing!"
"Are you sure? I think something happened..."
"The warning's gone. Let's leave."
"Are you sure? What if-"
"Then you[/b[] stay and [b]I'll leave!"
* * *
The noise was loud and sudden and piercing. It seemed to come from all directions at once. The fox leaped up, looking around wildly for something to attack, the source of the sudden sound. It ran haphazardly back and forth, trying to pin down its location, finding only speakers, too close to the ceiling to reach, tauntingly out of its grasp. The noise, pain and blood all conspired to erase any remaining sense the creature had as blind fury took over, the fox scrabbling madly at the walls, leaving deep gouges in the concrete even as claws snapped off or tore out, snapping at the air, snarling at everything.
Then something began to drip from the ceiling. It was white, frothy and hissed. It smelled of burning.
* * *
ZPD Chief Bogo half leaped, half fell from his car. Initially he'd thought the sound was their own sirens, but it was apparent now the building itself had some sort of alarm triggered. They'd been called here by the mayor herself, who had called them on her own phone, crying and panicked, rambling about some sort of poisoning plot. All available squad cars had been rallied to the scene, several arriving minutes earlier. There were strict orders in place not to enter without his say so; a hostage situation was not out of the question.
And some idiot had called the press, they were already swarming about, taking photographs. There were no barricades or even police tape in place and thins could get dangerous fast if anyone stumbled into something they weren't prepared for. And on top of all of that there was... a chemical smell in the air. A strong chemical smell, almost burning. It made his eyes water and irritated his throat. It was vaguely similar to the smell of a swimming pool, magnified a thousandfold. The poison? Several officers were already backing away, tears in their eyes. They were downwind...
Yelling over the rising ruckus Bogo ordered his officers to evacuate.
* * *
After all the noise the factory was almost unnaturally quiet; the sirens has stopped and a lot of the machinery too; water had shorted out a fuse somewhere.The sheep and weasel walked as fast as they dared through the deserted plant, not running lest they bump into something dangerous. The smell of chlorine, already noticeable had grown far stronger in just the last few minutes. It was abundantly obvious that something was wrong.
"Hey lambchop! I thought you said we fixed it!"
"I don't know! I think something broke anyway. Chlorine maybe."
"And what does that do?"
"Bleaches things... burns skin... makes you drown in your own lungs..."
"Oh you are kidding me! How do I get involved in these things?"
"SHEEP!"
A larger mammal stumbled uncertainly up some stairs, bleeding from a wound to the back of her neck. She was clutching an office chair, or the remains of one at least, swinging it like a makeshift weapon. Behind her were three other mammals, all part of the group that had attacked them earlier. They did not look in good shape, all bleeding from various injuries and limping slowly.
"What have you done sheep?"
"Nothing! The factory's been sabotaged!"
"Really? I hadn't noticed what with all the poison gas everywhere!"
"We need to stay on the top floor, the gas is dense and will stay low. We can find a fire escape or window or something!"
"Oh, right, like I'm trusting a woolhead!"
The group as a whole looked uncertain, on the one hand she was a sheep and technically the enemy.On the other there was a very real risk they'd all die very soon and nobody seemed to have any better ideas about what to do. Duke broke the stalemate by grabbing the ewe by the hand and dragging her away.
"Hey look, you lot can stay here and die, but the lady knows what she's doing, so if you'll excuse us, I wanna live!"
* * *
The noise had stopped, but the strange liquid had got worse. It was pouring into the room now, leaking from the ceiling, a burning, irritating substance that poisoned the very air, made it painful to breathe. The fox could barely see now, eyes watering. Fighting was no longer an option, escape was key. The other fox and the enemy were both attacking a wall, along with something else... another thing.. important somehow. A buried memory struggled to make itself heard in the chaos of the predator's mind.
Door. Open.
The fox lunged forward, pushing the other mammals out of the way. It wanted to scratch, but the memory knew a better way. Clenching bloodied paws it smacked into the door repeatedly, punching it again and again. There was a creak, then a metallic pinging as the hinges gave way.
On the other side the air was cool, but there was yelling and flashing lights. Danger. The fox turned and retreated back into the plant.
* * *
Dawn tried desperately to cling to the rusty drainpipe. She wanted to get down, but not quite that fast. Below her a crowd was cheering. There were police officers there but also a lot of what looked like regular people. Why were they there? What were they doing? She tried not to focus on being two stories off the ground mere feet away from a window belching noxious gas, focusing on the antelope below her as he risked a jump, landing heavily on the ground and possibly breaking something judging by the scream. They'd found the rest of their attackers, all driven upstairs by the commotion on the lower floors. There hadn't been any fire escapes however so they'd had to resort to this.
"I swear... if I ever get back to city hall... if I ever survive this... first thing I do is demand all civic buildings have clear and visible fire escapes with emergency coleslaw provided!"
"Why are people cheering? Why aren't they helping?!"
"Uh... I think I'm stuck..."
"Ugh. Hold on and we can both get down, sheep!"
Dawn looked up at the larger mammal above her, extending a paw for her to grasp. The badger had an expression of distaste on her face, but didn't look too malevolent at that moment, besides, they were being watched; if she died there'd be witnesses. She took it gratefully and half hung there as they both carefully descended the creaking, crumbling pipe. There was a louder cheer and the flash of cameras.
* * *
Chief Bogo watched the unfolding scene with a steady, calm demeanor. He was a veteran of the force and knew this was no time to panic or run about. Everyone else could do that for him. Now was the time to organize and give orders. Everyone exiting the factory was to be arrested, a group that included one of his own officers, the current mayor and apparently the former mayor too. They'd sort everything out back at the station, once they were sure everyone was safe. The fire department had been called and would arrive shortly; they had hazmat suits that could handle this disaster better than anyone.
"Wollerton! What our status?"
"Wolverton sir, we think everyone's accounted for, bar one. Fox, one Gideon Grey, unless there are others that we've not been told about."
"Right. Keep an eye out, make absolutely sure we've got everyone. But nobody is to go in, understood? Better we lose one life than many."
"Right sir."
* * *
The fox was tired, afraid and in pain. It hurt to breathe, the air was acid. The strange water was in its fur and making its skin itch and its eyes water to the point where it was nearly blind. It couldn't walk well anymore and was bleeding from many places. It needed, needed to get somewhere safe. Nearby strange looking things were stumbling about, shining lights everywhere, making noise. Noise and light were danger; the fox was being hunted. It needed to find dark and quiet.
Retreating deeper and deeper into the factory it eventually left the searchers and the noise behind. There was a small room, it was full of things, strange shapes and sizes, things the fox wouldn't name, desks and chairs and papers. But it was dark and quiet and cool and the air didn't burn there. Getting weaker by the minute the fox crawled under something and tried to curl up a body that was no longer obeying commands. It needed to sleep, rest was good, it fixed things
Now it was safe, the strange things, the hunters, wouldn't find it here. It felt odd, giddy and lightheaded, the pain, the fear, the anger all slowly draining away as the sheer exhaustion, aided by blood loss, set in. Nothing mattered now, there was no need to do anything, no need to run or to fight, just to rest.
Hiding under the desk, curled up on itself, breathing slowed and eyes closed as the fox stopped moving.
He is not a happy camper.
It was some time later.
Nick Wilde resisted the urge to pick at his bandage; there was a tiny bit loose at the end and he could probably unravel the whole thing if he kept fiddling with it. He was very twitchy; after the massive excitement of the previous night followed by several hours of interrogation by the ZPD, while injured of course, he'd been whisked off to hospital where someone had finally tended to his wounds, such as they were. And now there was literally nothing to do until the cops figured out if he should be rewarded or punished. He'd actually got off rather lightly compared to the others, due more to luck than skill. The only other occupied bed in the room held the crazy bunny who had apparently been unconscious since she'd arrived. As far as he could recall she'd attempted a fighting style that involved blocking her attackers with her face.
"Hey, Wilde!"
"Stripes... Finn! Hey, what are you two doing here?"
The two were a matching pair, short, big ears and bandages. Finn looked about as bad as he had after the attack a few days ago, while Savage had managed to get away with just a bit of bruising. He'd even missed most of the action in the factory by somehow untying himself and sneaking off. While the rest of them had been fighting for their lives he'd been sitting in a pay phone chatting to some guy at the ZPD front desk. They hadn't even confined him to bed, he'd given a five minute statement to an officer and walked off home! Talk about a lucky rabbit's foot!
"Just walked straight on in, your friend here kinda fits, injury-wise."
"Just say the word Nick, and I'll give 'em something to reallycry about."
"Oh no point, I'm fine, really. Just preparing myself for the flood of vixens that will be beating a path to my door now I've saved the city."
"And nearly died while doing so."
"Nonsense, these are just flesh wounds. Just remind me, if I'm ever tempted to help a bunny again, just to slam my tail in a door, it'll save time."
"How's she doing?"
"No idea, I don't know if anyone knows what's going on. Sure she'll be fine."
"Hey you two! You're not supposed to be here!"
A shadow darkened the doorway as a large bear strode angrily into the room, grabbing the two intruders with a single smooth swipe and lifting them several feet off the ground. Nurse Fletcher, someone Nick had come to know well in just the few hours he'd been there. Even Finnick would have a hard time dealing with her. Fortunately both of the smaller mammals didn't even try to resist being bodily escorted from the room and thrown out a window. (Well okay, maybe not out the window, but knowing nurse Fletcher that would be a very real option should she be pushed.)
Alone once again Nick decided to check on the other patients... or prisoners.. technically they were all still under arrest, being confined to the hospital until everything was sorted out and charges filed. They really should be in separate rooms, lest they collaborate and work on a shared alibi. As it was there were two groups, them, and the anti-sheep guys (with mayor Swinton getting an actual cell apparently.) He really hoped the bunny stayed asleep, she was just the kind of busybody to point out proper procedure and get him confined to solitary.
The other room contained two people as well, weasel and sheep, both of whom looked up as he entered. He was pretty sure that neither of them really wanted to be there, especially with no computers, phones or TV allowed. Duke seemed to be making the best of things, somehow he'd got ahold of a large bowl of hospital regulation icecream. Apparently his voice had completely given out, maybe he'd justified it as necessary treatment? But how, sign language?
"Well hello you two, holding up alright? Does the brave boy like his treat? You earned it buddy, next time you go to the doctor's they'll give you a lollipop."
He grinned as the weasel shot him a glare. If looks could kill he'd be nothing but a smoking, greasy stain on the linoleum. But there wasn't much Duke could do except keep eating. Nick's own throat was still pretty sore and he kept coughing even hours later; apparently the stuff they'd been breathing back there hadn't been the healthiest. He'd also got some white spots on his coat, that itched. The first thing that had happened after they'd been arrested was being hosed down by the fire department. (Which was one thing he really could avoid repeating. He still hadn't dried out completely.) And he still smelled of the chemical, the burning odor seemed to have etched itself into his very nose. Still, he hadn't come there just to chat (or rail on someone's free icecream.) there was something he had to say. He approached the bedridden sheep and tried to make sure the weasel wouldn't hear.
"Hey. I just wanted to say.... I haven't voted before, never really believed in it, whoever's in charge, they don't really care about the regular guys, you know? But... well that was an impressive thing you did there... and all the stuff with the investigation and helping me get into the department... I just want to say you've got a vote for life here. Probably a lot more than that once news gets out. Seriously, I don't care if you bulldoze city hall and turn it into a parking lot, total support."
"Well that-" *Cough!* "that's um.... very nice. What if I... abolished term limits for the office of mayor?"
"Vote. For. Life. Also hey, why not employ Mr. Cheerful here as Deputy Mayor? He's always been a very civics-minded guy, wanting to do stuff for his fellow citizens."
He ducked just in time as a half-full bowl of meted icecream sailed over his head and smashed against a wall.
* * *
It was some time later.
"So what can you tell us about the plot? Is this some sort of pig conspiracy now?"
"Well... the thing is... you see..."
"I'll take that question. Nick Wilde, Serious Fraud Office, heading the investigation. This was a simple power grab, nothing more. The issue of species is completely irrelevant here, anyone could do something like this, I even know of foxes who have shirked the law once in a while..."
Dawn half listened as the fox rambled on with a remarkable degree of slickness, all but claiming total responsibility for the previous week's events. Of course the press had been going mad for the past several days; it seemed no front page had enough headline space for all the many revelations that had emerged over the past few days. It was a good thing she'd 'accidentally' spilled coffee all over her personal laptop as soon as she'd got home, they were all but filming her eating breakfast at the moment. On the upside however, she was mayor again. It only remained to organize a few things and secure her grasp on power...
* * *
It was some time later.
"Yes of course I understand, it's very important we discuss this for the benefit of all of Zootopia, I will get back to you as soon as possible. Yes... yes goodbye.... WESSLETON!"
"You shrieked?"
"Herd and Grazing wants another damn meeting, tell them I can't be bothered until next week, but jazz it up a bit. And make it snappy!"
"Of course, your majesty."
Assistant Mayor Weaselton snorted. Underneath her docile public persona the new old new mayor had a surprisingly caustic personality. Which was fine by him, he'd recorded a few choice phrases as 'job security'. Besides, he preferred it. Working with people who were cheerful and positive all the time really got on his nerves. He got to work typing up a message.
'Dear sirs, due to the incredibly important nature of the subjects involved Mayor Bellwether has decided to postpone your meeting until at least next Monday while she gives proper consideration to the grave matters you have raised in your correspondence, so as not to do a disservice to you and the valuable work you do for the city. In the meantime you may be interested in a little investment opportunity...'
He finished up the message with a little spiel about a certain project he was setting up, a little something involving music distribution that was, as of 7am that morning, just barely legal, at least until someone noticed the small 'tweak' that had been made to regulations. His 'office' was dark and secluded, admitting no natural light, more a den than a workspace. It was next to the boiler and thus cluttered with various pipes and junk. In other words, perfect.
And to think, they were paying him for this!
* * *
It was some time later.
Gideon didn't so much wake up as slowly drift into consciousness. His vision was filled with white, which slowly resolved into a ceiling, still white but a little messier. He was lying down somewhere... in a thing.... bed. He didn't want to get up, so he stayed like that for some time. He wasn't exactly sure how long, could have been minutes, could have been hours. Eventually he had to move, slowly levering himself up into a sitting position. The effort left him feeling dizzy, the room spinning around him, his vision blurring once more as spots danced before his eyes.
He was in a bed, a hospital bed. White sheets, white pillow, white everything. There was an empty vase on a table by his bed and a few things on the floor nearby, but other than that the room was empty and deserted... bar another guy in a similar setup just a few feet away. He was an.... elk? Looked like an elk. Maybe he was a moose. Hard to tell.
"Oh, you're up. They've been waiting for you, you know."
He tried to talk. At first no sound came out, his throat was stiff and dry, like it had been padded with cotton wool.
"I.... eh... who?"
"The doctors. Said you were just napping, no drugs or anything. Should probably tell- wait, whoa, wait buddy, you don't wanna get u-"
"Gggghhhhnnnnnkkk!"
"Yeah they put in a catheter, you've been there a while. Just lay still and they'll take it out once they're sure you can go to the bathroom yourself."
Gideon tried, almost successfully not to cry or curl up into a ball of pain. Only now did he notice the thin plastic tube that went from under the bed and slipped innocuously between the sheets. There were also a few patches on his arms, one of which had almost fallen off, revealing a shaved spot and stitches beneath. His fur looked odd too, far, far lighter than it should, very coarse and full of split ends. Very slowly memories began to drift back; there had been a factory... and a fight... and noise... It made his head hurt to remember; he'd obviously got beat up a bit, or rather a bit more than he had been already. This was a hospital. He'd been there some time.
"Hey uh... how long I been here?"
"Can't rightly say, longer than me, but I've only been here a week or two myself, dying you know."
"Y' what? Where am I?"
"Palliative care, they put you here when you'll take a while to get better, or not at all. I'm not really dying, any more than you are of course, kidney issues. You're fine, you're fine. It's just when you get to our age you can't bounce back as quickly as you used to."
'Their age?' He was nowhere near... or was he? His coat was in terrible condition, that he knew as a fox who paid great attention to personal grooming. It had the weathered, mottled look you got with older foxes, when they started greying around the muzzle. And he felt incredibly tired and weak... Surely not...
"Uh... wuz I in a coma or somethin'?"
"Couldn't say, didn't really ask, sorry."
"Well has anyone been t' visit?"
"Well a sheep and fox... guy dropped by earlier, left you some flowers. But the nurse tossed them out,said they'd steal your oxygen.Sorry.Aside from that I haven't really been paying much attention, the meds have really thrown me for a loop."
"That's all?"
"As far as I know, I haven't been here that much though, I'm not a permanent resident like you are, they keep dragging me out to jab me with stuff."
"Oh Lawsey... what year is it?"
"Same one it always is."
"It's not like, 2050 or anythin' is it?"
"What? No. Of course not. I don't think you've been here that long."
"Oh thank goodness. You've no idea how glad I am t' hear that."
He was so relieved he tried to jump out of bed again.
"Aaaaa-hyeeee!"
"Seriously buddy, wait for the nurse!"
It was some time later.
Nick Wilde resisted the urge to pick at his bandage; there was a tiny bit loose at the end and he could probably unravel the whole thing if he kept fiddling with it. He was very twitchy; after the massive excitement of the previous night followed by several hours of interrogation by the ZPD, while injured of course, he'd been whisked off to hospital where someone had finally tended to his wounds, such as they were. And now there was literally nothing to do until the cops figured out if he should be rewarded or punished. He'd actually got off rather lightly compared to the others, due more to luck than skill. The only other occupied bed in the room held the crazy bunny who had apparently been unconscious since she'd arrived. As far as he could recall she'd attempted a fighting style that involved blocking her attackers with her face.
"Hey, Wilde!"
"Stripes... Finn! Hey, what are you two doing here?"
The two were a matching pair, short, big ears and bandages. Finn looked about as bad as he had after the attack a few days ago, while Savage had managed to get away with just a bit of bruising. He'd even missed most of the action in the factory by somehow untying himself and sneaking off. While the rest of them had been fighting for their lives he'd been sitting in a pay phone chatting to some guy at the ZPD front desk. They hadn't even confined him to bed, he'd given a five minute statement to an officer and walked off home! Talk about a lucky rabbit's foot!
"Just walked straight on in, your friend here kinda fits, injury-wise."
"Just say the word Nick, and I'll give 'em something to reallycry about."
"Oh no point, I'm fine, really. Just preparing myself for the flood of vixens that will be beating a path to my door now I've saved the city."
"And nearly died while doing so."
"Nonsense, these are just flesh wounds. Just remind me, if I'm ever tempted to help a bunny again, just to slam my tail in a door, it'll save time."
"How's she doing?"
"No idea, I don't know if anyone knows what's going on. Sure she'll be fine."
"Hey you two! You're not supposed to be here!"
A shadow darkened the doorway as a large bear strode angrily into the room, grabbing the two intruders with a single smooth swipe and lifting them several feet off the ground. Nurse Fletcher, someone Nick had come to know well in just the few hours he'd been there. Even Finnick would have a hard time dealing with her. Fortunately both of the smaller mammals didn't even try to resist being bodily escorted from the room and thrown out a window. (Well okay, maybe not out the window, but knowing nurse Fletcher that would be a very real option should she be pushed.)
Alone once again Nick decided to check on the other patients... or prisoners.. technically they were all still under arrest, being confined to the hospital until everything was sorted out and charges filed. They really should be in separate rooms, lest they collaborate and work on a shared alibi. As it was there were two groups, them, and the anti-sheep guys (with mayor Swinton getting an actual cell apparently.) He really hoped the bunny stayed asleep, she was just the kind of busybody to point out proper procedure and get him confined to solitary.
The other room contained two people as well, weasel and sheep, both of whom looked up as he entered. He was pretty sure that neither of them really wanted to be there, especially with no computers, phones or TV allowed. Duke seemed to be making the best of things, somehow he'd got ahold of a large bowl of hospital regulation icecream. Apparently his voice had completely given out, maybe he'd justified it as necessary treatment? But how, sign language?
"Well hello you two, holding up alright? Does the brave boy like his treat? You earned it buddy, next time you go to the doctor's they'll give you a lollipop."
He grinned as the weasel shot him a glare. If looks could kill he'd be nothing but a smoking, greasy stain on the linoleum. But there wasn't much Duke could do except keep eating. Nick's own throat was still pretty sore and he kept coughing even hours later; apparently the stuff they'd been breathing back there hadn't been the healthiest. He'd also got some white spots on his coat, that itched. The first thing that had happened after they'd been arrested was being hosed down by the fire department. (Which was one thing he really could avoid repeating. He still hadn't dried out completely.) And he still smelled of the chemical, the burning odor seemed to have etched itself into his very nose. Still, he hadn't come there just to chat (or rail on someone's free icecream.) there was something he had to say. He approached the bedridden sheep and tried to make sure the weasel wouldn't hear.
"Hey. I just wanted to say.... I haven't voted before, never really believed in it, whoever's in charge, they don't really care about the regular guys, you know? But... well that was an impressive thing you did there... and all the stuff with the investigation and helping me get into the department... I just want to say you've got a vote for life here. Probably a lot more than that once news gets out. Seriously, I don't care if you bulldoze city hall and turn it into a parking lot, total support."
"Well that-" *Cough!* "that's um.... very nice. What if I... abolished term limits for the office of mayor?"
"Vote. For. Life. Also hey, why not employ Mr. Cheerful here as Deputy Mayor? He's always been a very civics-minded guy, wanting to do stuff for his fellow citizens."
He ducked just in time as a half-full bowl of meted icecream sailed over his head and smashed against a wall.
* * *
It was some time later.
"So what can you tell us about the plot? Is this some sort of pig conspiracy now?"
"Well... the thing is... you see..."
"I'll take that question. Nick Wilde, Serious Fraud Office, heading the investigation. This was a simple power grab, nothing more. The issue of species is completely irrelevant here, anyone could do something like this, I even know of foxes who have shirked the law once in a while..."
Dawn half listened as the fox rambled on with a remarkable degree of slickness, all but claiming total responsibility for the previous week's events. Of course the press had been going mad for the past several days; it seemed no front page had enough headline space for all the many revelations that had emerged over the past few days. It was a good thing she'd 'accidentally' spilled coffee all over her personal laptop as soon as she'd got home, they were all but filming her eating breakfast at the moment. On the upside however, she was mayor again. It only remained to organize a few things and secure her grasp on power...
* * *
It was some time later.
"Yes of course I understand, it's very important we discuss this for the benefit of all of Zootopia, I will get back to you as soon as possible. Yes... yes goodbye.... WESSLETON!"
"You shrieked?"
"Herd and Grazing wants another damn meeting, tell them I can't be bothered until next week, but jazz it up a bit. And make it snappy!"
"Of course, your majesty."
Assistant Mayor Weaselton snorted. Underneath her docile public persona the new old new mayor had a surprisingly caustic personality. Which was fine by him, he'd recorded a few choice phrases as 'job security'. Besides, he preferred it. Working with people who were cheerful and positive all the time really got on his nerves. He got to work typing up a message.
'Dear sirs, due to the incredibly important nature of the subjects involved Mayor Bellwether has decided to postpone your meeting until at least next Monday while she gives proper consideration to the grave matters you have raised in your correspondence, so as not to do a disservice to you and the valuable work you do for the city. In the meantime you may be interested in a little investment opportunity...'
He finished up the message with a little spiel about a certain project he was setting up, a little something involving music distribution that was, as of 7am that morning, just barely legal, at least until someone noticed the small 'tweak' that had been made to regulations. His 'office' was dark and secluded, admitting no natural light, more a den than a workspace. It was next to the boiler and thus cluttered with various pipes and junk. In other words, perfect.
And to think, they were paying him for this!
* * *
It was some time later.
Gideon didn't so much wake up as slowly drift into consciousness. His vision was filled with white, which slowly resolved into a ceiling, still white but a little messier. He was lying down somewhere... in a thing.... bed. He didn't want to get up, so he stayed like that for some time. He wasn't exactly sure how long, could have been minutes, could have been hours. Eventually he had to move, slowly levering himself up into a sitting position. The effort left him feeling dizzy, the room spinning around him, his vision blurring once more as spots danced before his eyes.
He was in a bed, a hospital bed. White sheets, white pillow, white everything. There was an empty vase on a table by his bed and a few things on the floor nearby, but other than that the room was empty and deserted... bar another guy in a similar setup just a few feet away. He was an.... elk? Looked like an elk. Maybe he was a moose. Hard to tell.
"Oh, you're up. They've been waiting for you, you know."
He tried to talk. At first no sound came out, his throat was stiff and dry, like it had been padded with cotton wool.
"I.... eh... who?"
"The doctors. Said you were just napping, no drugs or anything. Should probably tell- wait, whoa, wait buddy, you don't wanna get u-"
"Gggghhhhnnnnnkkk!"
"Yeah they put in a catheter, you've been there a while. Just lay still and they'll take it out once they're sure you can go to the bathroom yourself."
Gideon tried, almost successfully not to cry or curl up into a ball of pain. Only now did he notice the thin plastic tube that went from under the bed and slipped innocuously between the sheets. There were also a few patches on his arms, one of which had almost fallen off, revealing a shaved spot and stitches beneath. His fur looked odd too, far, far lighter than it should, very coarse and full of split ends. Very slowly memories began to drift back; there had been a factory... and a fight... and noise... It made his head hurt to remember; he'd obviously got beat up a bit, or rather a bit more than he had been already. This was a hospital. He'd been there some time.
"Hey uh... how long I been here?"
"Can't rightly say, longer than me, but I've only been here a week or two myself, dying you know."
"Y' what? Where am I?"
"Palliative care, they put you here when you'll take a while to get better, or not at all. I'm not really dying, any more than you are of course, kidney issues. You're fine, you're fine. It's just when you get to our age you can't bounce back as quickly as you used to."
'Their age?' He was nowhere near... or was he? His coat was in terrible condition, that he knew as a fox who paid great attention to personal grooming. It had the weathered, mottled look you got with older foxes, when they started greying around the muzzle. And he felt incredibly tired and weak... Surely not...
"Uh... wuz I in a coma or somethin'?"
"Couldn't say, didn't really ask, sorry."
"Well has anyone been t' visit?"
"Well a sheep and fox... guy dropped by earlier, left you some flowers. But the nurse tossed them out,said they'd steal your oxygen.Sorry.Aside from that I haven't really been paying much attention, the meds have really thrown me for a loop."
"That's all?"
"As far as I know, I haven't been here that much though, I'm not a permanent resident like you are, they keep dragging me out to jab me with stuff."
"Oh Lawsey... what year is it?"
"Same one it always is."
"It's not like, 2050 or anythin' is it?"
"What? No. Of course not. I don't think you've been here that long."
"Oh thank goodness. You've no idea how glad I am t' hear that."
He was so relieved he tried to jump out of bed again.
"Aaaaa-hyeeee!"
"Seriously buddy, wait for the nurse!"
Aaaand new year's break is over! Best wrap this poor thing up, only a few more posts I think.
Gideon sat on the bench and felt very, very strange. He was very relieved to have been informed that ha hadn't been in a coma for many years, and in fact had just been out for a few weeks instead. (But not as relived as he'd been to have the catheter removed.) Apparently the shock to his system had simply overloaded him and he'd shut down for a bit. He was fine now, though his fur was a mess, ragged and bleached in places. It would take more than conditioner to sort it out and he was going to look a bit of a sorry sight until his next moult. Still, he'd been discharged within the hour, once they'd made sure he knew, as his father would put it,'the difference between tail and breakfast time.'
But that left him in a very odd situation; he was alone, in the middle of the day, miles from the closest thing he had to home with nothing to do and no way of getting about. His... situation had left him without his wallet, cash or bus card and his apartment didn't have a working phone, at least when he'd... left. He'd spent 20 minutes sitting in the sun wondering what to do before it had occurred to him that he could call Sue, whose number he'd had to keep track of at work. That had been another concern; how was his poor bakery doing without him for so long? He had so much catching up to do, he wasn't even entirely sure what had happened to him on that fateful night, and he had been there.
* * *
Sue arrived shortly, having thankfully still been resident in the city (The anti-sheep sentiment apparently quickly dying down after the whole conspiracy had been revealed.) and nearby. She informed him that his bakery had been shut down in his absence, since nobody there could cook. It was still an operating business, but like him, it had taken a nap. Sue also filled him in on what else had been happening in the city on the drive back to his apartment. There had been general celebration soon after, with Judy apparently getting some medal that he regretfully hadn't been there to see.The old new mayor had been put back in charge and Swinton and her co-conspirators were standing trial for the incredible crime of trying to sabotage the entire city. A movie was apparently in the works (where, for some bizarre reason Megan Fox was apparently going to play his character as a vixen.)
"And aside from that, I'm not really sure. I'm afraid I don't really know too many of the people involved. You'll have to figure out the rest by yourself."
"No probl'm, so I can expect y' at work tomorrow, all things bein' equal?"
"Oh of course! It'll be great to get back into it, I've been moonlighting at a shoe shop and it's rather dull."
"Well thanks fer th' ride anyhows, do y' want to come in? Or uh... at least help me check I'm not locked out?"
"Oh of course, I didn't even think of that!"
"Great, let me jus' get my- huh, what's..."
There was a smallish sheet of paper on the seat beside him, he'd overlooked it when he'd first entered the car. He didn't get much of a look at it before it was snatched out of his hand by the somewhat embarrassed sheep but what he was was quite revealing.
"Um... that's a gift... from Finn."
"Is uh... that..."
"Oh no! He uh... he's quite the artist I would never..."
"Yeah, I've seen that van he drives. Best keep that tucked away somewhere more safe though. People might get the wrong idea."
"Oh. Well... yes."
Gideon made his way up the stairs trying to push the image from his mind. It had been a very artistic picture from what he'd seen but not perhaps one he wanted to remember. The apartment building was wonderfully familiar, nothing had changed in his absence. He almost unconsciously made his way to the familiar door, Sue following close behind, unusually quiet. To his honest surprise it was unlocked; Judy should have been at work at that hour. Taking a deep breath he swung the door open and stepped inside.
It seemed Judy was at work, she wasn't anywhere to be seen inside. Though it did appear she'd set up a bed on the couch, which was unusual. Possibly this was explained by the fox that stepped smartly out of the kitchen, probably to see who had opened the door. Quite frankly,of all the people Gideon might have expected to see she was certainly not one of them.
"Oh, hello Gideon! You're back?"
"Ma..?"
Gideon sat on the bench and felt very, very strange. He was very relieved to have been informed that ha hadn't been in a coma for many years, and in fact had just been out for a few weeks instead. (But not as relived as he'd been to have the catheter removed.) Apparently the shock to his system had simply overloaded him and he'd shut down for a bit. He was fine now, though his fur was a mess, ragged and bleached in places. It would take more than conditioner to sort it out and he was going to look a bit of a sorry sight until his next moult. Still, he'd been discharged within the hour, once they'd made sure he knew, as his father would put it,'the difference between tail and breakfast time.'
But that left him in a very odd situation; he was alone, in the middle of the day, miles from the closest thing he had to home with nothing to do and no way of getting about. His... situation had left him without his wallet, cash or bus card and his apartment didn't have a working phone, at least when he'd... left. He'd spent 20 minutes sitting in the sun wondering what to do before it had occurred to him that he could call Sue, whose number he'd had to keep track of at work. That had been another concern; how was his poor bakery doing without him for so long? He had so much catching up to do, he wasn't even entirely sure what had happened to him on that fateful night, and he had been there.
* * *
Sue arrived shortly, having thankfully still been resident in the city (The anti-sheep sentiment apparently quickly dying down after the whole conspiracy had been revealed.) and nearby. She informed him that his bakery had been shut down in his absence, since nobody there could cook. It was still an operating business, but like him, it had taken a nap. Sue also filled him in on what else had been happening in the city on the drive back to his apartment. There had been general celebration soon after, with Judy apparently getting some medal that he regretfully hadn't been there to see.The old new mayor had been put back in charge and Swinton and her co-conspirators were standing trial for the incredible crime of trying to sabotage the entire city. A movie was apparently in the works (where, for some bizarre reason Megan Fox was apparently going to play his character as a vixen.)
"And aside from that, I'm not really sure. I'm afraid I don't really know too many of the people involved. You'll have to figure out the rest by yourself."
"No probl'm, so I can expect y' at work tomorrow, all things bein' equal?"
"Oh of course! It'll be great to get back into it, I've been moonlighting at a shoe shop and it's rather dull."
"Well thanks fer th' ride anyhows, do y' want to come in? Or uh... at least help me check I'm not locked out?"
"Oh of course, I didn't even think of that!"
"Great, let me jus' get my- huh, what's..."
There was a smallish sheet of paper on the seat beside him, he'd overlooked it when he'd first entered the car. He didn't get much of a look at it before it was snatched out of his hand by the somewhat embarrassed sheep but what he was was quite revealing.
"Um... that's a gift... from Finn."
"Is uh... that..."
"Oh no! He uh... he's quite the artist I would never..."
"Yeah, I've seen that van he drives. Best keep that tucked away somewhere more safe though. People might get the wrong idea."
"Oh. Well... yes."
Gideon made his way up the stairs trying to push the image from his mind. It had been a very artistic picture from what he'd seen but not perhaps one he wanted to remember. The apartment building was wonderfully familiar, nothing had changed in his absence. He almost unconsciously made his way to the familiar door, Sue following close behind, unusually quiet. To his honest surprise it was unlocked; Judy should have been at work at that hour. Taking a deep breath he swung the door open and stepped inside.
It seemed Judy was at work, she wasn't anywhere to be seen inside. Though it did appear she'd set up a bed on the couch, which was unusual. Possibly this was explained by the fox that stepped smartly out of the kitchen, probably to see who had opened the door. Quite frankly,of all the people Gideon might have expected to see she was certainly not one of them.
"Oh, hello Gideon! You're back?"
"Ma..?"
Right, first part I forgot to post.
Gideon sat and chewed halfheartedly on a slice of pie. The presence of food had made him realize how incredibly famished he was feeling and at any other time, in any other place he would have been on his third helping at least. But it had been a strange day, perhaps the strangest of his life thus far and he wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, even as his stomach growled and wondered if his mouth had been glued shut. Around him his mother fussed; initially she'd simply been checking to see if he were still in one piece, a perfectly reasonable reaction to having your son come home from the hospital unannounced. But after she'd calmed down enough to insist he have something to eat she'd got to explaining why she was even there.
"And of course we saw the news, it was everywhere, unavoidable.It was like watching one of those movies, with the spy agents and all of that. Well when your father found out what happened... you know what he's like. He wouldn't have it any other way but come down here personal."
"Yeah. Surprised Mr. Hopps didn't join 'im."
"Oh he was here when we arrived. Very... excitable. Oh! That reminds me, I finally got that jam recipe from Bonnie, but apparently that plate she borrowed, the one with the bay pattern? It's vanished into thin air, probably lost track of it. SO if she thinks she's getting her soup ladle back anytime soon she has another think comin'!"
"Yeah. So dad...?"
"He should be back shortly, all things goin' well. Your squeeze has been negotiating their release- oh, Stu as well. There was a bit of a.. kerfuffle..."
"Oh no..."
"Nothing big but... well your father hit the chief of police. And there was some sort of taser incident. I have to say your young lady has been very helpful in fixin' things, it's all been rather dramatic and- oh!"
Once more the door opened and three figures stepped reluctantly into the room. There was a lot of staring.
* * *
"A bear Bon! An actual bear!"
It was a little while later. Judy and Gideon sat quietly on the couch, which had temporarily been converted into a bed (For Judy, always the considerate one. His mother had been taking his bed for the past few days.) Both were trying to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible as the older generation fussed about. Bonnie Hopps had arrived shortly after her husband who seemed to be in some shock that the Zootopia prison system wasn't predator-prey segregated. He'd apparently had to share a cell with a bear, which had unnerved him. (But as a positive seemed to have made him forget to worry about foxes.) His father of course was remaining tight-lipped about the entire affair and both matrons in the apartment were bustling about distributing the healing magic that was a good pie.
Amazingly Judy had managed to get the charges dropped, at least partly with the help of the new mayor. Which was surprisingly, publicly attacking the chief of police was not a trivial matter, and the news had covered it extensively. But she'd managed to argue that it was simple emotional trauma and a sympathetic press had taken her side. Still it had been a trying experience for everyone and there was much talk of a week's vacation in the air. Bonnie summed up everyone's feelings succinctly.
"Well I for one am glad all of this... thisness is over. Are you sure you don't want to spend a week or two back home? It'd do you some good."
"No thanks, I have way too much work to catch up on, we're still not halfway through figuring out who did what and where."
"Oh that's a pity, what about you Gideon?"
"Def'nitly not. It's been bad enough havin' the bakery shut down this long,ah need t' get it back up n' goin' as soon as possible. Plus, I got an important weddin' t' cater for, I really-"
"You're getting MARRIED?! ARE YOU MAD?!"
"Stu!"
"Wha... no!"
"Not yet."
"What?"
"What?!"
"WHAT?!"
"Stu!"
"Look, I'm just saying think this over for a minute, I mean... Gabby, what do you think?"
"Ah don't care."
"What?"
"Kid can marry a skunk if'n he wants, not my business. She seems sharp enough."
"Okay, okay, big misunderstanding here. Gideon is catering for a high society wedding in... I think its a few weeks now. It has nothing to do with any hypothetical wedding involving us in future."
"Oh. Oh, well... yes."
"Besides, we've decided to see other people, I met this great guy, Duke Weaselton; he's the assistant mayor!"
"WHAT?!!!"
Gideon sat and chewed halfheartedly on a slice of pie. The presence of food had made him realize how incredibly famished he was feeling and at any other time, in any other place he would have been on his third helping at least. But it had been a strange day, perhaps the strangest of his life thus far and he wasn't entirely sure what to make of it, even as his stomach growled and wondered if his mouth had been glued shut. Around him his mother fussed; initially she'd simply been checking to see if he were still in one piece, a perfectly reasonable reaction to having your son come home from the hospital unannounced. But after she'd calmed down enough to insist he have something to eat she'd got to explaining why she was even there.
"And of course we saw the news, it was everywhere, unavoidable.It was like watching one of those movies, with the spy agents and all of that. Well when your father found out what happened... you know what he's like. He wouldn't have it any other way but come down here personal."
"Yeah. Surprised Mr. Hopps didn't join 'im."
"Oh he was here when we arrived. Very... excitable. Oh! That reminds me, I finally got that jam recipe from Bonnie, but apparently that plate she borrowed, the one with the bay pattern? It's vanished into thin air, probably lost track of it. SO if she thinks she's getting her soup ladle back anytime soon she has another think comin'!"
"Yeah. So dad...?"
"He should be back shortly, all things goin' well. Your squeeze has been negotiating their release- oh, Stu as well. There was a bit of a.. kerfuffle..."
"Oh no..."
"Nothing big but... well your father hit the chief of police. And there was some sort of taser incident. I have to say your young lady has been very helpful in fixin' things, it's all been rather dramatic and- oh!"
Once more the door opened and three figures stepped reluctantly into the room. There was a lot of staring.
* * *
"A bear Bon! An actual bear!"
It was a little while later. Judy and Gideon sat quietly on the couch, which had temporarily been converted into a bed (For Judy, always the considerate one. His mother had been taking his bed for the past few days.) Both were trying to be as quiet and unobtrusive as possible as the older generation fussed about. Bonnie Hopps had arrived shortly after her husband who seemed to be in some shock that the Zootopia prison system wasn't predator-prey segregated. He'd apparently had to share a cell with a bear, which had unnerved him. (But as a positive seemed to have made him forget to worry about foxes.) His father of course was remaining tight-lipped about the entire affair and both matrons in the apartment were bustling about distributing the healing magic that was a good pie.
Amazingly Judy had managed to get the charges dropped, at least partly with the help of the new mayor. Which was surprisingly, publicly attacking the chief of police was not a trivial matter, and the news had covered it extensively. But she'd managed to argue that it was simple emotional trauma and a sympathetic press had taken her side. Still it had been a trying experience for everyone and there was much talk of a week's vacation in the air. Bonnie summed up everyone's feelings succinctly.
"Well I for one am glad all of this... thisness is over. Are you sure you don't want to spend a week or two back home? It'd do you some good."
"No thanks, I have way too much work to catch up on, we're still not halfway through figuring out who did what and where."
"Oh that's a pity, what about you Gideon?"
"Def'nitly not. It's been bad enough havin' the bakery shut down this long,ah need t' get it back up n' goin' as soon as possible. Plus, I got an important weddin' t' cater for, I really-"
"You're getting MARRIED?! ARE YOU MAD?!"
"Stu!"
"Wha... no!"
"Not yet."
"What?"
"What?!"
"WHAT?!"
"Stu!"
"Look, I'm just saying think this over for a minute, I mean... Gabby, what do you think?"
"Ah don't care."
"What?"
"Kid can marry a skunk if'n he wants, not my business. She seems sharp enough."
"Okay, okay, big misunderstanding here. Gideon is catering for a high society wedding in... I think its a few weeks now. It has nothing to do with any hypothetical wedding involving us in future."
"Oh. Oh, well... yes."
"Besides, we've decided to see other people, I met this great guy, Duke Weaselton; he's the assistant mayor!"
"WHAT?!!!"
He's had a hard week.
Ok, final post, let's wrap this up!
It had taken several weeks to prepare for the occasion. Which was strange since the entire affair was only a dozen feet across. The entire wedding party was taking place on an elevated platform, somewhat like a large table. It had been strung with lights, decorations and furniture that would fit right in in a dollhouse. Well, a fox dollhouse at any rate. Even after all the work he'd put into it, it still struck Gideon as slightly strange, slightly quaint to be catering an event where all of the supplies had fit into a single good-sized cake box.
It had been incredibly fiddly work, you couldn't just bake a single pie the size of your fingertip, you could roll the pastry that thin, but if you tried to cook it at any heat the flavor would be terrible. No, you had to pre-cook everything separately, including the filling, then put everything together after it had cooled down. THEN you had to warm everything up and keep it warm to be served. And that was pies, meringues were a whole different story, as were cakes. Some things you had to cut and mold out of larger things. (Which was nice, had come to think; it meant you could make a cake that was all that perfect bit between the center and edge, that one spot cooked to perfection. He was very proud of his confections.) In a way it was impressive, the wedding cake was a foot tall.
Now he was staying out of sight, deftly handing plates of food the size of grapes to a diminutive waitstaff. As he was himself a caterer and not a guest he wasn't expected to show up in the small circle of light that lit the happy couple, instead he hung around next to the rather imposing bodyguards that circled the venue, half hidden in shadow. There wasn't too much to do; he could easily have coped on his own, but Judy had insisted she help when Sue had said she was unavailable. (Which, he thought, was probably due to a prior engagement with a certain small fox.) The both of them together had little to do except talk between themselves (And occasionally with a new friend Gideon had made some time ago.)
"Oh my gosh! Are those doughnuts? How did you make such teeny-tiny doughnuts?"
"Trade secret. If'n I told ya, I'd have t' kill ya."
"Oh but I'm practically family! You can trust me!"
"No you ain't, no I can't. 'sides even if y'were you'd need t' complete the sacred blood ritual first."
"Well then, we can schedule that for after the wedding."
"Can't, it needs full sunlight."
"Exactly, well be wed at noon."
"Wait what?"
"I do recall someone making a promise...?"
"That's not fair, I was delusional."
"Sorry, it's the law; seriously I wish there were something I could do but..."
"But I'd be out after a few years right?"
"Sorry, I"m a life sentence."
"I see, best settle the matter quick then."
"I'm a bunny we can organize something in an afternoon. I hear Travis was married before my parents even knew he was in town."
Gideon smiled. He still couldn't win their little verbal spars, at least not often, but he was getting better at them. During the bustle of the past few weeks he'd completely forgotten the promise he'd made, but he was rather chuffed that Judy hadn't. If he'd been busy before it was nothing compared to what had happened when it had come out he'd had a part, however small, in the saving of the city. It had been complete and utter chaos as soon as he'd got back. Everyone had wanted something but his staff had been scattered across the city, supplies had to be organized, pies baked and family matters sorted out.It was a worry and a stress; he'd never had so much to lose before. Every day bought new challenges and problems and there hadn't been a night since he'd got out of hospital where he hadn't collapsed, utterly exhausted onto his bed, going out like a light. (Even Judy had been unable to rouse him much, and she was good at rousing.) It was almost scary how quickly things had progressed, how all of a sudden he was a proper adult expected to pay taxes and run a business and act as if he had even the faintest idea how being an independent and mature individual was supposed to work,
On the upside the bakery's future was secured; it was the hottest new thing in the city. There was an exhilaration to it, to seeing his dreams unfold day-by-day into things he hadn't expected but welcomed all the same. And Judy had settled in nicely too, with a very impressive record for someone who'd only been on the job for a year or so. Certainly a fox in his position could feel secure in his future, if ever there was a time he could feel confident in doing something brash and risky it was now. He carefully passed a thimbleful of chocolate mousse to a waiter and leaned down to not-quite-kiss the bunny, opting instead to whisper something just loud enough for her sensitive hearing to catch.
"Well, my weekend's free, how's yours?"
Later even Judy had to admit that he'd come out on top of that particular conversation.
LE END, only 3 months late! (I'm government!)
Ok, final post, let's wrap this up!
It had taken several weeks to prepare for the occasion. Which was strange since the entire affair was only a dozen feet across. The entire wedding party was taking place on an elevated platform, somewhat like a large table. It had been strung with lights, decorations and furniture that would fit right in in a dollhouse. Well, a fox dollhouse at any rate. Even after all the work he'd put into it, it still struck Gideon as slightly strange, slightly quaint to be catering an event where all of the supplies had fit into a single good-sized cake box.
It had been incredibly fiddly work, you couldn't just bake a single pie the size of your fingertip, you could roll the pastry that thin, but if you tried to cook it at any heat the flavor would be terrible. No, you had to pre-cook everything separately, including the filling, then put everything together after it had cooled down. THEN you had to warm everything up and keep it warm to be served. And that was pies, meringues were a whole different story, as were cakes. Some things you had to cut and mold out of larger things. (Which was nice, had come to think; it meant you could make a cake that was all that perfect bit between the center and edge, that one spot cooked to perfection. He was very proud of his confections.) In a way it was impressive, the wedding cake was a foot tall.
Now he was staying out of sight, deftly handing plates of food the size of grapes to a diminutive waitstaff. As he was himself a caterer and not a guest he wasn't expected to show up in the small circle of light that lit the happy couple, instead he hung around next to the rather imposing bodyguards that circled the venue, half hidden in shadow. There wasn't too much to do; he could easily have coped on his own, but Judy had insisted she help when Sue had said she was unavailable. (Which, he thought, was probably due to a prior engagement with a certain small fox.) The both of them together had little to do except talk between themselves (And occasionally with a new friend Gideon had made some time ago.)
"Oh my gosh! Are those doughnuts? How did you make such teeny-tiny doughnuts?"
"Trade secret. If'n I told ya, I'd have t' kill ya."
"Oh but I'm practically family! You can trust me!"
"No you ain't, no I can't. 'sides even if y'were you'd need t' complete the sacred blood ritual first."
"Well then, we can schedule that for after the wedding."
"Can't, it needs full sunlight."
"Exactly, well be wed at noon."
"Wait what?"
"I do recall someone making a promise...?"
"That's not fair, I was delusional."
"Sorry, it's the law; seriously I wish there were something I could do but..."
"But I'd be out after a few years right?"
"Sorry, I"m a life sentence."
"I see, best settle the matter quick then."
"I'm a bunny we can organize something in an afternoon. I hear Travis was married before my parents even knew he was in town."
Gideon smiled. He still couldn't win their little verbal spars, at least not often, but he was getting better at them. During the bustle of the past few weeks he'd completely forgotten the promise he'd made, but he was rather chuffed that Judy hadn't. If he'd been busy before it was nothing compared to what had happened when it had come out he'd had a part, however small, in the saving of the city. It had been complete and utter chaos as soon as he'd got back. Everyone had wanted something but his staff had been scattered across the city, supplies had to be organized, pies baked and family matters sorted out.It was a worry and a stress; he'd never had so much to lose before. Every day bought new challenges and problems and there hadn't been a night since he'd got out of hospital where he hadn't collapsed, utterly exhausted onto his bed, going out like a light. (Even Judy had been unable to rouse him much, and she was good at rousing.) It was almost scary how quickly things had progressed, how all of a sudden he was a proper adult expected to pay taxes and run a business and act as if he had even the faintest idea how being an independent and mature individual was supposed to work,
On the upside the bakery's future was secured; it was the hottest new thing in the city. There was an exhilaration to it, to seeing his dreams unfold day-by-day into things he hadn't expected but welcomed all the same. And Judy had settled in nicely too, with a very impressive record for someone who'd only been on the job for a year or so. Certainly a fox in his position could feel secure in his future, if ever there was a time he could feel confident in doing something brash and risky it was now. He carefully passed a thimbleful of chocolate mousse to a waiter and leaned down to not-quite-kiss the bunny, opting instead to whisper something just loud enough for her sensitive hearing to catch.
"Well, my weekend's free, how's yours?"
Later even Judy had to admit that he'd come out on top of that particular conversation.
LE END, only 3 months late! (I'm government!)
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