Only Once
Season 1
Episode 1: Scene 1: Petrichor
Having the bite of sandwich actually turn to ash in her mouth would have been a more pleasant sensation. The act of swallowing it down took active force of will as she leaned back, craning to see down the length of the station. I saw that, right? There were too many animals in the way. Too many animals far bigger than she was. Straightening, she waited, impatient. Training forced her to keep her position, to keep her gaze long, a bit unfocused, and her ears relaxed. Her breathe barely hiked up as an opening showed her the subject of her interest.
Barely coming to the elbow of the bear next to him, the pig was unremarkable in every respect save two. His eyes and his teeth.
His teeth were sharp. Though they were not quite filed down to points, the canines would definitely be able to tear through meat with ease. That would have been enough to attract her attention. But it was his eyes that she fixed on. It was his eyes that sent a spike of cold straight to the pit of her stomach. She would have shoved the sandwich right back into the neon-gleam of the machine, gotten back on the train, and never come this way again if it made him wipe that look away.
He had the look. Judy Hopps, after this long in the trade, after this long of being around Nick and other predators, knew what animals looked like when they saw something that they wanted. Not in a lust way, not in an avarice way. Something that they wanted in an older, far more savage way.
A voice in the back of her head told her that was crazy. Judging a book by its cover had gotten her in over her head and with a foot stuck in her mouth more times than she cared to admit. But that voice was trampled on by a note of experience, by some mix of intuition and policing je ne sais qua that told her that the pig was not just someone who had an alternative sense of a good diet. He had malicious intent, was practically dripping with it.
A drop of confirmation came a moment later as she followed his gaze. On the receiving end of the look was a squirrel. She had bright hazel eyes that danced animatedly above a shining smile. As she walked out of the bathroom a little way down the wall to Judy's left, her head bobbed away to her own internal beat. Her ears, tufted with little points of white hair, were held erect and her tail was smoothly drifting from side to side as she walked down the length of the station, a bit of a spring in her step. The backpack slung over her shoulder had a 'Vote Lionheart' pin and a ZU logo on the back. Judy's heart sank. The squirrel was taking the other exit, was going to walk right past the pig.
His eyes were an icy, icy blue. They flashed over the station, once, and then latched back on, almost lovingly, to the squirrel's back, tracking like a motion-activated camera as she walked past him. The station was starting to empty out of passengers. So Judy was able to see him clearly as he pushed away from the wall that he had been leaning on, let out a casual puff of air, and started after the squirrel. Judy made the decision to follow and was moving away from the machine before she had time to second guess herself. Thoughts of the wedding that she had been going to, of getting in out of the cold and spending time socializing with the Tundra Town mafia drifted out of her head. In one smooth motion, she sealed up the saran-wrapping around the machine-bought sandwich and dropped it into one of the pockets of her coat. Cramming her other paw into the opposite pocket, she palmed the contents. A stick of gum, the keys to their apartment, but no smooth plastic grip.
A smile, as cold as the air in the train station, drifted onto her face before being replaced by a look of determination. What a good night to have given her stun gun back to the quartermaster. Oh well. I can take him, anyways. Judy kept her eyes on the back of the pig's head as she wove past a few chatty deer. He was moving up the escalators, hands crammed into pockets and eyes forward. In the dim light, he was more outline than defined figure. As she moved onto the bottom step, Judy glanced up at the banner overhanging the sloping tunnel to the surface. "Happy New Years!"
Muttering "This is going to be a weird year.", Judy Hopps followed a pig and a squirrel out into the Tundra Town night.
End of Scene
Current Objective: Tail Suspect until probable cause can be established.
Author's Note: Hey guys and gals! I appreciate you reading this far and would be doubly appreciative of any constructive criticism you can give. Sit back and enjoy, *it's going to be a bumpy ride*.