Hey Everyone! Glad to see you came to check out my christmas story. This is a semi-Au set in victorian Zootopia (London). It's a classic murder mystery, Agatha Christie style, story. The goal was to update everyday and make this into a sort of advent calendar but seeing how I'm releasing this later than I wanted and didn't have the time to pre-write some chapters like I wanted to, I might have to drop that.

Anyway, here is the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Zootopia or any of it's character.

The date is the 14 of december, 1893 in the year of our lord. The air as grown colder and snow is now slowly falling from the sky to cover the plains of the countryside. Despite the yet still early hour, the outside is cast in shadow, testimony of winter's arrival. Only the dim light of the moon, casted across the land, allows the mammals outside to see. Not that any mammals in their right mind would stay outside long in this weather. The night seems particularly cold for this time of the year and even with their winter coat, most would hurry to the warmth of the indoor as fast as they could.

In the lobby of the luxurious mansion stood a rather large cheetah in a tuxedo. The cat paced back and forth on the ground floor while keeping a watchful eye on his pocket watch. He had been ordered by the master of the house to greet the coming visitors once they would arrive. However, the first guests should have presented themselves five minutes ago but all of them had yet to show up. Panic started to grip the butler. What if none of them came? The whole soirée would be ruined. Months of preparation all for nothing.

It is at that time, in the middle of the feline's worry and doubt, that came the first knock. One clearly coming from that of a powerful hoof hitting the hardwood of the door. With it, the cheetah bolted towards the entrance with as much agility as his body, and the garments covering it, would allow him.

The massive door swung opened to reveal a large cape buffalo in a military outfit. The veteran stood upright in the fashion of a long time soldier, which made him tower over the chubby butler. You needed no more than a quick glimpse to see from his large frame that this mammal has known war.

"General Bogo. Please enter you must be freezing outside without a coat. The others have yet to arrive."

The master of the house, lord Spots, had served up until recently in the army under the command of General Bogo. They fought together in the african colonies and quickly became close to one another. Knowing that the General had a leave for christmas time, Lord Spots could not do otherwise than to invite him.

The massive buffalo did as he was told and stepped inside. He immediately looked around to inspect his host's taste of decor.

The grand entrance was just that, grand. The well polished marble tiled floor reflected the light of the crystal chandelier that hung above the center of the room. It stood proudly above them, shining like a complex structure of diamonds, perched from the two story high roof. Two fancy staircases gave access to a balcony overlooking the entrance that lead to the second floor. On his left, general Bogo could see an open door that gave way to a lavish dining hall. On his right, the living room. The walls were decorated by portraits and other paintings, all a testament of the vast wealth of the lord Spots.

"Champaign?" Asked the butler.

Bogo nodded, not taking his eyes of the display around him. Very soon, he was handed a tall glass filled with the golden liquid.

A set of quick frantic knocks came from the front door, calling the cheetah back to his duty. He opened the door to reveal a pig and a racoon both in business suit, top hat and holding a short walking cane. The racoon proudly wore a mustache, white like the fur from which it grew, as was popular in these times. To make up for his lack of fur, the pig wore a splendid monocle with a golden chain hanging from it and leading to the inside of his suit.

"Gooooooooood day good sir!" Exclaimed the raccoon while rocking on the ball of his paws.

"Good evening would be more appropriate." Corrected his partner with a wave of his cane.

"I am sir Coon..."

"And me sir Porkins…"

"And we are…" They said in unison.

"THE FORREST BROTHERS!"

"THE RUTTER BROTHERS!"

Both mammal looked at each other.

"We had settled on Forrest." said the racoon.

"Of course we didn't! You're the one who settled on it. I never liked it."

"Because Rutter is any better? You want people to make fun of us or what?"

"What do you mean make fun of us?"

"RUTter are you kidding me? You're practically begging for people to make inappropriate Jokes."

"Yeah you're right. With a name like Forrest, we'll never have jokes made at our expense."

"Forrest is a perfectly well fitting last name for both our species. It's our natural habitat."

"Pigs don't have a natural habitat."

"What?"

"Primitive pigs lived wherever they could forage food. While that does include some forest, they also lived in marsh and shrublands…"

"Whatever, we'll talk about this later."

They both turned back to face the waiting and confused butler.

"Hi, we're the Forrest…"

"Rutter."

"...brothers. We received an invitation from lord Spots."

The Forrest/Rutter brothers were a renown pair of inventors in Zootopia. Lord Spots had invited them over in the hope that they would accept to build something for him. Clawhauser did not know of the exact detail of this business proposal, but he knew it involved some of the other guests.

"Yes of course where are my manners?" Said Clawhauser while opening the door wider. "Please, make yourself at home. Can I serve you a glass of champagne?"

They accepted the glass and walked off to meet the other waiting guest.

"Good day…"

"Evening."

"...good sir! I'am…"

Another knock came from the door. This time from a much bigger paw. Clawhauser found out it was one of a female tiger once he opened the door.

He knew the mammal. He had seen her here many times before and every time, she only brought bad things. It surprised him that the lord would even invite her seeing how they had never been in particularly good terms.

"Mrs. Fangmeyer! How nice to see that you came to visit your brother. Surely the lord will be pleased. But tell me, I don't see mister Fangmeyer with you, why would that be if I may inquire?"

She rolled her eyes before answering that something had shown up at work in the capital and that it needed to be taken care of with utmost urgency. She then walked in not bothering to wait for him to invite her.

"Hun! My brother re-decorated."

"Yes, he…"

"I don't like it." She cut him. "Where are the champagnes, I don't have nearly enough alcohol in my body right now."

"Right this way. If you would follow me."

He lead her to the drinks and the rest of the guests. She joined them but preferred to stay out of the conversation and simply watched the raccoon and the pig speak passionately.

A short moment after came another knock. Clawhauser went back to the door once again and opened it another time. What he saw was a wolf adorning fancy clothes which would be accustomed to lordship.

"Good evening Lord Wolford. It is a pleasure to see you took time off your busy schedule to join us in the festivities." For the longest of times, Lord Wolford and Lord Spots were the fiercest of rivals. But over the years they had buried the hatchet and started working together. The wolf had then suddenly taken a hubby in travelling the globe and now considered himself an explorer before anything else. He had seen the jungles of america and those of south asia alike but now he was back home for christmas. The lord had invited him over to try to resume business where they had left it off.

"Why I wouldn't miss this for anything in the world. Traveling the globe may be thrilling but it is good to visit your hometown from time to time."

"Please come in, there are other guests waiting for you."

The wolf took a glass and joined the rest of the assembled guests while Clawhauser made sure everyone was comfortable.

The next guest took a bit more time to arrive. But when he did Clawhauser knew immediately who it was. The powerful thumps could only have come from the biggest of their guests.

"Doctor McHorn, how nice to see you. I thrust you're here for more than just a regular check up."

The rhino rolled his eyes, clearly not pleased to be here.

"Sure whatever." He said disinterested.

He made his way past Clawhauser and directly to the center of the room. As the cheetah tried to follow him, he was stopped by a scream from the outdoors. He looked out to see a camel running his way.

"Miss Lumpy…"

The camel stopped in front of the door.

"Sorry, I'm late. There was a lot of traf…"

Clawhauser looked at her with a frown.

"I mean have you seen the weather? Dear gosh!" She said with a forced accent. "My carriage got stuck in the snow, could you believe it? Maybe I should fire my driver, that horse is useless!"

The butler's face softened and he invited her in. Miss Lumpy had been a childhood friend of the master of the house ever since they were twelve. Clawhauser's father, which had been the butler of the family before him as was his grandfather and great-grandfather, had told him of and playing together as kits. They had lost contact after Lord Spots joined the army but now that he was back, he was eager to reconnect with his old childhood friend.

There were now only two guests missing. A thing that surprised him since one of them always had the habit of arriving anywhere early. Then again, the other was notorious for arriving late and they were probably travelling together. Therefore, Clawhauser decided to wait by the door for them to arrive while keeping an eye on the guest's need.

The night was going rather well if he could say so himself. The guests were exchanging discussions and sipping champagne and all seemed to be enjoying themselves.

The sound of the door knocker for small mammals informed the butler of the two small guest's presence. The knock was then followed by muffled voices coming from behind the closed door.

"I told you we would be late! This is your fault."

"Calm down carrots! It's not like this is a big deal."

"Not a big deal?! Have you seen the…"

The female's voice was cut short when Clawhauser opened the door to reveal the fancily dressed fox and bunny arguing with each other. Both of their ears perked up and they faced the cheetah with a sorry smile.

"Hey Claw what's up?" Asked the fox nonchalantly, trying to scoot the fact that they were late under a rug of suaveness.

Before Clawhauser could reprimand him, the bunny elbowed the larger fox.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Mr…?" She said while curtsying.

"Clawhauser and the pleasure is all mine Miss Hopps. Please do come in, you must be freezing outside. Lord Spots will be pleased to meet such a famous writer as yourself."

"Why, you flatter me but I must ask you to stop lest I start turning red."

"I am sure the color would compliment your eyes perfectly."

"Damn, normally I'm the smooth one." Said the fox once he managed to gain his breath back."

Clawhauser turned to him with an unamused and scolding look.

"Yes mister Wilde, you're as smooth as a circus of elephants in a shrew monastery."

Judy giggled at the cheetah's comment.

"Why don't you two get acquainted with the rest of the guests while I go fetch the appetizers."

Nick rolled his eyes but didn't protest further. He followed Judy to the rest of the gathered crowd but before he could decide with whom to get "acquainted" he was stopped by a pig and a raccoon.

"Ah Wilde. We need you to judge something. Which sounds best…"

"the Rutter brothers…"

"...or the Forrest brothers?"

"Both sound as equally stupid. Seriously why don't you just use your real last names?"

"Because we don't have the same."

"And we're supposed to be brothers."

"I hate to break it to you guys but you're a pig and you're a raccoon. One of you was adopted."

"hu-hum!" The cheetah loudly cleared his throat next to them. "If everyone could stay in character please that would be appreciated."

"Okay pause, pause." Said Nick while waving his paws. "Am I the only one here to think this thing is way overblown? I mean seriously why do we have to do this for two weeks straight? two weeks!"

"Because you're all in suspension for two weeks." Came the response from Bogo. "And this is a team building exercises."

"Yeah don't you complain Wilde!" Said McHorn."It's your fault we're here in the first place."

"What! How is it my fault?"

"Ow ow ow ow ow wait no stop! I'm stuck okay pulling won't do any help."

Nick had never been so ashamed in his life. Even the time Finnick made him wear the elephant costume after he lost a bet palled in comparison of this. He knew something like this would eventually happen one day. He had asked Bogo to get new toilets for so long now but nooooooo, of course he didn't listen. And now here he was, having slipped and fallen into the toilet bowl butt first. If it had ended there it would have been fine but he had to get stuck didn't he.

His instructor at the academy had warned him about the deadly dangers of filthy toilets. He should have listened…

The tubings were big enough for his rear to get lodged in it after he had fallen but too tight to allow him get out. Now he was only praying for a merciful death after McHorn had tried to pull him out by his arms and legs three times.

"You're sure I shouldn't come in and help?" Asked Judy from the other side of the door that lead to the precinct's male toilets.

"No! I'm not presentable!"

Nick did come to the toilets for a reason. Because if this wasn't embarrassing enough, he had to get stuck with his pants down. Thankfully he had managed to haul his boxers back enough to protect his modesty. The main reason he didn't want Judy to see him though was because he knew he would never hear the end of it.

"He doesn't want you to see his tiny…"

"SHUT UP MCHORN!"

Pause…

"And it's not tiny."

"It's minuscule."

"It's fox sized and if you could stop describing my appendage and help me get out of this mess it would be appreciated."

"Okay, maybe if we pull the flush…"

"Nononono don't pull the… BLURGGHRGHHG!"

"What's going on in there!" Judy asked while she pushed the door open despite Nick's clear instruction.

"CARROTS!... Help… McHorn is waterboarding me!"

Judy ran to the toilet stall from which the sound came from only to stop in her track at the sight in front of her. She started to laugh uncontrollably when she saw the damp fox stuck butt first in the toilet.

"It's not funny!"

"Is it funny? Yes, yes it is."

"I didn't even asked a question, you're doing it wrong."

"Wait, just let me take a picture."

"No! Carrots don't you dare!"

Nick wanted to stop her but he was unable to move. She hopped on the toilet seat and angled her phone down at him.

"Say dumb fox!"

Nick tried to reach for the phone but was prevented by his situation. He did managed however to, unwillingly, make the seat shake. Judy lost her balance for a moment and slipped on one of the wet spot on the seat. She fell into the bowl and onto the fox.

She landed in a rather awkward position, her legs straddling his hips that were merely covered by his boxers and her arms going each side of his head to stop her fall. Their muzzle were mere inches apart and she could feel his breath on her face. She froze and felt her ears turn red. They stared at each other like this in silence, not moving away.

"Here, I'll take that photo for you."

Her ears perked up at the sound of a photo being taken. She turned around only to see McHorn standing over the bowl with a phone of his own in his hoof and a large grin spread on his face.

...

Coon, Porkins and Doctor Lumpy were walking down the corridor side by side.

"The results have returned positives. Your victim was poisoned before he was shot. It wouldn't have been enough to kill him but was sufficient to lower his inhibition."

The camel kept talking to the two mammalicide investigators until a sound made them turn their head.

The door that lead to the male's bathroom burst open and out came McHorn, running away with a phone in his hoof. Seconds later a drenched Hopps followed after him.

"YOU'RE DEAD MCHORN YOU HEAR ME? YOU'RE DEAD!"

Before they could even react, another voice came from the bathroom the two mammals had just ran out.

"Wait guys! Don't leave me here! Help! Help!"

"What the hell is going on?" Asked Coon after entering the bathroom himself followed by Porkins and doctor Lumpy.

"Coon! Listen can you help a brother out?"

"With wha… HAHAHAHAHAHA!"

The racoon started a laughing fit after he turned the corner of the stall in which Nick was stuck. He was soon followed by the two others. Nick frowned at the three mammals laughing at his expense.

"Harhar, everyone got their share of laughing at the poor fox? Because I'd really like if you could help me get out of this."

"This is gold. I can't believe I forgot my phone at the lab."

"I'll sign you an autograph if you get me out."

"Okay, okay. Lumpy you go pull on his arms, Porkins and I will get the legs."

"It's useless. McHorn already tried pulling me out after he was fed up with shaming me."

"What if we pull the flush?"

Nick's eyes widened.

"NO PLEASE NO, NOT THE… BLURGHGULRGHLGH."

...

"YOU CAN'T RUN FOREVER McHorn! I RAN FROM HOME TO SCHOOL EVERY DAY! I CAN KEEP GOING FOREVER!"

"Why does Hopps want to kill McHorn?" Fangmeyer asked the cheetah sitting behind the reception desk.

"I don't know. I don't think he called her cute."

From the corner of her eyes, Fangmeyer saw a wolf approaching rapidly.

"Hey Wolford! Do you know what McHorn did this time?"

The wolf ran passed them without stopping.

"Sorry I really don't have the time!"

He continued his way towards the male's bathroom.

...

"I'm so sorry!" Said Porkins. "Are you alright I really didn't think this through."

"I think I saw my life flashing by!"

"Okay we need to think of something. We can't pull and we can't flush..."

They were interrupted by the sound of someone pushing the door in a hurry. They turned around to see Wolford looking at them confused. He opened his mouth and then shut it again.

"Hold on I have something to do first then I'm back to you." He said before entering one of the stalls and closing the door.

A vicious sound came from the booth followed by that of a happy grunt of release and a flush. Wolford the came out of the stall and looked back at them.

"Okay, what's going on?"

"Wilde got stuck in the toilets and he can't get out."

"Have you tried flushing?"

"NO! NOBODY IS FLUSHING ME AGAIN OKAY!"

Coon began to sniff the air and quickly put his paws over his nose.

"Oh God! What is that smell!?"

"Sorry." Shily said Wolford. "Bad digestion…"

"What did you eat?!"

"You know joe's dinner at the end of the street? They had a knew plate there, it's called 'tour of the world'. It has indian, vietnamese, mexican…"

Doctor Lumpy made a gaging noise.

"I think I'm going to puke!"

She stumbled out of the bathroom clutching her nose. She was then followed by Coon and Porkins, leaving the poor fox in the room with the wolf.

"NO PLEASE GET ME OUT! NO DON'T LEAVE ME HERE! UGH I'M GOING TO DIE!"

...

The next time Fangmeyer saw McHorn, he was limping and clutching his arm. Hopps was slowly strolling behind him with a large smile spread across her face and a far too big phone in her paws. She then saw them enter the same bathroom Wolford had just ran into.

"Alright! That's it! I have to know what the hell is going on."

Fangmeyer leisurely made her way to the male's bathroom.

When Judy entered the room she immediately covered her nose with her paws.

"Sweet cheese and crackers! What is that smell!"

"I'm sorry okay! I couldn't help it!" Came the voice of Wolford.

"Carrots help! Either get me out or kill me now but don't make me suffer through this!"

The door opened again and Fangmeyer walked in.

"Okay so what's up this time?"

"Nick is stuck in a toilet." They said in unison.

"Hurgh! Did he have to make it stink so much?"

"Blame Wolford for that not me!"

"Have you tried to flush?" She asked.

"NO FLUSHING!"

The door opened again and this time Coon, Porkins and doctor Lumpy entered, all wearing cleaning masks.

"We're back from the cleaning closet with a few tools." Exclaimed porkins while brandishing a mop.

"How is a mop going to help me get out?"

"We're going to use it as a lever… If you could just spread your legs a little…"

"What!"

"Just do as you're told."

With a gulp Nick spread his legs just enough for Coon to slide the metals stick under him.

"Okay, in 3, 2, 1…"

Coon and porkins pulled on the makeshift lever as hard as they could, making Nick let out a high pitched yelp.

"Help would be appreciated…"

Judy, wolford and and doctor Lumpy joined them in pulling on the stick.

"McHorn, you're going to join?"

"I can't, Hopps broke my arm."

"Believe me, if you had a broken arm I'd know." Said doctor Lumpy.

"You're not the one who can feel it."

"Oh I'm sorry, I didn't know you finally got your doctor's license. Get in here and help us."

With a grunt, McHorn joined them.

"Fangmeyer?"

"No thanks. I think I'm just going to stay back and watch."

No more than five seconds later a popping sound was heard followed by a pained yelp. Acting as a catapult, the mop's stick propelled Nick through the air until he was stopped by a wall meeting his face. With the lack of resistance, the whole group fell on their back.

"I'll never be able to have kits." Whined Nick as he clutched the area against which the mop handle had been pressing.

"Well I think we're done here…"

As soon as Judy finished her sentence, a spray of water came out like a geyser, out of the toilet in which Nick had been stuck.

Without wasting a second, Coon and Porkins stucked the mop into the toilet to stop the overflow.

"Crisis aborted." sighed the pig once the spray had stopped.

Just then all the other toilets erupted, spraying water everywhere.

"Well that'll teach me to speak too soon."

"WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON IN HERE!"

Bogo looked at his mortified officers that looked back at him. Wilde was on the ground with his pants down, clutching his groin. Coon and porkins were holding down a mop into a toilet while all the others were erupting. McHorn looked like he had been beaten up by a street gang and Fangmeyer was leaning all too casually against the wall. On top of that, the bathroom smelled terrible.

"All of you into the bullpen… NOW!" Bogo hissed.

Nick slowly and weakly raised his paw without getting up from the ground.

"What is it Wilde?" Bogo asked trying to control his temper.

"I still really need to go to the bathroom…"

"How is it my fault?" Said Nick. "They're the ones who destroyed the toilets." He said while pointing at the duo of investigators.

"Oh I'm sorry. I didn't see you complain when we got you out."

"Actually I did complain a lot about you castrating me. And still why this? This is not like you at all chief."

"Oh this wasn't my first idea of a punishment. I originally thought about something for all of you. From a month of parking duty…" He looked at Judy. "... to disinfecting the toilets." He looked at Wolford. "But then Clawhauser came to me with this idea for an office christmas party and I thought it was a better idea."

"But why?"

"Because if I was lucky, I'd get the chance of role-playing murdering you all." He said coldly.

The truth was that in his youth Bogo had been a huge dungeon and dragons fan. It was a secret he would never share with his officers but he did miss the old time when he could dress up and play with his friends. When Clawhauser had come up with the idea, Bogo saw a chance to play once again and have an excuse for it. Nobody would peg him for a D&D nerd and he rather liked it stayed that way.

"Although, since we're breaking characters…" He turned to Clawhauser. "The ZPD is not paying for all of this is it?" He said while motioning to the luxurious mansion that usually hosted weddings and fancy soirées in Tundra Town.

"No, don't worry about that Lewis knows the owner. Lewis who is upstairs right now waiting to play his role while he has a lot of work to do, so if everyone could just go back into character. I spent A LOT of time preparing this so please… just play along."

"There were a couple of mutured apologies before everyone went back to what they were doing before the interruption.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I will fetch Lord Spots upstairs. You may move to the living room he shall be down shortly."

The guests did as they were told and moved to the living-room. If the entrance hall was grand, this room was way more cosy and inviting. A fire burnt in the foyer, casting a dancing light over velvety carpet. Next to a massif piano stood proudly a fully decorated christmas tree. Under it laid a multitude of colorfully wrapped presents whose shiny ribbons reflected the light of the fire. The room was small enough to feel cozy but big enough to accommodate for all of them. Three large windows gave view of the falling snow and large covered field of the countryside.

The room was beautiful.

The mansion was in a remote enough place of Tundra Town to make Judy think of Bunny Borrow. Whilst she could still see the light of the city in the horizon, the rolling plains that stood in between remembered her of those back home during winter. Sometimes, she wished her family could see the world from her perspective and sometimes she just wished to spend a little time with them.

"I'm sorry mom but the office really needs me."

Judy was talking with her parents on the phone. She hated how sad they looked but it's not as if she had a choice.

"Surely you can spare some days to come home for christmas sweety. You haven't taken any vacations yet, I'm sure your boss will understand."

"It's not that mom. Christmas time is the prime time for break-in's."

It was a lie. After the bathroom incident, her and all the others had been suspended for two weeks. Bogo had turned Clawhauser's christmas party into a "team building exercises". Why he did that, she had no idea and found it very weird for Bogo to go easy on them like that. But that was besides the point. What mattered was that she had been suspended and she didn't feel like informing her parents of that. She might have been an adult but she knew they would scold her like a kit that got detention at school. And while she would have liked to spend a little private time with her 275 siblings for christmas, her mother had told her that it would be the whole extended family this year. Her own family had the time to accept her career choice but she knew that countless of her in laws didn't and she really could pass up on their judgemental comments at the dining table.

"Will you be there at least for new year's eve bun-bun?"

"Maybe, I don't know mom." She said with a shrug. "Listen, I need to go now I'll call you later."

Judy pressed the "end call" button before her mother could protest. She let her head fall back with a heavy sigh before she turned it to face the grinning fox on the couch next to her.

"What?"

"Bun-bun?"

"Can it and just resume the movie."

Nick was over at her place since it was movie night. Every friday after work they would pick a cheesy b movie and watch it at his place since her's probably wasn't even big enough to hold them both.

"Before we do that, I think we should open these."

Nick motioned to the two envelopes with their name on it. They had received their role for the christmas party on their desk that morning and still hadn't checked it.

"We're not supposed to show others our cards."

"We don't need to show it, we're just going to tell the stuff that people usually know about each other."

Judy looked at him with an annoyed scowl.

"Come on bun-bun, it'll be fun."

"Don't call me bun-bun."

"I will if you don't put a smile on and open that envelope."

She rolled her eyes but a smile tugged at the corner of her lips. Without looking at him she took the letter with her name from his paw while she felt his smile grew and her blush deepened.

While she read her card silently Nick read his out loud.

"Dear Mister Wilde, blablabla, you've been invited by lord Spots, blablabla. Okay here it is: 'you were a rich and greedy buisnessmammal who turned to a generous philanthropist after you almost died in a near drowning accident.' Wow I kind of feel attacked here. What does yours say?"

"Hun? Oh, I'm a famous writer and activist. My principal causes are female equality, logic, small mammals inclusion, logic, and…"

"And what?"

"em… Interspecies relationships rights."

"logic." She added in her head which made her blush only deepened.

"Wow, you're a pretty progressive for someone living in the victorian era."

…

Wolford opened the letter he'd just received.

You are an old rival of lord Spots that decided to bury the hatchet in favor of exploring the world and it's delicacies, mainly india, vietnam, mexique…

"Oh of course they had to rub it in didn't they?"

…

McHorn and Fangmeyer sat at the same table in the break room.

"I tell you, my arm still hurts."

"Hmm."

"She must have broken something."

"Yeah right."

"You're not listening to me are you?"

"Hun? Oh sorry I just read my role. I'm supposed to be, and I quote, 'the cold and disinterested sister of lord Spots.' What does that even mean?"

"Maybe that you are cold and disinterested."

"Anyone ever told you you're really smart? Anyway, what does yours say?"

"That I'm a doctor."

"Really? Oh well. So how's your arm doing?"

…

"So basically I'm just a woman? A woman without a job just waiting to be married off?"

Doctor Lumpy looked at her card with disbelief and offense. She supposed it was historical accuracy but still…

"Are you f-"

…

"You two have a envelopes for you."

"Thanks Tim. Put it on our desks please." Said Porkins.

"Hey I think it's our roles for the christmas party."

"O-o-oh let me see let me see."

They both opened their letters at the same time and started reading from it.

"You are an inventor and so is your brother." They said in unison. "You have always been creative ever since you were a kit, always playing around with levers and the sort…"

...

A knock rang on the door of chief Bogo's office.

"Come in."

Clawhauser peeked his head in.

"I just want to tell you I have your role card for the christmas party."

"Put it in the corner of my desk. I'll get to it when I have the time."

Clawhauser did just so and then retreated from the office. As soon as the door was closed, Bogo dropped what he was doing and immediately teared the envelope open.

"You are general Bogo, renowned military leader and previous commander of lord Spots… Hmmm… I wonder if general Bogo would have a beard? I could use the one from my level 12 mage costume…"

A high pitched shout took everyone out of their revery or conversation. They all turned their heads to the staircase that lead to the second floor from which the shout originated. It took a moment for anyone to react but after a few second had past, they all rushed upstairs as one curious and concerned crowd.

What they found upstairs was the door of the master bedroom opened and two cheetahs inside. One, dressed as a butler, stood above the other with his paw to his mouth. The other, the well dressed master of the house, laid motionless on the floor with foam coming off his mouth and eyes rolled back.

General Bogo was the first one to speak.

"What happened?"

"He… He… He drank from the champaign and then just… started writhing on the floor and the foam… oh God is he dead?"

Miss Lumpy made a move to reach the the lord but was stopped by the strong hoof of doctor McHorn.

"Let the professional handle this dear." He said, which earned him an angry glare from the camel.

He bent to his knee and gently placed his hoof on the side of the lord's neck.

"I'm afraid that lord Spots has passed."

"But how?" Judy asked.

"Yes doctor..." Added miss Lumpy. "Surely you can tell us the cause of death…"

"Hum.. Yes of course… He hu… He died of…"

"Maybe the fact that the last thing he did before he died was drink from his glass and the foam that formed around his mouth are indicators…" Said Porkins.

"That is a wonderful observation I say! Well done brother."

"Thank you brother I say, I say!"

Nick cringed at the hamfisted (no pun intended) british accent.

"All right all right I get it. He was poisoned."

"Poisoned! But by whom?" Said Wolford, speaking for the first time.

Silence fell in the room, a silence that was interrupted by the sound of thunder.

Nick turned to the butler who was holding a remote.

"Seriously Clawhauser, thunder noise?..."

Before anything else I just want to say that while the plumbing mechanics in this chapter are complete nonsense in real life, this animated-cartoony world so they follow the laws of physics of that universe.

with that out of the way I want to say that this chapter will be significantly longer than all of the other ones. If I even wish to make the updates daily, I have to keep the chapters short.

If you liked this story so far or if you have something that I could improve, let me know with a comment. Otherwise you can like/Kudo and follow.

Until (hopefully) tomorrow… Huza!