Continuing the series of posts about my upcoming book, Savage Frequency, let's talk about the second villain's best friend: Dashiel "Dash" Longstride.

Dash is the "moral anchor" of the group. Even though he grew up with hardship and without a father, he holds no grudges. He is peaceful, possesses simple and practical wisdom and is extremely protective of his friends. He's the kind of guy who listens more than he speaks. He believes in forgiveness as a form of healing. His scene with his alcoholic father shows that a predator's greatest strength isn't its claws, but its capacity for forgiveness.

For Dash, Aeron is the epitome of everything an animal can be: intelligent, controlled and gentle. Dash sees him as an older brother who has all the answers. When Dash is sad or insecure (like in that moment of the hug), Aeron is the one who brings the "light" of logic and comfort. For Aeron, Dash is the only place where he doesn't feel the need to compete or be the "perfect son". Dash's genuine kindness is what keeps Aeron's humanity alive, even as he plots betrayal. Aeron protects Dash not out of duty, but because Dash represents the innocence that Aeron has lost.

When Aeron reveals his villainy by betraying the other characters, he tries to convince Dash that he's doing it to "protect" him. He uses a cold speech like: "The world is dangerous, Dash. If you're not on the side of those in charge, you'll suffer. I'm saving you from your own goodness". Here comes the most painful moment: Aeron uses what he knows about Dash's life to try to manipulate him, calling Dash's philosophy of forgiveness "a system failure".

But the turning point happens when Aeron is at the peak of his cold power, but feels completely empty. He expects Dash to hate him, which would justify Aeron's cruel logic. Instead of fighting, Dash applies his philosophy. He looks at Aeron and says something like: "I don't forgive the villain you're trying to be. I forgive the friend who helped me when I needed it most. That Aeron is still there". This disarming forgiveness is what "breaks" Aeron. He realizes that Dash's loyalty is stronger than any cutting-edge technology.

The hug is repeated, but this time it's Dash who is "rescuing" Aeron from the darkness. This dynamic between Aeron and Dash works because it shows that the rabbit isn't inherently evil, but rather someone who got lost trying to survive an abusive father. It also proves that being peaceful and forgiving isn't a sign of weakness, but rather the only thing capable of overcoming the villain's cold logic. Furthermore, everyone has had a friend they considered a hero who disappointed them, or someone who forgave them when they didn't deserve it.

Dash constantly teases Aeron about his height, especially when the rabbit needs to climb on something to reach a technological panel, for example, calling him funny nicknames like "garden gnome" or even "Santa's little helper." But Aeron doesn't hold back and mocks Dash's exaggerated size, saying he's a miscalculation of nature or even giving him equally funny nicknames like "High-heeled Slide".

Despite the jokes, the loyalty between them is unbreakable. Aeron feels safe by Dash's side, and Dash admires his best friend's brilliant mind. This guy is called Dash because that word means "sprint" or even "fast" in English, making it the perfect nickname for a Utahraptor. "Longstride" means "long stride" in English (duuuh). It's a surname that sounds very American and elegant, but it serves as an inside joke about his height and the fact that he's like a "fire hose" covering great distances too quickly.

Furthermore, he's Catholic and follows one of the teachings of the Bible: forgiving others. This part of his personality was inspired by Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler from the X-Men franchise, and you'll understand why soon. This characteristic of forgiving others and never holding a grudge was also inspired by Peter Parker, played by Tobey Maguire in Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy.

And before you ask, yes, Dash is my fifth and final fursona, and before, his name was Darel. But after I created my new story, I had the idea to include him as one of the main characters, but I had to change his name to a much more creative one that made sense in that Zootopia-inspired world.

Here's some more information about Dash that will be presented in the story:

He never had a father, well, he has a father, but he never knew him because his father had abandoned his family. Despite his father's absence, his grandfather fulfilled that role and raised him along with the boy's mother.

After his grandfather died, Dash had to work very early to earn his own money because his mother received his grandfather's pension and used the money to support her other children and herself, meaning she couldn't support her firstborn son. So he started doing odd jobs in childhood, and in adolescence he began working formally, but the problem was that he often couldn't go to school because of work, which caused him to repeat a grade twice.

Despite these problems in his life, Dash still had a lot of faith that one day he would be able to solve all his problems and dreamed of meeting his father in person. He prayed every day, asking God that his requests be granted and that his life would improve greatly, and he also read the Bible sometimes when he had nothing else to do.

At the end of the story, his best friend, Aeron, manages to discover his father's whereabouts. Since he always wanted to meet him, Dash decides to travel to see him. He does manage to meet his father, but his father berates him, saying it was a mistake to date his mother and have a child with her because he never wanted a family. The truth is, he's an alcoholic and preferred his addiction to his family's needs.

Even so, Dash forgives him for everything, saying that God taught him to overcome all his problems like a hero and that a good man should love everyone, even his enemies. Even though his father is a scoundrel who never cared about his family, he will never stop loving him because we all have to forgive each other, even if it's very difficult depending on the situation.

This conflict probably won't be explored much because Dash will only tell his story to Aeron. But at least he will meet his father at the end of the story. Furthermore, his encounter with his father and the fact that Dash forgave his father for everything was inspired by the iconic scene in which Nightcrawler forgave his mother, Mystique, for abandoning him as a baby in the classic 90s X-Men cartoon. This forgiveness scene was also inspired by the film Spider-Man 3, where Peter forgives Flint Marko/Sandman for killing his Uncle Ben, no longer holding a grudge against the villain.